From the readers
After walking my second mile of the day, I read your article on exercise (in the Feb. 10 issue or online at www.thealabamabaptist.org). While I am not as healthy as I need to be, I have set 2 miles a day for at least 6 days a week as my 2011 goal.
Keep it up! I look forward to seeing your progress. Maybe I will see you as an accountability partner for me. When I read your article, it will spur me to walk!
Thanks, Jennifer. Good job!
Kay Taylor
Alabama Baptist Children’s Homes & Family Ministries
Birmingham, Ala.
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LOVE your new column!!
Lynn Suddith
First Baptist Church, Russellville
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Loved your “Rashional Thoughts.” The idea of freshness and balance on a daily basis especially appeals to me.
I look forward to your future installments.
Mary L. Wimberley
Birmingham, Ala.
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I appreciate your article on sleep and can identify for sure. Two thoughts. First, I am a big believer in power naps. When I was working an office job, I would grab a nap at lunch time — sometimes even in my car in the parking lot. Five minutes does wonders for my ability to concentrate and be more productive. I feel better and am more alert with five to six hours of sleep and a power nap than with seven to eight hours of sleep. Second, I have “prayed through” a problem or issue before going to bed rather than spending hours awake during the night thinking about it. I claim Philippians 4:4–7, read it and pray asking the Lord to give me the peace that passes all understanding and reminding myself that my worry during the night will not help the situation. I also make me a list of things that I will do the next day to deal with the problem so that I am not awake trying to develop my strategy.
F. Max Croft
Scottsboro, Ala.
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Taking time to ‘defrag’
Every so often, my computer becomes sluggish. Frequent use of certain programs and documents causes pieces of information to become scattered, requiring my computer to search for the pieces before I can use them. To fix it, I need to run a program that retrieves the pieces and groups them together where they are easily accessible. This process is called “defragmentation.”
Like my computer, my life gets fragmented. One situation tugs on my emotions while I’m trying to concentrate on something else. Demands from every direction bombard me. I want to accomplish everything that needs to be done, but my mind won’t stop and my body won’t start. Soon I begin to feel weary and useless.
Prayer can help to defragment our lives. When we cast our cares on the Lord, He will show us what we need to do and what only He can do.
Judy Ackerman Link
Cast all your care upon Him; for He cares for you (1 Peter 5:7).
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An excerpt from Denise George’s upcoming new book “A Woman’s Right to Rest!”
Women today work far too hard, carry too many responsibilities and deal with overwhelming amounts of everyday stress. What happens to a woman’s body when she becomes the victim of too much harmful stress over a period of time? Her tired body releases too many stress hormones. These excessive hormones raise her blood pressure, heart rate and blood sugar level to heights that may lead to multiple health issues, such as depression, anxiety, obesity, abnormal heart beats, acne and skin problems.
Over time, high levels of harmful and accumulating stress can rob a woman of her health and can eventually cause disease and even early death.
In fact, some health professionals link too much harmful stress to the six leading causes of human death today: heart disease, cancer, lung ailments, accidents, cirrhosis of the liver and suicide.
Christian women often “feel guilty” when they stop their work and simply rest their bodies, minds and emotions. They shouldn’t. God, Himself, created a woman’s body, and He made it to need deep and regular rest — physical, mental and emotional rest.
Denise George is a well-known author, conference leader and speaker. She is married to Timothy George, dean of Samford University’s Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham.
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