Back to School Advice
For some of us this time of year brings about big changes – Back to School. For me I have mixed feelings. Thankful that I will have more time for me to devote to Faithful Workouts but sad that we will be back into the school routine. School time means I have less time to spend with my kids and more energy I need to put into keeping them on task – “Wake up, eat your breakfast, don’t forget your lunch, did you do your homework, don’t forget your football gear…..”
It’s way too easy to get so into the school routine that we don’t make the time to talk to our kids about what really matters. If you ask your child, “What is your purpose for being alive?” They would most likely answer, “Um I don’t know” but isn’t really our purpose for being on this earth to give God glory? Isn’t it all about bringing His light into the darkness? Isn’t it about loving God and loving others”
If that is our purpose and our kids’ purpose for being here we need to talk about it with them. Imagine if we all sent our kids off to school with the lyrics from the song, “These are the Words I Would Say”
“Be strong in the lord and,
Never give up hope,
You’re going to do great things,
I already know,
Gods got his hand on you so,
Don’t live life in fear,
Forgive and forget,
But don’t forget why your here,
Take your time and pray,
These are the words I would say”
If kids around the world started their day hearing these words and put them into their heart and mind – imagine!
Some of you probably already know this about me but I am really into music. I love music that has an important message. Here is another song that has awesome lyrics for your kids to listen to before they head off to school. This song is called, “Don’t laugh at me”
“I’m a little boy with glasses
The one they call the geek
A little girl who never smiles
‘Cause I’ve got braces on my teeth
And I know how it feels
To cry myself to sleep
I’m that kid on every playground
Who’s always chosen last
A single teenage mother
Tryin’ to overcome my past
You don’t have to be my friend
But is it too much to ask
Don’t laugh at me
Don’t call me names
Don’t get your pleasure from my pain
In God’s eyes we’re all the same
Someday we’ll all have perfect wings
Don’t laugh at me”
Talk to your kids about being kind. Let them know how you feel about teasing. Remind them to look out for the kid who doesn’t have anyone to play with. Reward them for acts of kindness not just for good grades.
My 15 year old daughter, Denika, came home yesterday from school and told me about a teacher that was having a lot of pain from an abscessed tooth. She asked if she could make him some chicken soup.
My heart smiled when I saw her cutting up the veggies and chicken and making the soup. My husband made a point during our family prayer at dinner to thank God for Denika’s kind heart for caring for her teacher. He told her how what she did was showing God’s love not just talking about it.
My family is far from perfect but this was one of those moments when I was so thankful that God had tugged on our hearts and drew us close to Him.
It’s so easy to get caught up in what the world values but keep your focus on God. Pray and ask Him to direct you.
She Did Great!
Thank you so much for your prayers – she did great. The surgery was just under 5 hours and the Dr. said it really couldn’t have gone better. She’s one tough 80 year old. They fused her spine all the way up to L2. She is still in recovery – can’t wait to see her. I am so thankful that God directed the doctors!!
God Heard Me and Answered
OK - I have to share with you an amazing thing that happened this morning. So….. I’ll start by saying I am not one who typically prays for God to show me a “sign” of His presence. I know He loves me and He is with me. Well, I have been doing some major praying specifically about my mom’s back surgery. She is having her 2nd major back surgery as I write this.
A few weeks ago when I was thinking about my mom’s upcoming surgery I said to God, “God, how cool would it be if the Klove verse that I get emailed to me every morning would be my mom’s favorite verse on the day of her surgery. I know you are with us but it would be amazing if you made your presence so clear”
Well, I forgot about this until I did a quick email check before heading to the hospital this morning. I clicked on my KLove verse and guess what came through today…… MY MOM’S FAVORITE VERSE. OK how good is God. I’m not basing my faith on the fact that He sent it. If it didn’t come in this morning I would not have thought God wasn’t listening to my prayers but it just freaked me out when it came in this morning.
