Sunday Share ... Coffey

Hi guys,

Today's share I recently discovered on You Tube and immediately know I wanted to tell anyone and everyone about this amazing and spirit -filled musician.

His name is Coffey Anderson, and he's kinda awesome. But what's more awesome  is his relentless and passionate love for God and how he shares it. Take a listen to one of my favorites, "All Ye" below:




I encourage you to peruse his YouTube channel for a variety of Christian, country, and even "Christ mix"ed modern hits like Rihana's Umbrella, Lil' Wayne's "Lollipop," and Leona Lewis's "Bleeding Love." He has a BUNCH of videos because he has a "video of the day" series, and often will share the chords/strum patterns for his songs which is cool for anyone out there that plays guitar. Just go to www.youtube.com and search "Coffey Anderson"

Another good one: "Wait On the Lord"



Blessings,

Ruthie

Sunday Share ... Sweet Nothings and Somethings

Hey guys!
Today was FULL of homework, article writing, and cooking... I still got to go to church with my parents and out to a nice lunch afterwards though so I can't complain.

Tonight's share will be short because I have to wake up early so here goes...

First of all, God has really been talking to me lately and leading me through the "valley of the shadow of death" when it comes to soem of the dark corners of my own internal struggles, but I have to say He is always faithful no matter how dark it is at the bottom. And praise the Lord I am on the way UP!

"Yet I still dare to hope  when I remember this:

The faithful love of the LORD never ends!
His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness;
His mercies begin afresh each morning. So it is good to wait

quietly for salvation from the LORD."

~ Lamentations 3:21

I found these comforting quotes and photos the other day when searching for hope (on the internet lol, go figure) Of course I prayed and read my Bible for true hope, but sometimes a visual helps too.

Tonight I did some ab work and shoulder lifts at home, my two "weak" parts that I'm working on the most during improvement season. I found this video on YouTube and really enjoyed it. The time FLEW by with someone to distract me! Check it out.

So that's it for now! Time for bed so I can WIN the WEEK tomorrow.

Blessings,
Ruthie
xoxo

Sunday Share ... PrayFit

Good morning, and a beautiful one too at that! The sun is shining and the air is chilly here in Butte today. I am excited to go to church in only about 20min. I need me some Jesus! :)

The beautiful day inspired me to get a little purty for church today :)

Today's share is a great site I found a couple weeks back at the suggestion of Ifbb Pro Steve Cook - PrayFit. This site has everything you need as a Christian and as an athlete. Daily workouts, daily devotionals, meal plans and recipes, and a supportive, Christ-following network of believers pursuing His kingdom through their interest in health and fitness. It's all I'm all about!

I subscribe to PrayFit Daily, a daily email devotional that never fails to drop into my inbox by early morning so I can meditate on the greatness of our God, and hear exactly what I needed to hear that day to stay on track! The PrayFit took a couple family days over the Thanksgiving holiday so the daily messages will return Monday, but here's the message from 11/23/11:

November 23, 2011
Read: 1 Thessalonians 5
“In all things give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” –1 Thessalonians 5:18

Over 100 years ago, a very successful lawyer and real estate mogul, Horatio Spafford, lost a lot in the great Chicago fire of 1870, but years later he lost much, much more. The fire left thousands homeless, and Horatio and his family spent years helping those less fortunate. Exhausted, Horatio and his wife, along with their four daughters planned a cruise to Europe. But just prior to pushing off, Horatio was called upon to stay for business. Still, he sent his family on their much-needed vacation.
Their ship however, the Ville du Havre, didn’t make it to England. Horatio learned of the tragedy through the now famous and urgent telegram from his wife. It read simply, “Saved. Alone.”
I’m probably not the first person to do a poor job of summarizing the story of Horatio Spafford, but I was reminded of it yesterday while on a walk with my dog, Josey. As I turned a corner, talking to the Lord about my needs and concerns of our new website, I came across a homeless woman; mid-thirties, sunburned, sitting next to what looked like years of life in a shopping cart. I smiled, and she called Josey “perty.” As I continued to walk, I thought to myself, “I’m worried about web traffic. She lives in traffic.”
This week is a good reminder to hug those close to us, and to help those less fortunate. And 130 years later, Horatio can help us do just that. You may not recognize his name, but you know his famous hymn. As he boarded a ship to find his wife, he wrote these words; good words for us to remember and repeat as we give thanks, if for no other reason than being saved alone.

