{Day 2}: This Wasn't My Plan

Did you get your workout in yesterday and today? Did you spend some time alone with God, reflecting on the true reason for the season? Did you buy the food you needed for your eating plan?

If not, I have a little motivation for you! :)

As promised, we are going to have some fun stuff taking place on our sponsor's facebook page, Tower Promotions and Planning Solutions, LLC, to go along with our 25 Days of Fitness journey!!!

Tower is going to be giving away two $50 Visa gift cards to two lucky winners!!!

1. For a chance to win the first $50 Visa gift card, you must do the following:
    -- "Like" both the Worthy of the Prize and the Tower Promotions facebook pages
    -- Complete ALL 25 Days of Fitness, meaning whatever your physical/spiritual plan or goal was for the
        25 Days of Fitness, you must follow through with it {honor system}
    -- Make a donation to a worthy cause to help someone in need this Christmas {honor system}

**Once you have accomplished both goals, you MUST leave a comment {by December 25th} on the Tower Promotions and Planning Solutions, LLC facebook page letting us know what you did for your 25 Days of Fitness and what worthy cause you donated to! Your name will then be entered into a drawing for a chance to win $50!

2. For a chance to win the second $50 Visa gift card, you must do the following:
    -- "Like" both the Worthy of the Prize and the Tower Promotions facebook pages
    -- Weigh yourself at the beginning of your 25 Days of Fitness journey and then again at the end of your
         25 Days of Fitness journey {don't forget to write down your weight each time, you can email it to me
        at worthyoftheprize@yahoo.com if you are afraid you will forget where you put it}
    -- Calculate your % weight lost over the 25 Days of Fitness {honor system}

**Once you have accomplished both goals, you MUST leave a comment {by December 25th} on the Tower Promotions and Planning Solutions, LLC facebook page letting us know your % weight lost! The person with the highest % weight lost will win $50! If there is a tie, a winner will be drawn.

Need some ideas for worthy causes you can donate to?

--you could purchase one of our Africa Glass Ornaments here {only available through December 7th}, ALL proceeds go to benefit the adopting families that we sponsor to help them raise the $ they need to bring their children home, read more about this opportunity here

--you could buy a Scentsy Buddy {only available through December 8th} which will be donated to Toys for Tots {Christmas gifts for underprivileged children} and $5 from each bear sold will be donated to our adopting families as well, read more about his opportunity here

--you could take a bag of full of groceries/canned goods or an unwrapped toy to your area food bank or mission organization by December 15th {so they can distribute them to the families in time for Christmas}

**In the spirit of giving, Tower is going to match the giveaway prizes and donate $100 to an area food bank!!

Leave me a comment here or on our facebook page to let me know what your plan is and I will let you know what mine plan is as well! As soon as I decide! :)

As for today's workout:
30 minutes on the eliptical

And my thoughts from today's One Incredible Moment reading:

Oh my goodness!! God really hit me over the head with this one.

Do you ever wonder what Joseph must have been thinking?

This isn't the way I planned it, God. Not at all. My child being born in a stable? This isn't the way I thought it would be. A cave with sheep and donkeys, hay and straw? My wife giving birth with only the stars to hear her pain?

...Who will celebrate with us? The sheep? The shepherds? The stars?

This doesn't seem right. What kind of husband am I? I provide no midwife to aid my wife. No bed to rest her back. Her pillow is a blanket from my donkey...

Did I miss something? Did I, God?

Wow. I think Max could have entitled this chapter, "Erin, what happened to your plan?"

And I would have to answer, "we are so far from my plan, I can't even remember what my plan was!"

I know for certain it was not to leave the great state, move cross country to the frozen tundra, away from family and friends, taking the boys from their cousins and all that is familiar, basically giving up everything....and for what?

This is not the life I wanted for my children. This wasn't my plan.

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. {Jeremiah 29:11}

I'm unaccustomed to such strangeness, God. I'm a carpenter. I make things fit. I square off the edges. I follow the plumb line. I measure twice before I cut once. Surprises are not the friend of a builder. I like to know the plan. I like to see the plan before I begin.

But this time I'm not the builder, am I? This time I'm a tool. A hammer in your grip. A chisel in your hands. This project is yours, not mine.

I guess it's foolish of me to question you. Forgive my struggling. Trust doesn't come easy to me, God. But you never said it would be easy, did you?

You know how they say, "God works in mysterious ways."

Well, I believe it is because he wants us to know for sure that it is him. His ways are custom-made with his label on it.

One final thing, Father. The angel you sent? Any chance you could send another? If not an angel, maybe a person? I don't know anyone around here and some company would be nice. Maybe the innkeeper or a traveler? Even a shepherd would do.

Only the God of the universe could have orchestrated the events that took place the night of that first Christmas, all those years ago. Thank goodness Joseph and Mary allowed themselves to be used in such a way that we can know for sure that it was from God and not man.

I wonder what God could do in our lives if we did the same?

I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ--the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. {Philippians 3:8-9}