Category Archives: General

6 Simple Ways to Stay Thankful Year-Round

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6 Simple Ways to Stay Thankful Year Round

6 Simple Ways to Stay Thankful Year-Round

“Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NLT)

With Thanksgiving being celebrated in the United States next week, we are reminded to be thankful for all the blessings and good things we have.  However, I’ve learned that it’s extremely important to be thankful and content in any and every situation and also to be thankful year-round.  I’ve discovered that when I’m thankful, things around me seem brighter, and I focus less on what’s wrong and more on what’s good and right.

Thankful people are happier people.  I read a good article by Robert Emmons about why gratitude is good.  In fact, it stated that studies show that gratitude has the ability to make us healthier, to increase levels of joy, pleasure, and happiness, and to reap social benefits.[i]  In essence, people who can stay thankful year-round are happy, healthy, and prosperous people! 🙂

People who can stay thankful year-round are happy, healthy, and prosperous people!

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So how can we practice being thankful year-round and not just at Thanksgiving time?

“Giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” Ephesians 5:20 (ESV)

Take Some Practical Steps: 6 Simple Ways to Stay Thankful Year-Round:

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Life Lessons to be Learned in Fantasy Football

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Here are some Life Lessons to be Learned in Fantasy Football

Life Lessons to be Learned in Fantasy Football

In 2015, I joined a Fantasy Football league.  For anyone that knows me well, this would have probably been some extremely shocking news.  Most people might have said to me, “Don’t you have enough football in your life already?”  You see, my husband and son are avid football fans…of ALL football.  My son played football at the time.  My husband coached at the time.  They’ve played Fantasy Football for years.  Additionally, my husband used to occasionally play flag football with the church.  They both watch…and watch…and watch…both NFL and college ball.  So basically, football is a 7 day/week phenomenon at our house with all the practicing, playing, and watching.  Thus, why I’ve come to despise it.  I’ve often referred to myself as a football widow.

You might see then why joining a Fantasy Football league seemed counterintuitive.  However, a friend somehow convinced me that it would be good for me (and my family), and for some crazy reason, I agreed with her!  More or less, it’s a “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” philosophy.  My choice to join them was based on wanting to be a part of something that they enjoy so much, even if it’s not an interest of mine.  I hoped that I would also learn to love and enjoy it as they do (well, maybe not quite as much!).  My friend promised me I would have fun, so I told her I was going to hold her to it!

Shared experiences

I also looked forward to the benefits that come from sharing experiences.  According to clinical psychologist Dr. Willard Harley, recreational companionship is one of the top five needs for a man in marriage.  In fact, he puts it this way, “The couple that plays together stays together.”[i]

Recreational companionship is one of the top needs for a man in marriage.

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Although I don’t necessarily agree with all of Dr. Harley’s insinuations that unmet needs are the cause of affairs, I do believe in the importance of shared or common interests and recreational companionship.  Eric and I do this in other areas too.  For example, we both love going to auctions and estate sales. We love being outdoors and on the water and enjoying a few other common interests together.

Now, football (or any sport for that matter) might not be my top preference, but it IS my husband’s and also my son’s.  Therefore, because it’s important to them, I chose to make it important to me.  Who was to say that I might not even really enjoy myself?  I wouldn’t know unless I gave it a try.  Don’t get me wrong though, I definitely still think there can be a ditch there.  When our lives revolve around football, I think that’s really sad…and almost idolatry.  For the time, though, I chose to be a part of the madness. And I figured I might as well get some good blog posts out of it as well! 😉

Here are a few life lessons I learned from Fantasy Football…

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Jesus is the Cornerstone: What does this mean for us?

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Jesus is the Cornerstone: What does this mean for us?

“Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself.” Ephesians 2:20 (NLT)

My church small group is currently reading through and studying the book of Ephesians. When reading over Ephesians 2 recently, a section near the end stood out to me—a part describing Jesus as the cornerstone. I love analogies, so I decided to study this a little more.