“It is well with my soul.When peace like a river attendeth my way,When sorrows like sea billows roll;Whatever my lot thou hast taught me to say,It is well, it is well with my soul!”

So from our families to yours, have a blessed Thanksgiving weekend.


Isn't that cool? :)
Speaking of prayer, please pray for me to live in God's contentment and find the correct balance in my life. If there's one thing that I saeem to continually struggle with it's BALANCE. Right now I am in a transition from contest prep to improvement season, and also finishing my second to last college semester and working three jobs too... it's alot to balance! But I know I can find peace and avoid doing self-destructive things (for some reason I tend to do this when I am stressed...) if I set God as my courage and strength.

"Godliness with contentment is great gain." - 1 Timothy 6:6

Blessings,
Ruthie

Sunday Share ... Nationals-Worthy Playlist

~ Good evening!
Tonight I got all my travel arrangements double-checked for my flight to Miami on Thursday morning to go to Nationals... boy am I excited!! I still need to find someone to drive over to Bozeman with me from Butte to take my car back to Butte... any takers :) ? I got a much cheaper flight that comes back to Helena instead of Bozeman otherwise I'd just leave it there. So leaving bright and early at 6:45am from Butte to Bozeman it is!

I was sick last week and that really made me nervous about my contest prep, it's not exactly ideal when you can't even make it up the hill to school without being exhausted :/ Coach Momma Bombshell had me take Wednesday and Thursday off  of lifting and cardio to recover, which I definitely needed to do but oy I was NOT happy about it! After much prayer, sleep, and DayQuil I am feeling much better now though :)

I got to lift on Friday, Saturday, and today to catch up a bit on what I missed and the 5am wake up call tm will usher in another week of morning cardio! It'll be fun though because of my awesome "Nationals" playlist on my brand-spankin'-new iPhone. Here's today's share, My Nationals Ipod Playlist:

I'll be jammin' to that in t - 8 hours so it's time for bed! Sweet dreams :)

Blessings,
Ruthie

Caught in the Web {-x-}

Hey howdy hey ya'll!

How was your Halloween Weekend? I didn't dress up, go out, or do anything Halloween related at all (unless you count writing this post :p) 

Here's the share of the week considering I was busy working on my senior design project, Barracuda Dune Buggy ( :-) ! ) and didn't post a "Sunday Share." (sorry guys!!) Here's a few photos "sharing" what we did on our project on Sunday.

This is the roll bar of our dune buggy, on Sunday we
added several braces to the center.

First we bent our roll bar in a little more at the bottom so
it would fit to the bottom frame of the buggy

Let the sparks fly!!

We (that's me ^ ) drilled the ends of the braces to
fit them to the round tubing of the roll bar

What we accomplished by the end of the day :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My Halloween theme goes about as far as this... I spy an itsy bitsy spider weaving it's little web all across the internet... and it's me! I've recently been pulished a few places so I rounded them all up for you entertainment. Enjoy!

~ Interview with Figure Bikini blog: Ruthie Harrison - On The Rise

~ Technocrat article: Local Food Review: Crepes!

~ BodyBuilding.com BodySpace Spokesmodel Search: Vote for me!

I need you here!! Please vote for me by clicking the above link and finding my profile under the "View Women" tab. My profile name is: "L4eternal"

I really would be so honored to win. It would be such an incredible opportunity to
help others and be a voice of inspiration.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In other news...  Nationals update: GREAT feedback from Momma Bombshell on my progress pictures this morning, some diet and workout changes to go along with it, and only 16 days to go till Nationals!! My latest progress pics:

I'm not slowing down though because I am doing well, I'm pushing even harder!! Why? Because this is the time tht separates the winners from the almost... I want to give it 100% so I can know I brought my personal best and didn't give up or hold back.

Have a blessed and fruitful rest of your week! And don't forget to vote for me every day, there's no limit to how often or how many times you can vote :)

Ruthie xoxo

Sunday Share ... Technocrat

Honestly, I am too exhausted to share anything good today. I've been trying to figure out a take-home test for an engineering class and I'm completely stuck. I'm mentally exhausted, frustrated, and feeling like a failure because I'm not close to done yet. Whatever. I guess I just don't get it. I never said I was good at designing drive-shaft's for infinite life! Ugh.

