HEALTH & WELLNESS-PHYLLIS GOODMAN, BSN, RN

These recommendations are for women with average health. Please remember screening recommendations should be made based on family history.

- Every year (if a woman chooses to do so) ages 40-44 - Every year ages 45-54 - Every 2 years (or every year if a woman chooses to do so) starting at age 55, for as long as a woman is in good health.

NOW WHAT?

Reduce your risk factors. Follow the mammogram recommendations of your provider. Do your monthly self- breast exam. Reduce your risk factors. We discussed it. We can’t get around it. We must make sound decisions to eat healthier and move more. Being obese just is not in our best interest on any level.

Many factors over the course of a lifetime can influence your breast cancer risk. You can’t change some factors, such as getting older or your family history, but you can help lower your risk of breast cancer by taking care of your health in the following ways—

Maintain a healthy weight.

Exercise regularly.

Don’t drink alcohol, or limit alcoholic drinks.

If you are taking, or have been told to take, hormone replacement therapy or oral contraceptives (birth control pills), ask your doctor about the risks and find out if it is right for you. Breastfeed your children, if possible. If you have a family history of breast cancer or inherited changes in your BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, talk to your doctor about other ways to lower your risk. Staying healthy throughout your life will lower your risk of developing cancer, and improve your chances of surviving cancer if it occurs

BREAST CANCER PLEDGE

I PLEDGE TO Learn the facts about breast cancer Understand my individual risk based on family history Find out about the different tools of detection and what is right for me Talk to my health care provider to learn about my breasts, and what ongoing care may be best for me Know when I should get screened for breast cancer and follow through on these recommendations Start a conversation with the women and men in my life about our breast health

Phyllis Carter Goodman BSN, RN

WAIT ON THE LORD REALLY? Elder Dee

PSALM 27:14 says “Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD. ” When I feel God calling or causing me to sit still and wait, my first reaction is often to think, "REALLY LORD!" The concept of waiting just doesn’t seem easy; however, I have learned that if God is saying “Wait, ” there is a reason. And when He does, I must ask myself, “How do I wait?” What should my attitude be as I wait on God?

Here’s what His Word tells me: "Wait with patience knowing that God is working. " Wait with patience? What a word. Can this be done? Do I have enough faith to wait with patience? Yes I do and so do you. Patience is having grit. It is having perseverance and tolerance. Do we have the tenacity to run with patience? Good question.

God knows where we are. Sometimes we forget this. Sometimes we even feel that God has forgotten us. He hasn’t. God knows exactly where we are and how much patience we have picked up in the midst of waiting. So when you are afflicted with those forsaken feelings, when you are on the verge of throwing a pity party, go back to the Word of God. Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him: "Fret not thyself because of him who prospers in his way . . . For evildoers shall be cut off: "But those that wait upon the LORD shall inherit the earth. " (Psalm 37:7,9). Wait with expectation and hope knowing that He works all things for good. "I waited patiently for the LORD; and He inclined unto me, and heard

my cry.

RED LEAVES

He brought me up out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. " (Psalm 40:17). wait with a teachable spirit knowing that as you wait with the right attitude, you are actually growing and maturing as He desires. "Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for Thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day. " (Psalm 25:5b). "Knowing this, that the trying of your faith works patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. " (James 1:34). As I remember that God is faithful and that He is always working for my good and His glory, I can relax and joyfully wait on Him to accomplish His purposes. My attitude then depends on letting what I know override what I feel! I encourage you to wait on God, "REALLY!"