RevelationWellness

My Revelation Wellness Journey from beginning ’til now

February 21, 2015 By Kara Leave a Comment

This coming Thursday, February 26th, another platoon of fearless men and women will begin their journey towards Revelation Wellness Instructor certification.I have received messages from many of you that have specific questions about this journey, what to expect, if you are qualified, if it’s worth it, and more.

In order to make sure you can follow my journey from beginning to end, I thought it would be helpful to put up this post that chronicles my RevelationWellness journey from Day 1 until now.

My answers to your messages are always along these lines:
Worth it.
If He has called you, He will equip you.
Don’t run- submit.
If it’s in your heart to do but it seems impossible financially or otherwise, PRAY. Ask some trusted friends to pray. He will bring it about if it is part of His plan for your life.
This is about so much more than fitness. This is freedom and Original Design.
It is family.
It is life changing.
I cannot recommend it highly enough.

I know it is scary. I know it seems like a big financial investment. I know the calling may make no sense to you right now and I know you may not be a “fitness person”. Even if you never lead one fitness class or teach 1 Weigh Less to Feed More session, it will be worth it. The insight and truth I gained are invaluable.

I am praying you in to this family, friends. I don’t stand to gain anything if you join, other than the beauty and joy of seeing a sister or brother learning to walk in freedom and being equipped to teach others to do the same. There is an army rising up and I am so incredibly grateful to be a part.

If you’ve got time, read each of the following posts and then if you have any questions, please feel free to email me or facebook me through my facebook page .

And if you’re interested, DON’T WASTE ONE SECOND. Head over to their website

and click on this link and then enter your information to LEARN MORE so you can get your enrollment conversation started.

My Revelation Wellness Instructor Journey

The Dream Begins:Answered Prayer:

Teaching my first class (before training began):

Revelation Wellness Training begins!:

Pre-Retreat Anxieties and Reflection:

Enough-Lessons learned at RevWell Retreat:

Retreat Recap Post #1:

Retreat Recap Post #2:

Reflection on what God has done over the past year for myministry (including RevWell):

2 years later.

New Favorite: Drumstick Workouts!!!

November 26, 2014 By Kara 1 Comment

I was first introduced to a drumstick workout through Revelation Wellness.

I got to try my first one when we were at Instructor Training Retreat and it was every bit as fun as I thought it would be…and then some.

I knew that this was something I wanted to bring back and share with the local workout group that I lead, but I also knew that I didn’t have the budget to go buy real drumsticks for everyone.

Following the advice of some of the RevWell Instructors, I learned how to make my own and to save a bunch of money in the process.

Step 1: I went to HomeDepot and purchased ten 10 foot sections of 1/2 inch PVC pipes. These are extremely affordable- I paid $2.17 for each separate 10 foot section.

Step 2: Find a kind employee that knows how to work the big saw thing in the store. I found a gentleman and told him to cut the long PVC poles into 16″ sections. That meant I got 7 sticks from each of the poles and then had a small piece left over. Since I purchased ten of the long poles and each pole yielded 7 drumsticks, this gave me 70 sticks, or 35 pairs.

Step 3: Purchase some duct tape in a pretty color or pattern. I bought the Duck Tape brand in a black and pink zebra stripe, a solid pink, a rainbow print, and a Superman print. Each roll was $3.57. If you have any at home or if you’re shopping at a store like Wal-Mart, you’re likely to find some for less. These rolls each had 15 yards of tape on them.

Step 4: Wrap the end of each stick in the duct tape. I decided to only wrap the ends, but some people choose to wrap the entire sticks.

This took a bit longer than I hoped, but only because I was doing it to 70 sticks and I had two “helpers” that kept wanting to try.

Total Cost:
My cost would have been close to $40 but I qualified for an “instant credit” for some reason, and they took $2.20 off of the cost of my PVC pipes. Including tax (and my discount), I spent $36.14 to make 35 pairs of drumsticks.

Cost: $1.03 !

Once you have your sticks made, you may need to put more duct tape over the ends as they are used a lot. I’ve been using mine now for a couple weeks and you can see where some of the tape is wearing off. I plan to just stick another piece of tape over the ends when needed.

Hope you enjoy!!!

Revelation Wellness Instructor Training Retreat Part 2

November 23, 2014 By Kara 1 Comment

If you missed Part 1, you can read it by clicking here.

