COURAGE OF A COUNTRY GIRL.

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The following is an excerpt from the book Noble Deeds of American Women from the Patriotic Series for Boys and Girls. Though printed for American's youth in 1851, this is no children's book!

Honor and shame from no condition rise,
Act well your part, there all the honor lies.
                                                Pope

In December, 1777, while Washington was at Valley Forge and the enemy was in Philadelphia, Major Tallmadge was stationed between the two places with a detachment of cavalry, to make observations and to limit the range of British foragers. On one occasion, while performing his duty, he was informed that a country girl had gone into Philadelphia – perhaps by Washington’s instigation – ostensibly to sell eggs, but really and especially to obtain information respecting the enemy; and curiosity led him to move his detachment to Germantown. There the main body halted while he advanced with a small party towards British lines. Dismounting at a tavern in plain sight of their outposts, he soon saw a young girl coming out of the city. He watched her till she came up to the tavern; made himself known to her, and was about to receive some valuable intelligence, when he was informed that the British light horse were advancing. Stepping to the door, he saw them in full pursuit of his patroles. He hastily mounted, but before he had started his charger, the girl was at his side begging for protection. Quick as thought, he ordered her to mount behind him. She obeyed, and in that way rode to Germantown, a distance of three miles. During the whole ride, writes the Major in his Journal, where we find these details, “although there was considerable firing of pistols, and not a little wheeling and charging, she remained unmoved, and never once complained of fear.”

______

Excerpted from Noble Deeds of American Women
(Patriotic Series for Boys and Girls)
Edited by J. Clement
——
With an Introduction by Mrs. L. H. Sigourney
Illustrated
BOSTON: Lee and Shepard, Publishers
Entered by Act of Congress, in the year of 1851,
by E. H. Derby and Co., in the Clerk’s Office of the Northern District of New York
______

Swept Away by Grace: Releasing Failures with the Holy Ghost

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Our church opens our doors for two hours every Saturday in January so we can gather to pray. I just returned from tonight’s session, and I returned with a word from Him to me – and you.

“Let the wind of the Holy Ghost sweep away your attachment to your failures.”

For years, I battled a tendency to not let go of my failures, to keep beating myself up for them even after I’d repented and received God’s forgiveness. I broke the worst of that tendency a few years back when God rebuked me. As He reminded me, if I were to criticize and berate one of His kids the way I was attacking myself He’d call me out for sin. And, obviously, He then reminded me that I am one of His kids too – and it was still sin.

What He said tonight hit me in a fresh way. God specializes in that, you know. If you don’t fully understand the first time, He’ll say it differently. In this one sentence He said so much!

  • The Holy Ghost has the power to sweep away those attachments if we let Him.
  • They are our attachments. Those failures aren’t attached to us; we’re attached to them. They’re nothing but memories and have no power on their own. The devil can toss them up in our faces, but as long as we’re not attached to them, they’ll slide right off and hit the floor, powerless.
  • We must choose to let the Holy Ghost remove them. Then we must decide, every minute of every day, if necessary, to refuse to pick those threads up again. We can: We can either pick them back up and get attached (and attacked) all over again, or we can refuse to ever touch them again. It’s not easy, but it is doable.

God says so! Here’s some proof.

No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.
Philippians 3:13-14 NLT (emphasis mine)

Paul, of all people, had things he could have refused to forgive himself for, mistakes from his past that he might have permitted to drag him down. He chose to forget the past and only look forward.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.
Hebrews 12:1 NLT (emphasis mine)

“Let us strip off every weight that slows us down,” the teacher says. Yes, that definitely includes those past mistakes, even the huge ones. If they (or anything else) slow us down in our pursuit of God, they’ve got to go!

And…

He has removed our sins as far from us
as the east is from the west.
Psalm 103:12 NLT

If He’s removed the sins, they’re gone. Only the memories of those sins remain, and we have no business digging them up or entertaining them if the devil tries to do the digging. If God removes our sins so completely, it stands to reason that He removes our mistakes, big ones and small ones, as well.

