Two Sides of the Coin: Value and Responsibility

Our team passionately believes that your true value is found in your Creator God.

But with society’s often unrealistic expectations and the media’s pressure to look and perform a certain way constantly yanking at us, we can often find ourselves drowning in feelings of inadequacy.

But friend, we’re not meant to find our belonging, worth, and confidence apart from who God says we are.

In one way or another, we all face the “Am I good enough, worthy, or able?” battle. We all get out of bed in the morning to stare at our flaws in the mirror. We all tend to judge our value by status, performance, and appearance. Self-criticism does not discriminate against gender or age. It rips at everyone. 

I believe that no matter the issue, be it spiritual, emotional, or physical, the solution is rooted in Christ. By releasing the demands of the world and looking to Him for our true sense of worth, we empower ourselves to take responsibility for our lifestyles and thus improve our state of being. God wrote an entire book showering us in the truth necessary to make healthy choices.

I see it as a beautiful partnership with God in which I surrender to Him what only He can heal while holding myself accountable for what only I can change. 

I hope the video today speaks love and life into you by focusing your eyes upward and onto what’s possible for your future!

Take some time for this encouraging video above.

Before you go, here's some words strait from the Word to speak over yourself: 

• I have the Greater One living in me; greater is He Who is in me than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4).
• I can do all things through Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:13).
• I am God’s workmanship, created in Christ unto good works (Ephesians 2:10).
• I am more than a conqueror through Him Who loves me (Romans 8:37).
• For God has not given us a spirit of fear; but of power, love, and a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7).

---

Please let us know how we can pray for you in the comments below - or we'd love to hear from you if this post was helpful and what you'd like more of! Love from your AL tribe xo

Eat REAL Fast Food!

We get asked all the time for ideas on healthy snacks or on-the-go meals for the busy individual. While you can always keep things like apples or nuts handy, these are some of my top favorite REAL fast food ideas or quick on-the-go option. 

Let us first say that our initial choices for quick snacks at home would be an organic hummus with veggies sticks, thin slice of gluten-free toast, or cracker. A protein/fat rich hard-boiled egg, or a couple tablespoons of nuts. But sometimes you need those on-the-go snacks to stay on track with your healthy eating plan. Here are some of our favorites... 

Protein Lover/Paleo/Keto:  EPIC bars // www.epicbar.com

You can find these high-protein, low sugar soft jerky bars by buying online or at many different grocery stores. They have super basic ingredients with a variety of animal protein bases. Here is an example of ingredients in their Chicken Sriracha Bar (15g protein & 0 sugar) Ingredients: Natural Chicken, Sea Salt, Red Pepper Flakes, Lactic Acid, Organic Chia Seeds, Garlic, Paprika, Onion, Celery Powder, Red Pepper, Black Pepper, Cumin, Oregano.

Combine the high protein bar with some raw veggie sticks like red bell peppers & celery and BAM! Great for after a workout!

*Note:  I would buy one or two and see if you like the flavor and consistency before buying a full pack. 

Real Food Bars (nuts, seeds & fruit):  Thunderbird // http://www.thunderbirdbar.com

Founded and made by endurance athletes. Not only does this company in Austin, Texas provide the best ingredients, they also keep their bars free from additives or added sugar. Most of their bars are sweetened with dates! My favorite flavor is the Almond+Apricot+Vanilla bar and these are the ingredients: Apricots, Almonds, Almond Butter,  Quinoa, Vanilla, Himalayan Sea Salt. 

Note: If you are trying to eat a very low sugar diet, these may be too high in sugar for you from the natural sugar from the dates. 

Get Your Fruit:  That’s it. Fruit Bars // www.thatsitfruit.com

These fruit bars are literally JUST fruit – no added sugars. While I would rather eat a whole apple or a bowl of berries this may be a good bar to have when you are traveling (think airport, train, road trip) or need to get in a healthy snack option on-the-go. I recommend the Apple + Blueberry variety. *One thing to keep in mind is that consuming an excess of sugar (any type of sugar – even from fruit) can be detrimental to your health by leading to type II diabetes, obesity and insulin resistance issues. My recommendation for a daily low-glycemic meal plan would include no more than 2 fruit servings a day as your main source of dietary sugar. One of these bars would fulfill that daily serving that falls in line with the USDA Diabetic recommendations of 22 grams of sugar per day for women, 36 grams daily for men, and 12 grams per day for children.

Electrolyte & Hydration Booster:  Taste Nirvana // www.tastenirvana.com

For all the busy massage therapists, hair stylists, friends with very physically active careers and lifestyles, this may be a great way to get the electrolytes in to keep you going throughout the day. It also seems as though I always get dehydrated on a road trip because I’m not drinking my normal high dose of pure water – who wants to make ten bathroom stops?! Coconut water is always a go-to for me on road trips to increase hydration. I like the Nirvana Real Coco Aloe which contains no additives or concentrates and is high in potassium.  

*A little on the pricier side but my absolute favorite tasting coconut water (other than straight out of a coconut) is Harmless Harvest that can be found at Whole Foods or most natural food markets.

