Twenty Wishes...

When I was at Costco the other day I picked up a few good yarns. One of them is titled, "Twenty Wishes" ....

As I go about my morning chores, I think about some of the different characters that bring this story to life.

When an author can develop his or her characters with a depth that gets the reader truly caring about what happens, the author has done a good job in my opinion.

So many times I've read a book and three days later I can not even draw the characters to mind because they simply were not memorable enough. Maybe they didn't seem real. Perhaps they were more like stick figures. Perhaps they lacked an in-depth character development by the author that called me to care about them.

But in this book how can you not care for little Ellen? bathroom lighting

Sitting at my desk while listening to NPR, I can't help to be distracted by the topic of the hour.

The subject is about a new service that may soon be offered in New York City. This service is for a new ambulance service for organ donation.

Having had a loved one who died in queu while awaiting an organ transplant, it is impossible for me to not have a rather strong emotional response to this radio conversation.

Part of me embraces the concept, but another part of me is filled with deep concern. My over-the-top imagination is quick to dream up scenarios that might play out well in a suspense thriller, but would be a total nightmare in reality.

At any rate the very idea could be fodder for a great fast-paced contemporary book with movie rights!

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With gas prices soaring to unbelievable record highs, I start to think about different ways to limit my gasoline consumption.

While some gas usage is unavoidable, other usage becomes far too frivolous.

I've become a master at consolidating my errands and limiting my 35 mile plus round trip jaunts to Tallahassee to a couple times a week. No more daily trips to the capital city for me!

Yep, I'm doing my part to conserve energy! If I need something that isn't available in town, I've discovered websites that don't cost me a dime in gas to shop at. Kudos to the world wide web as an extraordinary resource for conserving energy!

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Zoom, zoom! Nothing beats a good zoom, especially when it comes to physical energy. For a long time, caffeine was my zoom drug of choice. But then when I started a diet, the weight loss counselor advised me that my daily Joe was keeping me from shedding the excess weight.

I stopped my daily lattes, cold turkey , replacing them with nutritional supplements.

That worked for a while. But after about a year and a half, my energy levels did a nose dive.

Now I've found a new zoom inducer and I am loving zipping along these days.

My secret is something I just recently discovered in little colorful tubes. It is called zipp fizz!

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Perhaps there is no rhyme nor reason to explain the postings that I send out in the world wide web.

I do not fret over them, even though at times, they certainly alarm me.

Why would I write the things I do? Well, they are simply exercises. Some are an expression, a snapshot if you will, of my inner soul. While others are fun and frivolous fritters, with little redeeming value. They are not meant to be secret messages or political statements. They are only paid opportunities to write little creatives... so I try to have fun and hope that through the different postings my abilities as a writer will increase. computer memory

I asked for things I never received and I received things I never asked for. Should I stop asking? Absolutely not! But what I have tried to do is to ask for the things that God wants for me instead of the things that I want for myself. I've asked God to make HIS desires, my desires and to put in my heart a burning desire to want to be the person HE created me to be, and not the broken and distorted image that the world imposes on us.

When we can find a divine balance then perhaps the things we ask for and the things we receive come into a harmony that tastes a little like Heaven on Earth.

Ah... now that is a sweet and surrendering taste. acne treatment

Have you ever felt as though a spirit of either the Lord or the enemy has planted an odd idea on your heart? An idea so odd that it seems almost delusional?

Now I'm not talking of something bad, but rather something JUST WAY OUT of the realm of reasonable comprehension.

Painted on your heart is a vision so big that it causes you to wonder if you are a tad bit delusional? You recognize that it is not your vision... because on your own you wouldn't even begin to dream up something of this caliber, scope or sequence. And then an amazing thing happens you are pulled forward on a journey that seems to be a journey of equipping to prepare you for this odd idea.

I asked a pastor about this. He said that we didn't need to give Satan any credit and that what I was experiencing was from God.

I have yet to find out... perhaps one day, all will be made available in respect to understanding that which I call my secret delusion.

Maybe I will find out that it was not a delusion at all... but simply part of the training program of discipling.

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One of the most comforting things I heard spoken in this century was in a church sermon, at a church where I was not a member, and yet on that particular Sunday I felt a call to visit that particular house of worship.

The pastor, a Baptist preacher, said these words: "God never forgets what he is doing with you."

Now some years later, those words that I heard from the pew of a large Baptist dyed-in-the-wool congregation, remain among my most cherished of things heard and understood in a deeply profound way. I truly believe that I was suppose to hear those very words on that particular Sunday and in order for me to hear them I had to step out of my comfort zone and go to a strange church. Has God called you to break from your standard paradigm? Have you heard that whisper in the depth of your interior? Don't be afraid... maybe it is time to get out of the boat and walk hand-in-hand with your savior on the water! dell memory

What is elliptical? Whatever it is I'm certain that if it has to do with exercise and fitness and looking and feeling one's absolute best - I ought to be in the market for one!

