Over the past few weeks, we’ve considered overall health in the areas of heart, soul, mind and strength. If you missed any of the previous lessons, you can find them here. https://www.stephanicook.org/blog-1 As we continue to consider the “soul” quadrant and spiritual health, today I hope to give thought to the question, “How do I know God’s purpose for my life?” Far too often we stay paralyzed by this question. Many of us know what we are supposed to do, but we allow fear to

If the answer is “NO”, one doesn’t have to go to church to be a Christian – then why would anyone ever attend church?

In my last blog titled, "How Are You Doing?", I shared the importance of considering balanced health in the areas of heart (emotional/relational health), soul (spiritual health), mind (what we allow into our thoughts) and strength (physical health). If you missed it, you can find it here: https://www.stephanicook.org/post/how-are-you-doing. Additionally I encouraged consideration of a short assessment to reveal a starting point in each area. If you haven't had a chance to lo

Living in a pandemic has given me new perspective as I realized for the first time in a long time that I cannot take health for granted. But in addition to my concern over physical health, I began to realize that isolation, worry, fear, frustration, anger, uncertainty and the threat of illness likely took a toll on my overall level of health in ways I had not even considered. As I read in scripture to “Love the Lord our God with heart, soul, mind and strength”…I realize the i

It seems that every time I read through the short book of Jonah, I notice something new that I missed before. As a child in Sunday School or Vacation Bible School, this story was a staple for the felt board. It seemed to be easily understood at even an early age – Jonah disobeys God, gets swallowed by a big fish and God rescues him. Yet, as an adult, I now realize there is so much more to learn from Jonah’s story...primarily about the power of a good attitude. Here are five l