A One time opportunity to Ask the King for Anything

As I was reading this morning Psalm 2, I paused at the words in verse 8: "Ask of Me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for your possession." As many of other Bible readers have experienced, I've read this psalm many times and each time there is something new. At the moment, another verse came to mind. We were talking in our Life Group on Sunday morning in Matthew 7:7: "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you." And as the discussion progressed, it was mentioned surely Jesus did not mean for us to ask for that new Mercedes or Lexus. Or, as someone mentioned, telling others that God will definitely heal a person and insisting on praying louder for the miracle trying to 'twist' the hand of God as another person said he was taught growing up in a particular denomination. The question came again, how do we ask? What do we ask for? So this morning I thought, what if I'm before the KING of Kings and was directly told, "Ask of me and I will give you the nations..." after all, this Scripture is talking to me too. I thought, "I'm before HIM. What will be my request?" I really wanted to know what is in my heart so I knelt and imagined HIM at HIS throne, What is my request?, I asked myself again. And then, another part of Scripture came to mind, Matthew 14 when a request was presented to another king. The daughter of King Herod's live-in-lover and sister-in-law danced before the king on his birthday and "it pleased" him. So, "he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask." (v.7 NKJV) The young girl could have asked for anything, even part of the kingdom which meant she could receive tribute (payments) from its people. She could have asked for jewelry or even to have her own palace with lots of servants. She could have secured her future. But instead she asked for the head of John the Baptist. We all know Solomon also was presented with the opportunity, directly from God, to ask for anything. And we find Esther too, before a king with a petition for life - hers and her people. "Now, here I'm Lord before you. What is it I really want/need", I prayed. With tears in my eyes, thinking of the magnitude of such a moment, I looked around me and through the windows in my living room. I saw the big yard where I want a beautiful garden with water ponds and resting/inviting areas to read the Bible, meditate, rest or just be. I thought of the additional rooms for homeless women. I looked at the carport, oh, how many times I have driven around town and seen carports with a second floor surrounded by windows. My ideal sewing area, big and full of natural light. There are things unfinished in the house, I thought and we need money to complete them. The bathtub area is not tiled yet and the sheet-rock is getting wet. We don't have a door in the shower either and I don't like having a curtain instead of glass doors. Then I closed my eyes and said again, "What do I want to ask for. If this is my only request before you Lord, what does my heart want." And the words came without thinking, "I want your presence to be with me wherever I go, wherever I'm. I want you; more of you, less of me." And really, that's all I need; that's all we need though we not all may see it this way. If we have HIM, there is nothing we need. Come trouble times, financial hardships, adversity strikes in the form of illness or lost of a loved one, and if I have HIM, HIS peace will surround me, HIS love will sustain me. The words of the psalmist came to mind, and I made them mine, "I want to dwell in the secret place of the Most High, I want to abide under the shadow of the Almighty." How beautiful, how peaceful. I finished my prayer request, "I want you to be with me everywhere I go. I want you, Lord. You are all I need."

