Im your beloved

Lord it was you who created the heavens... Lord it was your hand that put the stars in their place... Lord it was your voice that commands the morning.. cuzz even oceans and their waves bow at your feet.. oh God.. Lord who am I compared to your glory... Lord who am I compared to your Majesty.. I am your beloved your creation and you love me as I am.. You called me chosen for your kingdom, unashamed to call me your own. I am your beloved......

By now you are probably singing if you know the lyrics to the song above. This song has been on my heart for a few weeks now. I listen to it, and I cant help to cry, it touches the inter most part of my heart. And today I listen to it with a different heart, I cant help but to worship and thank God that He has called me His beloved. When the Lord blessed us with our son, my world changed. He blessed us abundantly and thought maybe He did, because He didn't know us better. Hahaha... He didn't know what kind of parent we would be. But today it was confirmed that we will be parents again and this time He knows what kind of parent we are.

He is such a sovereign God that despite our fears and failures He trust us with yet another one of His children. I am in awe in how He would use this vessel to carry and nurture His son or daughter. It isn't anything that sal or I did ( well maybe... I mean Im not Mary but you know what I mean) but it is because He loves me and calls me His beloved and has called me chosen to further His kingdom...

I started FFF and had no idea that the marathon I was going to run this year was not one that was to be ran on a physical course. I had a desire to run a marathon and to get in shape but I kinda knew that another child was my husbands heart desire. The truth is one day I just went before the Lord and asked Him to help me. In tears and broken I admitted that I wasn't even sure what my hearts desire was anymore. I needed Him to make the decision and if it meant not running this year I was ok with that. I was struggling between being self fish in my own pursuit to be that athlete I wanted to be. Well exactly a week later I took a test and I was pregnant. In shock but grateful I thanked Him that He knew me better than I knew myself.

This isn't the end of Faith, Food and Fitness for Real, only the beginning because having gone through this before it definitely takes all the above. The difference is that my blogs might come a little later, I may miss some day and they will defiantly be hormonal sometimes. Hahah

I know this was supposed to be part #3 of my retreat series and I promise I will bring it back tomorrow. I just want to enjoy this day and share with you my blog readers. My faithful friends, who care enough about me to come to read the little I know and whats on my heart. Thank you, I covet your prayer and please know that I pray for you to. I dont know half the time who reads it or if anyone but Renay and Carol read it, but Lord knows and so you are in my prayers.

“For You have formed my inward parts;

You covered me in my mother’s womb.

I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Marvelous are Your works

And that my soul knows very well.”

Psalm 139: 13-14

Love you all,

Mon!

Its Time- Study #2

I know... Its a good thing I don't get paid to blog or I would be fired! Anyways today was day one of potty training.. seriously Asher was not taking it seriously.. Don't believe me, well I have attached the photo of him on his potty using the potty bowl as a hat. I came out of the bathroom and used his words "Are you kidding me." I would like to say that he looks like one of my Mexican cowboy tio's however they would not even be caught wearing a hat like this. Plus I don't have any Mexican cowboys in my family, so not sure what side of the family Asher is taking after.

So onto today's topic... As I promised I am sharing my notes from last weekends retreat. Today I am on part 2 or session 2 entitled " It's time to understand God's will." The speaker was Bianca Juarez from Calvary Chapel Montebello. She is also the blogger of "In the name of love" if you don't follow her blog.. Do it! Good stuff seriously... I was so captivated by her enthusiasm and ability to teach the gospel that is so applicable to today that I know I missed alot of the notes. So bare with me..

• God guides us in our decision making, In Ephesians 1 He tells us how He guides
• Its important to know that God has you were you are supposed to be and for a purpose.

" I don't believe in coincidence I believe in Providence"- Bianca

1. Hebrews 1- God directs us in different ways
2. Hebrews 1:2-3 God speaks through His son
3. Psalm 95- God continues to speak to us by His son through His Holy Spirit.

The five P's

1. You have been completely PREPARED to do something great. (EPH 2:10)

2. There is a simple PURPOSE behind everything that you do. ( 1 John 5:3)

3. Sometimes we will experience PAIN. ( Hebrews 12:11)

4. God has provided POWER to do something ( EPH 3:20)

5. Doing something significant will require a PASSION that constantly screams "don't quit". ( Luke 9:62

" The question is not if you will get pain, it is what you will do with that pain. Let your pain have purpose and let us learn from our pain"- Bianca

(I totally love this statement I believe that if we truly adapt this way of thinking our trials and struggles will not be in vain. We will not fall victim to self pity and asking the "why me or why must I go through this." When we know that there is purpose and that we will have growth. You have heard it said " No pain, No gain." I also read on time that Faith is like a muscle, the more you exercise it the stronger it gets. Pain exercises our faith!)

