[ guest post ] Staying Positive Despite a Chronic Illness

Good Morning! While I'm away on vacation in Georgia with Hubs and playing with my mommy, I've invited a few of my favorite bloggers to entertain you! Today Kendra is sharing something that has been on her heart for a while now. It's something she and I have talked about on several occasions and it's brought us closer together. Take away Kendra!

Hi everyone, I’m Kenji from Kenji is Here! I am so happy to be taking over Amanda’s blog while she is away! Today I wanted to talk about something that sits heavy on my heart everyday and I am sure there are so many other people out there that are right there with me.

In May of 2014 I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis. I was distraught and my world spun around completely. I went through long period of deep depression all while trying to figure out this disease. I was in the middle of turmoil and couldn’t figure out where the exit door was located.

Previously to being diagnosed I was always a happy person. I was always positive and never spoke a bad word. (okay, maybe a few…but who doesn’t) Regardless, my point is that I had never experienced depression, I was not a negative person, and I never lost faith in God. When I was diagnosed and felt the disease start to take over I lost all of who I was. My motivation diminished, my positivity was hard to be found, and depression settled in. 

After a hard couple month’s I felt that enough was enough and knew this wasn’t who I was. I wanted the old me. I didn’t want to be in a slump anymore. I knew I couldn’t break the depression, as this was a side effect of the medication. I knew however that I was a positive person and deep down I was still me..

Keeping positive with a chronic illness isn’t always easy. When medication stop working and your in pain and sick it is extremely hard to put on a happy face and act like everything’s okay. Still to this day it is not easy but I do it. Staying positive during the hard times has helped me immensely. Walking into a doctor’s office with a positive outlook on how things will go will help the end result.

The best thing one with chronic illness can do is to let go and let God. This is not something we can change, it is something we must live with forever. It is a part of us, hence "chronic." Giving it over to God was the best thing I ever did, no God did not heal me but the weight was lifted off of my shoulders. Another thing I found extremely helpful were my friends and family. Having a great support system who understands times are tough can completely change ones mood. Personally, I feed off of other positivity thus having positive people surrounding me aids in my own positivity. Lastly, smile. Simple, so so simple, but so purposeful. When you smile it makes others smile and when you make others happy it’ll make you happy. It’s a complete circle. 

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At the end of the day it’s all about doing what you can to make you happy. Whatever it is that brings a smile to your face, do it because the most important thing when living with a chronic illness is to stay positive.  All we can guarantee is our own happiness and we only live one life so why not make it as best as we can!


Huge thanks to Kendra for helping me out and writing something so important to both of us! I just love Kendra's heart. Want to fall in love with Kendra too?

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[ guest post ] How to Have Fun on Your Long Road Trip

Good Morning! While I'm away on vacation in Georgia with Hubs and playing with my mommy, I've invited a few of my favorite bloggers to entertain you! Today Melissa is sharing some amazing tips on how to stay sane when you take a road trip. Take away Melissa!

Hey, y'all! I'm Melissa from The Rambling Llama. I'm happy to take over Amanda's little corner of the internet while she's here in Georgia! Amanda and her hubs made the super long drive from Missouri to Georgia. Road tripping is something my family is very familiar with, so today I thought I'd share some secrets to getting the most out of a long road trip with your spouse (and family).

// Snacks are Key.
Let's face it! Fast food and snacks from the gas station can get pricy. Before you leave, load your car with lots of tasty filling snacks. Granola bars are  winner for us! We can usually get away with going to the dollar store a few days before we leave to get things that everyone loves. Along with the snacks, drinks are important. I of course prefer water, but capri suns are great for the kids. Heck, there's even great recipes to make your own granola snacks to save even more.


No one wants to be HANGRY

// Know your MPGs!
To get the most out of your journey, it helps to know how often you'll have to stop for gas. You may not be able to map out where exactly to stop for gas, but you'll at least be able to know how often you will need to stop based on how far you're going and your MPG's. For example, when we drive from Georgia to Jersey we know we'll have to fill up three times. This gets worked into our travel budget. Without stressing about stopping too much allows you and the driver to enjoy the ride a little more.

Just watch out for flying Mexican!

// Enjoy the ride.
Plain and simple. Just make the trip fun. Just because you're literally stuck in the car for hours on end, you don't have to be cranky about it!You may have taken the same road trip every year and know your route so well that you could do it in your sleep. But don't make the ride boring! Play I-Spy games. This helps keep the driver entertained.

// Crank up the tunes!
Road trip songs are the best! Before you leave, get some playlists together that will have you and the driver singing along. My husband and I have a bunch of mixed CD's we use just for road trips. We both sing and dance along. And hey, if you have kids, you DON'T need to keep the kids songs playing. Let's face it, y'all... those get old FAST. The kids can learn to appreciate Journey at an early age!

