What is Christmas all about? How does your family celebrate Christmas? December 25th is the day that the world acknowledges the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, but do we truly celebrate Christ during Christmas? Do we spend more time exalting Santa Clause than Jesus Christ? Do we spend more time shopping than praising God for the wonderful, perfect gift of Christ? Throughout the last few years our family has been on a journey of making Christ the center of our Christmas. First, we started by buying less stuff. There is a tendency to just buy, buy, buy; but how is that celebrating Christ? If we’re…
-
-
You Control Your Mind
In life, we often find ourselves trying to control everything around us: our mate, our children, our friends, etc. You may not think you’re trying to control, but how do you respond when things don’t go your way? Instead of trying to control situations, I’m encouraging you to control your mind. Our mind is such a powerful force, yet we must control it to make it work for us and not against us. Where our thoughts go everything else will follow. Our emotions follow our mind. Our actions follow our mind. Beliefs, attitudes, and even self-esteem are all directed and influenced by the mind. We can have everything in…
-
LIFE: Fight For Your Focus
If you are going to overcome the challenges that you face in this life, you must fight for your focus. If you are going to accomplish your goals, you must stay focused. In order to even enjoy the things that you currently have, you must stay focused. Without focus you won’t get very far or acomplish very much. When you are focused on something, it affects how you deal with the things that you aren’t focused on. Staying focused helps you to ignore those things that aren’t important. Think about it, you can’t focus on everything- and that’s okay. That’s why we must prioritize where our focus needs to be.…
-
10 Tips for Living Well
No matter what season we find ourselves in, we can always benefit from tips on living well. 10 Tips for Living Well: 1. We live and we learn. We’ve worn this phrase out but it is oh so true. Don’t beat yourself up over past failures. You can’t change the past, but you can learn from it and do better next time. 2. Adjustments are necessary. It is so necessary to stop and readjust in life. Has your life changed? Expect to readjust. Feeling off and can’t really explain it? It may be time for an adjustment. 3. Listening is critical. I mean really listening. Don’t just listen enough…
-
Graduate School Update: 7 months shy of holding my master’s degree
Today it hit me: I am 7 months shy of holding my master’s degree. My first thought was “Wow, I can’t believe it’s so close.” Secondly, I’m sitting here asking myself “How did I get here?” 7 months shy of holding my master’s degree: How did I get here? 1. Purpose. I remember when I used to go to college intermittently because I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life. Education has always been important to me, but I haven’t always been clear on my purpose. I thank God for saving my soul and growing me up in Him. One of the greatest gifts that He…
-
WOMEN: 5 Blessings to Experience
Our lives are simply made up of all our experiences. Our experiences make life enjoyable and worthwhile, but we don’t want to experience any and everything. Read on for blessings you do want to experience. WOMEN: 5 Blessings to Experience 1. LOVE. There is nothing more empowering than receiving real, genuine, never wavering love. For me, the greatest love I’ve felt is the love that Jesus Christ has for me. It’s more than just singing the lyrics “Jesus loves me this I know…” It’s much, much deeper than that. It is a blessing to know that He loves me just the way I am, He loved me enough to die…
-
Adjust Accordingly When Facing Challenges: 5 TIPS
Success in our lives depends heavily on our ability to adjust accordingly. One of the most immature things to say, and we’ve all said it, is “this is just how I am.” If you live with this mindset then I hope you’re happy with today’s circumstances, because they are not likely to change. Changes in life will always require us to change in some way. To be the same way, all the time, no matter the situation is highly ineffective. To face every relationship challenge and/or conflict the same way is also highly ineffective. Life, with its various challenges, requires us to adjust accordingly. In order for us…
-
You Control Your Conversations: 2 Tips to Help You
Have you ever left a conversation feeling like: “Why did I say that?” or “I should have said this.” Of course you have. We all have, which why I want to remind you that you control your conversations. We shouldn’t feel forced to discuss certain topics if we aren’t comfortable, nor should we answer questions that we really don’t want to answer. Some people are nosey and their main objective when speaking with us is to get as much information as possible. Some people are gossips, others are negative, and the list goes on. Now, I’m not saying that it’s all bad and to trust no one. I’m just reminding…
-
Graduate School Update: 2 Courses Away From a Master’s Degree
This semester I’ve started my second and final year of graduate school so I want to share a quick graduate school update with you all. You know what has amazed me the most? How fast the time has gone. It seems like it was more of a challenge to complete my associate’s degree than my master’s degree. Maybe because while working on my associate’s degree I was younger, less mature, less grounded, and had less figured out about life. The early 20’s can be complex to say the least. Being in graduate school at 30 helps me I’m sure. I’m more stable, more focused, and more grounded which helps me…
-
Are you enjoying your life? 25 Things To Do!
I believe it is very easy to get to the point of only tolerating life instead of enjoying it. Are you enjoying your life? At times we get so focused on things and objectives that we spend all of our time doing things instead of enjoying things. Our lives should be productive and enjoyable. Simultaneously. We shouldn’t spend all of our time getting things done. Sometimes we have to just stop and enjoy the moment. Time with others is important, and time alone is also crucial. We have to allow the Holy Spirit to lead us on what we need at any particular time. We should spend time alone…
