My man. His health. Our journey.

A while back I shared this post about when God sometimes rolls back the curtain of what He has been doing in our lives that we aren't aware of.  Quoting John Piper, "God is always doing 10,000 things when we can only see 3."    I had been on a weight loss wellness journey that had changed the dynamics of how we eat around here and then we found out that Nick had type 2 diabetes. You can see how high his numbers were in the post….it is still amazing to me that he did not have a heart attack or something while we weren't aware of what was going on in his body. (607 triglycerides!! YIKES)  He was diagnosed in early Janurary and  I wrote about it in February. He  was already on the right track with his diet and was determined to not be dependent on medicine to control the diabetes.

Well, it's been six months since then and Nick went back for his check up and had more blood work done recently.   His numbers are astounding.  And on top of that, he's lost about 50 pounds.  I am so proud of his self control and desire to live a healthy life.    Together we have lost right at 100 pounds!

 I will let you read his thoughts on it in his own words.  If you follow Nick on Instagram then you know how gifted he is with taking a picture of something ordinary and then tying God's truth to it to teach a point.  This is what he shared last week about his results. 

Blood... your blood, my blood, our blood tells a story. A few months ago we shared with you that my blood was telling me that it couldn't keep up with the burden that I was giving it to carry. It was doing all that it could to supply life to my body but I wasn't helping it do what it was designed to do. I was filling my veins with sugar and my blood was begging and pleading with my doctor to do whatever was necessary to place it into the "witness protection program." When the scrutiny of the lab finished its investigation, both the analysis and polygraph validated the blood's story... I was found guilty and convicted for attempted murder against my own life and was sentenced to life with no possibility of sugar and carbs. What evidence did they have against me? My blood told them about my numbers --- and the numbers don't lie: 
(1) Blood Sugar: 285 (High)
(2) A1C: 10.1 (off the charts)
(3) Cholesterol:  222 (High)
(4) Triglycerides: 607 (Extreme)

(5) Blood pressure: 140/90
Well, I had a gracious Judge and He reduced my sentence down, ordered me to educate myself about my blood and He put me on probation... until my next blood test. Skip a few months, and after some lifestyle changes, cleaning up my act and folks like you praying for me, my blood was questioned again recently. This is what it said: 
(1) Blood Sugar: 98 (Great)
(2) A1C: 5.4 (Good)
(3) Cholesterol: 157 (Good)
(4) Triglycerides: 112 (Glorious) 

(5) Blood pressure: 100/60

I'm grateful for friends who have prayed and encouraged me through this... and so thankful that the blood still speaks... yours, mine, and most importantly, Jesus'. What's yours and His saying to you? Blessings friends... let it speak! Hebrews 12:24 

Is that not incredible!! I share all this to encourage someone who needs to make changes in their diet for their health's sake. You CAN do it. Nick and I love food.  We love cooking food.  We love eating food. We  love to fellowship with people around the table and food is just a big part of who we are.   So we understand the pull that food can have on a persons life!  

But I'm here to testify that you can still enjoy food and eat lots of it if you learn how to eat the right stuff.  We are proof of that.   We have introduced ourselves to new foods and have discovered new ways to cook old favorites that are more healthy..  it can be done.

Now grant it, gone are the days of baking my own bread, and having yeast rolls or biscuits or corn bread or  fresh, hot melty french bread with every meal.  But I can honestly say I don't miss it.  I will occasionally enjoy a roll or a po-boy on french bread when we eat out but we never keep them at home anymore. 

At first such choices had to be thought about consciously.  Now, it's second nature.  It has become our way of life.   We don't even go down the chip aisle anymore at the grocery store but instead by huge bags of almonds to eat for a snack. Our refrigerator is always full with fresh fruit and vegetables and now my pantry has lots of room on its shelves because we buy limited cans and stuff that comes in boxes.  And y'all.  We feel so much better.  

For you ladies who have husbands who are not on board with your desire to eat and cook healthy choices, I understand that makes it harder but it is still doable.  It is our responsibility as wives and mothers to make the right choices of what we feed our families…even when it comes with resistance.  As I stated in my first post, I shudder to think what could have happened to Nick had I not started him reluctantly down the road to eating healthy when I did.   My own dad died of heart disease at the young age of 43.  So I get the reality of what poor food choices can bring.

But I will say this….it is a thousands times more fun now that Nick is walking with me on this journey.  In fact, he's running way ahead now pulling me along!  He's the one who gets in the kitchen and experiments with new ways of cooking foods and I am so thankful.  God did exceedingly and abundantly more than I had ever imagined or hoped for.  So ladies, pray for those men of yours.  Be persistent and keep making the best choices you can on your own and let God do a work in his heart.  It may take something major to get him on board…like diabetes did with Nick.  But, don't give up.  Just keep offering yummy alternatives with a smile and a whisper in his ear of how you want him healthy enough to grow old with you. Because as I've said many times before…Paw Paws are sexy!

(cuff by farmgirlpaints.  Thank you Home Slice. xxoo)

I'll leave with you some great before and after pics.
Because sometimes seeing is believing!

