Good morning everyone, and may God bless and strengthen you this weekend.

I'm asking for prayer from the "group."

DH and I made a move from WI to NC last August. It was a prayerful God-thing, not an us-thing. (I didn't want to move) Anyway, we took a temp job together working in a Christian group home. That group home closed and we are both unemployed.

I've felt led to fast and pray about what is next for me. I could use your support in my endeavor. It's now been about 24 hrs - I feel great. But pray that I would really connect with God.

I believe that God is leading me to begin a ministry in Hickory, North Carolina, to the poor and homeless. I was working at a Christian rescue mission before we moved. I loved it so much, loved the people, loved everything about it.

Anyway....please pray. We're still new in this area and I don't have many others to ask for prayer support. Thanks to all of you.

Greetings all,
I've been away from the forum for a couple months but was viewing some threads and found this one. I am married and have a 10 year old daughter. I been unemployed since June 1st. I find in general that this trial has brought me closer to the Lord and for that I am thankful. I don't know what all the Lord has in store for us, but I believe he does work all things towards good for those who love him. Therefore I ask for your prayers for our family as well.

Randisue
The Lord would say to you:
Because you have set your love upon me, therefore I will deliver you, I will set you on high because you have known my name. You shall call upon me, and I will answer you, I will be with you in trouble; I will deliver you and honor you. Psalms 91:14,15

Regards,
Lux

Welcome, Luxsit, to this thread! I see you're on at the moment so let me be the first to say "hi"! Glad to have you with us sharing the Lord and the LC WOL. Will keep you and your daughter in prayer, and ask the Lord for a solid, happy job for you.

RandiSue, I am so sorry you're having this tough time. I know God is with you even in the midst of confusion and distress and is at this moment working out His best for you. Be careful not to overdo your fast; it can send your body into starvation, calorie-saving mode if you do it very long. God will speak to you when you eat, as well. I know the fast is an entry to a strong spiritual state from which to face your situation, I just want you to be careful of your health and watch the timing. I rarely fast for spiritual reasons because I know I have trouble separating my desire to be thinner from the spiritual side of the fast. For me, avoiding the fattening, hi-carb things I am tempted by IS a fast-----at least in the sense of the spiritual side-----because I am turning my back on the world thereby and putting "the right" as my priority.

I have gained two pounds in the last couple of days (haven't fixed the profile yet) while being absolutely perfect on the food plan. Pray that God gives me patience. I sometimes think the evil one does this sort of thing to tempt me to give up! Blessings to all!

Kathy - How exciting to have a new foster baby! That is something I always wanted to do but didn't believe I could because I would never want to give any of the children back when time came. That's why I had four of my own. - Now I wish at times I could give some of them back. (Just Kidding!) Each one of them are such blessings from God!

Randisue- I will pray for your direction in where God is leading you. In March I went on a 7 day water only fast. It was the first time I had done this. It was hard but definitely worth it. It is not a good reason to do it for weight loss reasons though. I lost 13 pounds and the first couple of days I went back to eating, I gained 9 of them back. Definitely not worth it for that reason. Spiritually though-it was awesome.

Lux: Welcome to our thread!

This has nothing to do with LCing but wanted to share it with you:

Yesterday was my oldest daughters birthday. About 1:00 my brother-in-law called me and said my 14 year old nephew had gone into a diabetic coma and they couldn't wake him up. The ambulance was on the way, and they told me just pray! I told my kids to pray for Christopher and the neatest thing happened - My 9 year old went and got her Bible and opened up Psalm 91 and started walking around the house quoting out loud... "Because Christopher dwells in the secret place.....A thousand my fall at Christopher's side but it shall not come near Christopher...." - My five year old daughter went in the backyard and got on her knees to pray, and her twin 5 year old brother clasped his hands together and started saying, the blood of Jesus covers Christopher.

After about an hour we got a call saying Christopher had come to and was alert and doing well. My 5 year old son came to me and said "Mommy, I told the devil to get his hands off Christopher and he did. It works every time!"

My heart smiled at the realization of having the word of God hid in the hearts of my little ones. And when trouble came, noone had to tell them what to do.

Chris is now investingating getting an insulin pump instead of having to take injections every day. - We believe someday he will be healed.

