When we lived in Phoenix, we attended Palm Valley Church and our pastor, Greg Rohlinger (we miss you Greg!), said many things over the years that have stuck with me; one of those things was in regards to spiritual warfare.

Specifically, I remember him talking about how when we are about to do something that’s godly or kingdom advancing, the evil one will try to put up roadblocks and stop us.

Our bodies are temples and we are charged with taking care of them (1 Corinthians 6: 19-20 (ESV): ¹⁹Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, ²⁰ for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.), and starting and maintaining regular exercise is the last thing I need to do to completely submit and be obedient in this area. And whether we want to admit it or acknowledge it or not, we are not godly, we are not obedient and we are not Christ-like if we are not taking care of our bodies. The devil knows this (and boy does he know it in America!) and he will devise schemes to keep me on the couch.

Lysa TerKeurst points out something about the devil’s schemes in her book, Made to Crave, from pastor and author Chip Ingram, who talks about Satan’s schemes and says this:

The English word “strategies” is derived from the Greek word Paul uses that is translated “schemes.”  That means our temptations are not random. The false perspectives we encounter do not come at us haphazardly. The lies we hear, the conflicts we have with others, the cravings that consume us when we are at our weakest points – they are all part of a plan to make us casualties in the invisible war.

Enter Round 1, this past weekend. I signed up on the Team Beachbody website, thanks to one of their coaches telling me about it here on my blog. It’s a free site (well, it looks like there are pay options, but I didn’t choose them). Once you sign up, you get a coach and can schedule and log your workouts, etc. I’m not all that familiar with it yet, because I just signed up this past weekend, but it sure seems like a neat way to add some accountability to home workouts.

So after signing up, I decided that I would officially commit to moving from thinking about working out to actually setting up a workout schedule, especially with my new Zumba DVDs on the way. I scheduled my first workout for Monday (yesterday) at 1:00 pm, thinking that I would do Zumba Fitness on the Kinect after I put Zach down for his nap.

Great plan, right? Well, apparently the devil thought so too and felt that I had a little too much determination and motivation to actually do it this time, so… Zach got sick over the weekend. We end up having to take him to Urgent Care on Sunday morning, only for him to be diagnosed with brochiolitis and two ear infections. We are sent home with a nebulizer machine to give him breathing treatments every 4 hours, right through the night. 😦

This led to a very exhausted mommy on Monday, which just got worse as the day went on. By the time I put him down for his nap, there was just no way I was going to do anything other than sit on the couch with my laptop on my lap and work. Day 1 = epic fail. Devil 1, Angie 0.

But that’s ok, right? I mean, starting one day late isn’t that big of a deal! I can just do my workout the next day, and even better, I can do it in the morning right after dropping Zach off at preschool. I’ll get a good night’s sleep and hit the ground running!

Oh, but of course, it can’t be that easy! The best intentions are derailed by powers unseen! By last evening, I was overly tired – I mean, I know that I should have been tired, but I was beyond tired; more than I should have been, in my opinion.

And first thing this morning, I realized why. Now I’m sick!! Fabulous!! 😦

It’s at this point that I realize I’m under attack and that the goal is to stop me from getting this exercise routine off the ground, just long enough for me to lose motivation and settle back into the “I’ll just diet now and worry about exercise later” mode…

So, after dropping Zach off, I came home and did Zumba anyway, feeling rotten and all! 🙂

Of course, after only 5 minutes my lungs were on fire and I thought I just might die! LOL! But, I pushed through that and managed to do a measly 20 minutes before collapsing on the couch to have a little coughing fit.

Should I have done it – exercised even though I knew I was sick? I don’t know if I should have, but I’m glad I did! Granted, it actually still hurt to breathe a few hours later, but I glimpsed the fun that I had in my Zumba class (how did I do an hour long class?!) and it got me excited to be doing it again! In your face, Satan! 😛

So, yes, I’m glad I pushed through and did it, even if for just a little bit. Besides, you have to start somewhere, right?

The one bummer? Those 20 small minutes really kicked my butt and I felt like I had worked out for 2 hours, not 20 minutes. But when I logged my activity into Weight Watchers, I only earned 2 tiny activity points! What?! I felt like I should have earned 10! Haha!

Oh, and last week I lost 1.8 lbs, putting me at 13.4 total. 🙂

I’ll leave you with this hilarious image that I came across on Pinterest. Makes me glad I’m doing my Zumba at home… alone! 😉