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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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With Age Comes Acceptance
A couple weeks ago I had a conversation with one of the other teachers at school. She’s almost done earning her masters degree in classical education. She told me the story of how, last summer during a big presentation, she found herself tongue-tied in front of a group of people for the first time since she-can’t-remember-when. This actually resulted in her talking too much instead of too little, and she failed her presentation since she didn’t fit the necessary information into the alotted amount of time. This also means she failed the class, which is why she’s not quite done earning her masters degree yet. I admire this teacher and…
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Intuitive Eating, Intuitive Living, and My God-given Limitations
As I’ve written about here at Teacher by Nature before, overeating is a struggle for me. What I’ve found the most challenging about getting my eating habits under control and honoring to God is the fact that I cannot stop eating. Those who find themselves enslaved to alcohol can simply (yet not easily) stop drinking alcohol. Alcohol is not necessary to human survival. Food, however, is. I cannot stop eating or, more specifically, I cannot stop consuming calories and nutrients. Both are good and necessary for life and the proper functioning of my body. I grew up in a very health-conscious family. My parents taught me the difference between nutritious…
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Do I Really Believe that Fullness of Joy is Found in Jesus?
You make known to me the path of life;in your presence there is fullness of joy;at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.Psalm 16:11 Psalm 16 is one of my favorite Psalms. The Corner Room, a folky Christian band, put Psalm 16 to music on one of their albums. It’s a lovely rendition of the Psalm. Verse 11 always stands out to me. If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you’ve certainly read about my struggle with overeating. I’ve accepted that this will probably be a lifelong battle for me; however, victory belongs to the Lord. In a recent article from Desiring God, Scott Hubbard says, “Christians commit sins.…
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Weight Loss Round Three
Introduction The word “gospel” means good news. As Christians, the good news we share with others is that Jesus came to redeem us from our sins. When we trust in him, we do our best to please him in every area of our lives for his glory and our good. As I matured as a Christian woman, I noticed areas of my life in which I didn’t apply the gospel, which included diet, exercise, and just generally how I took care of myself. Subconsciously, I think I labeled these as moral “gray areas” because the Bible doesn’t prescribe a particular diet, exercise, or health care regiment. While that may be…