Holy in the Daily blog - Susan Gaddis

2020 appears to be the year from hell. No kidding. The spiritual oppression is thick.

That kind of heaviness doesn’t originate from flesh and blood but principalities, powers, and other forces of darkness (Ephesians 6:12).

Believers are wading through gloom, fear, stress, and pressure they’ve never experienced before.

Even if you’re COVID free, spared from the fires, hurricanes, violence, and massive doses of negativity flooding the airways, you can still sense the heaviness.

It’s in the atmosphere.

If you’ve felt…

Distracted and unable to focus
Confused—not quite yourself
Sleepless because your mind is a tangle of messy thoughts
Anxious, stressed, blah, tired, or irritable

…you’re not alone.… Read the rest

Become an armchair traveler for a quick mental vacation

Since many of us, including me, have spent most of 2020 at home, I thought you might like to get out of the house. At least for a few minutes.

So today, I’m taking you on a mini virtual-vacation to Finland, complete with photos. Grab your sunglasses, and let’s go!

Armchair traveler vacationing!

There is something about a mental vacation that puts our life into perspective and enlarges our view of the world, putting whatever surrounds us on hold for a short time.

Space is provided for our emotions and thoughts to rest as we vacate life obligations to muse with our companion, Jesus.… Read the rest

I am further away from my date of birth than I am from my home going. The world I knew growing up and raising a family was very different from the world I’m living in now or will be tomorrow.

Yet, it is this pandemic laced, politically messy, violent, and morally upside-down reality that I am living out my end of days.

And I think I have enough days left to go on another adventure.

When Tom and I retired, I told the Lord that whatever was ahead, I wanted those days to count—to mean something to Him and to me.… Read the rest

Does your daily experience seem stuck on repeat?

Sometimes I feel like I am living a version of the 1993 comedy film, Groundhog Day.

You know the movie. Phil (Bill Murray) is a TV weatherman covering February 2nd, Groundhog Day, in Punxsutawney.

For unknown reasons, he gets trapped in a time loop that keeps repeating itself. His life becomes a series of the same day.

Every 24 hours, he wakes up in the same place, meets the same people, and falls into bed the same way.

Over and over and over again.

Kinda like I felt being older and asked to shelter in place at home.

I’ve been doing this since late February, and it is now the end of July!… Read the rest

Are you wondering how to host a virtual Camp Grandma or Cousins Camp with long distant grandchildren or during the COVID-19 shelter-at-home guidelines?

Last week, one of the members in my private Shelter In Him Facebook group posted this note:

I need some ideas and encouragement for our Grand Camp. We have had camp with our ‘grands’ for several years during the summer months. They all live out of state, from 5hrs to 12 hrs away. Ages range from 8 to 16. Their parents have always ‘made a way’ to get them here. As it looks now, it will not happen this summer, due to situations brought by the pandemic.

… Read the rest

How to learn to be content in any situation

I’m a people watcher. One of the human things I’m noticing as we move forward with COVID-19’s sheltering-in-home is the mixed bag of responses regarding isolation.

Most of us cozied right up to the idea of time off of work or the perfect excuse to indulge ourselves in a DIY project.

We all started toilet paper collections, we took lots of selfies of cuddling our pets, and we tried not to step into the arena of fear.

As days became weeks, the introverted among us, of whom I am one, appreciated the extended excuse for long periods of disengagement.

Until we realized that the extroverts were getting restless…and with good reason.… Read the rest

Like many, I hear stories of those on the front lines of this new pandemic called the Coronavirus. Some work in hospitals, labs, and response teams called to deal with the virus in ways we aren’t even aware of – (think morticians or cleanup crews).

Others keep our supply lines open for food and transportation. Or learn to use new skills so they can teach school children confined to home.

The Coronavirus isn’t the first pandemic to sweep across our world. The Black Death is usually referenced as the greatest of these.

Wikipedia describes this Great Plague of 1347 – 1351 as:

The Black Death, also known as the Pestilence, Great Bubonic Plague, the Great Plague or the Plague, or less commonly the Great Mortality or the Black Plague, was the most devastating pandemic recorded in human history, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 75 to 200 million people in Eurasia, peaking in Europe from 1347 to 1351.

… Read the rest

16 Surprising Ways to Turn Loneliness into Purpose

Are you feeling lonely? It’s not a fun emotion as it usually morphs into feeling sad, isolated, or depressed.

You’ve probably known periods of loneliness more often than you’d like. Most women over 50 have, so you’re not alone.

As you age, people you care about disappear from your life either because of different interests, a relocation, or death. Most that are left are younger.

They view your world as history. You’ve preserved it as memories.

Not many understand who you are, what you’ve lost, how you think, what you fear, how you process experiences, or know the challenges that have shaped the person you’ve become.… Read the rest

Use this tip to frame your day for success

How often have you woken up in the morning with your thoughts carrying snippets of concern, crisis, or unpleasant responsibility?

If you fall asleep dwelling on such things, restlessness or bothersome dreams haunt your night.

When your daily life is squished in-between such musings, it’s hard to envision or experience success in your relationships, job, or activities.

Who wants to live this way? Not me, and certainly not you!

Framing is a creative way to surround your soul 24-hours a day for maximum breakthrough.

So let’s put a “success frame” around your life.

What does this success frame look like?

It looks like everyday life filtered through the lens of the Holy Spirit.… Read the rest

Get THIS down and Christmas will be perfect

I’ve lived for a long time. So have you. Christmas hasn’t always been jolly, has it?

But it started that way.

I mean, who plans to get pregnant without a father and explains it with an impossible story?

Who suddenly finds out that his betrothed is pregnant by someone else AND his reputation is on the line?

Who has to tell their neighbors and friends that their daughter is expecting a baby out-of-wedlock and is possibly crazy?

Who plans for family conflict, bad news from the doctor, financial stress, problems at work, relationship issues, sudden life changes, horrible accidents, drug overdoses, or other life happenings at Christmas…(or at any other time)?… Read the rest

How the Lord’s Prayer Can Free Your Mind of Worry

Do you ever pray without thinking about what you are saying?

Recently, as I was praying the Lord’s Prayer, I was caught up short.

Right after, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done,” the Lord interrupted me with, “Why don’t you want my will done?”

What???

Of COURSE, I want God’s will done in my life!

Immediately my struggle with a financial worry jumped to the forefront of my mind.

Then the Lord said,

Let me take care of you. I told you that I would. That is my will. Your worry is resisting my will. Give me your worry, and let me do my will on earth as I have decided in heaven.

… Read the rest