Tag Archives: Christian living

How to Get Rid of Headaches

6 Apr

Walking by Faith, Not by Sight

Janet Perez Eckles

Does anyone out there have the answer or solutions to get rid of headaches? You know those pesky intruders that alter your day?

I wish I knew. The other day I had one of them. The aching throb spread right around the right eye socket. Yuck. It took my concentration away, made me a bit irritable. And since no meds enter this chica’s body, I suffered through it.

Then it happened. God smiled at me. He sent me the most experienced, dedicated and admirable physical therapist. Who, ahem, happens to be my dear friend.

– See more at: http://www.janetperezeckles.com/how-to-get-rid-of-headaches/#sthash.MpUZXHq5.dpuf

His Way

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The Family Man

31 Mar

My Take

DiVoran Lites

Author, Poet and ArtistOn Sundays, our children’s class sings and plays percussion instruments. We have a special song called “Never Alone.” It was Bill’s favorite hymn when he was growing up and the concept of God staying near stuck with him. The kids like it too. Tina and Anna sing at the top of their lungs. They are cousins. Both their dads have been in prison for most of the girl’s lives.

When it was time to go outside to play Tina and Anna ran for the tire swing. Sometimes children from the baby class join us. Sunny is a favorite, but a bit small for the tire swing. Tina and Anna are careful so we set him near them and showed him how to hang on to the plastic covered chains. He kept giggling, however, and sliding off.

Then Big Tom came out. He’s a truly gentle giant and he has a deeply tender spot for children. In fact, he seems to come for a brief visit every Sunday. His own kids adore him, and his sweet and gentle wife, as well, but they don’t live with him, and he misses them.

Now he begins to turn the swing slowly by pulling on the chains. “I can reach all the way around and give Sunny a smooth ride,” he said. Suddenly a soft breeze blew through. The trees rustled. Everything hushed. Tom smiled to himself as the air was filled with peace and love. The children rotated slowly on the swing and were as still as still can be. In that moment, it seemed that Tom was free of pain and loneliness for his children, and that maybe Tina and Anna got a taste of what it would be like to have fathers on the spot to play with them. It reminded them, perhaps of God’s care for them. Though we may miss our nearest and dearest, God has promised never to leave us, never to leave us alone.

“God will never leave us for forsake us.” Hebrews 13:5

comforters

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The Music Makers~Part 2

24 Mar

My Take

DiVoran Lites

Author, Poet and ArtistRita and I decided to go to Panera’s for a treat. There after a lot of discussion, we finally decided to have pecan braids. The server placed our pastries on two large platters and gave us each a table knife, a fork, and a napkin. We filled our clear, plastic glasses with ice, I grabbed a handful of butter packs, we finished off the half n’ half pitcher and heard the ice crackle as the hot coffee poured over it. We took several sugar packs, and settled into a small booth. I didn’t know how to eat the pecan braid properly, so I mixed preference and the tools at hand and cut off small portions with knife and fork and buttered each one to eat with my fingers. Rita did the same. I hoped it was close to correct.

I felt as if I were back in harness as mom and then grandmother to a teenaged girl. It was fun, and Rita was having a good time too. We talked for a long time then decided to go to the bookstore.  We both love to read, and we have a lot of understanding for each other, but, she loves fantasy and I like other kinds of fiction. It felt good to just listen as she described the contents of the books there that she had read. I didn’t have to judge, criticize, or correct anything. I think what she’s reading is doing her good, because it’s as if someone truly understand her feelings and has found solutions that she might also consider.

She wanted to go in a special clothing store where her boy cousin once worked in another city. She let me know that she appreciated the fact that I didn’t have to criticize the clothes or her taste. I wasn’t there to teach such things and that was freeing for me.

