The Howell Blessings

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true , whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.   Philippians 4:8  As women most of us are good about pointing out these thought-worthy things about other people yet we fail miserably at applying this truth to ourselves. As an adverb TRUE means:  in accordance with fact or reality, and  accurate or exact.  How many of us have stood in front of a mirror and whipped ourselves verbally for what we see?   Statistics say that an  average size woman in the US stands 5 foot 4 1/2 inches tall (or slightly more than  1.6459m) .  The high end of a healthy BMI (24.9) for this height is about 145 pounds (or about  65.77 kg). Why is it then that we (me included) look at ourselves in the mirror and focus on "that" jiggle, or "that" bulge? Even if you are someone who doe...

What EVER!  How many of us have said or even thought this modern phrase?  This  passive-aggressive  phrase is used so often these days and is used in place of "I really don't care" to "I'm not going to admit I'm wrong, so stop talking now." and worse still, an expletive I won't even try to explain. I know I've been guilty of it more times than I care to admit.  It is at best, disrespectful and at worst, vulgar. When we are in Christ, we should strive to constantly renew our minds to line up with the will of God.   A couple of weeks ago on our online bible study (OBS) our reflection verse was Romans 12:2. It says " Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect." When we live in this world, it is so hard to separate ourselves from the daily barrage of vulga...

Romans 12:2 was one  (of many) of my momma's favorite scriptures. Mom would spend hours in the word, verse mapping, praying scripture, and journaling what she received from God.  She always tried to encourage me to start my day out with God, spending time in His word, renewing my mind.  She always said, “You can’t know God’s will if you don’t know God’s heart”.  Mom often likened knowing someone had spent time with God by having God’s fragrance on them. Have you ever hugged someone and his or her cologne or perfume rubbed off on you? A sure sign that you were close to that person. When we spend time with God getting close to Him through His word, His fragrance rubs off on us too. By spending time with God, in His word, listening for His word to us, we are renewing (starting over, refurbishing) our minds.  When we do this, it is then that we get to know God’s character. And by knowing His character we can then test (take measures to check the ...