Do you look forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas gatherings with excitement? Or, do you have a little bit of dread tucked inside the deep recesses of your heart? Holidays can be extra testy if you or a family member has illness, if you have a prodigal, or when you face any number of other issues. It could be that you have just a regular ol’ normal dysfunctional family. While I pondered this year’s festivities at my house, I wondered how it will be for you. Thanksgiving isn’t always like the Hallmark cards and movies with happy endings, all tied up in a nice pretty bow. I’ve already begun streaming those…
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White Chicken Quinoa Chili
Do you have cold weather in your area of the world? Woohoo, we finally do! It’s time for our soup meters to be hitting all cylinders to warm our engines! My cousin shared a recipe with me that her niece had sent to her by phone image. (What does that mean? Is she my second cousin? Third? Once removed? Twice? Who keeps up with that stuff?) My cousin promptly sent the picture to me, and I printed the recipe from my phone. (Gotta love technology!) It had no notation of the source, and many changes were written in the margins. It’s one of the most versatile chicken chili recipes I’ve…
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Turmeric Spice Latte
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Steps in Faith
A friend at church recently commented that I didn’t have my walking stick with me. I told him I’d chunked it! At the time, I’d decided to keep the stick in my car rather than in my hand because I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Philippians 4:13). Can I get an AMEN? Granted, I’m not in a wheelchair. I’m blessed to have only needed a stick for steadying my steps. I’m NOT saying you need to chunk your stick necessarily if you need one to keep you from falling. And definitely don’t chunk your wheel chair if you need it! Today, I’m sharing something God…
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A New Understanding
If you have a prodigal, perhaps you are praying each day from the list of verses in my Prodigal Scripture Prayers download. Now that my prodigal has returned, I pray alongside others with prodigals. It is amazing to see God work – and it’s wonderful to see these young people return to their families and to the Lord. This passage in particular stuck in my mind after studying it and letting its meaning soak in. So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. Then the…
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Your Autumn Season of Life
Isn’t it fun to peruse old journals and find nice surprises? I recently found something I’d written (and long forgotten) years ago – before my blogging days began. My mood seemed a little sad as I wrote of things I could no longer accomplish – a time for reflection and a turning of the page, so to speak. Wow! I was still healthy then and really could do most everything. As we southerners say, I didn’t know nothing yet! At that time, I was just entering the season of empty nesting, along with my fall season of life – not to mention being in the throws of full-on mental pause. …
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Turmeric Spice Latte
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3 Steps to Finally Conquer Destructive Thoughts
If you read this post and this post about damaging negative thought patterns, you may wonder how I conquered them. I wasn’t specific about how I got rid of that mind trap, but if you struggle with damaging thought patterns, this post is for you. Block, Deflect, and Replace There you have it. That’s it in a nutshell. I’m sad to say I didn’t give the process the credit it deserved in my previous posts because it’s so simple. After putting an end to my harmful thought patterns, I looked back on the process with these questions: Is that really all it took? Just a simple block and redirect of…
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Turmeric Spice Latte
Many of you asked for this recipe, and I’m so excited to share it with you! I crave this latte every day, and it might have something to do with our finally-cool fall season here in North Mississippi. Ahhhhh, the warm flavors of fall! This recipe comes with a WARNING. It’s not only addictive for me but for others, as well. I made this recipe yesterday morning and split it with my mom (her first time). She delayed lunch beyond her normal time because she wasn’t hungry as early as usual. Last night, Mom said she had craved another latte all day. So, beware. 😉 We’ll get to the recipe,…
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Your Autumn Season of Life
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The Blesser
