Determination

mossy trees in the park where I run

Week 3 –Our Run With Endurance (RWE) Focus for the week: 

DETERMINATION

Physical application ~ 

Determination depends upon having a made up mind. Once you make up your mind to do a thing, the usual culprits that tempt you lose a great deal of their power.
A determined mind is a powerful thing. Combine that with prayer and creating an environment that is supportive of your goals, and there is nothing that can stop you but you!

Spiritual application ~ 

We must also be determined in our pursuit of God. Paul the Apostle wrote to the Christians in Corinth, "For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2).
To grow spiritually, we must have the same determination. We must check ourselves to see if our notion of following Christ is the pursuit of our passion, purpose or calling. The cure for that is to DETERMINE that above all other things - even worthy things - we will follow hard after Christ and trust that everything else that glorifies God will follow that!

Eating on the RUN

Greek Salad

Because I work from home I also have the time to cook. A lot! On an average week I prepare 14 meals and sometimes more than that. We rarely eat out. Actually I enjoy the cooking part but I can't say the same for the clean up.

I am what my mother would  call "a good eater." I grew up on delicious, home cooked food in the tradition of Southern Cuisine and if I had to pick one cuisine to eat for the rest of my life it would be the food I grew up eating from Mother's southern kitchen.

Fortunately I don't have to choose and now as the "chef" of my kitchen, I like to try out new recipes and also tweak the old ones to make them healthier.

For week two of my Run With Endurance Group, our focus was on what we eat. The Bible tells us that our bodies are the "temples" of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, we are admonished to give due care to the bodies that house the Spirit of God. One of the best ways to care for our bodies is to eat nutritiously and an easy way to do that is to increase your fiber intake.

Physically ~ Specifically let's zero in on our fiber intake which should be about 25 grams/day for women and 35 grams for men. Fiber is the fibrous part of a plant food that your body does not digest. It acts as a broom to sweep our "temples" clean. It also helps us feel full and as we eat more fiber we will eat less "junk."

Easy Ways to Increase Your Fiber Intake 

 (I rounded the gram counts to the nearest whole number.)

1 serving cooked oatmeal - 4 grams
2 tsp. cinnamon - 2 grams
Lite multi-grain English muffin (Thomas brand) - 8 grams
1 cup of coffee - 2 grams

organic apple with skin - 4 grams
1 cup blueberries - 4 grams
1 medium orange - 3 grams
1 medium banana - 3 grams

1 cup avocado - 10 grams
1 cup baked sweet potato - 4 grams
1 cup corn - 4 grams

1 cup pinto beans or black beans - 15 grams
1 cup cooked turnip greens - 5 grams
1 cup cooked spinach - 4 grams

Spiritually ~ When Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tested, He responded to the temptation of turning stones into bread with this, "Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God" Matt. 4:4.
In what way will you feed your spirit this week? As you nourish your body, so must you make wise decisions and cultivate healthy habits to nourish your spirit. 

One of the most powerful spiritual disciplines I practice is a routine plan to memorize two scriptural passages each month. I'll be sharing more about this on my faith blog found here.

I'll come back and link the post on scripture memorization when it's up.  

Am I Willing?

Run With Endurance ~ Tampa Bay chapter

I've just started a local chapter of Run With Endurance. RWE was founded by Casie Dussia and is an organization based on Hebrews 12:1: "...let us run with endurance the race that is set before us..."

The RWE mission: To equip women to be who God created them to be by building endurance physically and spiritually to run their personal race.  

The local chapter that I am leading meets on Saturday mornings from 8:30 - 9:30 at a local park. We have women of various ages and stages in life. We are open to any woman in overall good health. We meet, have prayer and walk or run for 35 minutes. Following our work-out, we stretch and I lead our Bible study, which lasts about 20 minutes. 
Our first 9 week study is the ENDURANCE series. Last week our focus was creating an environment that is conducive to moving closer to our spiritual and physical goals. 

Our week one scripture: "As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend." Proverbs 27:17 NLT

I gave our group a point to ponder:
"What are you willing to do to move closer to your goals?"

So often we have a mental list of what we ought to do or of what someone else is doing. Rather than setting a goal that is beyond what you are willing to maintain, why not decide what it is that you are actually willing to do and just do that. It may only be one thing. But it may be the one thing that you can maintain and build upon. And that may be the very thing that leads you a step closer to personal success.

If you live in the Tampa Bay area and are interested in learning more about Run With Endurance, email me at mdorsey@tampabay.rr.com and put RWE in the subject line. 

In the meantime, as you consider your own desire for personal growth, what are you willing to do to get there?