A Goal to Forgive

“Put up with each other. Forgive the things you are holding against one another. Forgive, just as the Lord forgave you” (COL 3:13 NIRV).

Can you believe it? The year is almost gone, and many of us will start making our New Year's goals once again. We'll make goals to lose weight, to eat healthy, to spend more time with the family, or to be more sociable, etc. Others will adopt any New Year’s resolutions guaranteed to enhance their lives, or to bring more blessings with little or no effort on their part. Still others will enter into the year with the same goals and attitudes they had last year. Whatever your goals are, or wherever your goals came from, if they are anything like the goals I have listed above—they are the easy goals. Ask someone to set a goal to forgive someone—this year—who has wronged them. Ask them to choose—this year—to love their neighbor as themselves (a neighbor who is obnoxious and annoying).

Not long ago in my own marriage, I had to make the decision to move past the hurt and pain of not having my expectations met, and to choose to love my husband in spite of his or my imperfections. Often I am force to reflect on one of my life quotes: “The best revenge is massive success.” I am not referring to monetary gain, or attaining greatness; I am referring to the ability to rise above the pain with God. To not allow bitterness, revenge, spite, or anger keep me from attaining true greatness; which is the ability to love others as God loves them and to see them as God sees them, worthy of being loved.

Your Call to Order...
Believe me when I say, “To forgive is a hard thing to do, and without God it is even harder.” Pray and ask God to give you His grace and mercy in helping you to forgive; then, set a goal to do one of the following: forgive someone who has wronged you, pray consistently for someone who has despitefully used you, bless someone who has cursed you by doing something nice for them. In return, may God “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” (Matthew 6:12).

Power Verses (from the New King James Version)

"Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do" (Colossians 3:12-13).

"Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you" (Ephesians 4:31-32).

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Are You Getting Enough Vitamin D?

If I told you that there was a pill that helps protect against chronic diseases such as cancer (breast cancer, ovarian cancer, colon cancer, and prostate cancer), type 1 diabetes, depression, weight gain, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and autoimmune diseases, would you believe me? A better question is: Would you take it?

The pill I’m talking about, which is actually a vitamin, is vitamin D. Known as the sunshine vitamin, vitamin D helps keep bones strong, it also helps the body absorb calcium, and it is also the only vitamin that is a hormone.

“After Vitamin D is made by the skin or eaten, the kidney and liver help to convert it into an active hormone form. As a hormone, it controls calcium absorption to help the body build strong bones and teeth, and it helps maintain muscle strength. When you are deficient in calcium and vitamin D, your bones break down to supply calcium to the rest of your body. ...Low levels of vitamin D have also been linked with poor muscle strength and other chronic conditions, such as autoimmune disease and some forms of cancer."

Because Vitamin D is not abundant in most of our food choices, we get most of the vitamin from sun exposure and multivitamins.

The body manufactures vitamin D when exposed to sunshine, however, if you’re an indoor person like me who prefers limited sun exposure for her daily does of vitamin D; keep in mind that 10 to 15 minutes of sun exposure (without sunscreen) daily can provide you with most of your vitamin D requirements.

Also, like most vitamins, vitamin D may be obtained by eating a well-balanced diet. Some foods that contain vitamin D are: egg yolks, sardines, mackerel, salmon, herring, fish liver oils, shrimp, chicken liver, oysters and fortified foods such as orange juice, milk and infant formula.

Your Call to Order...
Your call to Order is to take care of the body God has blessed you with by making sure you are getting the right amount vitamin D you need?

From birth to age 50, people should get 200 IU of vitamin D a day, that’s equivalent to two glasses of milk daily. Adults 51–69 require 400 IU daily, and those over 70 require 600 IU. It is recommended that patients with osteoporosis get 800–1,000 IU of vitamin D a day.

Power Verses:

Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food (Genesis 1:29).

Praise the LORD, O my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Praise the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits-
who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's (Psalm 103:1-5).

References:
http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/are-you-getting-enough-vitamin-d
http://www.netwellness.org/healthtopics/osteoporosis/vitamind.cfm
http://healthnews.uc.edu/news/?/757/

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