Tag Archives: Inspiration

Daniel H. Speller: About Being a Disciple in Everyday Life – My Foundation and Belief

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I wanted to explore the topic of Being a disciple in everyday life. In one way or the other, we are all followers of something.  This is my story.  I grew up as a preacher’s kid.  My mom was the minister, and my dad was a deacon.  I grew up with a good foundation in believing of an existence of a God. I found my truth along my path of growth; and I’m still growing to this day.

This writing, along with others that may follow, may eventually become a series of eBooks.  But for now, they are posts and articles, amongst my other posts, that describe my belief and approach to life as a Disciple of Christ, the Living Word. On the site, they will be under the hashtag and category of “ThoughtsOfADisciple“.  I am hoping something will be said that will be both helpful and enlightening.  I believe we all need encouragement.  Life can be perplexing at times; and words of encouragement can often help along the way.

I’m writing this as a conversation, so there will be a lot of recalling, some reflecting, and going back and forth. Revisiting situations and using them as analogies is my jam. Alibi: I am not a life coach, but I do have circumstances that one can learn from, and they will probably be mentioned from time to time. Also, this is MY Truth; how I relate to God. You may relate to God entirely differently, if so—I won’t judge you, so don’t judge me.  It really is all about a personal relationship.

With that said, thank you for supporting me by purchasing and reading my books and visiting my website.  Let’s get into it.

My Foundation and Belief

I believe that there is a God; and that God is Word—based on the scripture found in the book of John1:1. It took me a while to come to that realization because I had always imagined God in the form of mankind, which limited me terribly.  Questions like What color is he/she? Why doesn’t he/she answer me? What did I do to piss him off today?  Why did he do this or that when it says he loves me, and he doesn’t change? …and on, and on, and on, the questions kept coming.

When the epiphany came for me that God is Word; and I explored that possibility; then read, processed, and received the rest of John, Chapter 1, so many things cleared up for me. God became the very essence of the words and message I was reading.  And like words, God was everywhere, all at once, at the same time—in different languages; being expressed in different ways—all around the world.  God could be found in portions of script and scripture in every religion—regardless of how mankind had tried to change or manipulate the words. God, being TRUTH, could still be found!  Even when portions of truth tried to be omitted, there were enough hints which were left to lead the reader to know: there was more to read and learn.

Ways to Reduce Water Retention

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image of banner: Do better with our health

Since I’ve been back in my hometown, I’ve noticed I’ve been putting on weight… and my ankles look swollen. 🤨 In doing a few searches online, I discovered it could be from water retention. So, I thought I’d write an article about it.

There was one particular article found on Healthline.com that I thought was very interesting.  It’s was called 6 Ways to Reduce Water Retention (Edema).

Edema, water retention, happens when excessive fluid is retained in the circulatory system or within tissues—causing swelling in the hands, feet, ankles, and legs.  There are several potential causes for this.  Hormonal changes, lack of physical activity, kidney disease, obesity, and even allergies are a few that I’ll mention.  The article I mentioned above names others as well.

My concern at the moment is with my ankles–so I was looking at ways of addressing that issue.  If you have a concern with water retention, please check with your doctor (if you have one), to make sure it’s not a serious condition associated with why you’re retaining water, otherwise there are a few things you can try to maybe help reduce the amount of water being retained.

NOT Drinking water is NOT THE ANSWER.  Surprisingly, you may not be drinking enough water to begin with—which adds to the problem of fluid retention.  So, one option to address fluid retention should be: DRINK MORE WATER.

Other things to try:

  1. Exercise more. Who wants to do that right? …lol.  Subtle changes can make big differences.  Consciously add more movement and activity to your daily routine.  Do things that you will enjoy and know that you will continue to do. Then continue to add other things to your daily routine.
  2. Eat less salt/sodium. No doubt this is hard…cause salt tastes so good. I know. Enjoy it in moderation.
  3. Eat more fruit and vegetables. I read that eating fruit high in potassium like bananas, tomatoes or avocados could help reduce the fluid retention. Eating other fruit like peaches, watermelon and cucumber could also help.  Of course, eating a variety of fruit and vegetables can help with a lot of issues and get you looking right.
  4. Eating herbs or making teas like dandelion tea could be a natural diuretic to add to your mix. I was surprised to find out how many edible things just grow out there in the yard.   I think you should absolutely investigate and learn about plants before you make a tea or soup out of it, but there are a surprisingly number of good plants that are helpful and used to be used as home remedies, but today we call them weeds or flowers.

There is a lot more information about this topic to be found in the links below.  I just wanted to write a few notes on what I found to get you started.

Thanks for reading and I hope you keep coming back to the site and exploring.  Tell your people about me and contribute to our grow!  ✊🏾

 

Resources:

Stop Retaining Water…By Drinking More Water

Google Search about Water Retention

The Lord (Word) Is With You

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“And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded: and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; The Lord is with you , while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you.” ~II Chronicles 15:1-2

Do you need a reason to meditate and “think on good things”?  This could possibly be it!  John, Chapter 1 teaches that God is Word. And when we focus on that Word that gives life, we win.  Now, here in Chronicles, it alludes to the fact that if we stick with the Word, it will be with us.  Yet, when we move away from the Word, it moves away from us, which technically is all about perspective.  I often think of the Word as being a set of instructions or a recipe.  If you do a, b, c, and d, then your results will be this.  

However, if you do e, f, g, and h, then your results will be that.  We often make things more complicated than they actually have to be.  Today, I encourage you to take the time and effort to rest, meditate and get back to the current moment.  Take it in. Be appreciative to the Most High. Be thankful and glad in knowing that –The Lord is with you.✊🏾