Well, I'm finally almost done with a book I started reading well over a year ago. I wouldn't be suprised if it was closer to two. It's called Every Woman's Battle by Shannon Ethridge and there's a chapter called Retreating with the Lord. I think this is my favorite one, yet. It holds so much promise to the relationship that we are supposed to be having with our Lord but most of us unfortunately aren't. This is the kind of intimacy that He wants to have with us but we squirm and wriggle our way around it as much as we can for some reason.
In this chapther, she identifies six types of relationships that most of us have with our Heavenly Father. I won't go too in depth, (you can get the book!) but I will tell you what they are.
Potter/Clay Relationship
Shepherd/Sheep Relationship
Master/Servant Relationship
Friend/Friend Relationship
Father/Daughter Relationship
Groom/Bride Relationship
Right off the bat, most of us start out with at least one of the first three listed. It's okay as long as we keep progressing. God does not want our relationship to stagnate there because we cannot experience any deep sense of intimacy if we remain at any of these levels. The Friend/Friend relationship is better but as Shannon says, "blood runs thicker than water." So then we come to the Father/Daughter relationship. This is a necessary step in the closeness you will experience with God. Especially for most of us who grew up in "not-so-wonderful childhoods." We need God to step in and heal all of those childhood wounds and disappointments. Shannon says that, "we can allow God to be the Father or Mother that we so desperately need or want." But just like all the other relationships, this will not fill your every need that God designed you to have.
Ultimately, the Groom/Bride relationship promises the most intimate connection of all. "Once a woman becomes a bride, the focus of her life and priorities change and all other people and priorities pale in comparison to this primary love relationship." God desires a level of relationship with us where we are deeply in love with Him, that we delight to simply be in His presence, for us to know Him publicly and privately. He wants our focus and priorities to become aligned with His desires. Scripture often refers to the church as the bride of Christ. If you have received Christ as your personal Savior, you are His betrothed and the dictionary term for betrothed says, "engaged to be married." That alone should tell you how close He wants to be.
As Paul often wrote to the church, I will say the same. I am not perfect and I still make mistakes, but I am continually pressing forward to be in right relationship with my Lord so that I can experience all that He has for me in this life. Sometimes I fall down and occasionally several times a day! But the important thing that I always remember is that no matter how ugly and bruised-up I look, He always loves me! As soon as I ask Him to help dust off and clean up, He does just that. The more I see His nature, the more in-love with Him I fall. My hope for you is that you can say the same for your life. It's not in how many times you fall, but how many times you get back up and keep moving forward.
I was in the military for over four years and became accustomed to running a few times a week but I got out of the service a few months ago and stopped getting exercise altogether. I occaisionally got out in the mornings and ran around the block but I found that I didn't like running in my neighborhood so much. You either have to go early when all the kids and school bus are out or wait a little while and take your chances getting run over by someone late to work! LOL! I decided to save up for a treadmill so I could run in the comfort of my own home. Keep in mind that I have become a house-wife since my discharge from the military so I did a couple of baby-sitting jobs for a friend and had a few yard sales at my house with Sherry, another friend of mine. I had a whole $180 saved up! Oh my! LOL! I was getting closer but still a long way off from $400-$600, which is how much a new one costs. (The photos are of my new treadmill and the 2nd one shows my husband's Bowflex behind it in our exercise room.)
As favor in God would have it, I happened to be looking on Craigslist and found one nearby for $350. We were having a yard sale that weekend on May 14th so I wrote an email to the lady to see if she still had it. She wrote back very eager for me to come get it ASAP but I explained the money situation to her and that I would buy it after the yard sale. Maybe she was just very kind or God touched her heart because she told me she would drop the price to $250 so the goal would be more attainable. Can't you just see God working behind the scene?! Before every yard sale Sherry, my husband Anthony, and I gather in prayer and ask the Lord to bless our sale. Well, He did and I made $200! WOW! There was enough money to tithe, buy the treadmill and also buy ice cream for everyone to celebrate! There was even enough left over to buy my ticket into Graceland for Memorial Day weekend when Sherry and I drive up to Memphis. I know some people think you should only go to God for the big stuff, but that's not true. He cares about every aspect of our lives and He loves it when we talk to Him and trust in Him that He will provide. The more I learn about the Lord and get closer to Him, the more I realize how much more there is to learn about Him!
