Personal Testimony

I had to post this picture of Brandon and Brylee....Brylee is never this calm, it was sweet! Just plain, both in white tops...I love it.

This picture is the beast, and 3 of your fellow beauties! We went for a bike ride today, 36 minutes, and I must say it was pretty tough. Tougher than we thought it would be. We stopped at 22 minutes, did lunges & squats in the street, it felt good. LOL. I bet some of you are glad you don't live near the beast!

Left to right in picture: Beast, Courtney, Amber, Audra.

On Wednesdays I am going to try to post some sort of motivational blog entry that has to deal with life, as well as reaching goals. I think it's important to fill your mind and your heart with encouraging things in order to achieve your dreams.

Today I want to share my testimony. Not my religious testimony this time, but my testimony that has to do with my body. I wrote this about 3 years ago when I was on my journey to getting my blackbelt. They call it a journey, because it is a day by day process. You just have to take it one day at a time, just like the challenge we are doing. Anyway, I wrote it a while back, but I feel like it contains some life lessons that all of us can grow from. So I want to share it with you.

The lesson I want us to focus on this week is believing in ourselves, and loving ourselves. Some of you, actually I would say many of you, find your self worth in your outward appearance. You feel like if you could just look a certain way then everything else would be better. But I have to tell you, you have it backwards. Because I thought like that for a long time. And I learned that you must get the inside right first, it matters more. Here is my story...

Five years ago I weighed 173 pounds, about 48 pounds more than I weigh now. I was extremely unhappy with myself and disappointed at the road I had taken to get to that point. Not only was I unsatisfied with my physical appearance, I was broken down mentally and emotionally. Just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse, God brought a person into my life that would soon begin to turn things around for me. She was my college roommate and for whatever reason she made it her goal to help me meet my personal goal.

Her name was Robyn. At the time, I thought my personal goal was simply to lose 50 pounds, but later I realized there was much more to it than that. Over the next 6 months the pounds began to shed and not much longer after that I had reached my goal weight. I was finally to the point where I thought I would be content, but in all actuality, I was as far from content as I could get. Somehow over that year my mindset changed and I began to place my worth in my weight. I would have to say that was the biggest, negative turning point in my life, because I was setting myself up for failure. Having that mindset was like a cancer, it spread into every area in my life and basically destroyed me.

I feel it is important for you to know where I am coming from in order for you to understand the true impact that Martial Arts has had on my life. Up until November of 2005, I was still living in the same destructive mindset and allowing it to control my every move. Not many people around me knew it, I hid it well, but I knew it. My husband knew it. The day I attended my first kickboxing class I felt that something was different about this place. We worked out to a Christian CD, which uplifted me and encouraged me the entire hour. Just being there felt good and I knew that God sent me to that door. I had walked in the door of Premier to change my body physically, but I had no idea of how it would change me mentally.

Martial Arts taught me the importance of loving myself. It has shown me that you have to believe in yourself if you are ever going to meet your goal in becoming a black belt or anything in life. It has opened my eyes so many nights and reminded me that it is not all about the pounds. If the outside is beautiful, but inside is suffering, then you still have a lot of work to do. People always say "It's whats on the inside that counts." I never really believe that, until I was the perfect weight and I was still miserable. I couldn't enjoy the outside because my heart was broken, and crushed. I had to learn to accept myself, for how God made me, and let it be. Yes, I am still working out, but lucky for me I am also overcoming a mindset that I once thought would destroy everything I had. Each day I go the gym, I am one step closer to reaching a goal that is much more important than my weight.

And that goal is accepting myself for who I am because I am worth a lot more than I ever gave myself credit for. Martial Arts impacts everyone in a different way, but for me it has challenged me in an amazing way. It has given me faith in myself and I will forever be grateful.

Its important to remember that God’s plan is always bigger than ours, and he has funny ways of helping us through situations.

It is neat for me to read that, 3 years later, and know that it is still working for me now. It's true, all of it. I hope that as all of you continue to strive to meet you goals, you will pay attention to your "inside." Not just the outside. Love yourself, pray for yourself, speak positive words to yourself, and your journey will have much more meaning....and it will last longer than 42 days.

Just a couple of pictures from today. It is 85 degrees here so it was great playing/working out weather! Keep up the good work!