Waiting to See Results

Do you ever decide to start something new, get pumped up about it, then give up after seeing little to no results?

I know I do, more often than I’d like! Especially when it comes to diet and exercise. Two weeks ago, I decided to start making an effort to eat a well-balanced diet and exercise for 30-45 minutes 5 times a week. I did really well the first week but this week, not so much.

Having a healthy lifestyle makes a huge difference on how we feel.

When I visited Branon the Sunday before last, I chose to stray away from that to drink some soda and eat some other sugary food. It honestly surprised me that indulging in sugary food made me feel sick after eating healthy for just a week.

I downloaded a nifty app for my kindle called myfitnesspal. I’m sure I’m way behind the game and people already know about it, but here are a few reasons I like it:

• You tell it information such as your weight, height, goals, and activity level to determine your net calorie intake.
• You enter your exercise activities and it calculates the amount of calories burned.
• It adds your calories burned to your amount of allowed calories per day giving you the net calorie amount.
• As you enter foods and activities, it tells you how many calories you have left for the day.
• You can track your measurements and weight and view your progress.
• It’s accessible online.

Keeping track of your progress increases your chances of achieving your desired results because you keep yourself accountable. God has been teaching me some important principles that I need to really understand and apply in my life. In order to succeed in all of them, I need to remain accountable in some way.

Exercise releases endorphins, benefiting us with positive moods and decreased stress! According to Web MD, “These endorphins interact with the receptors in your brain that reduce your perception of pain.”

When you first start working out and exercising, it takes a lot of work to get in shape. It’s hard to push through the initial pain to develop endurance. In my experience, it takes at least a month of hard work before results start to show.

I lose motivation time and time again after not seeing results quickly. When I chose to press on, the results become visible to myself first, then eventually to others.

The Lord revealed to me that this applies to our relationship with him as well.

We desire to know God more intimately, to receive more understanding and revelation, so we devote ourselves to spending more time in the word or in prayer.

When we don’t see the results we expected as soon as we want, we get discouraged and get distracted by the things the world offers.

When it comes to our relationship with our Abba, we should never give up.

We must choose to remain strong in our faith, knowing confidently that God is moving things in the unseen realm. Galatians 6:9 tells us, “So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.”

I talked in a recent post about how powerful God’s spoken word is, so I wanted to give you 7 promises to speak. I think you will find encouragement in them as you to continue seek growth in your relationship with God.

1. Hebrews 1:11, Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (KJV)
2. Jeremiah 29:13, And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. (NKJV)
3. James 4:8, Come close to God and He will come close to you. [Recognize that you are] sinners, get your soiled hands clean; [realize that you have been disloyal] wavering individuals with divided interests, and purify your hearts [of your spiritual adultery]. (AMP)
4. 2 Chronicles 16:9(a), The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. (NLT)
5. Isaiah 40:31, But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. (ESV)
6. Psalm 16:11, You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand. (NIV)
7. Ephesians 3:17, Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. (NLT)

As you commit to spending time with the Lord, you should notice a change in your perspective, even if it takes a while for others to notice the change in your attitude.

I actually started writing this almost a week ago and had planned on posting it that day. I ended up visiting my friend, Kaleigh, who was stuck in the hospital since her water broke prematurely. She actually had a c-section yesterday and her baby was born at 32 weeks. They both are doing great, but everyone please keep her and baby Izabella in your prayers!

I realized that when I start a post to share with you what God’s been teaching me, I end up getting distracted from the very things I’ve been learning.

This discourages me from posting since I have not successfully applied what I’m learning to my life. In fact, I constantly have to push through the lies that are constantly tossed around in my head, especially this one lately: You don’t have it together so you need to stop writing for a while.

I just want to say to you that I’m guilty of losing motivation to post when the point of my blog currently is to share my victories and struggles with you. There are no victories without struggles.

The truth is, I’ll never have it together on my own. The Holy Spirit, however, will not leave me to accomplish God’s will for my life alone. He is my constant companion, my guide in the darkness. Together, we will overcome the obstacles in my path.

My promise to everyone is that I will not give up. I may fall, but I will get back up. I will push through all the pain in my life to reach the promises God has for me. I know He is working behind the scenes to bring all the pieces into place to start this organization. Thank you, friends, for being part of my journey.

