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Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers. 3 John: 2

Have you ever wanted to step out in faith for a work you felt God was calling you to do yet felt that something was holding you back?

It can be frustrating trying to figure out what you’re missing. Over the years Mary and I have discovered a few things that it takes to be an effective worker for God’s kingdom.

Three Important Steps

1. Availability. God tells us in 2 Chronicles 16:9a “For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His.” God is watching for people who are willing to be used so He can work through them. Mary and I realize the importance of watching for those opportunities that Jesus brings your way. That doesn’t mean you sign up for every opportunity, but for the ones God has prepared in advance for you to do. Knowing what those are takes …
2. Prayer. Prayer should be the foundation for everything we do, including any new works we are considering. We need to pray that God will reveal whether we should be involved and that we will know how to proceed. I like to pray that God will open the doors I should walk through and close the ones I should not. It also helps to be in good …
3. Physical health.  As much as we can control it, we need to make wise choices concerning our fitness and health so that we aren’t limited when Jesus comes calling. Now that’s not to say He can’t use us if we have a chronic illness. What we’re thinking about here is protecting our physical health to the best of our ability by taking care of ourselves.

Seven-Week Online Bible Study/Fitness Challenge

We are excited to announce a 7-week online Bible study and fitness challenge called Faith & Fit that combines all of these things. Will this solve all your challenges? No, but it will jump-start you on the road to spiritual and physical health to help prepare you for what God has next in your life!

Here is what to expect: Every week we will follow a theme for that week, and you will receive two emails, one on Monday morning and one on Friday morning that contain the following:

• Two Everyday Faith challenges (a short video teaching and scripture reading and study questions) and
• Two Everyday Fit challenges (a physical challenge and a food challenge)

• Extra Faith and Extra Fit options for those who have more time and want to integrate a spiritual discipline and a target fitness video.

How It Works

When you receive Monday’s email, work on those challenges from Monday-Thursday. Early Friday morning you will receive the second email. Work on those challenges on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Every Wednesday evening we will have a live Community Call on Talk Shoe to discuss the previous week’s work.

We’d love to have you join us in this study; as a matter of fact, you can sign up right now.  NOTE!! If you do not have a PayPal account you may still sign up by following these instructions:

1. Choose the option that says Have a PayPal account?

2. Ignore the email and PayPal password fields and hit the login button

3. After you hit the login button a new tab should pop up below that offers the option of paying with a credit or debit card or Bill  Me Later.

In addition to the all the above,  we’ll also include some recipes that Mary and I have created made with healthy ingredients that taste good, because we think that good health should be fun too. Here’s a sneak peek at one of the recipes to have as an occasional treat.
Tropical Sunrise Smoothie

I cup yogurt (Greek or regular), plain
2 oranges, seeds removed
1/2 lemon juiced
1 banana sliced into chunks
2 wedges cantaloupe sliced into chunks
Coconut water as needed (look for this in cartons in the Gatorade aisle)
Ice cubes to your liking

Juice the lemon first and pour it in the blender. Add all the other ingredients and process until smooth. Serves two. (If you are diabetic, this recipe may be too high in sugar for you.)

You’ll also have access to a private Facebook Faith & Fit page to post your workouts, share your successes and challenges, and share your prayer requests and encouragement.

What do you have to lose, except some bad habits? : ) Grab your Mom, sister, friends, or yourself and sign up today. We begin on Monday, September 8. Hope to see you there!

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We are so glad you are back for Week 6, Lesson 1 of Faith & Fit, Make 3 Meals! Let us encourage you to persevere. Keep studying, and moving. You are laying up treasure in heaven where neither moth or rust can destroy. You are establishing healthy habits. Don’t give up! Jesus is walking with you every step of the way. Listed below is your Faith & Fit work for today. Please click on the links or the play buttons to access each resource. Remember to leave a comment about your experience at the Speak Your Mind section at the bottom of the page. In Christ, we can grow stronger. Let’s do it!

Everyday Faith Teaching Video:

Everyday Faith Bible Study:

Please click on the link below to access Everyday Faith Bible study!

                             Week 6, Lesson 1 Bible Study

Everyday Fit Physical Challenge:

Beginner Level: Today make it your goal to walk for 45 minutes or two miles. Walk at a pace that you are comfortable with and that you are still able to carry on a conversation. How are you feeling on your walks? As always, check with your doctor before beginning any physical workout to be sure you are up for the challenge! For those of you who are interested in burning more belly fat while you’re walking, here’s an interesting plan from Prevention Magazine that you can download if you’d like to.

Experienced Level: Today make it your goal to jog or ride your bike for 45 minutes. Jog or ride at a pace you are comfortable with and that your are able to carry on a conversation. By the end of your walk/ride you should be sweaty and tired but not exhausted. As always, check with your doctor before beginning any physical workout to be sure you are up for the challenge!

Are you ready for push-ups with Coach Dan? Try these once a day.

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Rainy day? No worries! Please click on the link below for a challenging indoor workout with Leslie Sansone!

4 Fast Miles!

Everyday Fit Food Challenge:

Make Three Meals

Today for Make Three Meals, we’d like you to take the time to eat three healthy meals, and it’s even better if you can sit down with your family for those meals, like we talked about in Week 4. Whether we’re busy with work or home duties, too many Americans tend to skip meals and eat haphazardly. When I was in Europe many years ago, meal time was a thing to be celebrated and enjoyed with family and friends. If you enjoy cooking and want to take some time to prepare the meal, that’s wonderful. If you need help locating fast, healthy meals, just click on the link. Feel free to share what any of your meals looked like today.