Then it was time to get back for the concert. The auditorium was so full we had to climb to the tenth level. We looked for Clarisse on the overflowing stage, but finally located her on the monitor. From then on, she was the most important person on the stage to us. Apparently, she was thinking about us too. When she wasn’t singing, she shaded her eyes and looked out into the auditorium. Later I asked if she wondered where we were. She said she yes. She also said they had practiced all morning and only got to eat as much lunch as they could get down in fifteen minutes. I offered sliced oranges and small Hershey bars. Rita donated cookies, and chips, so we filled Clarisse up and we talked all the way home. By the way, the music was wonderful, especially the song they sang at the beginning and the end, “We are the Music Makers.” Oh yes, so true. Our children are our music makers in every way possible, and I pray they will always be allowed to make music and friends of their own choice as well as behave as well as we think they should.

Purple Butterfly

By DiVoran Lites

 

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The Secret of Good Friendships

22 Feb

I ate moldy bread, stepped on snakes and almost swallowed a bug…

Yes, friends, I lead a pitiful life. When you can’t see, life can get pretty crazy.

Through the years, I’ve posted on each of the above incidents. But I also posted about the time I stepped on a beautiful rose. I’m talking about my friend. I had related details of my misunderstanding of her motives, of my own blind view of her words and the one-sided perception of the relationship. I confess: I stepped on a rose. The rose whose beauty was overshadowed by my judgment and my unfair and skewed assessment.

In the complexity of relationships, the true friends are simple in their genuine love. They’re those who are trampled upon, yet forgive. They are hurt, yet still love. They’re accused, yet they still serve.

Could it be that Jesus wants us to avoid pain when He says,

Father, keep me in line when I’m too quick to jump into conclusions. Grant me a heart to value the treasures you place before me. Hold me accountable to appreciate what is valuable in life. In Jesus’ name, amen

  • What has you feeling regretful lately?
  •  How can God’s wisdom keep you from heartache?
  •  What keeps you from admitting your mistakes?

His Way

Janet Perez Eckles,

Grateful for the privilege of inspiring you…

My website in English

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Inspirational video  just for you.

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Divine Sparks Part~2

10 Feb

My Take

DiVoran Lites

Author, Poet and ArtistThe next time I felt the divine spark of God’s love was when the strained seams of our marriage started to open up. By this time, we had two small children and lived in Titusville where Bill worked with the Space Program. By this time even though we had been married twelve years, we had never learned to communicate or to appreciate each other.

At this time, I begged God for help. I asked him to change our marriage, beginning with me. We had some counseling and some help and we finally started talking to each other. We told each other every bad and good thing we’d thought and experienced since we’d known each other and all about our childhoods. We laughed, we cried, and in a new way, we became truly married.

Even better, we both continued talking to God. Any time I think about sharing my divine sparks with someone else, I wonder: when did I actually receive Christ? Was it when I saw the power and love represented in the majestic peaks near our Colorado home? Maybe it was later in Titusville when my Sunday School teacher went through the Four Spiritual Laws. I saw then that it was not enough to give intellectual assent to who Christ was, but I needed to invite Him to take over my life.

I’ve had quite a journey with many divine sparks along the way. Knowing I’m going to Heaven when I die gives me lots of security and peace. God saving our marriage was the biggest and most important thing He’s done so far. But he also got us through some tough times. He did another miracle that changed me profoundly. He let me see who I was in Him. I wasn’t just a person who needed to be kept in her place; I was unique and special. You are unique and special too. God never made an exact duplicate of any person and He has a reason and a purpose for knitting each of us in our mother’s womb.

I had to have some more counseling later in life. My occasional bouts of depression had spun out into four months of feeling rotten. The biggest thing my counselor discovered out of all my ramblings was that I cared more what other people wanted than what God wanted. I said, “I know I should do this or that, I know I ought to feel this way or that way.” But the only way I was ever going to be settled and joyful was to find out the truth about who I really was. My wants, needs, desires, interests, counted with god. He gave them to me. By listening kindly to myself, I could listen more kindly to everyone else. Since that time, I have become more excited about life than I’ve ever been before. Who knows what wonderful things God has in store? The greatest things is knowing Him. I still need to be validated, It’s important for people to respect me. But now I know Someone perfect, unchanging, and powerful, who will always love me, who will never leave me or forsake me. My needs are covered by His righteousness. He gives me faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.

