Winner Announcement: Devotions for a Healthier You

I recruited some help to announce the winner of Devotions for a Healthier You by Katie Farrell.  Thank you for all the comments here, and on Facebook, sharing your one step toward health.  I pray blessings over the steps you desire to take this year in becoming a healthier you.  

Devotions for a Healthier You

Today kicks off our Family Faith Resources series.  We all have limited time and money to put into finding great resources for our family, so I aim to help you this year with reviews of great new books and movies ... and I'm giving them away!

Fellow mommas,  today's resource is just for you.  Katie Farrell's Devotions for a Healthier You is a treasure of a book.  It is lovely. It's the type of book that reassures me that the art form of book publishing is alive and well.

After seeing too many bad books out there that try to combine health, weight, and Jesus, I have to admit I am leery of the Christian health genre.  I'm just not interested in another "pray the weight away," product.   Devotions for a Healthier You could not be farther from that cliché.  Katie Farrell has crafted devotions to help woman dive into the Word of God to find their true beauty, strength, and health.  Devotions cover such topics as:  knowing who we are, finding contentment, people pleasing, and laying your burdens down.  The fact that Katie genuinely seeks to find her identity and beauty in Christ is evident throughout the book.  These are not hollow words she writes. You can hear her story here.

Each devotions is based on scripture and ends with prayer.  These short devotions would pair well with journaling, or would be a great mid-day break for busy mommas who just aren't going to get in a 45 minute Beth Moore study each day.  This book is going to be one of my go-to gifts this year.  I know it will bless my friends and fellow mommas.

Sprinkled throughout the devotions are recipes and "dashes of inspiration" which make the book a treat to thumb through over a cup of tea.  The book also includes prayers for health, and identity scriptures, which would both be great for memory work or written out on a sticky note on your mirror or desk.  The book concludes with a sample week meal plan.  (If this leaves you wanting more, you can find it on her website Dashing Dish)

We are a few weeks in to the New Year.  Do you have the goal of making 2015 a healthier year, be it physically, spiritually, or both?  Farrell writes, "Living a healthy lifestyle does not have to be hard work or a drastic change.  The best place to start is by making small changes in your everyday life."  (pg vii)

One of the changes I am making this year is making appointments to exercise on my calendar, and treating those appointments as valuable as work appointments. What one change are you planning on making?  Maybe it's to have a regular time to read the Word?  Maybe it's to start eating healthier?  I'd love to hear your changes in the comment section below.    On Friday Jan 16th, I will select one reader from the comments to receive a free copy of this beautiful book.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year friends,
I hope your holidays held their share of fun, family, and faith.  Here is a peak into what my family has been doing for the last three weeks....

Yep - pretty awesome.  We have been enjoying a lot of sun, family, friends and downtime in the Bahamas.  But now we are home and there are some exciting things happening that I have been bursting to tell you about!

2015 finds our family joining a new church family.  I will be serving as the Director of Family Ministries at The Point Church.  The Point Church is a multi-site church with locations in Raleigh, Cary, and Apex.  Their leadership has an incredible heart for pointing people to Jesus - our whole family is excited to join this growing, dynamic, and diverse faith family.

There are exciting plans for The Celebrated Family as well.  My mission is to encourage and equip parents to grow in and pass on their faith to the next generation.  This year there will be three year-long projects happening on the blog to help reach that mission.  I hope you will be as excited as I am!

1.  Encourage - Mid Life Joy Series #midlifeJOY.  In three three I turn 40!  That's right, I am solidly middle aged now, no getting around it.  Over the last few years I have struggled with being stressed and grumpy.  Anyone else?  The thought occured to me sitting on that beach pictured above, "If I am not happy now, when do I think I will be?"  Mid Life Joy will be a monthly series looking at the things that steal our joy and challenges to help us choose to live a life of abundant JOY!

2.  Equip - Family Faith Resources.  I have been invited to be part of a new blogger community reviewing new resources for Christian parents and families.  Wherever I speak parents are always looking for good resource suggestions.  This year I will have more than suggestions - thanks to the generosity of some great publishing houses I will be giving away new books and movies every month!

3.  Pass on your Faith - A Year of Biblical Feasts.  Pete and I are taking our family on a journey this year through the Jewish calendar - and we want you to come along.  We are going to celebrate the major Old Testament feasts with our girls this year.  I will be posting background info on each one before the feast so you can join in, and a post after each one so you can see how it went.

It all kicks off next week with a fun giveaway - see you then!