Once we were settled into our rooms, we headed to our Introduction and Opening Intention. It was a room with over 200 of us (there were around 40 from RevWell, the rest were HolyYoga) and Brooke and Alisa spoke powerful words. They set the focus for the week and discussed things that we would NOT have during the week and things we wanted to INVITE there.

Beautiful, right?

From there we began our week.

We had classes on all sorts of topics including Dysfunction and healing, anatomy (lots of anatomy!), teamwork, messaging, class design, warm-ups and cardio, partner stretching, helping the elderly and obese, resistance training, teambuilding, games for classes, Weigh Less to Feed More, original design, loving others and more.

Our “war paint” we put on each morning.

We also had some really good Bible study time and prayer. God used our leaders to speak truth and I learned so much. Some of my biggest takeaways from their teaching:

-In Judges 5:6-7, people held back until Deborah arose. This is the case for all of us. Until we ARISE and walk forward, people are held back. When we will WAKE UP, others will, too.

-I have an original design. God made me for a purpose and the further I walk in freedom with Him, the more I discover who I was made to be. GET FREE, STAY FREE! When I get discouraged of off track I need to stop and pray, “What have I forgotten about how you made ME, God?”

-What God designs, He directs.

-We aren’t called simply to help others to “feel better”, we need to help them “GET better”. The same goes for myself.

-A seed must come completely undone before it can flourish. And part of the remaking into our Original Design is found only through intimacy with God. God can unveil ourselves TO ourself.

-Sin ALWAYS costs something.

-Our own brokenness keeps us from seeing our brokenness.

-We have the CHOICE as to whether or not to take offense to something. Unforgiveness is the furthest we can get from our Original Design.Want freedom? FORGIVE. AWAKEN. ARISE.

-If we could run every decision by the foot of the cross, our responses would be different. We would give them NOT what we feel we deserve, but what THEY NEED.

Small group time was another highlight of the week and our small group leaders, Myra and Jolene helped us to process through our own stories and journeys and to determine what we needed to LET GO before we could really find freedom.

The week was full of some really GOOD workouts and I was exposed to some types of training I had never attempted before. Each workout TRULY was WORSHIP and at many times I was fully standing in God’s presence even though I may have been doing pushups, stretching, or burpees.

We were pushed to step outside of our comfort zones through tasks such as Ipod Karaoke, swinging while suspended 200 or so feet in the air, teaching our own class and being evaluated, allowing others to speak words of life and affirmation about us, dance parties, fire and water ceremony, partner games, and more. Each day they placed a new challenge before us, and each day, as a family, we walked through it.

The best way I know how to describe the week is that it’s just like church camp when you’re a teenager. Except: it’s church camp filled with 200 other people who are passionately pursuing a deeper relationship with Christ and holding nothing back. People who are willing to be real and messy and to show you all their baggage. People who hold your hand when you are scared or who stop in the middle of what they are doing to pray over you. People that fully understand the desire of your heart to lead others into freedom because it is the same one that they have. People who cheer you on and REALLY mean it. People who help you find your Original Design and then push you to brave enough to pursue freedom at all costs. People who are family.

It was a glimpse for me of what Heaven must be like.

By the end of the week, we were not just a group of people that went through a training program. We were family.

And then we were commissioned and sent out to change the world.

And we will.

Not because of anything that we will do or say, but because of what God can do through a willing heart.

Want to learn more about this amazing program? Visit www.revelationwellness.org and click on Become An Instructor.

Here are a few more of my favorite pictures from the week:

Revelation Wellness Instructor Training Retreat Part 1

November 23, 2014 By Kara Leave a Comment

I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to get this post written! I have started and stopped several times but haven’t known quite how to explain this week and all it meant.

If you’ve followed my journey from the beginning, you know that God
began placing a dream on my heart towards pursuing a certification
called Revelation Wellness. You can read that story here.

And then, because He’s God and He can throw open any doors that He wants to, he did THIS.

So in August, I began Instructor training. I posted about the first class here.

And the at-home training portion of this program was good. REALLY good. It was a lot of work, but it began changing the entire way that I looked at myself, my original design, my calling, my ministry, my health…everything!

I was all set to go to retreat and then about a week and a half before I was set to fly out, I received a call that confused things a little.

