Matthew 28:19

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

September 16, 2007, can you imagine how special it was for me to be baptised with my grandSon, Junior? He and I have been on this new journey together since February 2006. Pastor Sam baptised both of us. I went to the membership class that Pastor Sam taught and knew it had to be him to baptise us! It was an amazing day, GOD IS GOOD....ALL THE TIME!

I believe that full immersion baptism symbolizes "burial" and a "new person" being born. It's a commitment Junior and I willingly took to demonstrate visually the changes going on within us.

There are some countries that fervently prohibit Christianity and anything associated with it. For instance, in some countries people are baptised in secret so as not to be murdered for what is seen as renouncing their culture religion or belief. But their belief in God is so strong, they don't care where they are baptised; including rivers swimming with snakes, etc.

How strong is your belief? What are you willing to do in faith? Do you walk in the "world" or in the Word of God? None of us are perfect. Being baptised didn't make me perfect! It didn't make it easier to tune out the world. For me this was a show of obedience and my belief in the Word of God; the Son, Jesus; and the Holy Spirit. Will I still encounter problems? Will I have complaints? Will I have worries? Yes to all but I now know WHO to Trust, WHO to Thank, and WHO to Ask when any of it occurs! THANK YOU LORD!

It's Not a Diet, It's a Lifestyle Change!

How many times have you tried to lose weight? Two, 10? More? And what's the first thing they tell you...."this is not a diet...it's a lifestyle change!" Don't you just want to punch them when they say this? And the person telling you this is always thin, right?

I have been on so many diets, I bet some of them are not even on the market anymore! No, I'm serious! Is the Pritikin diet still around? If I remember correctly, it was a high fiber diet. Then there was the Scarsdale diet (I believe he was the one that was murdered by his girlfriend! coincidence? you decide!), high protein if I remember correctly. I also tried the grapefruit diet, the boiled egg diet, the 1200 calorie diet and when that didn't work, the 1500 calorie, of course that didn't work, so I'll try the 1800...need I say more? Somewhere in there was the cabbage soup diet...OH, I CAN'T BEAR TO GO ON! Somebody, somewhere is driving the Mercedes I bought them when I bought all of their books, etc.!

The program that worked the best for me was Weight Watchers (WW). I ALWAYS lost weight and did so well, then....what's that song, "Never Can Say Good-bye" (Jackson 5), I was NEVER able to say good-bye forever to the pounds I lost. So I was up and down for years and years. I consistently had, and I AM TOTALLY EMBARRASSED to admit this, 4 sizes of clothes in my closet! Now you KNOW that's just WRONG! Worse yet, I've only been in Arizona 20 months and I ALREADY have TWO sizes of clothes in my closet!

Now, I don't know how, I don't know when, but I'm starting to get this "lifestyle" thing. My friend Leslie and I have been doing WW by ourselves. We started 4 weeks ago and it's been going very well, slow, but better this time. I really have Leslie to thank for that, she said something to me that no one had ever said; "Jackie, you don't need to face this alone, God wants to help you, ask Him for help whenever you get to feeling you can't make it." I thought, come on Leslie, surely God has more important things to address than helping me lose weight!

But THAT is just what I did, every morning I pray for help in making the right food choices. And here I am, for the first time EVER, not feeling deprived, hungry, or angry! Oh, don't get me wrong, I'm still overweight, but I'm 9 lbs lighter than I was 4 weeks ago! I can live with that! Slow and easy wins the race, right?

I am putting this in writing so that I can FINALLY get rid of those big sizes of clothes I keep in the back of the closet and that I ultimately bring out before too long; but also to get healthier. Being heavy and having arthritis just doesn't go hand-in-hand! But I also want to share with you in case anything I've written sounds familiar maybe it will get you to start thinking about where you're at. Listen, it doesn't matter which program you prefer there is only one way to lose weight and get healthy and we all know it...eat less, period dot com! And if you're able to exercise, you KNOW that REALLY helps. After all, it's not a diet.....