“The more terrible the storm, the more necessary the anchor.”
William S. Plumer
Are You Ready For An Adventure?
The Book of Acts in the Bible offers story upon story of ordinary people who did extraordinary things. How is it that a simple fisherman was able to preach the gospel so powerfully that thousands of people decided to follow Christ in one day? How is it that mere shopkeepers and tentmakers could heal the sick, free the oppressed, baptize countless believers and spread the good news about Jesus throughout the world?
Certainly it was a power greater than their own – it was the power of God’s Spirit within them. As believers in Christ, this same Spirit dwells in each one of us. Yes, God is in the business of doing extraordinary things through ordinary people! What does He want to do through your willing heart?
This is one of the many questions we will explore this fall as we study the book of Acts. Would you like to join us? Starting Wednesday, September 9, you can view our Bible study online as we learn the fascinating stories of the early church. Click here to go to our YouTube Channel. If you have questions or want to join one of our live locations you can email us at karolladd@aol.com with subject line “House to House Bible Study.”
You can also join our Facebook group by clicking here. Looking forward to the great adventure of journeying through the book of Acts together.
Three Tips to Boost Your Resilience
No one is immune to disappointments in life. A dashed dream. The loss of a perfect job. A hurtful break-up from the man you thought was The One. A missed opportunity. An unfortunate diagnosis. Another negative pregnancy test. When our best-laid plans fall apart, it’s easy for our heart to fall apart with them.
How do we remain resilient when discouragement looms at the door? The grittiness to thrive in difficult circumstances is a learned skill and can be developed over time. Here are a few simple principles you can apply today to help you begin to bounce back in the midst of challenges or disappointments.
Grieve the Loss. Don’t ignore your pain; rather, allow yourself to recognize and feel the emotions. The Bible reminds us that the Lord is close to the broken-hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. It’s okay to be sad that your hopes were dashed, but don’t stay there. Allow yourself to feel the pain, then move forward.
Give Thanks. In the midst of every difficulty, there is potential for gratitude. You may need to look long and hard, but you can find something to be glad about. Perhaps it is someone you met, or something you learned, or something good that happened in the midst of the tragedy. There is always hope, but you have to be looking for it. The apostle Paul wrote, “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus (1 Thes 5:18). Perhaps the one consistent truth for which we can always give thanks is the fact that God never leaves us or forsakes us. He is with us in our pain.
Go Forward. “Do the next thing” is a famous bit of advice from author Elisabeth Elliot. On her radio program, Gateway to Joy, she often quoted the following poem to help people overcome stress and grief.
Fear not tomorrows, child of the King.
Trust them with Jesus; do the next thing.
Do it immediately, do it with prayer,
Do it reliantly, casting all care,
Do it with reverence, tracing His hand
Who placed it before thee with earnest command.
Stayed on Omnipotence, safe ’neath His wing,
Leave all results, do the next thing.
As a young wife and mother, Elisabeth lost her husband when he was brutally killed during a missionary journey in South America. She later went back and ministered to the very people who took her husband’s life, bringing them the good news of Christ’s love.
What about you? Where can you take a step forward? Ask the Lord to guide you in doing the next right thing. Stay prayerful – eyes on Him – seeking His good plan for your life.
For more tips on resilience, check out my book, Thrive, Don’t Simply Survive.
Tips for Happy Travels
When someone asks me to describe my fondest childhood memories, I typically respond with the vacations we took as a family. Some of you share similar fond memories, while others may have horror stories as you recollect those times of family togetherness. Yes, family travels can be terrific or they can be a bit trying. Although the unforeseen can arise on a vacation, we still have the ability to make every vacation a great vacation.
One of the most important ingredients for a successful trip is a good attitude. Bottom line, it doesn’t really matter where you go, or what happens along the way, a memorable vacation is anchored in your own positive perspective. You can set the tone for the whole experience by maintaining an upbeat outlook and an encouraging spirit along the way. Before you leave the front door, remind yourself to stay positive, thankful and prayerful throughout the twists and turns.
Here a few ideas to help:
Prepare a General Itinerary. Planning your days, and especially mealtimes, can help the trip run smoothly. Purchase tickets and make dinner reservations ahead of time. Talk with your family about the plans and tell them what they can expect along the way. Invite input and ideas in the planning stage. Leave room for flexibility and free time to relax or do spur of the moment excursions.
Remain Flexible. Things change. Weather happens. Flights get canceled. This is an opportunity to teach your kids how to handle challenges with grace and resilience, instead of anger and frustration. Help your kids change their expectations and creatively look for what you can do instead of remaining annoyed about what you can’t do.
Provide a Bag Full of Fun. Put together a simple goodie bag or small backpack for each child with age appropriate activities, snacks, games or toys. Make sure it is carry-able for your kids, so that it can go with them in the car or on the plane. The element of surprise helps to build the anticipation, so consider giving the bag to each child as you embark on your journey.
