Trying something new.

So last week I was constantly sitting down to blog, inevitably I would think of something else I should be doing, get up to go do 'that' and find myself later with half a blog idea gone. 

That cycle repeated itself all the way until I left this past weekend to go out of town and celebrate the bridal shower of a dear friend. During my driving time over the weekend I thought of many ideas for blogging (yay!) and was driving so none of them got written down (boo!). 

I have been sitting at my kitchen table on and off for the last 20 minutes or so trying to re-create some of my brainstorming which has gone (thankfully) surprising well! 

If you follow any other blogs, you know that my blog does not have cute DIY projects or fabulous foodie recipes, those are not my gifts to share. If you follow this blog, you also know that I mainly share what is going on in our lives since many of our close friends and family are not geographically so close. But lately I have been praying + brainstorming in general about topics I wanted to write about here - beyond daily life for Adam and I. 

I don't have it all figured out yet, I will keep you posted, but what I DO have so far is that I want to start each week of blogging, the same way I start each week of life - in God's word. An idea so simple and basic, but yet easy to overlook. 

Today I am going to share a Psalm with you. Last night, Adam + I read Psalm 139 as part of our devotions together. This Psalm contains several verses about how God has 'fearfully + wonderfully' made us and 'knit us together in our mother's womb', which are probably familiar sounding passages to you, even if you didn't know where in the Bible they were from. 

What struck me as we read through the whole Psalm was how powerful all the other verses were that I wasn't personally as familiar with. I was especially drawn to verses 23-24, the very last words of the Psalm, as a personal prayer this week.

This morning I was excited that a quick Pinterest search on this Psalm produced hundreds of images highlighting the great words found within. So today, I am encouraging you to read through Psalm 139 below - what verses are you drawn to? What challenges you? What gives you hope?

My personal prayer this week. 

Drink coffee. Read books. Be happy.

Really, my daily life can be as simple or as complicated as I let it become. The reality is that, most days my mantra need only be:

I mean really, those 3 things in some capacity [most days] are about as simple as a to-do list should get.  Especially considering the books I try to read the most are all found in the Bible. "Be happy". That is one part of this list that does trip me up. "Happy" isn't always easy when mornings are too early, work days are too long, and close friends and family are too far away. So today,

Joy to me can be a foundation for feelings when "happy" just doesn't cut it.  An emotion that has solidity where happiness can be incredibly fleeting and subjective. Joy comes from a deeper place. A place where I daily seek to 

Let go. Let God. 4 words that are freeing and yet also inevitably the start of adventure that becomes my every day life [especially working full-time in ministry].  God [whether I 'let' Him or not] loves me so much that He grows my faith and works on my heart everyday. My faith growing is a daily adventure, which may seem like a funny way to think about the 24 hours in any given day [as an adventure], but I want you to take a moment and consider this:

I read all this...

An adventure to learn that

and to 

Adventure is the best way to learn that

Because, simply put, 

seriously. everyone.

But each day is never to short to

because:

So on this daily adventure of life, I try to

I love weekends!

I must say that I LOVE weekends, and more than that, I love weekends more when Sunday night shows up and I feel both rested and prepared for my week ahead (This was last night for me, woohoo!!). While lots of life events are already behind me this semester, there are many more right around the corner - (Easter, finding out where my internship for the next year will be, a retreat, orientation for my internship, Big Day of Serving in Chicago...the whole school/classes/homework piece) - you guys get the idea! This weekend in particular was my last weekend of calm before the storm, so I tried my best to focus on relaxing - lucky me a few good movies were on tv to help!


Since my last post caught you all up (somewhat) on big life stuff that has been happening for me, now I can share some tools I have found and enjoy using to grow in my healthier lifestyle. Spiritual, emotional/mental, and physical health are all super important parts of any person's life so I divided my favorites up into those categories!

Spiritual

My favorite devotional tool is you version which is a great Bible resource! Best part about it that I LOVE are all of the reading plans and devo ideas they already have set-up for you to choose & they will even email them to you every day. I just started a new series on wisdom today.

Physical

To help keep up with what foods I am eating each day and making sure that I am consuming a healthy balance of calories/fats/carbs/proteins...etc, I find myfitnesspal to be very helpful, mostly because you can download it as an app for blackberry or iphone/ipod (in addition to using it online). Super user friendly, they have most foods you would ever eat already in their database AND a super fun barcode scanner built into their app to add foods that they don't have! EASY.

Workout/fitness wise, for the last couple of months myself (along with my awesome & encouraging boyfriend Adam, and our friend Kevin) have been doing the beach body Insanity workout series. We are currently on Day 40 out of 60. Every day these workouts find a new way to kick my butt, however its all cardio paced so the variety keeps me focused/motivated.


Now that the weather is nice (shocking for spring in Chicago!), I have also been able to start fitting running back in, and since there is a website/app for everything, I currently enjoy using dailymile to keep track of my runs! Best feature: in addition to keeping track of how far I ran/pace, it also lets me add details like how the weather was, how I felt, how much effort I put into the run...and some other fun ones!

Emotional/Mental

I find (and this is not really profound, just true), but I find that when I am in God's Word, eating well and working out consistently those together have the biggest influence on the stability of my emotional state! (Talk to me on a day when all 3 are out of whack, and its a BAD day!) So besides those 3, some other basics of this for me involve: calling my mom almost everyday, finding time to read, cooking and trying new recipes, and my girly and guilty pleasure - Pinterest. Ladies, you understand this! :) While I don't have any fun apps or websites (besides my pinterest) to share for this category of emotional health, and my mom probably wouldn't appreciate me handing her cell phone number out to the world, I WILL share a picture of my most recent recipe adventure (and link to the blog I found it from!)

Most recent! This was dinner Saturday night! (WORTH IT to make the pizza dough from the recipe if you have the time!) Here is the recipe link: YUMMY.

Any other fun tools you all use whether for growing spiritually, physically, or emotionally - please share!!! 

Blessings on everyone's Mondays (and week ahead!!!) Love, Kyla.