What?! No, your eyes aren’t deceiving you. I’ve been on anti-depressants for about six months. The reason I’m sharing is ’cause often, there’s an unfortunate stereotype that accompanies anti-depressants. And, what breaks my heart is if someone could be better on one, but won’t for fear of being stereotyped. Clinical, physiological evidence is what confirms a person’s need for an anti-depressant. In the same way that clinical, physiological evidence confirms a person’s need for insulin for diabetes or Lipitor for high cholesterol. I can’t imagine telling my doctor that I don’t want meds that will keep me out of the “prison” of being hospitalized for a treatable disease no more than I can’t imagine telling my psychologist that I don’t [...]

Like a brick of cheddar cheese, I was made in the solid image of God: destined to be whole; wired to be filled. There was never meant to be any holes…But along the way-like swiss cheese & by my own doing-holes got added to what was meant to be solid. Sometimes, I get discouraged that my life has made me hole-y. Thankfully, I am loved by a God who-when I ask Him to fill the spaces-gloriously descends an extra dose of His substance into my existance. Isn’t it sweet that in the instant of a prayer, He will fill the holes life’s left behind?! Love that!

When I was in college, my roommate & I hit the town one night. On our way home, my roomie (feeling the repercussions of a long night of beveraging) lost control and projected vomit all over my dashboard, my passenger window and passenger door. But wait, there’s more. She had just pigged out on chicken salad and grape laffy-taffy. NAAAAAASTY! We got back to the dorm and — too tired to clean my car — left it. The next morning, I opened my car door and got bulldozed by the most atrocious odor ever! Whats my point? It stinks when people barf all over. When I was young and stupid, I thought “strong friendships” meant barfing every single, detailed, teenie-weenie [...]

No matter our leadership role, when the stress is high, so is the probability for a headache. A few years ago, my oldest, DJ, got his first headache. You can see here he conjured up his own remedy: strapping on a pair of tight, tinted goggles. When I asked if it helped, he looked at me (with a lil Cuban attitude) and said, “My headache’s already gone!” So there you have it. Maybe instead of popping Advil left and right, I should just strap on a pair of goggles. Not sure if you get headaches from stress, but if you do, start with a remedy of a “time-out” (we give time-out’s to our kids but we never give them to [...]

Like a brick of cheddar cheese, I was made in the solid image of God: destined to be whole; wired to be filled. There was never meant to be any holes… But along the way-like Swiss cheese & by my own doing-holes got added to what was meant to be solid. Sometimes, I get discouraged that my life has made me hole-y. Thankfully, I am loved by a God who-when I ask Him to fill the spaces-gloriously descends an extra dose of His substance into my existence. Isn’t it sweet that in the instant of a prayer, He will fill the holes life’s left behind?! Love that!

THE MUSICAL FRUIT “…They also brought wheat and barley, flour and roasted grain, beans and lentils,” 2 Samuel 17:28b “Take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and spelt; put them in a storage jar and use them to make bread for yourself.” Ezekiel 4:9 I love it that this delectable sustenance (beans) is specifically mentioned in God’s Word. If God thought beans were good enough to create and good enough to mention in the Bible, I am convinced this needs to be something in my food repertoire. So….look out and stand clear, here comes Heather the big bean consumer! : ) Beans are a great food. Like today, for instance, I put jalapeno-pinto-beans and shredded cheese over baked tortilla [...]

As a grateful team-member of the Hope Magazine tribe, I’ve been given the blogging genre of “Fitness & Wellness.” Thus far, my posts have been about OUR fitness and OUR wellness. But today, that strangely dawned on me. Then it convicted me. So this post will be about someone else. Today, 1,ooo,ooo,ooo people are…attending church? buying new cars? in debt? using cell phones? overweight? None of the above. Today, 1,000,000,000 people are hungry in the world. According to U.N. food officials, the global financial meltdown has pushed the ranks of the world’s hungry to a record 1 billion people. Most of us are not in perfect fitness or wellness. But none of us are starving, dehydrated and slowly dying. Today, [...]