Living as a Victorious Christian Woman

Oh my goodness, did I ever pray for wisdom last week! We had a work situation last week that could have spelled disaster for not just my job and my organization, but several city proxy groups throughout the community. That's one of the looming dangers of relying on entities outside your own organization - it's never 100% secure. When the situation arose, I went into battle mode. Not against people or organizations, but against whatever the enemy thought he was going to accomplish. Warrior Me gets pretty locked in when it comes to spiritual warfare. On Sunday, Pastor preached from the first 11 verses of James, how trials and testing show that we're doing the right thing, while at the same time God is ready to teach us and grow us. Growing hurts, but it's part of the natural process of maturing as a Christian. Stagnant Christians stink. My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;  Knowing  this,  that the trying of your faith worketh patience.  ...

My planner spread for this week is full of cheerful St. Patrick’s Day charm with rainbows, lucky gold accents, and sweet little sentiments sprinkled across the pages. I used a mix of mint, gold, and bright rainbow stickers to keep the layout festive while still leaving plenty of room to write. The stickers help mark the holiday and bring a little fun to the week without crowding the page. The left side of the spread highlights the beginning of the week with a playful “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” theme leading into St. Patrick’s Day on Tuesday. I added a “Kiss Me, I’m Irish!” sticker (even though I'm not!) and a little rainbow accent to give the holiday its moment, along with a cute girl in green to keep the theme going into Wednesday. Even with those decorative touches, I kept the layout simple so the boxes stay mostly open. Since we don’t have any meetings scheduled at work right now, I’m embracing the extra white space—it makes the planner feel calm and gives me lots of room for ...

It's been quite a while since I created something that wasn't just a greeting card. Maybe that's why my heart hurt...creativity is as necessary as breathing to some of us! This Easter bag topper is hopefully the start of a crafty trend in my life again. The bag topper inspiration came from the tiny bag of tiny sheep with the tiny little ears. I already had all the paper and the bags, so this is definitely a scrap project. I started by cutting the topper itself out of white card stock. I marked it just wider than the bag and tall enough to fold in half and have plenty of space for decorating. At that size and shape, I can get two toppers from each sheet of card stock, with some left over for bookmarks.  The secret to a perfect mat is to flip the patterned paper over, line up two sides the thickness you want them, and then mark the other two sides with a pencil. Two cuts with a paper trimmer, and you have a beautiful mat. I was going to stamp an Easter phrase in the middle of...

After a trip to one of my favorite out-of-town grocery stores, I realized that I had way more lettuce in the fridge than we could possibly eat. Or so I thought.  I did some looking online and through my copious collection of cookbooks (I love alliteration) to find some fun and creative ways to use both large romaine lettuce leaves and a box of spring mix. We got through almost all of it in just a few days, and I picked up some really cool recipes to add to our menu rotation. Which ones will help you use a ton of lettuce and try something different this week? 1. Big Taco Salad Night: Brown ground beef with taco seasoning, layer tons of lettuce in big bowls, and top with the beef, shredded cheese, beans and corn, tomato, crushed tortilla chips, and sour cream and salsa. Bonus: The taco meat will reheat perfectly the next day. 2. Asian Chicken Lettuce Wrap Bowls: Cook up chicken breasts and dice them. Add in soy sauce, garlic, and ginger, plus a splash of sesame oil. Then added some s...

As a 9-month-old puppy, Cooper's not content anywhere with anything. If he's outside, he wants to be all the way over there instead of right here. If he's inside, he'd rather be with Danny than with me. And then vice versa. If he's chewing on a bone, he'd rather have the one Diesel's chewing on. And that never goes well. If he's downstairs, he'd rather be upstairs. If he's out on the deck, he'd rather be wherever that random noise just came from. There's no being content with the approximately 64 million smells within reach of his leash. There's something bigger, better, and more interesting to smell elsewhere. Leashes hold him back from his true potential in life. Apparently. Cooper's discontent is a running joke in our house, but I often think about how true it is for human beings, too. How many items are in your Amazon cart right now because you're ready to buy the next thing? Do you have a list of spring home improvement p...