Be at peace. Let the Holy Spirit rid you of those attachments forever.

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

From Trials to Triumphs: My Year of “Soaring”

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New Year’s Eve found me pondering the word God had given me for 2024. Yes, I mean God literally told me that was my word; I don’t choose them myself.

The word was “soar,” and as we discussed it I confessed that I couldn’t see how it fit the year. Had I missed something? His answer was, basically, “Yes.”

The year began with a TIA that, praise God, caused no damage. An ER visit followed a few weeks later when acid reflux had me vomiting up the mucus that lined my stomach. Pretty much all of April and part of May were trashed by a severe reaction to gnat bites (gnats were at plague level at that point) that kept me in bed most of the time; I was going to work as I was able, but everything else hit the floor. These are just a few examples, but you get the picture: The word “soar” really didn’t seem to apply when looking at it from my perspective.

Then God showed me His perspective.

I’d entered 2024 having already made some lifestyle changes, but that TIA spurred me to make even more, to begin treating my body more like the temple of the Holy Ghose that Paul tells me it is in 1 Corinthians 6:19. Then, after the acid-reflux ER visit, I chose to stop using the medications I’d relied on for years and go the holistic route. The result, which I shared about in Acid Reflux Solutions: My Holistic Path to Recovery, is that my stomach is healing.

Then there is my weight, including a disturbing amount of belly fat, which has been an issue for some time. For years, I’d not been able to get under 176, which kept me in the obese category.  Last October it was 183, if I remember correctly. By February, my lifestyle changes had already caused it to drop to 180. Recently, for the first time in over ten years, I’ve broken that 176 barrier, and I’ve actually bumped 174 in recent days. It’s been a slow process resulting not from diets, but from steady lifestyle changes, and I’m feeling worlds better.

God explained to me that the weight loss and the improvement in my digestive system were examples of me soaring, rising above those trials I’d faced in the first part of the year. Even the month and a half I spent battling an allergic reaction so bad that it actually affected my ability to think clearly saw me rising above my agony. He then showed me all I’ve learned this year, including my most recent lesson on my trust in Him. (That one is in God’s Question that Stopped Me in My Tracks) He didn’t stop there, but I am. I’m sure you get the picture.

My point is that, when He gave me the word for last year, He knew exactly what was going to happen, and also knew how He was going to use what happened to help me grow, to help me soar.

Now I’m looking at 2025’s word, “perseverance,” and wondering just what He has in mind. Given the American Heritage Dictionary’s definition of the word…

Steady persistence in adhering to a course of action, a belief, or a purpose; steadfastness.

I find myself wondering just what’s on the schedule.

We shall see!

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

HEROIC CONDUCT AT MONMOUTH.

Tammy M CardwellLeave a comment
The following is an excerpt from the book Noble Deeds of American Women from the Patriotic Series for Boys and Girls. Though printed for American's youth in 1851, this is no children's book!

Proud were they by such to stand,
   In hammock, fort or glen;
To load the sure old rifle-
   To run the leaden ball-
To watch a battling husband’s place,
   And fill it should he fall.
                                    W. D. GALLAGHER

During the battle of Monmouth, a gunner named Pitcher was killed; and when the call was made for some one to take the place of her fallen husband, his wife, who had followed him to the camp, and thence to the field of conflict, unhesitatingly stepped forward, and offered her services. The gun was so well managed as to draw the attention of General Washington to the circumstance, and to call forth an expression of his admiration of her bravery and her fidelity to her country. To show his appreciation of her virtues and her highly valuable services, he conferred on her a lieutenant’s commission. She afterwards went by the name of Captain Molly.