 He has gone from wearing a size 38 to a size 33!

Woah!

We were "puffy". lol

This one kills me. Puffy and blondie.

I'm so thankful beyond measure of this new journey the Lord us on.
I'm thankful we woke up and began our "temple maintenance" before it was too late.

What about you?  Today is the best day to start taking care of what the Lord has entrusted to you.
Your body and your family.

I'll be praying for you!  You can do it!

When God rolls back the curtain.

"God is always doing 10,000 things in your life, and you may be aware of three of them."    ~ John Piper

A dear friend sent me a link to this article written by John Piper and it has resonated in my heart ever since.  Through the years as I have grown deeper in God's word,  one of my favorite qualities of God's character is His sovereignty.  Knowing that all things in my life have a purpose….that all things are filtered through his love…this makes the hard things easier to embrace.  Knowing He has allowed it for a purpose. (Romans 8:28-29,  Psalm 66)

I understand this principle and have seen it time and time again in my life and my family.

And this statement above…that He's always doing a ton of stuff when we can only see a few has just hit home with me.  Because He recently rolled back the curtain and let me peek in on what He has been doing in me and Nick's lives.

Y'all remember the little challenge  my girls and I started last April amongst the four of us?

Losing to Gain?

It has been a tremendous journey for me.  Life changing.  It started off as one thing and ended up being another. What I thought was a little jump start to get me to lose weight so that I could look nice for my daughter's wedding ended up becoming a whole new way of life for me.

A life filled with daily exercise, learning to run, and a whole new mind set when it comes to food.

In the midst of that journey, I totally changed the way we eat around here.  The way I cook for me and Nick. We began to eat whole foods.  Fresh fruit and vegetables began to be a staple around here.   Gone were the days of consuming entire bags of Flaming Hot Cheetos and Diet Dr. Peppers, deep frying everything and smothering all my vegetables down in bacon grease and butter.  We began to eat our salads without drowning them in dressing and I discovered coconut oil (we are talking game changer, people).  Our snacks became roasted almonds, sliced carrots, hummus, hard boiled eggs and edamame.  And my favorite of all faves….avocados. They get tossed, chopped and smeared  on everything.  Of course, every now and then I would buy Nick a bag of Doritos or pig skins or something but he too pretty much began to eat just like me.  

So here we are trucking along.  Eating better. Dropping pounds. Nick wasn't even trying to lose weight but hey….if you eat healthier that's what is gonna happen.

And this is where God rolled back the curtain and showed me that what I thought was all about me losing weight on this journey of losing to gain, 

He was doing something far greater.

He was saving Nick's life.

You see, what we didn't know during this time was that Nick had developed diabetes. 

We always knew it might be in his future.  His dad is diabetic and we knew it's hereditary.  And then there is the way Nick loves to cook and loves to eat.  If any of you follow him on Instagram or Facebook, you know how he enjoys his food.  He's my favorite foodie.

Well with Nick's military background he qualifies for medical care from the VA and he went for a routine check up in the beginning of January.  When his blood work came back, his blood sugar was 285!  His a1c was 10.5!  His blood pressure was elevated and his triglycerides were off the charts high. Now with all of this being this high after 8 months of eating healthy, I shutter to think what could have happened had I not started down the road of losing to gain!!  I understand the reality of what can happen from living an unhealthy lifestyle …. Nick is the exact same age that my own dad was when he died from heart disease.  

But of course God knew this all along.  I would even go as far to say this is why He planted this little idea in my mom's heart…to host the contest for us girls.  She may have thought it was to help get us motivated to lose weight but I know God used her to play a pivotal part in the health of her son-in-law's life.

"God is always doing 10,000 things in your life, and you may be aware of three of them."

Wow.  Yes He is. And I'm so thankful for that.  

And just so you know…Nick has punched diabetes in the face.

He is down 30 lbs.  His blood sugar has been pretty much normal the last several times we've checked it.  His blood pressure has been great.  We are expecting great results at his next check up with his a1c. He has taken it serious and I am so proud of him.  Since we had already made so many changes in our diet, we only had to tweak how we were eating just a little bit more. So a new diet wasn't a challenge for us.   We actually are having fun in the kitchen together and have even taken it up a notch with creating our own recipes on this journey.  

Who knows?  A cookbook might even come out of all this.  

Perhaps that's something else the Lord is working on behind the curtain too!

That gets me excited!

This is the year we begin what we call "temple maintenance".  We now realize that we spent too many years abusing what the Lord has given us with our bodies and health.  We want to do our part to take care of it starting now. We want to be around to enjoy our grand kids if the Lord wills.

 ….and we have a lot of living still left in us.

It would mean so much to me, if you could lift us up and intercede on our behalf as we learn more about this disease and how to make the best choices for our new way of living.

I appreciate each and every one of you.

Walk in obedience, do the hard things….you never know what God is doing through what you can't see.

Hang in there…sometimes He gives us a peek behind the curtain. But even when He doesn't, we can trust Him.  That's one of the rich benefits of belonging to Him.

He is always at work in our lives.  Always.