by Katie Brittenham
With each of our girls, we planted a tree when they were born. One day last week I was walking back from the mailbox and Hope’s tree was front and center. Its beauty took me by surprise. I thought back to several years ago when a storm came through. Hope’s tree was about as big around as the size of my arm. After the storm, we noticed that Hope’s tree had snapped in two. I was devastated. Thoughts of “what will we do?” “She only has one tree!” flooded my mind. Evidently, her tree was not strong enough to endure the storm. We were left with about a two-foot stump. No Hope tree! After several weeks, the stump began to sprout. New leaves were forming. There was hope for her tree. We began to groom it and nurse it back to health. Once the new tree was established, my husband cut off the old part of the tree. It was in the way now, but Hope’s tree was alive and it had a story.
Many of us have the same story. We have gone through storms. We are not the same as before. We’ve been snapped in two. Sometimes we wonder why or where’s God. But eventually we sprout new branches. We are stronger and we have a story to tell. God has cut off the old and nursed us back to new – a better new! Now, we have a story in Him.
Jesus says in John 15: 5 & 6, “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.”
How many of you have felt cut off, thrown away, and cast into the fire? God has a plan. His word says, “He will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Rest in that today! Praise Him today! We have this promise: “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28. We also know that Jesus said, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33.
Let’s praise Him today! Colossians 3:16 says, “Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.
Fast forward to now, years later. If you drove by my house, you would see this beautiful tree. Strong, tall, and beautiful! You would not know the story behind its beauty. From the road, you cannot tell the story of the storm or the care it received after. You do not know how it struggled. You would only see the flaming red foliage of a tree well lived. Shining His glory for all to see!
This month we are celebrating our blessings. We are reminded where God has brought us from. We look back at the storms in our lives and realize what a blessing they were. We realize we would not be the women we are today without them. We would not be able to radiate His glory without them. Let’s shine for Him!
Katie is a stay-at-home mama of four girls. Most days this means walking a fine line between total joy and utter chaos. Outside of her family, she has a passion for helping moms everywhere and serves as a Community Coach for MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) International. With the rest of her time, she likes to cook, take walks, and go on road trips.
by Kelsey Fields
The Holidays are upon us! In order to prepare for the mounds of mashed potatoes and over abundance of sweets I stick to a very strict regimen. First, I pull out all of my maternity pants from the bins in basement storage, and second, well, that’s it. Just the maternity pants. 
As much as I love all of the family time and Grandma Sweetie, I tend to get a tad overwhelmed in these circumstances. When I get peopled out, my usual solution is to pound the pavement or throw in an Insanity DVD. However, during the holidays, I always feel guilty for pulling myself away from family time when we only get to be together a few times a year.
Branson Turkey Trot 5
I heard about a book recently that I like to think of as “the happy brain” book. It was written by Shawn Achor, and is entitled, The Happiness Advantage. The gist of the book is that there are two sides to the brain, the happy side which focuses on optimism and things we perceive as “good,”…and the negative side which focuses on problems, irritations and disadvantages. The author suggests that since the brain is a muscle, we can strengthen whichever side of the brain we “exercise” the most. It is our mental focus that “lights up” one side of the brain or the other, and we are in complete control of where we choose to focus.
A good example of this is in the biblical story of the first sin, in Genesis 3. When Eve believed the lie that she should eat the fruit God had forbidden, her mind was focused on the one thing she couldn’t have, rather than on the thousands of wonderful fruits God had provided.