The analogy given in the passage describes the followers of Jesus as a house, a temple where God now lives by his Holy Spirit (see also 1 Corinthians 3:16, 1 Corinthians 6:19, 2 Corinthians 6:16, Romans 8:9). Paul describes us as being built on a foundation of those who went before us, the apostles and prophets, and Jesus is the cornerstone.

I learned that a cornerstone, sometimes called a foundation stone, is the first stone laid for a structure. I read that this was the most important part of this ancient construction method. A cornerstone was generally a very large and solid stone, typically larger and sturdier than all other stones. This stone took the most care and precision to lay because of its importance to all of the other stones and to the structure as a whole.

The cornerstone is put into place with all of the other stones then laid in reference to that stone. It sets the direction and the orientation of the entire structure. The cornerstone ensures proper alignment when all of the other stones line up with it. A cornerstone is a rock upon which the weight of the entire structure rests.

There are so many parallels that can be seen between a cornerstone and Jesus.

Parallels between a cornerstone and Jesus

Cornerstone

  • First stone laid
  • Most important part in the construction of the structure
  • A very large, reliable, and sturdy stone
  • Sets the foundation
  • Sets the direction and standard of the structure
  • Ensures proper alignment
  • Provides stability for the structure
  • The rock on which the structure and weight rests
  • Joins the structure, all the stones, together

Jesus

What being our cornerstone means to us…

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Name Meanings: How Is Your Name Prophetic?

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Name Meanings: How Is Your Name Prophetic?

Name Meanings: How Is Your Name Prophetic?

“A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches…” Proverbs 22:1 (ESV)

Most people love seeing their name.  Personalized items are always in demand.  However, did you know that your name and your name meanings might have a lot more to do with your life than you think?  Your name meanings might actually describe some of your character traits and/or the traits that God will use in you to accomplish His will for your future.

When your parents named you they may have not even had name meanings in mind (I don’t think my parents did–I was named after a horse!), but that doesn’t mean that God didn’t have the name meanings in mind.  God very well may have inspired them to choose your exact name.  God knew your name and had a plan in mind for you before you were even born!

“I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart…” Jeremiah 1:5 (NLT)

“Your eyes saw me when I was formless; all my days were written in Your book and planned before a single one of them began.” Psalm 139:16 (HCSB) 

Did you know that your name meanings might have a lot more to do with your life than you think?

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My name meanings

We’ve been talking recently about fighting some of the fears that we face (previous posts here and here).  One of the things I didn’t mention is that I often use my name meanings to help me fight fear from time to time.  The name “Tracy” means “courageous”, “brave” or “warrior” (maybe that’s why the horse was named Tracy 🙂 ).  It may seem a little silly, but more often than not that little bit of information has been enough for me to give myself a boost to stand up to my fear and to do things afraid.  I will say to myself, “Your name means courageous and brave.  You can do this.”

My middle name is “Jeannette” which means “grace of God”.  I have also experienced not only God’s grace in my life, but I believe that God has graciously given me the ability to have grace with others.  Looking back on my life, I honestly have a hard time comprehending how I made it through certain times.  I have had the ability and power to make it through situations that I ordinarily would never be able to handle.  God’s grace, his ability and enabling power, was evident in my life.

Names can be prophetic

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What I Learned From a Bunny About Reaching the Lost

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What I Learned From a Bunny About Reaching the Lost: Helping People Without Pushing Them Away

What I Learned From a Bunny About Reaching the Lost: Helping People Without Pushing Them Away

Several years ago my husband stumbled upon something pretty cool in our backyard.  It was a bunny nest.  Apparently, a rabbit had built a nest in our backyard under the kid’s playset, and when my husband moved it to mow he realized something moving around when he mowed over the area.  Now don’t panic (yet)…none of the babies were hurt.

So we moved the playset back over the top of the nest, and I scooped up one of the little escapees and nestled him back in with his siblings so he would be safe.  We were even able to watch the momma bunny come back later that evening and nurse the babies as they hopped out from under the playset to meet her.  We are some major animal lovers at our house (ok…maybe just my daughter and myself) so this was REALLY cool for us. We come across a variety of wildlife at our house, and we love being able to appreciate them.

