Marriage and Respect

Welcome Treasures to the start of a new Mini Series that God placed on Andrea of Wink for Pink 's heart. She asked me to team up with her and some very inspirational Christian Bloggers who are beautiful both inside and out. What a blessing it has to been to get to know them and learn from them.

This mini series will go throughout the month of March. These posts are going to be very candid, possibly lengthy and very personal because our hope here is to restore or even ignite that truly madly deeply love that you so desire in your marriage.

Each one of us ladies has a different story. God has placed something different on each of our hearts to share with you. Below you will find a link to every writers post. I encourage you to take a moment and visit them.

This month marks 5 years of marriage for me and Mr. Aguila so when I was asked to participate and told it was on marriage and having God in our marriage, my Spirit man just leaped.  I knew this was God sent.

What God impressed on me to share is on RESPECT I will now give a disclaimer before I go any further.  I have NOT mastered this area.  As stated above our blog posts for this series will be candid.  I will be honest about certain struggles. It's not an easy thing to open up.

 

I recently seen this photo and while it is a little funny, I have to admit I am guilty of only sharing our positive, happy, smiley photos and stories on social media.  Not so much to paint a picture perfect marriage but I don't like to do rant posts or share my dirty laundry, however for the purpose of this series and the mission that God gave Andrea, I am going to step out in faith.  If we can offer hope to hurting wives and help bring THE LIGHT to struggling marriages than let's do this.

Now let me say that what I do share on my social media is the truth and as real as can be however there are certain times when it's not all pretty, all the time. I am really hoping this is normal. Most times are all smiles with Mr. Aguila.  He is a truly amazing, God sent husband.  He is so patient, so loving and so thoughtful quite the opposite of me.

So moving along and on to RESPECT which means to esteem; the state of being admired; thoughtfulness.
Ephesians 5:31-33 instructs us and is titled in the New Living Translation version, Spirit-Guided Relationships: Wives and Husbands
³¹ As the Scriptures say, “A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.” ³² This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one. ³³ So again I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

While doing my research I found the word deference as a synonym for respect.
Deference means respect:  polite respect; especially putting ANOTHER person's interest FIRST.

We must follow Philippians 2:3

I like this version.
Philippians 2:3 The Voice

³ Don’t let selfishness and prideful agendas take over. Embrace true humility, and lift your heads to extend love to others.

And this one..
Philippians 2:3 New King James Version (NKJV)

³ Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.

We are now one with our spouses.  We are not better than them or deserve more or entitled to more we actually should honor and respect each other ABOVE ourselves.

Romans 12:10 instructs us in the New International Version (NIV)

¹⁰ Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.
These two scriptures are speaking against selfishness and showing us not to be self-seeking.  It is not all about us.  We did not get married to put the pressure on our spouses to make us and keep us happy.  We must always allow God to be our joy and happiness.  "The Joy of the Lord to be our strength."  The bible does not say the joy that comes from my spouse.  God must take center stage in our marriages.

If we can love with that First Corinthians 13 kind of love than respect will begin to show up and show off but many of us wives know that it is not always easy, easy to be patient, or meek or kind or selfless.  I know for me it's not and there are times when I am not patient and if I miss one then I miss them all because when I am not selfless I am not patient and I am not kind and I am not meek.  I get frustrated and start being disrespectful and yelling at my husband all because I didn't get what I wanted.  Our bickering is over the smallest dumbest things but if Mrs. Aguila doesn't get what she want, everyone will know.  Lately Mr. Aguila has been bringing my crazy outburst to my attention and lets not talk about all the rolling of the eyes, the sighs and the whatevers I throw in from time to time. That is all disrespectful. 

We must see respect as a noun plus a verb.  Respect is not jut something we know, it has to be something we show.  It requires action on our part.  A daily decision to put into action that First Corinthian  Chapter Thirteen love which will pull out that respect we are instructed to have for our husbands.

Maybe you feel your husband doesn't deserve your respect or that you don't have to submit to him.  If you feel that way then try being obedient to the word of God, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ as Ephesians 5:21 tells us.  Most times I feel as if I don't deserve my husband's love to be honest.  This is one of my struggles and being open and transparent before God and being accountable is a great start for change.