Exercising & Losing Weight: A Non-New Year Resolution

The end of April marked 121 days of the year so far and I wonder how many New Year's resolution are still being observed. I don't do resolutions. It has been awhile since I last did. I'm talking probably 15 yrs. The reason? I use to beat myself up when I couldn't keep them or just fooled myself by thinking "Well, it wasn't really a resolution, more like wishful thinking." So I finally stopped. Last Christmas however, I requested an exercise video "Get your body ripped in 90 days" and resolved to myself that 'eventually' I'd do the exercises and stick to them for two reasons. I needed to lose some weight (about 15-20 pounds) and since I had to exercise, why not try and prove if this works or not. Basically, to see what all the buzz is about. You see every time they advertise a weight losing program, they only use models that are perfectly fit, six packs and all so you'd think that can be you "EASILY". Well, at least this program starts with the host saying, "It is not easy; that's why it is called 'workout'. You have to push yourself but once you do, you will have changed your body." I have always exercise and used to walk 5 miles. But for a while I have completely stopped. Time, busyness, just plain lazy sometimes. Well, again, I was going to do this, and since not as a resolution - I kept telling this to myself - I waited until I felt "ready". Basically, having a place set - the bedroom or my office, mentally prepared, etc. Sometime by the end of January, I started. First, I sat and watched the first in the series of about 10 DVDs, to see how difficult they would be and what did I need (weights, exercise ball, a mat) and there was a DIET PROGRAM included! See, I knew it! No one says anything about dieting when they advertised the program. Is all about getting 30 minutes of workouts each day. I read through the diet plan. A 5-meal a day program with lots of items I never heard of like "Ezequiel 3:39 Cereals". Well, I decided that if I was to prove if the program works, I had to do the diet thing. After spending two days thinking all day about food - you know eating about every two hours - I realized I couldn't live like this. Thinking of food have never been a big part of my day and I wasn't going to start now. My husband and relatives tease me about eating like the birds, small portions and only when I'm hungry. Except for my love with coffee that is defined by my sister-in-law as "a relationship" (referring to her habit) I would control what I ate. I also found myself eating more than what I was used to during those two days and in a way I did not like that. After all, I needed to lose weight. I kept with the exercises but decided I wasn't going to become a 'health-nut' but I would watch what I eat and also incorporate some of the principles like: not eating sugar (except the one in my coffee, I wasn't going to sacrifice that), eat whole wheat whenever possible, avoid sugar-filled cereal (sorry, Lucky Charms, see you in 90 days), eat more vegetables and fruits, eat the egg whites, have a breakfast that did not consist of cinnamon rolls and coffee, etc. Well, I found out it is extremely expensive to eat healthy. Fruits and vegetables have to be purchased almost daily as they go bad too fast so I purchase small portions. Whole wheat bread (the real thing) cost about $3 more than the advertised as 'whole' but not 100%. I also learned to read labels. I educated myself on calories and decided to watch what I ate and count calories as I wasn't going to submit to the program's diet (the cereal mentioned above costs about $7/box! and the taste is not great at all). I learned a lot about food. But as I said, I wasn't going to become a health-nut nor criticize my friends for eating greasy food or empty calories. I was going into this with a purpose and ended up with more benefits that I had imagined. I'm not a fast-food person so that was not hard to give up but I did have to change my eating habits. I discovered a whole new world of flavors I have been depriving myself of since I limited my eating to cakes, cookies, and coffee with some Puerto Rican food whenever I craved some. (I used to describe myself as a steak and potatoes but I also do love Italian food.) Now, I was not eating any of the things I was used to eat and had to plan and look for recipes to accommodate my strength training exercises. I became an expert in soups, creamy soups that is. I used to say, "I don't eat soups" as I like my food to be sort of crunchy not bland. But soups were part of the diet program and I needed to come up with some I would enjoy. Tomato soup, avocado soup, bean and pumpkin soup are some of the few I cooked and my family loved. I learned there are green onion (yeah, I did not know about these) and that these make the soups tasteful along with cilantro and crushed red pepper. Things I never used before to cook as I limited myself to what I felt was 'safe' for my taste buds. The green onions thing was kind of interesting/funny. My husband said to me once he tasted the tomato soup, "those green things, do you buy them already chopped?" I said, "yes, Amarilys (daughter) bought them." and I showed him the container which he looked at to remember to buy (he cooks when working out of town). Later, I went to Kroger and Alberton's looking for the green onions on the see-through container. Couldn't find it. I thought these supermarkets do not sell green onions :) Then in another occasion, while looking for cilantro, it occurred to me to look for then non-chopped version. And I found them! That was how much I knew about veggies and spices as I limited my cooking to yellow onions, garlic and peppers. I started looking for new recipes which were flavor-full but low in calories and I did find quite a few. Not only did I discovered a new world of flavors, I started drinking more water (already drank 4 bottles a day now I'm up to 8) since the program required two bottles after every meal and before breakfast. As a consequence, my three - four cups of coffee per day were reduced to one except for weekends when my husband was home. I did not even crave it. Sweets was the hard part as this was my weakness. I truly believe in eating desert first (in case after dinner I wouldn't have 'room' for it. I went for three weeks without cookies and cakes. Then I started counting calories and decided to use my sister-in-law's method of allowing myself to eat desert only on weekends. Candies, which I used to snack on or keep in the car for those times I did not have time to eat, completely disappeared from my shopping. I would pass by the aisle and not even felt tempted to buy. I found out that the least you eat something (like cakes and candies) the least you miss them. We get used to things. We adapt. And that helped a lot. Bread was hard as we use to have bread every day. But that too is now under control. I always felt I have good self-control but this program really reaffirmed that. As a Christian and teacher, am always reminding my disciples that this is one of the fruit of the Spirit and we have to exercise self-control in every area of our lives. We are not guided by the pleasures of the flesh nor by every desire but by the Spirit. One thing though I never got. I did not feel better after exercising; like more energetic, ready to do more on my day. I felt like lying on the floor and resting; taking a nap or just lie there. I have always exercise before and I remember feeling energetic. Not now. And every day was a struggle to do them. Even when I started seeing the results. My husband noticed one day when I was changing, "you have a six-pack!". I said, "No, I have four. My belly is still covering the other two." But my fat was being reshaped. That's for sure. But again, even to this day, I fight getting that DVD on and exercising. My end results after 90 days in addition to all I learned about food and changing my eating habits (I do go back every now and then to surviving on coffee depending on the circumstances, but hate it) is that I lost 20 pounds! All around my belly. So, I can say the program works and I must say there were about 4-5 days that I did not follow the program (not in a row though). Whether because of traveling or just got involved in other things, or did not want to do it, I did not exercise all 90 days but did lose the weight. I don't think it would have been as effective without the eating right. It definitely has to be a combination of moving more and eating right. I will continue the program to get my other 2 missing packs, got too! At first, I told myself I did not care for the muscle reshaping thing. I'm 54 yrs old and don't wear 2-piece bathing suits or wear short shirts showing my belly around. But as I started seeing the forms coming along, I started wanting to see if for the 1st time in my life and at this age I can have the body I never had. Well, will see. One of the motivation for me to exercise after 40 was not to get osteoporosis and I was just diagnosed with it. So much for that. But one thing I know, going back to my normal weight makes me feel so much better I even bought new underwear!