Prayers for My Girls

I have two precious baby girls, Olivia (19 months) and Sophie (3 months). I have prayed for both of these girls many times throughout the last few years, especially during my pregnancies. However, the Lord has shown me that, as their mother, it is my responsibility to be an example to my girls and show them what it looks like to be a follower of Christ. God is calling me to follow His lead as He breaks through generational sins that have been in my family for years. Praise the Lord!

In addition, I need to be a Momma on my knees before the Lord, fighting for the souls of my daughters now, before they ever face challenging circumstances. I wish that I could keep my girls from ever feeling emotions like disappointment, hurt, embarrassment, and shame. However, there is absolutely nothing that I can do to prevent Olivia and Sophie from experiencing these harsh realities of life. So, instead of running from hard times, I want to face them head on in prayer trusting that the Lord will use even the ugliest of circumstances to bring glory to Himself through these two precious lives!!

When I first started praying, I wasn't even sure what was important. What did I want to pray over/for my daughters? Thankfully, I found some amazing prayers, which come from two articles written by, Lysa TerKeurst, "If we aren't praying boldly for our kids, who is?" and "10 prayers for your daughter".

10 Powerful Prayers to Help You Fight for the Heart of Your Daughter:

1. Give my daughter a deep desire to listen to You, Lord, and pray often, “What message does my Lord have for his servant?” (Joshua 5:14b).
2. Let her learn early in life that to obey You, God, is the best way to the life her heart truly desires, (1 Samuel 15:22).
3. May she find comfort in Your ability, God, to reach her, hold her, and rescue her, (2 Samuel 22:17-18).
4. May she please You, Lord, by desiring, asking for, and utilizing a discerning heart full of wisdom, (1 Kings 3:9-12).
5. Let her find confidence in You, God, even when hard times come and she doesn’t know what to do, by keeping her eyes fixed on You, (2 Chronicles 20:12).
6. Give her a great desire to accept Your word, God, and store up Your commands within her so her ears will turn to Your wisdom, (Proverbs 2:1-2).
7. May she keep herself under control and not give full vent to people and situations that anger her, (Proverbs 29:11).
8. Give her the ability to rise above the traps of people pleasing so she can be kept safe by trusting You, Lord, (Proverbs 29:25).
9. Let her walk in the security of Your assigned worth to her. Give her a strong work ethic and health to accomplish all her tasks. Give her a heart that desires to extend her hand to those in need. Protect her for the right husband, a man of respect and godly honor. And let her be a woman of joy and laughter whose Christ-centered character is what makes her most beautiful, (Proverbs chapter 31).
10. And every time you, Jesus, whisper, “Follow me” she does so with great grace, (Matthew 4:19).

3 Things I Pray Over My Kids Everyday: 

1. I pray they grow up to be some of the most godly people in their sphere of influence.
2. I pray that they would be caught when they make wrong choices.
3. I pray that God would save them from the wrong friends and save them for the right friends.  And that goes for their future spouses as well.

I know that this is a long list of things to pray for your children and if you are just starting out, this could be overwhelming. That's okay! I have chosen a few things to focus on praying for my girls and written them on 3x5 cards. Throughout the day, I take these cards with me and pray for Olivia and Sophie. It really is just that easy.

"But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind."
- James 1:6

Weekly Weigh In - Small Victories

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I have changed my weigh in day back to Tuesday night, because I am no longer leading the Saturday morning Weight Watchers meeting. Evenings are not my ideal time to weigh in, but it works perfectly with my schedule so for now that's what I am going to be doing.  I prefer for my weigh in time to be in the morning when there is nothing in my belly. However, weighing in Tuesday evening helps me to stay on track throughout the day, because I know that I have to weigh in eventually.

I am excited to share with you that in spite the fact that I changed my weigh in day...I still lost weight this week! In total, I lost 1.2 pounds, which puts me at 169.4 pounds!! For over a month I have not been losing weight, because I have not been seriously committed to the Weight Watchers plan.

My Weight Record

Now that I am back on track, I am using this small victory to help strengthen me as I continue on in my new weight loss journey. I have written Bible verses on 3x5 note cards. These verses help me to remember that my strength comes from the Lord. These verses paired with small weight loss victories like this, help to motivate me to continue on in my weight loss journey.

We do not walk into Weight Watchers with all the motivation we need to get to our goal weight. I believe that God gives us motivation and strength to achieve small goals. These small victories help to motivate us to continue on in our weight loss journey one step at a time, so that we will remember that God is our source of STRENGTH.

What small victories can you celebrate that will help to motivate you to reach your weight loss goals? How can you meet with God and read His word today and ask Him to strengthen you when you need it most?

 "My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." 

- Psalm 73:26

Being Back On Plan

I just wanted to check in with you all really quickly...

Last week, I opened up with all of you about my struggle to get back on the Weight Watchers bandwagon. If you missed that blog post, click here to check it out.

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I am excited to share that every day since I wrote that blog post, I have been on plan with Weight Watchers.

What do I mean by being "on plan"?

