You are probably wondering what forgiveness has to do with our health and fitness journey. We often hear about forgiveness from a spiritual perspective. The Bible tells us that we should forgive others. We see in Matthew 6:14 that is says "For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you." As Christians we aspire to live by this law, even though it can be a challenge. We come against people who have wronged us and hurt us in terrible and deep ways. However, God calls us to forgive them anyway. After all, we want our sins to be forgiven not only by God but by others as well. I know there are times that I have acted out in anger, said things I regretted and I was thankful for that forgiveness. Not only does holding a grudge against someone go against what God has asked us to do, it affects us as well. That anger, hatred, frustration and hurt eats away at us from the inside out. Even though we refuse forgiveness to hurt the other person, honestly it is doing more damage to us. I don't know about you, but I want to be FREE! Free of negative feelings and I do that by givings away forgiveness like it's cool. I'd want the same in return.

Now, lets look at our health and fitness journey. I see this with so many women as they travel through the highs and lows of their journey. They make these amazing plans to FINALLY get it right, to finally get new healthy habits and reach that goal! They are pumped! Ready to go! They soar through their first week feeling amazing. They may see some water weight coming off and they may have more energy. Then BAM! the weekend comes and there is temptation everywhere. There is a kid's birthday party to attend with plenty of pizza and cake, they have a girls night out planned with plenty of yummy snacks and the inevitable happens and they slip up. They ate the pizza and cake, enjoyed the delicious appetizers and drank way too many calories. Monday rolls around and they are at an all time low.. hating what they've done, angry at themselves for their lack of self control, and discouraged. Some will pick it back up and try again while others may halfheartedly make it through another week before giving up again. It's a vicious cycle. I've been there... oh how I've been there, it's the story of my life UNTIL I learned a valuable lesson. I had to forgive MYSELF!

Oh, we try to forgive others and do what God has called us to do but the thought never crosses our mind to forgive ourselves. Jesus Christ came to to this Earth, lived a perfect life, and died on a cross so OUR sins can be forgiven. (Galatians 1:3-5). If God can forgive the big things, the sinful things in our life..don't you think we should give ourselves a little grace as well? When we mess up and get off track, forgive yourself and start fresh again. As long as you are breathing you have another opportunity to get it right. How amazing is that?! There are only two ways to fail and that is quitting or never starting at all. It takes great bravery to begin a health and fitness journey. Making the decision to create new healthy habits is not easy and you can't undo a lifetime of bad habits in a week or even a month. It takes TIME! Be patient with yourself and exercise grace with yourself. When you totally blow your weekend, forgive yourself, let it go and move on! You can't do a single thing about the past, but you can move forward towards the future with hope and determination to do a little better next time.