Salty Zebra

  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.  Galatians 5:22-23 The fruit of the Spirit’s not a coconut The fruit of the Spirit’s not a coconut If you wanna be a coconut you might as well hear it – You can’t be a fruit of the Spirit!  My kid grew up in AWANA and I can’t study the fruit of the Spirit without getting this song stuck in my head! From the beginning of my walk with Jesus, I’ve heard about the fruit of the Spirit. For a long time, I felt stress and pressure when I heard about it because I knew I didn’t measure up, no matter how hard I tried. Thankfully, God granted me freedom from that, and I’d love to share it with you today too! LMK in the comments if you get this one 😂  You see, while it is good to be more loving, kind and patient, these are not things that we can “will” ourselves to do. It’s not just a matter of putting your...

  I am an Amazon Associate and when you purchase something through links in this post I will receive a small bonus. I will also receive a bonus if you sign up for an Amex card. This does not change your price at all, it just helps support what I'm doing on the Salty Zebra Blog.  Ok, so I started multiples posts for today, but none of them thrilled me. Nothing got me excited. Nothing made me want to write more and more and more. I prayed about it and then went about my business, messing around on my computer, learning more about points and miles, and then, BAM!!!! I got a super duper awesome opportunity and I want to share it with you too!   I've been learning this week about Amazon's Shop With Points program. It allows you to use your credit card points as cash on Amazon to purchase items sold and shipped directly by Amazon (not third party vendors). Now, normally I would never do this, except with my Prime Visa Amazon points because that's exactly what they're for...

   I was shocked and thrilled when I learned a few years ago about Norwegian's Shareholder Benefits program. This is not something that is widely advertised, so just in case you hadn't heard about it either, I thought I ought to let you know!   The way this program works is that if you hold at least 100 shares of Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) stock, you can apply for an onboard credit for every  cruise you take with Norwegian, Oceania or Regent cruise lines. Don't own 100 shares of NCL? If you cruise with them regularly, maybe you should! In March of 2020, I made my first stock purchase recommendation to my husband. I had read several articles that really resonated with me regarding how solid NCL was in their savings and assets and predicted that they would be the most likely cruise line to weather the Covid storm. We jumped in and were fortunate to be able to purchase stock at $11.11 per share. I was simply investing in a company that I appreciated and had good ...

  How blessed is the one who does not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand in the pathway with sinners, or sit in the assembly of scoffers! Instead, he finds pleasure in obeying the Lod’s commands; he meditates on his commands day and night. He is like a tree planted by flowing streams; it yields its fruit at the proper time, and its leaves never fall off. He succeeds in everything he attempts. Psalm 1:1-3  We are given a lot of choices in this life. Do you want to sit in the front or the back? Do you want your coffee hot or iced? Many choices, like these, are inconsequential, but then come the more influential ones. Who will you spend your time with? How will you interact with the world? These choices are typically influenced by what we meditate on. Lots of people will say, “I don’t meditate, that’s for hippies!” Ok, maybe not lots of people, but more than one I’ve known 😂 . Here’s the definition of meditate for you from Webster’s 1828 : MED'ITATE ,  verb intra...

  If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown out like a branch and dries up; and such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire and are burned up.   John 15:6  Today’s verse seems scary, but it doesn’t have to be. As a gardener, a vine-dresser, or a plant mom, there are things that must be done to maintain the health of our charges. We looked earlier at verse 2 of this chapter that talks about pruning. A plant has a limited amount of energy, and if it sends it all to branches that are just making pretty leaves, there won’t be enough left for others to bear fruit. Our Heavenly Father, our perfect gardener, knows this. That’s why He prunes out of our lives those things that are not bearing fruit, so that others may bear fully. Zooming out from an individual’s life, God is also concerned with the life of His church.   If a branch breaks off a tree, even if it still looks green, it is dead already. If it does not remain connected to the tree it cannot sur...

 My family will tell you this is one of the most anticipated dates (I call it a holiday 😂) of the year for me! It's usually on my calendar in such a way that I avoid overlapping with any other events. This might confuse you if you know me well because, frankly, I'm not a big shopper. My daughter will tell you it's like pulling teeth to get me to a store with her. What I do love though is finding a good deal! And this day (ok, it's become days now) is one of the best times of the year to score deals. I try to accomplish all of my Christmas and birthday shopping for the year during this event. Imagine getting close to a holiday and not having to stress about gifts because they're already covered! That's the beauty of Prime Day!  The thing is, Prime Day is sort of an exclusive thing. Not everyone  can participate. You've got to be a part of a special club, Amazon Prime Members. Here's the good news, though: You can join the club too! In fact, it doesn'...

  I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me – and I in him – bears much fruit, because apart from me you can accomplish nothing.  John 15:5  Another passage in the Bible ( Romans 11:11-31 ) talks about how we (Gentiles or Non-Jewish people) are grafted into the family of God by Jesus’ sacrifice for us. Grafting is a type of plant propagation or multiplication. Plants reproduce in two ways: sexually and asexually.   Sexual plant reproduction involves the pollen from one flower being transported and coming into contact with the stigma of another flower on the same plant or another plant of its species. This is typically done by pollinators like bees and hummingbirds but can be accomplished by gardeners as well (I had to do this by hand with a Q-Tip when we grew a giant pumpkin). The result of this pollination is some sort of fruit (perhaps just a seed pod) with seeds. The seeds can then be replanted to create more plants.   Asexual plant...