Kim

Cleanheart, what a wonderful story. And praise the Lord for healing your nephew! The pumps are a great blessing for those who need them; I have a colleague who is a very brittle diabetic and got one and it has made a dramatic difference in her life. Thanks for sharing the story of your children in prayer. "Out of the mouths of babes . . ." indeed! It is such a fine thing to have our children solidly connected to the Lord. My youngest son has had a whole spate of troubles recently after having been a dfficult child to raise for most of his life (though a very dear son despite all that). Finally, though I still give him all the love and support I can, I tapped out in wisdom to know what to do to help him. So, I've just turned him over to the Lord, and it helps to give me peace with the times we're going through.

Good day to all on this thread! It has been very quiet here this weekend. I hope that means that all of you are busy with happy things, and that your LCing is going well.

I'm still wrestling with some discouragement over the unexplained weight regain I've experienced, though I've been at this long enough and read enough here on the forum to know that this is often a part of the pattern. I'm praying the downward direction will soon be re-established so that I don't have to have that "What am I doing wrong?!" thing running through my head constantly.

Have decided that Fitday is too much of a pain for me; the carb, protein, fat profiles it yields don't really work with the Zone program because it isn't good with net carbs. So, I've decided to use my journal here, instead, to keep a record of food which someone else could look at when I have a question or need an insight.

Hope all of you are well; wishing you many blessings in your walk with Him.

CleanHeart that is wonderful...Your children are beautiful, and I cannot express how I felt as I read your words of how your children went to their redeemer for help. You truly are a wonderful mother.

Shalizbet, good afternoon....Maybe your TOM is almost here. You can gain weight a week or so before. I would not worry about it though. All things change. Are you reading all labels of the food you eat for hidden sugar? Just trying to figuare it out and help. Sometimes I forget to do that myself. Take care of yourself.

Dear Fit and Trim (I like that interpretation of your screen name )
Thanks for trying to help me figure things out! First, my last TOM was over 5 years ago, which actually means I have a sort of permanent PM condition Seriously, though, it can't be that. It could be other kinds of hormonal responses to reduced caloric intake though. It could be because for one day we ate some processed foods instead of sticking completely to whole, natural food. The processed food was in the form of canned tomatoes and kidney beans used to make Dr. Sears' Zone chili recipe. I also think salt might have something to do with it. Bacon one day, not the next, might cause these kinds of fluctations.

I should try not getting on the scale so often, but that is the one temptation I absolutely cannot conquer. I'm being self-controlled when I only get on once a day for weight in the a.m. and once for bf in the evening.

If I don't see some positive changes this week I'll try manipulating the diet somewhat----go more towards Atkins, or even try the fat fast if need be. I really need to get as much off as I can before my foot surgery reduces my activity and caloric needs.

Thanks again for your post!

Did you see that kidney beans are 20.2 carbs for 1/2 cup. Some chile powder has sugar in it. I went seasoning hunting the other day, and I had a hard time finding one that had no sugar. I use canned tomatoes, but not often.
I stopped my TOM 6 yrs ago when I was 49. Shocked me too.....
I use the scale every AM too. I just have to. What if I lost a lb and missed it, and then I gained a lb and then would think I was not doing anything...Know what I mean?

I can relate to the scale thing. - I have to weigh first thing in the morning to see how I did. If it's up a little, I try even harder that day. If it's down, I feel great!

Been a busy weekend. Hopefully things will slow down tomorrow.

If you all think about it, pray for my husband's sales. He sells security systems to small businesses for ADT. Sales have been down which means very little in the paycheck.

Thanks!

The beans I used were the lowest carb beans I could find: about 18 per 1/2 c. and 7-8 grams of fiber which reduces the net carbs to a pretty decent 10-11. I didn't know that about the chili powder. The recipe tasted really sweet to DH and me-----maybe that was why. We thought it was that our tastebuds are so much more sensitive now that we've been off sweets for a while. I'll have to really be careful about my labels. Anyway, we only eat the chili about once or twice a month. Also, the Zone diet I'm on has a carb content right up near 100 gm. per day, the way it works out. I may have to switch to Atkins, but I've had serious stalls on that, too in the past; and I don't feel nearly as well on it. I'm back to very plain food, more exercise than I was able to do last week when I was involved in that workshop, and just hoping to see things change.

Cleanheart, I will definitely keep your husband's financial situation in my prayers.

Also, put Randisue's situation on a prayer chain at one of the churches I play for on Sundays.