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Get Over It and Move On

30 Jan

On The  Porch

Onisha Ellis

I'm a winner

My friend DiVoran and I were having a lively chat one day when  get over it came up. On the surface it seems like a rude, heartless thing to say, but is it?

I remember the times I said  “get over it and move on” to my teenage daughter after her first big heartbreak. She really hated when I said that, but what I was really saying was, work through this, stop letting it control you.

It takes courage, faith and work to overcome a broken heart, hurt feelings and disappointments. We don’t get over it without dealing with the situation. These are the actions I use when I need to get over it.

First I pray. I let God know I am counting on Him for help to accomplish these steps.

  • Determine to accept the situation. I don’t have to like it.
  • Accept responsibility for my actions. Yes, even if I feel justified.
  • Grieve the loss. I believe a time of grieving is a vital part of healing.
  • Choose to let go of the pain or anger. I can’t heal as long as I am hanging on to it.
  • Best of all, forgive.  Carrying a grudge can be a mighty heavy load.

Do I do this everyday and in every situation? Nope, but I wish I did. Guess I’m still  learning.

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How to Make New Year’s Resolutions

4 Jan

Walking by Faith, Not by Sight

Janet Perez Eckles

“I hate making long-range plans,” I said to hubby at dinner the other night.

“You have to. If you don’t, you’ll flounder.”

Grrr. He’s right. But setting goals is way too tedious for me. I’d rather just do what comes up. You know, follow God’s lead for the moment. And contently, try to do my best each day.

I’m tempted to do the same this year too. When most are setting New Year’s resolutions, making plans, charting paths to reach this or that, I just want to chill.

Anyone out there feel like I do? To-do lists already dictate my day. And the daily demands beckon relentlessly.

But I guess it’s time to change. This 2014, I’ll embrace a different attitude. I’ll plan to do three things:

  •  Calm my heart enough to hear what God is instructing me.
  • Seek His Word more diligently to know if I’m heading in the right direction.
  • And be at peace when things don’t work out.

These are my three goals. I don’t know what the New Year will bring. I don’t know where God will take the ministry. But I do know that peace, sweet peace will fill my soul just because His Word whispered to me this morning: “Be still, and know that I am God…” Psalm 46:10

He’s God when I fail to plan, when I fall. And He’s still God when triumph comes in spite of it all.

Janet Perez Eckles loves to inspire. She is an international speaker, author, radio host and life coach. www.janetperezeckles.com

Legacy

Janet Perez Eckles,

Grateful for the privilege of inspiring you…

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Heaping Coals of Fire

30 Dec

My Take

DiVoran Lites

Author, Poet and ArtistAs I write, my soup heats on the stove. A banner blows from the porch over bright red poinsettias in sunshine. A shiny whirly-gig spins on the back fence. Red tallow tree leaves flutter in the breeze. I’ve had two days of being down with a cold, but today I’m feeling myself again and everything looks better and brighter.

I just had a rest listening to Dino’s incredible piano hymns on my new Pandora radio station coming from Bill’s iPhone. The cat lay on my chest purring the whole time.

Before that Bill and I cleaned house so it would be fur-free when, tomorrow, one of our grown children’s friends brings his family for a rare visit. They live in the Atlanta area and we live in Florida, so we don’t see them often, but we do talk on the phone.

Bill vacuumed and I dusted. It was cool on the porch, but not too cold to water the plants and run a dust rag over the shelf where we keep them. Oh, yes, some hot-pink Christmas cactus is in bloom there, too. I filled the birdbath and the painted buntings came to bathe, to drink, and to eat the seed Bill put out for them.

As I was lying down to rest, just before the cat got comfortable, while the music was playing softly, Bill brought in a vintage book he’s reading: Strange Scriptures. It was written by a missionary by the name of Barbara M. Bowen who lived in Palestine and published her book with Wm. B. Eerdman in 1945. It explains many of the things we read in the Bible by telling how the people of Bible lands have lived since the days of Abraham.