As you know from a previous post, I'm reading Joyce Meyer's book, 100 Ways to Simplify Your Life. This book is awesome and the chapters are pretty light, so it's a good read before bedtime. I just got finished with chapter 19 which is titled "Follow Directions." In this chapter she says that "the words in the Bible are not ordinary words, they are inspired by God Himself through His Spirit, and they are full of life-changing power. They are a written record of God's thoughts (see John 5:38). They teach us how to live, what to believe, how to think, and how to relate to God and other people. We cannot truly know God without knowing His Word because it reveals His thoughts, attitudes, behavior, character, wisdom, and heart for you and me. To enjoy an intimate, personal relationship with Him, we must have a deep intimate relationship with His Word."
I also have a Joyce Meyer DVD, Let Go & Learn to Enjoy, I had purchased from her website online. The next day after reading chapter 19, I decided to watch this video again. She quotes a few verses from John chapter 15 that hit me like a freight train! John 15:7 says "If you abide in Me, and My Word abides in you, ask whatever you want and it shall be done for you." WHAT?! That's amazing! What is this verse really focusing on? "If," is a little word with such a big meaning. So the stipulation is that IF we are abiding in His Word (spending diligent time reading and seeking Him, speaking His Word into existence, acting in accordance with the way we treat others), we can ask for anything we want and He will gladly do it. There's a lot of power in the Word of God!
I found Joyce's same DVD, Let Go & Learn to Enjoy, on Youtube so if you don't have it you can watch it here. There are 4 parts to it but I only posted one to get you started. The YouTube channel that hosts the videos is TheOUTreachNetwork.
So now we understand the importance of studying the Bible. Of course, we all know that we should read it more often, but do we? I can admit that diligently reading from the Bible is not one of my strong suits. The biggest challenge I faced was trying to figure out where to start. It's huge! Do I start from the beginning and work my way through it or start with the New Testament? Well for starters, you should choose a Bible that is easy to read. That was the mistake my husband made. He chose a King James Bible because it looked cool in leather...lol! Okay, maybe not the smartest move. He had a really hard time trying to comprehend what he was reading so I finally convinced him to get another one with terminology he could understand. My personal favorite is the Amplified version with Joyce's commentaries in it.
The second thing is finding where to start studying. After watching Let Go & Learn to Enjoy, Joyce inspired me to read John 15. I heard her quote two scriptures that went along with something I knew I needed to be working out in my own life. So I got out my Bible and prayed. I asked the Lord to teach me and give me wisdom to understand what I was reading. I thanked Him for the Truth that His Word reveals and I prayed that it would get deeply rooted in my heart so that no man or thing can ever steal it away from me. I think we just need to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit. When we feel led to face a certain subject in our lives, then we need to dig into it. For some it may learning to forgive and for others, it may simply be learning to spend their time a little more wisely. Whatever it is you face, there is something to be said about it in the Bible! Find scriptures on the topic you need help with and look them up. Read the entire chapter that contains a verse you were interested in so you can get a better understanding of the context it was meant for.
When I sit down to spend time with God and study, I have my notebook with me and also my laptop. Before I start, I bring up two websites. One is a dictionary and the other is a Bible reference website that has multiple commentaries from different sources. Then I start to read. When I find a scripture that really speaks to me, I write it down in my notebook and explain why it's important to me. As I read on, I find some words I don't quite understand. I look those up in the dictionary and write them in my notebook with the scriptures they were in. Sometimes I will even look up basic words that I already know, such as: Believe, Adhere, Trust, Rely...etc. You may find that you have a deeper appreciation for the meaning of these words if you look them up instead of taking them for granted. I also read the verses out loud and when I look up some words, I will re-read the scripture out loud with a substitute word for the one I looked up. This helps me to get a broader perspective of what I'm trying to get into my spirit. A users manual will do you no good if it's written in a language you never learned!
