Remember when people use to fly all the time. :)  One thing they would always tell you at the beginning of the flight is if the oxygen mask drops, put yours on first, and then put your child’s mask on.  

Doesn’t it sound like you should do the opposite? Shouldn’t you put your child’s oxygen mask on first and then yours? No, because airlines know that if you are not breathing properly, and your body doesn’t have enough oxygen, you cannot help your child.

Self-care can be the same way.  It can be a confusing topic because, as Christians, we are taught to put others’ needs ahead of our own, but the Bible doesn’t tell us to neglect ourselves to meet others’ needs. If you fail to take care of yourself, how can you help take care of others?

The Bible actually says to love your neighbor as you love yourself.  Therefore, to love your neighbor, you have to love yourself.  

...

God is Jehovah Rapha - the God who heals.

When it comes to healing, there are two extreme beliefs:  

1. Name it and claim it.  

The problem with this extreme is if you don’t get your healing, you feel or are made to feel like something is wrong with you, and it brings on condemnation, and the Bible tells us there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

2. Dispensationalism. 

This is the belief that God used to heal, but healing has ceased, and He does not heal anymore - it stopped.  (This is how I grew up).

Here is what Matt and I believe and what our church believes. 

GOD STILL HEALS

The #1 question people ask when it comes to healing is, “Why does He heal some and not others?”

I will answer that for you here in this blog, and I answered it in the sermons I’ve done on healing.  Are you ready for the answer?

I DON’T...

2020 has been full of surprises and homeschooling has been one of them! I have three grown children now but when they were school-age, we chose to homeschool them.

Homeschooling used to be more of an option, but these days it seems that many families don’t have a choice! Everyone is homeschooling at some level.

I did a Facebook Live giving 3 tips on how you can make this homeschooling year a great one! Check it out here!

1. Do All Things without Griping or Complaining!

Our attitude has a lot to do with our creativity and problem solving, so keep an I GET TO ATTITUDE.

The time you get to share with your kids is a very special opportunity. The way you get to pour into them and put God back into their school time is something that many have hoped for in the past. It’s not how we thought it would look, but here we are...we get to pray, share the Bible, and speak life over our kids at school!

Deuteronomy 6:6-7

And you must commit yourselves...

I have been on a journey of health for a long time, but we all know that health is, in fact, a journey, not a sprint. We take small steps along the way to make a big impact!

One of those steps is simply to drink more water!

A few weeks ago, I wrote a blog on the benefits of drinking water. You can read it here!

As we are doing our 21 Days of Prayer, I was motivated to do a 7-day water drinking challenge! I wanted us all to be making healthy steps together.  I am tired of isolation.  You can still join in! Check out the FB Live I did to get started!

One reason that I am so passionate about the challenge is that people are asking me about how I do it all of the time! 

The why behind the what:

1. Water balances your body. 

Your body is composed of about 60% water. The functions of water in your body include digestion, absorption, circulation, creation of saliva, transportation of nutrients, and maintenance of body temperature. When you're low on...

Do you feel like you are not getting results?
In your health, personal life, or business life?

Maybe you can’t reach your goal weight, read through a book, or expand your customer base.

It can happen to us all. We fail to achieve the results that we set out to conquer, but there is a solution!

Focus on what YOU CAN control, and it’s not results!

Being results-oriented can tell us if we are going in the right direction, we can’t control them.
They are often dependent upon others or a situation.

Many times, if we are NOT getting the results we want, we can get discouraged. When we get discouraged, it makes the problem worse, and we give up.

The answer is to focus on what you can control in any situation. The results follow when you focus and commit to doing the right daily activities (our hustle).

We reap what we sow.

So, it’s really not about the results; it’s about the activities that will bring the discipline to reach the results that you...

Don't look at everyone else; stay in your lane.

I know that every track coach has made this statement because in some races if you step outside of your lane, you're instantly disqualified. Coaches will tell you that when you start looking around at the other competitors, it's too easy to get distracted and lose the race.

Looking behind you to see where other runners are in a race will cause you to lose focus and time and sometimes even cause you to swing into another lane, all of which could cause you to lose the race.

The same principles are true in life when you look around to see what others are doing. When you compare your life to others, you lose focus and time.  Sometimes it can cause you to get outside of your "lane" doing things that you were not created to do.

Comparison can be one of our worst enemies.

So how do you win at life? Run your race.

I heard it once said that we have all been dealt our cards in life, and we can't help what we were dealt,...

Don't Let This Fall Out of Your Mouth!

Negativity, that is...

Over the next ten days, I will be sharing some declarations to encourage you and keep the momentum going. You can catch the declarations on my Facebook page or Instagram.

Declaration number one is: 

EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE OK.

Say it out loud. How did it make you feel?

I had someone tell me that it filled them with hope. Just saying this one phrase, this one sentence declaration, moved their feelings in a positive direction.  

Write it down or put it in your phone as a reminder and say it throughout the day. 

These days, nothing goes like we think it should go, and life feels out of control. Every day there is something new to think about, a new rule to follow, a place we can't go, a new way to do things. It can be really frustrating, but one thing that we can control is how we respond to these situations.

We get to CHOOSE how we respond!

It's easy to become stressed and overwhelmed, but if we are...

I love water and I do drink a lot of it but you really have to be intentional about it! Here are some benefits to drinking water. You can also watch the Facebook Live that I did about it here!

Did you know that more than half of our body weight is composed of water?

75% of your brain is water

83% of your blood and carries nutrients to your cells

22% of your bones

75% of your muscles

How much water should you drink? It is recommended for each of us to drink half your body weight in ounces. If you drink coffee or caffeinated drinks, you need to add 8 oz per caffeinated drink.  

An easy way to get your daily water requirement is to measure it out first in the morning. You can get one large container and fill it up with the amount of water you need and then pour it into a glass and drink until it is empty. Or you can get 3 or 4 water bottles (or however many it takes to get the amount you need), fill them up, and when all the bottles are empty, you're done!

I...

UGH! I can't get anything done. I feel like I am all over the place! 

Have you ever said this? If so, you can do these 5 things to increase your productivity! 

Without vision, people perish. Make the vision plain, or I like to say simple, easy, and obvious. Write the vision down so you can run with it.    

Now, you do need a vision for your life, but we are going to dial down and focus on having productive days and weeks that will lead to productive months and years. 

I made a video that you can watch on FB or IGTV. 

I like to do these 5 things on Sunday night to prepare for the coming week, but you can also review them every evening as a touch base.

1.  Brain Dump

Get a notebook or a piece of paper and write down everything you can think of that needs to be done. I like to walk around my house and open up closet doors and cabinets to find those things that are always lurking that need to be completed.

Look at...

Let’s discuss the 8 Fundamental Human Needs, how they operate in our lives, and how we can meet these needs.  

I did a Facebook live on the 8 Greatest Human Needs.  You can watch it here.

1. Physical Needs - We need shelter, food, and clothing
2. Safety Needs -We want to be protected and taken care of
3. Love Needs - We want to feel cared about, feel apart of someone's life, and have a meaningful connection with them.
4. Esteem Needs - We want to feel valued and to be complimented for our accomplishments. 
5. Cognitive Needs - We want to learn, to grow, become a better person, improve our skills, learn, stretch, and excel in our lives
6. Aesthetic Needs - We have a need for beauty
7. Self - Actualization Needs - We want to realize our full potential 
8. Transcendence Needs - We want to impact somebody else's life for the better (the highest need of the human heart to live your best life)

The first four needs are considered deficiency needs and they will never...