Patty Wysong has created a fun meme where once a week bloggers posted on the letter of the week. Check out the details here. It is called A2Z: Take 2. A2Z as she challenges bloggers to write a post each week going through the alphabet. Take 2 since this is the second time she has used this meme. Anyone can join in and you don’t have to always participate. H = HomeostasisI am a nurse. I love the inner workings of the human body. I reflect on the pumping of the heart, the synapses between brain cells, and that we make 300 billion new cells every day and I am amazed at this miracle. Thank You Creator God!This week’s letter is H. Lately I have been praying and pondering balance and a great H word – homeostasis.Homeostasis comes from the Greek word, meaning same or stable. The human body is constantly managing complex interactions to keep our body on an even keel. It has to or we would die.Homeostasis works to control our blood sugar and the amount of oxygen in our lungs and in each … [Read more...]
God Always Tips the Scale to Love – Guest Post by Jen Ferguson
Patty Wysong has created a fun meme where once a week bloggers posted on the letter of the week. Check out the details here. It is called A2Z: Take 2. A2Z as she challenges bloggers to write a post each week going through the alphabet. Take 2 since this is the second time she has used this meme. Anyone can join in and you don’t have to always participate. This week’s letter is G and there is no better word than I can imagine starting with G than: G = GodI am so excited to welcome Jen Ferguson here today with a guest (another good G word) post about her faith and God. This lady loves the Lord! Jen writes a wonderful blog, Finding Heaven, and makes all who visit there welcomed. What a loved community she has created and gathered.Please visit her blog. You may also be interested in also checking out her Soli Deo Gloria Retreat she is planning for next October. Thank you Jen for posting here today.http://pinterest.com/pin/199565827207343224/God Always Tips the Scale to LoveDrawing a … [Read more...]
Learning by Heart – Guest Post by Nancy Franson
An unexpected benefit of writing this blog is how connecting with others has enriched my life. One of my favorite fellow bloggers is Nancy Franson who writes a wonderful blog called, Out of My Alleged Mind. Please check out her blog.As I ponder heart healthy spirituality this month, I asked Nancy to guest post for me today. Thank you Nancy for being here and sharing your story.Desperate and DeceitfulMost people who commit to memorizing Scripture begin, I imagine, with passages, which are familiar to many both inside and out of the church. John 3:16 is a likely starting point. The reference shows up on signs in the end zones of professional football games and on the eye black of Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow. For God so loved the world, John 3:16 reads, He gave His only begotten son . . . The verse is a succinct explanation of the gospel message, one well worth committing to memory.John 11:35 is another easy entry point into the discipline of Scripture memorization. Two simple … [Read more...]
Cultivating a Spiritually Healthy Heart
February is heart month in the United States and a month I am considering how to nourish a spiritual healthy heart.How can I cultivate my heart this season? How can I go deeper?February 22 is also Ash Wednesday and the start of the Lenten season. How best can I prepare my heart of my Lenten journey? How will my heart be healthier by Easter? A great fellow blogger, Jen Ferguson, is exploring the word Cultivate on Thursdays on her blog, Finding Heaven. She invited me to guest post there today. I am excited to have Jen as a guest blogger here to add to this discussion in a few weeks.Please join me over at Jen’s blog and read more about cultivating your heart. Click hereHere is a teaser:“Cultivate my heart, Lord. Break up its hardness and plant your harvest of love within me.The word cultivate scares me too. It tells me I can't just cultivate the surface to be transformed - I have got to go deep and that may hurt a little. I am not sure what will happen if God enters my heart’s darkest … [Read more...]
E stands for Exam – Acing the Final Exam
FSA (Photo credit: gibsonsgolfer)Patty Wysong has created a fun meme where once a week bloggers posted on the letter of the week. Check out the details here. It is called A2Z: Take 2. A2Z as she challenges bloggers to write a post each week going through the alphabet. Take 2 since this is the second time she has used this meme. Anyone can join in and you don’t have to always participate. E = ExamineI hate tests. I was a good student in school and love learning, so that may surprise you about my revulsion on test taking. But that sitting down and squeezing my brain matter all over a paper to answer unanticipated questions that will determine my future….YIKES – makes me shiver again remembering them.My most dramatic test experience was the Nursing exam. In 1972, the national test we needed to pass to become RNs was still given on paper. In fact we took six tests over two very long days. I sat in a large metal windowless building on The Ohio State Fairgrounds. (Yes weird as we are in … [Read more...]
Healthy Heart Spirituality
Image via WikipediaI listened to his heart. The beats were fast. His pulse was irregular. His skin was flushed and sticky with perspiration.Fifty years old and recently released from prison, the man came into the free medical clinic where I volunteer as a nurse. He patiently waited through all the paperwork and for his given appointment time.But he was very sick.Too sick for our little clinic. We quickly sent him over to the hospital for care. His heart sent us messages that something was terribly wrong. Hearts fascinate me. Did you know:· The average adult heart beats 72 times a minute; 100,000 times a day; 3,600,000 times a year; and 2.5 billion times during a lifetime.· Though weighing only 11 ounces on average, a healthy heart pumps 2,000 gallons of blood through 60,000 miles of blood vessels each day.· A kitchen faucet would need to be turned on all the way for at least 45 years to equal the amount of blood pumped by the heart in an average lifetime.· Every … [Read more...]
Celebrating My “D” – My 500th Post
Patty Wysong has created a fun meme where once a week bloggers posted on the letter of the week. Check out the details here. It is called A2Z: Take 2. A2Z as she challenges bloggers to write a post each week going through the alphabet. Take 2 since this is the second time she has used this meme. Anyone can join in and you don’t have to always participate. What does the letter D bring to my mind and heart?Don’t you love coincidences or what many of us call them God-incidents?The letter D symbolizes the Roman numeral 500. Participating with Patty Wysong’s meme and writing a blog once a week based on a letter of the alphabet has been fun for me and I hope for you. This week is the letter “D” and as I began to think about that letter, I was amazed to realize that this would be my 500th post on this blog. 500 = DNow that is a God-incident!The number “500” has other meanings also.I read that the number 500 is used 27 times in the Bible.This number represents infinity to the Irish and a … [Read more...]
A Promise from God – Guest Post by Phil Malmstrom
About a year ago I discovered a great blog, Inspirations by Phather Phil written by Phil Malmstrom. He honestly shares his heart and his conversation with God in a way that makes you feel you are drawing up a chair and taking part in the intimate discussion between three good friends: you, Phil and God. Since I have spent much of this month trying to see the cold bleak Ohio winter season with new eyes and discovering its lessons, I asked Phil if he would share some thoughts about winter with us. Thank you Phil for giving me insight and hope in winter.The PromiseStark…Cold…Bleak…Unyielding…Such is the way many choose to view the winter landscape.And yet,I believe that winter carries with it a deeper message;A Promise from God.I absolutely love taking long, quiet walks in the woods; spending that communion time with my Heavenly Father, surrounded in the majesty of His bounty. In that Stillness, I find that I feel powerfully connected to God’s presence, and He’s used … [Read more...]