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

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

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!

 

Posted on by Kristina Knowles

Sowing seeds of goodness or…

Sadness, which one do you do?

I recently met a girl who I think is smart, beautiful and adorable. We were getting along great until one day recently she told me her Mother let’s her underage drink. I was so hurt, sad and shocked. I think she could see it on my face. She then immediately defended her Mother by saying,”My Mother is teaching me to be responsible by letting me drink alcohol now.” Huh!?

I instantly went into Momma Bear mode and had a heart to heart with her. “Megan” was so upset with me, she got angry and mad. How dare I care about her? How dare I take the time to explain most alcoholics started drinking alcohol at her age? How dare I go against her Mother, the very woman that raised her? The conversation didn’t end well. And you should know that it didn’t end well because she was still hung over from the night before.

“Megan” wasn’t interested in hearing what I was trying to say. She wanted to continue to live this lifestyle that her Mother gave her permission to live so conveniently. It broke my heart hearing her defend the trappings of this world, that more often than not, get out of hand or control for so many.

Our conversation lead me to another great question, what type of permission are we giving our children to live out? Are we giving them a blind eye to certain bad behaviors that will manifest later in life and ruin our children? Or are we sowing seeds of goodness and greatness into them? Do we even know the difference?

Let’s all make an effort to make the necessary healthy changes for ourselves and especially for our children today. We need to clean house of all the bad habits and hang-ups that we have displayed to our children. There is no better way to make the world a better place than to first make “our” world a better place.

Peace be with you!

Posted on by Kristina Knowles

A pink “Virginia is for Lovers”…

Shirt walking towards me in TJ Maxx, oh my.

I couldn’t believe my eyes, I was so excited to be in Texas and to see a possible Virginian. I walked up to her and introduced myself. She politely introduced herself back, then I knew she was definitely from Virginia. I believe she could see the excitement on my face, so we started to talk in the middle of the store.

After she told me what part of Virginia she was raised, her family history and where she moved to after living in Virginia most of her life, things got real. “Grace” was a beautiful blonde woman in her late 70’s, great shape and had a bright light about her. Besides her pink shirt, I know her light pulled me in to strike up a conversation with her.

“Grace” began to tell me why she was in Texas, the horror story of addiction that plagues her family while living in Virginia but now her own Son’s life and his family. I listened to her intently and I immediately heard the similarity between her own Father, her Son and her Granddaughter. “Graces” son pleaded with his Mother to come visit with him to help him.

Mind you, we are standing in the middle of a TJ Maxx. And I am barely saying anything just listening and taking mental notes. “Graces” Son has called her a few times but she let the calls go to voicemail. And she is telling me more and more, more pain, more heartache, more addiction. I shake and nod my head and even hold her hand at one point.

You should know “Grace” has this amazing plan to help her family. And I couldn’t agree more with her plan. The light shines so brightly from her despite her pain and heartache, she is a Believer. God put us in each other’s path so we would talk to one another. A former resident of Virginia and Mrs. Virginia, living in Texas sees a pink(favorite color) “Virginia is for Lovers” shirt. Come on, you can’t make this stuff up.

Sometimes we aren’t suppose to talk, we just should listen. I was able to affirm and confirm a lot of things for her. “Grace” was grateful I approached her and introduced myself. And I told her I was grateful she felt safe to tell me her tragedy. She was quite surprised with herself that she was able to share such intimate details with me. I responded with,”What intimate details are you referring to, what are you talking about?” We both laughed and hugged each other good-bye.

God bless you!

Posted on by Kristina Knowles

Journaling for Jesus…

Is a rewarding experience.

I want to help you get closer to God, besides being in right relationship with Him. Journaling is mind blowing. So let me help you get started, it’s so fun and easy. And you will see the blessing of becoming more intimate with your relationship with Him. Here are 5 easy steps from me to you.

Step 1: Purchase for yourself a beautiful or handsome journal, composition book or note book immediately, today. Pick out something you will pick up and write in every day or night. Make sure it catches your eye to remind you why you bought it.

Step 2: Find a pen or pencil that you love and enjoy to write with. Why you ask? You need a great writing instrument to record your journaling with Jesus. It needs to be comfortable and effortless, trust me.

Step 3: Pick a special place and time in your day that you are willing to dedicate to journaling for Jesus. I like to journal in the morning because it starts my day off with my thoughts on Him. Some prefer to journal before bed, try both so you can determine what is better for you.

Step 4: I like to journal for Jesus in a way that allows me to pray for everyone in my life. Family, friends, co-workers, neighbors and the world. When I think about and concentrate on each group, I tend not to forget about anyone. Easy, right!?

Step 5: Need some ideas on how to Journal for Jesus? Let me help with a few suggestions. You could write Dear God, instead of Dear Diary for starters. Why didn’t someone tell me this sooner?! Another good idea is to list the person, situation, blessing, hurt, question or prayer and be specific on how you’d like God to help you help that particular person.

