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“Show me Your ways, O Lord, teach me Your paths; guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are God my Savior, and my hope is in You all day long” (Psalm 25:4&5).

Kathy thought about the New Year as she filed away the boxes of last year’s paperwork. There were things she would like to do differently in this new year. Oh, there were the usual things most of her friends were claiming as their New Year’s Resolutions:

•    Lose weight
•    Stop smoking
•    Take more time for relationships
•    Set goals

The list went on. The office was filled with laughter and the prospect of hope for change that a new year would bring.  Yet Kathy knew, in a week or so, the chatter would turn to the broken resolutions and very few of the hoped for changes would become a reality. She wanted something more for her life.

That night Kathy picked up her Bible and read Psalm 25. It was full of hope and an expectation of change that only God could bring to her life. She read it through a couple of times and underlined some verses that seemed to jump off the page, bringing fresh hope to her heart.

“Show me Your ways, O Lord, teach me Your paths; guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are God my Savior, and my hope is in You all day long” (Psalm 25:4&5).

The second time she read it through it struck her… here was her New Year’s resolution! This would be the prayer of her heart everyday in this New Year. She grabbed a recipe card and wrote out the words, letting them soak into her soul. This was the change she wanted in her life…to keep her focus daily on the path God wanted her to walk in hope and in faith.

Take a little time over the next few days and read through Psalm 25 yourself. Consider reading it every day for a week and ask God to make the promise of hope come alive to your heart. Write verses 4 & 5 on a card or a sticky note and place it where you will see it regularly. Memorize it and let it soak into your soul and change your life.

Father God,
Thank you for the promise of hope You bring to my heart and my life. I do lift up my soul and my life to You now. I want to trust in You more fully this year. Tune my ears to hear Your voice more clearly. Teach me Your path and guide me in Your truth. In these changing days I need to discern Your ways for me. Help me to put my hope  in You, not just occasionally or when I am in a hard place, but every day all day long. Thank you that You are God, my Savior! I ask this in the strong name of Jesus, amen.

Questions: Do you crave to be closer to God?  How do you plan on growing closer to God this year? Read Psalm 25.

TAKE THE NEXT STEP: Hannah: a study in contentment

About the Author Gail Rodgers

It’s easy to be negative about it. That calendar flips over and suddenly humanity swells with good intention. Intention that rarely ever sees February.  But maybe this year, instead of making a top 10 list of vague resolutions – lose weight, pay off debt, quit smoking – you could sharpen your pencil, get real, and ask yourself one question.

What is it that I want?

You want to play guitar, swim off the island of Santorini, Greece, help protect leatherback sea turtles or learn Spanish? Well how much do you want it? Because you are the only one who can take the necessary steps to make it happen. You can decide to do these things on any day of the year, but what better time than at the brink of a fresh, clean slate.

Instead of moping about new year’s resolutions, take some advice from H.L. Hunt,

“Decide what you want, decide what you are willing to exchange for it. Establish your priorities and go to work.”

What’s on your list of things you want to accomplish, places you want to see, people you want to meet? Are you trying to tackle that list proactively or are you whining at the thought of resolutions?

Image credit: moni

She wanted something more for her life.

That night Kathy picked up her Bible and read Psalm 25. It was full of hope and an expectation of change that only God could bring to her life. She read it through a couple of times and underlined some verses that seemed to jump off the page, bringing fresh hope to her heart.

“Show me Your ways, O Lord, teach me Your paths; guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are God my Savior, and my hope is in You all day long” (Psalm 25:4&5).

The second time she read it through it struck her… here was her New Year’s resolution!

This would be the prayer of her heart everyday in this New Year. She grabbed a recipe card and wrote out the words, letting them soak into her soul. This was the change she wanted in her life…to keep her focus daily on the path God wanted her to walk in hope and in faith.

