Do you believe in the power of prayer? Do you know the 65 promises God has made to parents for their children? Interested in growing in the understanding of God’s view on parenting and  praying these Biblical promises for your children, grandchildren, or any child whom you’d like to cover in prayer?

In an effort to more deeply understand and claim the many promises that God has graciously given to us for our children, we will be holding Prayer Journey, a 7-week prayer study using the highly insightful and easy-to-understand book, “65 Promises From God for your Child: Powerful Prayers For Supernatural Results” by Mike Shreve. Also the author of “In Search of The True Light” and many other books, Shreve is a former yoga teacher who taught at four universities in Tampa. Today, he and his wife, Elizabeth, pastor at Triumphant Living Ministries in Cleveland, TN. They have two children whose life stories are incredible testimonies of what God has promised to parents!

Because we’ll be journeying through 65 Promises in a seven-week period, we will pray and discuss 10 of these Promises per session. That will leave us with five Promises plus the book’s conclusion to discuss on the seventh gathering. But, more importantly, we will pace ourselves as God leads!

By the way, we will also have the opportunity to hear directly from Mike Shreve via his CDs that accompany “65 Promises From God for your Child.”

If you share our belief that prayer wrapped with love is the single most important gift we can give to our children — or even if you have doubts about the power of prayer– let’s prayerfully grow together for 65 minutes each week as we journey through “65 Promises From God for your Child.” And, let’s excitedly watch “supernatural results” unfold.

Our collective prayer journey begins on May 7, 2013 at 10:30 a.m. at Life’s Journey Wellness Center. The only cost is the price of the book, which will need to be purchased in advance from Life’s Journey, a local book store, or online (under $10). To kick off the process, participants will be asked to read the book’s interesting introduction prior to May 7.

For more information and/or to RSVP, click here or call (904) 276-3116.

We are so excited for this opportunity to team up and pray together and watch all sorts of results unfold!!!

You can take a peek inside this very special book here!

Shall we begin…

by Penny Powell

I was intrigued by the name “Quinoa” (pronounced “keen-wa”) from the first time I heard it. Today, this name — which means “the mother grain” — still pleases my ears…and my taste buds, too!

High in iron, Quinoa is known to be “a staple of the ancient Incas” and “has a distinctive flavor and fluffy texture,” Arrowhead  Mills writes on the front of the “Organic Quinoa” package it manufactures. “It makes a tasty choice for casseroles, pilafs and even salads when cooked,” this company explains.

A mixture of Quinoa and Kale has become one of my new, favorite dishes. I find that the combinations I enjoy most at home often turn out to be ones created from no recipe at all — but rather from a food picture that suddenly appears in my mind based on what I have available at the time.

So, when I remembered that I had Quinoa in my pantry AND Kale in my fridge,mI immediately visualized a pretty green and white mixture on my plate. Then, I set out to make this dish a reality, flavoring it with spices — including a handful or so of Spicy Miso Kale Chips made by New York Naturals.

First, I cooked the Quinoa according to the simple instructions on the package (the brand mentioned above that I got from Publix). When most of the water it was cooking in was absorbed, I stirred in about a cup or more of fresh chopped kale. To season it, I added a selection of seasonings from my spice cabinet, such as Sea Salt, Black Pepper, Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, etc. I also added a good handful or so of the crumbs from the flavorful Spicy Miso Kale Chips mentioned above. Additionally, I included approximately a tablespoon of the Raw and Organic Coconut Butter made by Artisana (sold at Life’s Journey Wellness Center).

Not only did I enjoy the taste of this pretty combination, but the overall texture was so lovely, too! Thankfully, it was  a really healthy dish, because I kept going back for more! In fact, I’m off to make another pot of it right now!

Have a healthy and happy weekend! Maybe you’ll add a little Quinoa to it, too!

For the past two weeks at our weekly “Teens in Balance” class, middle-school students from Grace Episcopal Day School (GEDS) have had the opportunity to work creatively in groups at Life’s Journey Wellness Center.

When driving to class two weeks ago, Penny, teacher of this GEDS Elective class, was struck with the idea to shape the  yoga mats like triangles as she laid them out on the studio floor. That would turn out to be four “triangles” for the group of 12 students.

