With achy feet and tired backs from all the cooking and baking, we exhale a sigh of relief and fall on the sofa. Thanksgiving Day is over, and we have a slight reprieve before another festive family gathering takes place. Take a look at the behind-the-scenes work goes into making these holidays extra special. We sort through recipes for those festive dishes only prepared during the holidays. Make a grocery list, a long list, of all the ingredients needed to make each one. The grocery store is like a major highway with no traffic lights. Long lines at the cash register… 

“Oh, Loretta, you should make a book out of all your poems,” a friend said. “Who? Me?” My hands grew sweaty, and I choked back feelings of incompetence. Fear gripped my throat, and a shaky voice slipped from my lips. “Ah, thanks, but I don’t know anything about publishing. I just write poems when I feel inspired, and I share them with family and friends.” The thought of putting my poems into book form almost made me hyperventilate. They weren’t your typical prose, nor were they written with literary intelligence. I just wrote the way the words flowed from my… 

What does it mean when I say, “Expect more?” Doesn’t that phrase sound greedy? Yes, if you look at it in the sense of material things, but I’m talking about us, as human beings. It’s easy enough to give up on commitments, goals, and promises, but don’t ever give up on yourself. You are created in the image of God. You are a child of the King. You belong to a royal priesthood. You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. Life in the earthly sense has a way of kicking you when you’re down. Your countenance plummets,…