The poet Glover tells us, in his Leonidas, that Xerxes boasted
            “His ablest, bravest counselor and chief
            In Artemisia, Caria’s matchless queen;”
and Herodotus also very justly eulogizes the same character. Yet Artemisia was scarcely more serviceable to Xerxes in the battle of Salamis, than “Captain Molly” to Washington in the battle of Monmouth. One served in a Grecian expedition, to gratify her great spirit, vigor of mind and love of glory; the other fought, partly, it may be, to revenge the death of her husband, but more, doubtless, for the love she bore for an injured country, “bleeding at every vein.” One was rewarded with a complete suit of Grecian armor; the other with a lieutenant’s commission, and both for their bravery. If the queen of Caria is deserving of praise for her martial valor, the name of the heroic wife of the gunner, should be woven with hers in a fadeless wreath of song.

______

Excerpted from Noble Deeds of American Women
(Patriotic Series for Boys and Girls)
Edited by J. Clement
——
With an Introduction by Mrs. L. H. Sigourney
Illustrated
BOSTON: Lee and Shepard, Publishers
Entered by Act of Congress, in the year of 1851,
by E. H. Derby and Co., in the Clerk’s Office of the Northern District of New York
______

God’s Question That Stopped Me in My Tracks

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I was thanking God for a friend a few days ago. Some time back, she volunteered to handle a specific task every month. It’s not super complicated, but it does take time and requires her to run an errand that otherwise wouldn’t fall on her. Month after month, she consistently covers this project for me. “I’m so grateful for her, “I told God. “I know I can hand her this job and she’ll get it done.”

I meant what I said, every word of it. My heart was full of gratitude. Then God asked me a question.

He wanted to know why, if I trust her so easily, I sometimes doubt Him and whether He will “get the job done.”

OUCH!

We’re talking punch-in-the-gut stuff here. I like to think I’m a woman of strong faith, but He wouldn’t have asked me the question if it didn’t apply. Do I really, at times, trust a human friend more than I trust my God? I mean, this is GOD we’re talking about. Of course He will get the job done, whatever that job is!

I do tell Him on occasion that it’s not Him I’m doubting, but me. More specifically, I too often doubt my own ability to hear Him clearly. Did I really hear God’s voice, or did I go off on a tangent of my own creating? Yes, I have those moments – more than I like to admit. I wonder if this is part of what He’s talking about, that in doubting my own ability to hear Him I’m doubting His ability to help me understand. Possibly?

I’m still thinking about this one, about how I have at least on occasion failed to trust The Creator of the Universe, how at times I apparently put more faith in the one who holds my project in her hands than in the One who holds my whole life in His hands.

This faith walk? One of its most important factors is self-assessment – making sure we are who we think we are, and repenting if we’re not. If we’re not listening and judging ourselves when He asks questions like this one, we’re not getting the job done.

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

Acid Reflux Solutions: My Holistic Path to Recovery

Tammy M Cardwell1 Comment

One day, earlier this year, I found myself in the ER vomiting up the mucus that lined my stomach. That afternoon, I decided I’d had enough.

The vomiting was a result of acid reflux and yes, I was on medication when it happened. I’d been taking prescription medication for years as well as doing everything I knew might help. I actively avoided my known triggers, for instance. (I went years without eating french fries!) I also had my chiropractor adjust my xiphoid every time I saw him.

“Your what?” My xiphoid. The xiphoid process is a tiny part of your body, at the bottom of the sternum, that has a direct correlation with acid reflux. Basically, if it’s out of position it can trigger an attack, and if you’re suffering from acid reflux it gets pulled out of position. It’s a truly vicious cycle. My chiropractor adjusts me with an activator and, using that tool, he can adjust my xiphoid. Every time he adjusted it, I got relief for a while.

After that ER visit, I decided I was done with the medicine battle. For years, faithfully taking medicine had accomplished nothing beyond keeping the symptoms at bay. I wanted better than that. As soon as I could, I went to The Health Fix in Liberty, Texas, approached Betty Runkle, ND, and informed her that I needed to fix my acid reflux and do it naturally. I knew going in that natural remedies take time and can be costly since they’re not covered by insurance, but I had reached the point that none of that mattered. I was committed to true recovery if such a thing were possible.