So anyways, today's share is just something I wrote for the Technocrat lately:
"Is Diet Soda Good for Your Diet?"


Goodnight.
~ Ruthie

Sunday Share... Perseverence

Today I found myself in a much better place than past weeks. I am content, happy, joyful, and filled with a calming sense of knowing I am doing my best. I know I am not perfect, and that I have not been 100% the definition of "do as I do;" but I am grateful for the path I have taken to arrive where I am. and I am excited to see where it will take me in the future! Although I wish I had the power to be 100% ideal all on my own, I've learned more about myself and where true power to practice dedication and perseverance really comes from by being imperfect and needing help.

The ironic thing is though, although I am in a much better place as I type these words. This weekend I found myself in the exact same place I have been almost every weekend I can remember since deciding I wanted to give NPC Bikini competition a real shot and commit to my Bombshell plan. Let me break down the situation: I found myself wanting pleasure and satisfaction in my cravings and desires - of something as silly and meaningless as a chocolate chip cookie, peanut butter, and a bowl of icecream - more than I wanted to stay commited and strong - sticking to my healthy, exact, and ultimately much better (albeit boring at times) food plan.

I didn't feel like I wanted to fight the temporary (key word!) satisfaction in pursuit of a longer lasting goal... my mind was telling me: "What's really gonna hurt if you just feed your desire a little? You're human, you have cravings! Other people satisfy their cravings all the time, why can't you just do the same? It's normal. It's innocent to want what you want. Go ahead, you won't feel guilty... I promise." STOP. Stop the mind-games. Stop the temptation. Stop the 'just-a-little-bit-won't-hurt' mentality and get real... there's things worth struggling for, and the there's lessons worth learning... today God taught me a lesson He's beein trying to teach me for a long time!

I'm no preacher, but I know a really good one! Click the link to listen to Any Joyce's sermon on "Provision" in the "Killing the Flesh" series. I was there when it was recorded at our church, but I listened to it again on the Abundant Life Fellowship website and it's struck a chord with me that I don't think I was ready to accept before.

Every thing, every day, and every situation happens for a specific reason; and God uses them to form and sculpt us into the woman (or perhaps man) that Our Heavenly Father has planned for us to be. God loves us so incredibly much that He already made provision for the times we will fail, sin, and even directly come against His promise, so that even despite it all... we will still reach victory and joy in this life; and have the glorified, perfect, eternal life He had gifted us to enjoy forever after when we leave this world.

Isn't that awesome? And I can't even begin to explain the depth of His love that not only promises us joy, life, and purity after we leave this earth... but He also leads us closer and closer to Him here on earth in the meanwhile! Oh, I'm sorry... Do I sound like a broken record? Is it getting old only ever hearing about how GOD is doing it all, how GOD is the one guiding my path, my dedication, and my success? Maybe it's the first time you've heard me say it... but either way, I am gonna say it now: I am NOT capable of accomplishing even a 'pretty good effort' towards my goals on my own, even if I do consider them the desires of my heart. I am imperfect, weak, and utterly driven by ridiculous fleshly desires and cravings that are embarrassingly short-signed and self-detructive to my future happiness and desires. Yes, I have no self-control whatsoever!!!

Here's the kicker though, I don't have to have the power, and I never will. I'll always come up short, especially if I start to think I can muster it up inside of myself the ability to "want it" more than I don't want to sacrifice in the present.

Today I finally realized that I don't need to keep God in my back pocket, and use His power when I am having a particularly weak moment or a bad day... I need to stay desperate and dependent on Him at all times! I don't want to go a day, or even a breath without leaning on my rock and power-source all the way, every day.

In my weakness He is strong ... (so this means He is strong ALL THE TIME!)
Let me leave you with this passage from Paul's letter to his friend and fellow believer Timothy. To all my friends and fellow believers let me remind you of the same thing!

"I have been reminded of your sincere faith... which LIVES in you. For this reason I remind you to fan into FLAME the gift of God, which IS in you. For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, LOVE, and self-DISCIPLINE."

2 Timothy 1:3-7.

Sunday Share... Sermon

Good afternoon! I hope your Sunday is as bright and beautiful as the weather in MT today. I love Fall for days like today :)

 Today's share is the message from this morning's service. It was so good I just had to share.

