I finally did it!

I'm officially a Habits of Health coach with Take Shape for Life. I believe in this program, and can't wait to see where this journey leads me. My first client started today, and I don't think I could have asked for a more perfect first one. She wants to follow program perfectly, and I am so excited to see her results! I showed my toddlers this picture, and one of them pointed to my "after" picture and said, "That's you, Teacher Missa!" She then pointed to my "before" picture and said, "And that's your friend?" I guess I look like a totally different person. It's weird to look back at these pictures and see the "old me". I still feel the same. My character hasn't changed. My beliefs haven't changed. My attitude and outlook on life haven't changed. So looking back, it's hard to believe that was me. I still feel like me. I look different. I've lost a little weight, have a little bit of a new glow, and have a lot more energy (which is hard for some people to imagine). Please, share my story. Tell everyone. Give them my email address. Send them to my website. Send them to my Facebook page. (PS, go like my new business page if you haven't already). If you have my number, by golly, have them text me. Send me your health goals and let's talk about them! I don't want anyone to miss out on health. Watch this video and post it on whatever social media you use. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rFivyxOf8Q Get it out there. Let's get America healthy, people! <3 Alisa <3 knownandcherished@gmail.com facebook.com/knownandcherished facebook.com/alisa.tobin

Vulnerable

"Nothing is impossible. The word itself says 'I'm possible.'" - Audrey Hepburn

I encourage my middle school girls to be vulnerable. I encourage them to share what is on their hearts. I encourage them to share their lives with me. I am looking for honesty - and try to set up an environment where honesty is welcomed. I try and make the girls feel comfortable. I let them know I love them. I give them an opportunity to feel heard. I encourage the girls in the group to do the same. What is said in the group stays in the group. And I share with them my life. I let them know things I have struggled with, and how God has used those things for good. I share with them the encouragement I have found only through Christ, the peace I have found only through Christ, and the hope I have found only through Christ. But for some reason, I have had the hardest time fulfilling a promise I made to my health coach a couple weeks ago. I told her that once I reached the 75 pound mark, I would share about this journey I'm on. Honestly, I dreaded reaching that 75 pounds. I dreaded being so vulnerable, honest and open. So, when I checked this morning for my "celebration day," I got nervous. I celebrated reaching 77 pounds, and realized it was time to pop the comfort bubble and share my victory. I made the decision 7 months ago to begin my journey to optimal health. Heather reached out to me a few months before, but I wasn't ready to do it. Finally, I realized I do so much for other people, that I was going to finally do something for myself. So, in August, I hopped on the train and joined Take Shape For Life. It hasn't been easy every day - there are times I am tempted - there are times that I don't follow the program exactly - but I am proud of how far I have come. This journey I'm on is not only changing my body, but it has given me a motivation to help others change. I eventually want to be a health coach so I can walk this journey with other people. I was talking to my aunt one day about it and compared sharing the program to our Christian walk. We share our successes, our motivation and our love for the program the same way we share about Jesus. You can tell people they need to accept Him so they don't go to hell, but what is going to impact their lives more is by sharing what Jesus means to us and how He has changed our lives. I sell Jesus because I don't want anyone to miss out on eternal life found through Him. My motivation for becoming a coach one day is that I don't want anyone to miss out on an opportunity to gain optimal health through TSFL. Both require an internal and very personal decision that no one can make for anyone else. Once upon a time, one of my longest friends got married. That was in September. About two months into the program. The week before the wedding, I SCRAMBLED to find someone to take in my dress. It just didn't fit. But, she got it to work, and I only had to tape so it didn't fall completely off while we danced. I got that dress out today. It would no longer be able to be taped to not fall off during dancing. Just a few pictures of my journey. Seriously, thank you to everyone who has supported and encouraged me on this journey. I am so blessed! As we take our middle schoolers to our winter retreat this weekend, I will have a new appreciation for what I ask of them - and I pray I will be able to give them the same.

Pursue

"Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother's womb. I thank you, High God - you're breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvelously made! I worship in adoration - what a creation! You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; you know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something. Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you, the days of my life all prepared before I'd even lived one day." Psalm 139:13-16 (The Message) What a journey we are on. This journey called life. Life given to us by a God who pursues us - a God who calls us to pursue Him. He has known us since conception. he has had a plan for us since before we were born. He loves us deeply. This God of ours created the earth, knows how many grains of sand are on the shore, knows how many stars are in the sky - even knows them by name! Yet, He calls us His greatest creation. We are the prized possession of this marvelous, breathtaking God. But what's more - He desires us to be in relationship with Him! He desires us to pursue Him, as broken and wretched as we are, we are still called to know Him deeply and to be in relationship with Him daily. Amazing. I've been on a journey to optimal health since August. My friend Heather pursued (a few months earlier) me to tell me about Take Shape For Life. I was hesitant. I didn't want to do it. I knew that I should lose weight. I knew that I valued health, but I didn't know that I would be so transformed and changed by participating in and experiencing the program. So far, I have lost 63 pounds (not done yet), but the health transformation is more than about the victory on the scale. I look in the mirror and I see a changing body, but I still see me. I haven't changed who I am, my pursuit of God or my values, but I have found more motivation, more encouragement and more confidence. I sent Heather a text a couple of weeks ago, explaining my new mindset:

I always knew I was beautiful because I was made in God's image. I told my girls that over and over. That we are all beautiful because we were made in God's image. But as I was thinking about it tonight, I never believed it beyond that. Now I see myself as beautiful beyond the fact that I was made in the image of God. I never wanted to think that way, but it happened.

I never realized that I had less confidence about my appearance because I was carrying so much extra weight. But, now with 63 pounds GONE, I have a new-found confidence, and a new appreciation for God - knowing that He has always loved me, pursued me and thought of me as beautiful. The encouragement I have been blessed with on this journey has been amazing. People are noticing my body changing, and asking me how I've done it. Their words of encouragement mean more to me than I can express, which means that I usually respond very awkwardly with something like, "I got a new jacket." So, THANK YOU to all those who are walking with me on this journey. Heather and David, I am incredibly thankful for you. Thank you for pursuing me for the program so that soon, I can help other people transform their lives! PS: I have also found that I actually ENJOY running! 5K, here I come :)