She assured me it was possible and set me up with a plan that is working.

It’s working so well that in one of my recent visits my chiropractor didn’t even have to adjust my xiphoid. That is a first! Yes, I do still deal with issues, but they’re less and less every month – except for months like these last two when I’ve eaten a lot more rich food than usual. The point is the symptoms aren’t just being controlled like they were with medication: The system is clearly healing.

So, what am I doing? I’m glad you asked! What I’m about to share is what I’ve found works for ME. It involves taking the appropriate nutrients that support and promote the body’s natural and innate healing processes. It’s about taking what she told me to do and tweaking it as I saw how my body responded. It’s a multi-part program, and every part is essential. Let’s go.

  • I take a teaspoon of raw, unfiltered honey every morning and every night. Honey is a healer on many levels and, when I let myself run out, I notice a definite difference.
  • Another thing that heals your stomach is aloe vera. To be honest, if I were doing it totally right, I’d be drinking organic aloe vera juice. What I do is buy the 16.9 ounce bottles of aloe vera you can get at dollar stores and groceries (especially if they cater to Hispanics). I drink one a day, usually early in the day. I drink it early because you don’t want to combine it with apple cider vinegar as the two cancel each other out. I let the aloe soothe my stomach and work on healing it in the morning, then introduce the acid around noon. Aloe vera is also a great rescue; if you feel the fire, it’ll put it out. I sometimes drink it before bed as well.
  • I take a digestive enzyme with my morning pills. The one I take is Acid Soothe from Enzymedica. This is one of my tweaks. Dr. Runkle had suggested I start the day with an apple cider vinegar pill to ensure there’s enough acid in my stomach. For most people I’m sure that’s best. I generally practice intermittent fasting, however, and putting that much acid on my stomach and then waiting so long to eat seemed to make things worse instead of better, so I switched to taking the enzymes first and my symptoms improved. You can also take enzymes with meals, and I do often, especially when I’m eating foods I know might bother me in some way. I’ll even take enzymes in the evenings if I’m uncomfortable.
  • Apple cider vinegar, which I was thrilled to learn comes in pills, is a huge part of the program. Acid reflux is triggered by not having enough acid in your stomach when you need it. With this in mind, and since I don’t take it first thing in the morning, I try to take it about half an hour before a meal – though I’ll also take it at the beginning of a meal if I’m behind schedule.
  • Finally, she taught me to mix up a roll-on with Solle Naturals’ CALM essential oil in a carrier oil. I take it with me everywhere, and if I find myself experiencing discomfort, I can roll on a line from my belly button to my xyphoid or, if I’m in public and can’t, I’ll often roll it at the base of my neck. I learned about putting it at the base of my neck when I had one of those “it feels like something is stuck right there” moments (if you know you know) and decided it was worth a shot. The relief was amazingly fast.
    Solle’s CALM is a high quality essential oil blend that promotes bile production and a sense of calm throughout my body and mind. Essential oils are amazing and, as soon as you put them on the skin topically, the healing properties enter the bloodstream within three seconds. If you’ve never tried them, you’re missing out!

That’s everything we discussed.  It was pretty simple and, surprisingly, it’s not that much money! I was honestly shocked. People automatically assume that natural remedies are necessarily expensive, and they can be; these aren’t. I can stay on these even during the months I don’t get my widow’s benefits from Social Security. (If it seems odd for me to mention it, know that women in my position have to keep in mind the reality of those checks and what their absence does to the budget.)

I will insert, here, that when you’re dealing with natural remedies you are also dealing with time. That’s something we don’t like in the modern world. We love quick fixes, and we especially like them when it comes to our health. The problem is, those quick fixes often fail to deal with the root problem just like years of taking prescription drugs for acid reflux never healed my gut. It takes time for the body to get out of whack, and time for it to get back in balance. I have enough experience that I knew I was making the right decision going into this, but even if I’d lacked experience I knew enough that I would have made a 90-day commitment because, while in many situations you do experience immediate results, with natural remedies it can often take 90 days to start seeing them.

