Help! My Bible is Alive: An Interview With Nicole Unice by Jonathan Petersen of Bible Gateway

Psalm 27:13 (NIV)

I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

Nicole Unice:Help! My Bible Is Alive!

Jonathan Petersen, Content Manager for BibleGateway.com, recently did an interview with Nicole Unice, author of the book: Help! My Bible Is Alive! 30 Days of Learning to Love and Understand God's Word.  The link to that interview can be found by clicking here.

Reading the article challenged me in many ways! One area that piqued my interest was her discussion about Bible study habits. She speaks of our western culture and what I would term as a "pathological distraction" as she references the statistic that the average American attention span is merely 9 seconds....less than a goldfish! Ouch!!! That's kind of scary! 

This trend is a difficult finding as it relates to growing closer to the Lord, because as she shares, we need to spend some dedicated time in the Bible each day in order to consistently study the scripture and hear the voice of God. Without this focused time in the Word of God, we will end up missing the guidance and blessings that He intended for each of us to receive.

If you would like to learn more about the book: 

Help! My Bible is Alive and how to set up a consistent "distraction free" time with the Lord, access her interview here. It's definitely worth your time and attention! 

Do you ever find it difficult to concentrate and still yourself as you're reading the Bible?  It is a challenging task to consistently take hold of the living Word of God and allow The Holy One of Israel to transform our lives for His glory, but with the right tools, I believe it's an obtainable goal! 

Enjoy your day today...and wherever you are, take time...hopefully more than 9 seconds.....to enjoy God's Word and observe the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living!

Book Review: Spiritually Strong~The Ultimate 6-Week Guide to Building Your Body and Soul by Kristen Feola

This book is loaded with tangible nuggets of applicable counsel.

Spiritually Strong is a six-week program designed to help you get in better shape spiritually and physically. As Timothy says, “For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come” (4:8). This book teaches you how to train yourself in godliness through the implementation of six disciplines—Bible study, prayer, fasting, healthy living, financial stewardship, and serving others.

By exercising your spiritual core on a daily basis, you will learn to:

• Study the Bible and understand what God is saying to you.
• Pray with power.
• Incorporate periodic fasting into your life.
• Honor God with your body through nutritious eating and exercise.
• Practice good stewardship of the resources God has given you.
• Serve others in humility as an outward demonstration of God’s love.

As you learn to submit to God in each of these areas of your life, you’ll discover the joy that accompanies self-discipline. Your daily steps of obedience will translate into giant strides in your walk with the Lord.

My Review:

Spiritually Strong: The Ultimate 6-Week Guide to Building  Your Body and Soul by Kristen Feola is loaded with tangible nuggets of applicable counsel to enhance your walk with the Lord.  This book is definitely worth your attention as the author pairs her passion for the Lord together with her Personal Training expertise in a winning combination to bring about positive transformation in the life of the reader!   

Spiritually Strong:  The Ultimate 6-Week Guide to Building Your Body and Soul by Kristen Feola is a straightforward no nonsense look at how to directly apply the truths of God’s word to nearly every area of the reader’s life.  The book’s main theme is the fundamental principle that to gain an increased spiritual awareness in one’s life, it is essential that we develop our heart, soul, and body through structured daily disciplines.  The ideology that “you cannot be a disciple without discipline” is a repetitive message consistently conveyed throughout the reading of this work. 

Utilizing an abundant amount of scripture references coupled with many quotes from renowned theologians for confirmation, Feola’s stand on an active pursuance of Christ through aggressive self management is clear.  She is candid and authentic throughout the book, as she shares struggles and challenges that she has encountered at various junctures in her life.  She is very encouraging and assures the reader that persistence and submission will translate into a more meaningful and joyous relationship with the Lord. 

Feola provides a beautiful picture of what a strong relationship with the Lord should look like as she reflects upon her own walk with God.  She asserts that the key to obtaining such closeness to Christ is through a consistent disciplined plan.  She breaks down the significant areas of focus into six divisions: bible study, prayer, fasting, healthy living, financial stewardship, and serving. 

The final portion of the book lays out a six week program designed to help the reader become a more spiritually and physically strong person.  Each day of the week is methodically organized into six a fore mentioned categories with a specific action plan provided under each heading.  Feola provides a detailed blueprint of the day beginning with the study of God’s word conjoined with a responsive prayer and progressing with ideas for meals, exercise, money, and service projects.

This is book is a great resource.

I was very excited to read Spiritually Strong: The Ultimate 6-Week Guide to Building Your Body and Soul, because of my previous and continued experience with the book: The Ultimate Guide to the Daniel Fast Diet by Kristen Feola.  I found this maiden voyage book to be filled with a plethora of wonderful devotions and delicious healthful recipes to feed my heart and tummy.  I have utilized (and continue to use) her first book throughout the years, as you can see from the dog eared pages and highlighted recipes.  After reading this latest book, I am certain that within a year or two, it too will have a worn look from much page turning and referencing.

