Michèle Phoenix’s ‘Of Stillness and Storm’ Giveaway

Of stillness and storm—a Book Review

By Michele Phoenix

My eyes are blurry and I’m very emotional after spending the day reading Of Stillness and Storm from cover to cover.  I love to read but I don’t usually read a 320 page Christian novel in one sitting.  Once it touched a nerve in my missionary heart, in my own life and ministry I couldn’t put it down.  Parenting on a foreign field as missionaries has more challenges than most people know.  Before I knew anything about the author, personally, I was impressed that she intimately understood the challenges of the missionary call and parenting.

For a while I couldn’t understand the darkness I felt through most of the story.  Most missionary stories tell all the glory that folks back home expect to hear. This fiction was so real to me, I felt so much disappointment and even anger--I wasn’t happy with the missionary husband’s attitude from the very beginning in his approach to his calling and consideration for his family.  The choices of both missionary husband and wife profoundly affected and overshadowed the good.  Ultimately, the missionary child suffered.     

Even though this book is fiction, it can be an eye-opener! I will recommend it to pre-field missionaries as they evaluate their call, to missionaries on the field as they balance ministry and parenting and to those who love and hold missionaries accountable on the field.

A Spectacle of Glory, a Book Review

A Spectacle of Glory

God’s Light Shining through Me Every Day

By Joni Eareckson Tada 

with Larry Libby

I don’t expect a “devotional” to be a bible study, but I do expect to get at least one piece of encouragement or challenge for my day.  I keep A Spectacle of Glory on my desk.  It’s a small, beautiful book so it doesn’t get in my way, but reminds me just to take a minute to read some practical, encouraging words.  They are words that always point to the Savior and an evaluation of my relationship to Him. 

 

I was impacted by Joni Eareckson Tada’s testimony many years ago when her life changed in a diving accident.  She doesn’t ever disappoint me; on the contrary I am so challenged by her walk with the Lord that I also want that closer relationship with Him.  This devotional, authored by someone who has walked the walk a long time would be a great gift for a new believer as well as one who has been walking with the Lord a long time!

I Told My Kids NOT to Eat Dirt!

I'm sure they did it anyway, but now I would say making mud pies is a good thing!  I learned that and so much more from Eat Dirt,  Dr. Josh Axe's newest book.  He says "all disease begins in the gut."  With that in mind I dug into his book to figure out what I needed to do to help my family, friends, others and me!

I've been diagnosed with "leaky gut" by two different doctors, but the healing plan was sketchy to non-existent at best.  I fell through the cracks.  I've been following Dr. Josh Axe for over a year now and have compared his guidance to other nutritionists and natural-paths along the way.  It doesn't contradict, yet his presentation is so "user friendly" I get it!  

"You are what you eat" was the focus of one my college speeches.  I've believed that to be true for years, but Dr. Axe disagrees.  He says, "you are not what you eat, but what you digest."  That makes sense to me now.  He says that you can take good supplements and eat healthy food, but if your gut is leaking undigested food particles into the bloodstream, it is all eliminated before it can nourish your body.  So, what's the answer?  In Eat Dirt, Dr. Axe gives 5 types of leaky gut:

1. Candida Gut
2. Stressed Gut
3. Immune Gut
4. Gastric Gut
5. Toxic Gut

                     ...by answering a few questions you can identify yours, if you have leaky gut, and begin the specific plan to heal your gut! Check out the leaky gut lab tests and Dr. Axe's online quiz on his website for more information. 

So where does the "dirt" come in?  The scientific explanation is detailed, but losing our simpler way of life has ultimately become the culprit in destroying the good stuff that we now kill with all of our sanitizers and pills. Since we've successfully killed it we are faced with getting it back into our compromised bodies.  I don't plan on literally eating dirt, and neither does the author, but he gives the reader so many common sense choices to get those microbes and good stuff back.

With autoimmune diseases cropping up in epidemic proportions, it has become personally a great concern to me enough to search for some answers. This presentation by Dr. Axe specifically addresses and offers scientific and practical answers to the causes and successful treatment of autoimmune. 

My book is already highlighted in yellow (my granddaughter who has an unnamed auto immune disease, highlighted in pink), underlined and tabbed for the recipes and information I need.  It's a must read and potentially a life changer! I am so thankful for the opportunity I was given to read this book. 

God Orders Our Steps...but Some Times It's Hard!

We moved to North Carolina the end of 2014 and really believe God brought us here.  Perhaps we know now one of the reasons why!  

During our 44 years of marriage we've moved many times and all joking aside, I've loved the moves. We have children in Arizona, Colorado, Iowa and North Carolina, scattered as a result of all that moving around!!  The two North Carolina daughters in residence, a son in law and two grandchildren are great reasons to be here. 

Ashley, age 19 leads the pack of our 22 grandchildren and we are very proud of the godly woman she has become.  Ashley has begun to share her story on her own blog and I couldn't possibly share it any better as God is ordering HER steps. Her blog "Between the Detours" is her health journey from her point of view.