Matthew 6:33 in the New Living Translation says, "Seek the kingdom of God above ALL else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need."  I do believe that this is not only material stuff but it includes wisdom and respect and above all else love.  These are all also things we need.

Oh did I mention this is a link up so be sure to read the other posts here from other awesome woman being candid.
As always, if you have a prayer request, please reach out, you email me at vra23@live.com or private message me on social media. I have access and respond quickly but most of all I will be praying for your needs.
 

An InLinkz Link-up

Follow Me Bible Study {Week 3} Delight in God

Hello Beautiful Treasures, how are you doing?  I am sorry I took  break without any notice.  It wasn't really planned but with birthday weekend, I needed a couple of days to catch up at home and do all that fun stuff we love, clean house, do laundry, cook, clean up and start all over again.

  

I did leave you with some great giveaways so I hope you have entered them. 

PIER 1 $50 GIFT CARD (ends 10/24) // $750 PAYPAL CASH (ends 10/27) // $225 PAYPAL CASH (ends 10/31)

 I am behind on my reading for...

This is what I have so far for this week.

Week 3

"DELIGHT IN GOD"

 

This week’s Scripture Memory

source: Pinterest

This week in a daily break down

I usually will share what stood out to me the most from each day (There is a lot of good points throughout the days, from what I have read and l only share one but this week it will be different because I haven't read through the week or taken notes on all the days.

I hope that you will join us on this bible study and share with us what stood out to you, ask questions and/or leave comments.

 

Day One – Our Father

The creator of the universe is my Father, this chapter really spoke to me. It touches on "God Delights in Us" and "We Delight in God".  These are to two subtitles in this chapter. 

 

In the God Delights In Us section, David Platt says that in the Old Testament God is rarely described as Father; 15 times to be exact. He says in the New Testament, in the Gospels alone, we see God described as Father 165 different times and 164 of them occur when Jesus is teaching His disciples.  He uses the Sermon on the Mount, as an example, where Jesus is teaching His disciples how to pray.  You know the Our Father prayer right? David Platt says, "Amazingly, this is the first time in the Bible where anyone is encouraged to pray to God as Father.

 

~~"Jesus' words are both astounding and significant.  As Christians, we have the distinct privilege of knowing, worshipping, talking, and relating to God as "our Father.”  BY DAVID PLATT, page 66

 

What a privilege this is indeed to call the creator.  of the universe Abba Father! Jesus tore the veil and now we can now talk to directly to our Father in heaven.

 

==EVEN NOW RUN INTO HIS ARMS AND SAY, "MY FATHER."=

 

This is somewhat of a struggle for me.  My dad died when I was five.  I have distinctive memories of him and I and then one day we got the sad new that my died dad, even now it brings me to tears.  I remember that day so clearly.  I remember I was in my mom's room playing Lite Brite with my brothers and my cousins. I can still hear my mom screaming "NO, NO, NO"!!!! and banging on the wall while on the phone.

Although I was only five, I had a great relationship with my dad. I was daddy's little girl. My mom says when he would go out, all I would do was cry for him.  The void in my heart even now has me typing and crying.  After all these years it still hurts.  I use to think my dad abandoned me.  I was so young  I didn't understand. I battle or have battled a fear of abandonment because of this deep wound.  This also makes for a difficult time to fully embrace God almighty as my Heavenly Father.  Growing up without my dad was a challenge BUT the void in my heart and the pain deep within me affected me more than I care to admit. 

I want the wall removed so I can run into God's arms and say "My Father."  A part of me even feels guilty because all my life (well since I was five) I longed for my daddy's love and I searched for it. Oh let me tell you, I searched in ALL the wrong places.  encountering Jesus has helped me a lot BUT I am still a work in progress and I know the God reveals to heal.  As this stuff services and the ache in my heart becomes ever so real, I find comfort knowing that through this God is healing me and He promises to never leave me nor forsake me and I can feel safe with my Heavenly Father and hold onto the memories of my daddy.

