• God’s Grace
  • Etsy Shop!
    • Printable Stickers
    • Printable Coloring Books
    • Printable Wrapping Paper
    • Coffee Mug Art
  • Toxin-Free Home
    • Get Your Oils!
    • Babies + Kids + Pets
    • CBD
    • Dental + Body Care
    • Diffuser Blends
    • Emotions + Mental Health
    • Energy + Weight Management
    • Hair + Makeup
    • Men’s + Women’s Care
    • Natural Remedies + Immune Function
    • NingXia
    • Skin Care
  • DIY Oily Recipes
    • Get Your Oils!
    • DIY Recipes
  • Homeschooling & Kids
  • Favorite Family Recipes

Grace Blossoms

5 Books That Grow Spirit and Mind

These 5 books that grow spirit and mind are unbelievably helpful when seeking growth in faith, homeschooling, and business.

5 Books That Grow Spirit and Mind

Last month, I read five books that grow spirit and mind.

They were powerful, helpful, and changed me forever.

Mindset: The New Psychology of Success-Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D.

Find this book here.

This book helped shape my thinking from fixed mindset to growth mindset.

In fact, having been a teacher in a school who talked about this from time to time, I thought I had a good handle on what this meant.

However, I found I really had barely an inkling of all this could mean for me.

This mindset book has been helping me with my business, marriage, parenting, being a friend, and as a learner.

I highly recommend this book if you’re looking to create the very best version of yourself.

Project-Based Homeschooling: Mentoring Self-Directed Learners-Lori Pickert

Find this book here.

Again, having been a teacher during the age of PBL (project-based learning) I was curious about this idea.

The biggest question I had going into this was, “Why would I try this in homeschool if kids at my public school hated it so much?”

I was open to learning more and figuring out if it was something we could adopt at home.

As it turns out, I had no idea what true PBL actually is.

This not only answered my question, but it also encouraged me to have my children explore this as a part of how we live day-to-day.

They fell in love with it fast.

While I did skip ahead a bit here and there when this book was super repetitive, I found it to be overall very helpful to have a more child-centered classroom here at home.

Custom Star Map

The Soul Winner: How to Lead Sinners to the Saviour-Charles Spurgeon

Find this book here.

What a game-changer this book was for my spiritual life.

It was a book mentioned during one of my Bible study meetings, and it stuck out to me because I’ve been wondering about this as a Jesus follower.

This book is full of goodness, friends.

It is so practical and useful in terms of how to fulfill the Great Commission.

I’m so very glad I’ve read it and feel it even deserves a second read.

How to Be Filled with the Holy Spirit-A.W. Tozer

You can find this book here.

What a fast, yet amazing read!

I found myself curious as I learned more about the Holy Spirit.

So, when I saw this book as an option to read, I grabbed it.

This answered a lot of questions I’d been asking about being filled with the Holy Spirit.

A small, but meaty book that’s definitely worth a second read as well.

Gaiam Wholesale Program

Good Leaders Ask Great Questions: Your Foundation for Successful Leadership-John C. Maxwell

You can find this book here.

As a person in charge of my own business, I find myself always asking how to be a better leader.

My job is to take care of those who are working alongside me building their own businesses.

I loved this book because it gave me such insight into many situations.

I have a better handle on how to be a better leader, how to be lead well, and most important for my particular business, how to find good leaders to dig in and work alongside them.

Final Thoughts

Last month’s reading was highly impactful.

I tried to find books that would help me grow in my faith, as a homeschool mama, and as a business builder.

These five books were outstanding for those three purposes!

Did you see January’s reads?

You can find them here!

Technology Used by Successwful Businesses
These 5 books that grow spirit and mind are unbelievably helpful when seeking growth in faith, homeschooling, and business.

Filed in: Walking • by Andrea •

[jetpack-related-posts]

The Breathing Word

There’s this thing that happens.

Read more

Filed in: Walking • by Andrea •

[jetpack-related-posts]

Ally.