 

Bible Passage: John 5:1-15
John tells the story of a crippled man who has been trying for 38 years to get healed in the waters at Bethesda, but he was still afflicted and broken. Jesus came to Bethesda and asked the man, "Do You Want To Get Well?" Read the story in the Bible by clicking here.

 

This question was the focus of pastor Tim Moslander's sermon. "Do You Want To Get Well?" You will soon be able to find the sermon in the "Recent Sermons" at my church's website: Abundant Life Felllowship website, but here are my notes from the message:

~ To get well we must...

1. See the desire of Jesus to heal our brokeness. (vs. 1-6)
• God WANTS to do a miracle in your life, He does! 
• It brings Him joy and it is His nature to want only the best for His people. As soon as you and I truly believe this we will be able to accept His free gift of healing and start the process to recovery from whatever hurts us.
2. Stir into action upon the Lord's command (vs. 6-9)
• Stop making excuses. (v. 7)
• Be ready to ACT. (v. 8)
• Apply God's Word.
• Cut off all possibility of going back.
• Burn bridges! Remove the option of goingback to the things that make me sick!
• "Some things you just roll up and put away."
• Burn the bridges of lies and isolationism. Don't stay alone.
• Take one step at a time.

• But Jesus, how do I live this life trusting in you and living with joy. peace, and success? He has a plan. Just follow the next step... "Step one, step two..." Don't go back to the mat. Don't lose faith.
• 
• Just keep swimming!!
1. Submit to a changed life.
• It's different now, YOU are different now. You think different, act different, live different. 
• Jesus broke all the old rules on purpose! He freed you.
• He is rest. He'll give you rest from the constant struggle of living up to your old "fixes," rules, and attempts to measure up.
• Now that I am healed and changed I can:
1. Host the presense of God (v. 14)
• Give God 1st priority in every single thing.
2. Know who I am in Jesus. (v. 14)
• "Loved, peaceful, joyful, healed"... Apply it to my mind!
3. Live a life of repentance.
• Forsake the old sins. Never again!
• It's different to "fall" into sin and slip up when you were aiming at living righteously, versus living in sin and holding onto that security blanket.
4. Give Jesus all the credit. (v. 15)
• It was Him who gave you this new life and health, no one can do it without Him! 

So let's get healed, and then get out there and walk in His will
for our lives! I know that to follow Him I have had to throw off my old sins,
the crutches of things I thought I wanted and even needed, and the old
mindset of being a victim, being trapped, and being "just this way"
Free your mind from Satan's lies and walk in the rest of God's grace.

AMEN.

~ Ruthie

Sunday Share... Hope

My hope is in the Lord...
He who gives me the power to do anything I need to in this world; and the joy and contentment of fullfilling His path for my life. 

I've been learning lately, as I am blessed with the abundant choices between many different possibilities and opportunities, that something will seem very hard and impossible to accomplish if it was merely my idea. If it is God's idea then "My yoke is easy, and My burden is light" as He says in Matthew 11:30. It's easy because He's carrying it with us!

The common misconception of the verse, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" is that He'll help you do ANYTHING you set your heart to. That just isn't so, He'll help you do what is best for you and what He had planned for you to do in your life to complete your joy, happiness and strength in Him. Veering off His path for you and expecting to "do all things" just isn't gonna happen.

 Here's some passages from the Bible I really found to draw me back to the truth and revealed to me HOPE of joy and contentment when I turn to Him and start focusing on doing what God has planned.

Psalm 32
Of David. A maskil.^[a]
1 Blessed is the one
whose transgressions are forgiven,
whose sins are covered.
² Blessed is the one
whose sin the LORD does not count against them
and in whose spirit is no deceit.
³ When I kept silent,
my bones wasted away
through my groaning all day long.

 ..... I put this Psalm in here because I identify with David here, I was keeping things as "hidden" and "pet sins" that I didn't want to give up to Him because I thought I would feel deprived. Well, turns out I was sapping my own joy and energy by hanging onto them....

