Definition of Conviction

 There are several different ways to define the word conviction with them all meaning the same thing! The one definition  I found that stuck out to me was: 1) an instance of formally being found guilty  of a criminal offense in a court of law or 2) a firmly held belief or opinion.
The reason it stuck out to me was because we often times do or say things because they are socially accepted or not "against the law" and we too often dont think of the real court of law we should follow which is The Bible, with God being our utmost judge! And where do our firmly held beliefs come from? do they come from our parents or our upbringing? or maybe our friends and family, our government or our education? Sometimes we may even get our beliefs and opinions from our media or T.V. But how many times do these beliefs  match up to the Bible? or maybe some of them do but have been twisted and tweaked to conform to 2011! Our God today is the same God we had 2,000 years ago! Thats what is so amazing about him......HE doesnt change! Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. - Hebrews 13:8
     So many things in life can be convicting.....and not in just a bad way but a Godly way.  I had never asked The Lord to show me conviction in my day to day life until a couple months ago when I was convicted to write this blog. Now.... I see conviction everywhere and I love it!!! My latest conviction was my son telling me "Mommy I dont even want this house anymore, I want a house with a yard" my response to him was "oh yea?? do you have the money for this house with a yard?" and he says " no!! but you do!!" What was the topic at church that previous Sunday??? oh yea!!....Thou Shall Not Covet!!! I wonder what these little 3yr old ears had over heard me say in the past?  Maybe......"I'd really like a bigger house with a yard for the kids to play" I love my house and I am extremely Blessed to have what I have but when  I say those words I am speaking to God " what you have given me isnt enough Lord and I WANT MORE" and I have then taught young ears to covet things in life that are way less important than God alone!
     Right now, the hardest convictions, are the ones involving my kids. When The Lord speaks to me through my kids , I cant just let it pass! They are my little shadows and my little parrots and when I see fault in them I have to look at myself and find the fault in myself.  How can I expect my kids to live a Godly life if I am not? Just because the T.V. channel says Disney, doesnt mean my 3 yr old should be watching it! Its time we start leading the example for our kids  and stop letting society raise them!
    I love that I asked The Lord to reveal more conviction in my life and the number one thing he used to convict me was the closest thing to me....my kids!!! This scenario wasnt the only one but the most recent one and it was a complete reflection of what the 10th commandement says not to do which is: COVET! along with all other 9 commandments.  And asking God to open our eyes and hearts to never ending conviction, not of the world but of the truth!

Dreaming of Jesus

Blogging is much harder for me than I had imagined. It could be that I really like to plan out my thoughts before I share them and I did spend a couple of days writing something on my recent convictions of Motherhood, however I experienced something 2 nights ago that I feel is worth more to blog about before. So I will share the other conviction at another time but for now my conviction happened in my sleep. A dream that was so real that when I woke up I knew I had to remember it so that I could share it with Josh. So last night we were in bed and almost asleep and I remebered I needed to tell him so I did, then after I asked The Lord to reveal to me what he wanted me to learn from that dream and He did. So here is what happened in my dream:


    There were hundreds of people inside of this pavilion (not sure where but it was pretty big) I remember seeing people there that I knew were not believers but I dont remember seeing any believers but I knew the pavilion was filled with Christians because it was announced. Everyone was camping out or just hangin out and all of a sudden a bunch of helicopters were flying over us dropping these black bags. I dont know what was in the bags but if the bag hit you it killed you instantly. I was trying to dodge these bags but at the same time I remember thinking "I have faith that my God will protect me." The helicopters would come in spurts then go away and then I got up and started walking around telling people "Jesus is coming! Jesus is coming!" I specifically remember looking at one of my old friends from highschool, who i know is not a believer, telling him this and him looking at me with a blank stare. I kept telling everyone that passed me then one more helicopter came, dropped some bags and after it left the people who were left lined up in 2 lines with a walkway down the middle and there, walking down that walkway, was Jesus! For real, he looked just like he does in all the childrens bibles, white robe, rope belt, funny looking sandals and long hair with a beard. As he walked through, he started to give us all high fives almost like people would be high fiving at a football game after someone scored a touchdown. He walked down like he was one of us and seemed so proud of the people around him and then I woke up to a tap tap tap of a 3 yr old little boy:)
     The conviction The Lord revealed to me was my shame or embarrassment or hesitance to speak of Him when I know it might be a little uncomfortable. The night of that dream I had spoken to someone (a non believer) and this person was explaining something to me and as they were I thought to myself "only God can heal this"  but I didnt say it. I kept feeling the tug of my heart to speak of Jesus but I didnt because  I was afraid  I would get rejected or not get the response I was looking for. The thing this person was explaining to me was about an illness that Drs. cannot seem to figure out and that is weighing on everybody invloved and for The Lord to place that on my heart at that very time and me ignore it must have been a slap in the face to Him. So my conviction was that I share The word and what I know of Jesus and my faith to those who are seeking it or not seeking it but to obey what the The Lord is placing on my hear to share!