For me, being on plan with Weight Watchers means...
1. Keeping track of the food that I eat on my Weight Watchers mobile app.
2. Weighing and measuring the food that I eat.
3. Sticking to my Daily PointsPlus Target and using my Weekly PointsPlus when necessary.
4. Making healthy food choices and focusing on choosing Power Foods.
5. Being aware of my Good Health Guidelines and trying to get them in throughout the day.

My weigh in is tonight and I am excited to see how it goes! Even if I gained, as a result of being off plan at the beginning of the week, that's okay.

I hope that you all have an amazing week!!

"My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." 

- Psalm 73:26

Recent Food Finds

I just realized that I have not posted any new food finds in a long time! Here are some new snacks that are now available in stores near you. I also posted the various serving sizes and pointsplus+ values for each food item.

{Rold Gold Pretzel Thins Garlic Parmesan or Three Cheese}

Serving Size:  1 pouch or 1 ounce / 13 pretzel thins
3 pointsplus+

{Weight Watchers Peanut Butter Cookie Explosion Mini Bars}

Serving Size: 1 mini bar
2 pointsplus+

{Special K Moments Caramel Pretzel Bites}

Serving Size: 1 indulgent snack bite
2 pointsplus+

{Ole Mexican Foods Xtreme Wellness! Spinach & Herb Tortilla Wraps}

Serving Size: 1 tortilla wrap
1 pointsplus+

Be sure to follow me, because all of the new foods that I find get posted to my Instagram (@JenNewsham) and/or my Twitter (@JenNewsham).

Falling Off The Wagon

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I need you to know that I have completely lost my mind and fallen off the weight loss wagon. That's right, for exactly 20 days aka the entire month of March I have been eating whatever I want!

I have not been tracking what I eat. I have not been looking up the pointsplus values of foods. I have not been weighing and measuring my foods. I have not been paying attention to my portions. I have not been eating "Weight Watchers friendly" foods.

How did this happen?

First, our church had a women's conference 20 days ago. This was an incredible event, but it caused my normal routine to be interrupted. I got off plan that weekend and instead I getting right back on plan the next morning, I continued to come up with excuses about why I did not have to get back on plan right away.

Second, last weekend, I turned 30 years old, I mean young. This was a much harder birthday to celebrate than I anticipated. I had such a bad attitude about my birthday and my older age that it spilled into other areas of my life. It was frustrating to celebrate such a significant birthday overweight. I kept thinking that I might as well just eat whatever I want, because I'm never going to get back to my goal weight.

I want my blog to be a place where I can share both my weight loss victories and struggles. I hate admitting the fact that I am not perfect. However, I know that there are many of you out there struggling to reach your weight loss goals, just like me, and you need to know that you will have your own hardships along the way.

What I am here to tell you is that it is in the hard times when we need to turn to God the most! God is there when life is great. But what we often forget is that God wants to carry us through the hard times when we don't feel like we have any strength to continue on.

So, last night, I went before the Lord and confessed my sins and told Him that I need His strength to reach my weight loss goals. Do you know what the Lord gave me in return? Hope. Knowing that God is my source of strength, gives me hope to take it one day at a time to reach my weight loss goals.

Finally, I'm excited to share that I have had a good day on plan! I'm not going to say that I will never fall off the wagon again. However, I hope next time I quickly run to the Lord for His help, because I know that I cannot do this alone.

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." - James 1:2-4

Help Me Brainstorm

I do not even know where to start this morning.

Let me just begin by telling you that it has always been a dream of mine to write a book. I have had this desire for a long time, but I never knew what I would write about in my book. I think that this is one of the main reasons why I started this blog, because I wanted to be able to practice my writing skills without the pressure of feeling like I needed to get my book finished.

Then, this past weekend, I received an email from one of my Living a Changed Life readers. This woman explained that she would be willing to purchase, "Living a Changed Life" in book form.

How exciting!!

Off of the top of my head, this book would include the story of my weight loss journey, recipes, helpful tips, and more.

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So, I guess now I am curious to know what the rest of you think about this idea...

Would you be interested in "Living a Changed Life" the book?

 



I would really love your feedback, so be sure to leave me a comment with any thoughts that you have about this book idea!

Finally, please pray with me as I consider whether or not to take the time to make "Living a Changed Life" into a book. I will need wisdom from the Lord and patience as I begin to see if this is God's will for me right now. Above all else, pray that the Lord will receive all the glory for any book that I am able to put together. Without Him, I would not have a story to tell.

Weight Watchers Event

I would like to invite you all to join me on

April 12th, 2014

 

from 10:30am-noon.

 

My local Weight Watchers Longview store will be hosting

 

a big event called,

"Is it Worth It?"

 



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This event will feature...

 

food demonstrations for a lighter Easter,

 

food comparisons,

 

special guest blogger "Living a Changed Life",

 

and more!

..........

I am so happy to be one of several people speaking at the "Is it Worth It?" Weight Watchers event in April!! I cannot wait to talk with Weight Watchers members about how to take regular recipes from Pinterest and make them more Weight Watchers friendly. I will also demonstrate how changing a few ingredients can cause a significant drop in PointsPlus values per serving size.

For those of you who cannot make it to this event, I will put my presentation together into a blog post and share the information with you that way.