powerful...

I hear this song by Matthew West on the radio on a daily basis. It's words really hit a nerve last week with me! I feel that this song is such a powerful motivator!

Enjoy!

a prayerful vote...

wake up, People!

Have you ever had one of those moments where you feel something click? Like you are witnessing something for the first time, even though you have been doing the same thing...over and over and over?
I had that experience just last week, and it was as I was reading People magazine of all things!
Let me explain...

A year or so ago, I got the opportunity to order some "free" magazines using unused airline miles that my husband had. I chose a few and was thrilled that People magazine was one of the choices! Wow! I always seem to be intrigued by the cover of it as I am in the check out lane at the grocery store. Now, I can get it sent to my house, weekly, for free!! Woo hoo!! This was to be my one "guilty pleasure" as they (whom ever THEY are) call it. I am not a huge TV watcher. I am not into all of those reality shows, gossip shows and "talkity-talk" shows. Soap opera's never appealed to me. I got my "dirt" from People.

Well, the magazines started to come. Every Friday I would find a fresh People in the mailbox. Full of juicy star gossip and chatter! Waiting for me to dive into.

 But, this is when the "click" occurred. This is when something odd happened! Something really "opened my eyes" as I really paged through that People magazine the last time I read it. I began to really notice the "other stuff".

I first noticed that the magazine was not just entering my mailbox each week, but was also entering my home each week as well. I also noticed that it was covered with not the most positive messages. An almost half-naked woman adored the cover of the last People magazine I received! Was this the message that a Christian Mama wanted to be sending her family? Her girls?? Herself???
The articles about teen moms, diet secrets of the stars and "this star that divorced that star", have jumped at me, hit me in the face and FINALLY woke me up! Enough is ENOUGH!!!
It also didn't help that there was 9 ads in the magazine for some type of medication. 1 cigarette ad and 1 ad for alcohol!! If that wasn't enough, there was also a VERY disturbing ad for a new cable show on TV. The ad depicted, what appeared to be Catholic priests and nuns, doing all sorts of "un-holy" things! This was TOO much! No more!

This is when the Bible verse 2 Corinthians 5:17 came to mind:

¹⁷ Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

I have "seen the light" and things are becoming VERY new to me!! I am ready to let the "old things pass away"!

At that point I put that People magazine promptly in the garbage can. I made a promise to myself that as each new one came in the mail each Friday I would do the same thing with them as well! You can imagine my surprise when last week Friday, as I opened my mailbox, I saw my People magazine sitting there...but this time it was not alone! For a "twin" had decided to join it this week! For now I am getting 2 instead of one! Hmmm... the devil ain't messin' with this Mama!!
 

Why Pray the Rosary? by Brother John Samaha, S.M.

As we enter October, the month of Mary and the Rosary, I found this story from Patti Maguire Armstrong very powerful! Enjoy...

Why Pray the Rosary? by Brother John Samaha, S.M.

More than a century ago a proud university student boarded a train in France and sat next to an older man who seemed to be a peasant of comfortable means. The brash student noticed that the older gentleman was slipping beads through his fingers. He was praying the rosary.

"Sir, do you still believe in such outdated things?" the student inquired.
"Yes, I do. Don't you?" the man responded. The student laughed and admitted, "I do not believe in such silly things. Take my advice. Throw the rosary out the window and learn what science has to say about it."

"Science? I do not understand this science. Perhaps you can explain it to me," the man said humbly, tears welling in his eyes.

The university student noticed that the man was deeply moved. To avoid hurting the older person's feelings, he said, "Please give me your address and I will send you some literature to explain the matter to you."

The man fumbled in the inside pocket of his coat and pulled out his business card. On reading the card, the student lowered his head in shame and was speechless. The card read: "Louis Pasteur, Director of the Institute of Scientific Research, Paris." The deluded student had encountered his country's leading chemist and the man who would give the world the scientific process that would bear his name--pasturization.

Editor's note: This story is part of the collection in the Amazing Grace for the Catholic Heart.

you are what YOU eat!

The best and most efficient pharmacy is within your own system.
– Robert C. Peale

Yesterday as I was in the checkout lane at my Meijer grocery store I couldn't help but notice the lady in front of me. I actually kept staring at her (trying NOT to be TOO noticeable, of course!) She was a slender woman. Graying hair. When I looked at her face, I could tell she was an "older" woman... an older woman than I, that is. But, I couldn't for the life of me try to guess her age! She had no wrinkles. Her skin actually glowed! She looked SO healthy! So vibrant!! She really looked great for being probably a senior citizen. Wow!
I next glanced at her grocery items that she had on the checkout belt next to me. I instantly got a clue as to what this fit womans secret was. It was her FOOD! Her items included a large quantity of organic this and that. Tons of veggies and fruits. I don't think I saw one processed thing out of a box in her bunch of things.
This encounter with "this woman" fell directly in line with an awakening that I have been reintroduced to just this weekend! While at a garage sale this past Saturday, I found a book that really opened my eyes and made me have an A-HA moment. That book I have been reading, non-stop! The author of this book I have heard about in the past. He is an author that is HATED by the government! Why? Well, because he "tells it like it should be told" and THEY don't like that... AT ALL! This book is called "More Natural Cures Revealed" by Kevin Trudeau. This is the second book to his first "Natural Cures THEY Don't Want You to Know About". We have this book, and I have it in line to read next!
I won't go into those books in detail (now), but I will tell you that I feel stronger than ever that the old saying, "you are what you eat" is 100% true and it is becoming a new family motto in this household!

Happy and HEALTHY eating everybody!