Monday, January 07, 2019

Where She's In Love With a Treadmill




"You have not because you ask not."   ... James 4:2


******


Thursday night we welcomed a treadmill to our home.

Naomi and Justin wished to go with a different plan for their home gym so they gave us the treadmill and Friday morning I slipped on my tennis shoes, monkeyed around with the controls and eventually it sprang to life.

Wow. Longest (boringest) 3 minutes of my life! Nearly, did ol' Debra collapse into a proverbial heap.  ツ 

Yet since then I've used it faithfully and this morning when I stepped outside to toss away trash, I thought, "Gee, it's freezing out here, but hooray! I won't need to bundle up and take an icy-breeze walk as in years gone by. We have that treadmill."

Man, if only we'd gotten a treadmill years ago! Maybe I'd look like this ---








---instead of this---






And here I go again wondering why something took so long. 

Oh, reasons excuses abound, of course. 

Like, where the treadmill now sits we had, for years, Tom's inversion table (that's a contraption which stretches-out your back). Now, Naomi used it often while she lived here, but that's been two years ago. 

If Tom's used it recently, well, he did so secretly and oh, the valuable real estate that inversion thingy took up in our small office, the only place for an exercise apparatus.

Sometimes we discussed buying a stationery bike and placing the inversion table in the basement, but the kind of bike Tom wants/needs? It can only be found in Heaven, for hey, Earth's bikes, in Tom's humble opinion, all are found wanting.

Or we'd discuss getting a treadmill, but, online, Tom showed me loooong treadmills I'd have to weave around then climb aboard just to, go up our stairs ten times a day.

You know how you discuss something for years then grow weary and give-up even talking about it anymore?

Yeah, it was like that.

But hey, this past summer changed me as only heat and humidity can. Just like in Winter, these 'four walls' became my world, though because of the hot discomfort, not the cold. Seems I could walk only to the coffee shop only ten (or so) houses away. But that's all I could handle without longing to dive into ice water (lest I faint).

So that's when I began asking God for a treadmill. But we had just one place for it--the inversion table's place--so it would have to be demoted to the basement.

Oh me of little faith. I thought Tom might never agree to that.

But after Naomi offered this made-for-short-folks-like-us treadmill to us? He did agree. And that's ok--who cares how a miracle-from-God arrives?

We hadn't even mentioned to Naomi that we'd like a treadmill, so I'm thinking God told her when Tom and I, both, agreed we needed an efficient, healthy change.

Unity. It's huge.
Remembering complaining is not asking--big, also.


So note to self: Don't just make excuses, but --

Ask and believe.
Ask and believe.
Ask and believe.


And don't wait forever to do it, either.





Note: Today I'll begin listening to Joyce Meyer while I'm on the treadmill. That will make my six-minute sessions go by much faster. Whew.




"If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you."   ... John 15:7


"You may have made mistakes in the past, that’s okay. We all have. My challenge is start making things right. Let today be a new beginning. Don’t go the next thirty years letting the same things hold you back."

...Joel Osteen


My complaints? They're a waste, especially if they don't challenge me to fix things, but drag me under to a grey, defeated place, instead.







******







4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good for you! We had a treadmill for years, but it never got used. And now with my back issues, I’m not walking much these days anyway. I do like to walk outside when I can though. No heat or humidity out here in the Northwest. Just one of the things I love about the mountains. I’m so happy for you Debra..
Blessings, Betsy

Rebecca said...

I'm happy for you, too! The lesson you learned and have shared is ALSO a valuable one. Have a beautiful day.😀

Pam said...

"All I have needed Thy hand hath provided, great is thy faithfulness Lord unto me." It's always so special when God blesses us, especially through our own children! I hope you and Tom enjoy using your treadmill. Hub and I enjoy getting out to walk on nice days, but we have lots of days when we're stuck inside due to crazy weather. The treadmill will allow you to be consistent. Good for you!!!

Debra said...

Thanks, Betsy! I'm still in love with this treadmill a week later, especially now that the super cold and snowy days are back. How wonderful that I can walk like this inside my cozy, warm house! Still praying your back will heal and grow stronger.....

Thank-you, Rebecca! I appreciate your reading here and your good wishes.

Pam--exactly right! It's so easy to be consistent in my walking now that I can do it inside rather than wait for a not-so-terrible winter day. I'm still wishing we'd have gotten one of these years ago--and am telling myself just to be glad we have one now. :)


Thanks, Everyone! Blessings, Debra