Balance, Wholeness and Fasting....

Something I really didn't like about trying to loose weight is that I had to stop fasting.....

Now that must sound like a strange thing to say, but a few years into my Christian journey I took up fasting as a spiritual practice.

At times I would have a regular fasting routine in order to help my prayers for certain very difficult situations. At other times I would have a fast day to pray for an emergency which came up. Other times I didn't fast at all, but the option was always there....

Until I got serious about loosing weight.... then suddenly it no longer seemed an option....

Because I saw fasting as a purely spiritual practice, it seemed wrong to carry on with it while trying to loose weight....

For years I have been seeking balance in my life as well as growth in holiness.. These are two things I have been praying about a lot recently and suddenly I think I get it.....

I think I lack balance because I don't see myself as a whole person, spirit, soul and body.... But my Father does... and He cares about all of me, not just my spiritual life...

So I am going back to having a regular fasting routine and refusing to feel guilty about any "non-spiritual" benefits...

My plan is to fast about one day a week, I say about because it wont be the same day every week....

I am starting today which is a Thursday, next week it will be Wednesday and the week after that Tuesday and so on. I wont be doing any fasting on Sundays as they are a celebration day...

I don't want to always do it on the same day because I pray for different things on different days of the week... Today I am praying for priests, those discerning the priesthood, including seminarians and vocations to the priesthood.....

I have had to think long and hard about writing about fasting because I don't want it to be a hey... look at me I'm fasting moment... but in the end I decided it was the right thing to do for a few reasons...

1 These days I am more likely to get a negative reaction to fasting for spiritual reasons...
2 The blog world is kind of anonymous...
3 I think more Christians would fast if they heard more about it...
4 Lastly I don't see it as blowing my own trumpet because to be honest I just don't find it that hard

Joy and Friendship on the Interwebs!

The internet can be a wonderful place for getting support for so many things....

I have made so many wonderful friends who have taught me a lot...

I started out seeking information on homeschooling and to be honest I don't think I would have made it through without the information and support I got... I joined lots of Christian women's groups.... learned about the special needs of pugs.... delved into the Cathiolic Faith.... Got shed loads of help and support on dieting and getting healthier...

For just about every thing I needed to know in every given situation there has been a way the internet has helped me...

I have also been able to get in touch with so many old friends and even relative who I had lost touch with....

And so Interwebs...... I salute you ...

Feel the Benefit....

 

Just showing off some of the benefits of the weight I have lost ..... Yay!

Before and After

 

 

 

 

 

These two pictures were taken two years apart, February 2013 and February 2014 ....... I am glad to say that the second one is the most recent....

 

I carried on my diet and exercise program but stopped weighing myself for lent.... then I realised that I was quite happy with how I was....

 

All together I lost 5 stone.... yes that's 70 great big pounds and also more than my height in inches....

 

That puts me at about a size 16 bottom and 14 top (UK sizes)

 

I am much healthier than I was and I am glad about that, but after a couple of months of maintaining round about the same weight I have decided that I am ready to start trying to loose a bit more...... 

If it aint broke..... Don't fix it!

 



I have used the same perfume for the last thirty-eight years, but recently I decided I wanted to try something new.....

I love frankincense and myrrh..... because they make me thing of giving to Jesus.... I also like patchouli as it reminds me of my rock chick days.... so when I found a perfume on the internet which contains all three I thought I was on to a winner.

So I found out where I could try it out and off I went with my daughter in tow....As children learn to recognise their mothers by smell before anything else I thought it only fair that her nose should have a say.

Well surprise, surprise.... the new scent was a real stinker.... it started off like a room spray and changed into more of a clinical aftershave....

Time for a detour to the nearest department store perfume department... via a pub lunch!

We spent three and a half hours of spraying and sniffing and laughing and spraying some more...

We did find some very nice smells and an awful lot of not so nice ones, but in the end there was only one conclusion..... none were as good as the one I have been wearing all these years....

Just goes to show ..... you don't always need a change .... sometimes you just need to realise that what you had was perfect for you all along..

It's My Birthdays.....

Yes it does say birthdays, plural...... I have just celebrated both of my birthdays, just two days apart ;)

On Wednesday it was my Spiritual Birthday..... 14 years since I became a Christian and then on Friday it was my natural birthday.... I was 52.

So I celebrated both on the day in between by going to Mass at the Cathedral which just happens to have a Catholic book and gift shop on site..... oh my goodness heaven on earth....

I took my grandson and we started off by popping in to visit Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.... then we went for out first look in the shop.

It used to be in Manchester city centre, but relocated to Salford Cathedral just as I became a Catholic which made it difficult for me to get to so I haven't been since!

Maybe it's a good thing that it is hard to reach.... or I'd be broke lol

I ended up buying seven statues which I am delighted with :)

St Peter and St Paul to go either side of my statue of Our Lady of Walsingham
An Immaculate Heart of Mary to match my Sacred Heart statue
Jesus knocking on the door to go with Our Lady of Grace
Madonna of the Wayside who makes a lovely pair with my Joseph the Worker
A larger Our Lady of the Rosary to keep an eye on us in the kitchen
And St Therese of the Little Flower

I also got a few little bits and pieces too..... such a delightful day...

