Happy New Year everyone!

I’m trusting that you’re excited about all God has in store for your life and especially for your health! 3 Jn. 2 says, “Beloved, I wish above everything else that you will be in good health, even as your soul is getting along well.!” God wants you to enjoy and purposefully live out this beautiful life He’s given you. So, please take time to take care of this fearfully and wonderfully made body you’ve been given – and together lets get ‘Fit for the King’!

Here In 2012 I’m thrilled to feature some guests that will help you along your healthy living journey. This month I have the honor of introducing to you my very own brother, Dr. Mark Shannan. He’s been my chiropractor and health advisor for many years. (besides being a close friend and confidant) I have personally watched him live what he teaches, and have seen him help countless people lead healthier lives. I know you will be inspired by his advice.

Cheers,

Dr. Laura

From the desk of Dr. Mark Shannan

Welcome to 2012! It’s a brand new year and a brand new chance to start fresh and take a positive turn towards health. God’s plan for us from the beginning was to be healthy, strong, rested, and full of energy, patience, love and joy. While some of the health challenges in our lives are due to a genetic flaw or unintentional injury, most of what plagues us is self-inflicted. What I’ve found, over the last fifteen years of working with patients, is that we sabotage our health by poor choices and habits that WE are in control of. Much of what we do, as it pertains to health, we learned from our parents and feel powerless to change. Sometimes, we don’t even realize that what we are doing on a daily basis (or not doing) is part of the problem. Let me make this really clear. YOU CAN CHANGE! I’ve seen patients lose 100 lbs., beat diabetes, get off of blood pressure and cholesterol medication, get out of a wheelchair, and even go from couch potato to fitness contest winner! You can do it too. And guess what? You have God Almighty cheering you on… He never gives up on you, is always behind you, and He will give you the strength to accomplish your goals.

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” -Philippians 4:13

“I work hard & struggle to do this, using the energy that He powerfully provides in me.” -Colossians 1:29

The good news is that once you exchange some bad habits for new, healthier ones, it will be much easier to continue. You’ll be able to stay on this new healthy course with God’s help, as well as the encouragement you’ll receive from seeing positive changes. When you start feeling better, losing weight, having more energy, etc., you won’t want to turn back. It’s also a really good idea to have someone supporting you on your journey: a friend, a trainer, nutritionist, chiropractor, or other health professional that you trust to give you good advice and support. Accountability is key to your success. If you are in relationships that make it very hard to stay healthy, nutritionally, physically, or mentally, then you need to cut them off. If it is a marriage relationship that is creating challenges, please seek help and counseling from a pastor or other licensed counselor. And to encourage & strengthen you on your ‘Healthy Living Quest’, please avail yourself to the thousands of books, cd’s, dvd’s and websites that can assist you in your goals. Pastor Laura’s book, Fit for the King, is newly revised and a great place to start! Don Colbert, MD has a great book called, the Seven Pillars of Health, and The Maker’s Diet by Jordan Rubin, ND is also a great choice. Don’t wait. Make changes now and watch lasting results take place in your health and well being!

In Health and in Him,

Dr. Mark Shannan

Shannan Chiropratic and Nutrition, Austin, Texas

http://http://www.shannanchiropractic.com/

Matthew 1:23 – “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Emmanuel, which means, “God with us.” There’s probably no way that we will ever really understand how amazing it is that God chose to come to earth to be with us!! To feel with us, to know us, and to be like us. One particular verse tries to describe this by saying that, ‘Christ became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood’.

You see God created us to be near Him and has always wanted it that way. Even though we messed it up in the beginning, He changed everything by coming to be WITH US! That’s what we celebrate every holiday season, God with us!

We cherish the Christmas story, don’t we? But mostly we cling to the hope – the Christmas hope, that God indwells the everydayness of our world. That He’s walking with us through all the pain and heartache; all the financial struggles, health issues, and relational difficulties that we face!

Can I simply remind you this season that the sweet little baby Jesus, who was lying in the manger – came to be near you and He will never leave you or forsake you! He is Emmanuel – God with us! As long as He’s with us – everything is going to be ok!!

