Realizing and Establishing Your Best Self

August is the time to get back.to.you! Back to school. Back to fall. Back to the grind. But really - back to you.

July was about freedom. That freedom is the foundation of being the best you!

July was a month of freedom for many reasons. Covid let up a little and Mat, the kids and I flew from Hawaii to the mainland to see our families. I saw friends I hadn’t seen in years, even decades. I had my first book signing!

I got to fly solo to Texas for a work conference - and yes, that work conference was freedom. I even got to tell my story, my health journey, to about eight thousand women and men at the conference.

I didn’t get to see all these fantastic people or go on so many adventures because I was lucky. The joy and experiences I have, are because I’ve discovered who I am. It really is about freedom.

The freedom I have because I know God loves me and the freedom I have because I learned the evils of legalism and license.

Last month’s podcast explored all of that.

It was the freedom from diets that allowed me to be healthy and help other women.

Here is my blog from July that shares how to be free from diets.

But it was just last week, at the end of July, that I heard a sermon and it blew me away. It spoke directly to what I shared last month, and it connected exactly with what I want to share this month.

Click here to check out the sermon, “True Freedom.”

Can I get an Amen? God was speaking to me right there: the bridge between themes. The connectedness of God and nourishment. The connectedness of God and health. The connectedness of God and our best selves.

There is this idea that once we examine ourselves, know ourselves, and realize who we belong to, we can become our best selves.

Well, who do we belong to? We know the answer. God.

Once we realize we belong to God, we become free - see the connection from last month?

Freedom. God loves us so much.

Once we realize who we belong to, it makes us discover our true identity. We won’t settle for any crap in our lives. We treat our bodies differently, we speak to others differently. We come out of the darkness and into the light.

1 Peter 2:9

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of the darkness into the light.”

Now, I want you to read it again, but read it out loud.

Powerful, huh? It is in the light that I am my best self. When we realize or remember that we are “God’s special possession,” we remember that He is there in the light and in the darkness. Then we can be our best selves.

That doesn’t mean that we don’t have to do work to stay in the light. With some reflective questions I’ve listed below, we can find a way to refocus and get back and stay in the light. With prayer and reflection, we can get into the season of our best selves.

Start with a prayer to see that you belong to God. Then set yourself free. Next, I urge you to answer these questions:

• Where do you feel the closest to God?

• What makes you excited?

• What hobbies or activities give you energy? Or, what are the gifts you have to give this world?

• What are your favorite foods to eat?

• Which foods make your body feel good? Give you energy?

• What is your favorite type of physical movement?

• What place in your house or the world do you feel the most comfortable?

• How do you see your journey with God and your healthiest, strongest self?

• How can you work to see God working in the answers of all of the questions above?

I know these questions aren’t easy. And we all know it's cliché, but the good things usually aren’t easy. We have to dig deep and see where and when we need to let God in more.

There is so much spiritual energy around us, we can really see how God loves us. We establish this clarity and we treat ourselves better. The rest of this month I will be diving into this idea more.

Be sure to tune into these ideas I’ll be expanding on.

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