two year update!..

God is so good!!!!

(Disclaimer: This has not been edited for grammer/spelling! LOL)

Two years—WOW! I can’t believe it’s really been two years since my surgery. If you had asked me two years ago where I saw myself I definitely would not have described to you the amazing life I am now living.

I don’t even know where to begin. The past year has been filled with many ups and downs as I continued to lose weight. Mostly ups, with a few downs along the way—let’s face it, we all know life isn’t perfect.

Since losing the weight my attitude and general appreciation for life has become much more positive. I feel better; I have a lot more energy; I’m happier than I’ve ever been before. In fact, I didn’t know it was possible to be THIS happy.

Somewhere along in all of this I’ve been able to truly embrace whom I believe God has called me to be. I’m in the process of answering my call and while I know this will be a lifelong process, I believe I am on the right path and that it is truly God who directs my steps. I can’t tell you what an amazing feeling all of this has been. As my weight came off, so did the emotional walls I had built up. I’ve been able to accept other’s love for me (something I tended to push away before). I can’t even begin to describe to you the amount of love I have in my life coming from others. Because of this I feel I’ve become more loving towards others. Most importantly and what keeps me going is that I know the love that God has for me; that God sees me as a beautiful young lady; that I was created for a specific and unique purpose; that He rejoices when I am faithful to Him. Friends, let me tell you that since truly RESPONDING to the free love and grace that God has offered us, my life has been extremely different. I have seen God move a countless number of ways, just in the last 6 months (not to mention the past 2 years…past 22 years). I truly believe that when you are faithful to Him, He responds in faithfulness. This doesn’t mean that everything is going to go your way. Jeremiah 29:11 puts us in check. God has plan for us—not our plan, but HIS plan.

I’ve never felt so loved and cared for than I do right now—I am surrounded by a great family, a wonderful community of Christians, and I’ve got to have the most outstanding and amazing friends in the entire universe.

I look at myself in the mirror and smile when I see my reflection; I am a beautiful and wonderful creation of God—there’s nothing anything or anyone can do about that!! What a wonderful concept to finally realize as TRUTH!

I hope and pray that those of you who know me well have seen the transformation that has taken place over the past two years. I feel incredibly blessed with the people who are active in my life. I am seriously blessed beyond any kind of reason.

So….

Here are the numbers.

I’ve lost a total of 164 lbs!!!!!!!! Crazy, huh?!!

Last time I measured myself, which was about a month or two ago I had lost about 72 inches.

So, since this time last year I’ve lost another 29 lbs and at least another 12 inches.

God is good, no?!

Here's the link for my one year update which has pictures from the beginning (for those of you who haven't read it, I encourage you to read it. For those of you who have read it, read it again if you like!)
http://coalty.blogspot.com/2011/04/miracles-come-in-many-different-forms.html

Here are a couple of photos of what I looked like a few years ago, just so you have them for comparison.

Summer 2008

September 2009

And....here's me now!! :D

2.24.12

3.20.12

3.27.12

3.31.12
These girls are amazing and I feel incredibly blessed to call them my friends <3 They have been with me through so much and I really don't know what I would have done without them.