Mid-days With Lauree

The Most Important Thing You Will Do Today Is...Coming Home! Author and speaker Brené Brown suggests that the first moments we walk into our home and engage with our loved ones are the most important moments of our day. Smile!

Imagine for a moment that you get together with a friend, you choose a cafe to grab a cup of coffee and as soon as you slide into the booth opposite your friend you begin,"Wow, how long has it been since you've got a haircut?"" Those pants are looking a bit tight, are you sure you want to eat that muffin you just ordered?""Gosh! You look tired, is your marriage hard? what are you doing about it?"If I was that friend sitting across from you, I would feel the tears of pain, shame, embarrassment and betrayal fall down my face. But I wouldn't stay there for long and listen to more. I would get up and away from that barrage of hurt.I don't think that my reaction would be unique, we can sit here to day and say, "No I would never do that to my friend!" And that is probably true. So here is the question...Why do we have that dialogue with ourselves?! Why do our words hit so hard and deep with ourselves? It might not be a booth but when we look in the mirror getting ready in the morning, the cruel dialogue begins.What

Today we celebrate with a woman, who through the grace of God, has truly forgiven the person that killed her 28-year-old son. This incredible testimony is one filled with forgiveness, liberation, and the healing power that can only come from Jesus.If you'd like to be apart of the Celebration Hour here at KCBI, just give us a call at 214-787-1909 or text in your celebration through the KCBI App! We'll see tomorrow at 5pm for Lauree and Doug's Celebration Hour!

God. Is. Love. Could it get any better than that? It isn't that he has love, although he does. It isn't that he demonstrates love, although he did. He literally IS love. Therefore, because of God, we know what love is: patient, kind, trustworthy, forgiving, it keeps no record of wrongs. That's who God is.

Have you ever thought to yourself, "Why is it so easy for everyone to read their bible?" You're not alone. Here are 3 tips for you that can help make reading your bible a little easier.1. Listen to the bible while you read. We all learn and process things in different ways and maybe being able to read along as someone is reading scripture to you will help bridge some of that information for you.2. Find a podcast or daily devotional that helps summarize what you've just read. If I may recommend one, check out Tara-Leigh Cobble's The Bible Recap or The God Shot here at kcbi.org!3. Set a Time Limit. I know this sounds a little antithetical since our goal is to spend as much time as possible with the Lord, but what this does is gives you a blocked off amount of time that you know you can fully focus on God if you know that to much time flexibility allows you to get distractedThe bottom line is to pray and ask God for the diligence and the discipline so you can know God more and the beautiful thing is God is chomp

You have 3 options: Sleep, Exercise, Or Diet. 1 of these is linked to most improved mental health. Which one do you think?Mental Health has been on of the biggest topics of conversation over the last year and the conversation of how to protect and improve our mental health and those 3 things, Sleep, Exercise, and Diet have been described as the 3 pillar of improved health. So where do you focus most of your attention if you want to start seeing improvements in your mental health? If you guessed sleep, you would be correct!The key is the quality of sleep that you're getting and a big way to get better quality sleep is to set good habits in your "sleep hygiene." No, this doesn't have anything to do with your cleanliness, it's about the environment that you're setting when it comes time to go to bed. Clean sheets, a made bed, and screens outside the sleeping space are just a few of the things that they recommend to improve upon your quality of sleep.Of course exercise and a healthy diet are huge steps into a b

You know what to expect when you go through the drive-thru, but I'm sure we would both be shocked if we got what this lady was serving! DiDonna's Drive Thru Difference - not what you'd expect!

Without knowing your name, where you live, or what your story is, we probably have something in common: We probably both have jobs, which means you can relate to this topic.These days, we're probably a lot more grateful for our jobs than we've been in the past but no matter how grateful we are, those jobs can still be a grind. When we are having tough days, why we are doing the work becomes really significant and because of that, we have a story.There we're 3 laborers who all did the same job but each we're asked what they did. When the 1st laborer was asked, he said "I'm making a living." That's all he said. When the 2nd laborer was asked, he said "Well, I drag heavy stones for a living." But when the 3rd laborer was asked what he did, he said "I'm building a cathedral." You see, they all have the same job, but when asked what they do, each had a different response with a different purpose. The meaning of our work is a whole lot less about what we do and more about why we do it and who we're doing it for. If

Maybe you're like us here at the beginning of the year and you're wondering what kind of changes you can make to set yourself up for a year full of health and wellness. But if you're also like us, then those changes may be gradual. So what is the bare minimum amount of exercise you need each day to maintain a healthy lifestyle?The answer is just 11 minutes a day! The Norwegian Medical Board concluded from their research that 11 minutes spent exercising is the minimum amount of time that can produce statistical impact and change. That could be a walk around the block, a circuit workout, or you could turn on KCBI for 3 songs and have yourself a dance party!

