Blessed by Deb

I'd venture a guess that anyone reading this most likely hasn't seen me in the past 12 months or so... Over the past year, I've lost 50lbs. I credit this to an act of God -- well, two acts of God. First was that I was praying for help with my weight and praying for self-discipline etc. and the second that I got pregnant. When I was pregnant, sugar made me sick. I didn't want anything to do with sweets and I had very little appetite of any kind. I still don't have much of an appetite and I try to eat sugar even though it still makes me kind of nauseous... I want to have it just because it tastes good, but it still doesn't agree with my body. I count this an incredible blessing and I'm thrilled with the results. That being said, I had one major issue with losing weight. I can't wear any of my old clothes and, not having extra money for a new wardrobe, this posed a problem. Enter Deb. I met Deb when she was volunteering at the domestic violence shelter where I worked. She was unofficially "assigned" to me and we've become friends. Deb loves to give presents almost as much as she loves to give compliments. And so she has blessed me, more than once now, with bags of clothes. She's given me casual clothes and those appropriate for work... And every time I see her, she makes at least two or three comments about how "great" I look. Over the 9-11 weekend, my church has a service to honor heroes and the congregation was asked to invite people in our lives who we view as heros. I invited two people - Abby, my friend from college, and Deb. Abby because she and I have a lot of similiar struggles and issues and I admire how she deals with hers. Deb because she is such an encouragement to me. She tries to convince me that I give her more in our friendship than she gives me but I'm not convinced. Tonight she got some upsetting news and called me to help her through it. It doesn't seem like much, but I'm glad I could be a listening ear for her. She has certainly been a blessing to me, so I hope I can be a blessing in return. I have a whole closet full of payback to work on!