// Plan to Explore. This kind of goes back to enjoying the ride. Before you leave allow little wiggle room in your travel time to stop and explore. Y'all may not realize there's a zoo you haven't been to before or a random "state's biggest (fill in the blank)" Look up some random attractions on your route and explore! For example, there's a natural bridge in Virginia that someone might like to see!  This makes for great memories and pictures.



See? Road trips don't have to always be  long and boring! Make it fun and make it something you enjoy. 13-15 hours in the car is a long time, y'all. We don't want to kill your spouse at the end of it, right?



What are some things you do on road trips? What's your favorite road trip song?

Huge thanks to Melissa for helping me out last minute! This is why she's my bestie ya'll. Here is where you can stalk her like I do!

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[ guest post ] Creation and Woriship

Good Morning! While I'm away on vacation in Georgia playing with my mommy, I've invited a few of my favorite bloggers to entertain you! Today Faith is sharing a little of what has been on her heart lately. Take away Faith!

Hi Knock on Wood Readers! I'm Faith and I blog at Life w/ Mrs G & the Artist where I talk about all things faith, love, marriage, & life, a little DIY and recipes and a whole lot of real, authentic community and connection between women in all seasons of life. I nanny by day for two adorable little twin boys and I'm a blogger by night. I’m passionate about God and what he is doing in my life. I love working with my sign language team and living life to the fullest. I love the community and the connections that I've found through this wonderful little blog of mine and I can't wait to meet you!

So have you ever sat back and really thought about the creator of the whole universe wanting to hear our praise and our worship? I know I've always been taught that praise and worship is something that God loves to hear...but somewhere a long the lines, I began thinking that God had to have our praise and worship. Now don't get me wrong .. he loves to hear it but he doesn't have to have our worship to get worship. He has a whole creation that worships him day in and day out.

Tuesday is mid-week service for me and sometimes after the busyness of the weekend things finally start to slow down a little by Tuesday and I feel somewhat rested. I usually "try" on Tuesday's to be "spiritually minded" as my mother calls it to prepare for service that night. I realize that we always need to have a God consciousness but sometimes on those days that we are in service it just seems to come more readily .. if you know what I mean. :) Anyways, lately I've been thinking of the goodness of God and his love and mercy and greatness! I mean, when you really stop and think about all the things that God has done...it's amazing! It's amazing to me how a God that created the whole world just by speaking it into existence...knows and CARES what is happening in my life.

Not only that but he loves me and wants to see me prosper. In fact the bible says that he plans to prosper us and not to harm us and to give us a hope and a future. He cares about what bothers me, he cares when I'm in pain, he cares when my heart is broken into a million pieces, he cares when I don't understand why things happen for some people and not for me. The bible says he is "touched by the feelings of our infirmities". And that's not to mention what he did on Calvary for you and me...

How many of you know someone who would die for you? Without even blinking...and then pray that your sins not be held against you...who does that? I don't know that I know anyone that would do that. And to think that he did all this for us...died for us, created this life for us, left to prepare a place for us the bible says so that where he is we might be also. And yet...after all that...sometimes we get so caught up in this life and things that don't matter that we forget to worship the one that makes this life possible...I'm guilt of this myself way more times than I even want to think about. But we have to remember that even though we are IN this world, we are not OF this world. We have something better than this waiting on us.

A couple of months ago our pastor showed us a clip of something that I just found amazing! I would like to show it to you now. I hope you find it as interesting as I did! It just goes to show that if we don't worship God and give him glory he deserves...he has a creation, a whole world that will take our place!

Is that not amazing? I guess I had never thought about it to much but even though he desires our praise. Even though it gives him pleasure when we sing our songs to him and worship him not for just who he and what he has done for us but because we love him. Even though he loves all that .... if we somehow get so caught up in this life and the world we live in .. he is still going to get the glory, worship, and praise he deserves. His creation ... loves to give him praise and the bible says if we don't worship .. the rocks will take our place. I don't know about you .. but I don't want a rock taking my place. I have to much to thank him for. He has done to much for me not to praise him with everything I have in me.

Huge Thanks to Faith for stepping in for me today! I hope you enjoyed what she had to share with you. Stay tuned for more fun guest posts while I'm away! Now go follow Faith on all the things!

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P.S. There won't be a Blogger Pow Wow for April due to Easter festivities and multiple vacations of the hosts. We will be back in full swing on May 3rd though! Stay tuned to find out who will be hosting and what topic we will be discussing.