Most of us are accustomed to thanking God for our meal before we start eating. What I propose is encircling our dining experience with praise.

In Isaiah 55:2 the Lord says, "Listen carefully to Me and eat what is good, and let your soul be satisfied with abundance."

When you expect a child, the community (your family, friends, co-workers) rally around you and your spouse. When you expect your first child, you receive gifts, well wishes and the encouragement that you are entering a wonderful, albeit challenging, chapter in your life. As you prepare to welcome your child, you feel pride at the thought of your role as parent: How you will shape the mind of a youngster, impacting him or her with your wisdom, insights and knowledge.

Now think about a similar life experience, just one on the other end of the spectrum. An

If you're overwhelmed with your house, embarrassed to have anyone over, and exhausted by all of the organizing information out there, My Messy House is the right place for you. I am a Messie. Not a reformed Messie or a recovered Messie, but an honest-to-goodness packrat Messie.

I won't promise you instant results, but I can promise that if you stick with it and do a little bit every day, you can reach an acceptable point. You might never be a full-fledged cleanie, but there is hope for you, just like there has been for me.

Dear Friend,

When you get a bruise, your body heals it. When you get a cut on your skin, your body heals it. When you get a broken bone, your body heals it.

It's all part of your body's cycle of renewal ... where old cells die and new ones are born.

We all know how to spend less by sacrificing. From eating out less to buying fewer clothes to cutting back on vacations, saving through sacrificing can be effective, but painful. So if you are looking for ways of saving money, why not start with money saving tips that are relatively pain free?

With a little imagination, you'll find plenty of ways to reduce spending without making big changes to your lifestyle. And to get you started, here are painless ways to save money.

I know that I have had this problem for a long time. Sometimes, I just can't seem to cool down and I get angry very easily. At times, every little thing just ticks me off making me very, very angry; so angry that I am capable of harming people.

However, I have been trying to control my anger but when I do I feel a tightness around my chest/heart and feeling faint too. There are so many times I wished I could just kill whoever it was that irritated me. When I get angry, it doesn't really matter who you are. I know that I'm capable

Do you think it is possible to know God without intentional periods of solitude? Being alone can feel awkward. It's easy to equate aloneness with loneliness. I have seen people who never seem to stop moving and "doing," and I ask myself if they are afraid to stop and face themselves, their lives, their fears, their emotions? Distractions keep the days moving. But is this living the abundant life God meant for us?

I think we will always fight spending quiet time with ourselves and God because

At age 16, Jessica Cranmer came home with some startling news. She and her father, Bob Cranmer, describe how everyone pulled together

Sunday, December 01, 2002

DAD: It was a beautiful spring evening in April 2001, and life was good. I had returned

I am only 18 years old and I love men (pretty much all kinds).. I always go for the older guys whose ages range from 21-28.

When I was growing up I never even met my father, so I never got a "fathers love". I was also very fat and shy as a child. Boys never showed any attention to me when I was really young.
I started losing weight when I was 14 all the way up until now. When I was 13, I weighed about 210 lbs and now I am about 140 lbs. I am still losing weight

Pastors Wives Issues - Is it possible for women in ministry to find friends they can trust?

I stared at the telephone on the kitchen wall. Whom could I call? A staff minister had recently resigned in the wake of immorality, and as the news spread through the congregation the truth had been twisted. Some members had called me, the pastor's wife, with wrong information. I wanted to give them the real story, but I did not feel free to tell them what I knew.