#53 - Finding Fullfillment

Good morning. What a great morning it is! It WILL be a productive day... I am excited about it! I'm excited about this mornings devotion. I really think it will help some people. I really think it will help those people who are out their feeling un-fulfilled with life. At least, that is my prayer. 

Proverbs 17:22 - A happy heart is good medicine and a cheerful mind works healing, but a broken spirit dries up the bones.

Proverbs 31:17 - She girds herself with strength [spiritual, mental, and physical fitness for her God-given task] and makes her arms strong and firm.

I want to paint a picture. Pick a day, any day.... 1.... 2.... or 3 years ago. A Monday morning... or Tuesday... any weekday really. The alarm goes off. She pulls the covers back over her head. It is 7:30. She really should get up. Getting in to work at a decent time would be good. But no. She pulls the covers back over her head. 8:00. The annoying blare of the alarm clock rings, beep beep beep. Whoever designed the sound of the noise those things made was wrong! Just the name of the thing "ALARM CLOCK" - you are suppose to wake up "alarmed"!?!? 8:00, she rolls over, hits the clock, pulls the covers back over her head. 8:30. 9:00. 9:15. She thinks... I really am pushing it. I really need to get up. I really need to go to work. 9:30. The covers provide a way of escape. She is not even tired. The hour and a half of beeps and pulling the covers up, she really was awake the whole time. Just laying there. Hating life. Not wanting to get up. Unfulfilled. Unhappy. But... putting on the happy face. Going through life smiling. Positive. Speaking right. But all the while pulling the covers up over her head, trying to avoid life. Trying to avoid the day as long as she could. As long as possible. I'll take another pregnancy test. I haven't missed a period or missed a pill.... but maybe, just maybe I'll be pregnant. Maybe then I can escape this job. Maybe I can get out of it. Maybe I can finally quit. Please Pregnancy Test. Please let me be the .oo1% chance that I'll be the one who gets pregnant even though I'm on birth control. 


Day after day. Same thoughts. Different day. The fake smile, plastered on her face as she steps into the elevator to go to the top floor of her "Corporate America" office. Dodging phone calls from her boss. Dreading the emails that will come streaming in as she pulls up her computer. How can she "make it sound like" she's been working with a troubled client all morning. Maybe this would be a morning that her boss wouldn't have emailed her? Maybe? She's hit her numbers. Exceeded them. Maybe her boss would just get off her back? Please! No micro-managing! Ahhhh!


A day in the life of me. 1 year, 2 years, 3 years ago. Pulling the covers up over my head. My job in Corporate America had gotten boring and unfulfilling. I had "mastered" it. I was "Rookie of the Year" my first year throughout our "Corporation" nationwide. My 2nd year I was a "Sterling Performer", which meant I was in the top 5 of ALL people in my position throughout the U.S. I was bored. It was a challenge year 1 & 2. Then, mastery. Then, boredom! Lack of passion. Lack of drive. Just a desire to move on! To get out!


Unlike Proverbs 17:22, I did not have a happy heart. My mind was not cheerful. I was everything BUT happy. I was unfulfilled. I lacked passion. I was not pursuing anything that I loved or enjoyed. I did not feel like I was "helping anyone" or "making a difference" in the lives of anyone. I felt like my "affect" on the world left as lasting of an impression as the ripples when you stick you finger in a glass of water and pull it out. Great. One little ripple that is gone within 5 seconds. What fulfillment!!! :-/ 


So... what happened? By an act of God, I was chosen to be 1 of 6 people to participate in a program nationwide called A New Way to a New You. This program was about "Optimal Health". Learning how to eat properly... actually the "food pyramid" way! Eating the proper amount of fruits & vegetables, grains, fats, proteins. Not eating card-board. Or starving myself until I lost an ounce but felt even worse. How to supplement properly. How to exercise with something manageable that could be maintained for a lifetime. (4321 - 10 Minutes of exercise/day! That's it!) I was a doubter at the beginning. How could all this work? How could I start to be happy with ME? I saw fat. I saw a double chin. I saw the pants that were too tight. Even the fat pants were getting too tight. What unhappiness! So blah! My unhappiness spread to every area of my life. It spread to unfulfillment in work. In our business. In my relationships. In my energy levels. In my walk with the Lord. I was doing poor in all areas because I did not like me. 