Nowhere else in this world will you ever find an ally like you will in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ because there's nowhere He hasn't stood.

Ally

There’s nowhere we can go in this world where we will find another human being that has lived the exact same situations as us. An ally who totally and 100 percent gets it.

But we look, don’t we?

We love empathetic people because they’ve been there. Done that. Have insight.

If we are connected by friends and family, and we feel better.

Temporarily.

We are bandaged but not healed.

As Close as We Can Get on Earth

Why can’t someone who has had similar struggles heal our hearts?

Because even if we lined our situations up on paper, there would still be one big difference: this person isn’t us.

They don’t have our mind or our heart. They don’t have our past or our future.

Unfortunately, that still leaves us broken and unable, trying to pull everything together.

It’s frustrating because we are always so sure that if we can just find someone who “gets it,” we can start to move past whatever is hurting us.

I know how this goes, because I have lived it.

When I speak to other women who have experienced miscarriage, they too have lost a child. I am in the presence of a person who has felt the same loss, so we chat. Offering hope. Offering understanding. Sharing our stories.

Sometimes it just feels good to tell another person who has lived it.

Because God made us to join in fellowship, not live alone.

And it does feel vindicating when I hear her hardest part was right before the baby was taken, too.

That even though she knew her baby was gone, that she also laid her hand on her belly and wept like me for the thought of not having her baby be a part of her body anymore.

Like I’m not the only one.

Like she gets it.

It does feel a little better to hear it.

But for all the mothers I’ve spoken with, it never healed me.

Not completely.

It was good for me to know I wasn’t alone, but it most certainly didn’t change me.

My babies were still gone.

I still wasn’t raising them at home with my other two children.

My heart was still shattered.

I was still confused and broken.

Why can’t the empathy of another person fix everything?

Because there is only One who understands everything.

Only Jesus

When we’re feeling lost, hurt, lonely, afraid, worried, or broken, we do have somewhere to turn.

Someone who will not only empathize, but who will also heal us from the inside out.

I know it’s true because it’s happened to me.

To get me through the unbelievable pain of seeing our first baby’s heartbeat on an ultrasound and then losing it three weeks later.

That held me after learning our twins’ miscarriage possibly saved my life.

Who broke down anxiety over scans that the cancer in my youngest is gone for good.

I have felt it. I know it.

And so I want to give you these.

When you’re unsure where to look, here are Words from the Bible that explain why Jesus is your best ally.

And why, when you’re hurt, you can turn to Him above all else to receive complete and total healing.

1. Psalm 119:130

The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple.

That’s how we feel when we’re broken, don’t we?

Raw and unsure and simple.

Looking for a reason. We’re unable to understand on our own.

The Lord shines light, over time, in big ways and in little, on every pain. Helps heal us through the process of leaning on Him for understanding.

2.) Psalm 119:169

Let my cry come before you, O Lord;  give me understanding according to your word!

When we’re hurting worse than we could ever imagine, we can cry out to God.

We can ask Him to give us understanding according to His Word.

I can attest that He will. He is always who He says He is. He never lets us down.

3.)Psalm 46:1

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

All it takes is opening our heart, and we can feel this very real, very present help.

The best way I can explain it is as an overwhelming sense of peace and clarity. Strength to face my problems because there’s an ultimate sense that I am not battling alone. Something I know couldn’t have come from anywhere else. It’s astounding and beautiful.

4.) Proverbs 3:5

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,and do not lean on your own understanding.

This can be super difficult.

It is hard to trust someone we can’t see, especially if we don’t know Him. I get that.

However, if its come to the point where we don’t know what we’ll do if something doesn’t change, then we can open our heart to the Lord, and put our trust in Him.

Things will change. Not in our timing, but in His. So we are patient (or keep trying really hard…because it is difficult!). We keep trusting, praying, and going to the Lord, and we’ll start noticing things happening that can’t be explained any other way than by the God.

