Tag Archives: health

A God-Inspired Sabbath

2 Replies

A God-Inspired Sabbath title image

A God-Inspired Sabbath

There will be times in our lives where God leads us into a period of rest or a “Sabbath”. It may be taking a break from work or something that you do, a hobby, serving, or even a temporary break from a friendship or relationship. These times of rest are there to refresh and replenish you. They might also be there to create margin because God may foresee things coming up that you are getting ready to encounter. You might need extra time and energy in order to face them.

My recent God-inspired Sabbath

Over the last several months I’ve missed my writing, and I miss (and have sometimes felt a little guilt-ridden) about the consistency of new content on my site. Consistency, loyalty, and faithfulness are character traits that I have always valued and strived to achieve and demonstrate. Therefore, it’s been extremely difficult for me to feel like I’m not successfully living up to those traits in my writing over the past year.

Although, I do feel like God, in his kindness and divine foreknowledge kind of gave me a “heads up” that I was going to need to take a bit of a break, a “sabbatical” of sorts, from writing new content and spend some time recycling, updating, and reposting some of the older content on my site. I expected the break to only last for a few months, however, it ended up taking place over the entire year.

Seventh Year Sabbath from my writing

I decided to take a break from writing for my blog (or at least from writing a new post every week). It was a bit of a hard decision. I felt some guilt about it, like I was letting people down or letting God down. When I decided it just felt like I needed some rest, some time off because I couldn’t keep up the way and the pace that I wanted and had been doing. The word “sabbatical” came to mind which then caused me to think of “Sabbath” (aka…rest).

Something made me take a look at how long I had been writing on my blog, and coincidentally, I was just entering my seventh year. God reminded me of the times in scripture where he asked his people to let certain things have their “Sabbath” on the seventh year. He instructed them to let the land rest and not to plant new crops on the seventh year.

Seventh Year Sabbath in scripture

Continue reading →

COVID-19: Fight Fear

Leave a reply

COVID-19 Fight Fear title image

COVID-19: Fight Fear

I hesitated adding yet another thing out there having anything remotely related to COVID-19. Quite honestly I’m exhausted and overwhelmed with reading and hearing about it everywhere I look.

That being said, I do feel like God compelled me to provide resources for those who may need some extra encouragement to fight fear or who may need more reassurance and comfort. Just because I’m not struggling does not mean that others aren’t. Additionally, it would be nice to see some positive, encouraging, faith-related information out there to counterbalance and fight fear and panic inducing media that’s being shoved down our throats everywhere we turn.

Today, I’d like to provide you with some practical steps, encouragement, reminders, helpful scriptures, helpful posts/articles, and some faith and hope building resources to support you and help you fight fear during this volatile time in our world.

First and foremost: God is still God, and He can turn bad into good

God can take something bad, something evil, something the devil uses for harm and turn it into something good. God can turn the tables on our enemy. No matter how bleak things may look in our world right now, God can and will still work through this and in spite of this crisis.

“And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” Romans 8:28 (NLT)

“You plotted evil against me, but God turned it into good, in order to preserve the lives of many people who are alive today because of what happened.” Genesis 50:20 (GNT)

Read this helpful post:

Getting Through a Tough Time and Coming Out Better On the Other Side

God is immutable—He will not change

Continue reading →

Church meet and greet time during flu season

Leave a reply

Church meet and greet time during flu season meme

Church meet and greet time during flu season

Someone shared this with my mom on Facebook. I thought it was cute and fairly relevant! Meme courtesy of The Bible Is Funny. 🙂

“Whoever puts up security for a stranger will surely suffer, but whoever refuses to shake hands in pledge is safe.” Proverbs 11:15 (NIV)

Wounds Heal But Sometimes There Are Scars

2 Replies

Wounds Heal But Sometimes There Are Scars

Have you ever experienced some kind of pain or trauma in the past but have since recovered and healed from that? Do you have reminders, triggers, or stimuli that bring that past pain up again? Does that mean that you aren’t completely healed? Not necessarily. Personally, I don’t think that this automatically means that you aren’t fully healed. Now, as a disclaimer, let me say that this most certainly could be the case, and that some healing might still be in process (as healing IS often a long process, especially when wounds are deep or trauma is severe). However, I also believe that there are times when wounds heal, but sometimes there are scars left behind.

