Prayer for Quarantine

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April 26, 2020 By Jennifer Lambert Leave a Comment

For all those who think they’re unaffected by a virus.

Insulated in a bubble of wealth without reason.

Dark hair roots show when they remove their red hats.

We can all see who you really are now.

Thinking the economy is more important than a soul.

Confused by authority, leadership, contradictions.

Crying over puppy videos while calling the police on black and brown people.

Who are you to deny that we are all connected?

Medical professionals who cry in the hallways like hysterical Cassandra and her unheard prophecies.

Giving birth alone, hearing ecstatic or dire medical news alone, attending medical appointments and procedures alone.

Being too scared to go to the ER with heart attack or stroke symptoms or an injury.

Immunocompromised or disabled and invisible.

The individuals who die alone in silence, forgotten, mere statistics.

Who is essential?

The lack of paper products and cleaning supplies.

Crying over restaurant closures and having to make food for oneself.

The leavening disappeared from store shelves and now swamps the news.

Scarcity doesn’t affect everyone equally.

What is necessary?

The celebrations passed over.

Coming together with online streaming.

Dates that were looked forward to, milestones that meant so much.

The teens crying over missed prom, sports, graduation, college orientation.

The parents whose hopes are locked away in their bedrooms playing video games.

The kids watching their friends from windows, online, social media.

Abusers locked away with their victims.

Who are the helpers?

The privileged ones who fight for their right to party while starving beggars sit at the grocery store door palms up.

They had a secure job a month ago. They were living the American dream with all their expensive toys and debt, keeping up with the Joneses.

Sheep led to the slaughter with jeers and cheers.

Maskless protesters demand rights, but not for all.

We need more than a hug and a Snickers bar.

Who is expendable?

Even those who long to just go back to normal know in the corner of their minds that it wasn’t a good normal.

Desire to create a better simpler normal, including all, loving all, welcoming all, protecting all.

Let us pray.

Let us act.

Let us love.

Let us change.

Let us heal.

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How I Pray

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January 27, 2020 By Jennifer Lambert 8 Comments

I didn’t grow up in a praying household.

Religion was ridiculed and people of faith were considered weak.

It’s taken me 20+ years to consider faith and it’s been a rocky journey at best.

I don’t pray as regularly as I should, nor about the right things all the time. I’m selfish and sinful and mean and hateful and hypocritical and judgy. As are we all.

Prayer guilt haunts me with that ongoing uncomfortable, knowing feeling that I really shouldn’t be in ministry because mature saints would pray more than I do, and with much more fervor; prayer laced with Puritanesque, Princetonian, seminary vocabulary, and Biblical theology would be good too.
Pete Alwinson

I won’t pray for you the trite “happiness and health” because those things aren’t guaranteed, nor are they the most important.

I’m disgusted by the misuse of offering “thoughts and prayers” for tragedies, as if it helps anyone. Sometimes, silence is better.

I think prayer is more for Us than for God or the Universe or Others.

When you pray, don’t be like hypocrites. They love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners so that people will see them. I assure you, that’s the only reward they’ll get. But when you pray, go to your room, shut the door, and pray to your Father who is present in that secret place. Your Father who sees what you do in secret will reward you. When you pray, don’t pour out a flood of empty words, as the Gentiles do. They think that by saying many words they’ll be heard. Don’t be like them, because your Father knows what you need before you ask.
Matthew 6:5-8

We learn about ourselves when we pray. We discover our values, needs, desires, wants.

Our eyes only see basic shapes and colors. Our minds perceive what we see. In seeing love in the face of others is to see God. To pray for others is to embrace God.

I think there are many different kinds of prayer.

Types of prayer:

Communion (All day, all the time)
Supplication (Lifting up your needs)
Dedication, Sanctification, and Consecration (Ceremony for service)
Praise (Joyful recounting of all God has done for us)
Worship (Losing self in the adoration of God)
Intercession (On behalf of others)
Spiritual Warfare — Two types: Dealing with yourself (Your mind is the battlefield and Repentance and Forgiveness) and Dealing with Others (Putting on the Full Armor and Binding & Loosing)
Agreement (Corporate Prayer)
Watch & Pray (Continual State of Awareness as a Watchman on the Wall)
Thanksgiving (Count your Blessings; name them one by one)

How I Pray

I grew up thinking that prayer was all about coveting, thanksgiving, and praise.

I memorized little prayers before meals and at bedtime, but it didn’t really mean anything.

I believe prayer is a constant conversation.

It can be long, wordless, or simply an exclamation.

I often express thanks or exasperation or request assistance. I never feel as if I am alone in my endeavours. Sometimes, I want reassurance that Someone else witnessed this or that along with me.

Prayer is then not just a formula of words, or a series of desires springing up in the heart – it is the orientation of our whole body, mind, and spirit to God in silence, attention, and adoration. All good meditative prayer is a conversion of our entire self to God.
Thomas Merton

Prayer as a Discipline

Liturgy of the Hours

The arrangement of the Liturgy of the Hours as described by Saint Benedict:

Matins (during the night, at about 2 a.m.) also called Vigil and perhaps composed of two or three Nocturns
Lauds or Dawn Prayer (at dawn about 5 a.m. or earlier in summer and later in winter)
Prime or Early Morning Prayer (First Hour = approximately 6 a.m.)
Terce or Mid-Morning Prayer (Third Hour = approximately 9 a.m.)
Sext or Midday Prayer (Sixth Hour = approximately 12 noon)
None or Mid-Afternoon Prayer (Ninth Hour = approximately 3 p.m.)
Vespers or Evening Prayer (“at the lighting of the lamps” about 6 p.m.)
Compline or Night Prayer (before retiring about 7 p.m.)

