Gardening Is A Workout!

It is that time of year and I am chomping at the bits! This was my favorite garden picture from last year! Here are some statements I read yesterday in a magazine.

"More and more, scientists are confirming what avid gardeners have known all along" Wrestling with stubborn weeds, trimming hedges, and spreading mulch are all good ways to work up a very respectable, healthy sweat. Doing work around the garden also tends to be more mentally and emotionally rewarding than trudging away on the treadmill at the gym. Gardening is a great way to maintain flexibility and tone muscle. Bending to pick flowers or reaching to prune a vine, for examples, can help you stay limber. Digging, hoeing, and lifting build core body strength, which protects against back problems and helps prevent falls. The more you exert yourself, the greater the benefits. Household and yard activities increase metabolic rate threefold to fivefold. That's enough to reduce blood pressure and improve cholesterol levels when a gardener works for at least thirty minutes five days a week. Tasks that are strenuous enough to leave a gardener feeling slightly winded-pushing a hand mower or raking, for example-will improve cardiovascular fitness. Gardening, like more traditional forms of exercise, has been shown to lower the risk of heart disease and help ward off type 2 (adult-onset) diabetes.

Calorically speaking, an afternoon of raking, trimming, and weeding rates as high as more serious workouts. On average, gardening burns about 265 calories an hour, more than expended by brisk walking.

Less strenuous forms of yard work have pluses, too. They are appropriate for people with arthritis and can actually ease their pain.

The benefits of being active in the garden go beyond physical health. Studies show that almost any kind of moderate exercise reduces stress. But gardening may have an added advantage. Instead of blowing your top at your boss, you can attack those weeds to release your aggressions - and have a beautiful garden to enjoy when you're done

Simply enjoying a patch of green, even from afar, can be therapeutic. When Texas A&M University researcher Roger Ulrich compared hospital records of patients recovering from gallbladder surgery, he discovered that the ones whose rooms had a view of nature recovered more quickly than those who look out at a brick wall.

Ultimately, what may be best about flexing a green thumb is that it's such a pleasure it hardly feels like exercise!"

Affabel

Join the majestic King Jalyn, the dark lord Dagon, Charity, Independent and others as you explore the wondrous lands of The Kingdom of Affabel, The Community of Endel and the terrible outer limits of Lone! You'll be challenged in the Great Hall - perhaps even shocked - as each character reveals much of YOUR very own heart! Search your deepest feelings as you hear the drama play out!This audio drama, taken from John Bevere's newest book Driven by Eternity (Warner Faith) will capture your heart and soul as you experience life on "the other side" where eternity is brought into the present and all must stand before the Great King and Judge. Be prepared for a roller coaster ride of joy and sorrow, astonishment and revelation as life-long rewards are bestowed on some and others are bound hand and foot and cast into outer darkness by the Royal Guard!4CD SET, digitally recorded with a Hollywood cast, this riveting audio drama brings characters to life with action, emotion and custom music to complete the exciting production. This story takes you beyond yourself and into a world of other-reality. A place where things are not always as they seem, but truth prevails and your heart will emerge forever changed! Awaken Your Soul

That is a copy and pasted advertisement of the audio theatre I finished listening to yesterday. If this author has really caught the truth in the Word about Judgement...and I can't help but think he's got it right, help!
All I can say folks, is we had best dig deep in the Word and KNOW what and who God is calling us to be on this earth! As believers we had better be drawing each other into a deeper walk...not a washed up, meaningless walk. And those of our friends who don't know Jesus...we will be held accountable for not telling and influencing them for Christ!!!!

So have you read my helpful hints yet? I would guess none of you will ever throw away a candle container in comfort after you read todays helpful hint! :?)

We Take Captive Every Thought...

...to make it obedient to Christ!

II Corinthians 10:5

When I go to bed I don't have much time to think in that I pretty much fall asleep almost instantly. However as I put my head on my pillow last night this portion of scripture went through my mind. I do not know what triggered the thought...but it triggered me to start worshipping God and thanking Him for His great Love.

I also started thinking about the great power of these words. I know that when we go to bed is a time when this scripture should be remembered! When all else is quiet is when we can start letting "stuff" come to our mind that eventually leads to sin. Folks, whatever we let our mind dwell on...and we think it is safely tucked away there...well, it becomes so comfortable that we act on it! Resentments, bad attitudes, lusts...etc. All those can get their start in those quiet moments when your head hits the pillow. But beloved ones.....take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ!

Don't worry about anything: instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. If you do this, you will experience God's peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. ....Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned from me and heard from me and saw me doing, and the God of peace will be with you.

Philippians 4:6-9

Let heaven fill your thoughts. Do not think only about things down here on earth. For you died when Christ died, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is your real life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all His glory.