Be Obedient- "People who are blessed in public are obedient in private"- Bianca

Fall at the feet of Jesus

She closed with Luke 9:62- "No one having put his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." Don't look back!

In closing this blog I have to say that I often times finding myself questioning if I am within God's will. It would be so easy if we could ask Him and He could say a simple yes or no. But He didn't create us to be that way. I don't know much and half the time I find that I easily could get out of Gods will if I am not careful. Here is what I do know... When I am in His word, in prayer and fellowship with the Lord I think that I am pretty darn close to it!

I don't worry so much because He will direct my path as long as I allow Him to walk with me on my beaten down road. The cool thing is that He really wants to, He is just waiting for me to ask Him. There are times when I say God are you sure you want to come along on this ride with me. It can get a little boring, hectic or crazy at times and I can imagine Him saying.." Monica, there is no other place I want to be than on this ride with you, because with me it isn't so crazy! Now stop talking, give up the control and let me drive and allow the work to be done."

Who is leading and in your drivers seat for your life? You or God.. If it is you, then I suggest you use your GPS ( GOD PLEASE SHOW me) system.

Praying for Gods will tonight,

Monica

Its Time- Study #1

It is Thursday and I wasn't able to find the time to get on here to blog. Noah got sick, oh course he would when I got back from my retreat because that is just the way it goes. I made a commitment with the thanks to a friend to get up at 5am every morning to read the bible. Noah has had some rough nights however I am still holding up to my part of the deal :)

Yes Renay I am fighting through the tiredness! I know that after a week it will become routine and I will get used to it and it will not only allow me to have that quiet time with the Lord but I will be able to get my workout in early in the morning before Noah gets up and takes control of the day :)

So as promised I am going to share my notes and a summary on the first teaching that we had on Saturday morning at the retreat. This teaching was entitled- www.You.com (walk wise in this world) and it was taught by Millie Juarez, Pastor Pancho’s wife. Please bare with me as I try to read my notes and hit the key points...

The Lord wants us to declare

God’s word causes us to walk wise and well

Walking wise and well will be displayed in our behaviors

In the book Ephesians we will find that Paul uses the words “In Christ, In Him, In beloved” many times throughout the book. { this morning I went through the book roughly and found about 18 times}

Eph Ch. 1- talks about redemption In Christ and Spiritual wisdom

Eph Ch 2- talks about staying on course

Eph Ch 3- talks about His Mercy and Peace

Eph Ch 4- talks about walking in unity and God’s will

Eph Ch 5- talks about how we should walk. The theme scripture Eph 5:15-17 “See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” Millie then put up a slide of a women who was power walking and this spoke to me since I have been running on my treadmill. She gave us some power walking Scriptures that we can reference.

( Eph 2:10, 4:1, 5:2, 5:8, 5:15)

There are four parts to this verse:

Walk Carefully- We adapt to Jesus requirements by accepting his personal invitation ( Matt 11:28-30) Jesus says to take the Yoke upon Him. I didn't really know what yoke was till Millie showed a picture of this contraction that was placed around two cows neck to walk side by side. She expounded that when we accept the invitation and we come and we take the yoke, Jesus comes along side us and He will give us rest. A few scriptures that were referenced - 1 Peter 2:21, Romans 15:5, 1 John 2:6 Abide and walk like Jesus.

Walk Wise and not Foolishly- Knowledge=understanding. Wisdom is the ability to apply knowledge to daily life. We need to make good use of what God has shown us and apply it to everyday life, 1 Tim 3:13. Foolishness is govern by feelings, desires, impulse, instincts, and lacks providence, Prov 1:7.

Redeem the time- You cannot buy back time and time is to short. Millie said “Don't waste time, make time” This really spoke to my heart and especially this morning when I was reading at 5 in the morning. I was tired and remembering how I complain that I don't have enough time in the day to do what needs to do. At the end of the night I reflect what did I spend my time doing? Half the time I don't remember and that is because it was wasted time. If I cant remember it, it wasn't important and it surely wasn't for the Lord. My husband has a book he has been wanting me to read, it is called “wasting time with God” I love the title, are you wasting time with God? Don't worry you are not alone most of us don't but today you can make the time.

Days are Evil- Millie ref Matt 24: 36-40 No one knows the day or hour and while we wait we need to tend to the fathers business while we wait. We need to be like Noah because we are in the days of Noah. She expounded on the days of Noah when he built the Ark how he was a preacher and walked with God. She made a great point. She said that it took along time for the Ark to be finished like 100 years in that time God was long suffering and waited for Noah to finish. He is waiting for people to respond before He comes again.