Nutty Filling Snack:  Artisina Organics // www.artisinaorganics.com

Great for the student with long study days or someone who wants something very filling and easy to pack and eat later. Just throw an apple in your bag and you’ve got a great filling breakfast or heavy snack! Great for camping trips and I personally love having these while traveling as it can be hard to find healthy food at the airport. Almond butter in particular is my top recommendation because many people have intolerance to peanuts because of it’s core fungus. This brand is also great since the only ingredient is raw organic almonds. You can buy a 10-pack on Amazon.

Superfood Power Snack:  Navita Natural Power Snacks // www.navitanaturals.com

The Cacao Goji Power Snack bites are great for my emergency purse snack – you know those low blood sugar moments when you seriously just need something good and quick?! These are also great to have in your car or gym bag if you need a small snack for energy before a workout and are also perfect to take to the beach! You can find them at Whole Foods, natural food markets or on Amazon here.

Enjoy some of these healthier on-the-go ideas and always remember to eat well!

---

Sign up for our Abundant Living inbox love to receive weekly content that inspires you to live a happier, healthy, more fullfilled life!

Does my physical health really matter to God?

Taking care of your health physically and mentally is not a selfish act. When you give value to yourself, you’ll only give more value to others. You’ll be able to act from a full place rather than a drained, exhausted, and resentful place. 

Why do we feel like desiring to be healthy, feel comfortable in our bodies, giving priority to taking care of our physical wellbeing is un-spiritual and therefore just vain notions? Can we not offer up this area of our lives to God and ask Him to be involved in our pursuit of a healthier physical body? While we all start from different places – some may be training for a marathon, while another is suffering through an auto-immune disease, while yet another is severely overweight due to a variety of factors, God can take you from wherever you’re at and walk with you in the process towards better health. 

“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is living in you, who you received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price (Jesus on the cross). Therefore honor God with your (physical) body.”   1 Corinthians 6:19-20  *emphasis added 

Don’t fool yourself and think that God doesn’t care about this area of your life. He cares about every part of you – nothing is hidden from him. You can improve your health no matter where you’re starting from. Don’t look at your neighbor to compare where you are, because with the uniqueness of our bodies due to factors of genetics, our history, our jobs and stress levels, our age, etc. we all are so different. Do what you can, no matter where you’re at, and start adopting healthy behaviors. 

To do this though you must first renew your mind in this area. You must see that this is important, and then you must surrender your “I’m a loser” and abusive self-talk. Speaking abusive words over yourself are in such violation with being a child of God. As much as you know you don’t have the right to speak harmful words over someone else, why do you think you have the right to speak them over yourself. Your personal feelings about yourself are basically irrelevant when you are a daughter or a son of God. You now are living under who He says you are. And what we speak now over ourselves is, “I am fearfully and wonderfully made”, “I am made in his image”, “I stand before God without condemnation”, “I’m free in Christ”. These are now the amazing and stunning things we speak over ourselves. Not in order to boast – because we did nothing to earn or deserve what He says we are. It’s because when we have relationship with Jesus, we then stand un-condemned because of the price HE paid. 

This is grace that I’ll never understand. This is grace that says no matter who you are, no matter what you’ve done, no matter the depression you’re drowning in, no matter how disappointed you are in yourself or what you’ve had to go through in your life maybe at the harmful hand of others – He calls you complete in Him. 

You must make a choice to take captive the abusive words you speak over yourself and replace them with His truth of who you are. We have to practice this because it’s not going to come natural. It may even seem arrogant at first. The enemy would love for all of us that call ourselves “followers of Jesus” to stay miserable. To have such a dim light in our demeanor, in our confidence, and in the way we treat others, that our testimony of him is all together unseen. But really, when you start to know and believe the truth of your true identity, it humbles you. It softens your heart because you see you no longer have the right to compare or to ever hold yourself higher than some else, and best of all you don’t need the world’s approval anymore. You become so confident in who he made you to be that you can start to see others with acceptance and love instead of feeling jealously and comparison. You become someone who no longer measures themselves against the person standing next to you, or on Instagram, in your job, in our family or even in the church. When you live out your new identity of who God says you are, you’re now measuring yourself up against God’s word alone.

I promise you friend, I speak from experience. As a young adult, I am now one of the most secure people I know because of understanding my true identity as a daughter of God. Not because I actually think I’m that great. It’s really been the opposite, which could be confirmed by the people who know me best. I’ve struggled with such destructive thoughts about myself in the areas of my personal accomplishments (or the lack thereof), body image issues, and wanting to be liked by everyone that I’ve been in such dark places in the past that I felt like the darkness would ultimately consume me. Thank God for a Savior. Thank God that He replaces our darkness for His light. Thank God that He has revealed to me how wrong I was living, believing that I had a right to be abusive to myself in a way I’d never be to someone else. Thank God, that I’ve been set free – and you can be too! 

Jesus didn’t just come to offer you right standing before God by securing your salvation in Him. By receiving the gift of salvation of your soul, that would have truly been enough. But in John 10:10 he gives us even more. He says he came so that you may have life and to have it more abundantly. He wants to give you peace and joy overflowing, not sparingly. 

I believe with my whole heart that the abundant life involves your body, mind, and soul being offered up to him. That we would desire to honor God with our physical bodies, the thoughts we dwell and meditate on, and more important than anything, our spirits desiring him above all. I hope you see that your whole person, matters to God. 

---

Does this speak to you? Share it!