8 a Day

She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks (Proverbs 31:17)

Being a King's daughter is not sitting around all day wearing a tiara, looking pretty & doing nothing. Quite the opposite - we should be working hard & playing hard, living life to the MAX! Life is full & busy & we have a great deal that needs to be done each day. We need to take care of our bodies if we are going to live the life we are created for. A healthy body means we can get a lot done each day & sleep well at night. An unhealthy body means we will be limited physically, emotionally, mentally & spiritually.
I am very passionate about healthy living & would like to recommend The Maker's Diet book to you! This is a fascinating book based on biblical precepts & scientific resources. After reading this book I radically changed my eating habits, my exercising, my cleaning products, my toothpaste... ha ha!

Often the thought of getting healthy is so overwhelming that many people don't know where to start! So I thought I would offer a simple starting point - 8 a day! Start simply by drinking 8 glasses of water a day. Water is required for practically every bodily function. The effects of not getting enough water are quite frightening. Here are just a few facts to help you get motivated to drink your 8 a day:

• Water prevents constipation & any toxins from accumulating to dangerous levels in your body.
• Lack of water makes you smell bad (not nice).
• Water keeps the skin looking younger, healthy & glowing.
• Water aids in the elimination of fats. Without water, fat deposits in the body will increase.
• A mere 2% drop in our body's water supply can cause fuzzy short-term memory, trouble with basic math, & difficulty focusing on smaller print (fascinating).

Of course I could write an entire book on the effects that water has on our body but you can Google it yourself if you like. So if you are not already drinking loads of water may I challenge you to get started?

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The Power Of The Tongue

Eric's sermon yesterday was quite challenging wasn't it? I found myself taking note of what came out of my mouth all day & found that I had so much less to say than usual... ha ha! My aim is to make sure I keep this guard on my tongue every day & practice the "zip it" principle if I have nothing good to say. So if you notice that I am not as chatty as usual then you can be sure I am working on taming my tongue :)

This is something especially relevant to us girls. Watch yourself this week & listen to what comes out of your mouth, you may be shocked. We spend so much time dressing up to be pretty, some of us won't dare leave home without our make-up on. But have you ever considered "wearing" a clean mouth as a part of our dressing up? Gossip for example is one of the ugliest things a girl can "wear". I have seen us girls absolutely rip another girl to shreds in a conversation & most of the time we do it just because we are insecure about our self & make our self feel better at their expense.

Death and life are in the power of the tongue, (Proverbs 18:21)

We can do serious harm to someone just by what slides off of our tongue. That is so ugly & no amount of make-up or pretty clothes can cover the ugliness that we wear when we do this. I am sure we have all done this at some point in our life but let's really think about this when we get dressed to meet up with people this week. Make a decision to dress beautifully on the inside & out, when you put on your perfume or a pretty dress also put on a nice clean mouth that won't gossip or say mean things. If your chit chat is not going to build a person up rather chit chat about something else. Make sure the absent are always safe around you.

Just a thought, hope it helps us all be more beautiful & princess-like this week. XXX

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Small Steps

Knowing who we are is an essential ingredient to a great life. So many times I see people of all ages spending loads of energy on trying to be who they think they should be. It's hard work being who you are not! You have to constantly be checking what you are doing, that you are keeping up the appearance of being that person, and some people even try and dress to fit the profile. So even more hard work, trying to figure out what to wear that would make you look like who you think you should be... whew I am tired already just thinking about it. I do however understand this, because I have been there and done it so many times. I spent the first 30 years of my life trying to be the person I thought I should be. Thankfully I figured out how to be me and how to love me! I found an amazing freedom that few people find in this day and age which is why you will find that I talk about identity very often.

If you struggle with identity and you are not sure who you REALLY are, then may I encourage you to work it out... one small step at a time. The first step that I recommend would be to get into the Word (..If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free - John 8:31-32). Get to know the truth about your creator as we are made in His image (Genesis 1:26). Ask Him to show you the truth about who you are. Our God is so faithful and He is for us not against us. I can vouch from experience that He will show you who you really are if you just ask!

Watch this space for more keys on finding out who you really are xxx

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A Special Saturday

This Saturday was a very special day, my gorgeous baby girl - Jordan, celebrated her 14th birthday and my other gorgeous baby girl - Amy, had solid food for the first time. Where does the time go to? Family is so precious and I am so blessed to have 4 gorgeous children.