So... by an act of divine intervention. I've never been happier in my life! I feel fulfilled. I went from 159 (beginning of January 2009) and I am now at 129. I have not weighed this since probably high school or middle school! I am even below my wedding weight which was 9 1/2 years ago. I'm not dieting. I know how to eat properly, with the proper amounts of what foods. I supplement with multi-vitamins. And I exercise on a regular basis. And like the Proverbs 31 woman, I am even starting to get some pretty firm arms! :) JAM-UP! It's fun to pull my hair up in a pony-tail because I see definition! I now coach people through the experience I went through and they choose between 4 different programs. I am fulfilled physically. I am fulfilled now by finally following a passion of mine, writing. FIND YOUR PASSION. Begin to pursue it. And I am fulfilled in my business.... helping to show mommies & daddies how they can be free, if they want to, to make enough money in a business of their own and stay home with their kids instead of putting them in daycare. If their little boy is crying, MOM can pick him up and comfort him. DAD can pick him up and play with him or rough house. :) What a fulfilling life I am now living! Praise the Lord!

BEFORE PICTURE (late January 2009 -155 lbs)

AFTER PICTURE (July 2010 - 129 pounds, with 9 month old baby

My life today is very different than the life of the woman you read about. Pulling the covers over her head. Dreading the day. Not wanting to wake up. Just wanting to avoid life. What a different person I am today. 


Start today, like the Proverbs 31 woman, begin to get fit. Begin today to get those firm arms. Our Proverbs 31 woman was FIT! She worked out! Her arms were tone and firm. She made this a priority. Come to the realization I did: Working out is a way of life for the REST OF YOUR life! Find something you can stick with and begin today. If you want to live LONG and be STRONG, working out is not an option! BEGIN today! It may start you on the path to fulfillment, to not having a broken spirit. It will help you have strong bones. BEGIN TODAY!

___________________________________

Read about my journey: http://newwaynewyou2009.blogspot.com/

Looking to be coached? Looking for a way to NEVER DIET a day again the rest of your life? Eat more & exercise less? That is what I did! And I love every day! 

Email me to schedule an personal or phone appointment to find a Program that will work for you: amyjmccart@gmail.com

MUST HAVE READ: 

10 Minutes to a Total Body Workout by Sean Foy

#48 - Reach Out

Good day to you! :) What a FINE day it is!! :) I am joined today by a fine new friend! :) Whom my husband has referred to as my GNF.... my "Great New Friend". I'm so excited to be joined. Excited & surprised & blessed! So... who is this GNF? Well.... let me tell you a quick story before making the introductions..... :) ..... so... I am on a business conference call last night that my husband was leading. He was getting home probably around 10:30... and to my SUPER exciting surprise....when he walks in, he is carrying a BIG BAG!!! A big, pretty bag with a BIG box in it. :) 

Well.... if you know me well, you know that I am a "gifts" person. I just can't help it, I love gifts! From anything as little as a butterfinger to a diet coke, citrus XS... to big things..... I can't explain it, other than, I'm like a little kid! I just get excited! It's like waking up on Christmas morning... I still get excited! :) Even silly things like new socks or undies. Well... I was SHOCKED at the non-occasion of this gift! :) My husband was beaming. Yesterday he had taken his DOR while the boy and I went to church solo. Well.... he said as he was in his DOR talking to the Holy Spirit that the HS told him to bless me and buy "it" for me. So... I went to open the big, FUN bag & it revealed my GNF... my visitor during this mornings devotion. :) A new diaper bag! :) So... my KATE (Kate Spade) that he got for me has went into temporary retirement. She is going to take it easy for awhile while I sport my fun, new GNF! :)

Isn't she pretty!?! :) I think so!!! :) My husband is a blessing. He just loves to bless me.... even with the unexpected!!! I didn't even "need" a new purse or diaper bag, but he just wanted to bless me. He said in his QT, that the HS was telling him that HE, GOD enjoys blessing us too. Not just with meeting our "needs" but blessing us with our wants. Things that we don't even "know" we want. Our secret petitions and desires. That truly, "God takes pleasure in the prosperity of his servant." And, we are MORE than servants! We are SONS and DAUGHTERS, so imagine how much MORE God takes pleasure in OUR prosperity, His Children! He delights in blessing us!! :) 


So... I am blessed & very grateful! Thankful that my husband listens to the voice of the Holy Spirit. What a blessing. :) He is so awesome!! I LOVE YOU TYLER! Thank you for my new gifty! :) XOXO!


Alrighty then.... let's get rolling with today's Word...

Proverbs 9:3 - She has sent out her maids to cry from the highest places of the town...

Proverbs 31:20 - She opens her hand to the poor, yes, she reaches out her filled hands to the needy [whether in body, mind, or spirit].

In Proverbs 3, when you are reading it, you realize that the "she" that it is referring to is Wisdom. WISDOM has sent out her maids to cry from the highest places of the town. And, basically as you continue to read through verse 6, you see WHAT are the maids "crying out" about? Why is it so important for them to go to the highest places of the town to CRY OUT to people? And, WHO are they crying out too? Well.... in verses 4 & 6, you see that WISDOM is crying out to the simple, those easily led astray, the foolish. Wisdom is crying out to them in verse 6 to LIVE!!! To walk in the way of insight and understanding. 


