Health!

Let me just start with an amazing fact: I feel the best I have felt (physically and spiritually) in over three years.

As I look back onto the last (very difficult) year, and look forward to my baby turning three(!) in a few short months, I realize my body has done some very amazing things over the last several years. I went from running half-marathons to being pregnant and sick, having a natural labor, pushing for 4 hours and then having an emergency c-section. And then I went from a relatively healthy post-baby body to a sick and too-skinny hospitalized body. And now, just six months later, I am the healthiest I've been in probably three years. I feel amazing!

I owe this to my God, first off, but also to a knowledge and practice of eating healthy and caring for my body. I am currently doing the Beach Body 21 Day Fix. It's a combination of portion-controlled eating and daily full-body workouts. Not a lot has changed since doing this, because I was already doing similar workouts (just not as intense) and was eating similarly (thanks to THM). The major difference is that I'm measuring and tracking everything I'm eating (and I've cut out sweets). I feel so great. I have no tummy issues, I'm regular (sorry if it's TMI), and I have more daily energy than I have in (again) three years.

Aside from the physical aspect of my health though, I am also feeling so spiritually healthy these days. I just finished a great read called "The Insanity of God," which affirmed a lot of things the Lord has been teaching me over the last year. I promise, one can learn more in a year of affliction and suffering than in a life-time of ease. I have had to learn contentment in all circumstances (as Paul talked about, although not nearly as severe) and have learned that Christ is our greatest treasure and worthy to be praised even in times of darkness and despair. I have learned about having faith, against all odds, and listening close for the Spirit's prompting. I am constantly hungry for more of God's Spirit and always looking for His presence. I feel so alive right now.

I'm thankful for all God is doing in me and all he has done over the past year. I think it is so kind of the Lord to have given me sickness that I might draw closer to him and become more like Christ in his suffering. Although this has been the most difficult year of my life, it has probably been one of the most fruitful years. I am filled with gratitude for all that I've been through, all that I have, and all that I've learned this last year.