That is basically it. This is how I believe the Lord has taught me to study my Bible so that I can get to know Him and His Word more intimately. Plus, you shouldn't try to be a hero... You know what I mean, reading too much! When I read John 15, I did a study of the entire chapter. I thought this would be great. I may not read all the chapters in order, but if I do a single chapter in each study, I can eventually put them all together in the correct order. Well, the Lord has His way of letting us know our ideas stink. The next time I studied, I went to Ecclesiastes 7. Okay great, I started reading and by the time I got done with verse 9, I could just tell I was done. I had spent a good hour digging in, looking definitions up, and reading what others had to say about the same scriptures. Had I insisted on keeping with my Bible study formula, I could have put too much information in my head and drowned out what I was supposed to let sink in.
Also, in chapter 19 Joyce quotes Joshua 1:8, "This Book of the Law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe and do according to all that is written in it. For then you shall make your ways prosperous, and then you shall deal wisely and have good success." Then she breaks it down and explains it. "To meditate is to murmur, mumble, and roll over and over in our minds the truths we read in the Bible. We are to focus on God's Word, to think about it, and to speak it quietly to ourselves."
I hope this helps anyone seeking a deeper relationship with their Father who may need a little help in getting started. And to give you some encouragement, in the DVD Let Go & Learn to Enjoy, Joyce says, "We need to take in all the information that God wants to give us and then we need to trust the Holy Spirit to do what He said He would do, bring everything to our remembrance when we need it." And if you've never had that happen to you personally, I can honestly tell you that the Lord will do it. I was showering one day and right when I needed it, Deuteronomy 6:5 came to mind. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." He is truly amazing, He is alive and He is always here for us!
TEND SKIN For the last few years, as long as I could remember, I've had ingrown hairs. No matter what I did, I couldn't prevent them even if I stopped shaving. I had some that lasted for months! They would turn into white heads and continue to stay until I dug them out. Some went into hiding but the ones I could find would finally fade and vanish in weeks after being plucked. This was getting out of hand. How am I supposed to wear a swim suit, let alone look attractive for my husband if I have "pizza pelvis?!" This photo is from an issue of Seventeen magazine in October of 2004. How has this stuff been out for years and I've never even heard of it?
Well, I finally got the ultimate ringleader of ingrown hairs! He came in looking like a mountain and feeling like a rope knot! No more! I made a doctor's appt. and went in. I told her that I was laying a damp wash cloth over the area and using my heating pad over it at night. Sometimes I would do it during a movie or just reading a book for 30 minutes to an hour before bedtime. She said there was nothing more she could do for me than I was already doing on my own. Luckily, the appointment was not wasted and she mentioned trying the professional beauty supply store called ULTA in the next city. She said they have a skin care section where I might be able to find something that could help. That's where I found Tend Skin. It was $20 for a 4 oz. bottle but well worth it, I can honestly say.
I started using Tend Skin after showering but I didn't use it every day. I have some plain facial cleansing pads that I bought at Wal-Mart and I poured a decent amount of liquid on the pad and wiped it on the maliciously infected area! Within a week, and keep in mind I wasn't using it every single day, there was a noticable improvement. I'm not a paid salesperson or advertisement. I just like to give feedback on things I've tried and experienced, whether good or bad. This experience was definitely good! Here's some Before and After photos to give you an idea of how well it works.
I remember when I was younger and jobless (yes, a starving artist! lol!) I didn't have the luxury of buying beauty products that weren't sold at Wal-Mart. Even then, the cost had to be under $8 so I can relate to anyone disappointed with the price. So, for the young creatives out there, I found a video on Youtube that shows you how to make your own. I have not tried to make this concoction myself but the ingredients are very basic in the actual Tend Skin so I wouldn't be surprised if this works just as well, if not very close.
I hope this post helps anyone who may be fighting the same battle I've been through. Good luck!
I woke up early yesterday morning to the sound of my phone going off. It was my mom. She was calling to say that she just got out of the hospital. My mom gets sick a lot, especially with the flu and that sort of thing. I'm used to hearing about it but I was still concerned. Then she told me that she'd had a slight heart attack! What?! My mother is 43 years old and she had a heart attack? Then she went on to say that her doctor told her it was mostly due to her high cholesterol coupled with the manual labor she does at work. She pushes herself at work and doesn't make time to eat healthy. For the most part, she doesn't even eat at all when she's working and if she does, she'll grab a quick little snack to keep her energy up. We started talking about how this is probably God's warning sign for her that she needs to slow down.