What a great study to open up the weekend! Lets redeem the times and walk in wisdom!

Praying in His love,

Monica

Its time- My retreat

Happy Tuesday, so I am finding it hard to find the time to blog! It seems as if the days are going by faster and I just read that because of the earthquake in Chile that the earth was taken off the axis a little bit and that is causing us to have shorter days. Crazy? Well some might think so but God said that it would happen. He said in the last days the days would be shorter, so there you go scientist.. Jesus said it first!

So as some of you may or may not know I was away this weekend and some of you have asked for a full report. And so I am reporting back to you. I am not sure where this blog is going to go or how long it will be but hang in there. I think that it would be a disservice to you all if I wasn't honest and so I am going to keep it real as I always do!

I came home Sunday and I wasn't sure how I was going to approach this blog. I have been really wrestling with it. Some of you have asked me to blog about it and I am not sure how I can get the true picture of how the weekend went on paper. Last night as I ran I even considered not blogging anymore, but a few encouraging words from a new friend has got me writing again.

Friday morning I woke up in a weird mood, I was really anxious to leave. Not anxious excited but anxious almost a little fearful. I didn't know what to expect I was going to a retreat with a different church, knowing no one but my one friend and feeling a little lonely. It didn't help that as I left Noah cried and tried to jump out of sals arms as I got in the car. If I wasn't already feeling heavy hearted I was now feeling much worse. I fought back the tears and wondered if this was really a good idea.

We headed out had a nice lunch and made it over to Murrieta Hot Springs with much time to settle in. As evening approached we made our way to the cafe to hang out with one of my favorite blogger and speaker/teachers. This is where I got my first touch of Montebello! Bianca Juarez, speaker and teacher on staff at Calvary Chapel Montebello and In the name of love was there. There was a few of us ladies there talking to her and just really talking about things that girlfriends do. I had only known these ladies for a hour however as we laughed and talked I felt like I knew them for years. We then left to register and waited in line where we were greeted by Pastor Pancho and his wife Millie. They went through the line and gave hugs thanking the ladies for coming out and that was defiantly my first impression of the good ol Montebello welcome.

Pastor Pancho came over to me and perhaps I looked out of place or maybe he knew I needed a hug. He came over to me, gave me a hug and said “ Hi, nice to see you, I love you!” It was just what I needed! We checked in and headed out to dinner. Now for those of you that ever retreat to Murrieta, know that you are well fed there. They have grub meals and we do not lack, Im telling you. I knew I was hanging with Montebello when I sat at the table and there was Tabasco and tapitio on the table!

This years theme was “Its Time” and the theme scripture was Ephesians 5:15-17 which says “ See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore so not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” I have to say that this theme was just perfect. In the times we are living in, it is the TIME to change and not be ignorant or lazy. It is time to make a change and my dear readers there was a change! Let me first say that for the last eight years, with the exception of one year I have been going on retreats. I am defiantly blessed every year but this year was different. I have never experienced the moving of the Holy Spirit as I did this weekend. The teachings were right on point. The speakers were real, they were transparent, the were humble and there were loving! I so wish that I really expound on the teachings but there would just be to much and you may get bored with my lack of writing skills. The teaching were on the following:

www.YOU.Com (walking wise in this world) - Millie Juarez

Its time to understand the will of God- Bianca Juarez

Its time for a deeper Intimacy- Anabel Lopez

A workshop on “Understanding the Holy Spirit- Bianca Juarez

Redeeming the time- Donna Vera

It’s time to prepare for the coming of the Lord- Sandy MacIntosh

Friday night we were watching a short video that had clips from all the crazy things that have been happening from Earthquakes, Tsunamis, Political battles, Religious battles and talking about how the times are getting crazy. It was a great way to open up the weekend and my eyes to the things that are going on around me.

Saturday morning we got word of the Earthquake in Chile and it was about 1030am when Millie told us that there was a Tsunami warning in Hawaii and that was supposed to hit at 11 and that they needed to evacuate. Immediately she called us to break in groups and start pray. There we were 700 ladies, some on their knees praying for Hawaii and you some crying. You can sense the heart and it was then that I got a glimpse of this praying church. There is no doubt that this a church that prays, and I mean really prays. The Tsunami didn't hit and some say that it was a false alarm but I believe that the Lord heard our prayers and our hearts and had Mercy!