Wisdom, she is standing at the highest place in town. Imagine her, looking down at the town... I envision looking down onto like a maze. She sees all the paths, the dead ends, the danger, the roads that lead to nowhere. Then.... she sees THE PATH. The path that leads to the exit of the maze, blessing, prosperity, health, blessed relationships, passion, love, eternal life - SALVATION, Jesus! She sees the: turn right here, turn left there... keep going straight.... don't take that exit, don't take that turn, it will lead you to nowhere, it will waste your time, you will be walking in toil if you go that way. WISDOM stands from the heights of VISION. SHE SEES. See has a view of the WHOLE PICTURE that you can not see through the trees. She stands up tall and beckons, COME! She cries out the lost, COME THIS WAY AND LIVE! Walk this way in insight & understanding. I will show you the way, you just have to follow me. Follow wisdom. 


What do I find interesting about Wisdom? Something VERY interesting is this... you see if you agree.... Wisdom is CRYING OUT! She is not trying to be elusive & mysterious. She is not trying to hide from you, from us. She is trying to be found! She is wanting to be heard! She is CRYING OUT to lead YOU & to LEAD ME! We just have to tune in. We just have to listen to her Voice, to her Cry, to her LEADING! 


Yes... I know you may have thought this too.... in our cross-referencing and comparison with the Proverbs 31 woman.... my initial instinct when choosing a verse was to choose Proverbs 31:15b, she assigns her maids their tasks. I find it interesting that WISDOM & The Proverbs 31 Woman have maids. WISDOM in chapter 9 has assigned her maids to GO! GO to the highest point and guide. Direct. Lead people. Help them to find LIFE! Wisdom has given her maids an assignment. She has employed them to GO on her behalf and work. So... you may be surprised that I didn't choose Proverbs 31:15 as our "verse" for our Proverbs 31 meditation verse.


Why? Well... as I read through Proverbs 9:6.... I read that she is beckoning to the LOST. Those who are without direction. She is crying out to them. She is trying to bring LIFE. Our Proverbs 31 friend is doing the same thing in verse 20. I looked at the key words in verse 20, poor and needy. What ULTIMATELY makes someone poor or in need? What is the ULTIMATE gift that can be offered? What Proverbs 9:6 talks about as LIFE. SALVATION. Without it we are poor, needy, destitute! We are lost. Without salvation, we are at our greatest point of need because without salvation, we are eternally dead. I believe that our Proverbs 31 friend is not just OPEN to offering this, but she is PRO-ACTIVE in offering this to the poor & needy. She PRO-ACTIVELY REACHES OUT. She is REACHING OUT to the non-believers, to the unsaved, to the lost. She has not remained in her comfort zone or bubble of perfectness. She has not kept to her "bubble of perfect Christian friends", her church friends, her saved friends. All the women in her scrapbook club, or business associates, her small group at church. The women she has coffee with or tea with. She is PRO-ACTIVELY REACHING OUT! She has filled hands, she has something to give, something to offer, a gift. The gift of salvation, the gift of friendship, the gift of a listening ear. She has something to give and so do you!


Empower:
Today, I empower you to reach out to someone. Give! You have something in your hands that can change the ENTIRE life of someone! It can change where they spend eternity, and it can change their life here on earth! I empower you today, go out of your way to REACH OUT to someone. YOU be PRO-ACTIVE today! Be a friend, a listener, minister of the gospel, or RIP someone out of the pit of despair & lead them to the Lord today. Offer the solution. 


Prayer:

Father, we come to you in the name of your son Jesus. We THANK you for giving your son as a gift, as a sacrifice that WE might have life! Today Lord, we pray for 2 specific things..... first Father, let us HEAR & HEED as Wisdom cries out! Let us hear Your Voice & direction. Even as we walk through our day. Walk down the hall, work, eat, allow us to converse with you. We thank you that you promise in your Word that YOUR SHEEP (us), we HEAR YOUR VOICE and the voice of a stranger we will not follow! So we thank you in advance that you PROMISE that we can and do hear your voice. Help us to have a keen ear today, to LISTEN and obey. Secondly Father, we ask you to guide us today to REACH OUT. Help us to reach out to someone in need. Cross our paths with them today. When we come across them, prick our hearts, may we be obedient to your Voice saying, "Reach out!" Father, we LOVE you. We thank you for the opportunity to be called your Child. What a gift! We pray all this in the MIGHTY & POWERFUL name of your son, Jesus, AMEN!