Salty Zebra

  Shopping is more fun when you do it with someone. When I was a teenager, we used to go to the mall. Yes, in person, shocking I know! We'd hang out, get a pretzel in the food court, wander aimlessly through stores and never buy anything. And it was fun! These days I do 90+% of my shopping online, even for groceries. And you know what, my friends just haven't hit me up for a zoom call to shop together. I'm not sure why! Not gonna lie, I have considered livestreaming my Prime Day shopping, but I'm just not sure who would watch 🤪. So, I settle for talking about it on my blog here at Salty Zebra. Sometimes I talk about it at Bible study too and I get the biggest kick when my friend pulls out her journal to take notes!   One of the things I have enjoyed in the vacuum of shopping without friends is my AI friends filling in the gap. No, they don't share what's going on with their families or pray with me, but there is kibitzing! Yep, I had to look up the word " ...

  If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you. My Father is honored by this, that you bear much fruit and show that you are my disciples.   John 15:7-8  Do you ever have thoughts, doubts, even fears that you’re afraid to voice, even to God? Are you ashamed of them or worried that they will make it seem like you don’t believe, or you don’t have faith? I do. And today I am not going to let them win. Today, I am going to step out into my doubt with faith. That seems a little confusing, doesn’t it? But let me paint a word picture for you.   I’m standing, in my mind, on the edge of a dark forest. Outside of the forest there is sunshine and warm breezes, but inside the forest the canopy of trees blocks the light out until you can hardly see at all. I’m standing on a clearly marked path that I’ve been following for some time, but at the edge of the forest the path seems to dissipate into overgrowth and brambles. I ca...

  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...