⁴ For day and night
your hand was heavy on me;
my strength was sapped
as in the heat of summer.^[b]
5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you
and did not cover up my iniquity.
I said, “I will confess
my transgressions to the LORD.” And you forgave
the guilt of my sin.
⁶ Therefore let all the faithful pray to you
while you may be found;
surely the rising of the mighty waters
will not reach them.
⁷ You are my hiding place;
you will protect me from trouble
and surround me with songs of deliverance.
⁸ I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.
⁹ Do not be like the horse or the mule,
which have no understanding
but must be controlled by bit and bridle
or they will not come to you.
¹⁰ Many are the woes of the wicked,
but the LORD’s unfailing love
surrounds the one who trusts in him.
¹¹ Rejoice in the LORD and be glad, you righteous;
sing, all you who are upright in heart!


.... My dad read this next passage to me this morning, I think it is a beautiful reminder of how selfless Jesus is and was on our behalf. He laid down voluntarily on the cross so that we could be freed from ALL our sins (even the hidden ones) and live in His power and joy the rest of our lives.

Romans 15

¹ We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. ² Each of us should please our neighbors for their good, to build them up. ³ For even Christ did not please himself but, as it is written: “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.”^{[a] 4} For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that:

 through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.

⁵ May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, ⁶ so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.



~ Blessings and hope to ya'll,
Ruthie xoxo

Sunday Share... Love

Hi ya'll,

Thank you to all of you who replied to my last post on gaining ultimate victory over an eating disorder. I am taking it one day at a time! I just want to be transparent that I have not been 100% perfect even after putting effort in to overcome night eating and binging even though I've been focusing on having Godly self-control and moderation. This is a journey, one which I have not yet reached the end of... but every day I give my best effort and I am learning each day to rely more and more on my great God's power and love to be all that I need - not food. (of course I still eat, just not too much )

Speaking of our great God, I have been really been challenged lately to expand my realization of His great love for us. I didn't even comprehend this before I started struggling with overcoming my eating woes and training for competiton... but when I started holding myself to higher levels of self-control and discipline I started to feel a lot of negative emotions when I'd not have a perfect day, such as doubt, self-punishment, sadness and fear for the future, which made me really really need  an unconditional love like I've always had with Jesus, but never really took possesion of. You know how if someone ghave you a gift, such as a free ipod of something and you never used it it'd basically be like you didn't have it? Well that's where I've been with the free gift of God's love... I wasn't living it in or acting like I had it!! God has been using all his daughters (women in the church) to reach out and tell me He reall truly does love me and it's been a really powerful experience so far. And it only started on Friday!

I can only imagine what is to come, as 1 Corinthians 2:9 says, "The eye has not seen and the ear has not heard, nor has there even been conceived in the mind of man the things that God has prepared for those that love him."

This "Sunday Share" is all about God's love, so here's a couple photos of things I love!

I love my amazing parents, who're both a another year wiser this month :)

I love my sister, Sarah, who's a world away in Australia

I love my brother Matthew, who's always been there for me./

And here's a little music to end your Sunday with:

Blessings,

Ruthie xoxo

Sunday Share... Beauty

Good morning friends <3

I have decided to start having recurring posts  on my blog, the first one is going to be "Sunday Share." I think this will give my blog a little structure (which is always good in life, as my crazy-hectic schedule had taught me), and give you guys something to look forward to and expect!

Please give me your feedback and thoughts on the new addition :)
I plan to have a different theme every week, this week's theme is: Beauty.
As you scroll down you will find things pictures, words, quotes or links to things that have the quality of beauty. This will be fun!

courtesy of Melissa Gee via Facebook

The beauty of life: Fitnessista's post on her baby

I consider my friend, Abby, to be not only beautiful on the outside, but beautiful on the inside too. Her soul is free and lovely, yet determined and powerful at the same time. Her beauty is in the perfect matching of all her traits, talents, and dreams. She competes in the NPC Bikini division as well, as in Nationally Qualified like me. (Due to that determination to reach her dreams...)

Check out her blog here: The Bikini Competitor.

Another beautiful woman is my coach, Shannon Dey, her beauty is most profoundly evident in her confidence and the way she "uses her beauty for good not evil" as she would say.

Every day she posts to Facebook an inspiring truth to encourage the women she is leading to their dreams in the fitness world. Thank you Shannon!

The purest forms of beauty are not to be seen... but are within the soul. A close second would be a tie between God's design of the human body and His design of nature. This photo is an artistic capture of both:

~ Beauty in nature...

Have a Beautiful Sunday :)

Ruthie

xoxo