Kristen’s desire to see people grow closer to the Lord through daily discipline is clearly perceptible in this soon to be released book: Spiritually Strong~The Ultimate 6-Week Guide to Building Your Body and Soul.  Her enthusiasm is contagious.  You will be enriched and enlightened after reading this book!  Pre-order here.  This book will be released January 6, 2015.

Thank you to Zondervan Publishing for this Review Copy of Spiritually Strong by Kristen Feola.  I was not required to write a favorable review, only to read this work in its entirety.  The opinions within the review are strictly my own.

Take Your Teachers Seriously

Proverbs 5:13 (MSG)
Why didn't I listen to my mentors, or take my teachers seriously?

I am definitely taking yesterday's revelation and applying it!  I even started my new eating habit on the way home from church last night.  Usually, we drive through our local drive thru and get a "lowfat frozen yogurt" treat for our snack.  But last night we past it by...(with much moaning from the kids I might add)...and we went straight home.  Upon arriving at the house, I pulled out the fruit and water and made fruit smoothies!  They were delicious!

Next meal came this morning, when I pulled out Kristen's book and thumbed through it to this delightful "baked oatmeal" recipe.  It was wonderful~notice the missing pieces...yummy!

So, there you have it, I am "listening to my teachers and taking them seriously!"  I don't want to reject discipline and end up with the consequences.....instead, I will reap the rewards of a disciplined life...look out cholesterol level!!

Thanking God for this day, for my family's health, and for His saving grace.
PS.~The tulip is still dead....but, I am still watering and feeding it....who knows what it will look like in eleven days.  I know that I am growing!

A Disciplined Life

Proverbs 5:12 (MSG)
Saying, "Oh, why didn't I do what they told me?  Why did I reject a disciplined life?"

Ok....the curtains are going to fall off here.  I have a confession to make.  It's huge...
Curious yet?  Here you go...my recent cholesterol level was 275!!  "What?  No way!" you say.
That's what I said too, but unfortunately....'tis true.

I mean...I exercise faithfully...I don't chow down on french fries every night...I don't eat omelets every morning with ham....NO FAIR!!  I guess I feel somehow cheated.  I think that if I ate that way, then perhaps there would be some justice in a cholesterol reading that is off the charts like this..right?  Hmmmm.....so what 'ya gonna do about it, I ask myself? 

Well, I had a high reading last year (not this ridiculous, but high). As it turned out,  I had already decided to do a "Daniel Fast", prior to obtaining this particular lab result.  The Doc wanted to recheck my labs in six weeks.  I committed myself to this way of eating and an increased time in prayer and Bible reading, as is the discipline of this fast. 

At the end of six weeks...guess what?  The result was about ninety points lower than it was before this fast!!  Hooray!!  The doc was happy...I was happy...everybody was happy in my little world.  Until, that is, I had the yearly lab again in January...now nobody is happy (about the lab anyway) and the Doc even said that the other drop must have been an error and it probably never came down.  The problem with that theory is, that I don't believe it!  I think the labs were correct.  I think that this amazingly healthy way of eating nothing but chemical free plant and fruit based foods did lower my cholesterol.  The issue was not that the labs were incorrect, but that I "rejected a disciplined life," like today's verse talks about, and I quit eating that way promptly after I got my good level back.  I didn't stick to the plan.

Now, if you're like me right now....you are feeling the weight of a very heavy yoke on you (or at least on me).  But, I push that yoke off...probably push it off a lot easier because I just received a Word from the Lord.  (Seriously, as close as one can get to writing on the walls these days.)  A very sweet friend of mine who has just been through the battle of and for her life with breast cancer,  just e-mailed me this verse: 

She writes: 
"I live Isaiah 30:18 everyday, 'Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; He rises to show you compassion'.  I am so thankful for all He has done!" 

This wonderful friend is currently cancer free!
Did she do what the doctor's told her to do?  You bet she did!!  Did she pray and ask God first for help and direction?  Absolutely.  Did it take discipline and amazing courage to follow that direction?  I can't even imagine how much discipline and strength it took to do all that was recommended she do....but the fact is...she disciplined herself and by the grace of God is now cancer free! 

 So, what about my lab?  Well, I am deciding today to apply this verse and not "reject this disciplined life"!   Why?  Because....the Lord longs to be gracious to me!!  He has equipped me for this and given me the tools to be healthy.  I just need to use the tools....starting now!

I bought an amazing book by Kristen Feola called "The Ultimate Guide To the Daniel Fast". http://onlyalittlewhile.blogspot.com/2011/02/book-review-ultimate-guide-to-daniel.html 
(I wrote a book review on it, and it is linked to a purchase site if you are interested for yourself, click on the previous link.)  This book is filled with recipes and devotions to assist me with my new eating plan!  I am so excited to see what the Lord will do through applying the knowledge that Kristen shares with her readers.  In about 4-6 weeks, I will have another blood draw to reveal the results....I will keep you posted!  (I love to say that on a blog...it still cracks me up...get it..."posted"....these are "posts"....ok...enough.)

Lord...please help me to remain disciplined in the gracious path You have provided for me.
Thank you for the compassion that You continue to show me and my family today.
Amen