“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
~Philippians 4:13
There are foods that remind me of beautiful moments in time. Ginger is one of those foods for me. Ginger always brings me good memories; the taste of it, the smell of it, the all of it. It brings me back to my childhood times when my mother used to wake up very early in the morning to go to work, and used to wake me up with her. I of course did not want to wake up, but once I had my ginger tea, I would feel it was the best morning ever…and I felt like that every time I had my ginger tea. I liked the tingling heat and the sweetness after the heat. At such age, as an early consumer, I was not aware of its health benefits.
Health Benefits of Ginger Root:
Alleviating symptoms of gastrointestinal distress – regarded as an excellent carminative
Soothes the intestinal tract
Antioxidant effects – ability to inhibit the formation of inflammatory compounds
Contains very potent anti-inflammatory compounds called gingerols
Helps prevent the symptoms of motion sickness
Has been used to treat nausea and vomiting associated with pregnancy (please check with your doctor first)
People with osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis experience reductions in their pain levels and improvement on mobility when they consume ginger regularly
This information about the health benefits of ginger is taken from: The Encyclopedia of Healing Foods by Michael Murray N.D. and Joseph Pizzorno N.D.
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
“What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?”
~Romans 8:31
Early Morning: View of NYC skyline from Donnelly Park in West New York, NJ (pic. taken on January 11th 2020)
God is omnipotent. And what does omnipotent mean? It means all-powerful, almighty, invincible and supreme. God has the power and if God is with us we know that we will conquer. With God we will prevail. “If God is for us, who can be against us?” What this is saying is that it doesn’t matter who is against us; with God, we will conquer. We will prevail over this pandemic.
Trust that God is with you.
You are not alone. God is with us
and we are in this together. Meditate in
the word of God. Develop your
communication with God. Keep growing
spiritually. Continue to look at your
gratitude list every day. We cannot
understand everything that is happening right now. We don’t know exactly how long this will
last. But what I know is that with God,
we will conquer. With God, we will
prevail.
In the meantime, let’s continue to help one another. Just a kind word to someone who seems in
distress can be a way to help. We are so
grateful for the doctors and nurses who are working round the clock during this
time. We can also do small acts of
kindness with one another.
Call your loved ones, and give them words of
encouragement. Call a friend or a family
member you haven’t talked to in a while.
And unless you are a doctor, nurse, paramedic, or someone in a similar
category, please don’t tell me you are too busy to call. Acts of kindness is what makes us human. Acts of kindness is what keeps us going. Acts of kindness is what keeps us believing
that our people, our planet will heal again.
And remember you are not alone.
We are in this together. God is
with us.
“What, then, shall we
say in response to these things? If God
is for us, who can be against us?”
“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.”
It is alleviating to know that making the right decisions in
terms of our food choices contribute to our well-being. Eating well must be a lifestyle choice to live
a healthy life.
When we eat well our body feels better. When you eat healthy, you build a strong
immune system that helps us fight disease.
People with strong immune systems barely feel the symptoms of certain
viruses and even if they get sick, they get well more rapidly again because they
eat nutritious dense foods.
God created the seeds and plants for us to eat. Eat well and take good care of yourself. And remember, we are in this together.
“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.”
“Again,
truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for,
it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three gather in my name,
there am I with them.”
~Matthew 18:19-20 New International
Version (NIV)
Pastor Jose A. Tejada Praying to and with the people (this picture was before social distance due to COVID-19)
I
fell in love with God when I was just a little girl. It was my Godmother who planted the seed in me. I don’t remember exactly at what age, but I
know I was very young for I still did not know how to read. She used to take me to church with her and I
could observe with the passion that the people in the church used to praise God
and the name of Jesus.
I could not read the Bible at the time, and I remember asking God to help me to learn to read so that I could read His book. I don’t recall exactly how long it took between the time that I asked God to help me to learn how to read and the time I actually started reading, but I have a vivid memory of me being in church and being so happy because when the pastor said to open the bible in a specific chapter, I found myself reading along with the pastor and all the members of the church. I was so happy that I could read. I could read the word of God. And of course, I could read anything (in Spanish at the time).