Thank you for reading. I pray you were blessed.  This book has my attention. Please make sure  to stop by Satisfaction Through Christ’s to read  Christie's discussion on the this week’s reading and also check back with us every Wednesday for the next 3 weeks for the rest of this study.

God bless you and if you have any prayer requests please leave me a comment or send me an email and we will lift up your needs in Jesus name.



Follow Me Bible Study {Week 1} The Call

Hello Treasures, so the Fall Bible Study using FOLLOW ME Bible Study by David Platt has begun with Christie at Satisfaction Through Christ.
So initially I had purchased the book not the bible study.

I begin to read it and I really liked it. Then I found out it wasn't the correct one and I heard about all the ways the devil tried to stop this and we pushed back the enemy and decided to go forward with the study and so I ordered the bible study version from Lifeway Book Store here in California.





The book is a 6 week bible study and each week has 5 days of reading.   I just got mine on Monday so its crunch time for me.  For the 6 weeks, Christie of Satisfaction through Christ , myself and others will blog about that weeks topics and we can comment, link up our posts and just discuss what God spoke to us.  I am late this week but still wanted to put something together.  I have never done this type of bible study so I am really excited to get into this with the group and we'd love for you to join us.

WEEK 1:  THE CALL

This week's scripture Memory
MATTHEW 4:19-20

“Come follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fisher’s of men.” At once they left their nets and followed him.

This week’s Focus

Was on that moment when Jesus first called His disciples, along with several more of their experiences and encounters during His public ministry.  Ultimately, we’ll find answers to this important question:  What does it mean to truly follow Jesus?

This week in a daily break down

I will share what stood out to me the most from each day (There is a lot of good points throughout the days, from what I have read but I will only share one.  I will share one paragraph and one question from the section plus share my answer and hope that you will join us on this bible study and share with us what stood out to you or ask questions or leave comments.

Day One - The Cost

Again there is a lot of good stuff in this section but this is something that really struck me.

David Platt shares Matthew 4:18-22 (NIV) {Note the subtitle for this section}

Jesus Calls His First Disciples

¹⁸ As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers; Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. ¹⁹ “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” ²⁰ At once they left their nets and followed him.

²¹ Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, ²² and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

Question

What strikes you as most interesting in these verses? Why?

What struck me the most on this was that when Jesus told Simon Peter and Andrew, Come, follow me, scriptures tell us that AT ONCE they left and followed him.  They had that blind faith and followed Jesus and they didn’t waver or contemplate or get prayer or ask for advice but AT ONCE they stopped what they were doing (their work, their lives, their agendas) and followed Him.

In verse 21, the same thing happens but with 2 other disciples, James and John, Jesus called them and scripture tells us that IMMEDIATELY they left and followed him.

I know for me there were many times that Jesus was calling me and I didn’t stop, drop and follow.

Day Two - Don't Invite Jesus into Your Heart

This day had my mouth dropping as I read.  David Platt uses a great analogy using his story of adopting Caleb Platt and the gospel.

He says, “Caleb didn’t pursue us, for he was utterly unable to do so.  Instead, we pursued him.

This is the heart of Christianity, and we're prone to miss it if we describe becoming a Christian as "inviting Jesus into your heart". We don't become followers of Christ by pursuing Christ or inviting Christ to do anything, for in our sin we're totally unable to do so. Instead, we become Christians when Christ pursues us and invites us to follow Him."  

Question

What’s your reaction to the previous paragraph? Why?

My reaction as I read was my mouth dropping wide open.  Reading through this day just really revealed so much to me about Jesus and His amazing love and how it wasn’t a prayer that was said or “inviting Jesus into my heart” but His love and His pursuit that has me on this journey of, FOLLOWING HIM.

Day Three - Understanding Salvation

This day was really deep for me.  There were two very profound sections for this day but I will share this one.

AWAY FROM ME

Here is part of this section…

“…Shouldn’t we who follow Christ be concerned that the Scriptures contain no references to people asking Jesus into their hearts or reciting a prayer of salvation? 

