Stumbling into Grace

Book Description

Humorous yet poignant stories from Lisa's life help readers relate to spiritual truths found in the life and ministry of Christ.
Stumbling Into Grace is the diary-devotional of one woman's honest, ongoing, bumbling journey of faith and how she finds encouragement through a deeper understanding of Christ's time on earth. Within each chapter she alternates her often humorous memoir with stirring portraits of Jesus and his own encounters as recorded in the New Testament.
Both intimately relevant and refreshingly inspirational, this book will help readers to jettison the theological misconceptions, guilt, shame, and hypocrisy they struggle with, exchanging them for a vibrant, passionate relationship with Christ that results in a more abundant, joyful life.

This is the 2^nd book of Lisa Harper’s I have read and I love her writing style. She is SO down to earth, witty and comical that she makes reading her books a joy. Like others she has written, this book works well for personal reading, devotional or as a group. Lisa uses her own personal stories to relate back to biblical basics. Great read!

17 day diet

Allowed Foods – Cycle 1 goes for 17 days (you can lose up to 10 to 12 pounds in 17 days)

FISH

Salmon

Sole

Flounder

Catfish

Tilapia

Canned light tuna

POULTRY

Chicken breasts

Turkey breasts

Ground turkey

Eggs ( 2 eggs = 1 serving)

Egg whites (4 eggs = 1 serving)

CLEANSING VEGTABLES

Cauliflower

Cabbage

Broccoli

Brussels Sprouts

Asparagus

Spinach

Okra

Tomatoes

Onion

Greens

Artichokes

Bell peppers

Cabbage

Carrots

Cauliflower

Celery

Cucumbers

Eggplant

Green Beans

Kale

Leeks

Lettuce

Mushrooms

Okra

Onions

Parsley

Scallions

Watercress

LOW SUGAR FRUIT – 2 servings daily

Apples

Berries

Grapefruit

Oranges

Peaches

Pears

Plums

Prickly pear cactus

Prunes

Red Grapes

PROBOTIC FOODS – 2 servings daily

Yogurt (any type including Greek-style, sugar free fruit flavor, plain and low-fat 6 oz=1 serving)

Kefir (1 cup = 1 serving)

Low-fat acidophilus milk ( 1 cup = 1 serving)

Breakstone LiveActive cottage cheese (1/2 cup = 1 serving)

Sauerkraut (1/2 cup = 1 serving)

FRIENDLY FATS (1 to 2 tablespoons)

Olive oil

Flaxseed oil

WHAT TO EAT EVERY DAY:

As much of a specific protein and cleansing vegetable as you want every day

2 low- sugar fruits daily

2 servings of probiotic foods

1 to 2 tablespoons of friendly fats

You do not have to count anything except your daily 2 fruits, your probiotic servings and your fat servings.

EXAMPLE OF A DAY

Breakfast:

2 eggs or 4 egg whites OR 1 serving of probiotic

1 fruit serving

1 cup green tea

Lunch:

Liberal amounts of protein and unlimited cleansing vegetables OR probiotic serving and unlimited cleansing vegetables

1 cup green tea

Dinner:

Liberal amounts of protein and unlimited cleansing vegetables

1 cup green tea

Snacks

2^nd fruit serving

2^nd probiotic serving (if you did not eat it for both breakfast and lunch)

**Use your friendly fats for salad dressing, such as 1 tablespoon of olive oil and 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar on a salad OR on vegetables when cooking or roasting **

** Workout for at least 17 minutes a day (walking, running, Wii, machines, ect) **

A Place called Blessing

Book Description:
Five-year-old Josh and his two older brothers lose their parents in a drunk-driving accident. A series of foster homes and a shocking tragedy eventually separate them, leaving Josh alone, angry, and distrustful of most everyone. At age eighteen, Josh strikes out on his own to find work. With only a high school education and few life skills, he is one step away from homelessness when Providence brings him to a place where he finds much more than physical shelter. For the first time in his life, Josh receives unconditional love and something every human being craves, the gift of "the blessing." The book includes an introduction and reader’s guide designed to identify and discuss the five elements of the biblical blessing that every person needs. Through the power of Josh's story, readers are shown how to give this gift to their children and others as outlined in the more than one million copy bestseller, The Blessing.

This book really made me realize how little I knew about foster care. Josh, the main character of the book, has a tradjic childhood and a horrible outlook on life. I do not personally know anyone who was in foster care, but it seriously has me considering hosting a child in my future. I could not believe how one family just gave Josh up when there was an accident. Josh was disposable to that family and others who fostered Josh.

The book also shows how each person can be shown unconditional love and how that changes lives. I really believe that everyone needs to apply these actions to their everyday life and with everyone who we come in contact with. We can make a different in the lives of our spouses, family, the bank teller, the grocery store bagger, a stranger who passes us on the sidewalk.
It’s a great read, check it out and share it!