Even after healing, there may be times when we still experience some subsequent pain. There might even be some external or internal triggers to prompt further pain or remind us of an old injury. There may be some additional healing and recovery to be done. Then again, it may just be a scar serving as a reminder of a wound that once was there.

Let me give you an analogy…an old basketball injury

Several years ago my husband, Eric, completely damaged his ACL and meniscus in his knee. “Obliterated” was the precise word the doctor used. Eric experienced excruciating pain at the time of the injury, and the pain lasted for quite some time. He eventually had surgery replacing and repairing parts of his knee, yet afterward he still experienced some pain for a while during the recovery process. He also had ongoing physical therapy for a while. Again this was all still painful, but the pain gradually diminished as his wound healed.

Though he now has permanent scars, over time the knee was completely healed and the pain was completely alleviated. However, it’s odd because there are times when the weather might trigger a flare up of pain in his knee at the scars. Even though the injury is healed, there is a trigger for pain from time to time. The pain doesn’t last indefinitely, and experiencing pain again doesn’t negate the fact that his injury is completely healed. Nevertheless, because of the old injury he just still suffers from subsequent pain on occasion even after healing, and sometimes there are external triggers that might cause a renewed temporary discomfort, ache, or soreness.

Additionally, because of the old injury and the initial pain affiliated with it, he tends to favor, protect, or guard that knee a little more. He wants to prevent that pain or that same or similar injury from happening again. That still doesn’t mean he’s currently experiencing pain or that it’s not healed. He just tends to be a little more cautious and careful—he’s more aware. He may even avoid some of the activities that were involved in the injury to begin with.

Wounds we experience, the scars left behind, and subsequent pain even after healing

Continue reading →

The Holy Spirit Told Me to Eat a Pineapple

4 Replies

The Holy Spirit Told Me to Eat a Pineapple

The Holy Spirit Told Me to Eat a Pineapple

The Holy Spirit told me to eat a pineapple. Sounds crazy right? I thought so too, but let me back up and share the whole story with you. This really is more about going to the Holy Spirit for guidance and listening…even in the small things.

A couple of weeks ago I had lunch with one of my friends. I always enjoying getting together with good Christian friends. I always walk away feeling so encouraged and uplifted and sometimes even challenged a little, as was the case when I met with Kim. After all, isn’t that how God intended for Christian community to work?

“As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.” Proverbs 27:17 (NLT)

“So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing.” 1 Thessalonians 5:11 (NLT)

Anyhow, Kim was sharing some things with me about how God has been working in her life and about some projects that she’s working on. Something that stuck out to me was how she kept mentioning her reliance on the Holy Spirit, for EVERYTHING.

I had to ask myself, “Do I rely on the Holy Spirit as much as I should? Do I go to him or listen for guidance on even the small stuff?” If I’m answering honestly, it’s “No”, at least not as often as I should.

I DO listen to God and speak with him regularly. Also, I DO listen to the Holy Spirit’s voice. Fortunately, he’s a familiar friend that I do recognize. I think where I was missing the mark was in seeking guidance, on purpose, for even small things in my life. Things where I think, “I’ve got this” or things that seem too trivial to bother God with. Things like minor stomach discomfort or acid-reflux.

Stomach issues, the Daniel Fast, and then more stomach issues

Continue reading →

Confess Your Sins…

Leave a reply

Confess your sins...

Confess Your Sins

“Whoever hides their sins will not be successful, but whoever confesses their sins and stops doing wrong will receive mercy.” Proverbs 28:13 (ERV)

Do you have some hidden sin that is blocking your success and prosperity? Concealing sins can prove to be a road block or a hindrance to us. Hidden and unconfessed sin can also cause anxiety and inner turmoil. It can begin to eat away at us.

“When I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted away, and I groaned all day long.” Psalm 32:3 (NLT)

“I am dying from grief; my years are shortened by sadness. Sin has drained my strength; I am wasting away from within.” Psalm 31:10 (NLT)

God knows this and therefore has given us confession as an outlet. Weights can be lifted and refreshing can come when we confess things and come clean. Proverbs 28:13 promises us mercy when we confess our sins and stop doing wrong. Today I’d like to share four observations that I took away from this verse about hiding sins versus confessing them. 