My mother was told that she needed get some rest and learn to relax. She admitted that she worries a lot about things and tries to take responsibility for everything, especially when it comes to paying bills. I reminded her that God is in control and when you worry about these things, it's like telling Him that you don't trust that He can take care of it. With God, ALL things are possible and He is more than able to provide. We just have to stop trying to do it ourselves and start leaning on Him to guide us for these things to get done. This reminded me of the book I am reading by Joyce Meyer called The Secret to True Happiness. I had just finished chapter 8 which was all about finding rest IN God. I told her about some of the things I remembered and she was interested. She asked me to send the book to her once I finished it, but to be honest, I have no idea when that might be!! :)
Well, this gave me an idea to do something creative. When Anthony called last night, I told him about my idea and just like a guy, he says, "yeah, or you could just buy her another book and send it to her." Oh boy! Haha! But that's not very personal and I know that sometimes people feel overwhelmed with books. It seems like a lot to read and a huge investment of time so then it never even gets opened. I know this because I have done it on several occasions! So my idea was to let her read the book with me.
Let me explain... As you can see, I underline words, circle them and even do a lot of doodles as I read along. It helps me to get into what I'm reading and absorb the material better. I thought it would be a fun project to scan each chapter after I read it and then send it to my mom. I've already finished a few chapters so I went ahead and got some envelopes ready to mail out. I scan the chapter, cut the paper to size and then staple all the pages together. Not only will she get something very personal from her daughter, but also she will be getting one chapter at a time which will make it less time-consuming to read. Some of the chapters are being sent in plain envelopes but I also bought a few cards of encouragement to send every few chapters or so.
I was telling my mom that Joyce says the easiest way to stop worrying is to start thinking about something else. As soon as the thought enters your mind, quickly focus your attention on something else and that forces the worry to leave. A really great tool you can equip yourself with is a "thought journal." Think back to all of your happy memories and things that really make you laugh. Write them down in your journal and even add pictures to better illustrate it if you can find some. Write your story with as much detail as you can remember. This "paints a picture." Over time, we have the ability to forget the details and just remember the big picture. Writing down the details will keep those small things you may have forgotten fresh in your mind forever. Add to your journal and read it often. Especially during your times of worry. The more happy things you put into your mind to think about, the less room you have for worry and doubt.
God is good and He wants us to find the joy in every aspect of our lives. He is not so much concerned with how well we act when things are going our way and just as we planned. He is, however, more concerned with our attitudes and way of thinking when we are NOT getting what we want. Are we focusing on the problem or are we focusing our thoughts on things that make us happy because we are trusting Him to take care of us? He cares more about changing US than changing our circumstances!
This is an awesome episode I saw on Gourmet's Diary of a Foodie. It's absolutely amazing what some people are already doing! Most of us think that eating healthy is hard but these people make it look easy. When natural eating is something we haven't grown up around, we don't know how it works and make it into a big deal. It may seem like eating healthier would be too much trouble to find out more about.
I remember when I didn't know how to sew and I wanted to learn more about it. I started looking up tutorials online, I bought books on the subject and my father had even bought me a sewing machine for Christmas that year. I wasn't too sure I knew what I was doing, but I just kept playing with it and even spent some time at a friend's house where she helped me get familiar with the machine. I eventually got pretty good with it. So good that friends would ask me where I got my purses and after telling them I made them, wanted one for themselves!
The point I'm getting at is that we find time to invest in the things we think are important and what we may be curious about. We open ourselves up to a whole new world that we never knew existed and find out just how many people already know what we're trying to learn! The more I search for ways to treat my body better, the more I learn that the answers were already out there in the world, just waiting for me to stumble on them and put them to work in my own life.
As I write this, I'm here at the park you see in the pictures on County Farm Road. I brought Shaman out here to play while I write my post and think about some more important things in life. Sometimes things happen to us and they might be a little too embarrassing for us to admit them to anyone but our doctor and maybe a close relative. Well, such is the case of my story but the thought that I could help anyone else in the same situation outweighs any emotional baggage I may have on the issue. Ever since I was a little girl, I have been getting yeast infections for as long as I can remember. I never really knew the cause. I was just told not to take baths, wear tight clothing and not to douche. Hmm… Could these things really be the root cause of the horrific pain I experience every few months or so? A bath here and there seems harmless, tight clothing is sometimes in the eye of the beholder and I have never douched in my life. Well, as fate would have it, I have recently been getting a spout of them. Just simply out of control! My health care provider decided to try me on an eight month suppression treatment of Diflucan after attending a vaginitis seminar where the treatment plan was highly promoted.