Yes this is exactly what multitudes of professing Christians have been encouraged to do. Worse, they’ve been assured that as long as they asked Jesus into their heart, invited Him into their life, prayed a prayer, raised their hand, signed a card, or walked an aisle, they’re Christians, and their salvation is eternally secure.”

Question

What’s your reaction to the previous statements? Why?

My reaction is that of surprised. I guess I really never thought about whether or not it was even biblical to do the “sinner’s prayer”.  It’s just what I have been taught all along. Each time the question was asked, “How many people have you lead through the sinner’s prayers?” I always shrunk back as I have never done it.  As time went on, I quickly realized it wasn’t as easy as saying a prayer. It took a lot more than that for my walk with Jesus. 

There is some other good things to ponder in this chapter but this post is already so long. (God bless you for sticking through this far)

Day Four - A New Creation

Another great section about Jesus making us a new creation and about superficial religion versus supernatural regeneration (read Ezekiel 36:25-27)

“Spiritual regeneration is the heart of Jesus’ call to follow Him.  When you become a Christian, you die, and Jesus becomes your life.  To paraphrase Paul, “You have died with Christ, and you’re not even alive anymore.  Instead, Christ is alive in you, and the only way you live is by faith in Him” (Gal. 2:20, author’s paraphrase).  In other words, Jesus died for you so that He could live in you.”

Question

Have you experienced supernatural regeneration? How can you tell?

I would say that I have experienced supernatural regeneration according to this that David Platt explains, “What Ezekiel wrote about (read Ezekiel 36:25-27) is exactly what Jesus came to do.  He came to cleanse us of our sin through His sacrifice on the cross; to wash us with “clean water” (v. 25).  And in doing so, He gives us something infinitely more valuable:  a new heart.  We’re born again! He gives us His Spirit to live in us and change us from the inside out.  This is what it means to experience supernatural regeneration.

Day Five - Make Disciples

So David Platt, closes up the week with this:

“Throughout the week we’ve explored what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.  We’ve looked at several pieces of evidence we can use to confirm whether we’re truly following Jesus rather than going through the motions of cultural Christianity.”  He gives a recap of the week and then goes in to today.  He says, “Today I want to explore the final proof of what it means to live as a genuine follower of Jesus:  the reality that true disciples of Christ are supernaturally compelled to make more disciples of Christ.

He talks about being Fishers of Men and Moving Forward.

Question

Will you follow?

Yes I will follow. Yes I want to taste this pleasure as David Platt puts it.

“Follow me,’ Jesus said, ‘ and I will make you fishers of men’ “ (Matt. 4:19).  This isn’t a gently solicitation to tread a path of superficial religion.  It’s a call to taste a pleasure that can be found only in a supernatural relationship with Christ. ~~David Platt

Thank you for reading. I pray you were blessed.  This book has my attention. Please make sure  to stop by Satisfaction Through Christ’s to read her discussion on the this week’s reading and also check back with us every Wednesday for the next 5 weeks for the rest of this study.

God bless you and if you have any prayer requests please leave me a comment or send me an email and we will lift up your needs in Jesus name.

SHE...

Hey Treasures, Happy Saturday, I wanted to take Five Minutes of my Saturday and join.

The Prompt this week is SHE and here are my 5 Minutes before I get ready for my GIG's birthday dinner. By the way, today is my Friday. Just kidding meant to do this yesterday.

Start!
She confesses that she still has many fears.  She knows the scriptures, the ones that tell her fear not, there is no fear in love, perfect love drives out all fears.  She knows the promise in Psalm 34:4 that says as she seeks the Lord, He hears her and delivers her from ALL her fears.

Yet she admits she still has fears. She asks God why.  She cries out to be free from the fears. Recently she became aware of her fear of failure which is rooted in a fear of abandonment that started when her dad died when she was just five years old. Oh my, this has really paralyzed her for so long. The other day as the Lord used her to minister His Word, she admitted to a church congregation that she battles with this fear. 