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Beef Casserole

I thought it was time to do something very girly on our Blog, let's swap recipes! I don't very often cook from a recipe I generally make it up as I go along, but from time to time I am inspired to try a recipe. On one of my recipe days I tried this casserole recipe and it is now one of our family favourites. So give it a try and see if you like it and why not add one of your favourite recipes in the comment box.

5OOg diced beef
2T plain flour
2T sunflower oil
1 large onion, peeled and chopped
2 large carrots, thickly sliced diagonally
1 large parsnip, thickly sliced
2 large potatoes, quartered
1 fat clove garlic, peeled and crushed
1 x 440ml can stout
150ml beef stock dissolved in boiling water
1 Bouquet Garni
IT red wine vinegar
IT Whole Grain Mustard
1t sugar
4T freshly chopped parsley

· Put the flour on a plate, sprinkle with salt and pepper and coat the meat in the flour.
· Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry onions. Transfer onions to a casserole dish.
· Add the beef to the frying pan and brown evenly for 4-5 minutes.
· Transfer the meat to a casserole dish.
· Add all the vegetables and garlic to the casserole dish.
· Add the stout, stock, bouquet garni, vinegar, mustard and sugar.
· Cook in a preheated oven at 180°C for 2 hrs.
· Garnish with the parsley.

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A message from Holly Wagner

Thanks for all of your kind words! And I am so glad that GODCHICKS has been a blessing to you. That was certainly my intention when I wrote it!! I knew there was a generation of women ready to make a difference in the world, and determined to do it by being themselves! Thank you for being on this journey with me...and for walking strong - with your crown on!
Love to you all!

xoxox

Holly Wagner

PS If you want, you can check out the next step of this journey by reading my latest book WARRIORCHICKS

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God Chicks by Holly Wagner

I was so excited about sharing this book with you and have finally got all the children settled down so I can get on with it and am not sure where to begin now! How do you describe a book that has you in stitches with laughter but at the same time is so profound that you will not be the same ever again after reading it! I must say I read it a few years ago and find myself reading it over and over as different things hit me during different seasons. My daughters also read it over and over again so our copy is well worn and always being read by someone :)

My favourite chapter is the first chapter - the just be u chick. This chapter totally blew me away as I realised that it's OK to be me, totally me, and I don't have to copy anyone else for God to use me. Sounds simple enough but so few of us really believe that, most of us never feel good enough and are always working so terribly hard at being good enough.

If you are a busy mum like me, I would highly recommend that you at least find time to read the first chapter of God Chicks! You can't really read the rest of the book until you have read that anyway as all the rest hinges on us being who we really are.

If you have already read God Chicks please let us hear your views in the comments box below.

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Knowing Who You Are

Have you ever blown it big time? You try so hard to be all you can be and then you just screw up and make a mistake. Those times are so very difficult aren't they? The problem with those moments is that we let them define us rather than keep them in their proper place - they are simply moments. Yes we failed... for that moment, yes we screwed up... for that moment but that doesn't define who we are it just defines a moment of weakness! If I know who I am then I can keep those moments in perspective and move on quickly but if I don't know who I am then those moments define me, they form a part of my identity.

Girls, the world is full of messed up people who don't know who they are and what they want in life, they are filled with fear, hopelessness & uncertainty. If we are going to make a difference in our world then we need to hold on to the truth about who we are and believe it whole heartedly. The main key is knowing who our Daddy is. If we know who our Daddy is then we know who we are because we are made in His image (Genesis 1:26), we are His (Isaiah 43:1) and He is crazy about us (Psalm 17:7-9).

When we have a bad moment we don't lose our identity to that, we have to stay focused on who we are, say sorry for our mistake and keep walking in the knowledge that we are daughters of the King and nothing can take that away from us. Let's walk with our heads high in confidence knowing who we are, showing others who don't yet know who they are how it is done :)

Have a great day today, smile really big, laugh really loud and shine brightly just because you know who you are - the daughter of the King, a true princess. XXX

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Blog Thoughts

This is where we can comment on the preaching on Sunday, recommend books, chat about our day to day lives as real life princesses, share recipes, etc, etc. You name it we will do it right here on the King's Daughters blog. Next week I will be sharing some thoughts on our identity... an important issue don't you think?

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