Saturday afternoon was alone time, it is really a time to just get away and really be still in front of the Lord and allow Him to speak. This is hard for me, I realize that I am the type of person that likes to be around people and being alone and still doing nothing is a challenge. I spent the time in prayer and reading and most of the time crying. I know sooooo EMO! hahah well it was defiantly amazing time spent and the Lord really gave me a vision and confirmation on what His will is for my life. When it is the right time, I will share, right now I will keep it between me and my Lord.

Saturday night was seriously off the hook! We had a small devotion, worship and it was my first true afterglow. No words can express what I experienced, the Holy Spirit moved and there was healing, praying, brokenness, surrendering and everything in between. Like Moses I know we left with our faces glowing! I really wish I could share what took place but I just cant!

Sunday morning was our last day and I was tired. I was ready to come see my boys but I was not ready to leave the women. On the way home my friend and I were talking and she said so what do you think.....

And here is what I think. I think that Pastor Pancho is a man of humility and love. I think that his heart is bigger than most, I think that His heart beats similar to Jesus. I think that he truly cares about his sheep, I think that he is real, I think that he is honest and doesn’t water down the word. I think that he corrects with love, I think he fosters and embraces love your neighbor. I think that although he has a pretty big church you would not know it by the small church feel. I think that he is a man of prayer and believes that with prayer all things are possible

I don't know Pancho that well, I only have been to Montebello a few times, and watched him on the Internet a few times but you know how I know all these things. I know all these things because of his fruit. All the qualities that I expressed I witness through his speakers, through his leaders and through all the ladies I met this weekend that attend his church. There was commercial that used to say that good cows produce good cheese! My friends there is some good cheese coming out of that church.

Sal asked how I felt when I got back. I said honey when I normally come back from a retreat I am blessed. This time I am feeling pressed. I said I feel pressed to make a change to be that change. There was a revival in my heart and Its time. It is time ladies that we stop wasting the time. Millie said it well, she said stop wasting time, but make time.

As I am closing I am really finding it in my heart to share some of my notes on some of the topics, so I think that the next couple of days I will be blogging a lil on each topic and my notes. If you are still with me on this blog, bless you heart, I appreciate it!

Praying for you, and signing out!

Monica

Defeat= Retreat!

Oh my what a week.. I realized I haven't blogged this week.. It has been so super crazy and busy.. Here is what has happened.. I had to spring clean, there has been a neighborhood cat that is looking to mate so she or he has been prostituting up and down the street making a awful sound the last four nights and ALL night. We are awakened every few hours, and I even woke up one night thinking he was saying "mommy". If I had a cat I would throw it out there just to quiet her up! ill that was gross. So Noah managed to get play-doh stuck up his nose, decided this week that he doesn't want to take a day time nap. He has started to become more independent and wants to do more stuff himself but get frustrated when he cant. I have had a headache, a severe lower back pain, pinched nerve by my neck, and some knee pain. what the heck, how old am I? I have had so much food temptation this week I felt like a huge snack attack like every afternoon. Why oh, I know why because I was fasting a meal this week.. silly me, oh course I would have great temptations!

Ok and my fitness.. Due to lack of sleep I have not worked out all the days I normally do. Last night I was running and my ipod fell and flew across the garage like a missile. Oh and did I mentioned that I fell? Yup I tripped and fell down a few stairs. Oh but the best part is that today as I was making chicken soup, I splashed some juice on my tummy and I felt the burn penetrate down to the bone. Sal and I also managed to get irritated with each other over something totally random, but that was over and the worst part of it all. I am really disappointed in my lack of participation of watching the Olympic games. Oh man if I was contending for a medal, I would not even have made it to the finals! I am so sorry USA! Man I truly felt defeated this week!

Do you feel sorry for me yet? Well don't, because tomorrow I leave for my retreat! So now you are probably thinking " that is why you have had the week you had". Yup my friends anytime you prepare to go retreat with the Lord the enemy is there to attack to take you down and make you really work for that retreat.

I am excited, worried, anxious and everything in between! Excited that I will get to sit at the feet of the Lord and let him work on my heart. I am excited to finally hear one of my favorite speakers and blog writers speak. I am excited to see how the Lord will talk to my heart and show me what needs to be done. I am excited to get this alone time with him.

I am worried to.. I am worried that Noah will get all his meals! I am worried that he gets his diaper changed at least 3 times a day. I am worried that at the end of the night when he goes to bed he doesn't ask for mommy and I am not there. I am worried that my husband has enough strength and handle a toddler 24/7 alone. I am worried that as I go away to be with the Lord that the enemy will be at work with my family. I am worried because I am a mommy and wife and that is what we do!

I am anxious to see what new revelation God will give me. I am anxious to see what part of myself needs to die so that I can follow Him more. I am anxious to get rid of anything that is hindering me of my pursuit of FFF!