Change of Heart

Sharing my health tips and progress during my yeast cleanse are no good if I am doing it to bring glory to myself!  The Lord placed me in a conversation the other day where I found myself telling the person "Blogging is great, but if you are not focused on God while doing it then you shouldn't do it."HELLO!!! Total conviction as the words were exiting my mouth. That is why I have decided to change my Blog from Stop The Yeast From Rising to Conviction Of The Heart! I can still share the progress  of my cleanse but the focus will not be just on me but on The Lord as well! With that being a loud and clear conviction I know The Lord places things, people and conversations in our lives for the purpose of conviction and I believe it's about time I start recognizing them. My convictions will also be mixed in with what I am learning about God and about myself through reading (my first book ever) Idols Of The Heart. Conviction seems like something I can write or blog alot about because The more you are convicted The more you will grow and we dont ever want to stop growing!

• -I usually wake up in the morning and have a craving for a sweet breakfast, like peanut butter toast or cereal, but the last couple of days I have been fine without it. So I am laying in bed in yesterday morning with both kids and I turn the T.V. on for them and  there was Little Bear. Little Bear made me a little irritated. The title of the show was "Little Bears sweet tooth." AWESOME!!! The family had a festival with nothing but desserts and they all looked sooo real! Anyways Little Bear did not  get the best of me however he did get under my skin.

  So aside from that, I am not going to lie (I cheated) last night I had a beer and a glass of wine (ohhh and few bites of cheesecake):/ I had kinda already planned on cheating because we went out for my Birthday. I thought, technically it is my Birthday and if you didn't hear when you are eating things to celebrate yourBirthday...the calories (and yeast) don't count. If you dont believe me then talk to me on your Birthday:) I am not making excuses for my sinful acts and if it makes you feel any better i got a headache after!

  Other than that my regular meals have been according to diet and I am feeling good. The foods i can eat are all foods that i like anyways and are easy to eat as long as I stay creative it the way I prepare them and I have found a good amount recipes that I am excited to try out which I can add to my blogs as I make them. So here are the food to avoid: 

  Yeasty Foods: 

  *Breads, rolls, cookies, pastries, pretzels and other bready foods 

  *Vinegar, and foods which contain it, like mayonnaise, salad dressing, barbecue sauce, mustard, pickles and pickled foods. 

  *Wine, beer and spirits 

  *Fermented foods and beverages like sauerkraut or cider 

  Moldy Foods: 

  *All cheese 

  *Dried, smoked or pickled meats 

  *Cured bacon 

  *Mushrooms, peanuts, and pistachios 

  *Soy sauce, miso, tamari, and tempeh 

  *Malt 

  *Pre-packaged herbs and teas 

  *Canned tomatoes 

  Sugary foods: 

  *Processed sugar (granulated, confectioner's, brown) 

  *Grapes, raisins, dates, prunes and figs; citrus fruits 

  *Fruit juices and dried fruits 

  *Soft drinks and drink mixes 

  *Honey and maple syrup 

  *High-fructose corn syrup 

  *Chocolate 

  Starchy foods:limited to 3 or 4 times per week 

  *Corn 

  *Potatoes

   

   

  Foods you can eat on a yeast free diet: 

  *Vegetables, vegetables, and more vegetables, especially dark green leafy ones 

  *Beans, of any variety 

  *Meat protein, including beef, poultry, fish and shellfish, and fresh (uncured) pork 

  *Eggs 

  *Whole grains, including rice, barley, millet, couscous, and buckwheat 

  *Whole grain oatmeal and pasta; corn, rice or spelt pasta 

  *Unprocessed seeds and nuts 

  * Unrefined Vegetable oils (the kind that must be refrigerated)

Hello Friends!!
 We all know that Yeast is was help bread to rise right? well did you know it can also cause your belly to rise. It can even cause you to have a rise in health problems ( yea i know that was terrible). Yeast also known as Candida can cause overgrowth if you have ever had or experienced an of these things:
*taken antibiotics
*taken birth control pills
*been pregnant
*eaten fast food
*gone through chemo
*have ever been under any amount of stress
Im pretty sure everyone can put a check next to atleast one of those things and multiple times on some as well. Many people think of yeast and immediately think of (lady parts) which i did as well, but come to find out if you suffer from any of these symptoms you could have an overgrowth of Candida:
*Athletes foot or any other fungal issues of the skin and nails
*digestive issues (bloating, gas, constipation, diahrrea
* reoccurring flu sypmtoms like colds
* frequent fatigue
* sugar craving
*Carbohydrate cravings
*joint or muscle pain
* mood swings or depression
The list can go on and on as to the health problems  over growth of yeast can cause and I AM NOT A DOCTOR(just incase i had you fooled for a few seconds:) so I am not saying if you have any of these symptoms you have too much yeast in your body.

So my main reasoning for blogging this is that i have experienced many of these things and I have started the candida cleanse as of Yesterday January 5th and i feel if i blog about it I will not want to give up because i will have my followers to keep me accountable. I am also hoping to help out my friends and to just help start 2011 off healthy and happy ( the typical new years resolution). So today was day 2 and i must say I am feeling better already.....i have to research more yeast free recipes so that i keep my tastebuds happy but tonight I am having Lourdes Chicken soup because it doesnt have Yeast and it is YUMMY!  I will try to blog every day (but i just might not beable to with 2 wild children)and next blog will be on foods i can and can not eat! My goal is to do this cleanse for a whole month, however I am gonna focus on 14 days and go from there! Prayers and encouragement are greatly appreciated and as I have heard Day 3 can be the most difficult (which will be tomorrow). I cant wait to feel and look better and I encourage any of you to take on this challenge if you feel drawn to it!