I was called and told that I had won High School Counselor of the year for the state of North Carolina. For School Counselors, this is pretty much as good as it gets as far as professional awards go. It was SO exciting! The only problem- the awards ceremony was on the Thursday of retreat.

I contacted the RevWell folks about possibly going to retreat, flying back for the awards presentation and then going back to finish the week, but this wasn’t an option. They told me that I could wait and go to the Spring retreat in May if I wanted to.

After a few days of prayer and some deep soul searching, both my husband I came to the same conclusion: that I needed to be at retreat. Missing the biggest moment of my professional career was a bit strange, but I knew that I had to choose- was I willing to pursue the calling I had been given and to walk forward in obedience or would I choose to stay home so that I could receive this award and the recognition that would come with it?

So although it was hard to explain to others, we were at peace about the decision and I knew it was the right one.

I anxiously anticipated the upcoming trip and the day before I left, I wrote this.

I left for retreat early on Sunday morning. My parents kept my kids so that Marcus could take me to the airport. We got up at 3:30 a.m. and left for the airport at 4:30. I was a bit of a nervous mess!

I made it through him dropping me off at the airport without tearing up, but once I was through security and heading towards my gate to wait for my flight, it was a bit harder.

I got the sweetest text from a friend telling me that she was praying for me and then a friend posted this to my facebook page:

How amazing is that?!

And I knew that NOW was the time and that I COULD do just as the picture had said- open up my hands all the way and trust my Lord. To feel the fear and still do what I had been called to do.

So I boarded that plane.

Fortunately for me, there was plenty of excitement on the early morning flight. For the first part I was able to listen to the lady with two cats that meowed nonstop and then I got to sit beside a woman who enjoyed her seat plus half of mine as she loudly snored and caught up on her rest. At one point I really REALLY needed to get up to go to the restroom and couldn’t seem to wake her, so I had to stand on my seat and straddle over her seat to get out to go. I kept thinking, “if she opens her eyes and finds me standing straddling her this is going to be a mess!” Luckily, she didn’t. Fun times.

When I arrived at the Phoenix Airport I found my luggage (thank you Jesus!) and then went to grab some lunch. I was SUPER nervous but ran into a Holy Yoga lady (they retreat with Revelation Wellness), who showed me how to get to where our group was meeting.

Talk about awkward- walking up to a random group of people that you have never met and then trying to carry on a conversation for 2+ hours. One of the RevWell sayings is: Comfortable being Uncomfortable, and I kept thinking- I sure do have the uncomfortable part figured out!

Towards the end I connected with some ladies and I was able to talk with them until we boarded our bus which would take us to Williams, AZ.

We snapped a quick group picture outside and then loaded the bus. I sat with a new friend named Katrina, who was so kind to me and the 3+ hour ride passed pretty quickly.

The further we drove, the higher in altitude we climbed and before long, we began to hear talk of snow.

One of the RevWell small group leaders was sharing her Peppermint Essential Oils with people as they began to experience headaches, nausea, etc. Since they all seemed to enjoy it I thought “why not” and slathered some on my temples like they were. I am quite uneducated when it comes to this sort of thing so I rubbed it all around my eyes NOT realizing just what a mistake that was. For the next 20 minutes or so my eyes burned like they were ON FIRE and watered. I finally put on my sunglasses so it wouldn’t look to everyone like I was crying. Lesson learned: Don’t rub those oils near your eyeballs!

When we finally pulled into the retreat center, Alisa Keeton was there to greet us, along with Jolene (a dear sweet RevWell friend) and my prayer partner Christina.

As we got off the bus they greeted each of us with a hug and a smile and it felt like family. No, it WAS family. It was. As Alisa hugged me and we stood in the snow, as scary as it was, I knew this was where I was supposed to be.

She said, “Kara. I know you” as she hugged me and at that moment, it was like God was saying. Here! You’re here and I’m ready to show you what you’re made of. I made you and I KNOW you!”.

We grabbed our luggage and headed out for our cabins. I was a bit nervous at what they would look like, but they were great! We had a big enough room that I didn’t have a top bunk mate, so I had some room to spread out.

We settled in briefly and then headed to our first meeting. The adventure was getting ready to BEGIN!

Come back tomorrow for Part 2!