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nikiflorica
- Dec 17, 2020
- 2 min
Snowmen Smiles
Meet Dudley, Myrtle, and Rudy, the three happy snowmen mascots of this Thankful Thursday post. Technically, I should be studying for my final exam tomorrow, but thankfulness waits for no exam, and I think we could all use a reminder that there is always something to smile about, especially at this time of year. Christmas is in just over a week and I catch myself wondering how it's snuck up so fast. It doesn't feel like Christmas at all, and part of me is feeling that little p
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nikiflorica
- Jun 18, 2020
- 2 min
A Very Fond Furwell
I must have been three, maybe four years old when I went with my grandparents to pick this adorable pup from its litter mates. Since that day, Cody was the dog I never had—the smiling face that met me on my grandparents' front porch, the ecstatic bark when we arrived for visits and the frantic one when we left. My grandparents' yearly vacation was a highlight of back-to-school time, when Cody would move in as a temporary resident and for one whole week, I could pretend that t
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nikiflorica
- Jun 11, 2020
- 1 min
60 Seconds of Solid Gratitude—GO!
Despite the mountain of bookish research I could be doing at present, I'm taking a brief respite to enjoy this fine Thankful Thursday morning, and to draw a deep breath of gratitude before plunging into the grind. Have a stressful day ahead? Feel free to join me! I promise, it'll only take a minute. This week, I know exactly what I'm thankful for: unexpected encouragement and guidance from a new friend God brought into my life days ago. At a time of stress and confusion in wh
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nikiflorica
- May 14, 2020
- 2 min
From Failure Vortex to Victory
Failure is one of the most unpleasant phenomenons to grip our world since Adam and Eve's fall in the Garden of Eden. Whether magnanimous or minute, the feelings of worthlessness, disappointment, grief, pain, and guilt that so often accompany failure can be crippling . . . and damaging to our spiritual mindset. Failure has the power to distort. It can shrink the grand scope of life and inflate the tiny speck of one mistake, until all we see is the task we couldn't fulfill. Som
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nikiflorica
- Oct 24, 2019
- 2 min
Looking Out and Giving Thanks
One temptation that seems prevalent in our luxury-cushioned first-world is the urge to dwell on ourselves. Whether it's that nagging cold, or that way-too-early morning, or that hurtful word we just can’t seem to smooth from our memories—how much time do we spend, do we waste, looking inwards, at our own troubles, instead of looking out? It’s not an easy concept—forgetting ourselves. It’s true and authentic selflessness. But when we do step out of the grey cloud of our proble
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