Joyfull Living

At our home, I want to begin preparing our hearts for Thanksgiving. I found a few Scriptures for our family to reflect on. Here is the one for this week: I Chronicles 29:11-13 Yours, O Lord is, the greatness, the power and the glory, the victory and the majesty; for all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours; Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and You are exalted as head over all. Both riches and honor come from You, and You reign over all. In Your hand is power and might; in Your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. Now therefore, our God, we thank You and praise Your glorious name. I'm still on the lookout for creative ideas to instill a grateful attitude in our home, not just for Thanksgiving Day, but to lodge in our hearts a gratefulness to God. I'll keep you posted!

Today is Wednesday and over at the160 AcreWoods , it is Word Filled Wednesday. This is the opportunity to share God's Word in picture and verse with others. Today's verse is a familiar verse usually shared at Thanksgiving. Although "Thanksgiving Day" is still a few weeks away, I am hoping to get a "gratitude attitude" going now in my home. Some plans I have are to share thankful verses like these and enlist the help of the family to count our blessings during the next few weeks. As Christians we should have thankful hearts year round, but sometimes in the grind of daily life, this trait gets overlooked. So, in an effort to revitalize thankful hearts, here is the Scripture for today, reminding us to be thankful to the Lord! Have a blessed WFW !

What woman doesn't love carbs ? Macaroni and cheese, pasta, bread, etc., don't these just spell comfort? As a woman ages, carbs can affect the body differently. I recently read a book "Fight Fat After Forty" and since I turned 40 this year, I paid close attention. Maturing bodies don't burn the calories like they used to. Muscle which slowly begins to decrease with age, is a big metabolism booster, is on the decrease , so the carbs don't burn so quickly and the excess will end up putting weight on the body. Some of the highlighted tips were to strive for high quality carbs . Some of these included - oatmeal, whole wheat bread instead of white bread, brown rice instead of white rice, whole fruit instead of fruit juice and look for the whole grain label. Another tip was to include a protein food along with a carb for a snack. Some examples were fruit with cheese, yogurt and fruit, cottage cheese with fruit etc. Other snack protein foods include - n...

Sunny from A Damsel No Longer in Distress. will be our hostess today for At the Well. The discussion today will center around schedules: Preparing a God Honoring Schedule... with No Regrets. Some questions to consider are: 1. Have you ever planned your day, week or month, then regretted making the commitments you’ ve made, wondering if your plan was the right one? 2. Have you ever wondered if you should’ ve said “yes” to one person and “no” to another and just weren ’t sure what the best thing to do was? 3. Who or what does your schedule represent? Does it represent you, your affinities, or your love for Christ? This should be a very interesting topic. In my home and life, I love order. Schedules work well for me and I can plan and fill to the brim activities for the day, week or month in a heartbeat. But in my gusto to be efficient and pleasing to everyone, I have said "yes" a bit too quickly, added this event to my calendar and when the time ...

Top Ten Predictions No Matter Who Wins the Election 1. The Bible will still have all the answers. 2. Prayer will still work. 3. The Holy Spirit will still move. 4. God will still inhabit the praises of His people. 5. There will still be God-anointed preaching. 6. There will still be singing of praise to God. 7. God will still pour out blessings on His people. 8. There will still be room at the cross. 9. Jesus will still love you. 10. Jesus will still save the lost. Isn ’t it great to know who is really in control? “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty. Revelation 1:8

"Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the bones." Proverbs 16:24 This has always been a favorite reminder to me to use "sweet words" in my conversations. I am by nature a very shy person who doesn't do a lot of talking. But, I understand the importance of good communication and to show love to others, it is important to be genuine in your words and to be friendly. It takes some effort for shy people to come out and be more talkative. Yesterday I found a book at a consignment shop (for $.50 yeah!!) about how to communicate more effictively. Then today, I found some great tips in my email inbox on how to converse brilliantly! Here is a highlighted version of the list: How to be a Brilliant Conversationalist Ask Questions Most people prefer to talk about themselves rather than hear about you, so asking questions is a great way to start and to refresh conversations. By asking questions you draw other people in and engage...

Today will be a pretty busy day with not a lot of posting, so I won't be participating in Word Filled Wednesday today. But, I wanted to share a quick thought from an adorable book I found at a yard sale - "P.S. I Love You- When Mom Wrote She Always Saved the Best For Last". The book is filled with cute sayings for children with love from their moms. Here are a few of these writings: What you are becoming is more important than what you are accomplishing. Our character is what we do when we think no one is looking. Don't brag, it's not the whistle that moves the train. Sometimes the heart sees what is invisible to the eye. I love you, Mom May your day be blessed and full of the goodness of God!