Posted on by Kristina Knowles

Our society doesn’t understand…

The true meaning of Love.

I enjoy talking to people especially about cultivating healthy relationships with themselves and others. And more often than not, people don’t understand the true meaning of love. Webster’s Dictionary defines love 6 ways.

1. a quality or feeling of strong or constant affection for and dedication to another

2. a:  attraction based on sexual desire, the strong affection and tenderness felt by lovers

2. b:  a beloved person

3. a:  warm attachment, enthusiasm, or devotion

3. b: the object of attachment or devotion

4. a score of zero in tennis

Webster’s Dictionary is wrong, completely and totally wrong. Unfortunately there is no mention of God, He is the very meaning of Love. He himself created the definition and Webster doesn’t even mention Him once!? Now you can see why I made my claim about society not knowing the true meaning of love. And to be clear some truly know the true meaning of Love but those are in the minority.

John affirms that “God is love” ( 1 John 4:8 ). God does not merely love; He is love. Everything that God does flows from His love.

When we take our attention off of the definition of man’s version of Love and set our sights on God. We can truly love, love each other the way God has instructed us to love. When we truly love like God, we follow the commandments. We don’t lead others to sin, do harm or do things that will enable someone to ruin their lives. Love is wanting the absolute best for someone else.

Love is hard, we can be so selfish. Sometimes we need to be in total control of things, so much so we lose sight on the important things. We need to focus on things that are holy, right and just. Love can be scary, fear makes us do things that are not proper. Never love out of fear, that is not real or good. True love is when you can be at peace with your relationship with God.

The entertainment industry has done an amazing job of hurting us with lies. If I believed that all of us went to a movie, listened to a song or watched a television show and left the experience at the door-fantastic. However, that is not the case at all. How do I know? Life is imitating art day in and day out because of what we see, what we watch and what we listen to. Be wise and careful what you fill your mind with, even more important be diligent about what your children are watching and listening to as well.

Love is God, He wants the absolute best for us. God should be the over arching pinnacle of love in your life.He also gives us free will which enables us to show Him how much we love Him back. There is not ONE person on this earth that I want to see harmed, hurt or suffer, not one. It’s not our job as humans to hurt each other, our job is to love. Satan relishes in the hurts of everyone, how sick and sad. And what is even more sick, we give Satan permission. Make today the day you start to understand and read about God’s love, then start to live in it.

Thanks be to God’s love

 

 

Posted on by Kristina Knowles

Dear You…

I am so sorry that you were hurt at the hands or verbal abuse of someone you love, trusted, tricked by and care about. I am so sorry that they hurt you because they are hurting. I am so sorry that instead of asking for help they decided to hurt you. I am so sorry that instead of being a good human being they decided to be mean, unkind and deplorable. You didn’t deserve it, it’s not your fault and you must get the help you need.

Now…

I know this might be hard for you but please forgive them. Please show them the grace and mercy they need. Forgiving the abuser blesses you. I know that might be confusing but it’s true. Healing begins, health beginning to be restored over time. Holding on to the darkness of the abuse doesn’t allow God’s love or light in. And that doesn’t help you at all. For anyone that has been involved, witness or been the receiver of Domestic abuse, physical or verbal…I am so sorry. You didn’t deserve it, it was never your fault.

And if you were the parent, friend, family member or neighbor that witnessed the abuse and didn’t get help or stop the abuse, you are an Accomplice and you need help too. I don’t think there is anything worse than watching someone you love stand by and let the abuse take place.

I believe if enough of us care about helping those who have been hurt, things will change for the better. Instead it looks as though we continue to protect people that don’t deserve protection but deserve to be confronted. The first step in recovery is acknowledging the problem, the offense and the pain the abuser inflicted. Then true healing and restoration can begin.

As National Domestic Violence Month comes to an end tonight, unfortunately the truth is the abuse will continue unless we take a personal stand. See it, report it. Hear it, report it. Told it, report, it.

Remember if we keep sweeping these people and their offenses under the proverbial rug, no one heals…NO ONE!!!

Praying for Peace!

Posted on by Kristina Knowles

Wow, she said I reminded her…

Of the new Wonder Woman.

A friend recently saw the movie Wonder Woman and remarked that I remind her of the character. I had not seen the movie, but I was flattered. I mean, as a little girl I watched Wonder Woman before or after my brother watched The Bionic Man. I adored Wonder Woman, she was so AMAZING!

