HelloMornings-Week 1

This week I started a 3-month challenge called Hello Mornings. The goal of the challenge is to get up earlier in the morning and spend time with God, exercising and planning your day. The motto is:
              
It's been a week since I started and I can't believe the difference I'm experiencing in my life already.

Let me start by saying that I have NEVER been a morning person. I have been pressing the snooze button since I was in junior high school. Literally, my alarm was set a half an hour early so that I could snooze. Then I read this about not snoozing. I haven't pressed the snooze button even once since I read this last week.

I have gotten so much out of the Abounding Hope Bible study in just a few days. It is amazing the way God meets us when we go even just a tiny bit out of our way to be with Him. I've got 1 Peter 1 buried in my heart and I'm not letting go. The studies are brief but so powerful. Each day I have been able to reflect back on the mornings lesson throughout the day.

                                         

Oh and I've exercised. Every. Day. This. Week. My tendency would be to belittle what I have done and qualify it with and "only this long" or some such thing. I've fought the urge to qualify my successes. Yesterday morning as I was driving to work I had the revelation that when we berate ourselves, we are really berating God. All good things come from Him. The victories that I've been having each morning this week come from Him so when I belittle them, I am belittling His work. 

I've also planned out each of my days. I've made meal plans and actually stuck to them! The stress that this relieves in my afternoons is amazing! Rather than coming home from work and scrambling to find something for dinner, I am able to just make the planned meal and spend more time with my son.  Plus, it's saving me money because I'm not running to the store or through a drive through after work.

Don't get me started on how planning just a few chores to do each day means I actually get something done, rather than being overwhelmed by the giant to-do list and doing nothing.

I am so excited for what Hello Mornings is doing for my days! My mornings are so much less stressful as are my evenings. And the community that is being built is such a blessing! I look forward to hearing from the #HMCPsalm1438 ladies each morning on Twitter. The accountability is key!

I'm so glad God brought me to this challenge and I'm really looking forward to what the future holds early in the morning!