Have a Daily Family Devotional. Family trips offer a time of connectedness when you can share your hearts and pass on your spiritual values. Read a short devotional or a Psalm or passage of scripture each day as a family – talk about it and pray for each other’s needs.
Allow this time of togetherness to draw you closer as a family and create wonderful family memories. Prayerfully plan your trip and ask God to allow His grace-filled love to flow through each one of you as you spend this time together. And remember Paul’s encouragement in Romans 12, “As much as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.”
For more fun tips, check out The Power of a Positive Mom
Cost of Freedom
Hello dear friends and Happy Independence Week,
On Saturday, we joyfully celebrate this great nation’s freedom and heritage. I have been reflecting on the great sacrifice of those who first signed the Declaration of Independence and am inspired by their conviction and courage. At great personal cost, they believed in something bigger than themselves and envisioned what freedom would mean for future generations.
This week, I encourage you to reflect with gratitude on those who bravely paved the way for our freedom.
Tree-mendous Themes for the Summer
“Nature is a volume of which God is the author.” – Harvey
Need some fresh ideas to keep the kids or grandkids entertained this summer? When my kids were young, I started a fun summer plan called “Theme Weeks.” The concept is simple – when we had a week free from camps, trips, and VBS, we made our own fun by focusing on a theme. I used ABCD as our guide.
- A stands for activities
- B stands for books
- C stands for craft
- D stands for devotional
Here’s an idea of how you could plan out a Nature Theme week.
Day One: Bugging Out
Activities – Make or buy bug catchers and go on a bug hunt, visit local natural history museum or university, rent a bug movie, chase fireflies in the evening, look at bugs through a magnifying glass.
Books – The Grouchy Ladybug, The Very Quiet Cricket both by Eric Carle, Ms. Spider series by David Kirk.
Crafts – Create your own antennae using a headband and pipe cleaners, make tissue paper butterflies, make and decorate bug catchers using plastic jars and netting.
Devotional – Consider the Ant, Proverbs 6:6-11
Day Two: Flower Power
Activities – visit a garden or nursery or arboretum in the area. Purchase seeds and plant a small garden or plant flowers in a pot.
Books – Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert, My Backyard Garden by Carol Lerner
Craft – Paint and decorate flower pots and visors, make tissue paper flowers, color or water paint pictures of a garden, make ice cream treats with ice cream in clay pots, use chocolate cookie crumbles for the dirt and put a plastic flower on top. Add a gummy worm for effect!
Devotional – The Four Soils. Mark 4:1-20
Day Three: Super Skies
Activities – Visit planetarium, lay down outside and cloud watch talking about the different shapes that you see, star gaze at night, look through a telescope.
Books – The Cloud Book, by Tomie de Paola, It Couldn’t Just Happen: Fascinating Facts About God’s World by Larry Richards.
Crafts – Make drawings of both the day sky and the night sky. Use glitter for stars on the night scene and clouds for the day.
Devotional – Creation Genesis 1:14 – 19, The Heavens Declare the Glory of God. Psalm 19
Day Four: Amazing Animals
Activities – Visit the zoo, local farm, doggy park, rent or go to movies about animals, dress up like animals using face paint and making ears using felt and headbands.
Books – Anamalia, by Graeme Base, Animals Born Alive and Well, by Ruth Heller.
Crafts – Make animals out of clay or foil or recycled items. Bake and decorate animal shaped cookies. Draw pictures of the zoo and Noah’s Ark. Put together photo album of animal pictures from magazine or from the zoo.
Devotional – Creation Genesis 1:20 – 25, Noah’s ark Genesis 6,7
Day Five: Tremendous Trees
Activities – Take a hike through a forest, visit a wooded area and do bark rubbings, collect leaves, plant a tree.
Books – The Legend of the Three Trees, by Angela Elwell Hunt and Tim Jonke, The Giving Tree, by Shel Silverstein.
Crafts – Create tree bark rubbings by holding paper on the side of a tree and rubbing with a crayon to get the impression (collect several and compare different barks), draw a forest, make a collage from items collected on your hike, preserve leaves between wax paper or clear contact paper, write a poem about trees.
Devotional – All of creation sings God’s praises Psalm 96:11-12
I hope these ideas spark your thinking and give you some fun ideas to make it a memorable summer. Other possible themes include: farm week, prince and princess week, music week, or art week. You get the idea. My purpose in sharing the concept of theme weeks is to encourage you to spend time engaging with your kids or grandkids this summer. Stay tuned for more summer fun in the weeks to come.
Check out my bestseller, The Power of a Positive Mom, for summer reading and additional creative ideas.
Positive Life Principles 