Verbs

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Bob Hostetler here, offering another prayer for writers:   I write today, Lord. I will be using words, and some of them will be verbs. Inspire them all, God, but especially the verbs. Hover over them. Speak them into existence. Breathe into them the breath of life. All my verbs come from you. You are my “is.” My “am.” My “see,” my “know.” You are my “laugh” and “cry,” my “wake” and “sleep,” “shiver” and “sweat,” “think” and “speak,” “jump” and “skip” and “dance” and “bounce.” There is not an action in my day, a movement of my bones, a…

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Five Ways to Keep Your Brain Healthy and Avoid Dementia

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“Nutty with a Dash of Meat” Jeanette Levellie here, with five ways to keep your brain healthy and circumvent future trouble. No matter your age or current mental state, you can avoid and fight dementia and Alzheimer’s disease The Alzheimer’s Association recommends four simple ways to circumvent these demonic maladies, and I have added one of my own: 

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The Infamous Cereal Caper

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Greetings from Kathy Collard Miller from the Southern California desert near Palm Springs. For two-and-a-half years, my mother-in-law, Audrey, lived with Larry and I. God used that time to purify our motives and develop greater selflessness. Audrey suffered from Lewy-Body Dementia, which caused her to be paranoid and have delusions and hallucinations. It was a difficult time where we learned to slow down our reactions and work through what was really motivating us. I, Kathy, remember one morning Audrey was eating her bran cereal. Every morning I had to soak the cereal in milk for at least thirty minutes to make it…

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For a Happier New Year: Replace Your Resolutions with Attainable Goals

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“Nutty with a Dash of Meat” Jeanette Levellie here. I never make New Year’s resolutions. I’m too hard on myself when I break them–which I always do. Then I end up feeling guilty, and that’s a waste of time. So to make each New Year a happy one, I set attainable goals instead. I post them on my bedroom wall, where I review them every few weeks to remind myself of what I’m shooting for. I have six month goals, one year goals, five- year goals, even lifetime goals. But I have noticed something about them over the years. They change.

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An Opportunity Is Not Necessarily God’s Open Door

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Hello from Kathy Collard Miller in the Southern California desert where it actually can get cold! As I visited with my friend who complained about everything going on in her life and all she felt compelled to do, I could sense she expected me to volunteer to help. My heart went out to her but I’d really been seeking God’s will rather than responding to every need of others. It took every fiber of my trust in God to not offer to take some of the load from her, but in my heart, I knew God wasn’t calling me to this…

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The more setbacks, the more hope for our readers…

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Hola from Janet Perez Eckles…Igniting Your Passion to Overcome Life gets rough; family falls apart. Our health betrays us. Facing all this, how can we possibly inspire, educate and change the hearts of those who read our writing? They expect to read great things. But we sit at the computer, our mind blank. And restlessness makes our creativity fade. The strength we had suddenly turns to weakness. The apostle Paul knew this feeling. And what God said to him, He is saying to us too: “My power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly…

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Chocolate-Inspired Humility

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Hello there from Kathy Collard Miller in the desert of Southern California near Palm Springs. But don’t worry, it’s a dry heat. Talking with a women’s ministry director at a conference, I hoped she would invite me to speak at her women’s retreat. As we sat in the lounge of the convention center, I enjoyed one of the freshly baked chocolate chip cookies set before us. When she asked my opinion on some important ministry issues, I spoke with forceful and confident tones. I was thrilled to see her staring at my mouth, obviously waiting for every word I said….

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Aren’t I Supposed to Work For God?

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Hello from Kathy Collard Miller in the sunny desert of Southern California. One of my main memories from several years ago when I was in bed from a bad back for nine months was feeling unproductive. It seemed at the time unexplainable that God wouldn’t want me to be working for His glory. And if you’re like me, we can easily feel like we need to earn God’s approval. After all, aren’t we supposed to work for God’s glory? If I’m not doing something for Him, it seems like I’m being disobedient. And even unloved and “un-approved.” But reading Matthew 6:25-26…

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Surprise! God Is Sovereign!

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Hello from Kathy Collard Miller in the desert of Southern California! Have you ever been surprised by God’s sovereignty? Early in my writing and speaking ministry in the 1980’s, I felt the need to make things happen. It felt like I needed to force things to happen. I even seemed to hear from the publishing world that it was up to me to make things happen. And within a decade or two, I began to learn that I needed a platform and it was all up to me. I felt tense.

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From Best-Seller to Best Servant

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Janet Perez Eckles, Igniting Your Passion to Overcome When I began this writing and speaking journey, my goals were lofty and my ambition, passionate. I could taste the success as thousands of readers would devour my insights. I fell for the lie that says you have to do extraordinary things to be a true servant. And I believed that nothing less than selling tons of books or speaking to thousands would please God. But rather than me focused so much on speaking, God’s wisdom speaks to me now. And recently, He did that very thing. My friend and I were…

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