Confession… for the last many years and I have struggling with staying asleep through the whole night. Ironically I fall asleep pretty quickly. My husband says I set world records in how fast I can go from saying, “goodnight” to snoring, loudly.

But then the cares of work, parenting, money, etc, come a knocking at my door. I hate this, with a passion. Especially because my days are full and I am typically moving from the moment I wake up at 6:30am until I go to bed ideally at or slightly before 11:30pm.

I do realize that lack of sleep is not good for the physical or spiritual body. Continuous good sleep is a way to nurture and take care of ones body and life.

Here are few sleep statistics:

The CDC states on its website, “notably, insufficient sleep has been linked to the development and management of a number of chronic diseases and conditions, including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity, and depression.”

“…a person who is well-rested is able to focus their attention and absorb material more efficiently, and new research shows that sleep and dreaming play an important role in the consolidation of memory, which is essential for learning new information.” Amherst.edu

Two years ago I started to learn how to increase the odds that I would sleep through the night. When I take time to get grounded and peaceful before bed, I am more likely to sleep all the way through and to wake up feeling refreshed. One key for me was the simple practice of reading an encouraging Bible verse before bed. I started to create a list of these verses and even shared them with family and friends. To my surprise, the verses helped other people. And if I did wake up I could read the verse again, and I would often go back to sleep.

I have placed these curated versed into a book called, Night Meditations, Words for Good Sleep and Good Success.

Though pretty unknown, readers are encouraging with comments on how the verses help them in the morning before leaving the house, or with pages to journal or color on. Some have even started to memorize these short phrases.

I have even taught a 4-week zoom-video class, at night (Sponge Bob reference) to share the “back stories” about four of my favorites verses in this collection.

Confession… for the last many years and I have struggling with staying asleep through the whole night. Ironically I fall asleep pretty quickly. My husband says I set world records in how fast I can go from saying, “goodnight” to snoring, loudly.

But then the cares of work, parenting, money, etc, come a knocking at my door. I hate this, with a passion. Especially because my days are full and I am typically moving from the moment I wake up at 6:30am until I go to bed ideally at or slightly before 11:30pm.

I do realize that lack of sleep is not good for the physical or spiritual body. Continuous good sleep is a way to nurture and take care of ones body and life.

Here are few sleep statistics:

The CDC states on its website, “notably, insufficient sleep has been linked to the development and management of a number of chronic diseases and conditions, including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity, and depression.”

“…a person who is well-rested is able to focus their attention and absorb material more efficiently, and new research shows that sleep and dreaming play an important role in the consolidation of memory, which is essential for learning new information.” Amherst.edu

Two years ago I started to learn how to increase the odds that I would sleep through the night. When I take time to get grounded and peaceful before bed, I am more likely to sleep all the way through and to wake up feeling refreshed. One key for me was the simple practice of reading an encouraging Bible verse before bed. I started to create a list of these verses and even shared them with family and friends. To my surprise, the verses helped other people. And if I did wake up I could read the verse again, and I would often go back to sleep.

I have placed these curated verses into a book called, Night Meditations, Words for Good Sleep and Good Success.

Though pretty unknown, readers are encouraging with comments on how the verses help them in the morning before leaving the house, or with pages to journal or color on. Some have even started to memorize these short phrases.

I have even taught a 4-week zoom-video class, at night (Sponge Bob reference) to share the “back stories” about four of my favorites verses in this collection.

As 2024 begins, this is a great time to think about ways to take better self-care and it is also a great time for those who want to do so – to build a more regular and systemic habit of reading the Bible every day. The Night Meditations book can be an easy first step to creating a process. You can find it at

As 2024 begins, this is a great time to think about ways to take better self-care and it is also a great time for those who want to do so – to build a more regular and systemic habit of reading the Bible every day. The Night Meditations book can be an easy first step to creating a process. You can find it at

I wish you a blessed new year that is full of good sleep and good success!

I am grateful that I get to speak to audiences about the topic of self-care.

I like the definition of self-care from Oxford Languages: the practice of taking an active role in protecting one’s own well-being and happiness, in particular during periods of stress.

We typically don’t take good care of ourselves because we are too busy doing other things. We are working, studying, or taking care of other people. But if we don’t stop to take good self-care, all the other things that we need and want to do, cannot be done well. It’s like having a tool that we use all of the time, but we never stop to service the tool, until it doesn’t function or sadly it breaks.

When speaking about this important subject, I typically share a simple model as an effective framework for caring well for yourself. The model is covered in the book titled “A Better Day, A Better Life: How to Thrive, One Day at a Time.

I also cover the model in greater detail in a 6-week live-video class called 5 Practices of People who Thrive.

If you’d like more information, please reach out at Kelly@betterdaybetterlife.com

Here’s one last thought… isn’t this the ultimate example of self-care.

On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so He rested from all his work. Genesis 2:2 NLT

This is a video teaching. I hope it will encourage you to entertain with greater purpose and joy.