The new season (12) of HEARTLAND starts tonight, July 25th, and the 200th episode will be airing in a few weeks. HEARTLAND. It is one of the most watched shows and UPtv and UP Faith & Family SVOD are the ONLY PLACES you can find the entire series of HEARTLAND and not to mention UPtv has EXCLUSIVE ACCESS to SEASON 12 BEFORE ANYONE ELSE!! 

check out this trailer: 

Heartland has an incredible dedicated following and is the #1 most-streamed show on UPFF. The cast includes fan favorite lead actress of the series Amber Marshall (over 400k followers on IG).  

About Heartland: A family drama series set in the rolling foothills of the Rockies, “Heartland” follows life on the Heartland ranch as Amy Fleming (Amber Marshall), her older sister Lou (Michelle Morgan) and Grandfather Jack (Shaun Johnston) deal with the challenges of running the ranch that has been in their family for generations. Heartland is not like any other ranch — it is a horse ranch with a special mission of treating troubled or neglected horses and finding them new homes, and Amy has inherited her late mother’s uncanny ability to work with, understand and help heal those horses.

https://www.uptv.com/shows/heartland/

About UPtv:

UPtv is television’s trusted destination for uplifting shows you can watch together. With box-office hit films and network series like Gilmore Girls, Fresh Off the Boat, Home Improvement and America’s Funniest Home Videos, alongside originals like Bringing Up Bates, Expecting and Our Wedding Story, UPtv’s programming celebrates life’s biggest moments. In addition, UPtv’s award-winning pro-social initiative, “Uplift Someone,” has inspired over 191 million people to uplift others through its social videos. Based in Atlanta, UPtv is a division of UP Entertainment, LLC, and partners with the Aspire network on sales, marketing and other operational services.  And UPtv Entertainment’s UP Faith & Family subscription streaming service has quickly become the fan favorite for its all-ages lineup of family and faith-affirming movies and series.  

Coffee With Mom by Mike Glenn should be required reading for caregivers of Dementia patients

Sometimes an author thinks he’s telling his story, but the further you get into the book, the more familiar it sounds, the names and places might be different, but there is a certain familiarity that you just can’t shake. And it’s not because this is the umpteenth book by the same author and the stories are being repeated; it’s because you, or someone you know is living a similar story. 

                In Coffee with Mom: Caring for a Parent with Dementia (B&H Publishing, 2019) Mike Glenn tells a very personal story, except that it’s probably the story of everyone who has had to care for a parent who suffers with dementia or Alzheimer’s. Yes the details are slightly different. Not everyone played the piano by ear, not everyone grew up in Huntsville, AL, and certainly not every dementia parent had to leave their home and move to Nashville to be close to the caregiving child.  But in the midst of the individual details are those bigger pictures. The pictures of anger, frustration, despair, guilt, hurt, loss and grief.

                Mike Glenn not only addresses so many of those issues, but he tells about his experiences in such a heartfelt way that it’s impossible not to be moved. His pastoral-self shines as he describes what he went through and how he learned to deal with things, including how to realize that he loved his mother enough to make unpopular choices (during a time when she was accusing him of not loving her enough.)

                The lessons in this book are many.  And as he says, almost everyone knows someone who suffers dementia, and when they find out that you’re going through it too, they can’t help but want to tell you about their experiences. Sometimes it helps to know that you’re not alone—other times you need to be the one to share the experience.  And since these horrible diseases affect everyone differently, most of the time the unsolicited advice won’t work in your case anyway (p 166)

                The biggest take away for me is don’t be afraid to ask for help.  The Dementia journey is a long and arduous one, and it’s a rare person who can go it alone. And again Mike adds some Pastoral guidance: turn to God.

                Doctors should read and recommend this book. Staff in care facilities with a memory unit, or patients with dementia or Alzheimer’s patients should familiarize themselves with what the families are going through at the same time that the patient is losing more and more of himself or herself.  This short book speaks volumes into the lives of those struggling with the disease.

                I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. I was not required to write a positive review.

                5/5

Jesus, during his time on earth, said a lot of things that are important for Christians to understand. Some of them are fairly easy to understand, others not so much so. One example is found in the gospel of Matthew (16:18) “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”. (ESV)

                He wasn’t saying that the forces of hell would not be able to destroy the Church (although that’s also true) but rather he was saying that the power of the Gospel, of the Church, is so strong that regardless of the walls put up by the enemy, nothing could keep the Gospel from being proclaimed, nothing would be strong enough to keep the church from advancing.

                And that’s a message that bears repeating because so many of us seem to have forgotten that little fact.  In so many parts of the world the gospel has been dummied down, and is just a small part of one’s worldview or culture. In this country, it often seems that we’re so afraid of offending someone that we ignore the gospel, almost as if we’re ashamed of it, instead of boldly declaring it. J.D. Greear, in his book"Above All: the Gospel Is the Source of the Church's Renewal" (B&H Publishing 2019)

                Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans: “16 I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."  (Romans 1:16-17. NIV), and Jesus himself gave the church her marching orders (see Matt 28:19-20, Mark 16:15, Luke 24:46-48, John 20:21, and Acts 1:8)

                It seems though, that instead of looking for a church where the Gospel is boldly proclaimed, we are more prone to pick a church that matches our preferences, our politics and our culture. I’m glad that Greear addressed these things because they are things that tend to divide us, and weaken the face of the church. Individual Christians or churches don’t have the power to weaken the gospel message, but when others see us as the face of Christianity and we present ourselves as a divided and weakened church, the perception is that the Christian Church is slowly sinking.

                This is a book that needs to be read, with a message that needs to be heard about the power of the gospel. As Christians we need to remember that the gospel comes first, and brings hope, grace along with instructions for how we should live as representatives of our Savior, who has sent us on a mission to change the world. If we address these issues with individuals, and see meaningful change, then the church as a whole can begin the renewal process, a process of restoration that takes her to the place where Jesus intended her to be, and to prevail, even against the gates of hell.

                I received a copy of this book from the publisher for being a part of a bloggers’ program. I was not required to write a positive review—just an honest one based on my own opinions.

                5/5