After allowing myself to believe God has an active interest in my health/fitness, I began to open my eyes to the things He places right here in my life on earth to motivate me. He knows we're all different, that we all require different types of motivation...but they're there! I promise! And while most of my blogs here @ Praying Fit are about combining our spiritual and physical journeys...this one blurs the line. There are things in our lives that we consider "not part of the spiritual journey", but I believe that since God knows what we need...He puts it where we can see it-even if it doesn't seem "spiritual". So we can combine the tangible, real world influences...with the gifts from God to motivate us. Whether that's motivating us to get up off the couch and START a fitness routine, or go from running 2 miles a day to 4. He provides.

I can't speak for anyone else. I wish I had the magic equation of what kind of motivation we each need and how to figure it out. I don't. But I do know what works for me and what God has placed there for me, and I hope that in sharing these sometimes off-the-wall motivators...you'll open your eyes to what surrounds you, to what works for you, and to the real life motivation we can reach out and touch, and use to glorify God with our bodies. Once you believe God has placed motivation in your life...and you actively seek it...you WILL find it!


Some quirky things that get me off the couch and onto the pavement are:
Putting on my tennis shoes. I know it's a simple step, but I'm telling ya...if I will put my tennis shoes ON...I will go for a run. I was sitting on the couch this week watching a movie with a friend, and he laughed when I LEAPT from the couch, went to my room, changed into my workout gear...and finished the movie with my tennis shoes on. I KNEW if I didn't do it right then when it was on my mind, I'd decide the couch was just right, and park it there. But I didn't. I ran 2 miles instead!
Finding motivating quotes on Pinterest. Cheesey, but if I will flip these quotes through my head during a run...I WILL NOT stop & walk, I keep running. It's easy to dismiss my own words, but when I know someone else is succeeding, I know I can too.
Praying. If you read my "Pray til You Sweat" blog, you know I like to start a workout this way, working up a spiritual sweat. But I've also learned to pray when I'm tired. When I wanna quit. I even visualize the Holy Spirit filling my quads, my lungs, my veins...and fighting through that last 1/2 mile FOR me.
Jams. This one's pretty obvious, most people you see running down the street have iPods going, this is no coincidence. The people who use somethign to motivate them, are the ones who are actually out there running the street. Give your mind somewhere to escape to that's not focused on your burning muscles or your aching lungs.
Friends. If I know someone else is more likely to go for a run because I did, I'm a billion times more likely to go. And if I know I have to report back all the cardio I've gotten in...I sure don't want to show up empty handed. So get an accountability partner or team together that has similar goals. Someone you trust to push you, and that you know understands your struggle. My friends & I even have a private Facebook group where we can report and motivate each other. It's AWESOME!
Clothes. Yep. I said it. Faith+fashion+fitness=Motivated. If I have cute workout clothes, or sweet new kicks...I'm gonna wanna use them. Girly and frivolous I know...but every little things helps! This is truth! I got those sweet new kicks yesterday and ran further outside than I have in a LONG time. (Shoes are especially important in any workout routine...make sure you have suitable shoes for the workout you choose! Save your feet! Save your legs! Save your back!)
Visualizing. Again, sounds cheesey. But let me tell you that I saw picture of one pound of pure fat recently. Ya'll....it could literally fill a coffee cup. When I'm working out, if I can picture that melting off my behind or belly if I go just a LITTLE further, you better believe I'm going that little further!
Writing it down. This tip is in so many diet & exercise blogs, articles, books, etc....because it WORKS! When you are writing down what you eat and what you work out, you are going to want to look back @ your week and see it full. Seeing an empty week of workouts does NOT feel good. Seeing a full week...makes you wanna see another just like it! And food, my goodness, you don't realize what you eat until you see it written out. This helps so much with eating the right foods, in the right amounts. I have my normal spiral calendar (thanks Amber) that I write my normal events in...but also, on one side I write everything I ate...and my workouts. I LOVE looking back @ a good week. It. Really. Works.

         "Your Father knoweth what things you have need of before you ask Him."  
                                                  {Matthew 6:8}

This works for me...maybe it will help you! Maybe there is another type of motivation that will really effect your fitness plan. Either way, He knows what you need, believe that, and you'll find it! Our God provides!

         What motivates you? Comment below and spread the wisdom!

Faith, love & sweat,
Holly

        "Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going."

So last week, I was in the mode of God's physical creation of man [and woman] and taking care of our physical bodies to glorify Him. So that's the physical. What about the spiritual? We often embark on diets & exercise routines and are intense the first two weeks, then we have a busy week or birthday party with cake (yum), then...whatever happens, happens, and we wind up right back where we were before, often with "I'll start again on Monday..." as a way to ease our minds. [Disclaimer: this is ME!] So here is the magical solution...I'm kidding. There is no magical solution. But there is a spiritual one! Crazy, right? A spiritual solution to a physical problem. God told us, time and again, He's got our backs. We easily believe this when we've lost a loved one or see someone getting married, huge events in life. We faithfully believe God has our backs. Then it comes to something we consider inconsequential in the spiritual spectrum and think we can handle it ourselves. Who are we kidding? Can we REALLY handle anything ourselves? Is compartmentalizing God the best plan of action? When it comes to diet & exercise, He's STILL got our backs. (And hopefully mine's gonna shrink a little with the application of this knowledge if ya know what I mean! Can I get a Amen from the girls with a booty!)

How does God have our backs when it comes to fitness?