Emmanuel – God with us

Hebrews 12:1-3 (NIV) – “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. LET US FIX our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”

Instead of trying to fix all the things in our lives, let’s fix our eyes on Jesus! If you’re anything like me when I’m feeling discouraged, I tend to look inward, so I can correct whatever is wrong. But it’s not our job to fix everything in our lives – it’s His! However… that’s a lot easier said than done, isn’t it?!

Earlier this year, we were in Mexico watching a soccer game (they call it football). The teammates were kicking the ball backward and forward using all body parts (head, feet, knees, bottoms…) and it seemed like half the time they were getting absolutely nowhere. A few steps forward and a lot of steps back. But no matter what, they kept their eyes on the goal, so they could keep moving the ball forward!

Sometimes in life it feels like we are taking one step forward and ten steps back, but all we need to do is to keep our eyes on the goal! On Jesus!!

In different versions of the bible, this verse says to fix our eyes on, or focus our attention on, or keep our gaze upon him! Ephesians says to fix our THOUGHTS on Him. You see keeping our eyes on our goal “Jesus”, will help us to not lose heart or give up, but to keep moving forward and win our race!!

Fix your eyes on Jesus!

Have you ever watched people play chess? I find it to be one of the most boring and longest games to watch. The players strategize several moves in advance and are very cautious to make sure the very next move is the correct one. It’s serious and tedious! There are people who are experts at chess and literally play the game for alot of money. I don’t really know how to play or really understand the strategy behind it all, but I can tell you something I do know about the game and that is: once there is a checkmate – it’s over. Whoever puts the other player in checkmate wins the game. If your the one on the losing side of checkmate in Chess, it’s not a good feeling because your basically backed into a corner with no where to go. You cannot make one more move from that point – you are done! However, something I learned about chess is this: If there is a king still on the chess board – there is always ONE MORE MOVE!!

So, can I ask you as you read this blog – is there an area of your life where you feel backed into a corner and don’t think you have even one more move?… Are there feelings of hopelessness surrounding you? Is it checkmate for you? Possibly in your marriage, with your kids, your finances, your health or bad habits… Let me encourage you because though it may seem like checkmate – the King of Kings is still in the game. He always has one more move on your behalf! He’s living on the inside of you, helping you, fighting for you. Our King always has one more move!! Lazarus was dead, but the King had one more move. David seemed like a peon compared to Goliath, but the King…. Moses was at red sea; with an army on his rear… but the King… They killed Jesus… But the KING defeated death, hell and the grace. King Jesus always has one more move!

For us it may look impossible – but Our King always has one more move…. “With men it may seem impossible, but with God – ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE!”

The King always has one more move!!

Luke 8: 22 – 25 – “One day Jesus said to his disciples, let’s go over to the other side of the lake. So they got into a boat and set out. As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger. The disciples went and woke him, saying, Master, Master, we’re going to drown! He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. Where is your faith? He asked his disciples. In fear and amazement they asked one another, Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.”

I love this story because it’s shouts one clear message: GOD IS WITH US, no matter what difficulties we find ourselves in! Just recently, a couple that serves at our West Campus, whose parents just recently lost their home in the Bastrop fire, shared a wonderful story about their little girl. She was about to turn 4 years old and all she wanted as a gift for her birthday was a boat with Jesus and His disciples in it. They found one for her and as she was playing with it one day, the couple’s parents came over and saw her with it. The precious little girl and her boat reassured them, that Jesus is always with us in the midst our boat load of troubles in life.

It’s the truth!! – Jesus is always with us!!

No matter:

• How bad the storm is.
• How high the waves may get.
• How much destruction fire causes.
• How much physical pain we’re in.
• How little money we have.
• How crazy our kids are acting.
• How difficult our relationships may be.

 Jesus is with us in this boat called life and since He’s with us; the storm will calm, and the waves will die down. He will give us grace and wisdom to handle everything we are walking through to get to the other side always!!!

Philippians 2:9-11 (NLT) – “Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in Heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

There is absolutely no other name like the name of Jesus! There’s a beautiful song by Kari Jobe that captures the beauty and essence of His NAME called, No Sweeter Name Have I Ever Known. When you say the name of Jesus, it resonates peace and life to your heart, it brings you hope where there seems to be no hope and it speaks life into every situation. His NAME represents beauty in the way He loves you so tenderly and deeply, yet it displays incredible power to heal those who are sick and to restore those who are broken hearted.

