Deanna Doss Shrodes

If I could have a do-over, I would do all three of these things MUCH quicker in my 25-year journey of leadership.  1) Exercise daily.  I'm not a work-out-a-holic by any means. Anyone can tell that from even glancing at me. But, the fact is, for a few months now I've been exercising even if just for 15 minutes a day. The majority of the days I do 30 minutes. And it is absolutely life-changing, particularly related to stress. Some days even if I've already exercised, I go back and do a bit more if something comes up. It helps a lot! Lately I've said to myself, "why didn't I start doing this sooner?" Exercise has been called, "the best drug in the world." 2) Be happy while waiting.  Are you waiting for challenges to be worked out, before allowing yourself to be happy?  The truth is, things will never be perfect until heaven. If you are leading a church or an organization, few easy problems come to your desk. By the time they get to you, ...

I love mexican food, but most of it is so high in caloric content and mexican restaurants are difficult for me to stay on program.  I realize the following isn't mexican food that is on par with authentic meals that I would get at my two favorite places where I live however it's a simple and easy lunch that fulfills that "mexican craving".  I created this idea myself based upon my own tastes and maybe the idea will be a blessing to someone else.  With the measurements I use, it's a filling lunch that only costs me about 6 WW Points Plus. Get a package of fresh ground turkey breast.  Cook it up and add a package of Ortega taco seasoning and 3/4 cup of water and stir over low heat until cooked through.  I use Ortega because it's also available in low sodium which I need for health reasons. Once this is cooked and ready you have it to use for several lunches during the week, in fact it will make more than enough to have this for lunch every day if you want to...

Allow me to introduce you to my latest love affair that I'm having at lunch.  So yummy!  Try this... Take a whole wheat Sandwich Thin (Arnold brand pictured here.  Right now my favorite are the "All Natural Flax & Fiber" ones.) Spread 1 Tbsp of Philadelphia 1/3 Less Fat Garden Vegetable Cream Cheese on it  Top with a 2 slices of low fat turkey breast or low fat roast beef on it.  (I also get low sodium) Enjoy!  (6 pts. on WW Plus) I am absolutely crazy about this and eat it for breakfast, lunch or dinner at times.  Simple, and deeeelicious!  Sometimes if I have the extra point and want more cream cheese I add one more Tbsp. This week I have enjoyed it as well as another new lunch love, introduced to me by my friend Patrice Migliore Viscuso (a friend from bible college days, also a fellow Weight Watcher).  The follow soup has ZERO points.  That's right, nada, zip, ZERO!  I'm a soup lover and eat it even in the summe...

"How weary we grow of our present bodies.  That is why we look forward eagerly to the day when we shall have heavenly bodies which we shall put on like new clothes."  ~ II Corinthians 5:2 TLB I've gotten in the habit of doing something each day to invest in my body.  Why spend time on our physical bodies?  Let's look at God's Word.  I Timothy 4:8 says, "For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come."  Some people have taken this one scripture in an unbalanced way and assumed that physical fitness really  has no real value in our lives.  Instead of focusing on the fact that it is actually of "some value" they assume because it is compared to godliness is has no value.  While godliness certainly has greater value, physical training isn't a non-essential.  I Corinthians 6:19 says, "Don't you realize that your body is the temple of the Ho...

Last year I was speaking at a conference and I wasn't feeling well.  In between teaching sessions I went to lay down.  A friend who was also preaching at the same conference came and checked on me and said, "Deanna, what's wrong?" and I said, "Oh don't worry, it's nothing serious.  I really think it's just stress and it's catching up with me." And to that my friend responded, "Deanna, don't downplay stress!  Many times we say, 'oh, it's just stress' and we act like it's nothing to really concern ourselves with if it's "just stress".  Stress is something that is quite serious and this issue needs to be addressed." Hmmm.  I stood corrected.  Well, not literally.  I mean, I remained laying down until I had to speak again...lol.  But with the issue at hand, I was justifiably rebuked.  Her words started a hunger in me for new information about stress and it's physical ramifications. Stress affects...

If there's one thing I've learned about weight loss it's that there are so many variables as to why the scale might be up or down on any given day. For instance, I might not have eaten as many calories on one day but if I've had too much salt, the scale can be up a pound or two.  This happened a few weeks ago when I stayed totally on program but also had a few pieces of bacon that day and the scale reflected it for a short time.  "That time of the month" can also reflect on the scale.  And sometimes it's not anything particular that I could ever figure out or narrow down, it just is what it is, at least for a day or two.  But here's something I know to be truth and have come to believe and now DO..and that is, if you keep doing what's right, it will catch up with you!   This is true in weight loss or anything else in life. Last week could have been a very frustrating week for me.  Although I was biking 1 hour a day every single day, and weed...

Yesterday I shared about  my long time struggle with weight management and wellness and the fact that it really never gets easier, but that it's not an excuse to give up. Even though it doesn't get easier I've found that some things are helpful to me on the journey.  I've found it's key to share with others about this because those who struggle learn so much from each other.  (That's one of the reasons I'm committed to Weight Watcher meetings -- as they say, "the meetings are the magic.") I thought I'd share a few things that are helpful to me since this is a topic that seems to resonate with so many, and quite frankly I've learned that wellness has so much to do with how I'm doing as a woman, wife, mother, minister, employee, friend, etc.  It affects EVERYTHING. Here we go... Accountability WW meetings, plus a few friends I'm accountable to who ask me the hard questions. With a full house of others who are not all on the sam...

