Making Connections, Sharing Daily Life, and Loving Everyone along the Way

Have you chosen a word or phrase for 2021 yet?  I had not started choosing words for the year until last October 2019.  I was listening to Jill Sager, a dear lady who has really encouraged me in my own personal growth over the past 2 years. She was talking about our own personal growth being paramount, but beginning with gratitude.  

It stuck with me.

I pondered and prayed about it, not having declared or proclaimed a word of the year before, although seeing many friends do it.  I started looking up Bible verses on gratefulness, gratitude, every form of the word, really.  Then I did some searching about the difference between thankfulness and gratefulness.  There is very little difference between the two, but I was intrigued.

So I started thinking one day, "What do I have to be grateful for?"  I started listing things in my mind from my family, dogs, clothes, a roof over my head, our vehicles, and Jesus.  I thought, "I know there's much more to be grateful for!"  So, I decided to claim Gratitude for my 2020 word of the year.  No sooner had I done that, then another friend of mine posted about a Gratitude Journal.  I immediately bought it between Christmas and New Years, so I was ready on January 1st.  

Fast forward a year and I can honestly say that the Lord truly has blessed me with gratitude of immeasurable proportion!  I am completely amazed at my own attitude about this year.  I am so grateful for everything.  The Lord has caused me to have a different viewpoint on 2020 than many, I'm sure, but what happens when we turn our complaining in to gratitude is nothing short of the Lord's doing.  I am grateful for time spent with my loved ones in different ways.  I'm thankful that He has brought us through many potential bouts with covid exposure, but He has been faithful to keep each one of us safe.

What a complete blessing!  

Which brings me to my "phrase of the year" for 2021;  "Be a Blessing!"  The Lord has been working on my heart so very much through this past year of Gratitude that it is time for me to find ways to "Be a Blessing" to others.  

So folks, while I search for little and big ways to put feet on that and ask His direction and guidance with it, share in the comments below if you have a word or phrase for 2021.  Or you can send me a message with your story!  I'd love to "listen!"  

Have an amazing day!

Love & God Bless,

Regina 

As with every year, many folks make resolutions.  I have been skipping that tradition and setting goals for myself throughout the year, reassessing, and adjusting as time goes on.

Some of the big goals include getting healthier, saving more, giving more, and becoming debt free.  But these are often lofty goals for many who get overhwlemed and stop working toward those goals because it simply takes too much focus and it's "not fun".  

What's my solution for the long haul?

Set small obtainable goals and "celebrate" that milestone having fun along the way. 

If your goal is to lose 50 pounds, that's quite a big number.  So break it up in to 5-10 pound increments.  So, for the month of January, for example, replace that burger, fries, and coke with a healthy filling salad and a smoothie with water throughout the day.  Do that the first week.  The next week do the same thing, but this time, at dinner, add a 2nd vegetable dish to your dinner instead of pasta, white rice, or potatoes.  For example, chicken breasts with Young Living's Lemon Vitality oil &  your favorite seasonings, green beans, and sweet potatoes fries in the air frier with some fresh grape tomatoes on the side sprinkled with salt, pepper, and parmesian cheese would be great!  The sky is the limit!  We recently found Zucchini fries, so we're adding those in to our meals instead of french fries.  The flavor is great and it works!  

These are all examples, of course, so check with your Dr before changing your diet.  I'd love to see what all of you come up with!

What goals are you working on right now?  You don't have to wait until January 1st, 2021 to start them!  Let's share! 

Be a Blessing folks!

Love,

Regina Graham

Christmas is my favorite time of year.  I curl up in front of my TV almost every night to watch the Hallmark channel Christmas shows, or some other show like Rudolf, Frosty, the Grinch, Jack Frost, or any other show I've come across over the years. 

Why?

Nostalgia?  No.

Peace?  Maybe.

I think for me, between readings of Luke and other Bible studies I'm doing, as well as the "feel good" shows, it gives me a love not just for the season, but for people.  I love seeing good shows that show love and possitive communication in the story.  It doesn't matter to me if the theme is the same in each one.  I'm so very thankful to God for prompting folks to make good wholesome things to watch and enjoy during this time of year.

During 2020, I found myself drawn to Christmas shows all year through.  I knew that I needed to turn off social media, the news, and other outside world distractions to enjoy love, joy, and peace for a short time.  Then I was able to go about my day, filling my cup throughout the day with scripture.

For me, I clung even more to my Bible, praying and searching for words to sooth my soul.  

As Christmas day comes and goes and we spend time with family and friends,

cling to peace...

cling to love...

cling to joy..

Pray for your family and loved ones, and take that peace, love, and joy with you from this day forward.  Try to "get back to" it if you feel it remotely trying to slip away--get back in to your Bible, and whatever else makes you at peace, feel love, and joyful the whole year through.  Love to love on people, cling to it and make this next year one filled with love!  

Be a Blessing folks!

Love,

Regina Graham

Sometimes the holidays bring about a great loneliness, sadness, and despair for folks.  I know!  I've been there!  

During my first marriage, I remember having to work the graveyard shift over Christmas.  No one was there in the restaurant, but I was still tasked to complete my side work--filling the salt and pepper shakers, restocking the sweeteners, ketchup, mustard, coffee, and tea.  I still had floors to mop, counters to wipe, and the stray customer to serve.  

I felt so  downtrodden, hopeless, helpless, and without direction in my life.  

Once my shift was over, I paid half of my tips to a taxi cab driver to take me home so I didn't have to walk home alone.  At the time my (now ex) husband was still in bed and we had no Christmas, no decorations, no tree.  We had just enough "stuff" for a single bed, laundry baskets for our clothing, a little couch and no table.  We had pancake mix and eggs, so i made myself some pancakes for breakfast before heading to bed for the day.  

Looking back on that time, I remember how bleak and cold it felt.  I remember not taking "hand outs" from either of our family because we didn't want to have to pay them back.  We didn't ask any of them to come pick us up for Christmas either because we couldn't afford to give anyone gas money.  We had to keep as much money as we could to pay rent, electricity, and buy the few groceries we could.  It was a hopeless situation wrought with physical and mental abuse, financial bleakness, and lonliness--feeling like I couldn't reach out for help.

If you are in a situation like this and you're reading this right now, please reach out to someone.  The holidays were meant to be spent together with loved ones.  If you know someone who might be in this situaion, please let them know you'll pick them up and share your meal with them.  The holidays were meant to be shared.  

When you share your life and your love with someone who is needing it, you are the catalyst to help them begin their journey toward greater health.  Pray with them and for them.  Pick them up for church on Sundays and Wednesdays, encourage them, and include your Sunday school class in on the needs those folks may have.  Someone may be able to fill that small need.

What a blessing it is to be a blessing to others.  It helps not only them, to give them hope, but it also is a balm to our own souls, knowing we've helped someone--expecting nothing in return.

The National Association for Mental Illness (NAMI) has a website that you can visit to learn more about certain mental illnesses as well as support groups for folks.  There are numerous domestic abuse shelters, and churches willing to help as well.  All is not lost, nor is it hopeless!  Arm yourself with knowledge and reach out to help when you can!

Be a Blessing my friends!

God Bless,

Regina Graham