Jeanette Levellie: Hope Splashes

Monday, January 5, 2026

12 Ways to Increase Your Brain Power

We already know how smart you are, since you're reading this blog post! But if you'd like to increase your brain power, these 12 ways will help. I found the first 11 on brain specialist Dr. Daniel G. Amen's blog, and the 12th--a fun method I use to stretch my brain muscles--is my own idea. I have also added some of my thoughts to Dr. Amen's.

1. Learn something new--an obscure president's name, a variety of flower, even a little-known verse to a song.

2. Learn more of something you already know about, on a deeper level. Are you an expert on cats? Study a particular breed. Do you know a lot about novel writing? Read an article or a book about non-fiction techniques.

3. Make new friends. Meeting new people and getting to know them keeps our brains active, and helps our emotions thrive as well.

4. Hang out with smart people. Go to the library, the art museum, or join a history club. Smart people will pull us up to new levels of intelligence.

5. Analyze, compare and contrast. Don't just say "Mom and I are nothing alike." Tell us how Mom loves to cook, clean and sew, but you would rather plant a garden and read romance novels. These type of mental comparisons are good workouts for our minds.

6. Cross train with someone at your job. Even if you only work with one other person, ask them to show you how to create a spreadsheet or make a car part, while you teach them mail merge.

7. Learn a new word. Then use it at least 12 times in the next month, to keep it active in your brain.

8. Read a book or take a class on something you never considered studying. For me, that would be astronomy, oil painting, or Asian history. What about you?

9, Forgive. The mental and spiritual work of telling the Lord, "I release this person to you--deal with them in Your love and mercy," opens your mind to new levels of creativity and sets your spirit free from judgement.

10. Do something kind. Stepping out of our me-me-me world to help someone else is a lovely way to relax and rejuvenate our brains.

11. Turn off the TV. TV is a mindless way to entertain ourselves. We watch others do their lives--whether exciting or silly--rather than experiencing life for ourselves.

12. Memorize Scripture. This one is the most fun, as it helps you overcome the devil while five ways memorizing Scripture enriches your life and Fun tricks to memorize Scripture.
increasing your brain power. For some fun ideas on how it can help, see my posts on

Which ways to increase your brain power stood out to you? What will you do today to help yourself to grow even smarter than you are already?

Tuesday, October 14, 2025

What do colors have to do with your heart?

I have a thing for colors. You too?

I love color combinations in fabric for clothing and upholstery, in jewelry, and in nature. I even have a favorite color of cats!

I believe the colors we are drawn to tell about what's in our hearts.

As a writer, I enjoy finding new ways to use color:

Scarlet heat creeping up my neck
Mauve and rose washing across the horizon
The blackness of a bitter memory

How does color enrich your life? What are your favorite colors?

Tuesday, April 15, 2025

What's So Good about Good Friday?

What's Good about Good Friday?

You see them throughout the world. We make them of gold and jewels and drape them around our necks. We carve them of exotic wood and adorn church buildings with them. We fashion them of different sizes and shapes of stained glass, pieced together to form exquisite works of art that fly our souls heavenward.

But the cross was not designed to sparkle on throats or beautify a place of worship. Invented before the 4^th century B.C. by the Persians, its purpose was as an instrument of slow, torturous execution. By the time of Jesus, the Romans had begun using this way of hanging their worst criminals. Making it a public spectacle served as added humiliation. Anyone could walk by a murderer or thief as they hung on the rough-hewn boards and spit on them or cast abuse up at them.

Thus hung Jesus, naked before the world, nailed between two real criminals while the world gaped, supposing Him a fool. After all, He’d raised three people from the dead, multiplied food for thousands, and healed multitudes. Why was He submitting to this mockery and abuse, like a stupid lamb? They railed at Him, “You saved others; but you can’t even save yourself!” Why did He not use His power to subdue the Roman guards and come down from that cross, if He truly was the Son of God?

The answer to this question, my friend, is why we call the Friday before Easter “Good Friday.” The goodness in His heart compelled Him to hang in our place, so you and I could have a relationship with the God of the Universe.

Don’t believe for a second that if Jesus had wanted to, He could not have freed Himself and jumped down. He told the crowd, “Don’t you know that I could at this very moment call ten legions of angels to come and rescue me?” Yet He remained to the end, although it meant God turning His face from Him. Not because He was a fool. No. Because He loved us too much to let us die in our sins and spend forever in Hell.

No one kept Jesus on the cross but Jesus.

Next time you put your favorite crucifix around your neck or gaze upon the loveliness of a stained glass cross, remember how it came to mean a sweet symbol of love and beauty, rather than an instrument of death. Remember that Jesus went there of His own free will, to give you a future and a hope.

And, if you’ve made Him the Lord of your life, you’ll hear Him say one day very soon, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into my joy” as He welcomes you to Heaven. Cross my heart.

Have you made Jesus the Lord of your life? If not, please email me at Jeanette@jeanettelevellie.com. I'd like to share the Gospel with you, so you can share Heaven with me.

Wednesday, January 15, 2025

Why Listen to Jesus?

I have an old, ratty wind-up timer (much more grungy than the one above). I love that thing. It's face often. falls off in my hand or onto the kitchen floor I've bought newer ones--a bright red apple, a fun yellow chicken to name a few. But none of them work as well or have that same familiar "ding" that reminds me of baking cookies with my mom when I could barely see over the counter to frost them.

Some people might think I'm silly for using something that's probably an antique. They might be the same people who think the words of Jesus are obsolete, or only for His contemporaries. Yet Jesus's words contain powerful truths that are always relevant.

"Don't keep the children from coming to Me. You need to become child-like if you want to be part of My kingdom."

"Take the speck out of your own eye first; then you can see clearly to help your neighbor with their faults."

"I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can get to God apart from Me."

"I came to give you life, and life in all its fulness, till it overflows."

"Don't be afraid."

That's what I mean. Timeless. Words of life. Words to live by. That's Jesus for ya.

Do you have a favorite saying of Jesus that helps you live life to the full?

Monday, December 16, 2024

Why give Jesus a Birthday Gift?

Why give a birthday gift to Jesus?

Many years ago some friends suggested this to their children, to help their family focus on why we celebrate Christmas. This is why I decided to incorporate this excellent idea into our church's celebration of Jesus' Birthday. So our focus would shift from potlucks, cookies, and decorations.

We have a fancy purple Christmas gift box that sits on our piano at church. But it's empty.

I'm asking each member of our congregation to write--leaving off their name--what they plan to give Jesus for His birthday. And then put those gift promises into the empty purple box. At our Christmas Eve service, I will open the box and read aloud all the ideas people committed to do for Jesus.

Here are a few things I thought to write on my own paper:

Prepare communion elements for the month of December
Repent of complaining
Give $XXX to an orphanage or homeless shelter
Invite someone who can't repay us to our home for Christmas dinner
Show more respect to my husband

What will you give Jesus this year for His birthday?

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