26
December
Sculpted Life
I have been fascinated with health, fitness and nutrition since middle school...at least, middle school is when I recall it all beginning.
Looking back now I see the Divine Sculptor’s hand in everything. All the things I did and tried—having no idea it was a gift of Vision and forward thinking being released from inside. I didn't think about it, I just did it.
There was no internet or fast facts available at the fingertips for me to learn to track and plan my nutrition. I learned at a young age to study labels, read about health, I'd buy and subscribe to health related magazines. I'm sure many of the articles I read weren't true science as I reflect on it now--but it had the foundation and got me in the direction the Lord wanted me to take.
I've learned so much about myself and life through training.
Fitness has been good to me.
My love for the weights was immediate and grew in my heart to become a lifestyle. No exercise I had ever done yielded the results weight training did. I learned at an early age that for my petite structure I was relatively strong. Some of it is genetics, and some sheer physics. Being small means a shorter lever (my limbs) has greater leverage when moving an object from point A to point B. How ever it worked, I was hooked and my love for the activity has been life long.
When I was a teen I loved tuning in to Joe Weider’s Bodybuilding Olympia to see the women's divisions. I had a large bulletin board in my bedroom and I had a stationary bicycle.
On the board I had a photo I clipped from a magazine of a fit female. I can visualize it even now. I can remember even what she was wearing. I have no idea who she was. I just knew I loved her physique and it inspired me. She was feminine and beautiful, but loaded with lean lines and quality muscle. Even this, God Providence because in the 80's it wasn't so popular as it is now for women to lift weights and have any muscle. Everyone was doing jazzercise and aerobics. But there I was, my own personal spin class (before spin classes were invented) with my Walkman jamming and my legs hammering the pedals as I dreamed of seeing just how fit I could be. I wanted to know just what this body could do.
Imagine my surprise when five years ago, shortly after birthing my fifth child, I begin to have dreams of bodybuilding and competing. Literal dreams! I dismissed it at first for all the usual reasons. But the dreams and call of God persisted.
When God highlights something to you it matters not if you can reason it, rationalize it, fathom it or understand it. It becomes something inside of you that you cannot shake.
What a journey it has been. I've learned even more about myself. I've been stretched beyond stretched outside myself to grow to fit the new extended capacity of "me". God right there beside me, encouraging me.
This is a very mentally challenging sport. I have learned deeper levels of confidence in who I am and how God made me. I've learned how to be relaxed and comfortable in uncomfortable situations. I've learned even more about my body and what it can do. What an incredible machine these bodies are!
Bodybuilding is a dream I had inside my soul long ago. I didn't know I'd ever compete. Competitions as they are now didn't exist at the time. But God had planted something inside of me for a later date. He knew my growing and gleaning had to begin long before I ever graced a stage.
Even now, I am aware God's Purpose for competition is only a gateway to something else He has for me. So I continue to follow His lead obediently. I'm having a little bit of fun along the way...
Trust God with every dream or desire of your heart. He will carry you though every ounce of distrust or unbelief. He is grooming you for greater things. But we must remain still and quiet when He speaks. We must yield our soul to the heart cry of our Lord. He and only He holds the future. He gives us glimpses and He polishes and nourishes our ambitions and sculpts them to fit His desirable key.
Maybe it's time to pull out some shelved dreams, dust them off and once again begin to believe.
If the desire has not left you, perhaps it's because the reality of the vision has yet to kiss you.
Your life an open book...write the pages and fill it to overflow with amazing adventures that will make your heart glow.
Just a snapshot of my heart this morning. Was thinking on these things and felt the need to flow the ink and let my heart bleed God's beauty as only He could deposit it within me. Especially knowing the year is coming to an end and many are thinking on the New Year and it’s goals.
Set your Mantra. Own your pace. You’ve got the proper cadence to finish the race.
Your life...sculpted and shaped by Heavens Divine Grace. Wear it well.
~Nicole
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