5.) Proverbs 3:19

The Lord by wisdom founded the earth; by understanding he established the heavens

If He created the heavens and the earth in all its intricacies, then His wisdom should surely be what we seek.

To guide us.

To carry us through.

Why wouldn’t we go to the One who knows everything?

6.) Isaiah 40:28

Have you not known? Have you not heard?

The Lord is the everlasting God,

 the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He does not faint or grow weary;

his understanding is unsearchable.

We faint. Grow weary. BUT with God, nothing is impossible, and so while we are weary, Jesus carries the burden.

We can’t even look for how far His understanding goes because it’s too far beyond what we can fathom.

As children of a Father, we look toward Him, because He knows this world, and he knows our hearts.

He loves and cares for us.

And in that we can find rest.

7.)Matthew 11:28

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Not only does God have all the understanding in this world and beyond, but he wants us to seek Him.

He wants us. You. Me. To come looking for him. To call out, “God, help!”

He wants to make our paths clear, to be a lamp to light our way. He tells us plain and simple, “Come to me.”

We don’t have to wonder if we’re enough or if we need to achieve something before we can lay our problems at His feet because He’s already invited us.

It’s a standing invitation to be with Him.

Invest in Your Relationship

When we show up. Take Him up on His offer…that is when we see—when we feel–change.

When we look at this, which is only a small sliver of how many times we are told to look to God, come to him, rest in him, it is clear that we have an unbelievably amazing ally in Jesus.

Always.

And this God of ours, he’s not only an ally here and there or only when you’ve been on your best behavior.

That’s not why He died on the cross.

He died for sinners. He died for you and he died for me.

Because He loves us.

All we have to do is let Him in.

Let Him fight for us, in us, beside us, and we will be stronger.

We will be in the army of all armies, being lead to true victory.

With this love, support, empathy, and understanding, we will be healed.

From the inside out.

Nowhere else in this world will you ever find an ally like you will in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ because there's nowhere He hasn't stood.

Filed in: Walking • by Andrea •

[jetpack-related-posts]

The One Thing That Won’t Fit on Your To-Do List

The One Thing That Won’t Fit on Your To-Do List

Let’s take a different look at the to-do list.

It’s so weird, isn’t it?

How we call a “change of heart” something that refers to a sudden act.

Why did she end up going to the event?

She had a change of heart. 

Why didn’t you choose to accept the position?

Change of heart. 

Just like that.

One minute you think one way and then, with the snap of a finger, you’ve had this total heart change, and you’re thinking in a completely different way.

If only it were that simple.

Truth

As Christians we have come to know heart changes as some of the biggest transformations of our lives. And rightly so.

All God wants is our heart.

However, changing the way one’s heart feels changes our actions, our speech, our mental thought process.

This, unfortunately does not fit into the world’s description of a “change of heart.”

A Big Christian Struggle

One of the biggest struggles in Christianity is the waiting.

Oh, the waiting. Then the learning. Then the waiting some more.

Because God doesn’t work on our time clock or our will.

Thy will be done.

Not Andrea’s.

My Flesh Has a To-Do List

See, my flesh doesn’t like this so much.

Why?

I’m a planner. A checklist-er.

I have an end goal, and I either meet that end goal, or I will tomorrow. Or the next day. Or the next week.

Whenever and however it happens, I know that it will all fit together. Nice and neat. Tied up in a little bow. Checked off my list with an immediate gratification.

Groceries-check!

Dishes-check!

Lesson planning-check!

Trust the Lord in all things——–

Trust the LORD

That’s a bit different. Let’s think: I know when I want it to happen: today, obviously. Okay, okay…maybe by the end of the week to give myself some grace. I do have a lot on my plate. Maybe I won’t get to all-out trusting by midnight tonight.

I know how I plan on making this happen: Bible study, prayer, accountability partner.

I set forth. Bible open. Journaling pens poised. Hands folded and head bowed.