The only other thing I do, aside from trying to eat healthier than I have this holiday season, is see my chiropractor regularly so he can keep the xiphoid in line. It’s been nearly a year and this regimen is working. Healing is undeniably happening, and I couldn’t be happier.

If you have questions about natural treatments for this or any other health issue, I suggest checking out The Health Fix Store or the VIP group BeYoutifully Holistic on Facebook, which is the front page for the podcast, BeYOUtifully Holistic with, no surprise, Betty Runkle.

Betty Runkle, ND, is a fount of valuable information and you can make appointments to speak with her personally at https://bettyrunkle.com.

 Believe me, your health is worth it!

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

PS: If you want to check out Solle’s CALM, and don’t mind using my referral link, you can click here. There are several Solle products I use regularly, so I signed up to be able to use their monthly subscription service and get discounts. You may want to consider doing the same.

Paperage Planner: A Review

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You’ve probably noticed that Amazon asks you to review pretty much everything you order: I don’t usually. However, when they asked me to review this planner, I decided it was worth telling you about. I’ve used the exact same planner for a full year, you see, and have found it practically perfect (for me) in every way. Not kidding. So I’ll not just review the planner here, but tell you how I use it as well.

It’s by Paperage and comes as a hardcover book that measures 5 1/2″ x 8″ x 1/2″ plus a smidge more. It also comes in a variety of colors, which is perfect for me since I want a different color for every year. Yes, I’ll keep them as part of my business record.

As someone who already has a full-time job, but also blogs, writes books, and has a monthly newsletter, I need something more than the usual scheduling system. I require a planner I can keep as a record of my year. After trying several options, I found this one and I’m officially a customer as long as Paperage continues to make this planner.

Ready for the book tour?

The first two pages, not surprisingly, are 2025 and 2026 calendars; you can guess what they look like, so onward we go. These next two pages are a God-send for me. As you can see, I’ve adapted them. First, I attached a tab at the top that says “Hours Worked.” The tab serves two purposes: It tells what the pages are about and, more importantly, makes it easy to find them. The other modification is boxes I drew into the Sunday lines so that I can keep track of my on-task hours daily, weekly, and monthly. (I write monthly totals at the bottom of each month’s column.)

Why do I track my hours? Because I need accountability. It’s easy, when I come home tired after a workday, to decided not to write, edit, or whatever. It’s easy, on a busy weekend, to do the same. To be totally honest, I look back at my hours from 2024 and am ashamed. While some of the blanks are a result of extended illness and other factors, others are sheer laziness and procrastination on my part. So yes, these two pages are an important motivator.

Next come the monthly calendars. I probably should have chosen a different month to photograph, because you can see my hand drawn blocks from the previous page. The paper being slightly transparent isn’t really a big deal for me. Since I write everything in pencil, I don’t have to worry about bleed through. If you’re a pen person, however, be aware that you might find it somewhat annoying.

This section is where I record my publishing schedule. When I’m on track, I have blog posts scheduled weeks and even months out. One glance at these pages and I know exactly where I stand. As you can tell, I’m not even remotely ahead at the moment. I’m hoping to change that during this holiday week. Maybe.

Here’s where the rubber meets the road. On the right, you see dotted paper. Through 2024, this side of the page served multiple purposes from listing “Must Do” items to recording random thoughts and ideas to holding overflow notes from the daily records to… I don’t even remember what all. It’s versatile, and I’m glad I have it.

On the left side, I record what I do each day. Be it researching, writing, editing, publishing, promoting, or something else, it gets written down here. This way I can remember when I did what and, frankly, it occasionally makes me feel better about myself when I’m feeling like a slouch and shouldn’t.

The planner ends with several more dotted pages that, again, can serve a variety of purposes. I used them in 2024 to help me plan out the devotional I’m writing, to track goals I’d set for the year, and more.

