The lesson that I taught in “Leadership Class” yesterday was on accountability. One of the points in the lesson was that we can accomplish just about anything if we get enough help from others. Most of that help being in the way of encouragement, accountability, and counsel. We all, as Christians, recite Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me,” but one of the principles of the class yesterday was that God strengthens us through other people, He doesn’t just pour it directly into us, it would be nice if He did, then I wouldn’t need you. We, as believers have the Holy Spirit indwelling us, but He works in us when we are in interdependent relationships. The Power of the Holy Spirit was not given to us to encourage a self-sufficient, independent attitude. Most people don’t seek help from others because of pride, “I can do it by myself,” and because we want to avoid any feelings of shame that would come from the failure to accomplish our goals. We tend to keep our failures a secret, and pretend we are doing alright.
The goal that I struggle with the most is my weight loss goal and my exercise goal. So I am going to post at the end of each day’s blog my weight, how much I rode my stationary bike, how much I ran/walked on the treadmill, and how much weight lifting I did.
My Parkinson’s has taken a turn for the worse, and I am pretty sure it is because of my diet, extra weight, and apathy in my exercising. It is all an issue of self-discipline. I know all the principles of growing in the character trait of self-discipline, I teach them all the time. One of the principles is that “self-discipline” is not really “self,” it is “others,” I get God’s strength from others; I can’t just crank it up in myself, by myself; God did not create us to be successful on our own, by ourselves for very long.
So, here we go!
Weight – 227 lbs, bike – 45 minutes, treadmill – 0, weight lifting – 0.
Pastor Dee's Blog 
YOU CAN DO IT!
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Keep at it Dee.
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Pastor Dee,
Sending some words of encouragement to you. Thank you for your commitment and perseverance in all things to make yourself more like Christ. I see God’s blessing in your ministry and God’s blessing in your life. I see you are disciplined and you continually work at growing, improving, getting better, and my guess it’s not often that you give up, if ever. I love how you live life to the full and you do things that you really enjoy, that also fill your tank. What a beautiful family you have! I enjoy when you share pictures of the “whole” family! I enjoyed yesterday’s blog…what awesome adventures you have with your sons! I don’t say any of this to put you on a pedestal but to say that all of this encourages me. 🙂
Speaking of yesterday, as I listened to the stories I cannot help but think that the story I wrote is not a feel good, happy story. I know that it doesn’t have to be, but the next two stories that are formulating in my mind are also not necessarily feel good, happy stories either. I guess I’m thinking of things that had some type of impact on me. I’ll have to think….there must be a light hearted story hidden in my mind somewhere! Or write the stories that come to mind, knowing that I will be more passionate about the ones that mean the most to me, and that God can use any of them.
I pray for you every day.
Rosanna
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Praying for you!
Have a successful day!
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I want to encourage you to keep on keeping on.
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Good luck Pastor Dee.I will pray you achieve your goals
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