What makes your heart pump?

 "What is your favorite thing about Portraits of White? What really gets your heart pumping?"

Oh THIS was a fun question to answer!

This video says it all.

It's an Inside Job

"It's an Inside Job"

You can clean yourself with soap

and scrub until you shine

it's all a downward slope

'cause here's the bottom line

it's an inside job

it's an inside job

It can't be you

yeah, it has to be God

the changing of your heart

I know it sounds odd

it's an inside job

it's an inside job

All you need is confidence

He will make adjustments

He will start

inside your heart

then you'll see the outside

looking like the inside

oh, oh, oh

it's an inside job

Want to hear the tune for this little song devotional? 

Click here or watch the video above.

Be Careful

I don't know what I did to injure my foot, but I can't undo it.

I tried to be careful.

My ankle seems to show no improvement.

I can't jog, jump rope or skate.

Even walking (without support of a shoe with a heel) is painful.

I've had to stop skating and give up coaching sessions.

Yesterday I went to the doctor.  Achilles Tendonitis...he thinks.  Never had it before and don't want it again.

No activity for 2 weeks.  I tried to heal things my own way for the past 2 weeks and it hasn't worked, so I figure I better try to be obedient.

I'm learning how to do life with crutches.

I have had to readjust my attitude over and over through this time.  It's the only thing I can control!

This season reveals that there is something even more dangerous looming that I must be careful of.  As much as I wish my ankle would straighten up, I'm more concerned about how I handle this.

For many of us women, (and maybe men too?) our feelings are wrapped up in how we feel about ourselves.  You know the cycle, when you think you're losing weight and eating well and getting in your exercise routine, you feel great about everything.  When that all comes to a grinding halt, you can start to feel awful and it's a quick decline into discouragement and even binge eating.

I've found myself fighting that decline since I can't exercise.  I then start to want to eat more because I think I feel 'better' when I eat.  That inevitably leads to weight gain, which leads to more eating because I feel discouraged.

I've been here before.  I have broken the pattern in the past.  But although I am frustrated about the ankle, I'm more concerned about my heart through all this.

So yes, I certainly have tried to be careful with my body, but now I must be careful with my heart.

"Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it".  Proverbs 4:23

Isn't it that way for all of us?  Not WHAT circumstances we face, but HOW we face them?

“Many times we are our worst enemy. If we could learn to conquer ourselves, then we will have a much easier time overcoming the obstacles that are in front of us.” ― Stephan Labossiere