The book also has two ribbon bookmarks, which I use to mark the current month and week; a folder on the back cover that comes with tiny accent stickers and can hold all sorts of things; and an elastic band to keep the book shut.

Bottom Line: This is a quality planner that is small enough to toss into my backpack when I travel, versatile enough to serve in a variety of ways, sturdy enough to stand as a yearly record, and comes in enough colors to keep me happy. I give it five out of five stars, hearts, etc.

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

You can purchase the 2025 Paperage planner on Amazon.

When Darkness Fell: The Day That Changed Eternity

Tammy M Cardwell3 Comments

Like many people, I’ve been reading through the book of Luke this month, and today we reached one of the hardest and most beautiful chapters in the Bible: Luke 23.

Reading about how Jesus was treated on that last day is painful. To see Him accused unjustly and witness Pilate and Herod toss Him around like a ping pong ball hurts. Then, watching Pilate give into the crowd’s demands not because Jesus had been found guilty of anything, but because the crowd was overwhelming… You see just what a wimp Pilate was, really.

But when I keep my eyes on Jesus, I’m blown away. At any point, He had the right and authority to put an end to it all. He could have, but He’d already settled His course in the garden. He was determined to do God’s will no matter how much it hurt. So, rather than potentially say something that might hinder the process, He remained silent except for the one time He confirmed what Pilate had said about Him being king of the Jews. He literally could have called ten thousand angels and chose not to.

On the walk to Golgotha, He spoke only to the weeping women, giving them warning of what was to come. Then, once He’d been raised up on the cross, what did He say? “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” (verse 34, NET) Every time I read those words, I come to a full stop and consider: If Jesus, who was in a worse position than any man ever had been or would be again, could ask God to forgive those who were crucifying Him – even though they didn’t want or ask for forgiveness – who am I to hold grudges? Seriously? In eleven words He preached a sermon I will never forget.

His heart being what it was, it’s no surprise that He told the second criminal, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.” (verse 43)

At verse 44 we reach the beautiful part of this chapter. As the devil was no doubt rejoicing, God turned out the lights. Some have theorized that this was a solar eclipse, but it happened at Passover, so that’s not possible. Whatever God did, the result was no sun and no moon for three hours.

What would it have been like on that hill after three hours of darkness? I’m guessing it would have been nearly silent, maybe with the painful moans of the dying, the sound of weeping, and the steps of any soldiers who were on patrol. And then something completely unexpected happened.

Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!”

Luke 23:46 NET (emphasis mine)

And then He breathed His last. And…? Can you imagine? It might as well have been the dead of night and a man who should have been barely breathing SHOUTED out such a declaration. Luke doesn’t tell us much beyond the impression it made on the centurion and that the crowds “returned home beating their breasts,” but you know it was a kick in the gut to every one of them.

About that same time, the veil in the Temple was torn completely in two from top to bottom. This “veil” was actually a curtain that was around 60 feet high and, according to ancient Jewish tradition, about 4 inches thick. It separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the Temple, protecting man from God’s holy presence. When Jesus gave up His life as the sacrifice for our sins, that protection was no longer necessary.

Light dawned in that moment, and today we have the right to enter boldly into God’s presence!

I get to the resurrection tomorrow as I appropriately finish the book of Luke on the day we prepare to celebrate Jesus’ birth, but I end today’s reading in joy for what Jesus had already done at 3:00 in the afternoon on a day darkness had ruled.

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

Here’s Your Invitation: Subscribe to My Newsletter

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I published my December newsletter yesterday, and realized afterwards that I’ve never shared about it here…which is admittedly ridiculous.

So if you’re interested in a more personal contact, especially if you’d like to keep up to date on the books I’m writing, you’ll want to sign up for the Eternally Planted newsletter right here. Do this and you’ll receive one email a month, two at the most unless there’s something extra special I need to share. Among other things, these emails will contain snippets from my works in progress. These book samples will not be shared here on the blog.

I pray for you, today, that your Christmas will be truly blessed and Wednesday will find you…

Celebrating Jesus!

Tammy C