Living as a Victorious Christian Woman

A couple of years ago I received a work email about any information we had on sustainable travel. One of the popular kinds of travel right now, sustainable travel focuses on a "leave only footprints, take only pictures" mentality. How can you visit a destination and leave it a little better than it was? It was humbling to admit that we didn't have anything like that. I quickly called my friends at Wapello County Conservation and asked what they had. They're the perfect resource for all things outdoors in our 436 square miles, and they have tons of brochures and flyers about everything.  But they didn't have anything to do with travel either. So what do I do when I need something and don't have it? I make it. With more than 20 partners throughout the community and the knowledge and wisdom of the county naturalist, I created the Wapello County Adventure Book: A Sustainable Travel Workbook.  The books are filled with local information about traveling sustainably ...

Journaling is another one of those disciplines that I have always been led to do daily, but I let it fall by the wayside for more than a year. Recently I've found the joy in it again, and it's literally changing my heart. Here are just a few of the thoughts and quotes I've written down lately as I've studied Scripture, prayed, and meditated on God's word. I pray they'll be a blessing to your heart as well. * Do you know the power of God's love? Then let it be like a rushing mighty wind to your soul to sweep out the clouds of your worldliness, and clear away the mists of sin. This divine spirit shall make you bold as lions and swift as eagles in your Lord's service. * Fill your mind with God's word and you will have no room for Satan's lies! * Matthew Henry on Genesis 26:22 - Those that follow peace, sooner or later, shall find peace. Those that study to be quiet seldom fail of being so. * The phrase, labor of love, comes from the Bible - Hebrews ...

WARNING: If you don't want your entire house to smell like a tropical paradise, do not - under any circumstances - make this chicken. With the disclaimer out of the way, you don't want to miss out on this combination of sweet chili and pineapple over and through tender baked chicken. A little pasta, some veggies, and a beautiful dessert make this lovely chicken a complete meal. I had two chicken breasts in the freezer for this recipe, so feel free to multiple the ingredients for as many pieces of chicken as you need. Ingredients:  2 large chicken breasts 1 1/2 cups sweet chili sauce 1 6-oz can pineapple juice with mango Drizzle of honey 1. In a large sealable bag, combine chili sauce and pineapple juice to create a marinade. Save out 1/4 cup. 2. Rinse chicken and add to bag of marinade. Refrigerate 3-4 hours. 3. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly spray a small baking dish with nonstick spray. 4. Add chicken to dish and pour 1/4 reserved marinade over the top. Drizzle with hon...

Everyone is going through something right now. I can say that with a certain level of surety because I know I am. You may be battling on several fronts at once, which can be exhausting and terrifying at the same time. If this is you today, please know that I'm praying for you special right now. P.S. If you're not going through something right now, I would wager that you've just come out of something or you're about to go into something. In either case, I'm praying for you, too. I just finished half a dozen books on the Revolutionary War era, and I'm absolutely fascinated by General Washington's battle plans. They weren't conventional - they couldn't be. They weren't fancy - he didn't know how to be. And they weren't always structured or well executed - his soldiers weren't professionals. The Army and their commander had so much going against them, but it worked. Our nation is who we are today because of those battle plans. The Old Tes...

There's nothing like chocolate chips to get you out of a baking drought. Just like last week's ground beef and sweet potato skillet jumpstarted my love for cooking again, these bars helped me remember why I love baking so much. Because I love eating the finished product! Getting back in the groove in the kitchen has been difficult for me for over a year, but these short, simple recipes are making all the difference. One step toward normal makes a huge difference in your mind and heart, and if yummy chocolate chip oatmeal bars are that step, I'll happily take it. Ingredients: ▢  2  cups   quick cooking oats 1   teaspoon   baking powder 1 egg 1 cup peanut butter 3/4 cup maple syrup 1 Tbsp vanilla 1 cup chocolate chips Salt, preferably flake 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8x8-inch baking dish with parchment paper. 2. In a large bowl, combine oats and baking powder. 3. In a medium bowl, combine egg, peanut butter, maple syrup, and vanilla. 4. Pour liquids i...

Cute puppy alert! If you are easily overcome by canine adorability, this is probably not the post you want to read today. Otherwise, please scroll down to find out why my dog is digging through a frozen breakfast sandwich box. Normally I wouldn't let our dogs dig through the trash, but in the case it was supervised for their own little enrichment activity. All of the cardboard was stuffed with treats, but I definitely didn't make it easy. Where's the fun in that? I started saving paper towel and toilet paper tubes a few weeks ago for just such an occasion. Add in a box and some paper packing and you've got several minutes of entertainment. (Theirs and mine!) Inside the box, which still had its lid for a flap, was a whole host of good things to tear open. I scattered tiny treats across the bottom, then added a layer of packing paper with more treats sprinkled through. On top were six tubes with more treats, and I folded in the ends and creased them closed so the dogs wou...