She explained how this fear keeps her from stepping out many times.  When someone battles this fear one just stays in the safe zone.  You don't want to do much because you feel safe that way. If you don't try or step out, there is no risk that you will fail.  When she was prompted to share this and admitted it, she felt no more fear. The guilt and condemnation of this horrible fear was exposed and now that it is exposed, she can work through it.  She shared how hard it was to admit that to them but that she felt much better after doing so.

Sometimes, we may know the answers, we may know the scriptures but it's not enough just to know, we have to live it out, hold on to the promises, make that declaration and believe the Truth. 
The truth that God has delivered me of ALL my fears so I (SHE) no longer has to live in fear. Oh what freedom that brings.
STOP!

PRAISE HIM

Hey Treasures, I am sorry, I didn't get to post my face of the day yesterday. It's been crazy busy but today is Thursday, which thanks to Amanda at A Royal Daughter I know it to be a day to share about your Desire to Inspire.  She usually has a link up but I checked and didn't see it.

I wanted to share with God's lovely treasures, the message that was shared at my family in love's church on Monday.  If you missed that post, you can read HERE.  So these are my notes, just try and hear my speaking. I am going to add in a couple nuggets that I shared as I was speaking. The good stuff that wasn't on my notes but just Holy Spirit inspired. I pray this will bless you.
PRAISE

ISAIAH 12:1-6 (NKJV)
A Hymn of Praise
12 And in that day you will say:
“O Lord, I will praise You;
Though You were angry with me,
Your anger is turned away, and You comfort me.
2 Behold, God is my salvation,
I will trust and not be afraid;
‘For Yah, the Lord, is my strength and song;
He also has become my salvation.’”[a]
3 Therefore with joy you will draw water
From the wells of salvation.
4 And in that day you will say:
“Praise the Lord, call upon His name;
Declare His deeds among the peoples,
Make mention that His name is exalted.
5 Sing to the Lord,
For He has done excellent things;
This is known in all the earth.
6 Cry out and shout, O inhabitant of Zion,
For great is the Holy One of Israel in your midst

I will just go verse by verse using Isaiah 12 (found above)

Verse 1

And in that day you will say:

“O Lord, I will praise You;
Though You were angry with me,
Your anger is turned away, and You comfort me.

 

--In this scripture the prophet Isaiah writes "in that day(Possibly referring to the day of salvation?)  you will say, 'O Lord, I will Praise You;' “Praise” in this scripture means “to give public acknowledgement” and/or “to declare aloud in public”,  if you are making a public declaration or acknowledgement then more than likely there will be a gathering you won't be alone. At the time that the book of Isaiah was written, God was angry at the children of Israel, they had continuously worshipped other idols and were rebellious. The prophet Isaiah is prophesying how "in that day"  we will praise the Lord and He will comfort us. Before we may have felt alone or isolated but once the day of salvation comes for us we now we will be gathered together to give PRAISE to the Lord. 

Verse 2

2 Behold, God is my salvation,

I will trust and not be afraid;
‘For Yah, the Lord, is my strength and song;
He also has become my salvation.’”[a]

 

When I read, “I will trust and not be afraid;” This reminded me of Psalm 34:4 which is a scripture that I have been declaring over my life.

PSALM  34:1-6(The Happiness of Those who Trust God)

34 I will bless the Lord at all times;
His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
2 My soul shall make its boast in the Lord;
The humble shall hear of it and be glad.
3 Oh, magnify the Lord with me,
And let us exalt His name together.

4 I sought the Lord, and He heard me,

And delivered me from all my fears.

5 They looked to Him and were radiant,

And their faces were not ashamed.

6 This poor man cried out, and the Lord heard him,
And saved him out of all his troubles.

Here I shared about my fear of failure. I am going to save that for another blog post.

VERSE 3

3 Therefore with joy you will draw water

From the wells of salvation.

With JOY you will draw water (Springs of Living Water)
Well of salvation (Jesus)

JOHN 7:38 NKJV

He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”

ISAIAH 55:1a  (An invitation of Abundant Life)

“Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters;”

VERSE 4

And in that day you will say:

“Praise the Lord, call upon His name;
Declare His deeds among the peoples,
Make mention that His name is exalted.

