I'm a born planner, no matter the situation I have to have a plan mapped out in my head. When my family and I got orders to move to Fort Drum, NY I was excited. After months of living with family, in limbo, I finally had the opportunity to plan out our next month. I dreamed about where we would live, what life would be life, what church we'd go to and all the amazing friends we'd have. In my mind living in New York was going to be this amazing experience. I presented my request to the Lord (Phil 4:6) and I never looked back. My God is a BIG God and I asked Big!  Early into our time in NY things didn't go according to my plan. I was suffering miserably from morning sickness with our second son, the military post we lived on was tiny and what was up with all the horse and buggies?! There was little to do, not that it would have mattered, I was too sick to do much. For months we bounced from church to church trying to find our church home with no luck. Jeremy's work schedule was crazy with long days and I spent the majority of my time at home with my oldest son because we couldn't find friends. My expectations and plans slipped away from me and I couldn't help but feel frustrated and let down with our choice to move to NY. I wondered why God wasn't answering my prayers and why things were so tough.

Have you ever felt that way when it comes to your health and fitness journey? You start out on a workout program with plans of things going exactly how you plan. You are going to eat healthy foods, rock your workouts and then watch the pounds just melt away. You envision yourself rockin' those skinny jeans or that swimsuit. You are pumped and ready to go!! You start out strong and you do great the first week, you feel strong and empowered.. or at least like you are getting somewhere. THEN, you step on the scale and BOOM.. you lost NO weight. You become frustrated and your heart sinks a little as you feel like that entire week of hard work was for NOTHING! You run through every meal, every workout and wonder what you did wrong. WHY are you not loosing weight?! Can you tell I've been there before?! Expectations, they can be very powerful. What's even more powerful is the reactions that come with them when they aren't met. After the first week with no SEEN progress the second week is often met with less enthusiasm, the psyched you is now just going through the motions because you've lost faith in the program you are on. You may even start looking around for other ways to get you to your goal. **sigh** I feel anxiety just typing that because I've been there! I know what it's like to not have my plans go the way I want them to or as FAST as I want them too. The question is, what can be learn from experiences like this and how can we grow to be stronger and perhaps more patient? Hebrews 12:1-2 says, "...let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the the joy that was set before Him endured the cross.." If you look up the word "endurance" in the dictionary it say "the fact or power of enduring an unpleasant or difficult process or situation for a long period of time." Well.. I can't think of a better way of describing a health and fitness journey. Learning how to eat healthy and navigate an active lifestyle can be extremely challenging and often times, unpleasant. Especially compared to the days of eating what we want and doing less, however, that's not God's plan for us. We wants us to run towards our goals, even though they are challenging and frustrating at times. The key to our success is looking to Jesus. Don't let the feelings of frustration and discouragement prevent you from moving forward. Look to Jesus and focus on him. Have faith that he will carry you through the challenging times and will get you to your goal. It may not be on the timeline that we want but God's timing is perfect. Trust in him. 2 Thessalonians 3:16 says "May the Lord of peace himself give you his peace at all times and in every situation." We can rest assure, that if we ask for it God will give us everything we need to get to our goal, even the peace that we so desperately need when things don't go OUR way. 

Looking back at our time in NY I can honestly say that things didn't go as I planned. All the things I wanted didn't pan out exactly the way I wanted, but I can say that God provided me with EVERYTHING I needed. I experience two years of incredible personal growth. I completed my bachelors degree, lost 45lbs (beyond the baby weight) and found a passion for health and fitness. Most importantly, outside of the walls of the church we never found, I truly found Jesus. For the first time in my life I truly handed my life over to God and my life has never been the same. My life wasn't all sunshine and roses.. there was plenty of struggle and challenge. God's plan for us may not be the same plan we have for our self, but it's always so much better. We may have to learn some lessons along the way and things may get messy (we can count on that), but don't let those struggles prevent you from running that race my friend. Keep pushing forward when you don't see results, keep your eyes on the One that knows you better than you know yourself, he will get you to where you need to be. It may not be the route we would have taken, but you can bet the result will be so much better.