I have been back on the journey to wellness for a while now. This is not a new year's resolution.  I knew way before the new year that I needed to make some big changes to not only get back to where I need to be, but beyond where I used to be.  One reason I committed to this before the holidays ever came was because I knew Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year would pack at least another 10 lbs onto me and take me even further down a spiral I didn't need to be going on.  I needed to get a grip on things before then.  So, I did. How's it going?  Very slow, but steady.  I'm learning that once you hit 40, it's harder than it was before.  It's like the weight goes off of you kicking and screaming, pulling to stay on you like a toddler in the candy aisle.  It's so frustrating at times but I'm just determined to not let it keep it's monstrous hold on me.   I don't really talk about it a lot (and really haven't blogged about it at all) even ...

So last Wednesday night someone was at the pulpit receiving the offering and in about three minutes I was supposed to come forward and teach.  During this time I felt my eyes drying out with my contacts feeling like they were going to pop out.  I blinked repeatedly to try to wet my eyes and thought to myself, "should I come off the platform and take my contacts out and put my glasses on, or what?"  I resisted the temptation to do that although I was extremely uncomfortable.   I just thought it would be a really unprofessional thing to possibly have to ask someone to stall at the pulpit while I removed my contacts.  I got through a 30 minute teaching while every last bit of liquid left in my eyes evaporated.  As soon as I was done teaching, I quickly removed the contacts and put my glasses on.   This was actually a culmination of my eyes feeling parched for about  three months now.  I've been going through lot of rewetting drops...

So here on my blog I write about life at the intersection of marriage, family, ministry and career.  Part of my life admist all that is that I struggle with treating my body really poorly at times.  In trying to navigate all my roles, I have lived on Hershey bars and lattes, skipped exercise and tried to keep it all going. My weight has yo-yo'd.   Anyone who has known me for very long knows I don't act like I have it all together here or anywhere else, and readily admit that yes, I do get a whole lot accomplished in my life but it's not without stress .  Ways I have dealt with that stress have not always been positive.   People who live or work with me up close and personal can tell when things aren't going well by what's on my desk.  Lately things like bananas and water have been on it.  Well, I'm happy to report that I've been "losing it"...weight that is!!!  Yay for me. I've lost 10 pounds in the last few weeks....

"God honored the Master's body by raising it from the grave. He'll treat yours with the same resurrection power. Until that time, remember that your bodies are created with the same dignity as the Master's body. You wouldn't take the Master's body off to a whorehouse, would you? I should hope not."  I Corinthians 6:14   The Message Most of us do not literally "prostitute" our bodies but think about the fact that we do allow ourselves to be "used" by others many times at harmful expense to our bodies.  Time and again I have been guilty of putting my body last on the list. Sometimes God has to give a wake up call. I have had one and have been treating my body with dignity and am resolute to continue.  I can't ever afford to get off track again and allow it to be used for anything other than the purposes of God. "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy an...

Whoa!  My body is in shock, for sure...wondering what in the world is going on.  Some friends are wondering what I'm doing too and have asked me.  Wonder no more.   Not only did I start the 30 day Shred on Saturday (and I'm still walking/breathing despite it) on Monday I began a new eating plan that I got from my friend,  Pastor Tammy Young .  Tammy  has lost 25 pounds in a very short time by restarting her "glycemic index".   What this basically amounts to is de-toxing your body of sugar ,which I've just been informed is extremely addicting and watching your carbs - not eliminating them altogether, just not overdosing on them as most of us do.  Ultimately you follow what's in the photo above in the balance of the foods you eat.  The first three days is a "detox".  I will tell you, it's not easy.   Honestly I could not do this without support.  Two other friends in ministry, LaDonna Jones and Joy ...

I love Fridays. I love my job/ministry, but Fridays are what fuels me to do that even better. Because it's my day with the one I love (besides Jesus). One reason I've grown so protective of it and hate when something interferes with it is because I need it so desperately to energize. Usually each day I get Savanna up for school, feed her and do anything needed to get her ready, then Larry drives her to the bus stop. Today I did it all and let him sleep. Every once in a while he does that for me and it's a God-send. I thought he'd sleep til at least noon. I was pleasantly surprised. I was up eating oatmeal ("the right thing to do" as the commercial says...) and putzing around doing a few things and he calls to me from the bedroom and says..."Sassy...(his name for me)....please come back..." Thus begins romp-tastic Friday. Always a good time had by all. (Don't get any ideas, it's just me and him. We're all that's needed.) So af...