Take a little time over the next few days and read through Psalm 25 yourself. Consider reading it every day for a week and ask God to make the promise of hope come alive to your heart. Write verse 4 & 5 on a card or a stickie note and place it where you will see it regularly. Memorize it and let it soak into your soul and change your life.

Father God,

Thank you for the promise of hope You bring to my heart and my life. I do lift up my soul and my life to You now. I want to trust in You more fully this year. Tune my ears to hear Your voice more clearly. Teach me Your path and guide me in Your truth. In these changing days I need to discern Your ways for me. Help me to put my hope in You, not just occasionally or when I am in a hard place, but every day all day long. Thank you that You are God, my Savior! I ask this in the strong name of Jesus, amen.

Questions: What are your resolutions for the coming New Year?  Take some time to read Psalm 25 and use some of those ideas to help you with your resolutions.

About this Author Gail Rodgers

Daily audio podcast: A second daily devotional, Walking with Integrity, today on the Men’s Devotional Blog

First of all, let’s establish why we are starting a fitness regimen.

Longevity? …Usually not. Greater ease moving furniture?… Doubtful. When asked why they want to start exercising, my clients have invariably and euphemistically answered “I want to feel better,” which is a roundabout way of saying they want to look better. Although there are many factors that determine feelings of self worth, without a doubt, looking good is synonymous with feeling good. Most people’s fitness training goals are cosmetic, and that’s O.K.! This psychosocial phenomenon may seem primal and antiquated but it is however, real. It’s not politically correct to suggest that looking “hot” is the best reason to exercise, but the benefits of exercise are irrefutable and the drawbacks of dubious exercise motivations are innocuous.

There are four basic excuses I come across that can sabotage an intent to get fit.

1. In a world where time is money, it has become en vogue to say “I don’t have the time.” Time is budgeted by priority. We find time to perform tasks that we see a consequence of not performing. People find time to shower, brush their teeth, blow dry their hair and put on their make-up because the consequence of avoiding these daily activities outweighs the convenience of not doing them. Out of 168 hours in a week, I find it hard to believe someone cannot budget 3 hours to his or her health.
2. The second excuse which I also give little credence to is: “Well, I’ll see how I like it.” If you are walking into a gym with this attitude you will have no problem finding a reason that good health is not for you. These people can usually be spotted by their skepticism regarding the contract that the gym requires for membership. With them I wonder “When you’re getting into the best shape you’ve ever been in, how long did you plan on maintaining it…just a few months?” Fitness is a lifestyle, and not accepting that, or thinking it’s just something you are trying on for size is a recipe for failure.
3. Money can present minor challenges, however, there is always some way to exercise. For twenty to forty dollars a month, you can train in most commercial gyms. If a monthly gym payment is not realistic, you can purchase enough weights to do the trick for about a hundred dollars. As well, for about thirty dollars you can purchase a Swiss ball, which opens the door to scores of exercises.
4. Finally, the excuse that doesn’t have a simple answer “I have to think this over with my husband/wife.” I’m not suggesting that you disregard the conditions of your relationship; however, it is terribly unfortunate to contend with someone who has a justifiable interest in the rest of your life and does not have the foresight to value and invest in your health.

Many new fitness enthusiasts climb over all the psychological obstacles only to be discouraged by minimal results stemming from physiological and biomechanical intricacies never introduced to them.

The best approach for a beginner is to hire a competent personal trainer.

Deciding to implement a personal trainer for superior and lasting results is the first step; now, what criteria will you base your selection of a particular trainer on? You are hiring the trainer. Ask of him or her the same you would of any employee of yours. Have them provide a resume. Evaluate their education, experience, and certifications. Make sure they provide references and contact them. See if they have testimonials from previous clients. Interview them: do they have philosophies or a scientific explanation for the services they can provide you? Don’t assume your trainer is supposed to be a Marine drill instructor, tasked with making your life a living hell. If you don’t genuinely like your trainer, things probably won’t work out. Don’t use these guidelines as a ‘yea or nay’ checklist but as a system to take in the big picture and make an informed decision.