"But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."  {Isaiah 40:31}

Ok, I know this doesn't say "Hello my children, this is your God speaking, you can run a marathon tomorrow as long as you have faith." Our bodies do have physical limits and must be trained to operate to certain extents...but I PROMISE you...if you ask the Holy Spirit to give you the strength to finish your next workout, you'll not only find yourself satisfied phsycially at the end of it, you'll feel more connected to your Lord, more faithful in His word, and the desire to KEEP IT UP! And I am practicing what I preach, so to speak. I went running this week with Hannah (fellow fitness blogger) and I prayed during the run until I broke both a physical & spiritual sweat. Then I prayed again as my quads were sending me dirty looks, my lungs were asking "are we there yet?" and Satan's temptation to STOP were trying to weedle in.  It wasn't a long run, but it was quite the workout for lil ole me (ok BIG ole me) and my prayers asking the Holy Spirit to be in my quads and in my lungs and shield me from temptation to stop...worked. I wasn't praying to finish this last mile so that maybe I'll lose another pound...I was praying for help to glorify God with this vessel. And ya know what? I LOVED IT!!! I finished my run feeling EMPOWERED! feeling FULL! I don't feel that way when I'm running with Him. Without him, I can convince myself a mile IS a good workout-even though I know I can do at least two. "they shall run, and not be weary".I'll tell ya, I was pooped after my run...but I WAS NOT WEARY! I've even ran 2 miles the next day, too.

How does God have our backs when it comes to nutrition?

"Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst." {John 6:35}

Again, this doesn't me a good Christian doesn't need to eat. But Jesus is telling us, His people, that with him, we need nothing else to be filled. To be nourished, yes, but FILLED, no. HE is the bread of life. When we are sad and think Ben & Jerry will fill us better than Jesus, or when we're happy and think an icing smothered cake celebration...with seconds...will glorify that which we are celebrating, we are contradicting the word of the Lord. Now hold on before you click the "X" in the top right corner! This doesn't mean NEVER eat cake. Lord knows there's a time! What this means is...we need to stop filling ourselves with things other than Christ...and for most Americans...FOOD is a crutch. We eat when we're happy, when we're sad, when we're awake...and how often do you decide to soak up some scripture [again..talking to myself here]? How often do you decide to pray instead of go for seconds? Before now...for me...NEVER. But here I am...on a Thursday...NOT a Monday thank you very much...and I am continuing on this journey. I know He is the bread of life, I know in Him I shall never hunger to be filled or satisfied with anything outside of Him. I know my nourishment is important to Him, I know my health is important to Him, and I know that WITH Him, I shall not hunger.  Ask for His help! He WANTS to help us...in the smallest, darkest corners of our lives [and the kitchen], he wants to help us.

I am here to tell you...this journey is NOT an easy one. If you're a size 2 or a size 22, filling ourselves with God is not quite as convenient as filling ourselves with Snickers. And running with Him doesn't make 2 miles any shorter. But with Him beside us...it's possible. I invite you to join me in this spritual solution to our physical problems. Today. Not Monday. Ask Him to be a part of a healthier you...spiritually & physically.

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened." {Matthew 7:7-8}

This doesn't say ask for something you think is reasonable...just ask. This is an important issue in our lives and He will take this journey with us...if we invite Him.

Faith, love & sweat,

Holly

First, welcome to Praying Fit! I'm so excited to be embarking on this journey with God @ my side! I've walked with God in a lot of areas of my life, but recently realized i need to RUN with Him too!

We're going to start where most good stories do...

"In the beginning..." {Genesis 1:1} and skip a few days..."God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness" {Genesis 1:26}. "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them." {Genesis 1:27} So here we are. In His image. Watch out, IN HIS IMAGE! We are the image of GOD HIMSELF! The houses of our souls, of our hearts, are just like Him. We need to take care of this gift He has given us of Himself. We need to realize He made our bodies PERFECT, He made us capable, He made us FIT. I mean, would you give someone a broken clock? "Here's a gift, but it doesn't work like it's supposed to." I sincerely hope not. God gave us a gift that works perfectly, but we break it. We make our bodies work below the capabilities God intended them to work. You hear trainers use words like cardio, aerobic, respiratory. These are systems God put in place to be kept perfect. To make our lives better, easier. And we let them become broken clocks, gifts given in perfect condition and ignored until they crumble and break. But-no more! Right?!?! We are going to take this perfect tool, and work it out!  We are going to GLORIFY God's gift by taking care of it, and restoring it to its intended glory.

I was going to go into minor detail about the cardiovascular & respiratory systems so that we would have a real view of the intricicies God created..in a DAY. The perfect, complicated systems that would make our bodies perform @ their best. But I'll spare you the science lesson and just tell you this...this body is a tool and a gift. A tool forged by God to give us the gift of life. Are you going to take this gift and put it in the back of your mind like the treadmill in the spare room that is now more of a coat hanger? Are you going to allow this gift to become a broken clock, handed to you (freely) in perfect condition?

We don't have to study the man-science to know that GodScience is perfect. We don't have to know each step of the respiratory system to know we need to work it out to maintain our health. We don't have to know which chamber of the heart our blood enters and which it leaves, we just have to know we need to up that blood flow...regularly!...to keep our hearts strong & healthy.

Take this gift. Use this tool. And do both to glorify God and all that he has given you. You are in His image. He loved you enough to make you like Him. And, just to assure you I'm not "do as I say not as I do"-ing you...I'm hitting the pavement in 45 minutes.

And dont forget to "PRAY-A-MILE". Work up a sweat...physically AND spiritually!!

Faith, love & sweat,

Holly

"Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly.  For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come." { 1 Timothy 4:7-8 }