Okay my friends; I’m taking the advice of Matthew here… I leave for the Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writer’s Conference on Sunday. When I went last year, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. This year, I’m a little more prepared on what to expect, but I have my work cut out for me! This last year of blogging and writing has been a year of learning. I feel a little like I’ve gone back to college! {Read More}
Make-a-change Monday~It only takes twenty seconds…
7 May, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Make-a-change Mondays is all about making small changes to become the person I want to be…or more importantly, the person God wants me to be. The greatest of all journeys begins with a single step. A few months ago the {make-a-change Monday} challenge was to Just Do It. In that post I talked about writing a book and how it took small steps—changes a little at a time. I’m know I’m on a great journey, but yes, I’m still working {Read More}
Tips to a Happier You in 2012~Learning What’s Urgent vs. What’s Important
5 May, 2012 by Leave a Comment
This morning I heard a poem on WLFJ that one of the morning hosts wrote, and once again found my self in tears driving down the road. The older I get, the sappier I get. But anyway, it really goes well to illustrate my {tip to a happier you} today: The Letting Go Test By Leslie Nease Nine months of growth inside of my womb And in what seemed like an instant, she was there in the room My heart {Read More}
Plane Crashes, Drug Addiction, and Tomorrow
3 May, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Sitting here in tears. I just finished reading Heaven is Here, a memoir by Stephanie Nielson, author of the blog, NieNie Dialogues. In my last post, I told you I’d share a funny story about our flight to Florida last week—the one where I overcame my eighteen-year-old fear of getting on an airplane with my hubby while leaving our kids at home. Since I am attempting to write a book and actually get it published, I’m doing a great deal of {Read More}
The Road to a Flawless Experience
2 May, 2012 by 2 Comments
When we must endure hard times in our lives, it’s usually impossible to envision what good could possibly come of it. If you regularly read my blog, you may have read a recent post on Blind Trust. Believing in God is easy. Putting our complete trust in Him is not. In today’s prescription verse above, Paul tells us how our trials and struggles actually make us better. You couldn’t say anything Paul didn’t have a comeback for: People: “You know {Read More}
Make-a-change Monday~Shift Your Paradigm
1 May, 2012 by 4 Comments
Do you know what a “paradigm shift” is? It must be a fairly important concept to understand. When I looked up the word “paradigm” in the dictionary to give you a definition, I actually found “paradigm shift” in the dictionary. I expected to find “paradigm,” but not “paradigm shift.” paradigm shift noun a fundamental change in approach or underlying assumptions. I believe the term probably became worthy of a space in the dictionary when The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven Covey was published. {Read More}
Make-a-change Monday~Blind Trust
23 April, 2012 by Leave a Comment
When I was little, I remember playing the “trust” game with my friends. You know, the one where you stand in front of someone and blindly fall backwards, trusting them to catch you? It’s really hard to do. • Sometimes they catch you • Sometimes they are just mean and decide to let you fall • Sometimes they claim they didn’t know you were about to fall back Either way, sometimes you turn out okay, other times, not so much. {Read More}
Make-a-change Monday~A Yummy and Natural Sugar Substitute
16 April, 2012 by 1 Comment
I took today’s prescription verse from The Message—a modern-day language translation of the Bible. I’m not sure Solomon was really speaking of “fast food” here, but how well it applies to today! We’ve been talking about sugar lately—how it negatively affects us physically and emotionally. But the artificial sweeteners are just that—artificial. We reach for both sugar and artificial sweeteners because we want something fast and easy (and sweet). So today, I am giving you just a little easy tip {Read More}
Tips to a Happier You in 2012~The Artificial Sweetener Conspiracy
14 April, 2012 by 1 Comment
Since we’ve been talking about how sugar affects your health, I thought it would be helpful to look into the plethora of sugar substitutes available to us today that are FDA approved. My research, most of which I already knew, brought me back to the conclusion I shared in an old blog post, God’s Pharmacy. We just can’t leave well enough alone. God gave us some great stuff when he created the earth! But we insist on manipulating it to suit our {Read More}
Make-a-Change Monday~Surprise!
9 April, 2012 by 2 Comments
My oldest daughter, Miranda, turned 18 on Saturday. We asked her repeatedly what she’d like for her birthday, and the only answer we ever got was “love.” First, she loves being loved, and second, she couldn’t think of anything she really wants. If you know Miranda, you know she is loved. She demands love and attention, but more than she demands it, she deserves it. Miranda had her birthday all planned out in her mind, and of course the day {Read More}
Make a Change Monday~A Sugar Fast
2 April, 2012 by Leave a Comment
I am currently reading Made to Crave, by Lysa Terkeurst, and I love it. I’ll talk more about the book at a later date, but for now I just want to share one of Lysa’s suggestions for today’s make-a-change. Lysa explains we are made to crave. God designed our bodies to crave, but more importantly, he designed our soul to crave…Him. When we sacrifice something our body craves and replace that physical craving with a spiritual craving, we grow closer to {Read More}
Tips to a Happier you in 2012~The Sweet Truth
31 March, 2012 by Leave a Comment
What are the most common conditions for which we would consider a change in our diet? • High blood pressure? • Obesity? • Diabetes? • Those are the no-brainers. But what about your brain? Do you think about the food we eat being connected to our brain? Let me give you an example from personal experience: When I was finishing pharmacy school, I did a clinical rotation at Greenville Memorial Hospital in the Cancer Treatment Center. I had to {Read More}
Make-a-change Monday~Rescue Your Fridge…and Your Family!
26 March, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Since we’ve been on the topic of food lately, I have a confession to make: I really don’t like to cook. For those of you who know me personally, I’m sure it’s no surprise. Cooking has always been a struggle for me. As soon as I get on a roll, I get in a rut. I begin with great intentions. • I get together my recipes…some new and some old. • I take a pantry inventory and make my grocery {Read More}
Tips to a Happier You in 2012~Music Therapy
17 March, 2012 by 7 Comments
Everyone is affected by music. In one form or another, it’s all around us. In the Bible, David wrote the entire book of Psalm dedicated to singing to the Lord. David had a heart for God, but if you read the stories of David in scripture, you also know he was just another sinful human being saved by the grace of God. Music has been used for years as therapy for depression, stroke victims, and accident victims—virtually anyone, whose brain {Read More}
