December 30, 2024

How To Save Money On Healthcare When You Are Paying Out-Of-Pocket



Can I REALLY save money when paying out-of-pocket for healthcare instead of using health insurance?

YES! Health insurance has changed drastically in the last ten years. Most plans nowadays have ridiculously high deductibles, outrageous monthly rates and with "cost-sharing" most of them don't really cover much of what many of us need to be covered. Saving money on your healthcare needs for you AND the members of your household doesn't have to be expensive or complicated.  A good medical discount plan can help you save THOUSANDS of dollars every year without all the restrictions, limitations and high prices that are often involved when using traditional health insurance.



December 27, 2024

Gluten-Free Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins


  


Are there any weird or hard to find ingredients in this recipe?

Nope! I try to make sure all of my recipes contain only ingredients that you can easily find in grocery stores or through online shopping.

Do I need any special gluten-free flours or flour blends?

Nope! Once again I like to keep my gluten-free recipes as simple as possible. While I do have a recipe for a gluten-free flour blend, you won't need that for this one. The main flour is oat flour. I buy oats in bulk and make my own oat flour by grinding the oats in my blender until it's a fine powder. Super easy!

How easy is this recipe to make?

This recipe is a super quick to make! You don't need any fancy equipement. Just a bowl, whisk and spoon or spatula. It takes just a few minutes to whip up the batter and start baking muffins!



December 26, 2024

Gluten Free Soft Flour Tortillas






When I was exclusively gluten-free a few years back it was one of the hardest diet changes I had ever made because gluten is in practically everything.  And it can be hidden with weird names so unless you are doing a ton of research you would still be eating it without even knowing it. But for me that wasn't even the hardest part.  As time when on l learned what to look for in ingredients.  For me the hardest part was actually making some of the food.  


December 25, 2024

Gluten Free Biscuits




After going gluten-free over two years ago I have struggled in the bread baking department. Gluten-Free baking is NOT like regular baking.  You practically have to be some kind of mad-scientist chemist sort of person to be able to successfully recreate regular bread recipes into gluten-free recipes successfully.  If you've been there then you know how real the struggle is.  Can I get an amen?


December 24, 2024

Gluten Free Quick Cake Style Cinnamon Rolls

Are you missing sweet treats?  These cinnamon rolls are one of my most requested recipes!  The are so quick and easy to make and perfect for that special Christmas breakfast or anytime you want an easy breakfast, dessert or special treat.  

It only takes about an hour and a half to make these from start to finish. These rolls can be prepared a head of time unbaked, and stored in the refrigerator for 24-48 hours until you are ready to bake them.


December 23, 2024

Soft Gluten-Free White Sandwich Bread



It's finally finished!!!  After FIVE years I finally developed and perfected my own gluten-free bread recipe using my own personal flour blend!  This bread recipe is a labor of love not only for myself but for all of you who are gluten-free and struggling to make bread that actually tastes good, is not dry or gritty and bakes and smells like REAL BREAD.  That's because it IS real bread.  



December 21, 2024

Basic Gluten-Free Pizza Crust





Going gluten-free doesn't mean that you have to give up your favorite foods!  Friday nights is pizza night at my house and we haven't ordered a commercial pizza in YEARS!  When I went gluten-free five years ago and was diagnosed with multiple digestive issues including a fat intolerance I had no choice but to learn to cook differently.  


December 20, 2024

Easy Gluten Free Cup For Cup All Purpose Flour Blend





Why I created this recipe

Several years ago, in the early years of my illness, my doctor suggested I try a gluten free diet to see if my digestive symptoms could be better controlled.  While I didn't see a ton of improvement, I stayed gluten free for three years.  I tried ALL KINDS of prepackaged and homemade gluten free flour blends.  NONE of them ever worked for me.  They were either too dry, too gritty, too nasty tasting, not enough flavor or just plain gross. While I found a few blends that were better than others, most of them just didn't give me the results I would see others get in their recipes.  


December 18, 2024

SOMEONE CARES: GOD SPEAKS TO THOSE WHO HEAR HIM

 


GOD HEARS YOUR PRAYER, YOUR CRIES AND YOUR PAIN. JESUS IS NEAR. SPEND TIME IN THE LIGHT OF GOD’S WORD AND YOUR ANSWER WILL COME.

God was mostly silent, but he heard Zechariah’s prayer.

Zechariah and Elizabeth

I spent my 15 minutes “in the light” today in the book of Luke. I saw some things I’d never seen before about Zechariah and Elizabeth as I studied this part of the Christmas story again.

Read the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth from Luke 1:5-25 here.

Who were Zechariah and Elizabeth? Zechariah and Elizabeth were both descendants from the priestly line of Aaron and the Levites. They were devout and upright. The Bible says they observed all the Lord’s commandments and regulations blamelessly. That doesn’t mean they were perfect. It does mean they set their heart and intent to follow God and submit to him in every way.



God Takes Notice In Our Daily Grind

 


ZECHARIAH’S ENCOUNTER WITH GOD IN THE TEMPLE WAS PROBABLY MORE LIFE-CHANGING THAN FATHERING A CHILD IN HIS OLD AGE. PRESSURES OF THE EVERYDAY WORKLOAD FADED WHEN HE MET GOD.

God wants to spend time with you today.

When no one else appreciates us, God still cares

Read the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth from Luke 1:5-25 here.