Hidden and unconfessed sin can cause anxiety and inner turmoil.

Click To Tweet

Observation #1: Hiding sins blocks success

“Whoever hides their sins will not be successful, but whoever confesses their sins and stops doing wrong will receive mercy.” Proverbs 28:13 (ERV)

Don’t hide or try to conceal your sins. You shouldn’t cover them up. Don’t act fake. Don’t act as if you never do anything wrong. Claiming to be without sin is just deceiving yourself and others. Everyone has sinned. So be transparent! Concealing sins blocks success and prosperity.

“If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.” 1 John 1:8-10 (NIV)

“For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.” Romans 3:23 (NLT) 

Hiding sins blocks success and prosperity.

Click To Tweet

Observation #2: Confess your sins

“Whoever hides their sins will not be successful, but whoever confesses their sins and stops doing wrong will receive mercy.” Proverbs 28:13 (ERV)

Admit your wrongs. Tell God. Tell someone else so that you may receive help, healing and accountability. Confession of sins can bring healing (emotional, physical, etc.) to yourself and to others involved.

“Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.” James 5:16 (NLT)

It will also lift weights to get them off of your chest. It’s important to get sins into the light so that the darkness can be dispelled. Satan wants to keep them in darkness.

“All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.” John 3:20-21 (NLT)

However, keep in mind that all things in darkness and hidden will eventually be revealed anyway!

All things hidden will be revealed…

Continue reading →

A Prayer for Caregivers

5 Replies

A Prayer for Caregivers

Recently I’ve been feeling some empathy for caregivers, not because I’m personally in that position but because I have family members and friends who are. I see many of them suffering silently (and some not so silently!) as they care for ailing loved ones. The mixed emotions are evident as it is apparent that they deeply love who they care for, yet they themselves experience such fatigue and frustration and maybe even some feelings of failure. I’ve seen where it’s sometimes so hard to offer compassion and then the guilt that immediately follows. What a rollercoaster of emotions these caregivers must ride.

My dad has had his fair share of medical problems (and that’s putting it lightly). Several years ago he was having some serious health problems. My mom has always been his primary caregiver. During this time, a friend of mine and I were having a conversation, and she was inquiring more about my mom than my dad which I thought was odd. My mom wasn’t the one with the major health problems at the time—my dad was.

However, she went on to explain something that I hadn’t thought of prior to that. She said, oftentimes people focus more on the patient, and the caregiver gets neglected (by others AND by themselves). She went on to say how many times when the caregivers are neglected, they end up being worse off than the patient in both physical and emotional health, especially if they are older or have any health problems of their own.

I’ve learned that caregivers have a higher risk of stress and medical problems, in addition to the emotional and mental turmoil on top of that. In light of that, this week I’d like to give you a prayer for caregivers. 

What a rollercoaster of emotions caregivers must ride.

Click To Tweet

A Prayer for Caregivers

Lord, help me remember I am doing your work.

Help me to clothe myself with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness, and love.

Help me to live out and embody the fruit of the Spirit showing love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Enable me to see them through your eyes.

Help me to have compassion as you did and to follow your example.

Ease my burden and provide times of rest and refreshment.

Give me the energy necessary to fulfill my tasks.

Grant me the strength and extra grace to be able to handle things I might not normally be able to handle.

Help me not to lose my joy and give me moments of laughter.

In moments of frustration help me to be slow to anger and to refrain from letting any anger or frustration give a foothold to the devil or lead to any sin.

Comfort me as I mourn what I have lost.

Fill me up with your love so that I’m so full that your love overflows out of me–I do not have the sufficiency to pour this out of my own supply so I need YOUR supply.

Thank you for supplying all of my needs according to your riches in glory through Christ Jesus.

Help me to just be your conduit and means through which you work and help me to remember that it’s you THROUGH me.

Thank you for trusting me with this role of caring for another.

Scriptures for Caregivers (above prayer is based upon these scriptures)

Continue reading →