After I came down from floating off of the very kind compliment, I asked “Renee”, “What about the movie made you think of me?” Renee instantly responded that after the movie begun the story line of Wonder Woman became very obvious. “Wonder Woman has values that she lives by and believes in,” “Renee” explained, just like you.” “Kristina ever since I met you you want to help as many people as you can.” If and when you see the movie, you will see that Wonder Woman wants to help people, just like you.” “She also is tall, brunette and likes to work out and eat healthy, just like you.” “Renee” and I both laughed and I thanked her for the compliment.

The next weekend I went to see the movie, it was great. I enjoyed the story line, “Renee” was correct, Wonder Woman does want to help everyone. And I pray that everyone took that away from the movie as well. Wonder Woman didn’t give in or give up, she persevered. God calls us to help the least of these as much as we can. It’s why we all should wake up in the morning. It should be our driving force to make this world today, a better place.

Our influence on the people who we directly affect every day is important. We create a ripple effect on the way we raise our children, the way they go out into the world to do good or bad, help or hurt and/or build or condemn. The good news is, it’s never too late to change their world for the better. Make Godly goals with your family, friends and neighbors, and watch all the positive things unfold.

Peace be with you!

Posted on by Kristina Knowles

Are you the storm or the…

Shelter in your friends and family lives?

I recently got to experience a situation of a friend who was going through a bad time. I was able to give her good healthy advice, it felt great. She seemed to take it all in, brushed off the tears and thanked me for taking the time to speak with her. Then the worse thing happened, an unhealthy friend of her’s started to stir the pot and made the situation worse. I would call that person a “Storm”.

Lots of us have these types of negative people in our lives, I call these people “Storms.” They love to make things worse, often the misery loves company type of people. We can ignore this person all together and keep them at an arms length distance. Or we can confront them about their negative thoughts, actions and bad advice and hope they get the picture.

How do you spot a “Storm”:

  1. They love to gossip
  2. They love to be negative, glass half empty, dark side, miserable, usually unhealthy and unhappy
  3. Only listens, responds with bad, unhealthy advice vs. Helps you with good, healthy advice
  4. They hate it when you are happy
  5. Does not have your best interest at heart

How do you spot a “Shelter”:

  1. They love you
  2. They love to offer help, glass half full, solution oriented, honest, usually healthy and happy
  3. Helps you vs. just listening
  4. They love your success and desires the best for you
  5. Has the best interest at heart for you and your well-being

See, it can be simple if you pay attention or extremely difficult if you ignore the details. I pray my list helps you realize the difference. We were all born out of pure love from God, He wants the absolute best for our lives. God doesn’t want us to lead each other into temptation or sin. Instead He would rather watch us love and help each other daily.

My Mother told me that she would like me to find a great man that would be my shelter, my safe place to land after a hard day. How beautiful of a goal for me to find in a man. She said that the world can be a hard difficult place to be but the people around us should not.

Today I ask you to be the shelter for everyone around you. And if you identify with a storm, make a change today to be different, be more positive and healthy. It’s ok that today is the day you realize you don’t want to be a storm anymore. God loves us on this journey, some will get there sooner than others.

Praise to you Lord, Jesus Christ!

Posted on by Kristina Knowles

My favorite type of High…

will always be Jesus!

I am often asked how I stay so positive and happy. It happens almost daily and my response will and always be Jesus. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus! In fact, some of my new friends in Texas call out Jesus as soon as they see my face. I love it, I love that they name Him out loud.

Now for the bad unfortunate, heart-breaking news. We have an alarming amount of people getting high daily off of things that are dangerous. So dangerous that they are ruining families, disrupting classrooms and reeking havoc on all of our lives in one form or another. One joint, one peek, one line, one pill, one drink, one deal at a time for a senseless high.

I wish I could take away the urge for so many to want that unnecessary need to disappear from the reality of their mental or physical pain. I would love nothing more than to be able to give people the tools to deal with their pain sober and not under the influence.

We live in a highly distracted world that doesn’t allow us to stand still. However, I make time every day for God because He makes time for me. It’s the least I can do for He does so much for me. I didn’t deserve to wake up this morning to write this blog but God deemed it so. I want to honor Him and help other’s too.

My Mother and Father are great people for different reasons. They are not perfect, neither are you. And if you watch your surroundings carefully, you will see the other Mother and Father figures God brought into your life, just at the right time. We should want to reach out and take care of each other daily.