I feel great about the work I’ve done during quiet time on day one. Maybe I’ll meet that midnight goal after all. God, thank You for working in my heart! I love you!

Two hours later, I’m at work, and I get a call about making Hudson’s next ultrasound appointment. My heart drops but only for a second. That familiar feeling of “what if”.

I start thinking about the day I can take off that works with my schedule.

I think about how he’ll react to going NPO (not eating until the ultrasound is over).

My mind wanders over to how that first ultrasound looked when we confirmed our baby had cancer. What did it look like again? It’s hard to remember now three years out. Best to try to remember  though, so I can watch the screen.

My heart flutters that familiar way it does every six months when I have to schedule the blood draw. The x-ray. Should I go for the x-ray? I hate the extra radiation exposure, but who am I to say I know more than Dr. Dole?

So much for that midnight deadline.

God, Help!

“God, help!”

I take a deep breath. My heart settles. I lean on Him again.

My heart hasn’t changed! But I felt so great about my time with God this morning!

What gives?

Why can’t I just check this off my list and move on? Even though I really want it with all my heart?

Because God’s not done working on me just yet.

Patience

He has lots of lessons. Lots of “Oh, I see…” moments just waiting for me.

To be perfectly honest, I both love and really really dislike this about walking the walk, friends.

I love it because I’ve been on the other side of a true heart change, and it’s huge.

Huger than huge.

It’s game-changing big and God reveals Himself in ways that knock me over.

I know what’s coming from Him is not just good but the absolute definition of awesome.

BUT.

Not Me But Him

I don’t know when. I don’t know how. I don’t know what I’ll have to endure to learn the lessons He knows are best for me.

I don’t have control over this situation, and just like that the belief floats away in the breeze, and I’m left bare, raw, and insecure.

The only way to overcome this is calling on Jesus. My Savior. My Redeemer. My King.

And then I realize something.

Instead of rolling through the list of how this is so unfair, and can’t God just see I have good intentions?  

Can’t He give me what I went for that morning during my quiet time with a pure desire to be better for His kingdom?

Can’t He just follow my timetable?

I realize that…simply put… it’s not about me.

And all about Him.

When I check off my to-do list, I’m the head of my life and my heart.

When I’m empty without Him and can do all things with Him, then and only then has He truly got my heart.

I Am Weak. He is Strong.

In my weakness He is strong. 

So, no. The life-altering heart changes won’t fit on that to-do list of ours, but it’s okay.

It’s more than okay. It’s the way it’s supposed to be.

To draw us nearer to God in our inability to take on His role. To bring us clarity in only ways He can do. To forever change our earthly life so we can better serve His kingdom in our forever home.

It takes surrender. It takes love. And it takes us on the journey whether we like it or not.

To learn the ultimate lesson: only when we stop grasping for what’s in our short sightedness and pray for eyes to see His path can we be changed.

Every hour. Every minute. Every second. I need You.

Praise God, how I need You!

AMEN!!

The one thing that won't fit on your to-do list might suprise you and is well worth your time to look into and see how it fits you.

Filed in: Walking • by Andrea •

[jetpack-related-posts]

Dear New Christian


Dear New Christian,

I write to you today almost nine years exactly from the day I decided to live for the Lord, and there are some things you should know, new Christian.

1.) Reading scripture is essential.

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.

2 Timothy 3:16-17

This is something I didn’t really understand until I began Bible study. To read, study, dig deep into what the Lord has left for us to live our life by is huge.

Every day, in big and small ways, we need Scripture.

One way to do this is to have a go-to every day. This is an app I have on my phone that serves me well.

It’s easy to personalize with different devotions, and I can even link up with friends who have the app.

2.) Community is Biblical.

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Hebrews 10:24-25

Being a homebody who can sit and read for hours without socially interacting with anyone, I fought this one hard.

It wasn’t until I was urged by a friend and by Scripture that I began really being active in a community of Christians.