The last time my mom had back surgery she would keep her spirits up by saying, Psalm 118:24 “This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.” Ever since that it is the verse that brings my mom comfort and makes me think her. Think about how many verses are in the Bible…. I found that there are 31,103 verses so it’s a 1 in 31,103 chance that this verse would come today.
When I saw the verse come through this morning I ran to my mom and told her what happened. You can’t imagine the peace that came over me. Guys, God is there, He hears you and He loves you. Sometimes He doesn’t answer our prayers the way we would like but know this – He Hears You.
God just gave me yet another testimony to share. I will never stop being completely amazed that the God who created the universe hears me. He said today, “Michelle, I know you are concerned about your mom and I just want to send you a reminder that I am here and I have this all figured out.”
My mom is still in surgery as I write this and I know no matter what happens in that operating room God is with us!
Faithful Workouts off TV – (for now)
Sorry it’s been so long since I’ve blogged. I’ve missed keeping in touch with all of you. The trip to the Dominican Republic was awesome. It was so cool to see God at work in the Dominican’s lives, in the ministries we were exposed to, as well as in the families we hosted. My MOPS (mother’s of pre-schoolers) convention was so fun. Loved leading workouts for these great women. OK, I have to admidt the day the convention ended I slept for 11.5 hours – I was exhausted!!
So much has been going on with Faithful Workouts the last few weeks. The good news is I finished the second book for the membership. I am so excited about the topics covered. My husband proof-read it for me and I’ve never seen him so psyched to take better care of his body. He was also moved by the faith topics.
The other wonderful thing going with Faithful Workouts is that I continue to receive emails almost daily from TV viewers who write to me about how the program is inspiring them. I love hearing the stories and I feel like I have gotten to know many of you from your emails.
(This part isn’t so exciting.) After I returned from the Dominican, I realized my music licenses for TV were up for renewal. Unfortunately, at this time, I simply cannot afford to renew the licenses. I had been praying that DVD and membership sales would cover this hefty bill in “Year 2,” but they haven’t. When this all hit me last week, it made me super sad. In fact, the day I came to the conclusion that the show will need to come off Directv, Dish Network and SkyAngel, I cried on and off during most of the day. I cried because I felt like the TV viewers would think I stopped caring and that I had deserted them.
The hard thing about TV is that you can’t reach all the viewers to tell them why we have to stop the shows. If you know of anyone watching the program that is not receiving my emails please let them know what is going on.
I am extremely hopeful that the program will be back on TV eventually. I am exploring making all new programs that use only royalty-free music (if you know of any artists who have original, upbeat Christian music who might be willing to let me use their music on TV, please let me know). The good thing about producing new programs with royalty-free music is that I will hopefully be able to reach more people with God’s message. I have had to turn down other networks because of the cost of the existing licenses. There is even a network in South Africa that wants to start airing Faithful Workouts once my licenses are international!
I will continue to blog about faith, fitness and fuel topics that I hope inspire you to grow closer to God and to take better care of your body. I’m so happy that some of you have a DVD or have subscribed to the membership so that we are still connected.
One critical note: All of our DVD’s are already produced with royalties to musical artists pre-paid. So meeting our commitments to those of you with 3 and 6 month memberships is not a problem at all. It’s just those expensive TV licenses!! 
If you are interested in donating to Faithful Workouts so that TV viewers who can’t afford the DVD’s or memberships can still benefit from our ministry, you can go to http://faithfulworkouts.com/donate
One other thing of note: I am applying to convert Faithful Workouts from an LLC organization to 501C3 non-profit. This will allow me to apply for grants to help fund the production on new TV programs. Funny how God uses “curve balls” like the one I’ve been thrown to get creative about reaching more people.
It’s when situations get tough that we really have to lean on God more than ever. I’ve been trying so hard to listen to Him. I know He has a plan for Faithful Workouts and He is revealing that plan to me one step at a time. I’m excited to see the next step He has planned!!