I was so blessed to have the opportunity to be interviewed by Serene and Pearl (the founders of Trim Healthy Mama, the plan I coach ladies in). Honestly, I was super nervous going into it. But once I got on the call with them the Lord really helped me relax and just feel like I was chatting with old friends. I do know them personally through an internship I did years ago, so it felt very natural.
In the podcast I talk about… -eating healthy on a budget -making healthy meals my husband likes -setting up meal frameworks to simplify -and more!
Give it a listen and send it to a friend you think might enjoy it! It’s on Youtube, Spotify, and other places as well.
If you’re interested in healthy living, I’d love to talk to you more about it! You can schedule a free phone call or shoot me an email ( eliza.noel.writes@gmail.com ).
Meet Me in the Margins by Melissa Ferguson is a lighthearted romance book that I highly recommend. It kept me smiling and made me want to keep reading. I caught myself several times saying I’d be done at the end of a chapter and then skimming the first few pages of the next chapter to see what happened. As an author, I loved reading about another writer and her struggles.
“And for the love of all, pick different names. This is not an opera. You can have Renaldo. You can have Cecilia. You cannot have both.”
…this is just one of many strongly worded notes Savannah Cade finds in the margins of her manuscript. It upsets her at first to find someone has been reading her manuscript. Her private manuscript written under a pen name, not to mention. Savannah works as an editor in a publishing house where romance is strongly frowned upon. Because of that, she stores her manuscript in a secret room inside the Victorian office. When she finds out someone else has found the room and her manuscript she’s terrified. But when she realizes the secret editor’s comments are actually improving her story she begins taking their advice. The pressure of a tight deadline is only made more stressful by the fact that her sister will soon be marrying her ex-boyfriend and she’s meant to just grin and bear it all.
Like all the other Melissa Ferguson books I’ve read, I found myself smiling through it all.
A few of my favorite things…
the Victorian house setting
a grumpy, but lonely male MC
a somewhat awkward, insecure and real female MC
the behind-the-scenes of publishing houses
I didn’t care for…
I can’t think of anything!
Know that…
most of the romance is through notes, so it’s fairly clean!
Perfect for…
Any women looking for a lighthearted romance that will keep a smile on their face!
If you love reading clean Christian fiction (especially contemporary) sign-up for my email list here. I send reviews and giveaways here and there.
If you only make one change for your health, let it be this- know the Gospel of Grace. If your spiritual and eternal health isn’t in order, then don’t even think about your physical health. The importance of that pales in comparison. This life is temporary. Sure, eating healthy and exercising can give you a better quality of life, but what’s the point if you’re headed for an eternity in Hell? I know that sounds rough, but the truth is loving no matter how hard it is.
Gospel of Grace: Assurance of a Healthy Eternity
We went to a memorial service recently. That and the fact that we’ve unexpectedly lost two different young family friends this past year has me thinking about what really matters. I praise the Lord for the fact that I know they put their trust in the Gospel of Grace and will spend eternity with the Lord instead of being separated from Him (in Hell). I also thank the Lord for the fact that I have this same assurance. If I die today or in seventy years I know exactly where I’m going.
Gospel of Grace: Have You Trusted in it?
As we consider your spiritual health I have a question for you to think about-
Do you know where you’ll spend your eternity?
Think about your answer and we’ll circle back to the question. I want you to be absolutely 100% sure on this matter. I desire for your spiritual health to be thriving.
Gospel of Grace: The Bad News
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” Romans 3:23
According to Romans, a book of the Bible, we’re all born spiritually sick. We all have a sin sickness. This can look like selfishness, anger, lust, pride, lying…the list goes on and on. It’s like we’re born with a cancer we can do nothing about that’s slowly killing us.
God is equally just as He is loving. This means that He can not just “let it slide” when we sin. If a human judge let the guilty go free in our day, we would call him corrupt. But God is not corrupt, He is a perfect judge. Because of this, He can not let anything imperfect into His presence (heaven). The standard for perfection isn’t measured against the girl next door, it is measured against Him alone. And we do not measure up.
The bottom line is that our sin sickness is sending every one of us straight to Hell, no exception. We all have it. Nobody (except for Jesus) is born free of this sin sickness.
It’s terrible news, isn’t it?
But the story doesn’t end there. There’s good news. There is a cure.
Gospel of Grace: The Cure
God is equally loving as He is just. He saw this bad news and provided a solution to the problem.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16
God’s son is Jesus. Though He never sinned, He was condemned as a criminal and died on a cross. He did not die because He deserved it. He, in His matchless grace, traded Himself (the innocent) for us (the guilty). He took the punishment upon Himself for us so that we would not have to. God placed all sin upon Jesus, He paid for it all. No word, work, or ritual that we could do could pay this astronomical price. To God, only Jesus’ blood is a satisfactory payment.
And He didn’t stay dead.
He rose from the grave victorious, defeating forever the power of sin and death.
Let’s circle back to John 3:16. It says “whoever believes in Him has eternal life”. Think about the cancer idea again. Let’s say it’s terminal. But you find out a doctor has developed a procedure to cure it. Are you immediately healed because the cure exists? No, you would have to trust that his cure would work and have the procedure done. That’s the only way the cure could personally do you any good.
Similarly, you have to choose for yourself to trust in Jesus’ payment for you on the cross. That is the only way His cure would personally do you any good. As a result of your trust in Him He freely gives you eternal life with God (Heaven) instead of the punishment you rightly deserved (Hell).
Once you trust that, your sin sickness no longer determines your destination. Instead, Jesus’ perfection determines your destination. Because Jesus’ payment satisfied God nothing you can do (good or bad) can change His mind.
