When you need a hand up, you want a little help. . .not a hand out.
Yesterday on my REFILLS radio show, the peeps in the REFILLS chat room shared their hearts and words of encouragement on dealing with difficult people during Thanksgiving. In case you missed it, you can listen to the archive here.
Clearly they weren’t looking for a perfect solution or a magical solution to the infamous and weird “Uncle Ed” with the wooden eye ball. (You need to listen to the archive to get the joke. 🙂 )
And I doubt you are looking for the easy way either. As a believer, you desire God’s will above all.
You also need a hand up sometimes. We all do.
On my show I offered a free (yes, free) discount card on many health-related products including prescriptions to my listeners. I’d like to make it available to you too. As one Facebook friend put it,”I figure how can you go wrong with something that costs nothing and saves money, right?! Thanks, Lucy.”
The WellCard is not insurance. It is a discount card accessing many thousands of health care providers, services, and products including doctors, dentists, labs, and prescriptions. It is useful to you whether you have great insurance, are under-insured, are on Medicare, or have no health insurance. (Psst. . .I have the WellCard and save more than $100 on prescriptions so far this month.)
If you want the WellCard, please send me a message that you want it. When I get the access code from the WellCard folks to share with you — they’re setting it up now — I will email the access code to you, and you can start saving money.
Remember, it costs you nothing. Not even a cent. You can only save money.
If you are interested in receiving the WellCard, please send me a message through my website and say you want the WellCard. Whoever asks for the WellCard from me will receive it. When you send me a message, I can then give you a “Group #” that lets you sign up for it (again, free) and print out your WellCard. Once you print it out, you can use it immediately. It can be used for every member in your family.
Do you or someone you love need help overcoming crazy addictions? You are not alone. God is with you. Lean into His strength.
Natalie* stared at mirror. “Ugh! I’m so fat. I hate myself,” she thought. She stepped on the scale. The numbers flashed 92. At five feet four inches tall, Natalie had all but stopped eating.
Her addiction? Control. (Starred names have been changed.)
Once her son hopped on the school bus, *Karrie felt an adrenaline rush. Shopping! She told herself she’d buy one and only one outfit for her seven-year-old. Three hours and many shopping bags later, she collapsed on her couch and cried.
Her addiction? Shopping.
*Suzanne picked up her kids’ toys in a flurry. Ben would be home any minute, usually in a sour mood, and she didn’t want to make it worse. Negative thoughts attacked: “I do everything I can to keep him happy. I wash his clothes. Make his dinner. Keep the kids quiet. Share his bed. But does he care about us? No! All he really wants is his remote and a twelve-pack of beer. Sometimes I wish he were dead.”
Her addiction? People-pleasing.
An addiction is a recurring compulsion to engage in a specific activity to the point of harm.
Among the addictions that mess up the lives of women, men and children are drug use, gambling, tobacco, work, sex, pornography, overeating, perfectionism, cutting, shopping, video games, exercise, and religion. Addiction hits every ethnic and socioeconomic group. It is in your church.
Where Experts Disagree
Folks who study addictions differ on its cause and the best way to treat it. Most scientists insist that addiction is a chronic, often relapsing brain disease that can be treated successfully with medication and behavioral therapy, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Neil T. Anderson and numerous other Christians in the field say addiction is a spiritual problem at its core.
Making friends is harder than it looks. In fact, the risk of rejection stinks. Yet God designed women for friendship and he’ll bring the right ones into your life.
Why is it tough to make friends? And keep them? The usual suspect: busyness.
But could a deeper reason explain the problem with finding real friends?
Just for a moment picture yourself at age 4 or 5. All you had to do is say, “Hi, I’m Shana. What’s your name?” and — ta-da — a new friend.
Now you’re 30, 40, 50 or more, and friendship is as risky as doing a back flip off the high dive.
The operative word: Risky. And risky stinks.
Friendship Is Risky
If you reach out to a woman who seems friendly, she may reject you. If you open up and share deeply with another, she may draw back. Friendship opens the risk of wounds. It’s safer to keep your distance. A lonely distance.
I experienced loneliness when my family moved 14 years ago. I didn’t know I soul in my new hometown. Neither did my husband. It didn’t bother him. I went nuts and into action. I thought, “I know what to do. Find a friendly church and make friends. How hard could it be?”
Your ever-loving God never meant for YOU to follow the 10 Commandments. Here’s why.
OK, I’m stepping on toes. The blog title gives away the content of this post so if you want to quit reading now. . .well, you’ll miss the truth.
You know the 10 Commandments, at least the biggies, Do Not Murder. . .Do Not Steal. . .Do Not Lie. . .Honor Your Father and Mother. They sound good, moral, and holy — and they are.
But God never ever intended a child of God (AKA, a Christian, believer, Christ-follower) to follow them for at least 2 reasons:
1. You can’t.
2. They do not bring about holy living.
The 10 Commandments are the cornerstone of the Mosaic Law, which God gave to Moses on Mount Sinai. He wrote them on tablets of stone and instructed His chosen people — the Israelites — to follow them. No person except Jesus Christ has ever followed them perfectly, ever.
When you need a hand up, you want a little help. . .not a hand out. 
