Words to LIVE by

I came across these great words to LIVE by and couldn't resist posting.

I pray they will INSPIRE you.

Gratitude can not always change

your circumstances

But

It CAN

help you see beyond them

To make the best use of your

INTUITION

think less and

LISTEN more

With disappointment comes a decision

you can either fall back

or find another way to move forward

Stop seeing life as a problem to be solved

and rather as a gift to be enjoyed

And my two favourites

Give BEYOND what you think will help

Do your best to improve your faith.

You can do this by adding goodness, understanding, self-control

patience, devotion to God and concern for others.

These will make your life useful and meaningful

2 Peter 1:5-8

Finding time to improve my faith can be a challenge.  That's why I am so excited to begin on the 18th of March Melissa Taylor's on-line bible study called "An Untroubled Heart" based on the book by Micca Campbell.  You can check it out at melissataylor.org 

kites, cravings and ginger root tea

Someone once said that "coincidence is when God chooses to remain anonymous."  Well over the past several weeks let me tell you that there have been just too many coincidences for me to not stand up and notice that God is at work in my life.
It started with a fairly innocuous comment I made to my husband.  I told him I wanted to start cooking healthier meals for our family.  Not that I don't try to offer healthy choices each day, but with our hectic schedule, I felt that I had fallen into a bit of a rut.  A rut that consisted of chicken, potatoes and either a green, orange or white vegetable. 
A few days later, the kids and I stopped into Chapters to spend some left over gift cards from Christmas.  I just happened to see Lysa TerKeurst's (one of the most inspiring women to me!) new book; Made to Crave, and since I love her books and had been interested in reading this new one, I picked it up.
I devoured it (pun intended)!  It's a great book about food, women and most importantly the precious, unfailing love of our heavenly father.
The book really made me think about the foods that I crave, when I crave them and why.
I don't think I'm a bad eater, nor do I have issues with my weight, but I have to admit their are times that I rely on food rather than on Jesus to fill up my soul.
As Lysa suggested, I started praying more through my day about the foods I was eating.   And a really neat thing happened.  The more I did this, the less I found myself craving "bad foods" and the more I found myself craving foods that were less processed and ultimately better for my body.  Coincidence?  I don't think so!
A day or two later, I recevied an email from a local health food store promoting it's spring veggie box program.  I had been receiving these emails weekly and as quickly as they entered my inbox, I deleted them.  But not this day.  No, backed by prayer, I read this email and realized what an awesome idea it was.  Basically, once a week, I can bring home a box filled with local, organic veggies.  The content of which would vary by the week.  As I read through the vegetable and fruit options, I grew more and more excited- this was a great way to break me out of my chicken, potato and green, orange or white veggies rut!
So, today I picked up my first box and have spent the better part of this evening trying to find kid friendly recipes for Kale and ginger root!  Any ideas? 
While it would have been so much easier to pop into the large grocery store just down the street from our house than to drive the extra 20 minutes, out of my way, it felt really good to bring all those veggies home and to know that I was supporting our local farmers and decreasing my family's carbon footprint.  
No doubt God is challenging me to rethink my views about and relationship with food.
I have a feeling He is going to be taking me on a journey that may require me to stray a bit from the "norm" or the way things have always been done.
Not necessarily a bad thing.
After all, kites rise highest against the wind, not with it.

And the ginger root.  I've decided to pamper myself a bit and make it into a cup of tea!