It’s been unbelievably special.

Our Bible study meets Wednesday nights, and we have something called House Church every other Sunday evening. It is basically a family study where the kids learn a lesson and play while the adults discuss a study or the sermon  after we’ve had dinner together.

It’s a lot of Jesus in our life.

It was a big change, but it was so very worth it. If you’re unsure of where to start, your church elders can lead you into a community of believers.

3.) His mercies are new every morning.

As a new Christian, it can be overwhelming how great our God is. How He loves. How He lives.

This verse can help us:

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
    his mercies never come to an end;
 they are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness.

Lamentations 3:22-23

Each day I need His mercies. I have to pray,”Lord help me be better than I was yesterday.”

This hope is what keeps me going. That we  don’t have to live in fear of never measuring up to Jesus.

Jesus died on the cross so we can have a new start. Be forgiven. Washed as white as snow.

Live there. Keep taking in that while we will not ever be as perfect as Christ, we can be forgiven, dust ourselves off, and try even harder the next day.

4.) This is the path less traveled.

This will not be easy. In fact, it is written

 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.

John 15:19

Hate?

They hate me? Because I am a follower of Christ?

Yeah, sometimes.

For lots of reasons I both do and don’t understand.

Either way, like Peter writes about living in exile, it’s just the way it is.

It’s hard because for the most part, we like being liked. So when someone hates us, makes fun of us, casts us aside because we live in a way they don’t understand, it will be hard, new Christian.

Put on the suit of armor. It is a battle, but take heart. It’s the only one really worth fighting.

5.) This is a relationship.

Jesus longs for you. To be with you. Talk with you. Listen to you.

Just like any other relationship, in order for it to work, we have to show up. Every single day.

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. 

Revelation 3:20

Ever since reading Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World I have held this picture in my heart of Jesus waiting on my couch (my designated Bible study spot) patiently as I sleep.

With a childlike excitement He hopes I follow through with my promise to pray, study, and come to His feet each day.

I don’t want to let Him down.

He died for me! No one else in this world loves me like that.

What is the only way I can reciprocate that love?

By loving Him back. Showing up. Playing an active role in my relationship with Him.

Instead of feeling guilt when I sleep longer than my alarm or when I go a couple of months without starting my day in the Word, I pray, “Lord, help me put You first.”

Arm Yourself

I can do nothing without Him. I can do everything with Him.

New Christian, this is a journey. But this walk you will take is full of more rewards than you can even fathom right now.

Take this scripture and envision yourself each day as you are tempted to live your life outside of the Lord.

Arm yourself, sisters and brothers.

Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, …

Ephesians 6:14-20

 

Welcome, new Christian.

You are loved.

Love,

A Sinner Like Me

Are you a new Christian with lots of questions about what this new life will be like? I was once in your shoes, friend.

Filed in: Walking • by Andrea •

[jetpack-related-posts]

Filling a Jesus-Shaped Hole in My Heart: Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World Bible Study


How my Bible study girls and I loved this.

I learned so much, it’s impossible not to share! If you’re looking for a great study with in-depth questions that challenge your heart,Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World: Finding Intimacy With God in the Busyness of Life is it!

The lessons in this book lead me to grow in who I am as a mother, wife, friend, and child of God.

Read more

Filed in: Walking • by Andrea •

[jetpack-related-posts]

Search

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest

Popular Posts

Get Essential Oils + a Toxin-Free Lifestyle Here

Christmas mug gift ideas

Christmas Mug Gift Ideas for the Coziest Time of the Year

22 Printable Stickers to buy individually or together in a pack!

22 Printable Stickers

Recently…

  • Christmas Mug Gift Ideas for the Coziest Time of the Year
  • 22 Printable Stickers
  • Printable Wrapping Paper
  • Printable 40 Page Football Coloring Book!
  • Immune and Lung Fall Favorites

Copyright © 2025 · Theme by Blog Pixie