Restoring Healthy Practices!

Today’s blog shares a healthy recipe for your body  and a healthy practice for your soul.

I’m so glad you’ve joined me as we bring back into our lives the simple things that truly support and nourish us—both physically and spiritually.

Devotional

A Living Sacrifice: Reinstating a Practice

It’s never too late to start something new—or to reinstate a healthy spiritual practice you may have left behind.

For many years, I had a room in my home that was just for me. My cats were not allowed there and my daughter and husband knew that while it was always open to them, it was a quiet place—a sacred place—where I prayed and studied God’s Word.

Every morning, armed with my coffee with cream, I would climb the stairs before the rest of the house was awake and take my seat on the floor in the corner.

The room held a sofa and comfortable chairs, and there were many places I could sit during the day. But in the early morning hours, that corner was where it all happened. It was there that I laid on the floor and cried out to God when He was leading me into places I didn’t understand. It was there that I raised my hands in praise when spiritual breakthrough came.

I loved that corner.

On the wall in front of me were two beautiful, wood-framed bulletin boards—one hung above the other—that I had found at Marshalls. They were filled with papers pinned in place with soft blue, pearl-topped push pins.

The top board held handwritten Scripture verses, personalized with my name and the names of my family members. I prayed those verses daily over the people I love.

The board beneath it was covered in prayer requests—so many prayer requests. I still remember running out of push pins as they multiplied. I loved praying for every single one.

But my favorite part of that corner was the altar.

One day, I felt the Holy Spirit prompt me to buy a collection of small, smooth river rocks and stack them into a simple, intentional pile. When the rocks arrived, I hurried upstairs and carefully placed them one on top of another. To anyone else, it may have looked insignificant. To me, it was an altar.

Why an altar?

In Romans 12, Paul tells us that we are to live our lives as living sacrifices. In the Old Testament, sacrifices were placed on an altar—for the covering of sin, for restoration, and as an offering of thanksgiving. When something was placed on the altar, the entire offering was given. Every part belonged to the Lord, and the fire consumed it, creating a fragrance that was pleasing to God

Scripture also tells us that Jesus Christ was the final and complete sacrifice. He placed all that He was on the cross and gave His life fully and freely. His blood didn’t merely cover sin—it canceled it. It forgave sin and removed the consequence of death that accompanied it (Hebrews 9:22). Because of this, there is no longer a need for sacrifices that must die. 

Yet Paul tells us that we, too, are to be sacrifices—but living ones. Sacrifices that move, worship, trust, and honor God. That means laying it all down: our victories and our struggles, our hopes and our losses, our dreams and our disappointments.

So I built an altar because more than anything, I want to lay down all that I am for all that He is.

In those quiet mornings, I would write down the things I needed to surrender—plans, hopes, dreams—and place them on the altar, acknowledging that they belonged to Him. Victories were placed there too, because the things we do for God are never meant to be held tightly. They are meant to be surrendered.

Today, I am in a new season. I’m no longer in that room, and the corner I loved is behind me. But God has placed it on my heart to begin again.

I’ll buy new smooth stones and find a new corner. Maybe I’ll make another trip to Marshalls or TJ Maxx for bulletin boards and pretty push pins. I’ll write my prayers, dreams, hopes, and thanksgiving once more. And I’ll place them all on the altar—not just physically, but on the altar of my heart.

It’s a symbol of what God is doing on the inside. This is a new season. I am reinstating an old practice in a new place as an act of true and proper worship.

And it just feels right.

As we begin this year, I wonder if you might feel led to do the same.

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.”

My Minestrone Go To Soup

Ingredients:

• 3 tblsp olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 large onion 
• 3 stalks celery
• 3 carrots
• 4 cups tomato sauce
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• 2 cups water
• 2 zucchini
• 1 can cut green beans
• 1 can dark red kidney beans
• 8 ounces fresh spinach
• 1 tblsp each of dried oregano and basil
• 3 cups cooked medium pasta shells
• Parmesan cheese for grating

Directions:

Chop onion, celery, carrots and put in large soup pot with olive oil and garlic. Saute until the vegetables are fragrant and cooked. 

Stir in tomato sauce, broth and water. Stir in zucchini, green beans, and kidney beans and let simmer 20 minutes. Add spinach, oregano and basil and cook five minutes.

Remove from heat, top with precooked pasta shells and parmesan cheese. Enjoy!