Satan is and will always be the soft whisper of hatred, self doubt and ugliness. Evil convinces you that being good is bad and being bad is good. Dark forces will encourage you to hold grudges and to not forgive the unforgivable. And you should know we are ALL the unforgivable, all of us. No one person gets more of a “pass” than the other, none of us are worthy. Here is the good news, by the grace of God, we are forgiven by Him through Jesus. Why is it so hard to forgive your Brother or Sister?

Are you trapped by Satan or redeemed by God?

Peace be with you!

Posted on by Kristina Knowles

Did you know that it takes…

The same amount of effort to be fat/unhealthy as it does to be fit/healthy?

I know, amazing right!? How did I come to this conclusion? What in the heck am I talking about? How dare I compare the two? You have no idea what you are talking about? Are you kidding me? Huh, what, really?!  Yes, really!

The minute you wake up you makes choices all day long. When you go to the grocery store you make choices that affect you and your family eating habits. Which absolutely 100% positively or negatively affect your overall health. Wow, have you ever thought about it in those terms? I have, every time and that is why I live the way I do.

Over the summer, Griffin requested a care package with some food items I wasn’t too happy about. I went to the store and begrudgingly bought the items from his text message. I can honestly report, I was embarrassed waiting in line waiting to buy this junk. I didn’t even want to go down the isle in which these items lived. They had the entire isle dedicated to this type of junk. Our produce isles are not even this big, how sad.

Let’s be honest, Griffin is one of the most healthiest 20 year olds that I know. He has his weak moments, just like I do but they don’t rule our lives or my shopping lists. Letting yourself indulge once or twice a month is fine. However, if the reverse for you is true, more unhealthy vs. healthy items in your kitchen, that is not good. And that my friend is why it takes the same amount of effort to be healthy than it does to be unhealthy.

If you boil down the truth, it’s really all about choice. Who do you choose to be? Your best, healthy, happy, full of energy and restful version of yourself? Or do you chose to be your worst, unhealthy, unhappy, tired and sleepless nights version of yourself? I think you know which version I chose, and the good news is, so can you.

God created the human body to be cared for, He wants us to fill our mind, body and soul with things that are holy, healthy, good and right. Today clean out your entire kitchen and remove the junk. Day by day, your life and your family’s life will change for the better, I promise.

Peace be with you!

 

 

 

Posted on by Kristina Knowles

The one that got away…

Thanks be to God!

I know society talks about this person in television shows, movies and talk shows. The infamous “person that got away”, I am here to explain to you why this person doesn’t truly exist. We can waste a lot of time pining away for this person with questions or statements. Why didn’t I do better? Where did I go wrong? Why couldn’t they change? What if I said this? Waste. Of. Time.

I read the bible for thousands of reason, this would be one of them.  We live in a world that requires us to believe in man more often than we should believe in God. Healthy and well meaning relationships are important and necessary to strive in this world, we need them. The most important relationship we create is the one we establish with God.

After we develop our relationship with God, the next relationship we create is the love for ourselves. I see so much self hate, it’s terrible. People would rather ruin their lives with medication, drugs, fantasy, alcohol and jealousy. Instead of loving themselves, accepting themselves as God created them.

When we are in right relationship with God and ourselves we tend to attract the good people of our lives. And even if we don’t, a few bad seeds might slip in from time to time. Just know in your heart that God gave you an internal hard drive that allows you to know the difference. It’s up to you to listen or ignore the truth.

So let go and let God be the ruler of your life. Let go of ” the person who got away” and don’t look back at the “what if’s” of life. Just realize at this very moment you have the opportunity to change everything that is wrong about your life, especially the relationships. Learn from these past relationships, learn what you loved and what you hated. Don’t look back, its just a waste of time…

God bless “the one who got away”!

 

Posted on by Kristina Knowles

The silly and unnecessary…

Games we play.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could be real and honest with our thoughts and feelings? I feel like people would rather play games than be honest. And if you don’t know already, playing games is a form of deception. Deception is lying and lying is wrong.

How did emotional game playing become so popular? Why don’t we call out the other person for playing games? And why do we settle for mediocre relationships with people who want to play games? It’s because on some level we are too tired to care or we have let it become normal to be treated this way. Or worse, maybe you don’t even know you are being played.

My parents, mostly my Dad and my Step Father Robert, taught me to be clear, direct and honest. If you’ve ever met either one of them or both you would see two completely different men but both were in the Military. You can’t be playing games or be vague in the military. However, lots of people are playing games in every day life and it doesn’t create safe or healthy relationships.