Penny ended up just setting up one 3-mat “triangle” as an example of the theme that day. Then, when the students arrived, she instructed them to create mat-triangles, which they really got into! An exciting, creative energy filled the room as a result this “different” layout, so Penny decided to further build on that!

Therefore, the next instruction was for the students to create one triangle out of three bodies and then explain what their body-triangle represented and discuss a little about the creative process used to come up with each choice.

“Whenever I think of a triangle, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit come to mind,” Penny explained as an example. “So, think about what comes to mind for you as you experience your Teens in Balance triangle.”

“Connectedness,” one group explained while stretching in a human triangle shape. “Togetheness,” another group stated.

“Birds under a bridge” was what another group created — demonstrated by one of the students using strength and flexibility to hold her body up in a solid Wheel pose (which was a human ’bridge’ in this case) while the other two group members knelt on either side of her and fully stretched one arm each (the birds) under her back (the bridge). Those arms were the bottom of the triangle while a point at the top of the bridge was the top angle of the triangle. Can you picture it?

The main spokesperson for this group explained that while it had initially been tough for her and her partners to come up with their triangle idea, they stuck with it until they figured out what they could do!

The lessons from this group:

(1) Honesty, as they were honest to admit they had struggled at first (as the other groups had seemed to create with ease).

(2) Perseverance since they kept at it and eventually came up with a lovely triangle creation.

Because one of the groups worked in twos since one student was absent that day, this duo decided to transform to “mermaids” with their seated bodies leaning in toward each other at their sides and one arm each meeting at the top of them to create the top of their triangle.

The lesson: Less resources do not necessarily mean lesser results, as this group proved with their 2-person “triangle”.

Another group of three had formed three Wheel poses and positioned their Wheels to form one triangle.

“We just came up with something we all like to do and used that to create our triangle,” these youth explained

The lesson: Taking time to figure out what we have in common can work well for us — just as our positive differences can often be of use to each other, too.

Because the spirit of the class was so much fun and Penny wanted to give the absent student mentioned above a chance to experience some of what she had missed, “CREATIVE Teens in Balance” was the theme once again the following week. However, instead of giving the students one shape idea for the mats at the beginning of class, they were given the freedom to arrange the mats whatever way they desire — while still working in groups of three but with different partners this time. Then, they were to construct a 3-person group posture inspired  by the layout of their mats.

Below, enjoy some of what “showed up” during the creative-body process! It was such a joy to watch!

After coming up with several wonderful ideas of their own, that segment of class concluded with Penny’s instruction to continue the creative mat journey by making crosses. She heard a few students comment to their partners that they were Jesus on the cross!

Have a glimpse of this past Wednesday’s fun Teens in Balance class…

This week, we’re thrilled to introduce Dr. Pat Sager Lane and her “Eat Well/Be Well: Mindful Nutrition Awareness Lifestyle Program” to you! A 6-week “Eat Well/Be Well” series class will begin March 9, 2013. The additional dates and a breakdown of the weekly content can be found here.

Dr. Sager Lane has extensive personal experience in dealing with the problems of obesity, food allergies, drug and supplement intolerances, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, celiac disease, gluten intolerance, high blood pressure, heartburn, sleep disturbances and many other medical and dietary challenges. (Her full bio will be available on our website soon.) In the meantime, she invites you to:-

Come and learn what to do to help yourself and your family separate the “Hype” and “Habit” (your unconscious response) surrounding what you choose to eat! Come increase your knowledge base — and please your palate — with the better “alternative” food choices available to stimulate optimum health!

Know the reasons why you should consider changes to what you choose to eat. Understand the consequences of taking prescription and/or over-the-counter drugs so you can help yourself to get better and be less drug-dependent or drug-free.  Learn what to eat to feel full, satisfied and well, and how to validate results with medical tests.

Learn how to lessen pain and chronic symptoms by applying the proven Mindful Nutrition Awareness Lifestyle Program that is a lifestyle change of best choices — not a diet! No calories or anything else to count or weigh, and no starving yourself or eating only one or two foods!

In this course, Dr. Sager Lane will show you how to shop, where to buy from the best and most inexpensive sources, and she will also demonstrate how to prepare and cook food in new ways with new applications of appetizing food products. Come explore exciting adventures in Sourcing, Cooking, and Tasting for your health!

Celebrate your right to choose to Eat Well to Be Well, and come join the wellness party!