Extra Faith:

Need a little extra spiritual challenge added to your day? Take advantage of the following resources!

There’s much to mull over in this article Jesus’ Rhythm of Life. It explores the secret of Jesus’ ministry and how he practiced spiritual disciplines while He was on earth.

Extra Fit

Need an extra challenge? Get your abs in shape with Team Beachbody Coach and Founder of Team Let’s Go Fitness at Dan Vukmirovich. Dan’s videos are short, effective and productive!  Try Dan’s videos once a day. Let’s go!

Please be blessed by Day Six of Dan’s Body Mind Spirit series. Again, you can do these once a day.

Let us know how you’re doing today. Share in the post below or on our Faith & Fit Facebook page.

Are you ready for Week Two of Faith & Fit? Jane and I are praying that you will make life changes that will lead to greater spiritual and physical health. Listed below is your Faith & Fit work for today. Please click on the links or the play buttons to access each resource! Remember to leave a comment about your experience at the Speak Your Mind section at the bottom of the page. In Christ, we can grow stronger! Let’s do it!

Everyday Faith Teaching Video:

Everyday Faith Scripture Reading:

Please click on the Week 2, Lesson 1 Bible study link below!

                       Week 2, Lesson 1 Bible Study

Everyday Fit Physical Challenge:

Basic Walking Guidelines

Begin your walk with a warm up. This means to start walking slowly for a few minutes, giving your body time to warm up. Save any stretching for the end of your walk, as you should not stretch cold muscles. If you have body parts that are very tense and need to be stretched before your main walk, do your warm-up first and then stretch them. You should also still follow your walk with a stretch at the end.

The Walking Site has some wonderful stretches for walkers, and here is a link to their stretching page.
As you are walking, walk tall, pull in your stomach and tighten your bottom.
When you have finished your exercise for the day, be sure to let the Faith and Fit group know by posting on our Facebook page. Great job!

Beginner Level Exercise:

Today make it your goal to walk for 25 minutes. Walk at a pace that you are comfortable with and that you are still able to carry on a conversation. As always, check with your doctor before beginning any physical workout to be sure you are up for the challenge! For more information please read the following article on how to begin a walking program: Walking Program. Feel free to also substitute any of Leslie Sansone’s indoor walking videos as well. Week 1, Lesson 1  lists a free resource for this (Password: Deuteronomy8).

How are you doing with your walking/jogging? Are you feeling any stronger yet?

Need an indoor exercise routine? Here’s a Leslie Sansone 1-mile walking video!

Experienced Level: Today, make it your goal to walk or ride your bike for 45 minutes. Exercise at a pace you are comfortable with and are able to carry on a conversation. By the end of your walk/ride you should be sweaty and tired but not exhausted. As always, check with your doctor before beginning any physical workout to be sure you are up for the challenge!

 Rainy day? Don’t fret! Click on the link below for a challenging indoor work out with Leslie Sansone!

4 Fast Miles!

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Everyday Fit Food Challenge:

Sans Sugar

Today we are looking at leaving refined sugar out of our diet. Studies are showing that sugar may be the springboard for inflammation and many of the chronic diseases that are plaguing our generation. Sugar is also a sneaky substance and is in many foods that you may not even realize. Become a food label reader. Realize that sugar has many other names. We are not expecting that you give up sugar for the rest of your life. The purpose of this challenge is to develop healthy habits and choices, not deny ourselves every one of our favorite foods. If you reduce the amount of sugar you eat, you will most likely improve your health.

Check out this resource for information on cutting out sugar.

Here’s a healthy sweet treat sans sugar:

Recipe for sugarless oatmeal cookies from Don Colbert

Recommended Reading

Today we are recommending The Grain Brain: The Surprising Truth About Wheat, Carbs, and Sugar – Your Brain’s Silent Killers by Dr. David Perlmutter. Mary heard Dr. Pearlmutter on PBS and told me about him. This book outlines what they believe to be the cause of many of our modern diseases, including Alzheimer’s. Incredible, cutting-edge information. The Grain Brain Cookbook was just released last week. *Here is a CBD link to the cookbook:

The Grain Brain Cookbook: More than 150 Life-changing Gluten-free Recipes to Transform Your Health – eBookBy David Perlmutter, MD / Little, Brown and Company

Extra Faith:

Today’s food challenge is Sans Sugar, but that doesn’t translate so well to spiritual goals, does it? God surely doesn’t want us to give up the sweetness in our personalities. As a matter of fact, God emphasizes that we have a gentle, quiet spirit or, as I’m fond of saying about a beloved friend of mine, “She has a sweet spirit, doesn’t she?”

Well, developing that gentle, quiet spirit can be a challenge to those of us who just aren’t that way naturally. I’ve found an article written by Erin Davis interviewing Nance Leigh DeMoss discussing this very topic: Do I Have a Gentle and Quiet Spirit?

Extra Fit

Need an extra challenge? Get your abs in shape with Team Beachbody Coach and Founder of Team Let’s Go Fitness at Dan Vukmirovich. Dan’s videos are short, effective and productive! Let’s go!

Please enjoy Day 2 of Dan’s Mind Body Spirit Challenge!

Don’t forget to post below or on our Facebook page any questions, workout information, recipes, prayer requests, and encouragement to others. 

Blessings and congratulations on Week 2, Lesson 1!

Great job today! See you soon!