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7 Good Mental Health Habits to Continue in 2023
I love making New Year’s resolutions. (Here’s a list of my past New Year’s resolutions: 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022). This year, however, I decided to set the goal of continuing some good mental health habits I started in 2022. The first group of my good mental health habits concerns food. I’ve posted a lot about my struggles with overeating, and I continue to fight against that sin in my life. Overeating, for me, is a spiritual issue. I understand the ideas behind methods such as intuitive eating, intermittent fasting, and diets like keto and paleo. None of this matters, however, if I choose to continue to eat foods I shouldn’t…
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The Mystery of Godliness: A Song for My Church Family {New Music Monday}
The church doesn’t have a great reputation these days. Some churches are divided on current events, some are facing the moral failures of their leaders, and some have left the doctrines of Christianity far behind and replaced them with worldly wisdom. It can be challenging to find a church that still holds to basic biblical beliefs, such as the inerrancy of Scripture, the power of the gospel to save sinners and transform the world, and the sovereignty and immutability of God. I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that, if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in…
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Brewing the Best Mocha, Forming the Perfect Sentence
We just spent a beautiful, relaxing week up at the cabin. We arrived home last night, and this morning, when I went to grind some espresso beans for my mocha, I noticed that I had left some grounds sitting in the bottom of the grinder. The longer espresso grounds sit without being used, especially in the summer humidity of the Midwest, the worse they taste. I had a small debate with myself: do I dump the grounds into the garbage, because they probably won’t taste as delicious as usual, and then grind fresh beans, or do I use them anyways? I decided to dump the grounds. I felt a twinge…
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Surrounded by Friendship, Music, and Love
This is part two of a two-part story. You can read part one here. *** Swimming has always been one of my favorite things to do. I’m not competitive (unless I’m playing euchre with my dad), so I never swam on a team, but I enjoy floating around whatever lake is close by. The water feels so cool and delicious as I dive down underneath the surface. For a few moments the world is calm, even if the waves are big up above me. I’m immersed in a hidden place, like a lost city or a quiet cave. Nobody can find me in this ghost town beneath the waves. At…
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A Hush Fell Over the Auditorium
I joined a choir this summer! In this post, I talk about what being part of a choir has meant to me in the past, and what it means to me now. Here's the story.