Colossians 3:2-4

If this is something new you will incorporate in your bed time...tell us about it!!!!

Soon I will post a scripture with which to wake up with!!!!

Who Is A Fanatic?

I am still reading the book After God's Own Heart in that I am also reading other books at the same time. Here is something interesting I read yesterday.
"The definition of a fanatic is someone who loves Jesus more than you do. Fiery lifestyles disrupt religious people. Religious systems and people resist abandonment because it threatens their stability and power. There are few radical believers in the Western church today, and yet people who drink from the well of Western values are greatly offended by these passionate, sold out believers. It unnerves them. They feel judged by the lifestyle. They don't like the "in-your-face" prophetic statement that an abandoned lifestyle makes. Like David's family, they want to write you off so they can soothe their consciences and settle down into business as usual without disruptions.
Fearless, wholehearted believers will be in the majority before the Lord returns. But on the way there, in the years that lie ahead, there will be great unsettledness in the body of Christ as radical fasting-and praying believers upset the status quo. These people are no better than anyone else; they don't form a new spiritual elite. (They will be hungrier, but not better!) But they will cause all kinds of turbulence for a few decades as they go after their goal with great zeal even in their weakness. Others will feel judged. People will transfer their anger and bitterness toward God to these believers.
So be warned: contending for the power of God with intimacy is disruptive. You will be confronted and criticized for your lifestyle. Beloved, the people of God in our culture and in this time of history will not all applaud your consuming zeal for Jesus. A fiery life provokes fire in return-even friendly fire from family and acquaintances. They will come up with theological, emotional, and relational arguments to write you off. You will feel the stigma placed on you, and you will bear the reproach that David and John the Baptist bore."


Wow! I think I want to be "guilty" of that!

Great Conference!

I absolutely enjoyed the Passion For Jesus Conference I went to this past weekend. There were well over 2000 people there! The place was full even on Thursday afternoon. On Friday night the young people were asked to sit on the floor up in front to give room for all the people coming in.
Some highlights from the conference are:

• We seek to be a "people of the Spirit" both in our inner life as well as in our ministry to others. We must deeply value our relationship with the Spirit. A vibrant walk with the Spirit is essential in our quest to experience more of God. It is futile to seek deep experiences with God while neglecting the Spirit's presence and leadership. We cannot go deep in God with a dull spirit. ( That is a spiritual ICU unit)
• Spiritual burn out is a disconnect with the Holy Spirit.
• We will not walk in the Spirit more than we talk to the Spirit. We will not obey Him more than we talk to Him. He will talk us out of sinning and quitting.
• The more we talk to the Spirit the less we talk to people in a away that quenches the Holy Spirit, our spirit, and their spirit. Words release (activated) as well as hinder the Spirit's work in us.

Those are from Mike Bickle's sermons

• Something that stayed with me from Allen Hood as he emphasized the importance of our understanding the story of Jesus from Genesis through Revelation. He talked about the fulfillment of God's promise with Christ's death on the cross. He came at it with an angle I had not heard before. All that God did was for our protection against Satan because of what Satan did to His little girl in the Garden of Eden. It definitely left me with a picture of a very loving, protective Father we have!

Following are statements from John Bevere

• For believers it is not where you spend eternity but how you will spend eternity.
• Believers will not be judged by what you did but in the light of what you are called to do.

John had some new concepts to me about eternity. I am reading his book "Driven By Eternity". It will take me awhile to get through the study so it may be awhile before I post about what he has to say.

Notes on some of the sermons can be printed from ihop.org. The dates of the conference were the 8-10. You will see notes for those dates.

I Have a New Blog

It seems like I am fascinated with learning unconventional ways of dealing with things in life. This means I just might have some suggestion for something if you happen to mention what is going on in your life! I have started a new blog that will have posts triggered by something that came my way and I passed on my "suggestion" I will be cutting and pasting so both blogspot and myspace will have the same information(except for comments from my viewers :?)
Even if you are a blogspot blogger visit my MySpace site at least once! I have put a basically waterfall slide show on that site. Gary can tell you that I have always been partial to waterfalls. However, even the pictures of them are more meaningful to me after my recent readings. You will find the statement in an earlier posting...The turbulent rivers of affection in God's personality flow strong...that is the tremendous, fierce, fiery desire in God's heart towards me...towards you!!!!!
www.joyceshelpfulhints.blogspot.com
www.myspace.com/joyceshelpfulhints

Describe Me In One Word

Describe ME in ONE WORD...just one word!

Copy and paste this to your blog and see how many strange things people say about you!

This could be fun!

(Or Dangerous..he,he! :?)

!