Let me tell you what is the worse kind of game playing, when it’s a family member. Family takes on a different definition for everyone. I would hope that your family is a safe, loving, respectful and caring group of people. Unfortunately, this is not the case for everyone but it’s a start. If you have a poor relationship with your family/loved ones, it’s time to make an effort to fix it and mend the brokenness. When family members play games with other family members there is an area of hurt, pain or dysfunction present. It’s so important to break down the barriers, be forgiving and mend the hurt.

The Five signs you are being played:

  1. Unclear conversations that are meaningless in order to avoid a real conversation
  2. Questions that are not answered with a direct answer
  3. Vague responses
  4. No meaningful connections, keeping relationship at a distance
  5. Deception, deceit and lying.

God never wired us to hurt each other, He commanded us to love and help each other. It’s  important that you change your life today, no more games that people play. In fact, contact each and every person in your life that play games, tell them that you are on to them and it’s…

Game OVER!!!!

 

Posted on by Kristina Knowles

I don’t dress like a…

Christian. Wow, really!?

A friend recently told me that a person I don’t even know or have ever met said I don’t dress like a Christian. I was taken back by her comment, then I had a really good laugh. I take pride in my beautiful wardrobe for my work-outs, my career, my casual time and my lounge wear. And then I started to think.

Wait a minute, hold up! Is this really about my wardrobe? Or is this a feeble attempt to condemn me for my style choices vs. their own style choices in the name of God? Timothy 2:9 Likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire,

“Adorn themselves in respectable clothing”, I feel and believe I practice this. Now every once in awhile I will wear a cute sundress because the weather is HOT. Modesty and self-control are very important to me as well. Again, we all have our own interpretation of what these words mean; respectable, modest and self controlled when dealing with our clothing choices. I am extremely frugal, so I tend not to wear costly attire anyway. I studied fashion so I am well of aware of the major mark-ups on clothing.

What I will admit, over the years I have changed my look and my outlook on my clothing choices. I have progressed in a different direction the minute I became a wife, then a mother, then Mrs. Virginia, then a Director, then a Minister. All of these life events changed my view on myself. If I see someone wearing something I deem inappropriate, I pray for them. And you can do the same thing, instead of publicly condemning someone for their own personal choice of clothing. Shaming someone for their clothing choices is wrong.

God loves us, just as my clothing choices have changed over the years so has my relationship with God. I am proud of who I am, I am proud of my Son, I am proud to have the family and friends that He has put in my life. I am not perfect but I am good enough!

I am a Christian.

Posted on by Kristina Knowles

Watermelon season is coming…

To an abrupt end, sad face.

The last 3 watermelons I found  this month were from Wal-mart and Costco. I juiced the entire summer with watermelon. I made videos, I shared my love of watermelon juice with strangers. It has been one of the most refreshing drinks I have ever made. It made summer delicious.

If you have the opportunity to continue to purchase watermelons before they go out of season, make sure you make some healthy watermelon juice. Especially if you primarily drink high fructose soft drinks including bottled processed juice. It’s a game changer for you and your family. And if you have children you will have so much fun making, bottling and drinking a beverage that you made together vs. buying from a store off the shelf.

I started out simple making watermelon juice. Cut up watermelon, cubed it and blended it in my Ninja. Now anyone who juices knows there is pulp associated with blending real fruit and or vegetables. You have options, shake up the pulp in the juice and drink it or strain the pulp. I like drinking the pulp.

The more comfortable I got with juicing the more adventurous I got. Now, I add fresh lemon, ginger and lime to my fresh watermelon juice, even more refreshing. I set out to find a good way to house my juice once I made it. So I went to Wal-mart and found Kerr mason jars. These mason jars work perfectly, the cost per mason jar is about 0.74 cents each. Awesome right!?

I saved the best for last, the health benefits. Over 90% of watermelon is water, super hydrating. Heart disease is a major health risk for everyone but especially women. Lycopene is an awesome antioxidant, found in watermelon. Weight loss benefits, trade this awesome drink for your usual unhealthy choice and see how lighter you become. Amino acids and anti-inflammatory properties are inside this big, beautiful melon. Wow! Your kidney will thank you for drinking watermelon juice because of it cleansing effect. The vitamin and minerals found in watermelon will make you healthier period. Last but not least, the taste of watermelon juice is so good, good for you and so beautiful to look at. Such good news right?!

God bless you!