I developed a special love for God since a very early age. And that love has never leave me. As a little girl, I developed a communication with God. As I grew up, I visited my Godmother less often and also church. But the job was done. The seed for the love of God had been planted in me and even when I might have gotten myself away from the house of God, God was watching over me. As time passed, I found myself missing God. Missing to reconnect with Him again. I realized that nothing in this world could fill the emptiness I was filling. Only God could.
And to my amazement, God always found a way to remind me of his love. Sometimes, He reminded me of his love thru a classmate in college. She would invite me to visit her church. At another time, it was thru a hair stylist, who told me about an event that would take place at a church near me. I did not even realize it until I started writing this article. But God was using people to remind me of his amazing love. And after many bumps, and ups and down, I made the decision that I did not want to live my life without God. I accepted Jesus as my savior and allowed God to be my guidance in my life.
I learned to talk to God about everything. When I would feel upset or frustrated about something I would talk to God about it. When I need help on something I talk to God about it. When I am happy, I talk to God about it. I talk to God daily about everything. God is with me. I share with Him my true feelings and emotions even though I know He knows exactly how I feel; I still try to articulate it to Him. I also meditate on His word. This spiritual connection with God is life to my soul.
God
listens to your prayers. God listens to
you, whether you pray alone or with a group.
But something special happens when two or more people pray together for
the same cause. Let’s you and I all pray
together for COVID-19 to stop spreading.
Let’s pray in the name of Jesus Christ for the healing and prompt
recovery of those who are sick. Let’s
pray for all humanity, for the healing of the physical body, for the healing of
the soul, for the healing of the mind, and for the healing of the spirit. Let’s pray together. And remember that you are not alone. God is with you. God is with us.
Here
is the verse again:
“Again,
truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for,
it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or
three gather in my name, there am I with them.”
“Have I
not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened,
and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”
~Joshua 1:9
NYC Public Library 2020
The whole world is
facing a major crisis. A virus that
started in China and was announced in the news towards the end of December of
2019 known as the Coronavirus, has by today’s date (March 24, 2020) taken over
the whole world. EVERYONE, one way or
another has been affected by this virus, which has become a pandemic. And what’s worst, we don’t know how long this
is going to last.
Because of this
pandemic, people are dying everywhere.
People have to be isolated and stay in quarantine in order to help stop
this virus from spreading. People are
losing their jobs. We are living a time
of uncertainty. Yes, these are indeed
difficult times, and we are all in this together. And because of that, I started asking myself
some questions: How can I help shine a
light in the middle of darkness? How can
I help my fellow humans when I have to stay physically distant from them?
I thought about the
Word of God, which is my companion and strength in the good times and the
challenging times. The Word of God has
been so powerful over my life. It has
helped lift me up when I’ve felt most down.
This is why I decided that for the days to come, I will share with you a
verse from the Bible every single day for the rest of the year 2020. I will also include you in my daily prayers. I will pray for you to stay healthy and if you
are not feeling well, I will pray for your health and prompt recovery. I will pray not just for our country but for
our entire world. This is our planet
people. We all live in it. And we can see that there are no real
frontiers. There are no real borders.
Everyone is feeling this.
Right below is the verse again. Meditate on it. And remember that you are not alone.
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and
courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord
your God is with you wherever you go.”
What do I do first?
There is a lot to do and little time to do it. Learn what is really important to you for
you, in your life and career. Take care
of what must have to be taken care of, and that only you can take care of.
Delegate and leverage those tasks that need to be done, but
not necessarily by you, to others.
Delegating and leveraging effectively will free up chunks of time for
you to focus and to take care of other priorities that can only be done by
you.
Simplify your process. Test it out to see what works. Mark Zuckerberg wears the same shirt to work out. He simplified his action to work out. He doesn’t have to take time thinking what is he going to wear to work out. He is practical. He frees up time on unimportant stuffs to utilize his time on things that matter. So start simplifying your systems to get you to get thing s done. I for example, make me a juice or a smoothie daily. I wash my veggies before placing them in the fridge. Then in the morning, I just take my veggies out and make the juice. I have simplified the process to help me to get my juice done each day. But when I used to put my veggies in the fridge without washing them first, I did not make my veggies daily. It would take weeks and even longer for me to make my juice or smoothies. Making my veggie juice and drinking it is a top priority for me. Some tasks if not really important can be crossed out as done, by simply removing them from the to do list altogether.