Southeast Iowa has seen dreary days and cloudy skies for the better part of the week, making it difficult to remember that we're well into spring. But this weekend, when the sun was trying to peek through the dark clouds, the green absolutely popped. Scroll through to see how the property is starting to perk up for spring.

It is with great remorse that I admit I've not been cooking very much lately. I've been weighed down by a lot of other things, and Danny has been meal prepping for his workout schedule, so it's not been a priority. It's that simple. However, the cooking bug hit me this week, and I put together a beautiful ground beef and sweet potato skillet meal that I will definitely be making agin. The spice combination is out of this world, and it's super healthy. Danny's even added it to his meal prep shelf in the fridge so he can enjoy it too. The bell pepper and black beans are technically "optional," but they're not. Not really. The crisp of the pepper and the extra protein in the beans are the perfect additions to an already tasty dish. Ingredients: 2 Tbsp olive oil 1 medium onion, diced 2 Tbsp garlic, minced 1 lb ground beef 2 sweet potatoes, diced 1 cup water 1 Tbsp cumin 1 Tbsp paprika 1 Tbsp chili powder Salt and pepper 1 red bell pepper, diced 1 can b...

In January 2010, Danny and I opened Stuff From Trees, an online shop on Etsy, to sell our handmade cards and gifts. It was a labor of love for many years, a place to share KJV Scripture, wood gifts, scrapbooks, ornaments, and many other fun stuff. (Hence the name.) A couple of years ago, I put the shop into vacation mode and stepped away for a while. I had just gotten a promotion at work and was going to have less free times. I had also had a terrible incident with a longtime customer that broke my heart, and the break was much-needed. Earlier this month, we made the decision to open the shop back up and start restocking. With the flip of a switch, we're back in business! Name name, same bat channel ... as they say. And our shop description remains the same, and it's truly where our heart is as we get back in the swing of things: Stuff From Trees - Handmade one-of-a-kind crafts using the entire tree. God is good all the time, and our paper and wood crafts will help you share th...

Molly Jo Carrell-Dog is 11 1/2 years old, and she is the four-legged love of my life. She's getting up there in age for a Great Dane-mix, which means she's starting to have old lady issues, but her times outside are probably her second-favorite part of the day. (Meals come first.) We try to get her outside as frequently as possible so she can relieve herself. All of our older female dogs have had some potty issues late in life, and she's no different. She loves sniffing around while she's out there, so she doesn't have a problem going out a bunch. There's always something to sniff on the property. Acres of stuff to sniff. Her back end has gotten super stiff, to the point that she's not really bending her back legs on her own unless she has to. I decided several weeks ago that she gets to lead the way when we go walking. If it was up to me, she'd go do her thing and come right back. She has other ideas. We have a circle drive, but she rarely stays on it. ...

If you read five psalms and one proverb every day, you'll have read both books in a month. Most days this is two to three pages of reading, which is completely doable and always a blessing. Plus, it starts a new habit of spending time with God every single day - you'll start craving the opportunity to sit with Him and see what He has to share with you today. Last week I connected with the psalmist Asaph during my psalm-reading time. As he started Psalm 77, he was clearly overwhelmed with whatever was happening in his life at the moment. Ever have that overwhelmed feeling? Me too. To the chief Musician, to Jeduthun, A Psalm of Asaph. I cried unto God with my voice,  even  unto God with my voice; and he gave ear unto me.  In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord: my sore ran in the night, and ceased not: my soul refused to be comforted.  I remembered God, and was troubled: I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah.  Thou holdest mine eyes waking: I...

Have you ever studied the Resurrection Eggs with a group of kids? Each of the 12 eggs has a miniature inside that corresponds to part of the story of Holy Week, and you can read the Scriptures along with it.  Our youth group has done these eggs every other year for several years, but we now have a mixed group - some who've been around a while and four new kids. (Three of whom have never even heard the entire Easter story.) To mix it up a little and be interesting to everyone, we mixed all the eggs up and put them on a decorative egg plate that looks like a lady bug. Then I printed out  12 clues and a question to give them some hints about what's in the eggs. There was something in each clue that pointed them to a certain item - the donkey had no saddle, the whip was torture with leather, and the cup held drinks for all.  Before they could read the clues, they had to open all the eggs, memorize what was where, and put them all back together. Then each youth read and clue, ...

We've had some pretty wild winds in Southeast Iowa in 2025, and this tree was one of the casualties. It was so cool to see the root system, still with a tap root, and what was happening under the soil all those years. There were a lot of small roots, but they didn't go out very far or very deep. It's no surprise that it keeled over. There are a couple of passages of Scripture that always come to mind when I see exposed roots like this.  As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:  Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Colossians 2:6-7 We can't be built up in Christ until we've firmly and completely rooted ourselves in Him. That means making a habit of studying His word, spending time in prayer communicating with Him, and placing His glory first and foremost in everything we do. Then comes the building up, the benefits and blessings that come when we have relat...