Labor Day morning, September 2, 1985, I began having contractions. It was about a week early so I wasn’t sure anything would come of them. Since my husband worked at the hospital (washing dishes) I knew he would be there if I needed him. But there was the matter of a two-year old who would need someone to watch over him if I left for the hospital and, how exactly was I planning to get to the hospital without a car?!

This baby girl grew up, married her prince charming, adopted a little boy, and fosters two others, while running her own business. She has repeatedly faced some major challenges in her life but not giving in to self-pity or denial, instead learning from the experiences.

But on that day, September 2, 1985, I labored through after making it to the hospital. Grateful for our very thoughtful pastor’s wife, who…

Chemicals called endorphins are released in the brain when we have a good cackle, a real belly laugh. Merriam-Webster defines endorphins as: any of a group of endogenous peptides (such as enkephalin) found especially in the brain that bind chiefly to opiate receptors and produce some pharmacological effects (such as pain relief) like those of opiates; specifically: beta-endorphin

Arnold Glasow, the author of Glasow’s Gloombusters, said, “Laughter is a tranquilizer with no side effects.”

How remarkable that our Creator God designed our bodies to produce such a quick jolt to our emotional state in aiding our health! A few thousand years ago, the wisest man who ever lived wrote “A cheerful heart is good medicine but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength” (Proverbs 17:22, NLT). The Bible Knowledge Commentary clarifies, “a cheerful heart is translated ‘a happy heart.’”

Henry Ward Beecher said, “Mirth is God’s medicine…

Day 10

 No sugar or dairy

Today I want to share about our special friends with whom we had lunch, and then were blessed by a time of prayer as we sat in their KIA SUV outside of the restaurant.

We met Ann and Glen in 2012. Glen was teaching Sunday School at the Church we were attending. He had been enduring  twenty-plus years of Parkinson’s without complaint. For Ann, caring for him was a service she rendered, respectfully. It didn’t take me long to see the inspiring, beautiful life she modeled. I wanted to gather all I could, so I asked her to be my prayer partner. Obviously, the “spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12) were not interested in our teaming up to pray. It became difficult to come up with a time that would work for us both. When we finally could agree…

“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves.”

2 Corinthians 4:7, NASB

If I just try to muster up the strength I will fail every time, but thankfully, the power of God comes flooding in as I open my Bible and cry out for help. You might not FEEL the power at first. Be persistent. Do not give up. God wants to do a work in your life so others can see HIS greatness!

I know that my body and health is a gift from God. And His desire is that I steward it well.

He gives each of us choices to make concerning our health and daily habits. Many struggle with health issues but no matter where we find ourselves in the line-up of fit or unfit, healthy or not so healthy, we…

Really? What is all the fuss about? Why worry about the relationship I have with Starbucks coffees, yummy cookies, pies, cakes, fast food delicacies like Chick-fil-A’s chocolate milkshake, or too many chicken nuggets in my box with a large sized waffle fry? What’s the harm? It’s not like my waistline has expanded so far that I need to go out and buy a whole new wardrobe!

Here’s the crux of the matter: Am I honoring God with my relationship to sweets?

In his book Every Body Matters, Gary Thomas espouses: “God alone knows whether we are honoring him with our daily choices.”

That’s something I must consider and act upon and thus, the big reason for my “no dairy, no sugar fast.” Am I honoring God with the choices I make when it comes to food, especially sweets? Thomas asserts, “We need a new relationship with food altogether, seeing it…