 

In this verse, Call upon His name can also be said as “proclaim in HIS name.”

Here we are NOT ONLY proclaiming-Declaring something publicly, declaring somebody to be something, show what something is-BUT we are doing this is HIS name.

There is power in the name of JESUS and not in the name of Victoria THEREFORE as we praise, call upon, proclaim, declare, publicly speak of what the Lord has done for you and for me, we must do it in HIS name.

We should be declaring our victories publicly, being careful that God gets all the honor and glory, Sharing ALL that God has done for us.

DECLARE that we are victors, more than conquerors, victorious, over comers, free, transformed, royalty. (you fill in here) WHO DOES GOD  SAY YOU ARE??? Start with yourself and then impart that into others.

Then we SHOW others by the way we live.

We make mention which means “to cause to remember”

This verse is urging us to publicly speak out on these things, to verbally express, acknowledge, share and spread the goodness of God. His love, His mercy, His grace.

VERSE 5

Sing to the Lord,

For He has done excellent things;
This is known in all the earth.

 

This verse tells us to sing TO the Lord. He has done EXCELLENT things (NOT mistakes, Not accidents, Nothing questionable, or uncertain)

PSALM 5:11(NKJV)

But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You;
Let them ever shout (SING) for joy, because You defend them;
Let those also who love Your name, Be joyful in You.

VERSE 6

Cry out and shout, O inhabitant of Zion,

For great is the Holy One of Israel in your midst

Cry out and shout OR Shout Loud with Joy (like extra joy)

Shouting out ( Singing out) because the Lord isn’t angry at us,

He is our salvation

Our salvation from captivity (the people of Zion use to be the people in captivity in Babylon)

We are no longer captives but set free in Jesus!

That is worth shouting over;  that is worth singing about.

To close up, let’s recap what we have learned in this chapter 12 of Isaiah.

It is a hymn of praise and we see different ways to give praise.

·        Directly speaking to God (Verse 1)

·        Declaring about God (Verse 2)

·        Drawing near to God (Verse 3)

·        Publicly speaking of God (Verse 4)

·        Directly singing to God (Verse 5)

·        Shouting (SINGING) out loud in joy (Verse 6)

These are some things we can ponder about regarding Praise.

  

1.      Attitude of Praise
2.      A will to Praise
3.      Mentality of Praise
4.      Heart of Praise
5.      Spirit of Praise
6.      Time of Praise

I HOPE YOU GOT SOMETHING FROM THIS. SINCE THESE WERE JUST MY NOTES AND CERTAIN THINGS I DID ELABORATE ON MORE WHILE SPEAKING BUT PRAYING THAT GOD WILL SPEAK TO US. THANKS FOR READING THROUGH. TAKE SOME TIME TO STUDY  ISAIAH 12 AND LET ME KNOW WHAT GOD SHOWS YOU FROM IT.



PEACE AND BLESSINGS,

Last

Hey Treasures, hope you are enjoying your weekend.
I am working on a blog post for an event me and my family attended last weekend and its taking me some time to get some research and put it together so I decided to check in with Lisa Jo Baker for Five Minute Friday and see what the prompt was this week and take a 5 minute break and just write.
Prompt is LAST
GO!
At first thought when I read LAST I thought to write about how sometimes I feel like I am last however that quickly changed, thank you God for your reminders.

I know of a love that will LAST.  I can now love others with that same Love that will LAST.
1 John 4:19 NIV, "We love because He first loved us" 
What truth is this small but powerful scripture. A LASTing truth.
Since I know a love that will never leave me, never forsake me, never abandon me, never hurt me and nothing can separate me from this love (see Romans 8 scripture below);  Because of the promises that I am convinced of and that I hold on to, I know that I am loved by the Creator of heaven and earth, my Heavenly Father and therefore, I can now accept love and more importantly give love. I can embrace the amazing love from my husband and love him in return and I can love my family with an unconditional non-fickle love because of the love of God that I have. This kind of love will LAST.
Romans 8:37-39 "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Jeremiah 31:3 "Long ago the LORD said to Israel: "I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself."

