my 3 month challenge-pushing my limits

50% of me doesn't like change, but the other 50% is an adventurer to the core. Super conflicting combo... So I decided to challenge myself this winter to try some new things that are out of my comfort zone. Starting February 1st I will actively feed my sense of adventure and push myself beyond the limits of comfortability by trying a new thing every day!

But this is where I need help from you guys...I need some challenges. Comment on this post with any ideas you might have. I've already come up with a few things to try and Eric is excited to make me eat some weird nasty foods that I would never touch normally, but 3 months is a lot of new stuff.  So get creative people! The more awesome ideas you have the more fun this will be for you to watch and the more enlightening it will be for me to engage in. 

Again, just so we're clear, my challenge will start on February 1st and will go to May 1st. Every day I will try something new and then blog about my experiences, feelings, blah blah blah. SO if there's something you've been dying to try, but aren't motivated enough to actually do, I'm you're girl!

Here I come winter boredom,  get outa the way!

how to survive winter

http://www.weighitup.com.au/fitness/977/guide-to-surviving-winter

Something about Christmas delays the feeling of sorrow that accompanies the winter months. But as soon as the holiday season is over “winter” is upon us, stealing Joy, and warmth, and adding inches to our waistline by the second.

And as trivial as it all may seem, winter is tough for everyone. As someone who has struggled to function from November to April since they were very small, I have developed a few tips that may make things a little more bearable.

1. BUY A HEATED BLANKET. I tell you the truth, I did not live until I had one of these. I actually carry it around with me to every room of the house, plugging it in as I go. Everything is better when you are toasty warm under a blanket. A word of caution, however: Once you are under the blanket, you will lose all motivation to complete obligations.
2. START DRINKING TEA. I honestly don’t know why anyone wouldn’t love tea. It’s like a heated blanket for your insides. I know a lot of people don’t. But here’s the thing, not only does it keep you healthy, but it keeps you happy. Try not to add extra sugar and junk, stick to honey if you absolutely can’t drink it plain. Tea has tons of benefits for your body and can help relieve stress, digestive issues, cold symptoms and much more. Seriously, give it a shot.
3. GET MOVIN’. Okay, so I totally have no authority on this one because although I consider myself to be a lover of running, I really struggle to stay active when even my bones are shivering and it’s dark before dinner. So how do you stay moving? Well, If you have the money buy a treadmill and the Total Gym and call it a day. For the rest of us, getting to the gym can be pricey and inconvenient. If you have cable, check out the channels that offer a variety of workout videos in the am. It may be different for different areas, but a lot of major networks are programming workouts for viewers. Thanks to good ole’ Google, you can basically type in any kind of workout and find someone out in cyberspace to lead you through a body busting workout for free. My personal favorite workout routine for the winter months is to do handstands and other gymnastics moves in the living room while watching my favorite TV shows. So pick one and give it a whirl! You’ll have more energy and be happier with your self for getting off the couch (and out from under your heated blanket).
4. DRINK WATER. This isn’t just good advice for the winter months, but the colder it gets, the harder it is to remember to hydrate. I keep a water bottle with me at all times. It holds 32 ounces of water, so If I make sure to drink about 3 a day I’m good. Once you get into a routine, drinking water just becomes a part of your everyday life (as it should). Do not underestimate the power of H2O, it helps hydrate your skin and keeps your organs working as they should. Water also helps keep off the lbs. and speed metabolism.
5. EVERYTHING IN MODERATION. Let’s not go crazy with the “after Holiday dieting”…ok? I understand that you may have put on a few extra pounds and are desperate to lose them, but try not to focus too much on controlling everything that’s going into your body. Try to think of food as nourishment. Make adjustments to your diet as needed, but do not forbid yourself to eat certain foods every once in a while. 

I leave you, beautiful people, with this verse. To me, it is a verse of hope in a season that brings a heaviness I cannot lift on my own.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. ~John 14:27~

how Maslows steps lead to Jesus: according to Lizz

Well here I am, back in the writing game. Writing, like most things in my life, is something that I phase in and out of. I absolutely love everything about it, but somehow, at times, it gets left behind.

I am sure most of you have heard of Maslow's hierarchy of need. I studied it in college and somehow, 3 years later I am finally using it! For those of you who have never heard of this let me fill you in. It's a psychology thing introduced by this dude named Abraham Maslow in 1943. Basically he presented this pyramid...

The bottom of the pyramid represents a human's basic needs and then it works its way up. These needs can occur at the same time, but basically his argument was that when a person fulfills a need at the bottom of the pyramid they go to the next one and so on and so forth.

When I started thinking of Maslow's theory a few days ago I was thinking about it in terms of faith. I spend a lot of my time at my church and with my husband and closest friends, all of whom encourage my relationship with Jesus Christ on a deep spiritual level. But I have begun thinking about what happens to our faith when we are missing the first few things on the pyramid, or if we never had them.

Of course the gift of God's love and peace is that we can find His joy in every situation, but let's be honest, it isn't always that easy. And what about the people Who have never been able to get above the two lowest levels on the pyramid or even the first three. Those people who are starving, homeless, jobless, alone.

Just like so many things in life, the transition from empty to full is one of many steps. Those steps are so incredibly important. It's not the talking about Jesus that brings people to Him, it's being Him with skin on, showing people love by leading them through the steps of the pyramid, not expecting them to launch themselves from the bottom to the top.

Do not underestimate the power of being God's hands and feet. Loving the least of these should not be taken lightly. Feed the hungry, house the homeless, tend to the sick. You don't need to go to another country to do it. There are people in your life right now who need to see Jesus living and breathing through you.