Work was hard today. I am so tired, I don’t know if I’ll ever get rested. I want a job like Zechariah’s where you only work two weeks a year. The NIV Study Bible says that each priest was responsible for a week’s service at the temple every six months. Sounds great anyway. But I am sure Zechariah worked year-round, just in a less prominent area.



Comprehending The Darkness, You Have Experienced The Begining


 

IF YOU ARE OVERCOME WITH DARKNESS, COULD IT BE YOU’VE NOT EXPERIENCED THE LIGHT SOURCE? HAVE YOU MISSED CHRISTMAS? LET’S START AT THE BEGINNING.

“The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it” (John 1:5).

The story of beginnings

Read the story of beginnings in Genesis 1:1-3 and John 1:1-13.

We’ve been talking about Zechariah and Elizabeth and the baby God promised them. Baby John was a special baby. He was sent to prepare the way for God’s own Son. The world had been waiting. When would the promised Redeemer come? Finally God’s Son arrived, but few people noticed. John proclaimed his glory.



God Brings Fulfillment In Our Wait


WE CAN LET WAITING MAKE US MISERABLE, OR WE CAN PLAN TO ENJOY IT AND BE HAPPY. WAITING IS INEVITABLE. WHY NOT LEARN TO LOVE THE WAIT AND EXPERIENCE THE ABUNDANCE OF GOD’S FULFILLMENT?

Lord, teach us how to wait in your joy.

Our life has not stopped just because we wait

Christmas lights. Aren’t they pretty?

But for those of us in divided homes, who’ve waited so long for God to intervene, it’s sometimes hard to see the beauty of the lights. We long for the light of a home completed in God’s union and love. We wait.

It is interesting that as I have been developing studies from the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth on Christmas Lights, we had a guest preacher in our church Sunday night who brought a message on the same story. Read the story here.



Elizabeth's Light Helped Zachariah In His Blindness

 


ELIZABETH DIDN’T CONCENTRATE ON THE INCONVENIENCE OF HER HUSBAND’S WEAKNESS. SHE WAS A LIGHT TO HIM AS SHE REJOICED IN THE FULFILLMENT OF THE LORD’S PROVISION.

‘The Lord has done this for me,’ she said (Luke 1:25).

How did Zechariah tell Elizabeth?

Read the passage we’ve been looking at in this Christmas Lights study here.

We can only imagine the conversation when Zechariah arrived home:

“What happened to you, honey?” Elizabeth asks, frightened.

Zechariah motions reassurance to her. He finds a scrap of paper and begins to write the story of what has just happened to him for his wife to read.



Chosen By The Creator Of The Universe

 


GOD HAD BEEN SILENT 400 YEARS BETWEEN THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. NOW SHARED GOOD NEWS WITH THE PRIEST ZECHARIAH AT THE ALTAR OF INCENSE.

God is directing your lots.

Chosen by lot or by God?

Read the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth again in Luke 1 here.

Notice especially verse 9. Zechariah was chosen by lot to go to the temple and burn incense. Now do you really believe that for one minute? Well of course he was chosen by lot, the Bible says so, and the Bible is always true. But do you believe he was really chosen by lot? Yes they did cast lots and Zechariah was the one chosen by lot. But the one who chose Zechariah was God.



ARE YOU SAD? CELEBRATE LIGHT THIS CHRISTMAS

 




ARE YOU SAD THIS CHRISTMAS? LIGHT THERAPY IS USED FOR SEASONAL AFFECTIVE DISORDER, BUT OUR SOURCE OF ILLUMINATION IS NOT A LAMP. OUR LIGHT IS A PERSON.

Just 15 minutes a day with the Light

Celebrate light this Christmas season

If the word “sad” describes you during the winter months, you are not alone. Seasonal Affective Disorder, or cabin fever, affects a half a million people in the United States according to an American Academy of Family Physicians article.

Research shows that in September when the days start getting shorter, many people begin to feel symptoms of sadness, fatigue, and sleepiness. This seems to be connected to the lack of light due to shorter days. Research shows that sunlight or specially made light boxes often relieve the symptoms.



December 15, 2024

How To Take Control Over Your Social Media




This post was originally written in 2017.  It's been a while now since I took control of my social media and what a difference it has made!  I HIGHLY recommend taking the tip I give in this post to heart and stop letting your social media consume you. Here is the original post...
 
Today was a hard day.  It was a painful day.  It was a pivotal day in my life.  It was a day of tears, fears, what if's, why not's, "why me's".  It was the day I closed my social media blinds and started mowing my own yard. Facebook, Instagram, Snap Chat, Twitter...every social media site known to man is made to do one thing, make us the most unsocial, unreal, unplugged people in all of society.  I know some you just gasped and almost dropped your phone in the toilet.  But, it's true.  Social media is one of the most unsocial, deceptive tools we have available to use today.  And the Internet is the gas that fuels the whole shebang.


December 14, 2024

The Hardest Goodbye


 
This is the story about how God took two broken people, made them whole again and gave them a relationship they never knew they ever wanted.  This is how God healed my relationship with my dad. Ten months into our healing journey, after a seven month battle with pancreatic cancer, he went to Jesus on February 5, 2022.  It's kind of ironic to say this, but he is actually the reason the ministry my mom started, House Of Hope Undivided, exists.  Yes mom started this ministry years ago, but it was only because he and mom went through some hard times that eventually lead to their legal separation and divorce.  But God always has  a plan.  Mom was able to use those circumstances to help so many women during her time in the ministry.


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