“He (God) forgave us all our sins,having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.” Colossians 2:13-14
Gospel of Grace: Where Do You Stand?
Let’s circle back to your answer to my question. If you’ve trusted in Jesus, your eternity with God in Heaven is sure, if you haven’t trusted, the opposite is true. My prayer is that if you haven’t already, you will choose today to trust in Him.
“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” John 3:17-18
Gospel of Grace: Further Resources
If you have more questions about spiritual health, leave a comment or send me an email (eliza.noel.writes@gmail.com). I’d love to talk with you! Here are some other good resources as well.
The menstrual cycle is referred to as the fifth vital sign by Lily Nichols and Lisa Hendrickson-Jack, the authors of “Real Food for Fertility” (a book I highly recommend). They say that how your cycle is doing is an indicator of your overall health, just like your heart rate, body temperature, respiratory rate, and blood pressure are. A cycle length outside of the range of 24-35 days could be a sign of an underlying health problem.
Please note, while I am a certified health coach, I am by no means a doctor. I’m just sharing what worked personally for me in hopes that it will be helpful for you.
Ever since I was a teenager, my menstrual cycle has been inconsistent and often far too long. And from talking to friends, I know I’m not the only one who has experienced this. Personally, I was quick to Google symptoms and come up with all kinds of scary diagnoses for myself. It turns out, all I needed was to make some simple healthy lifestyle choices. This might not work for everyone, but I highly recommend shooting for consistency with these five habits for up to a year and seeing what happens.
Menstrual Cycle Health: 5 Healthy Habits
These are the five habits I implemented the year my menstrual cycle finally became regular.
Exercising regularly. A few months before my cycle started consistently being in the normal range (24-35 days), I started exercising regularly. In the beginning, this looked like lifting heavy weights for an hour in the gym. Now this looks like twenty-minute workout videos done in my living room 3 times per week. Different budgets and schedules will allow different things. Just move your body somehow.
Taking Inositol every night. Inositol is a supplement that’s also called Vitamin B8. It’s mentioned in the Trim Healthy Wisdom book as a recommendation for women who have PCOS symptoms. Aside from improving menstrual cycle health, it also improves sleep quality. I’d probably taken this consistently for at least 5 months before I saw an obvious change.
Cutting out sugar and refined flours. Real Food for Fertility states that diets high in sugar are often associated with hormonal imbalances and other issues. About 10 months before my cycle changed for the better, I started cutting out sugar and refined flours. Maybe 4 months before the change, I started taking that more seriously. I still don’t stick to it perfectly, but now most sweets I eat are sweetened with natural sweeteners, and most baked goods I consume have been soured, soaked or sprouted. My reason behind these things was because they were kinder for my blood sugar levels and therefore helped me maintain a healthy weight. Turns out what’s kinder for my blood sugar is also kinder for my menstrual cycle health.
Focusing on protein. I always knew protein was important, but I didn’t understand just how important until recently. Trim Healthy Wisdom set a new standard for protein goals and I started taking that seriously. Again, when I started doing this it was so I could reach and maintain a healthy weight. But it turns out it also affects my menstrual health. See this recent post by Trim Healthy Mama to read some of the many benefits of protein.
Eating well-balanced meals. God created all the food groups, and it turns out to be healthy women we need all of them (crazy how it’s almost like he knew that, huh?). I don’t cut food groups out. I make sure that every day I get at least a little bit of both healthy carbs and healthy fats. I’ve grown to crave both. If it’s been too long since I’ve had a fat meal, I start to feel it and quickly make a peanut butter smoothie or something with lots of butter and cheese. The same goes for healthy carbs.
I’m not sure which one of these habits played the biggest role in making my menstrual cycle regular, but my guess is that they all played a part. Many of these habits I implemented simply because I chose to live the Trim Healthy lifestyle. At that point, I wasn’t specifically thinking about menstrual health. Implementing little healthy lifestyle changes goes a lot further than we realize.
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Make Some Healthy Changes
If you’re looking to make healthy lifestyle changes, but don’t know where to start, I’d love to help. Being a certified healthy lifestyle coach, my job is to teach and cheer ladies on in their health journeys. I’d love the opportunity to walk alongside you! If you want more details about the health coaching packages I offer visit my health coaching page. I also offer a free 15-minute discovery call. I’d be honored to get to know you and where you’re at!
It’s a rare occasion when I meet a woman who doesn’t love at least one of Jane Austen’s stories. Something draws us to her characters even if they are prideful, passionate, or obnoxious (what excellent boiled potatoes). When it comes to humor, I believe Jane Austen was far ahead of her time. While some people may think her stories are better left untouched, I’ll continue to be drawn to new spins on her stories (even if they don’t match up to the original). There is just something so comforting about characters and storylines that feel familiar. Here are just a few books that feel like Jane Austen in some way or another.
*scroll to the end to claim a FREE Jane Austen Inspired Favorites Guide*
cheesy (but at the same time well done) modern version of Sense and Sensibility
Christmas scenes
clean girly movie
Jane Austen characters redone well
Tell Me About Your Love for Jane Austen
I’ve been a lover of Jane Austen stories since before high school. Pride and Prejudice was a long time favorite, but I’ve grown a new appreciation for Sense and Sensibility. Even Emma (whom I originally loathed) has grown on me. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m passionate about both literature and health. I even named my self-taught health coaching package Elinor Dashwood because it’s an independent course just like Elinor is an independent character. You can learn more about it below.
Grab your free Jane Austen Inspired Favorites guide!
I created this free guide to help you find your next cozy Jane Austen inspired read. I hope you enjoy it!