For the first two months I was to consistently take a pill once a week. After the two months were over, I started to have symptoms of an infection again. How could this be? I’m taking so much stuff to kill it…what is going on? No appointments were available for the women’s clinic on such short notice so I went to the ER. Since I have a history of them, they decided to do a pelvic exam. Maybe it’s a strain of yeast they are not familiar with. Negative. Negative for yeast and negative for any type of bacteria at all. Not making sense…. I scheduled an appointment the next week with my regular provider and asked what I could do. The surface treatment answers were all she could give me. No baths, no tight clothing…etc. When I told her that I already wasn’t doing any of these things, she stammered, “Well, it’s not yeast, so I don’t know what to tell you!” Ok. Wow! My journey began.
I am fortunate enough that I am currently going to physical therapy for pelvic floor dysfunction resulting from a bike accident I had when I was little. Luckily, my symptoms only worsen when I am doing high-stress field exercises. Unfortunately, I am in the military and that is almost the sole purpose of our existence! During one of my visits, I had mentioned to my physical therapist the ongoing events with chronic infections and candida-related symptoms. She offered some very insightful advice on probiotics and how they are the “good” bacteria we need in our bodies. When the good/bad balance gets out of whack then we have a yeast overgrowth on our hands–or somewhere else to be exact! I found out that the Diflucan worked too well. Not only did it kill all the yeast, but it killed all the good bacteria, as well. That's what was making my body react. I went from one end of the spectrum all the way to the other end. I needed balance so I went to a health food store and talked with the owner to come up with a solution for my problem.
She was very excited to help and even pulled out a book with lots of resource info, which was wonderful. It was recommended that I take a probiotic called Ultimate Flora because it has all the goodie bacteria I need in my body. I also noticed in her book that oregeno oil was repeatedly recommended to treat yeast. (Later, I was able to find some oregeno oil gel caps for a decent price on Amazon.) She also suggested I do a complete body cleanse for a month and to start a CandiGone cleanse right after. I got mine from Renew Life, but there are many other brands out there.
If you are still reading this it’s probably because you have dealt with very similar issues yourself. Most people, myself included, will not take the time to “get healthy” if they have no physical symptoms that are currently bothering them. Not only that, but all too often, we find out that we need to start changing up our diet and we’ll do it until we get better, or get to that goal weight, but then go right back to where we started from after our goal has been met. I guess I’d had enough. This is a book I found online and have found a wealth of information on the subject.
I spent some serious time with God and even made an alter call at my church when they asked people to step forward who needed any sort of healing. Sometimes God delivers us out of the hand of evil and gives us a miracle. Sometimes though, He walks us through our sicknesses and makes us stronger which may be even more of a blessing than we could imagine. He has been showing me that my diet is to blame for the way my body is reacting. Too much sugar is literally making me sick from the inside-out. Sugar feeds yeast and makes it stronger. I did not know that. Refined sugar is in most packaged and processed foods. Hmm… Didn’t know that either! And did you know that antibiotics kill the good bacteria as well as the bad so it causes the natural yeast we already have in our body to run rampant? If there isn’t any good bacteria to fight it off, then we set ourselves up without even knowing. I even found out that most meats have antibiotics in them because people give it to their livestock, which in turn, puts it in our bodies when we eat animal meat. Oh, wow! Where does it all stop? I just want to eat healthy so I can treat my body as the temple God designed for Himself to live in.
My journey has only started and I have no idea where it may take me. I have already ordered a magazine subscription from MaryJane’s Farm on organic farming to help get me pointed in the right direction. There’s got to be a better way of living and when that is finally established, then there’s got to be an easier way to incorporate it into our daily lives so everyone that is willing to walk it out may have life, and have it more abundantly.
I've come a long way to finally be independent. A place all my own and a wonderful man, cute pup & sweet kitty to share it with! We celebrate our freedom everyday!!
Posts
