Living a Blessed Life

It has been a couple of weeks and we are approaching the new year with anxious anticipation. Setting goals, making resolutions, and committing to a “Word of the year” are on the minds of millions of people! A great deal of money is spent on new exercise equipment and programs, as well as health coaches, trainers, and diet plans. Whatever your focus may be, I encourage you to keep your TOP focus on the most important things. My Top Focus: Intentionally spending time with God through devotions, books, prayer, and journaling. Being present for my husband and children. Sometimes this means putting my phone away for a concentrated amount of time and engaging in conversation without interruption. Other times it means making a special treat, or simply preparing a nutritious, homemade meal. Making time for friends, in any fashion. Grabbing a treat together, chatting at a sports event, taking a walk, or even (gasp) talking on the phone ! We had a very nice Christmas with family, and I hea...

Toby’s Snow Family - welcoming all passersby. Snow has been falling for the past two days and at times it truly feels like we are living in a snowglobe. The beauty of the white blanket on the ground and the flocked trees brings all of the feels of Christmas! Living in Minnesota, many people naturally assume that we always have snow for Christmas, but that is not the case. I was recently looking at a map of snow trends over the past 50 years, and our region seems to have a brown Christmas every 3rd year, give or take. The White Christmas lends some sort of magical, peaceful feeling to our families and communities. I liken it to the effect that flowers have on mental health. Visual beauty, particularly in colorful plants and flowers, improves mental health. I wonder if there are any studies showing a correlation between snow cover and mood. Left up to me, I would hypothesize that there is an increase in mood when nature is beautiful! Maybe I should take a poll and write a paper ...

“ God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. ” — Ephesians 2:8-10 If you made it through my entire last post, CONGRATULATIONS!! That was a long, wordy compilation of thoughts. Here I am in week 2 of my recovery already, and it still feels surreal. I have shared with some friends that when I woke up from surgery I felt like I was living the movie Groundhog Day ! “I have done this before, but where am I and what is going on?” I am also waiting for Thanksgiving break… Hahaha! It is hard to believe that today is December 7th already and Christmas is only 18 days away !! I did have one minor setback last Friday. My right arm had been feeling a little sore from the IV that was removed and ...