Sure, God is in the business of doing big things, but let's not overlook the small things he's doing in our lives.

Sometimes, we've just got to stand up in confidence for something we believe in...like mac n' cheese for breakfast?What's something you wish was more socially acceptable?

You've probably heard of the Serenity Prayer. But have you heard the WHOLE thing? Lauree hadn't till today!

Forget the redecorated kitchen or the new patio, if you want to sell your home fast, you need to add a "Zoom Room!"Studies show that in the last year, people found that if they were able to put down a home office in their listing, then they'd move to the top of searches. Really, what the study shows is people are looking for a designated space to find privacy for conference calls and online schooling, which is no surprise in our new normal!Bottom Line: out with Man Cave, in with the Zoom Room and you've got yourself a deal!

Here's the truth we think you need to hear today: God has cast your sins somewhere you can't reach them, so don't go looking.There's a single verse in Isaiah, it's Isaiah 38:17 "in love you have delivered my life from the pit of destruction, for you have cast all my sins behind your back."Try something for me: go ahead and try and reach something behind you back from off the ground. I'll save the from falling down, you can't do it. There's this beautiful image of God reaching down to pick up our sins and then with the flick of a wrist, he tosses them over his shoulder like we would a wadded up piece paper into the trash and he doesn't look back. From his memory, they're gone. From his sight, they're hidden. From his heart, believe it or not, they never even existed. God has cast all your sins behind his back because Jesus paid the price for every. Last. One.I am praying today that you would believe that. If the God of this universe won't go digging for your sins, why should we?

This one change in your vocabulary could transform your perspective with your kids and with God. Really.It comes from a tweet from author Chad Bird. For those of you who have children, you pray for your children feverishly and Chad has 2 adult-aged children. He says this: "As I pray for my son and daughter, one little change makes a difference in my outlook. I switch from speak to God about "MY son" and "MY daughter" and instead call them "OUR son" and "OUR daughter," for God is their Father, too... When I take my concerns, fears, and anxieties about my children to the Lord, that slight change from "my" to "our" makes all the difference. It reminds me that, no matter how much I love them, they have a Father who loves them even more." Seriously. One word can make all the difference.

Don't know where to get rid of your Christmas tree? Don't worry, just serve it up for dinner!

Purpose in life is a big deal. Without it, we find ourselves wandering. Maybe here at the start of 2021, you're looking to accomplish some big goals and purpose is a big part of that. Here are 4 questions you can ask that can help point you towards your purpose.1. What are naturally good at? 2. What energizes you?3. What are you drawn to?4. Who are you drawn to?The answer to these 4 questions might help you to clarify if you're headed in the right direction or if it could be a great time change course. Here's an idea: Bring up these 4 questions around the dinner table tonight, it'll make for a really engaging conversation!

You might be guilty of this if you ever said the phrase "I don't want to pray out loud, I'm not really good at that."Prayer is such an intimate medium of communication and can be pretty intimidating if you have to do it in public. Author and Pastor Max Lucado encouraged us today with a thought he shared that says "The power of prayer lies not with the one saying it, but with the one hearing it."I was thinking about you and me and anyone who's ever muttered a similar lack of confidence in prayer. The power of our prayer doesn't come from any fancy words that we can speak because God already knows our words and when we pray, we can't get it wrong before God because he hears them and honors them.

A little bit of a tip for you if this applies: If you had a baby in 2020, you may be able to get free money!This is no joke! Eligible parents who welcomed a new baby in 2020 and haven’t received an economic impact payment for their child as a dependent could qualify for up to $1,100 of extra stimulus money, according to an MSN report.Children born between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31 of 2020 qualify for both stimulus payments if their parents meet income limits: $500 from the first check and $600 from the second round.The reason why some stimulus check recipients may have missed out on the extra cash is that the Treasury and IRS used 2019 tax returns to calculate the automatic payments, which would not have included babies born in 2020.To get the extra stimulus money for your baby (if you haven’t already received the dependent stimulus cash), you will need to file a tax return and get the money the IRS owes you as a recovery rebate credit.The credit is made possible by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security