Now let’s get started, aren’t you excited? I am, if you have any questions I am so ready to help you. Please don’t complicate this experience, it’s super special. Relax, have fun, get real, be meaningful and journal for Jesus.

God bless!

Posted on by Kristina Knowles

Evil has been in this world…

Ever since Satan fell from grace out of Heaven.

I know it’s hard to believe or even fathom the heart ache that we all must endure as a society. Natural disasters, mass shootings, murder, addiction, abortion, disease, accidents of any kind, the list goes on and on. And the over arching question is always…why?

I choose not to ask why. My faith in God far outweighs my fear of Satan. Our world has a heart and sin issue that we so love to ignore. Our hearts are filled with hate and our sin nature prevents us from realizing the truth. A hate in which we refuse to let God into our hearts completely. A sin nature we inherited from Adam and Eve.

It can and will get better if we let God into our life for good. It can and will get better if we refuse to let Satan command our thoughts and actions. An idle mind is the Devil’s Workshop, my Grandma Miles use to tell me, and she is correct.

Guard your heart from evil, fill your mind with the goodness of God, put your family first, love your neighbors, speak kindness into everyone you meet, lift people UP instead of putting them down. Encourage people to want to be better, do better. Be the light in a world of darkness. Change what is wrong and do more of what is holy, right and just.

The more I see and read of this world, the more I turn to God. We believe it is good to be bad and bad to be good. Our children would rather be under the influence of drugs and alcohol than to be sober. Our children would rather take the easy road than the more difficult or hard road to be challenged. Our children are watching and we need to do better, be better.

Let’s all make a change today to really make this world a better place.

Posted on by Kristina Knowles

A table and chairs…

From God.

After my divorce, I moved from Virginia to Maryland. I sold a lot of items and kept a lot of items. There was one thing I would need, a table and chairs that I could put in the kitchen. The eat-in kitchen sat empty, I needed a table to have breakfast, lunch and dinner with my son, Griffin.

There were only a few things standing in the way of buying a table and chairs. Limited funds and a lack of desire to buy anything. However, I have always believed that my meals with Griffin were and will continue to be important. Griffin and I have had some of the best conversations while breaking bread.

I had gone to Wal-Mart and Ikea to see what type of table and chairs I could find that were inexpensive, nothing moved me to buy it, despite my need. So I decided to go to God instead of relying on my own decision, I prayed. Once I prayed about it, I never thought about it again. Then this happened…

One day my friend Ray and I decided to go to a Farmer’s Market in College Park, Maryland. We found a lot of delicious fruit and vegetables, it was such a fun day. As we headed back home, I started to drive home a different way. I couldn’t even tell you why.  We were driving past a few stores then I saw it.  There it was in plain view, a sign on the side of the road that read: Free table and chairs. I started to tear up, drove past it in shocked then pulled over. I am not sure what Ray was thinking but I didn’t care.

There was my table and chairs all for me from God. When you ask God for His help, His provisions He delights in blessing us. God is here for the little stuff(table and chairs) or the really big stuff. We need to go to Him for everything, I mean EVERYTHING. Which school, where should we live, what food should we eat, all of it everyday-all day!

So I am happy to report, I still have the table and chairs. I was even able to feed 12 family members on this beautiful blessing from God. God blessed me far better than I could have ever imagined with faith and patience.

 

 

Posted on by Kristina Knowles

“Who do you say I am?”..

Jesus asked.

I love this question, it makes me ponder how people truly view Jesus. And Jesus was just as curious as I was, that is why he asked. Jesus wanted to know after everything he did, after all the conversations, after all his teachings, after every miracle performed. Who do you say I am?

I recently thought to myself, that if we asked this very question to all the people we met in our lives, who would they we were? Would they focus their response on all the positive or negative? Would they have a little to say, or a lot to say? Or would they remain silent?

When I ask this question to myself about Jesus, I instantly smile. I say, Jesus is the Savior, Jesus is the only way, I say Jesus is my Redeemer. I say, Jesus died on the cross for our sins and performs miracles each and every day. I would say, Jesus because of God through Mary, conceived by the Holy Spirit became man and is seated at the right hand of God. I say, Jesus will come again to judge the living and the dead and his Kingdom will have no end. I say, Jesus is amazing and his teachings have influenced me and touch my life.

Could you and I start today to recognize the value of asking ourselves,”who do you say I am?” Would you live your life differently if you cared about who people say you are? Are you living your life in a way that would be pleasing to God? Are you living like Jesus? Are you loving more, helping more, forgiving more, happy more?

I challenge you to ask yourself this very question every day. Feel, each and every word in this question: Who. Do. You. Say. I. Am?  Would you hear? I Am Loving to everyone, I Am Kind to everyone, I Am Good to everyone, I Am more like Jesus to everyone. Let’s decide today to be different, to be better. When we change for the better in every facet of our life, we change the world for God!