❀ May your days on earth be many,
may your life be free from strife,
and may God walk beside you,
everyday of your life.♡

Dear Jesus,
I want my life to be a gift to all I know and love.
I need You to help me overcome my insecurities
and allow You to unwrap the person You created me to be.
Show me how to serve others.
Show me what gifts You have placed in me to serve others.
I want to be a blessing to You and to everyone
You put in my path.♡

~ From the book – “Prayers to My King”

(Post by: Christina Lunden)

Dear Jesus,
I want my life to be a gift to all I know and love.
I need You to help me overcome my insecurities and allow
You to unwrap the person You created me to be.
Show me how to serve others.
Show me what gifts You have placed in me to serve others.
I want to be a blessing to You and to everyone
You put in my path.♡
~ From the book – “Prayers to My King”

(Post by: Christina Lunden)

NO IT WASN’T A DREAM ❀
The second my eyes opened this morning,
and I realized that every worry I fell asleep with
was not just a dream, I felt immediately overwhelmed.
“I can’t start my day like this” I told myself.
I was unable to move.
I lay there with my eyes closed as the reel
of the previous days events ran through my mind.
I needed to figure out a way to deal with all this,
to fix all this, and to figure out how to make it all better.
With little to no patience for self pity,
I opened my eyes and let out an UGH!
“Get a hold of yourself and get up!” I told myself.
So I took in three big breaths
and said one of my favorite prayers. ✞
It is short, easy to remember, and it gives me strength.
More than anything it gives me the feeling
of God’s power and protection.

I know we all have these kinds of days now and again
and most of the time, we muddle through
hanging on to every minute as they pass.
But I really don’t feel well when I take this approach.
Not only do my worries bog me down
but my physical health feels compromised.
My back tightens up and my stomach
turns into a burning knot.
When this happens I can barely function.

So I said my prayers this morning;
then I said them again and again.
In fact I will say them many more times throughout my day.
Along with my Guardian Angel Prayer,
repeating these small passages
and reaching out to God for guidance and strength,
I know I can get through all this chaos
and come out the other end with my sanity in tact.

(Here are my prayers.)

✞ “My body, mind and soul
are unified within the Light of Jesus Christ
and the Fire of The Holy Spirit.”

✞ “Angel of God, my guardian dear,
for whom God’s love commits me here.
Ever this day be at my side
to light and guard, to rule and guide.”

I hope you have a blessed day my friend. ♡

MEMORIES

I have flashbacks of my life constantly.
There are all sorts of images
swirling around inside my head,
bursting to the forefront of my thoughts
whenever something triggers a particular time or place.
Sometimes they surprise me just popping up
while I’m in the middle of some random activity.
Then there is the déjà vu factor that can be
a little creepy and unsettling
when I really can’t place the event.
Does that ever happen to you?

Today was one of those days when something
from over 30 years ago slid into my consciousness.
It was a beautiful and sad memory.
Is that even possible?
That memory triggered another and before I realized it,
I had stirred up memories the entire day
from that time in my life.
Although I’m sad that so much time has passed,
stepping back to reminisce about those events
is a small way for me to rejoice in a life well lived.

Of course there are uncomfortable and sometimes
regretful memories that we all have to deal with
but time passes regardless of how we live them.
Just like we try to teach our children,
we must learn from our mistakes
and move forward from them.
In doing so, our memories become
something we can rejoice in and savor.
Those are the memories that connect us
to each other and gift us with the stories
that last our lifetimes.

Today is a new day; it is beautiful and warm.
As I walk away from my keyboard,
I’ll be stepping into a perfectly unlived day.
Isn’t it ironic that while my mind
relives old events my body will be creating new ones?
I sure do hope they are all happy ones.

Now go make some wonderful memories today, my friend;
ones that make you smile when you think of them. ♡

THE BLACK BOARD

Do you remember the huge over-sized black boards
from school?
I do and I also remember cleaning them,
back and forth with the erasers, from top to bottom,
removing all the scribbles, math problems,
and words of the day. Then at the end of each week,
we would wipe them down with wet sponges
giving a black sheen to the entire board.
I can see it now; standing back looking up
at that clean huge black board
and wishing I could be the first one to pick up
a knew long piece of white chalk and write on it.
Such a silly and childish memory
but one that continues to remind me
how important it is to start each day
with a fresh and clean slate.

I believe, every so often, all aspects of our lives
need a good once over with a big wet sponge.
From our homes with their many junk drawers
and over-stuffed closets, to our emotional baggage
that so often smothers our joy,
we need to allow ourselves the opportunity
to clean away the old and start fresh.
When I see a brand new tablet or journal,
words immediately begin to swirl around
inside my head.
When I open a newly organized kitchen drawer,
I imagine a new recipe that will utilize
all the tools that had been buried
under a lot of nonsense.
Or when we take on a new career,
we realize how much further we can stretch
our intelligence.

The same feeling of wonderment arises
when I meet someone new or nurture
a relationship that had been neglected.
It opens up new conversations, which in turn
enlightens my insatiable inquisitiveness
about life.
When the space around me is crowded, cluttered,
and impossible to see through,
I feel stuck and frustrated.
My daily responsibilities begin to feel
overwhelming and smothering.
I have always needed some fresh open space
to breath and feel alive.
Doesn’t everyone?

The idea here, I have found, is that looking
at a clean slate invites new ideas and
stirs something inside of me
that makes me feel young, energized, and excited.
Without it, I cease to grow
and my days simply drift by.
This, my friends, is entirely unacceptable.
So give me a set of erasers any day
and watch how shiny I can make that black board.
Then step aside
as I let my little old imagination soar! ♡

“UNDERCOVER COLORS” is the brainchild
of four engineering students from NC University.
After several of their closest friends
had been drugged and raped, they realized
the problem was much larger than they had ever imagined.
What could they do?
How could they stop this from happening to anyone else?

Prevention. Armed with an idea and the support
from NC’s engineering department,
they came up with a plan.
How about nail polish?
A woman could simply swirl her drink
with the tip of her finger and if the polish changes color,
the drink has been compromised.
No special equipment needed. Simply Genius!!!

This clever product is still in its trial period
but these four men are doing everything they can
to get it out to the public.
Below is a link to their Facebook page and also the
article about them in the NC Engineering Department newsletter.
It is a fascinating story indeed.
Date rape is violent and disgusting and haunts you
for the rest of your life.
I can only imagine how many young women’s lives will be
saved when this nail polish becomes available to them.
This idea is bloody genius!!!
Maybe they can create a cute little straw to swirl
in a drink for the same purpose. ☺

ARTICLE: https://news.engr.ncsu.edu/2015/10/more-than-a-nail-polish/

FB PAGE: https://www.facebook.com/undercovercolors