Welcome Via Family!

We now have a wonderful discussion area for all you Via family members out there who are trying to create a healthy lifestyle this new year by using myfooddiary.com (you can join us even if you don't use this website, too). In this blog, we can boast in our achievements, help one another when we get frownies, and create an overall positive atmosphere for healthy lifestyles as we run this race together. Most of all, we come here to remember that we do this not for ourselves, but for the glory of the Lord.

I try to keep these verses in mind daily as I go about my work, ministries, child rearing, and daily lifestyle tasks:

Ecclesiastes 2:4-11 (New International Version)

4 I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. 5 I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. 6 I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees. 7 I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me. 8 I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired men and women singers, and a harem ^[a] as well—the delights of the heart of man. 9 I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me.

10 I denied myself nothing my eyes desired;
I refused my heart no pleasure.
My heart took delight in all my work,
and this was the reward for all my labor.

11 Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done
and what I had toiled to achieve,
everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind;
nothing was gained under the sun.

(Let me know if I am totally using this out of context please : )

In ministry, we often get so involved in other areas of our lives that our bodies become the brunt of all of our wear and tear. Stress, lack of sleep, bad eating habits, and more become the norm when trying to help others. In all actuality, lack of a healthy lifestyle is exactly that which is holding us back in ministry. Let us come together seeking to glorify our Lord and Saviour by cleaning up our lives one little smiley face at a time (again, another reference to the myfooddiary.com).