The heart-breaking truth is that every day tragedies happen.
Around the globe, in our neighborhoods, and even directly to us. And what are most people’s gut-check responses?
Fear. Hate. Revenge. Discord. Violence. Distrust.
Do any of these responses ultimately solve the problem? Do any of them change the world or the situation for the better?
I love this quote from Maya Angelou:
but it has not solved one yet.”
I wanted to encourage you today, that despite the evil that still lurks in this world, and despite the horror of real tragedies that occur, we cannot let fear rule the day.
We cannot let fear win the battle in our hearts.
We cannot let fear dictate or hinder who we are and the light we have that God has given us as Christians to shine in the darkness.
Jesus prepares us in John 16:33:
“…Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”
>>Final thoughts: How strong are your faith muscles to let go of the initial fears that may grip you when life is unfair? How much do you truly trust that God’s words are true and that He will ultimately hand down the final judgments to those who inflict injustice? Take heart today, sister.
God is on the throne and Jesus has already overcome the world.
~Dr. Melody
P.S. I had the honor and privilege to be interviewed on Empowering Ourselves Together Talk Radio show yesterday and if you’d like to know more about my mission and how I serve you at Fit+Faith plus get easy and actionable tips to improve your health, fitness and grown your faith, listen to the interview here and share with a friend. 🙂
It’s true. I can’t deny it. No matter what I do or how I look at it, the facts remain the same.
I am an all-or-nothing type of girl.
If I get an inkling of an idea, something catches my eye or sparks my interest, you’d better get out of the way because I’m going in FULL-FORCE.
And this applies for ANYTHING: throwing a party, diving into a new hobby, starting a business (I’ve started at least 4 new business ventures…lol)
So it stands to reason that this new endeavor is NO DIFFERENT. I honestly can’t help myself. When I commit to doing or creating something, I go full out. Whether it’s for myself, for my family or a friend, 50 people or 500 people–the result is the same.
All I have. Everything I can do. Taking out all the stops.
And that’s what I’ve done here.
I had an idea of a fun program to lose weight and feel great by 4th of July. Of course I could have moved forward to create it because I knew it would be great and you would love it, but I asked others if it sounded interesting, and if they had suggestions on the types of things they’d like to see, and the response was overwhelming!
So then it REALLY got my gears turning and fire revved up to make it happen and make it AWESOME!
And here it is: The 61 Day Summer Slim Down.
We kick off this Sunday, May 1st, so if you’re interested, learn more and get signed up now (for an insanely minimal joining fee) so you’ve got a few days to start looking over all of the awesome resources and content I’ve been putting together for you, and actually I’ve still got more planned to add, but I didn’t want to make you wait any longer to jump in and start getting ready for the kick-off!
Together we’ve still got the best of Summer ahead of us and we’ll be rocking that new party-dress come 4th of July!
~Dr. Melody
P.S. I forgot to mention I’ve got a special bonus reserved for the FIRST 3 who jump on board…;)
It’s so easy to get caught up in the coming holiday season that we forget the importance of taking time for ourselves, let alone quality time with God.
I wrapped up a personal 30 day self-improvement challenge almost 2 weeks ago. My goal was not only weight loss (Goal: lose 10 pound;. Result: 9.5 pounds lost!) but also a commitment to developing personal habits for a morning routine as well as an eating cleanse to break my sugar addiction.
It was very successful and I posted daily videos to my Facebook page documenting daily exercises, tips or insights as I went through that journey. (Btw I share ongoing encouragement, tips and discussion in my free Facebook community, Worthy to Be Me. I’d love you to be a part of it and join here).
What I learned is how important it is for our personal well being to have habits and routines in place that regularly allow for the nurturing of our spirits and psyche, but also regular intentional daily time with God. Being a Christian I actively talk to God and pray all throughout the day, but I had not set in place regular time for reflection, quiet time and dialoguing with God without multi-tasking or other distractions.
In the few weeks that have followed I’ve found that if that daily time is no longer nurtured or attended to daily, I feel more disconnected and ungrounded. I feel as though something is missing, and I’m glad I feel this way because it means my goals for the 30 day personal challenge worked. They’re successfully created a routine that fed my soul, spirit, dreams and provided an outlet for intentional “me” time outside the hustle and bustle of everyday life…let alone the craziness that is on it’s way the closer we get to Christmas.
Currently I’ve just taken a 2 day road trip from California to New Mexico and am thrilled for almost 10 days of family time! But in just the few days of schedules being different, not having my regular snacks and healthy meals lined up, sleeping in different beds, time zone changes etc. I’ve really been more affected from this shift in my “new normal” I had just created only 2 weeks prior, and the effects were surprisingly challenging.
Not just challenging to continue to carve out the time for my newly created routines and habits, but challenging on an emotional level of how I felt internally from not having that precious time of cultivating my thoughts, productivity and intentional quiet time with God.
I was journaling yesterday after at least 3 days of missing it, and the realization came to me that not only was I missing the emotional and energetic outlet to feel my best, or at least to feel more like myself while in a different environment, but I realized that no matter what life brings us we MUST have our identity in Christ.
This is a MUST that if we do not realize how God views us and his unending love and admiration for us as His children, we will NEVER be satisfied in this life. We will always be looking for acceptance in the eyes of our peers, family, friends, co-workers, society and the like. This ultimately leads to feeling inadequate, lonely, unwanted, invaluable and leads us in a never-ending quest for perfection and acceptance that we will never fully gain.
In the eyes of our Savior, Jesus, we are already enough. We are already beautiful, loved, talented, gifted, treasured and precious. No matter what we do, say, create or become, we will never be more valuable, more loveable, more worthy of God’s love. He already loves us to the highest degree imaginable….exactly as we are!
Right now. This moment. Yesterday. Before you were born! As we begin to realize the immensity of our value in the eyes of God, we truly are “more than conquerors” as the apostle Paul writes.
Praise be to God who loves us more than we can imagine and nothing we can say or do can make Him love us more! So stop trying to please Him, others or yourself in a quest for perfection that is unnecessary to obtain. Yes it’s good to feel good about ourselves, both inside and out, and to treat ourselves and others with respect, but even before you pursue that, God already loves you.
Let that sink in and encourage you. God’s love already proves how amazing you are. <3
~Melody
P.S. On a side note, I want to make sure you don’t miss out on an upcoming Healthy Holiday Domination 31 Day Challenge, kicking off December 1st! Learn how to join here.
