*original version posted at womendevotions.com If you raised your eyebrows at the title, good… you should! Do we self care or self medicate? It’s a real issue that I refuse to ignore. However, I will say that I’m referring to the socially acceptable ways to self medicate. Are those ways any better for us? I’ll leave that up to you to decide. The fact of life is women are crazy busy (not that men aren’t, but I’m a woman so I’ll tackle us this time)…Continue Reading “Every Woman’s Struggle: Self Care or Self Medicate?”
Blog
*Guest post by Sharlon Cummings When my heart was grieved and I was pierced within, I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before You.” Psalm 73:21-22 Have you ever been called “toxic”? Now, that’s a word that has gained popularity in recent years. No one likes being called toxic. No one. It’s defined as poisonous, or very harmful, or unpleasant in a pervasive or insidious way. It first appeared in the 1660s as toxique in French, from Latin toxicum “poison,” and from…Continue Reading “Feeling Toxic?”
Now, hold up. This isn’t one of those self discovery – I’m finally me posts. I just finally realized who I am in a story; a story many of us have heard many times. The story goes like this: First and Lasts “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. About nine in the morning…Continue Reading “I Just Figured Out Who I Am”
* originally posted at Life and Limb Blog We often hear when going through hard things phrases like “just have enough faith” or “simply believe.” We might hear “don’t lose faith” or “keep the faith;” but, what is faith and how do I know I have what it takes? I don’t know about you but phrases like this can often leave me discouraged no matter how well meaning my loved ones that speak them are. This is a fun post for me because I get…Continue Reading “How Much Faith Do I Need? 3 Signs You Have Enough”
*originally posted at Life and Limb Blog I don’t know about you, but when it comes to doing well in life, I like good, easy, practical suggestions. If you heard Pastor Aaron’s message on March 14 about how we can be contributors during our What’s Next series, you heard him talk a lot about Acts 2:42. His message was SO good, and if you haven’t heard it yet, you can get it here. It was so good, I knew I wanted to write a blog…Continue Reading “Easily Devoted – Your Guide to Living Out Acts 2:42 Easily”
When I was young – like elementary school aged – I don’t even remember how old, I was hanging out at a Chucky Cheese with my family and some other friends and adults. I remember using tokens to play the games and things. At some point I wanted to take a break from playing so I went back to sit at the table and handed my left over tokens to one of my siblings (I also can’t remember which) but what I do remember is…Continue Reading “Mature Generosity – How Chucky Cheese taught me a lesson”
*originally posted at https://www.womendevotions.com/how-to-choose-a-church/ In this post, we are going to look at how to choose a church by looking at 4 unique and biblical components. So, God has recently opened your heart, or you’ve finally decided to go back to church after a hiatus, or you’re simply curious and have always wondered what church is like and if you might benefit. No matter the reason, you’ve decided to go to church. Now how do you decide which one to go to? Although, this list…Continue Reading “How to Choose a Church – 4 MUST Haves”
*originally posted at womendevotions.com Why Does The Bible Call it Fruit of the Spirit? Do you ever wonder why the fruit of the Spirit is called that? I mean why fruit? I like fruit in the form of Starburst or Jolly Ranchers, or in some pie! But even at that, I don’t like all fruit flavors! I mean if I have to have real fruit not paired with sugar and packaged in plastic, I suppose I’d choose an apple, strawberry or banana, but you better…Continue Reading “A Fruity Reflection on Galatians 5:16-26”
I struggled about whether to share my story with you, but when we’re talking about an enemy at work, the first weapon is to bring things to light. Megan Monterrosa shared the power of our stories in this week’s Life and Limb Blog. You should check it out. The reason I struggled is because it started with a not fun introduction to the spiritual realm – and I will tell you, and those of you who know me know, I’m not a heeby jeeby spiritual…Continue Reading “Anxiety – There’s an Enemy at Work”
*originally posted at Life and Limb Blog Winston Churchill said, “The price of greatness is responsibility.” A leader is held accountable (James 3:1). They are responsible for how they act and what they say as a leader. It’s a scary time to be a leader. Hey- it’s even a scary time to be a follower! With all the discord on politics, the pandemic, and race, I’ve struggled the last year or so watching people I’ve always trusted and looked up to behave in certain ways…Continue Reading “Who Can I Trust?”