Spiritual Health
Legacy
A stuffy senior’s residence may seem like a strange place to find some direction for my life, but as many Bible characters could attest, God can use all kinds of people, places, and events to get our attention. I volunteer at our local nursing home. I quite enjoy visiting with my elderly friends and hearing their stories. Several of them are just longing to have someone show interest in what they have to say. Some residents are eager to share some of their memories – stories of their family members, their accomplishments or their former work. Other residents feel they…
Read MorePrayer Journaling
By Ruth Pradzynski I remember several years ago at a Christian women’s meeting, the speaker challenged us: “If there was one thing that you could do that would make a difference in your spiritual life this year, what would it be? I challenge you to do that one thing.” I knew right away what my one thing would be: to have a daily quiet time with God. I had never done this consistently, and I thereupon set a goal, to have a quiet time with God, daily. And it truly transformed my life. I had always “not been good at”…
Read MoreThinking Backwards: Thoughts on Luke 6
By May Thiessen I volunteer with a children’s program each week. Lately we’ve been looking at the teachings of Jesus, and specifically, we’ve been working at memorizing the Beatitudes. I was telling the children that in many ways, Jesus says things that seem to be backward compared to the way we’d normally do or say things. After all, the Beatitudes start, “Happy are the poor (Blessed are the poor in spirit)… Happy are the sad (Blessed are those that mourn)… Happy are you when people pick on you because you want to do what is right (Blessed are those who are persecuted…
Read MoreRefocus
By Trinda Jocelyn I find myself at a time in my life when things are really good. I mean it. I have a husband who loves me, and not the bare minimum kind of love. We live in a beautiful home and we are surrounded by loads of fabulous family and friends who are there for us and we are there for them. I have a good job and freelancing has picked up, showing promise as a full-time gig working from home; a dream I hold onto as I brave up to take the leap into the entrepreneurial unknown. My…
Read MoreA Prayer for You
By Jenn Gurel Several times in my Christian life, I have felt at odds with my relationship with God, like there was something missing. I have resolved over and over to “do better”, to “get my act together” and to “dig deeper and listen”, but I still repeat the same cycle of fall in love-fall away. One morning, while reading my Bible, I was reminded of Eat, Pray, Love and decided to write how I could do all three: a reminder for when I feel like I’m slipping away. My prayer is that these three thoughts will help others in…
Read MoreConsistency Is Key
Deanna Cook I skipped going to the gym for two weeks. I kept making excuses: I was too busy, I would go tomorrow, and on and on. And finally, two weeks had passed, while dust starts to collect on my running shoes. When I actually go to the gym, I enjoy it. The more I go, the stronger I become: my flexibility increases, I sleep better, and my eating is better. And when I don’t go, I can feel it in my left shoulder and in my right hip. I’m achier, tighter and, therefore, grouchier. And the first time back,…
Read MoreLines in the Sand
Sheena Koops Imagine. You have made a mistake. Maybe you’ve made this mistake over and over, but this time, you’ve been caught. You are being escorted into a public space, a circle of those who hold the most power and the most respect in your community. They are listening to an outsider, a newcomer, and you recognize this guy. He’s the one making a buzz from coffee row to the hair salon. Many people don’t know what to make of him. Some really get what he’s serving up. Others think he’s the devil himself. Well, here you are. Tossed into…
Read MoreHome: Potluck
Katelyn Pippus “It’s not, actually, strictly, about food for me. It’s about what happens when we come together, slow down, open our homes, look into one another’s faces, listen to one another’s stories….. It happens when we enter the joy and sorrow of the people we love, and we join together at the table to feed one another and be fed, and while it’s not strictly about food, it doesn’t happen without it. Food is the starting point, the common ground…..” *Shauna Niequist, As the doors to the fellowship hall open, I am hit by the aroma of casseroles, stews,…
Read MoreMy Path
Natasha Coroluick I never know where to start when telling my story. Everyone I talk to tells me to “start from the beginning”. Is that meaning to start with, “I was born on a chilly November day twenty-nine years ago.”? Or is it the beginning of where my life began on its path? I suppose I will start where it’s relevant. Twenty years ago I was new to small town living. My grandmother had passed away in the summer of ’95 and we moved into her home in Avonlea, SK. I remember our mom telling my sister and me that…
Read MoreFeel
Trinda Jocelyn The last real memory I have of my dad was the day that he left Quill Lake. He came to my school to say good-bye. He was in an old, red, late 70’s Ford truck. I was thirteen; I don’t remember the exchange of words, more the exchange of feeling. The bitter sadness ran through me as he hugged me through that truck window: this would be one of the last times in my entire life. Then he rolled up the window, put his eyes forward, and drove away; I was left to go back into the school…
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