Headed on my FIRST Mission Trip

God is so incredibly amazing! I went to a New Year's singles Conference in Miami entitled In Your Wildest Dreams! I was blown away by it because it truly did bring Ephesians 3:20 to life for me. I knew that coming back home I just wanted to focus on giving myself away for God and I knew that I wanted to do more outreach and to serve in the community more. The very same week that I returned one of the Elder's announced that there was going to be an Evangelistic mission trip to an Island Called Grenada and that the ministry there consisted of only three singles. As soon as I heard the announcement I KNEW I wanted to go. But how? I just came off of a mini vacation. My job is exceptionally busy and there was just NO WAY my boss was going to let me go on an 8 day vacation in just TWO months to go on a mission trip.... So I prayed to God and said God if it is your will for me to go please let my boss give me the time off. If she does, than all the other financial arrangements and details will be worked out by you and I will plan in faith. Now mind you my boss tends to weigh out all the details and takes a few days to give feed back so I sent my vacation request the very next day FULLY expecting her to take a few days to evaluate my projects and ask me a few questions (as is her protocol). Well to my surprise, my boss APPROVED my vacation the VERY SAME DAY I asked for it! I was in awe and KNEW from that moment that no obstacle would keep me from going on my first mission Trip!

Now you do know that satan wasn't going to make it easy for your sister right? I started looking for flights and could not find not one. The ONE I did find was over $800. But I said "God I know you already have this worked out. You will help me find a flight and $800 is like a penny to you. You will provide! A few days later I got a Facebook message from a near and dear friend communicating that God laid it on her heart to give me $300 to go on my mission trip. I was so encouraged and grateful. I even said to her you know based on my prayer, I am not surprised though incredibly grateful.

Now back to the flight dilemma.. Two weeks pass and I finally ask one of the Elders to help me and he enlisted his Travel Agent to help me find a flight. Down to the wire---meaning one week before my trip my flight was booked to the tune of $996! No worries because my God has got it. Flight booked...budget tight and I do mean TIGHT! Then here comes another blessing because another resource gave me $250 to help me go on my mission trip. WOW!!!! My Daddy is amazing!! And as if that wasn't enough I got $1,000 MORE than I anticipated on my tax refund! Hmmm.. coincidence?.. I THINK NOT! MY DADDY is amazing!

So here I stand this Wednesday night, half packed, already introduced to my room mate and planning to have a prayer conference tomorrow night with the four sisters that I know are coming from the USA. I KNOW God is going to do amazing things in spite of me! I pray to see him glorified and I pray to see my faith increased beyond my wildest dreams!

GRENADA HERE I COME!!!!!!!

PS - Thanks to Cynthia Ellison as she inspired me to blog about my experience while in Grenada but hey I figured I would get a head start!

Extreme Makeover: ME Edition

Well I have been off track with doing this but week Amber had a focus I just did not want to miss! Thank you Amber for your blog and inspiration! I love it!

This week's question:

What's your favorite beauty secret?
I know this has nothing to do with losing weight, per se, but on the other hand, it has everything to do with feeling good about yourself. So, in a sense, they go hand in hand.

My favorite beauty secret is DRINK LOTS OF WATER! It works miracles for the skin!

Extreme Makeover--Me Edition

This week's question from Amber:

Show us your inspiration picture. Of yourself skinny, of yourself fat, of a celebrity that inspires you to keep going.

Firstly I joined a weight loss group at my church. The condition for joining is to start by paying $20. We weigh in weekly and if you gain you have to pay $2. If you MISS a weigh in, it is $5. The group meets for 12 weeks and at the end of that twelve weeks two people split the money in the pot. The one that has lost the most weight and the one that has lost the most inches. Before this group I actually lost a good amount of weight from August to December doing a HCG diet that my entire office was doing. It worked great and I plan to engage in it again. However it is EXCEPTIONALLY expensive i.e. $250 a month. I stopped when I got laid off from my job in December, started eating loads of

carbs and as a result gained all but 10 lbs back!

Not sure if any of you have ever heard of Dailplate.com but it is a great site that allows you to track your weight loss and is TOTALLY Free! It has the caloric count for just about any and everything you eat! It also has great support groups online too!

Now where I am today? I have not had a disciplined week at all. I have been eating only twice a day, only worked out ONE day last week. In spite of all of that, I lost 2 lbs – YIPPEE!!!. Now, I am deciding to be exceptionally open and share my weight. I want this journey to be open to all so you can share my victories and my defeats

. I weighed in at 230 lbs today during our weigh in.

This is a progress pic of me from when I was on HCG Weight Loss Program October of Last year!

Goals for this week:

Cook my lunch for the week on Sunday

Work out 4 days a week

Drink 100 oz of water a day

Log my progress on dailyplate.com

Extreme Makeover--Me Edition

I introduced my BFF Tecia to blogging and she has taken off with it! So proud of her! She met an online friend named Amber and I really like her blog so I am following to do the things below! Come join me!

Directions: Every week, you'll do a specific post on your blog in regards to Extreme Makeover--Me Edition.

----Pretty much, just update us on your progress. How did your week go? Did you struggle? How were you successful? Do you have any great tips? {I think it's also important to celebrate even little successes}

----Answer the specific question or topic that I pose each week.

After you've finished your post, view that specific post {either view your blog & click on the title of that post, or go 'edit posts' and 'view'}. Grab the url and post it into Mr. Linky. Simple as that!!

--------------------------------------------------------------

This week's question...

"We're all here at EM:ME because we're unhappy with our bodies, or our health; there are things that we are trying to change.
But today you must share one thing with everybody that you absolutely love about yourself"

WHAT I LOVE ABOUT ME!

• MY SMILE
• MY ABILITY TO ENCOURAGE
• MY OPTIMISTIC SPIRIT
• MY CREATIVE SKILLS
• MY LOVE FOR PEOPLE

REFUSE to Entertain it!

Release the hurt.....

Release the fear.

Refuse to entertain your old pain.

The energy it takes to hang onto the past is holding you back from a new life!

Objections

Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must first be overcome.

~Samuel Johnson~

Wordless Wednesday