Today in My Utmost for His Highest (Oswald Chambers): " . . . unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven —Matthew 18:3 "These words of our Lord refer to our initial conversion, but we should continue to turn to God as children , being continuously converted every day of our lives. If we trust in our own abilities, instead of God’s, we produce consequences for which God will hold us responsible. When God through His sovereignty brings us into new situations, we should immediately make sure that our natural life submits to the spiritual, obeying the orders of the Spirit of God. Just because we have responded properly in the past is no guarantee that we will do so again. The response of the natural to the spiritual should be continuous conversion, but this is where we so often refuse to be obedient. No matter what our situation is, the Spirit of God remains unchanged and His salvation unaltered. But we must ...

Ecclesiastes 4:9,10 "Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!" Well I started the weight watcher journey two years ago and have kept the weight off but not without incredible struggle many days. So today was Larry's officially start date on the program, and I'm answering a million questions about point values and everything else. Anything is easier when you are doing it with people you love. So now I won't be the lone voice saying, "uuuhhhhh...do we HAVE to go to Golden Corral?" (I hate that place now that I'm weight conscious...) Yeah! Lunch is about to get a whole lot better. Today we ate at Subway. 7 points baby! 7 points! I think I'm going to be able to get my bikini out again in a few weeks now that I have some help to stay on track.

Well, yesterday was my day off and thank God for it because today actually ended up to be a lot of work --- more than I bargained for. I did sleep in but then it took off like a rocket with so much to get done for tomorrow. It was kind of stressful for me because I did a lot more on my own than I wanted to. (Larry did do some things, just not as much as me...I was desperately longing for help. Somehow admist it all I did take time to cook and healthy meal and exercise. I determined...being upset w/people, nor busyness will ever make me fat again.) I had to pick up the slack of a few things that were done wrong this past week at the church...re-fix all that stuff...pick Savanna up...make it to an appt...go to the store and pick up cups for class tomorrow (they ran out and no one took the initiative to replace them or even tell me, so thank God I checked)...bake some goodies for my class...return some phone calls that had been waiting since Thursday...finish cleaning, ironing, prepping...

Today, Oswald Chamber's devo said: "The true test of a person’s spiritual life and character is not what he does in the extraordinary moments of life, but what he does during the ordinary times when there is nothing tremendous or exciting happening. A person’s worth is revealed in his attitude toward the ordinary things of life when he is not under the spotlight (see John 1:35-37 and John 3:30 )." So we got all the copying done today on my bookorders to ship out . There is no bike ride in the morning because I have Zumba tomorrow night. I'm looking forward to it. I am so ready for my day off. It'll be a bit different this week because the kids are off, but I'm still claiming some time to myself. Because they are off, I will definitely sleep in. Chambers is right, you do find God in the ordinary. I find out how my relationship is with him when I am not in the spotlight and just doing tactical work. Many times doing that type of work I truly feel His p...

The rocket took off. Wow, did it ever! I am so tired. I will be asleep by 9 pm. Savanna is spending the night at Morgan's, so that will be possible. Thank heavens for small blessings like that, that made my day easier. My whole day was spent at the church, weeding, cleaning, prepping for Friends Day. Bugs love me. They just LOVE me. I got about 20 bites on my legs, so many I can't wear a dress tomorrow. It will look awful. I feel like when I used to be on my grandmother's farm and all the mosquitoes would bite me up and I would have big red welts on my legs all the time. Pastor T says I need some special vitamin in my system that I'm missing that makes bugs go after me. I also encountered a 4 foot (at least) snake today as I was gardening. I was trimming bushes at the church...all of a sudden I notice I am about to cut a snake. I started screaming to the top of my lungs. It got up and hissed at me. I was going bonkers. Sean was laughing and said, "what is it?...

Today was colored with purpose, projects, mundane things, important things, all kinds of stuff. Blending together to make as good a day as any. First, I love it when a message comes together. Mine did today, for 2 Sundays from now. I'm preaching a message on Sunday, October 1 called, "Don't let anyone talk you out of it!" It's about Ruth. It's going to be power packed. The more I study it, the more I hone it, the more I go over it, the more it is like a FIRE shut up in my bones. I am ready to quit studying it because honestly I keep getting more things the deeper I dig into it, and it could be a 2 hour long message if I keep going and looking for every single angle in this text, so I need to stop I guess and just pray. I have had the message churning for a long time but it just came out on paper today. A powerful day...we are in for a powerful day. But lest I skip ahead........ This Sunday will be a blockbuster. It's our friends day. We have been working...

Wowwee! I tried something new tonight. It's called Zumba, and it's sooooooooo way fun. It's a dance/exercise class that combines salsa, merengue, hip hop, belly dancing, reggae and more. It's an hour and 15 min. of incredibly high intensity exercise. It's so cool, such an incredible work out, and so fun. There were like 10 people there that I knew, and it was a blast. To check out Zumba, and see what it's all about go to www.zumbaflava.com . One thing I did discover. The next time I go to Zumba I will have a new sports bra. Carmen Torres warned me 2 seconds before we started..."Uh, honey, I hope you have a very good bra on because if not, GET READY." She was right. :-) I have lost so much weight since the last one that I bought, it wasn't worth wearing it so I just wore a regular one...oh well, gives me an excuse to go shopping this weekend. Tonight I'm going to sit in the hot tub for a long time before I go to sleep because I'm thinking i...