He read about coals of fire, Romans 12:20. Mrs. Bowen explained that where she and her husband lived people kept a brazier of fire going in their homes at all times. If the coals went out they sent someone to a neighbor’s house for fresh ones. If the neighbor was loving and generous she filled the container for the coals full and it was carried on the head back to the fireless home. Paul said that if we give our enemies food and drink, we are heaping coals of fire on their heads. In that day and time it meant to forgive fully and generously. Such love and forgiveness can only be experienced through the Spirit of God and those who love and trust Him.

It had been one year since Bill’s heart attack. As he read to me, he had his ball cap on, ready to run an errand. My bed was the right mix of firm and soft. The house was neither too warm nor too cold. Our work was done, our house was clean. The radio played softly, “It is Well with My Soul,” and it truly was well with our souls. Sometimes such moments arrive and we treasure them fleetingly. I wanted to share this one with you and wish you a New Year full of them.

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What Is Your Legacy

16 Nov

“Do you remember how Joe would make us laugh with his silly comments?” I said to my sons at the dinner table the other day. They affirmed. And we all laughed remembering his wit, his unique insights and his gusto for life.

As I relish on my son Joe’s sweet memories, I reflected on the memories I, myself would leave behind. How about you? Do you ever wonder what will people remember you by? What will your children’s children talk about when your name comes up? Will they know what you wanted them to know?

In good times and bad, we’re subtly creating a legacy, weaving memories and painting strokes on the portrait our family will hold in their hearts. The portrait will display the life we lived, the values we held, the dreams we made come true, and the answers to these questions:

  • did we choose to see life beyond circumstances, or did circumstances see us to despair?
  • did we face challenges with determination, or did we allow them to determine our destiny?
  • did we look for tomorrow with passion, or did momentary trials rob the passion for today?
  • did we reach out to others to encourage them, or did our own discouragement reach out to hold us back?
  • did we live life rich with God’s reassurance, or did we look to insure our own way?
  • did fear steal our joy, or did God’s joy erase all fear?
  • did we do things for our own interest, or did we first take interest in God’s ways?
  • did we follow our plans, or did we first plan to follow God’s path.
  • did we fret over petty things, or find the power of God’s precepts?

No matter what the answer, “…from everlasting to everlasting the LORD’s love is with those who fear him and his righteousness with their children’s children-with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts” (Psalm 103:17-18).

Father, I pray your everlasting love nourishes my desires, goals and dreams. I ask for wisdom to leave a legacy that honors you, resonates with my children’s children, and reflects my obedience to your precepts. In Jesus’ name, amen.

• What memories will you leave behind?

• What do you want to be remembered by?

• What would you change if you knew tomorrow was your last day on earth?

Janet

Legacy

Janet Perez Eckles,

Grateful for the privilege of inspiring you…

My website in English

En Español

My story (video)

Inspirational video  just for you.

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Where is Papa?

12 Oct

“Where is Papa?” my sleepy 5-year old granddaughter said the moment she opened her eyes in the morning.

“Papa already left for work,” I said, grinning at her love for her Papa.

“I want to be with him…I just want a hug from him. I love him so much,” she said.

After the sweetness of the moment faded, a not-too-sweet reminder came to mind. What about me? Do I ask for my Father’s presence the first thing in the morning? Rather than my soul longing to be with God, in His presence and to seek His company, my thoughts often turn elsewhere. How different it would be if I did wake up each morning with a yearning to be held by Him. To be reassured by Him. And to be guided by His grace.

God knows that weakness. He knows how we begin our day by letting worry nag. How we allow stress to creep up. And how we give in to restlessness. But because He also knows how deeply we want peace, security and victory at every stage, He gives His direct instruction: “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you” (Matthew 6:33).

Father, I confess that worries fill my head when I wake up. I have been a fool to seek you only when troubles com, when challenges show up or gloom threatens to step in. I ask that you give me wisdom to first choose my thoughts and fill them with you every morning. In Jesus’ name, amen.

  • What fills your mind when you open your eyes in the morning?
  • What longing fills your heart?
  • What is the order of your priorities lately?
Papa

Janet Perez Eckles

Grateful for the privilege of inspiring you…
My website in English
En Español
My story (video)
Inspirational video  just for you.

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