I want to be the very best possible version of myself! I know I fall terribly short... but fortunately my GOD does not. He is always raising me up and showing me a better vision- a vision that through HIS divine empowering becomes more and more attainable.

This morning I tried something new. I tried my very first green tea pill. Green tea is being hyped as an extraordinary weight loss aid. Will it work? I haven't the foggiest idea.

But after reading the ingredients list, I didn't see anything that appeared to be a red flag. Am I overlooking anything? I certainly hope not! I do not want to bring anything into my body that will damage it in any possible way.

Seems that we often inflict damage just by breathing the air, especially if we are exposed to the filth and toxins of cigarette smoke.

Imagine the irony of this, a cigarette smoker that I know, who shall remain nameless, rags me continually saying that all I need is green tea to lose weight as he puffs away on his cancer sticks.

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Last post I asked the question, '"Why is it so easy to come up with excuses to not exercise?" Or something to that effect, anyway.

In the last month, I continued to find one excuse after another to keep me from just doing it.

Hopefully, those days are over. This morning I made the commitment to start anew and to really take better care of Kathi - because I realize that my future depends on it. I realize that the choices that I make today will impact all my tomorrows.

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Why is it so easy to come up with excuses for not getting on my exercise equipment? Our bodies need to be exercised. I know this. But what I don't know is why I can find it so easy to fall away from a daily exercise regime. Shouldn't the stewardship of one's body be a daily priority? For those of you out there who are prayer warriors ... please pray for me ... Please pray that I will make and keep an ongoing committment to physical fitness.

A Biblical Mandate

"When strangers sojourn with you in your land, you shall not do them wrong. The strangers that sojourn with you shall be to you as the natives among you, and you shall love them as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt." ~ Leviticus 19:33-34

We have a biblical mandate to love our neighbors and welcome the sojourners among us. Hospitality is a beautiful way to begin.

Stressed Is Desserts Spelled Backwards

Eating desserts and being stressed seem to go hand-in-hand. Did you know that if you spell either word backwards, you get the other word spelled forward?

For me, indulging in one, results in the other!

If I'm stressed, I head for the desserts.

Then If I indulge in the desserts, stress will surely follow!

So I ask myself this.... what if I completely gave up desserts, what then will become of my stress? It would certainly be worth the experiment to find out!

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"When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on!" - Franklin D. Roosevelt

The bottom line reality is that we have all the resources that we need to accomplish our God-given mission in life. We might think (and rightly so) that we need something above and beyond what we currently have or we might even think that success in life is based on being in the right place at the right time.

I believe that each one of us came equipped at birth with the essential resources we would need in life. The sooner we can tap into the infrastructure within our very soul and connect with our creator, the sooner we can get on board with the very mission for our existence. For every human life- there is a beautiful and unique purpose. Delsey

For the first couple months I was completely swept off my feet by the sheer breath-taking speed of our romance. One moment an unsuspecting special event designer, simply going about my business in the fascinating world of creating million dollar moments for my clients, the next, pursued, overtaken, overwhelmed by the unexpected and flatteringly insistent pleas of one of the most powerful men in the world. massage chair

There must be something in my heritage....something that was born in times before I even existed...something that I'm not even certain I can put words to.

Me? A writer... with no words?

Yes, it happens! I cannot describe the very thing that I am experiencing. There are no words. The experience has a foreign, old world flavor unlike anything I've known in this contemporary world of ours.

But let me try. It is this European desire, this desire of the old country that yearns for business and home to coexist under one roof. It is the desire for a splendid slice of urban
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I've always been one to believe that every medicinal that one needs, God gave to us at the beginning of time.

Whether I am right or wrong on this, matters not. What really matters is what we believe. If you are given a placebo and told it will cure whatever ails you- if, and only if, you truly believe, then will the placebo work its miracle.

The real secret lies in the strength of your belief. If you really want to be healed, then you must really believe with every fiber of your being, otherwise you are simply wasting your time and money on something that doesn't have a chance at curing you.

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I have disovered that my greatest joy in the working world comes from putting things together in new and different ways. Designing programs, special events and engaging in artistic endeavors rocks my boat.

I had always wanted to own my own magazine, but after a stint trying to sell advertising I quickly realized a saleswoman I was not. I couldn't sell my way out of a paper bag. I suppose it is the artistic sensibilities within that conflict with the process of trying to sell.

The problem is if you are going to have a magazine, you are going to have to sell ads to support it. You can't be a one-woman show! You need the abundant synergy of many.

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The subject of individual health insurance can bring tears to my eyes faster than most.

Perhaps the reason for this is that I know all too well what it is like to go without the security of an insurance policy.

One of my greatest fears in life is living without health insurance. But the reality is I simply can not afford it. Every bit of money that I earn goes to pay basic bills. In time I pray that this situation will change and that health insurance will once again be a part of my day-to-day existence.