Equipped Ministries

"The Lord is my shepherd..." Psalm 23:1 Have you ever wondered why the bible uses the comparison of the shepherd and sheep to our relationship with God? Did you know that of all the animals God created, the sheep has always been defined as the one who is least able to care for himself . And, sheep have been identified as " dumb and defenseless ." (Max Lucado, 2000.) Hmmm? What does that say about us? Well, although dumb, defenseless, and unable to care for myself, it says nothing about my intelligence. And quite frankly, sheep seem pretty intelligent to me. Smart enough to follow their shepherd! And realize, that if they do, they will be taken care of! Every meal provided, housing secured, and safety ensured! Only one request: Stay close and follow the shepherd! The shepherd knows when the land is becoming barren and leads the sheep to a new place filled with beautiful green pastures. Just like my Lord knows when my life is barren and unfruitful, and if...

" Pray in the power of the Holy Spirit, and await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ...." Jude 1:21-21 I often run into people I knew when I was a leader with Weight Watchers. They often ask, "Why did you leave Weight Watchers?" My answer has always been the same. I will always be thankful to Weight Watchers for helping me with my weight loss back in 2005-2006, but the truth is that I approached my weight loss differently this time. I believed then and now that two factors were responsible for my weight loss at the time. One, I despereately wanted the weight to come off and knew it would. (I had never felt that before. There had always been doubt and insincerity on my part. This time, I was sure it would happen, and I was going to invest the time and energy, no matter how long it took!) Second, I prayed! I mean really prayed! And very specifically. I remember praying one evening before bed, "Lord, if you help me lose the weight this time, I promise...

"Now, however, it is time to forgive and comfort him...." 2 Corinthians 2:7 Unforgivable! One heavy, heavy word! (Quite, literally! Read on!) And if I asked, (and I were a betting woman, which I am not-I am Southern Baptist!) I would bet that the word "unforgivable" has in your mind's dictionary the picture of the one person who has "wronged" you in a way that is simply "unforgivable!" Most of us (if we are unfortunate enough) have been so badly hurt by someone in some way, that we simply cannot bring ourselves to forgive that person. When we read in the bible, lessons about forgiveness, we think to ourselves, "Sure, I can forgive my neighbor for what she said about me, I made her suffer enough by ignoring her for two weeks..." or "yes, I will forgive my sister for sharing embarrassing secrets about me, after all it was 20 years ago..." But surely God never intended for me to forgive my spouse for leaving me, o...

"Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you your heart's desires." So I fulfilled my commitment. I blogged for 21 days straight. The reason? Two-fold; 1) To encourage others in their journey of health and wellness, by providing scripture and life situations to motivate and inspire. 2) To explore and test the theory that it take 21 days for something to really become a habit in our lives, a behavior that, if we have incorporated, we now find difficult to change, or stop. The result? Well, if you have kept up with the daily readings, you will judge for yourself whether or not they were helpful to your journey, but as for the second part, I have clearly come to enjoy and feel as though journaling in this form is a part of my daily routine. And very therapeutic and meaningful for me. It forces me to explore behaviors and attitudes God is calling me to work on and share testimonies of the wonderful ways He has worked in my life. Not to mention, the fact that I feel somewha...

"So let's not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time, we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up." Galatians 6:9 "I'm not giving up! I'm simply not! I have come too far to give up now!" Now that's the attitude I love to see. After sharing in the weight loss journeys of hundreds of men and women over the past five years, one thing is for sure. That attitude will see success! When I hear statements like that, I send up a special praise to God, knowing He is right in the middle of changing someone forever! Do we have that attitude in the areas God is working on us? Here's how to find out. Ask yourself these questions: When I am struggling with my (weight-loss, finances, marriage, etc) do I say to myself "I'm not giving up! No way! I've worked to hard! I will make it through!" (My power scripture here: "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.") Phil. 4:13 ...

"Let your unfailing love surround us, Lord, for our " HOPE" is in you alone." Psalm 33:22 (emphasis mine) Hope! A word I don't don't give much credence to until it's gone. I wonder if I truly understand the power of hope. The necessity of hope. And, most importantly, where hope originates. Sadly, for many of us, our hopes find their meaning in people and things. Hopelessness only comes when my focus is shifted from Christ to "something," or "someone else" to ensure my happiness, satisfaction and success. Often, I invest my hopes in someone to change to ensure my satisfaction. "If you change you lifestyle and habits, I will be satisfied." Or, if "something" happens, I will be successful. "If I could just get a raise, or a better job, I will get out of debt." Or, "I" get in the way of my happiness and success. "If I wasn't so lazy, had more self-discipline, or didn't ea...

"Now, go out where it is deeper, and let down your nets to catch some fish." Luke 5:4 "I don't think I can handle another round of snow." "I won't make it through another dreary day without sunshine." "I need a vacation-in the Caribbean!" These are my thoughts, not yours. I cannot read minds. (Don't tell my children that though, they think I can!) Yet if we share these thoughts, I don't think we are alone. The apostles weren't alone either in their frustrations and anxiety. After all, they had fished ALL night with absolutely NO catch! Nothing! Zilch! Zero! Ready to "throw in the net," Jesus tells them to give it one more shot, one more try. In addition, He tells them to do it differently this time. "Now go out where it is deeper and let down your nets to catch some fish." Luke 5:4. With all do respect, Jesus didn't seem to understand the situation. He didn't really "get" t...

