There’s a story of D.L. Moody directing his Sunday School class in Chicago long ago. A boy in his class walked several miles to that church for Sunday School rather than attending a church closer to his home. Someone asked him why he walked so far to the church over there when he didn’t have to. His reply is why we should treat others among us carefully and lovingly. His reply demonstrates why people leave a particular church and never go back. It might even prove why people are leaving the church, period. His reply: Because they love a feller over there. Think about that. Is your church loving of…
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What Would You Do If Faced With ISIS?
Have you ever wondered how you would react if an enemy held a gun to your face and demanded that you renounce Jesus Christ or die? Early in my faith, I questioned my ability to stand strong. My faith in the Lord had not fully developed yet. It isn’t always easy to predict what we’d do in that moment when faced with possible torture and probable death. Do or die. What would it be? It’s quite possible that you know without doubt what you would do. I now know and thank our Lord for many tough seasons of preparation! Trials are the refining seasons some of us (me!) need for…
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How Did They Know?
Did you have a blessed Thanksgiving weekend? Oh, I hope so! Both of our kids were home for a full four days of blessings…so refreshing after last year’s Thanksgiving day alone. At that time, I was walking like a drunk person and was too embarrassed to go anywhere much besides church. I sent my family to enjoy turkey and the trimmings at a tailgate we were invited to attend before their Mississippi State University football game. While alone, I went on-line and researched all about Multiple Sclerosis. I’d had the thought years earlier that my symptoms could be MS related but didn’t think they were bad enough to mean anything…
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Lysa Terkeurst – More Than My Virtual Friend
Does it grieve you to see others in pain? I am filled with love, compassion, and thankfulness all at the same time today. Let me explain. Lysa Terkeurst (whose name I always struggled to spell) is someone many of you know from her best-selling books, speaking engagements at Christian women events, and all things Proverbs 31 Ministries. I’ve grown alongside Lysa for the past fifteen years at least, as we are in the same stage with our now-grown children. While raising her kids, she taught me to give the Best Yes, my fave from her completely inspiring writings. She came out publicly recently with her personal story of life-shattering…
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Hey, Friend! About Your Thanksgiving Thankfulness…
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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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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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…