The wife I want to be

I feel like often times I am hard on myself.  I punish myself for the littlest mistakes but I always strive to be better.  Being a wife is hard, I want to be the best wife ever and often compare myself to everyone else (not a good idea by the way). I am learning more and more that love is an action and I have started to pray to see Paul through the eye’s of God.

Today I wrote a list of attributes I want to possess as a wife of Paul.

·         Kind

·         Generous

·         Slow to anger

·         A safe haven

·         Cleanly

·         Respectful

·         Loving

·         Trustworthy

·         Peaceful

·         Good

·         Faithful

·         Does not pick fights

·         Submissive

·         Gentle

·         Self-controlled

·         Understanding

I asked Paul to hold me accountable and let me know when I am not working towards being the best wife for Paul I can be.

“Think about it: Just as a parent disciplines a child, the Lord your God disciplines you for your own good." -Deut. 8:5

Journals Unlimited

I just have to share, because I love this journal SO much. I have  a devotional specific journal, but Journals Unlimited make so many different types! I write in my each night after my devotional time. It has the cutest questions, like what the weather is like, how you feel that day, answers to prayers and others. I think it will be awesome to go back and read through it in a couple years!

Check out the devotional journal and the peruse the site for the other awesome journals! My aunt has a travel journey and the little man she nanny’s for has a kid’s journal that they put pictures in!

The power of a praying wife

Last night I started reading “The Power of a Praying Wife” and I am already in love with the book. The book is straightforward and works to help wives learn how to pray for their husbands, in good times and bad.

Husbands can be hard to pray for, especially when you feel like you have been wronged or you are in the right. I am working on learning how to see my husband through God’s eyes and be the support system the Bible encourages wives to be for their husbands.

Along with the book I also got the workbook (on my Nook). It goes through bible verses and asks blatant questions to help you better understand your marriage, how you actually feel about your marriage and what God wants out of your marriage. Along with writing your own prayers .

I really believe that actively praying for my husband and my marriage is going to make us so much stronger, open doors of communication and understanding we never had before and increase our faith in God and each other. I have never been a prayer warrior, but I want to be. What better thing to start actively praying about than my husband and marriage.

I will keep you posted on how things are going! I just wanted to share the book with you right away because I was already so encouraged! Thanks to Becca from Mee + Bee for suggesting the book to me!

Ambassador

I feel as though there are sometimes two types of lives I lead. One is the life I long to lead, the life I cherish and desire. The other is the life I end up leading when I let my guard down. The one where I end up blending in with those around me, trying to fit in with the crowd and sometimes forgoing what I know is right and doing what I know to be wrong.

I feel like I relate to Paul on so many levels, but no more than when he stated, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.  As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.  For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.  Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.”

Life is a struggle. Faith is a struggle. But, I know one thing for sure. God is truth and following God’s plan is the life I need to lead. It is not easy, but it is the best way.

Although I struggle against myself, the thing that bothers me more is that I struggle with those around me. There are probably people in my life that do not know I am a Christian. That sucks. I want my life to scream Jesus. I know that some people around me, even some who are close to me, may never pick up a Bible. I want to be their Bible. I want them to know Jesus because of the way Jesus shines through in my life.

I fail; I struggle, but please, see past my faults. I am human and come complete with a horrible sinful nature. When I sin, please pick me up, dust me off and, most importantly, tell me I have sinned. I am standing on the rooftops proclaiming the love of Jesus and when I fail I should be told. I do not want to bear a false witness or push someone away from God.

Fellow believers, I pray that we wipe ourselves off, ask for forgiveness from God and those we have sinned against, and then start the next step in the right direction. As Christians the last thing we should claim to be is perfect, but we can shout the fact that we have a graceful God and he guides us to an amazing, abundant life in a promised land.

We are God’s ambassadors and sometimes it is so frustrating to try to understand why he would use an imperfect human race, but God’s plan is far greater than I could ever imagine.

I just pray that if you read this and exclaim “what type of Christian does she even proclaim to be?!” Just give me one thing, please see past my sinful nature, my mistakes and my sins against you and see that I love the Lord with all my heart. I am 100% blessed to be a believer, to have the hope Heaven, the strength to know that when I call I am heard, and the joy of guidance in a confusing world.

I sin, but I am forgiven. I was given a choice to believe or not to believe. I know that believing has made my life amazing, allowed God to work through me and given me hope for an amazing future in Heaven.

What if I was wrong? Well, then I pass away and nothing changes, but I would have lived my life with the hope, faith, love and good moral standing instead of doubting, guilt, anger and moral disarray like most of my peers.

God is good. God is good even when I fail to show you that. Just remember, above all, all I want you to know, to remember, to cherish and take to heart is that God is good.