Incorporating one healthy habit can be more sustainable than
trying to start too many habits at once.
You don’t want to start making changes that will not withstand the long
run. So start small, start with one, but
make that one stay. Once that one is in
place, incorporate another one, and so on.
It is proven that starting one habit at a time creates more results than trying to take on too many at once. Your healthy lifestyle is for life, not just for a few days, weeks or months. Do it the right way. Real things take time, take discipline, but the good thing is that by focusing on one positive change at a time, it will yield real results if you are disciplined.
So incorporate one healthy habit at once. It is said that it takes twenty-one days of
repetition to create a habit. Once you
have your habit on auto pilot, in other words, that you do it without much effort
or subconsciously, then you can incorporate the next one and so on. The important thing is to be consistent.
Have you ever find yourself sharing your ideas, goals, dreams with someone close to you, thinking they will be excited and rooting for you. Next you find out they will be the first one to make you feel doubt and discourage you before you even begin. This is why many people have become guarded with whom they share their dreams and goals.
They will look to guard themselves from someone who:
Will not genuinely support them.
Cares about them but who will make the wrong comments or suggestions out of fear.
Wants you to play it safe and avoid pursuing your biggest goals and dreams because they are not guaranteed to happen.
Sometimes there will be people close to you who will not give you the support you thought they would. Don’t let this discourage you. If this happens, you must still keep on going. Learn that this doesn’t only happen to you. Most people who started something they wanted or believed in, found some form of opposition.
Oftentimes believe it or not, that opposition can come from oneself. When you find a thousand excuses not to do something, not to start something, that’s opposition coming from within. And out of all oppositions you may face, the one from within is the worst of all.
So let’s work on yourself by being your number one fan to yourself. Root for yourself. Despite of oppositions (conscious or unconscious), there are still so many people who inspire us to be our best, who motivate us. And even when you feel lonely on your own quest, keep on going. Stay away from those who discourage you and find your community of support. Those who genuinely care about you and have your best interest at heart will soon or later also join in with encouragement and support.
I am working on ways to plan more often, to be more organized and to help me achieve my goals. I love the process because I am finding what works for me. I love note taking and I really like the process of planning and organizing. However, sometimes the process of planning can go on and on and on…without execution. You’ve heard the saying “Prepare to plan or plan to fail.” Well, I say prepare to execute your plan or plan to fail. A plan without execution is nothing but a wish, or a dream, or nothing at all.
So I say, yes, do plan, but don’t over plan. Rather, execute your plan and in the execution process you will find out if your plan works or if you need to tweak it or change the plan altogether. Now that I have a family of my own and I’m also a career woman, time has become even more precious to me. So I like to simplify processes that still will create great results. But I am also learning by doing. I am learning that making small steps consistently can even be more powerful than taking big leaps once in a blue moon.
I recommend the book The Self Discipline Blueprint by Patrick Edblad. I like this book because this book is about getting you to have the discipline to do what you need to do. But this book is also about self-care. It covers topics about the importance of having a good nutrition, about sleeping enough quality hours, about moving your body and staying active and it tells you why these things are important. And then you understand that if you want to accomplish certain goals in your life, you better start working on the things that will help you get there.
This morning I woke up at five in the morning as usual. I made my veggie juice and prepared breakfast. Great! that was part of the plan. When I came home this evening, I had dinner. I did not make my veggie juice right away, as I wanted some time space between dinner and the juice.
I then started playing with my baby (he is a toddler already). He wanted mom’s attention and after not seeing him during the day, it was only fair that we had some us time before his bedtime. We had some quality time and then he asked for milk and we headed to bed. As usual I stayed by his side until he fell asleep…and then I fell asleep too.
My body did not want to get up to make the veggie juice. I did not want to get up. But then I heard my inner voice telling me “get up and make your veggie juice.” And just like that, I got up, walked myself to the kitchen and made my carrot, celery, apple and lemon juice. I am so glad I did. I almost did not make it, but my inner voice told me to and I knew it was the right thing to do. I’m glad I listened to my inner voice. When you know immediately it is the right thing to do, listen to your inner voice.