So my friends I am signing off till Sunday. I am sure I will have alot to share with you upon my return! If you have never been to a retreat I urge you to go, you never come back the same. It is a good time for you to get alone with God! In the busyness of this day its hard to see or hear from God sometimes and it is good to get away. As you can see by my week!

Have a great weekend,

Love you guys!

Mon

Brown Rice Rocks!

What is the deal with late blogging? Sorry my days have been a lil busy.. So the weekend was great, I ate to much on saturday night and gave into my sweet tooth... Ugh I know.. I ran it off yesterday, trust me.

Perhaps that explains the back pain and pain in my legs. Not sure what the deal is but today my lower back is killing me. I think that I didn't stretch to well. I am thinking of trying the new P90X workout, it looks intense and it is a 90 day workout that you can do at home. This works well since it is kinda hard to get to the gym with sal in school.

So I wanted to share a meal I made today it was so good. It was brown rice mixed with chicken and tons of veggies.. I kinda threw it together and came out amazing and SUPER healthy.. Here is what I did...

I sautéed 3 garlic cloves, half of onion with about 3 Tablespoons of oil. Then I threw in 2 cups of brown rice and browned it. After like 7 minutes I put 2 1/2 cups of water, salt and pepper, some cut up carrots and cut up mushrooms and let it simmer for like a hour.

In the mean time I steamed broccoli in the microwave and cooked some chicken breast and chopped it in cubes. As soon as the rice was ready I combined everything together the rice, broccoli and chicken and served it in a bowl.

You can top it off with some salsa, or hot sauce or avocado if you wanted to. You can also use different meats. Last time I made it I made it with ground turkey and added spinach. We have switched over to brown rice and rarely eat white rice anymore, much healthier and I find it to be more filling.

I am also on my fourth day of no coffee or diet soda. I am trying to stay away from the caffeine because it breaks down the calcium in women's bones. And we already don't need anything extra to break down the bones.

I had a new skinny cow ice cream tonight. It was a mint chocolate truffle bar. It is a must have. It was so good and totally filling. It is only 2 points if you are counting points. If you are like me and LOVE dessert you are going to love it. Well friends tonight blog is about food and I am getting hungry talking about it so I must go. Have a good night!

Pursing healthy foods,

Monica

We are family not roommates!

How many in your party sir? Four he said. About 15 minutes went by and I happen to glance over to this families table. Although there were four in the party there was defiantly only one participating in this family dinner.

The teenager sat there with her headphones in both ears, dad had a newspaper, the seven year old sat there reading a menu and mom looked like she had a LONG day. Perhaps I was being nosy or just wondering what happen to the times when people cared about each others day? I felt for this mom, she had her hand on her face as if she needed to talk and there was no there to listen.

I realized that in my pursuit to FFF(faith, food and fitness) I left out another important F and that is Family. I know I am supposed to be blogging about the Olympics but I cant stop thinking about this family. The sad thing is that this is happening at alot of dinner tables and in families everywhere.

Family always seems to get what is left of the day, they get the doggie bag so to speak when they should get the main course. I was sooooo guilty of this practice before I became a stay at home mom. I would work myself to death for my company and when I got home I was so tired and didn't want to function that I shut down and my husband got whatever energy that was. Sometimes it wasn't much. There were times when I didn't ask about his day, or dinner was drive thru without much thought and his needs were being neglected.

Now before the stones come flying, Im not saying that this is wrong, on occasion its ok. What I am trying to get across is that this happening to often can lead to a disconnect in the family. Soon communication is lost and everyone is like roommates with different lives.

The dinner table should be a place where everyone throws everything on the table. It should be a place of refuge, a place of problem solving, a place of praise, a place of encouragement. One thing that we used to do in our staff meetings is have a “round table” at the end of every meeting. We would go manager by manager and tell what is happening on our teams, we could ask our boss questions, ask for help if needed and it was a time to keep her in the loop about what was going on with our own teams.

We need to bring the roundtable into our homes. We need to be kept in the loop on what is going on with our children and our spouses. If we dont care, then someone else will.. There was a saying in our business that said that “if we dont take care of our customers the competition will.” In this case if we are not talking to our kids, the world will, their friends will. I dont know about you but that scares me. I want to be the one giving the the advice they need, pointing them to scripture and leading them in the right direction. If you are not actively apart of your husbands life, guess what as harsh as this sound someone else will.

Lord help us to keep our families together and actively participate in each others lives! Thanks for reading, I hope you all have a great weekend and I will blog you later.. hahah get it... lame I know.. sorry, that is what you get from a dieting girl straight off the treadmill....

loving my family,
Monica