My poor Isaac has been fighting his first sickness this week. On the way home from visiting Branon Sunday, I noticed he had a weird cough. There’s a lot of stirred up dirt in the air there from driving up a long gravel road and I wondered if that maybe caused it.

The next morning he had a runny nose. I thought he felt slightly warm, but I dropped him off at his babysitters. She texted me around 1 and said that he had a temperature of 100 and wasn’t eating/drinking very well. To be honest, I really hadn’t done my research on fevers in babies so I figured I should call the pediatrician just to be safe; this was the first time he has been even slightly sick!

They fit him in and of course he didn’t have a temperature at all, was perfectly happy, and acting completely normal. So I felt ridiculous for taking him, but I didn’t want to wait and have to go to the ER in the middle of the night if it got worse.

Well, yesterday night he started feeling bad again when my friend’s mom was watching him for me. When he went to bed he had a temp of I believe 100.7. High enough to be officially a fever. My dad gave him a little baby ibuprofen before I got home from work, then I put him to bed.

He didn’t sleep well, and I checked his temp around 4 am and it was 102. Then I checked it when he woke up around 815 and it was 102.7. At that point I called the pediatrician and left a message for the nurse asking what I should do.

While I was waiting for them to call me back I did a bunch of reading on the internet about fevers. I was just really unsure what to do at that point. Thankfully, the nurse called me back around 11:45 (3 hours seemed like 3 days!). She said that they did want to see him and to go ahead and give him some medication. I was so concerned that if I took him to the doctor without a fever that it would be a waste of time again!

I knew my poor baby wasn’t feeling good because he was being entirely too cuddly. We watched a whole movie together on the couch, which never happens. He was happy if I carried him around like a newborn baby and he would sit in my lap contently. This was not my normal little buddy that squirms when you are holding him so he can jump out, crawl around, and get into everything!

So another 3 hours later we arrive at the doctor’s office. We didn’t have to wait long at all to be seen thankfully. He weighs 19 pounds 4 ounces. His temperature was 100.3. But he was still obviously not feeling well this time. The doctor checks out his ears and sure enough, he has an ear infection. Not only in one ear, in both!

I was so surprised because he wasn’t pulling at his ears which I thought was a sign of ear infections. Also, on Monday the doctor said he ears looked completely fine. The doctor checked to make sure he didn’t have the flu (which he did not) then sent a prescription for antibiotics to Walgreens for us.

While we were waiting for the results from the flu swab, I checked his temperature and it came back 102. I asked the doctor if we could recheck so I could make sure my thermometer was accurate, and that time it came back 102.2. I asked him what his temperature should stay at, and he said to try to keep it around 100 while he is fighting off the infection; if it is 101-101.5 and he does not seemed bothered than that’s fine, but if he seems bothered then give him some medication.

This evening after he had a dose of the antibiotic and a dose of ibuprofen his temperature went down to 101. He seemed to be feeling better, he played in his tent a little and acting more like his normal self.

My little man is a trooper for sure! He was barely even fussy unless I just set him down. As long as I was holding him though he was happy. He was oh so cuddly. I miss that part of the newborn stage. It was so heartbreaking to see my baby feeling bad, but I was loving him wanting to be snuggled next to mommy. I soaked it up!

I knew that this would come eventually; I’m thankful for the health Isaac has been blessed with thus far but it was not realistic for me to think he would never get sick.

Here’s what I learned throughout this whole ordeal:

1. It’s not a fever unless it’s over 100.4.
2. Teething can cause a fever but generally not over 101.
3. A fever of 102 may be a good signal that something else is going on.
4. Your child does not have to be running a fever while at the doctor’s office for the doctor to find out whats wrong!
5. It’s okay to alternate between doses of Infant Tylenol & Ibuprofen if needed.
6. Ear infections are generally preceded by cold-like symptoms.
7. Ear tugging does not necessarily signal an ear infection.
8. Most babies have 4 ear infections before they turn 1 year old.
9. Enjoy the snuggling while it lasts!

Luckily I took him to the doctor today before his ear infection got too bad. I am definitely going to be doing much more reading on infant health; I want to be better prepared next time something happens!

If you are a parent, what were the most common reasons you have taken your babies/toddlers to the doctor?