Ally's World

Hello everyone! Happy summer! For the next few weeks, I will be working as a counselor at Sky Ranch. Sky Ranch is a Christian camp for kids ages 8-16, and I’ll be there until July 3! I might have time to blog while I’m there, but no guarentees! So, in the meantime, I will be earnestly seeking what the Lord is saying to me. I will be brainstorming ideas for future posts, and I’m excited to get back to my weekly posts after camp! Please please comment if you have any questions or ideas for the blog. I’d truly love to hear your input.

I’ll leave you with this verse for the next few weeks: “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” Matthew 10:39. Let’s give our ALL to Christ this summer!

Today I want to share with you my thoughts on accountability. This is a topic very dear to my heart because of how much the Lord has changed my life because of it. Although it seems that accountability seems to be strictly spiritual, we physically need support and encouragement as well. So, please take heart to this message! I promise that it will have significant effects to your well being if you do!

Diet and exercise can seem ominous and untouchable sometimes, especially if you are planning on tackling these two tasks by yourself. In fact, it’s almost impossible to maintain a healthy lifestyle that reaches optimal wellness on your own. We simply need each other. We need to fight our battles together in order to conquer the rampages of laziness and obesity that is trampling our world. No need to expound more on this topic. Simply look for someone to hold you accountable and grab an accountability partner in order to succeed in diet and exercise! All the principles I have written about before will be greatly enhanced when someone is encouraging you and helping you! If you have any advice or stories, do share.

Now onto the good stuff! In high school, I had the privilege of being in an accountability group for two years. It consisted of six girls, and we were led by a wonderful lady. Each week we would go to her house and share our lives together. We told of our struggles and triumphs and prayed for one another. We read Scripture and deeply challenged one another to boldly live out our faith.

“Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work,” says Ecclesiastes 4:9. This verse proves why we need each other. We enhance and enrich each other’s lives. “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching,” states Hebrews 10:24. This concept is a Biblical command!

In Ephesians 6, Paul describes the armor of God. The helmet of salvation, breastplate of righteousness, sword of salvation, feet fitted in readiness, belt of truth, and backplate of…oh that’s right! A backplate is not mentioned in Ephesians 6. Therefore, Christian brother and sisterhood provides the backplate we need in order to be fully protected from the devil’s scheme. We must rely on each other so that the devil does not establish a foothold in our lives. Accountability provides the backplate in our set of armor!

All this to say, share your lives with each other. Be transparent and vulnerable. Be bold in prayer and in challenging one another. If you do not have accountability in your life, pray that the Lord will provide that for you. And He will because He is faithful. Therefore, if you do not have someone to share with, pray that the Lord will provide that opportunity for you. If you are in an accountability group, use it to its full potential, challenging and encouraging one another. Lastly, lead someone else and hold them accountable! Investing in people is eternal and well worth it!

Please share your thoughts! I know that the Lord is typing through my fingers because it’s finals time, and I have been hibernating in my study room for five straight days! Also, I typed the first part of this post a few days ago, but it did not save. So, clearly, this post is what the Lord has to say! Thank you for reading, and I would love to hear your ideas!

Without a doubt, we need physical activity in our lives to maintain optimal vitality and health. In fact, in order to be healthy-not to be in shape, only to be healthy- we need to do some sort of physical activity for at least thirty minutes three to five times per week. Studies show that exercise helps defeat heart disease and diabetes. We were created to be active!

So here is my recommendation for exercise that I know you have just been dying to hear: you need to intentionally work out at least three times per week! Allow me to define work out for you. It’s not that hard I promise! Running, walking, swimming, climbing stairs, intense gardening, dancing, aerobics, a work out class, biking, any form of sports, etc. constitutes working out. The opportunities truly are endless! It’s radiant outside right now. Not too hot, not too cold, sun shining bright, so go ahead and get to exercising! If anyone has any inspiring words for exercise, please comment! I know it sounds silly to put so much emphasis on exercise, but for just a small task, it has ENORMOUS health benefits!

Another aspect of exercise is training. We train our bodies to be able to accomplish certain physical tasks. For example, I have danced for fifteen years of my life, and at the end of high school, I was able to dance spectacularly because I had trained my body in that manner. Another example is training for a marathon. Some of my good friends just ran the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon. Now, that is something that you cannot just wake up and do! It takes months and months of diligent preparation and faithful practicing. I could not just pick up a baseball bat and play for the OU baseball team, but I would need to train my body to act in that way. Or, I could not just appear at the Olympics and compete. No, it takes a lifetime of training.

Right now I am reading through the Thessalonians and Timothys in the New Testament with my two best friends from home. The other day I found this verse, and it literally blew me away: 1 Timothy 4:7-8 “Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.”

Take a moment to re-read this passage and pray that the Holy Spirit will truly speak to you right in this moment. For me, this verse is so profound because I have found bodily exercise to be of great value. It relieves my stress, keeps me looking fit, allows me to bond with my friends, and is pleasurable to me. If I am reaping such rewards from exercise, HOW MUCH MORE will I gain from exercising godliness. If I allot time every day to work out, I need to set aside even more time for the Lord. It says so clearly that godliness is of value in every way. Therefore, we need to live in such a way that declares this statement.

In the book Respectable Sins by Jerry Bridges, he redefines godliness in a truly touching way by saying that UNgodliness is “living one’s everyday life with little or no thought of God, or of God’s will, or of God’s glory, or of one’s dependence on God.” We are called to train ourselves to constantly abide in the Lord, on His will, on His unmistakable glory, and on just how much we need Him. How, then, can we obtain this goal?

Just as you cannot run a marathon after only training to run one mile, you cannot become godly by reading the Bible one time! How can we get to the point of ONLY having the Lord on our minds? Of having no other thoughts but to do the will of the Lord? Of continually praising Him for His glory? Little by little. It may seem overwhelming to think of yourself matching this standard, but that’s the beauty of God’s grace! He WANTS and deeply desires for you to be godly.

Little by little. It starts now. It starts by reading your Bible every single day, always thirsting for more. It starts by sectioning off a time in your day to pray and praise Him. It starts by serving your friends and the people all around you. Just as exercising makes us physically stronger, investing more time in the Lord makes us spiritually stronger. And as you spend more time with the Lord, His fire will consume your heart to make you crave Him more and more, just as we do exercise when it has become part of life.

Bodily training is of some value. In fact, it will assuredly improve your health! But godliness is of a value that does not even begin to compare to exercise. So, I urge you, my brothers and sisters, train yourself for godliness. I know exercise is the craze right now, especially in a college town like Norman! Every one I know works out! What if everyone worked out spiritually? Would not a spiritual revolution develop? It starts with you. I would love to hear how you personally feel that we can do this!

Once again, thank you for reading my blog! I simply adore writing, and I still can’t believe that people actually read what I’m writing. I know that God has such a profound purpose in this, and I love being part of this journey! If you would like to know anything about a particular health topic, I’d love to write a post about something of your interest!