Kansas City Convention!!!

http://trueloveskissblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/view-of-city-from-32nd-floor.html Read about our recent LTC Convention in Kansas City. :)

~Brooke

It's Here!!

It's officially here! My new blog has launched. I am so excited and relieved. I have spent the good part of 2 weeks trying to come up with a good name for this blog. So please hop on over and show your support by becoming a follower. :)

~True Love's Kiss~

~Brooke

A New Beginning

Hello everyone. I have some exciting news. I am in the creative process of starting a my new blog. It will still focus on much of the issues I talk about here, as well as some of my own poetry and stories. I will still be blogging here as well. What I really need is some help from you! I desperately need a name for this new blog. So if you have any really great and awesome ideas... let me know! :)

Lessons From the Lord

by Brooke
Well readers, I'm sitting here not exactly sure how I want to write this post. I've had this post in mind for a little while now, and was just waiting for the time to write it.

Recently I feel like God has really been "revealing" things to me. I say revealing, but really I mean "reminding," because they are all things I already knew, but maybe had just forgotten, as we humans tend to do. :) So today I'm going to share some of those things with you.

God has been reminding me to be selfless. Now I can't say that I've ever considered myself to be a extremely selfish person, but lately God has helped me realize that there are many times I could be serving Him and others rather than myself. He reminded me of my own words of advice I gave to a friend, "my life is about serving Him." But am I really living by that philosophy? He's made me realize that many times I'm not. I've been convicted that I need to have a more servant attitude. Even when I have to do a task that I consider less-than-enjoyable, I need to look at it as serving Him. Looking at work from this perspective makes a big difference. Instead of saying, "Well I have to go get to work now," I've been saying, "Well I need to go serve the Lord now." Try it! It will change your attitude.

He's also been reminding me that He knows best, and I just have to be willing to follow his plan. Of course, I know this, sometimes I just tend to forget. Sometimes I can't help wondering or even worrying about things. One of the most common for me, and probably for many other stay-at-home-daughters, is wondering about my future husband and marriage. Quite simply, I want to get married. And sometimes I get tired of waiting. But I know that God's plan is perfect, and I just have to trust in him.

So these are a few of the things I've learned lately. I hope the lessons the Lord has been teaching me can help you as well.

Keep serving Him with all your heart.

Meaning and Memories: Christmas Traditions

Christmas is upon us. As I write this, I believe it is only 11 days away. Christmas is absolutely one of my favorite times of year (even though I don't particularly like the cold). One of my favorite parts of Christmas is the individual traditions that each family has. They are all different, but they all hold with them meaning and memories. For example, a few of our family's traditions are decorating the tree together, buying and wrapping gifts for one another, cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning, and having the family over on Christmas day. I love the Christmas traditions that my family has, and I look forward to someday starting my own traditions (as well as keeping some of the old ones) with my own family. One of the best parts of Christmas is that it brings back that much-needed element of family to this world that seems to have forgotten it. What are some of your favorite Christmas traditions? I hope that you are able to celebrate them with your family this year!

Merry Christmas!

Making Work More Enjoyable

Recently, I found a very good way to get work done that I would like to share with you. Sometimes work is just not very fun! But we have to do it anyway-so find a way to make it fun. While I am doing school, I will put in a CD of classical music-I prefer William Joseph or Tchaikovsky. Then I light a couple of candles. It makes doing my school so much more relaxing and enjoyable. I suggest you try this with any task that you find less-than-enjoyable. :)

~Brooke

My Story of Scoliosis

Today I am going to share a story with you-my story. Even though it's mostly a story about physical problems, if you look closely, it is also a story about God's provision and grace.
When I was 10 years old I was diagnosed with idiopathic juvenile scoliosis. Basically, I was growing so fast that my spine couldn't keep up, and as a result it was ending up curved instead of straight. Obviously, this can cause some pretty serious problems if not treated. My parents decided to have my treatment at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, even though it was a 2-1/2-hour drive. (By the way, I loved Mayo Clinic.)
At my first appointment, we found out from the x-rays that I had a 27 degree curve. The doctor recommended bracing me. He normally wouldn't recommend that on the first visit, but my scoliosis was already progressed enough that bracing was needed immediately. So I was fitted for my first back brace. I wore a back brace for the next 4 years. It was not easy! I had to wear the brace for 20-23 hours a day, taking it off for bathing or sports, and/or an hour or so break a day. I was able to take it off myself, but had to have someone to help me put it on.
Having a brace was hard. I could do normal things when it was off, but after having it off for too long, my back got extremely sore. It was hard for me to go to sleepovers or summer camp. And because of the design of my brace, my posture was always crooked with 1 shoulder higher than the other-something that didn't look very nice in pictures.
Wearing the brace was sometimes painful, especially during the adjustment period. There was an initial adjustment period, when I adjusted to wearing the brace. There were also 2 other adjustment periods when I had to adjust to a new brace after outgrowing the one I was in. Even though a long undershirt is worn under the brace, sometimes sores can still develop on the skin. So we had rub my skin with rubbing alcohol to toughen it up. We were told that the first 2 weeks would probably be the worst-because of the adjustment period. Remarkably, those first 2 weeks were really not bad at all. I know it is because I had so many people praying for me. My diagnosis was quite a surprise to my family, so our church family was remembering us in prayer.
The hardest time for me was adjusting from my first to my second brace. It was extremely painful. That second brace continued to give me problems-it had not been formed right, so it ended up applying pressure to the wrong spots, creating some bad sore spots. Eventually we had to have a third brace that was formed correctly, but I was left with 2 scars (a small one on my upper back, and a much larger and worse one on my lower back) that I still have to this day.
But in the end, God worked it all out to his glory. You will remember my original x-ray showed a curve of 27 degrees. Now, bracing is not meant to correct a curve, only to keep it from getting worse. A very good brace wearer may, at best, correct their curve by 1 or 2 degrees. But after 4 years, my final x-rays showed a curve of only 11 degrees! I know that through so many people's prayers, God had decided to work a miracle. He had basically healed my scoliosis, as a curve is not even considered scoliosis unless it is higher than 10 degrees. The doctors were amazed and pleased.
After I was done wearing the brace I still had some things to work through. My back was weak after so many years of being supported by a brace. I had some physical therapy exercises to strengthen it. But through exercises, my karate classes, and God's healing, I now do not have those problems.
Today, even though it was extremely painful and difficult, I am so thankful that God gave me scoliosis and used me to show how he can do anything. Don't ever doubt Him! I am a living testimony that he answers prayers.
~Brooke Reninger