"How wonderful and pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony." Psalms 133:1 Harmony. What a sweet sounding word. Hearing it, just makes me think that everything is right. Everything has it's place, everything is in it's place, and everything is working together in perfect cooperation. Making perfect sense. A beautiful harmony. Sound like your life? Mine neither. At the moment, the only harmony I am hearing is the sound of popcorn kernels crunching underneath my feet, the remnants of four bags of varying flavors of popcorn (science experiment.) A partially naked three year-old is running from her brother, as she has just confiscated his batman toy. (The harmony there? Her voice! She has quite the scream! If you were fortunate enough to live within a one-mile radius of me, you could hear it too!) And my nine-year old is pounding on the keyboard downstairs, yelling, because she can't get the song right and she has piano practice in just ov...

"I have discovered this principle of life-that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong." Romans 7:21 Did Paul write this or did I? Could he read my mind? Did he know that my biggest struggles in life would lie within the confines of this verse? Can you relate? Why is this? It defies logic. I can understand "wanting" to do wrong, and doing wrong. But, "wanting" to do right, and doing wrong? "It doesn't make good sense," (as my mother would say.) Yet, for many of us the answer lies within one word: Satisfaction! Experts tell us that when we continually participate in a behavior or situation, that we are struggling to change or eliminate from our lives, we continue the behavior because of some deep seeded satisfaction that we are receiving. Even if the consequences of the behavior are negative! If I ponder on this long enough, I quickly realize this concept to be true for me. In the past, I would find pleasure in "hap...

"You will keep in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, whose thoughts are fixed on you." Isaiah 26:3 "You always have time for the things you put first." A quote used often in weight-loss meetings. Why? Because for most women (and men) our number one reason for not joining a weight-loss program, or spending our time and energy on losing weight and getting healthy, is a lack of "time." (Followed by a close second: Money.) Both were my reasons at one point. "I would love to join Weight Watchers, I just don't have the money." (But hey, I just got a 30% coupon in the mail for Kohl's and I desperately NEED some new throw pillows and an area rug for the front hall, and with my discount it's only going to cost me around $100! Then, I get two, $10 rewards, that I can spend next month!) Or, "I just don't have the time to go to a 30-minute weight-loss meeting." (But, guess what? The new season of American Idol is starting th...

"But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives; LOVE, JOY, PEACE, PATIENCE, KINDNESS, GOODNESS, FAITHFULNESS, GENTLENESS AND SELF-CONTROL." Galatians 5:22-23 How many times do we look at this passage in scripture and say to ourselves, "Well I'm patient sometimes, kind at other times, faithful for the most part but....Who can be all of these?" My thinking regarding the fruit of the spirit was radically changed during a devotion time at a Mops meeting over nine years ago. A very sweet, truly devoted Christian woman, who still has an impact on my walk even though I haven't seen her in over eight years, taught me that the 'fruit of the spirit,' is just that; "fruit," as in one fruit, not fruits! She went on to instill in us that if we truly have one of these, it is feeding the Holy Spirit, and therefore cultivating and developing all of the others into our character and being. How true! Think about it. When I truly and sincerely ...

"People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God." Matthew 4:4 Temptation, temptation, temptation! It comes in so many forms, and not just food! It comes when I am tempted to gossip about the neighbor, with the other neighbor. It comes when I am tempted to spend money that I really don't have. To have a drink, or take a pill, to numb or cover up an issue that I should be looking to resolve in the arms of my God instead. It comes when I am tempted exaggerate about my accomplishments as a homeschooling mom or "leader of a well respected and large weight loss company in the Greater Cincinnati area!" Did I just exaggerate that?? At times, my temptations seem unending, and yes, food is one at the forefront. How do I deal with my temptations regarding food? Shamefully, sometimes, not very productively: I give in, get angry, give in, get depressed, give in.....You get the picture. I was reminded of a very powerful quote yesterday, ...

"That's the value of wisdom, it helps you succeed." Ecclesiastes 10:10 A new and very dear friend of mine introduced me to a challenge last night. "Do you have your word for the year?" "Word for the year?" "Yes, the word that defines who and what you want to be this year." "Wow." I thought for a few seconds and quickly realized that I don't just have one word, I have a string of words, a sentence you might say. Perseverence, strength, patience, peace, all come to mind when I think about what I want to be in 2011. That's a problem, in and of itself. I am so focused on ALL that I want to be, I cannot truly have success in any one area. Then, this morning, I was reminded of a short prayer. THE SERENITY PRAYER "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the WISDOM to know the difference." There it was! My word! I have spent a great number of years and en...

"But the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. On that day, no one in your household may do any work...." Exodus 20:10 Did you know that in 1910 the average American slept nine hours a night? In 2000, the average was seven, and in 2010 the average was again down to 5.5-6.5 hours a night! Most of us, quite frankly feel rested if we're fortunate enough to get 6! I know my husband is! Unfortunately, the seemingly unending list of side effects associated with lack of rest is alarming. (My husband's number one clue? A migraine! A huge price to pay for a few hours over the course of several weeks.) Thanks to Max Lucado, (Traveling Light, 2000) I took a deeper look into the 10 commandments this morning to find this: God felt so strongly about the importance of rest and rejuvenation that when giving us the commandments went to great lengths to describe what we should do on the Sabbath (rest!) and who is permitted to work (no one!) Not mothers, f...