I heard a beautiful image at my first church this morning:
A pastor in NYC had been serving vast numbers of people who came streaming to him for answers after 9-11; he was weary in soul. He went to Ground Zero and stood watching the workers clearing the site. A giant crane hooked onto and lifted free a massive girder and swung it off the rubble; and, at that moment out of the wreckage flew a pigeon. Who knows how long it had been trapped in there. It flew free, and the dust from the rubble spread into the air from its wings looking like smoke. To the pastor, the dove seemed to express the spirit of God rising above the death and destruction, and his own spirit was renewed.

I just loved that picture; I've thought about it all day.

Wondering how Fiona, KathyD, and Camou are doing. Blessings to all!

CleanHeart... will be praying for your DH situation.

Shalizbet, good luck on your Zone...

Hello everyone,

This was a very busy weekend, because of work, so really didn't have time to come here and see how everyone is doing.

Shalizbet, the image of the pigeon is a beautiful one. So much heartache in that situation, but so much of God showing also, especially in all the stories of those who were kept from work that day, so lived, and those who struggled so hard to save others.

Cleanheart, we'll pray for your husbands business. Not easy in this economy to work commission sales. Your story of your children's reactions when your nephew was ill really warmed my heart, kind of a lesson in child like faith for us all-to-grown-up types.

Wasn't able to get to church at all this week because of going back to work following my being off for six months due to breaking my leg last January, so I've purposed that I'll not accept any work for Saturday nights any longer so that we can get to church. It's like a piece of me is missing if I don't get there.

Hope everyone has a good week, I'm going to go read for awhile

HI Everyone,

How fun to catch up on the posts today - good and bad news.

Thanks to all who have been praying for me. I only fasted one day in case you're questioning. I wish I could say that God gave me clear directions, but He did not. So I will continue to pray and seek (which is what I"m sure He wants me to do.)

I had an "oopsie" yesterday. We were invited to someone's home after church yesterday for lunch. Nothing LC in site except for the dried out roast beef. So I just ate what what before me, including bread pudding for dessert. Loved every mouthful.

Got back on LC by dinner, although I craved something sweet all evening.

Woke up with a carbohydrate hangover today. And I gained 3 pounds. I hate the three pounds and how I feel, but once in a while I guess a departure is needed. I'm not going to get to excited about it. If this is a WOL, then I think I need to be willing to accept small glitches.

Luxsit: Welcome.

Cleanheart: Thanks for sharing the beautiful story about your nephew. It was very touching. I'll be praying for your DH and your family re: the financial crunch.

Shalizbet: Thanks for putting me on the prayer chain. I really appreciate that. I wish I had something profound to say about your weight gain. I appears that you are looking deeply into it. I trust God will show you what's gone wrong. You keep up the commitment and trust God is working "all things together for your good."

Thanks to all for posting and good to hear from those of you who had busy weekends.

Not going to church is almost never an option for me; I get paid for both of the organ jobs as well as for the occasional time I fill in as lay preacher. This pay (not enormous amounts, I assure you) helps me to keep two kids in school (although son 2 is temporarily out making some reassessments) with an unemployed, 3/4 disabled husband. The real miracle, though, is that the Lord gave me this part-time work to do on top of my regular job and has so blessed me with it. I have two lovely congregations to pray and sing with, though we fit in better with my 11:00 group than with the 9:30 folks. I hear two messages per Sunday, have two prayer lists to merge into my own. Best of all, it has gotten me back into my music which had been much neglected while my kids were always using the piano growing up. Now, I play every week, because sooner or later I have to practice what's for Sunday. Otherwise I might be tempted to do housework or work I've brought home from my job. But the Lord draws me to the organ and piano and then I'm blessed through the music.

Glitches: ah, I've had quite a few in my time, though not recently. I do have a birthday coming up and a vacation of a couple of days in Niagara Falls. I'm going to try to hold the fort to some degree on vacation, and limit the number of meals at which I succumb to carbs. But I can't imagine that once or twice a year I can't flex a bit. And I know you'll drop those three pounds and be back heading downward again quickly. Glad you were able to hang in through the carb cravings afterward.

Also, I have relost one of the pounds I have regained, but tried on some of my "test" clothes this morning and things are fitting way looser. So, I just have to be patient until the scale catches up. Thanks for the encouragement and support from all. It really means a lot.