So much happens in the name of Jesus. Romans 10:13 – “All who call on His NAME will be saved.” The disciples healed the sick, and we are encouraged as well, to lay hands on the sick, in the NAME of Jesus. Matthew 18:20 – “If two or three are gathered in His NAME, whatever they ask, it will be done…” The NAME of Jesus is amazing!

I just wonder if you, like me, sometimes forget to come to Him and call upon His NAME first! Just the mention of JESUS brings true life acting power to change your circumstances and to change the mood of your day. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus – even a soft whisper of His NAME brings the awareness of His presence. Call on Him, Run to Him and Lean on Him First. JESUS!!!

Jesus, the name that is above all names!

Jude 1:2 -”Relax, everything’s going to be alright; rest, everything’s coming together; open your hearts, love is on the way!” Isn’t that a cool verse?!? Even the sound of the word ‘relax’ is pleasant and refreshing!!!

We all look forward to relaxing on the weekend and we certainly wish we could live our lives this way all the time; but it seems so impossible to do with our busy schedules. However, Jesus intended for our lives to be lived in a relaxed state of mind with our hearts at rest instead of being weighed down with the things of this world.

Some of our friends recently went to the Holy Lands and I asked my friend Jenn what stood out the most to her. She said it was something that their guide said to them in response to her question, “What was the main message that Jesus was trying to get across when He was here walking on the planet?” His answer was summed up into one word: “RELAX!”…

I think Jesus was always trying to get people to relax,” because He would say things like: “Consider the birds… they don’t worry, so don’t worry about your life.” “Cast your cares on me because I care for you.” “Be anxious for nothing.” “Come to me if you are weary and I will give you rest.”

One word – ‘RELAX’!!! We say: chill out, chillax, in the Lion King – they say – ” Hakuna Matata, ain’t no worries…” Jesus is saying to us, “Trust me, depend on me, and rest in My presence. It’s going to be alright, it’s all coming together… My love is on the way.”

RELAX!!!

When exercising the other day, I was watching Barbar the elephant cartoon. I couldn’t hear it but I could see that a monkey kept jumping on his back. He tried everything to get that monkey away from him: throwing it off, punching it in the nose, sending it away by telling it mean things… But it just kept coming back!

Have you ever felt like you have a monkey on your back? Something that just keeps bugging you and it won’t go away. Or possibly it’s something that keeps trying to come in and steal from you and ruin your life?

I think the woman in Song of Solomon understood. Song of Solomon 2:15 (Msg) – “Then you must protect me from the foxes, foxes on the prowl, foxes who would like nothing better than to get into our flowering garden to destroy it.”

I know that the Song of Solomon is an allegory, but I know how she feels because we live out in the country and have all sorts of critters that come into our yard. Yes, beautiful deer, but also all these locusts that eat our flowers and leaves. At night the armadillos and wild boar prowl around our yard and make holes in our mulch looking for grub worms and literally destroy the yard! Once we had to replace a 15 ft. section of grass that they totally uprooted! Pesty little critters, foxes, monkeys… Or whatever else is bugging us in our lives!! We hate them!

And we know according to John 10:10 (Msg) – “A thief comes only to kill, steal and destroy…” That’s his job. But the extremely good news is in the second half of this verse – Jesus said,” I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.” When the enemy comes in and tries to bug us to death, doing all he can to kill, steal and destroy, the KEY to living the best life possible is to get our focus back on Jesus because Jesus comes into our lives to give us real, everlasting,,, a dreamy life!!

Join us for a speical invite Sunday, August 28, 2011 at Shoreline Church,  all 3 campuses.  Please call (512) 310-2244 for more information.

North Campus –  15201 Burnet Road, Austin, Texas 78728. Service times 9:00 and 11:00 am.

South Campus – 2008 Brandt Road, Austin, Texas 78744. Service times 9:00 and 11:00 am.

West Campus – Cinemark Hill Country Galleria located at 12812 Hill Country Road, Austin, Texas 78758.