DAY 103

As is the case most nights, I'm just jumping off the treadmill and thankful for a little alone time to focus on strengthening my body. I weighed in this morning and am excited to say I didn't gain and maintained from last week's weigh-in.

I worked, got my immunizations for my trip to Russia later this summer and had a fun afternoon with the kids. Chris got home "earlier" than most nights so it was great having him home and doing our bedtime routine together with the kids. The embrace they gave him when he came up the stairs was priceless....one kid on each leg giving him bear hugs!

The fire detector in little man's room kept going off in the middle of the night last night so we are zonked. Heading to bed shortly....but I did want to share the below devotional I read last week. If I've already shared it in a previous blog, please forgive me. :)

Devotional from My Utmost for His Highest
Take the Initiative
. . . add to your faith virtue . . . —2 Peter 1:5

"Add means that we have to do something. We are in danger of forgetting that we cannot do what God does, and that God will not do what we can do. We cannot save nor sanctify ourselves— God does that. But God will not give us good habits or character, and He will not force us to walk correctly before Him. We have to do all that ourselves. We must "work out" our "own salvation" which God has worked in us ( Philippians 2:12 ). Add means that we must get into the habit of doing things, and in the initial stages that is difficult. To take the initiative is to make a beginning— to instruct yourself in the way you must go.

Beware of the tendency to ask the way when you know it perfectly well. Take the initiative— stop hesitating— take the first step. Be determined to act immediately in faith on what God says to you when He speaks, and never reconsider or change your initial decisions. If you hesitate when God tells you to do something, you are being careless, spurning the grace in which you stand. Take the initiative yourself, make a decision of your will right now, and make it impossible to go back. Burn your bridges behind you, saying, "I will write that letter," or "I will pay that debt"; and then do it! Make it irrevocable.

We have to get into the habit of carefully listening to God about everything, forming the habit of finding out what He says and heeding it. If, when a crisis comes, we instinctively turn to God, we will know that the habit has been formed in us. We have to take the initiative where we are, not where we have not yet been."