Are you thankful October is here? And for cooler temperatures? Fall is my favorite season of the year. Each day begins with praise to the Lord for His goodness, His Lordship, His gorgeous creation…the intricate design in the leaves…pumpkins…apples and cinnamon, and on and on it goes. I savor my Lord as I end my time of praise and head to the kitchen for a soothing and delicious turmeric/ginger/cinnamon latte. How I wish you could join me for one of these completely sweet, warming, better-than-pumpkin-fall-goodness-in-a-mug fall treats! It is healing, anti-inflammatory, cancer fighting, blood sugar reducing, hormone balancing, pain relieving, plus many more benefits. I’m thankful God has brought many…
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Don’t Name It As Yours
In a sort of sideways continuation of my last two posts about harmful thoughts and spoken words, today I’m addressing the statements we make about “our this” or “our that”. If you have an illness or a medical condition, do you name it as yours? Do you speak of your diabetes, your autoimmunity, your heart condition, your…whatever it is that’s not working correctly? I’ve learned that when we claim illness as our own, it becomes a part of us. In other words, if we name it, we claim it. How can we heal from something if we accept it as part of our very identity? With so many Bible verses…
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Words Matter To Our Core
Since my last post about damaging thought patterns, God hasn’t left me alone about the next step in the process (His process) for Christian perseverance and strength in the tough seasons. Isn’t God a pest sometimes? (Couldn’t do without it, though. 🙂 ) He has been showing me that, as a female who vents (don’t we all?) with mostly my mom, I am so vulnerable in this area of discussion today. We can thank the Lord for smacking us around sometimes, can’t we? I surely can. We need (I needed) another wake-up call about words in my life, both silent and spoken. Here’s our wake-up call for this week. There…
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It’s A Thought That Counts
I’ve avoided this discussion for long enough. This is a tough one! For me, at least, it’s tough to come clean with all the damage I allowed through negative self-talk. This may not be a problem for you (and I hope it isn’t), but if you struggle with negative self-talk, today’s post is for you. For years, I’ve been sensitive to correction from others. Correction is supposed to help us, right? Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but whoever hates correction is stupid. (Proverbs 12:1) I now know the reason (nerves damaged in the brain by Multiple Sclerosis), but there are times when I’ll be thinking one thing and something completely…
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In Prayer…Believe!
God commands us to trust Him and not to fear. Verses are sprinkled through the entire breadth of our Bible – 365 verses on fear – one for each day of the year. When will we stop our sin of fearing and not trusting God? While our prodigal was on walkabout, I lived for months in agony and finally got to the point of hearing God clearly on this. This is what He said to my heart one day as I prayed. Your lack of trust in Me is nothing but pure S-I-N. Your lack of trust is what needs fixing here. Take care of your part, and I’ll fix…
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They Know Not What To Do
It’s Labor Day as I write. By the time I click “publish”, I will be hoping you had a blessed Labor Day. As for me, I’ve been sitting here in my prayer chair, crying out to God since morning for a few particular children of a few particular friends. And, I feel a burden. As badly as our child’s sin pains us, imagine how our sin must pain our heavenly Father. Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34a) The circumstances were completely different when Jesus prayed those words in His final hour before burial and resurrection. But, this is what came to…
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Because…I Trust Him
I’m so sick and tired of Satan’s attacks. Are you? He starts with your own family, and when the devil sees he isn’t causing you to let go of your faith, he starts in on your friends. Or, for you, it could happen in the opposite direction, or a mixture thereof. Either way, we are commanded: Do not fear! A little over three years ago, I was in the midst of a family crisis when a high-school friend posted on Facebook that she was diagnosed with lung cancer. Her faith was strong and bold! I was thrilled to see her handling her situation so well, and I sent her a…
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Not Just Denzel and Me – It’s Biblical!
If you participated in the Praise Challenge, were you helped by it? Did you run dry of reasons to praise God (although, I can hardly imagine it)? If so, I’ve got good news. Do you keep a running prayer list of those around you who need prayer? Take that list and let it be a part of your praise list. In the Praise Challenge download, you read about this concept there, and it’s so simple! It boils down to praising God in advance for answering your prayers. I referred to this in the post about Praying for the Prodigal – through scripture prayers. Your prayer list should be on your…