Experienced trainers have observed exercises performed more times in a few years than most people could ever see in a lifetime. Without a personal trainer laying the Biomechanical foundation you are likely to make a variety of mistakes ranging from spending ten sets on an abduction machine trying to slim the outer thigh, in reality, working the gluteus medius (an unnoticeable muscle in the butt, about the size of a biscuit!) to performing a set of bench presses, lowering the bar to a different point on the chest with each repetition exhausting few muscles sufficiently. Not only will a stronger foundation be laid by learning proper exercise function, but a good trainer can sense when minor or major changes in frequency, intensity, duration, and selection of exercise need to be instituted

Body composition and Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR: the amount of calories we burn hourly at rest) is greatly dependent on the amount of muscle we possess.

Whether you desire bulk, mass, or just tone you seek the same thing larger muscles. The qualities of muscle, i.e. shape and density, are predetermined by your parents. Your only option is size. An inspiring trainer can convey the message to those who lack the desire to become competitive bodybuilders, that they will not become mass monsters like Mr. Olympia, Ronnie Coleman, by accident. Increasing muscle mass will however raise their basil metabolic rate, facilitating decreased body-fat levels.

Training for an increase in muscle is not exactly simple; it integrates a variety of laws, principals, and general truths too detailed for many people, who often have lives too busy to commit to learning all of them. A trainer can be implemented to assess a client and develop programs respecting philosophies such as The Weider Principles as outlined by Joe Weider, founder of Muscle & Fitness magazine, or the four Laws of Strength popularized by Dr. Tudor Bompa. The Weider Principles state generalizations such as The Overload Principle which states that in order to gain in strength , size, or endurance from training, you must exercise against resistance greater than that normally encountered. Dr. Bompa devised a training chronology starting with law #1 simply stating, before you develop muscle, develop joint flexibility. Without an experienced trainer one can easily skip phases in Bompa’s or Weiders’s progressions leading to likely injuries, or limited progress.

In accordance with the myth that cardiovascular training has the greatest impact on body composition or more specifically fat loss, new fitness enthusiasts imitate a diet most appropriate for distance runners. A trainer, certified by a credible organization will possess the knowledge to personalize a diet for a client, unlikely to be as high in processed carbohydrates or low in fat as we have grown to accept as healthy. A good trainer can clarify the difference between dietary fat and fattening. Often dieters replace calories from fat, dispensing with oils, peanut butter, and their favorite meats, only to exchange those calories for high glycemic index carbohydrates which raise blood sugar levels quickly; therefore raising insulin levels which are culpable for fat storage. It would not be unusual for an attentive trainer to suggest replacing a fat-free pasta, and French bread dinner, with a baked chicken and broccoli dinner for a client emphasizing fat loss, after evaluating and consulting with their client.

The approach you take to challenges compromising your program is vital. If you haven’t learned to prioritize your training and nutrition, do so. This doesn’t mean that training is number one and that you have to drink protein shakes three times a day, seven days a week. It means you know just when to schedule training and how many days a week you eat right. For example, if your son just broke his finger playing basketball, you will obviously be passing on this workout and picking it back up tomorrow. If the neighbors invite you over for dinner, tell them “I have to go to the gym, maybe another night” (this is also a great excuse if you didn’t feel like visiting them anyway). When you’re dining out, make sure they prepare your food so you can stay within the confines of your diet. If your friends call you a health nut, so what!, you are.

Finally, arm yourself with all the knowledge you can, and integrate a support team, including your trainer, health care professionals, training partner, and significant other. This will get you off on the right foot.

This article offers you a great start to negotiating your fitness obstacles! But what if your “obstacles” go deeper than just fitness? Is there someone you can talk to about the things that just keep nagging at you? If not, feel free to contact us to chat, to be connected to someone who will privately & confidentially lend you a listening ear.