What happened next…

What I Learned From a Bunny About Reaching the Lost: Helping People Without Pushing Them Away

Bunny Nest

I wondered about those baby bunnies all night.  Well, the next day after dropping my kids off at school I went home and let my dog outside, watching her to make sure she didn’t go near the nest.  I noticed several very large crows hovering in the trees over our backyard and flying around.  Then I noticed a cat in the wooded area behind our back fence, and sure enough, my dog went straight over to the playset and started sniffing around.

So I went outside to redirect her and shoo away the crows and cat.  To my horror (now you can panic), I discovered that the bunny nest had apparently been attacked by some predator.  Several of the bunnies were missing, and I found remains of partially eaten bunnies and 2 more that hadn’t been eaten but had apparently been killed.  I was mortified!

I noticed there were still 2 babies in the nest.  Then, I decided to survey the area for any others and clean up the area to avoid any more predators (probably why the crows were lurking overhead).  I found two more babies that were out of the nest.  One was further underneath the playset, and one was against the back fence.  I retrieved them both to put them back in their nest and get them out of the open.

However, one of the bunnies kept hopping back out and running into the open again when I did.  I kept talking to him and said, “Hey, I’m trying to help you.  I’m not going to hurt you, just trying to save your life.  I’m a friend, not an enemy.”  He was understandably very frightened (and apparently couldn’t speak human!). Each time I put him in the nest, he kept running back out until he eventually ran to the fence and underneath it into the wooded area behind our house.

I had to let him go.  I said a quick prayer for him and his safety as he hopped away.  He didn’t understand that I was trying to help him and that I actually loved him and wouldn’t hurt him.  He didn’t understand that I had his best interest in mind.

A spiritual analogy for reaching the lost revealed

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Be Kind: Put On Your Kindness Hat!

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Be Kind: Put On Your Kindness Hat!

We live in such a polarized world these days. Even people within their own “in-group” are at odds in many cases, Christians NOT being exempt from this. Strife abounds, and we don’t have to look far to find turmoil, political and social unrest, religious animosity, rudeness, incivility, and unkindness. The t-shirt and bumper sticker saying rings true: Mean people suck. God calls us to be different though. He calls us to a higher standard–to be kind, even when it’s undeserved. It’s high time we all put on our kindness hats!

Last week I created a resource page with scriptures about kindness and the kindness of God. Those scriptures will serve as a foundation for this post where we’ll discuss some of the characteristics of kindness and what being kind might look like in action, in addition to WHY we should be kind and HOW to be kind, especially when it’s not easy or might not come naturally.

Characteristics of kindness

In many New Testament scriptures about kindness or instructions to be kind, the original Greek language defines some of the characteristics of kindness that are relayed.

Some of the Greek words (stemming from the same root) include “chrestos”, “chrestotes”, and “chresteuomai”. The meanings and characteristics include things like…

    • Kindness, to be kind
    • Gentleness, to be gentle
    • Goodness, to be good
    • Graciousness, to be gracious or offer grace
    • to be considerate and thoughtful of others
    • to show oneself useful (in manner and morals)
    • excellence (in character or demeanor)
    • to act benevolently
    • to be friendly

In some scriptures, and in the original language, the word “kindness” is paired or interchanged with “gentle spirit” (“epiekes” in Greek). This carries the meaning of things like…

    • Gentle
    • Moderation
    • Patient
    • Mild
    • Appropriate (fair, equitable, reasonable)
    • to be considerate
    • to be kind
    • Reasonableness
    • Unselfishness
    • Forbearing Spirit
    • Graciousness
    • Mercy
    • Tolerance

Some verses in different translations can relay and expand in these characteristics and meanings:

“Be kind and helpful to one another, tender-hearted [compassionate, understanding], forgiving one another [readily and freely], just as God in Christ also forgave you.” Ephesians 4:32 (AMP)