I have experienced God's Love that will LAST into eternity and have been transformed. Yes I am still a work in progress and yes my love can be fickle but I have hope in God's love.  I don't want to love others with my love or my way but with the love of God that has been poured into me.

Romans 5:5 NASB "and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us."

God's love will LAST through my ups and downs, through my failures and my victories, through my good and my bad, through my doubts and faith, through my fears and my victories and it'll reflect in my love that will last for my husband, my momma, my brother, my nephews, my family, my friends and all those I encounter on this journey of God's LASTing love.

STOP!

Link up your five minutes on "LAST" 


AND linking up here

Work Out Wednesday....

Hello God's Lovely Treasures,

I mentioned on here a few times about this fitness journey I begin.  I came across a Christian Coach on Facebook, Brittney Garcia Duron and I say she is God sent. Here is a little information on her from her page.
Star Diamond Fitness Coach. Embracing a healthier lifestyle and teaching you how to do the same. Mother of a 10 year old, wife of an amazing man who loves me like no other. Jesus is my king and that is not negotiable. ♥
And I just love her Mission Statement:

To serve you the best way that I can, to not judge you but rather give you praise on the greatest accomplishments of your life. To push you beyond your expectations, to pray for you when life gets challenging and to praise you when you overcome a struggle. On the days that you slip I will bring you back to why you began this and be real with you ♥

So she does these small challenge groups for accountability and encouragement and challenge us and this particular one was Becoming a Better Wife Spiritually and Physically Challenge. I had been fiddling around with the idea for so long. Asking God to seriously help me to get it together in my eating habits and my weight gain.  I just could not commit to this area nor did I want to but my weight gain was really getting to me. My clothes were getting tighter and tighter and I just didn't feel comfortable anymore so after reading about Brittney's latest challenge and talking with my husband about it and how much it cost (which he was ALL for) I decided to go ahead and join, which includes ordering Shakeology (a meal replacement) and pair it with a workout video. I chose Slim in 6.

Then comes the fun stuff, meal planning, cooking, working out, discipline, dedication, deciding, committing, succeeding, (This is the plan). Oh yes and the biggest thing, NO SODA, MORE WATER. (Say what!!!) I think just about each day I have thought about quitting.  This is where Coach Brittney comes in, and accountability and encouragement from the group and best of all prayer.  I am so blessed to be a part of this group. They are such an encouragement and we pray for each other, which is the best part. Apart from Him, I can do nothing. WE can do ALL things through CHRIST who strengthens us. I appreciate the sisters in Christ that God has joined me with on this journey.

The one thing that I have actually done each day is make my Shakeology for breakfast. Shakeology even took a road trip with me to Vegas. I bought this single serve blender which was perfect.



Today was a super busy day at work and had to take my car to the dealer to get serviced and ended up there, in the morning before work, for lunch and then after work.  It was just a crazy day and let's just say there was no clean eating going on. I wanted to come home and just be lazy but I didn't! I pushed play on my video and begin to "Get To It". 

We will have good days and we will have bad days but no matter what we must keep it moving.  Each day I have to choose to "Decide, Commit, Succeed" and this is with anything in life and as my Coach reminded me, it stands true for our walk with God. Each and every day we have choices. What will you Decide, Commit and Succeed to do? Let me know so I can keep you in prayer.

Ok and here is my before picture, I took this in Vegas while on vacation. Not really sure why I am sharing it here, maybe because this is the real Life of Mrs. Aguila. So far I have lost only 4 pounds but I have lost inches for sure because my clothes are feeling a lot better, YAYYYY God! I know I can eat much cleaner but I am still adjusting ,eating a lot better than before but I really need to work on meal planning and eating clean.

And since it's Workout Wednesday, Almost Thursday, probably Thursday by the time you read this, Here is tonight's sweaty raw picture of Mrs. Aguila. I have to share this with my group for accountability. EWWWWW but here it is.