Prayer for Priests

O Jesus, eternal Priest,

keep your priests within the shelter of Your Sacred Heart,

where none may touch them.

Keep unstained their anointed hands,

which daily touch Your Sacred Body.

Keep unsullied their lips,

daily purpled with your Precious Blood.

Keep pure and unearthly their hearts,

sealed with the sublime mark of the priesthood.

Let Your holy love surround them and

shield them from the world's contagion.

Bless their labors with abundant fruit and

may the souls to whom they minister be their joy and consolation here and in heaven their beautiful and

everlasting crown. Amen.

 

What a beautiful prayer by St Therese, please remember to pray for them...

 

No priest no eucharist!

Prayer of Consecration to the Divine Mercy

Jesus, the Divine Mercy, I consecrate my entire life, from this day on, to You without reserve. Into your hands I abandon my past, my present, and my future, from this day forward, make me a true follower of Your teaching, let Your Divine Mercy Image, protect my home and my family from all the powers of evil in this world today.

May all who venerate it never perish, may it be their joy in life, their hope in death, and their glory in eternity. Amen.

You Have to Have a Plan to Have a Change of Plan! Part One

This has been a saying of mine for many years, but the real secret is having the grace to allow God to change our plans for His.

After all He says in Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future".

The problem is that He does not always pass on this information to us!

And I am sure he does expect us to make our own plans because in Luke 14 He says " “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it?"

So He obviously wants us to be intentional about what we do and not just go with the flow.

So we go about our lives making our plans....

About 3 years ago I had some plans, good plans, well thought out plans, God honouring plans. So, you would think that Father God would look down on me and smile and bless my little plans, all so carefully worked out with Him in mind. You'd think.......

Good job I've read the whole book and know that it doesn't always work like that!

Isaiah 55:8-9 says  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD.  “As the heavens are higher than the earth,  so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Not that there was anything wrong with my thoughts, its simply that He is God and I am not!

My plans were nice and comfy and made me feel good about how I was doing in the Christian life....

For instance, I looked at how I had been reading the bible over the almost nine years I had been a Christian.

Not too shabby I thought to myself, as well as reading here there and everywhere thoughout the bible I had read it through several times using different plans and methods.

Ticking off a Printed Purple Plan (I love purple)
Straight Through From Cover to Cover
Following a Chronilogical Plan
Using a Perpetual Plan
Printing off a Mini Sized Plan
Marking off in My Bible itself.

I was quite pleased with myself....

Do you see the problem?

Did you catch a glimpse of the Pharisee raising its little head there?

Sadly I didn't spot it.......

And so I carried on with my plans.

Over the coming 3 years  I would follow the Victory Reading Plan (which not only covers the bible, but which goes over certain bits twice). It is a great plan and I would highly recommend it.

It has three columns and I was going to use each column in a different way each year for three years.

1 Read with my son
2 Read and meditate on
3 Read and study themes

By the end of these three years I would be fifty and my son sixteen.

I would have read through the whole bible with my son and we would have discussed it together.

I would have completed what I refer to as my colouring in bible - the one I use for highlighting different themes.

I would have completed what I call my mirror bible - the one I use to meditate on the word, underlining verses to use for prayer in tuquoise, instructions in purple, special women's verses in pink and adding a heart to special verses God has given to me.

See I told you great plans, godly plans. God's plans??? Apparently not!

You see my Father knows my heart and He knew that I did not want to be like one of the Phasisees around the table.

If you want to know what he did about it read part two....

Making a New Chaplet...

Saint Gemma is my patron saint.....

The chaplet of Saint Gemma Galgani, has a medal of her likeness and is made up of 25 beads representing her life on earth. The 20 Crystal beads are for her Memorial day April 1, and 5 Aquamarine beads are for her Birthday March 12. The center roses are for your petition to her when praying the chaplet.
How to Pray
On the medal pray:
The Most Glorious St Gemma Prayer: O Most Glorious St. Gemma, Mirror of innocence and penance, may we who humbly invoke thy Heavenly intercession obtain from thee the grace of purity in all our thoughts, words and actions. Amen
On the set of 2 beads pray:
O my soul, bless Jesus. Never forget the many graces He has given thee. Love that God who so loves thee. Lift thyself up to Him, who has lowered Himself for thee; show thyself as He shows Himself with thee; be clean of heart, be pure. Love thy Jesus, who has lifted thee out of so much misery. Love thy God, bless thy Lord
Saint Gemma Galgani
On the center:
Pray the Saint Gemma Petition Prayer.
"Dearest St. Gemma. Sister and friend in Christ; You know the value of suffering and the blessings of healing. Please pray that Our Lord will heal me/us and my/our family of my/our, physical, emotional and spiritual ailments, Through Christ, Our Lord. Amen"
On the first set of 5 pray:
"Jesus, let me come to thee, I thirst for thy life giving blood."
Followed by 5 Hail Mary's
On the next bead pray:
If I saw the gates of Hell open and I stood on the brink of the abyss, I should not despair, I should not lose hope of mercy, because I should trust in You, my God.
Followed by One Our Father
Continue to the end of the chaplet in this pattern.
At the end of the chaplet pray again The Most Glorious St. Gemma Prayer.