“And become useful and helpful and kind to one another, tenderhearted (compassionate, understanding, loving-hearted), forgiving one another [readily and freely], as God in Christ forgave you.” Ephesians 4:32 (AMPC)

“But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!” Galatians 5:22-23 (NLT) *See the similar characteristics that go hand in hand with kindness

“Your kindness should be known to all!” Philippians 4:5 (NAB)

“Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon.” Philippians 4:5 (NLT)

“Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.” Philippians 4:5 (NIV)

God turns people around with kindness…We need to take a cue

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Scriptures About Kindness

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Scriptures About Kindness

I’ve written previously about kindness and unity. Scriptures abound about how we should display kindness as a quality and character trait of being a Christian and follower of Jesus. There are also numerous scriptures about how God is kind. (Hence, if we are children of God, we should follow suit.) In this post, I thought I’d create a resource page by compiling a list of scriptures about kindness and how we are called to be kind. In addition, I’ve included a list of scriptures about the kindness of God.

Next week’s post will contain some practical application to these scriptures. We’ll discuss characteristics of kindness and what it might look like in action, WHY we should be kind, and HOW to be kind (especially when it’s not easy or might not come naturally). All of those things will be based upon the foundations of these scriptures in this post.

Scriptures About Kindness

“Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.” Ephesians 4:31-32 (NLT)

“Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.” Colossians 3:12-15 (ESV)

“A servant of the Lord must not quarrel but must be kind to everyone, be able to teach, and be patient with difficult people. Gently instruct those who oppose the truth. Perhaps God will change those people’s hearts, and they will learn the truth.” 2 Timothy 2:24-25 (NLT)

“Your kindness should be known to all!” Philippians 4:5 (NAB)

“But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!” Galatians 5:22-23 (NLT)

“We prove ourselves by our purity, our understanding, our patience, our kindness, by the Holy Spirit within us, and by our sincere love.” 2 Corinthians 6:6 (NLT)

“So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 7:12 (NIV)

“Do to others as you would like them to do to you.” Luke 6:31 (NLT) Continue reading →

What’s Stopping You From Running the Race?

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What’s Stopping You From Running the Race?

What’s Stopping You From Running the Race?

*Repost: Originally posted 5/12/2015

Do you ever have those weeks where you just feel like you’re running a race?  OK…so I’m going to be completely honest with you and tell you that what I had originally intended to post this week isn’t completely finished yet.  We have definitely been “running the race” in our household lately!  It has been pretty busy with the end of school nearing for my kids including all of their end-of-the-year activities.  College finals were this past week for both my husband, Eric (taking his—FOR THE VERY LAST TIME!!!) and for me (giving finals and getting my course grades finished up and posted).

We also had my sister-in-law’s graduation for her Master’s degree, along with an array of other goings-on…baseball (when it wasn’t raining), church meetings, my niece’s band concert, a teacher conference, and a birthday party which included a full-blown panic attack and angry momma-bear incident by me when my son fell off of a platform without railing head-first while playing at a local paintball complex.  Thankfully, my son is fine and was obviously protected by angels because he could have easily broken his neck the way he fell.

On a positive note though, we have been super excited to be preparing for Eric’s graduation this week!  WOOT WOOT ERIC!!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!!  I don’t know who is more excited…me or Eric?  His degree has been 11 years in the making (due to only being able to take 2 classes at a time while working full-time and supporting a family), so he’s been running the race for quite some time now in that arena.  He’s worked really hard for it, so he is probably a little more excited than I am. 🙂

A reminder about our races

Then, with Mother’s Day this past weekend, “running the race” seems like an understatement.  I’m sure many of you can empathize with all of the busyness of this time of year.  Instead of trying to rush and finish my original post, I decided to pull something that I wrote several years back.  That’s the benefit of writing things down and saving them for a rainy day (quite literally here in Oklahoma lately).  It actually seemed to suit the occasion quite well too because I had entitled it “Running the Race”.

In honor of Eric running the race and finishing up to move on to another, and in honor of all of YOU who are also running the race in a variety of ways, here is a reminder that I had about running the race… Continue reading →