Daily Examen

The Daily Examen that St. Ignatius practiced:

1. Become aware of God’s presence.
2. Review the day with gratitude.
3. Pay attention to your emotions.
4. Choose one feature of the day and pray from it.
5. Look toward tomorrow.

Contemplative Prayer

While contemplation is a train of thought about something, meditation is training the mind to rest in a particular focus that leads to a connection to the source of consciousness itself.

Contemplative prayer follows Christian meditation and is the highest form of prayer which aims to achieve a close spiritual union with God. Both Eastern and Western Christian teachings have emphasized the use of meditative prayers as an element in increasing one’s knowledge of Christ.

Augustine spoke of seven stages:

the first three are merely natural preliminary stages, corresponding to the vegetative, sensitive and rational levels of human life;
the fourth stage is that of virtue or purification;
the fifth is that of the tranquillity attained by control of the passions;
the sixth is entrance into the divine light (the illuminative stage);
the seventh is the indwelling or unitive stage that is truly mystical contemplation.

Saint Teresa of Avila described four degrees or stages of mystical union:

incomplete mystical union, or the prayer of quiet or supernatural recollection, when the action of God is not strong enough to prevent distractions, and the imagination still retains a certain liberty;
full or semi-ecstatic union, when the strength of the divine action keeps the person fully occupied but the senses continue to act, so that by making an effort, the person can cease from prayer;
ecstatic union, or ecstasy, when communications with the external world are severed or nearly so, and one can no longer at will move from that state; and
transforming or deifying union, or spiritual marriage (properly) of the soul with God.

Contemplative prayer in my opinion is nothing else than a close sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with him who we know loves us.’ Contemplative prayer seeks him “whom my soul loves.” It is Jesus, and in him, the Father. We seek him, because to desire him is always the beginning of love, and we seek him in that pure faith which causes us to be born of him and to live in him. In this inner prayer we can still meditate, but our attention is fixed on the Lord himself.
St. Teresa of Avila

Stages of contemplative prayer by Dionysius the Pseudo-Areopagite:

Katharsis (purification)
Contemplation/theoria (illumination), also called “natural” or “acquired contemplation”
Unity (theosis), also called “infused” or “higher contemplation”; indwelling in God; vision of God; deification; union with God

My prayer for my children:

I pray for you LESS.

Self.

Stuff.

Negativity.

I pray you are GENEROUS.

With

Your time.

Your money.

Your love.

your joy.

I pray you TRUST.

even when others hurt you.

when you’re scared.

when you feel lost and alone.

I pray you are SEEN.

for what you do.

for how you love.

for who you are.

and try to see others for who they really are.

I pray you feel LOVED.

despite the cruelty and coldness of this world.

even when no one expresses gratitude.

FAIL spectacularly.

and get up again, and again, and again.

Learn from your failures.

The highest form of prayer is to stand silently in awe of God.
St. Isaac the Syrian.

I really like this Mystic Prayers page.

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What’s your favorite way to pray?

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Praying for Success

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November 1, 2017 By Jennifer Lambert 15 Comments

How do you teach motivation?

What do you do with that difficult child? The one who will have her own way. No matter what.

We learned long ago we can’t make our kids do anything they don’t desire to do.

I let it go.

I want a relationship with my children. I don’t want to be a taskmaster. I want them to think for themselves, make wise decisions…not rely on fear as a motivator.

It’s not my job to teach motivation. It’s between them and God. I can only guide.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:1-2

Real success is not what the world would teach us.

I’ve learned to pray – earnestly, unceasingly.

As my children grow up into tweens and teens, our relationship changes, expands…

They’re growing up and will make their own choices. I am more a counselor, a coach, as I watch them learn to fly, struggling with the wind.

They come back to rest and ask questions and learn.

Dinner conversations – after the little ones run off to play – turn to sex, drugs, the media, politics, all the evils in the world. I want them to “be wise as a serpent and innocent as a dove.”

I pray that they will be discerning, successful in their endeavors, and that they are led by God to become the woman or man He wants them to be.

And I pray their paths will be easier than mine.

Parenting a teen is hard and the world tells us it’s all but impossible.

I taught high school English and I saw too many teens fall away to the world, parents oblivious or at a loss as to what to do. I watched on the sidelines, helpless, vowing I would do differently.

I will stand firm and fight this fight. And I will win with God at my side.

I say: nothing is impossible with God.

He will redeem every hurt and heal the wounds our words and actions cause.

He is the God of reconciliation.

Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.” Matthew 16:24-28

And when I pray for success, I don’t pray for the success the world teaches. I pray for Kingdom Success. I want my children to love Jesus and their neighbor. I want them to shine their light for Him. I want them to live for Him.

I don’t care if my children join the military, become an astronaut, never go to college, become a restaurant server or garbage collector, as long as they do their best and do it to the glory of God.

I don’t care if they never marry.

I don’t care who they love as long as they are loved.

The pressures of the world are often too much, causing depression and anxiety. We live counter-culturally and it is so, so hard. We’re tired to explaining to deaf ears and blind eyes.

I pray for my kids to discover and learn to use their spiritual gifts, to find their purpose.

I pray my children are global, mission-minded, socially conscious, world changers, servant leaders.

I let go of my desires for them as I allow Him to guide them into who they are supposed to be.

Of course, I want them to be happy and loving and kind.

Having a child who grows up to love Jesus is real success.

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How Journaling Helps Me

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October 11, 2017 By Jennifer Lambert 18 Comments

I’m not into planners with all the stickers and the colored pens and the frills and stuff. It just seems like a big waste of my time.

But I frequently do informal journaling. I don’t feel the pressure to draw in a smashbook or place any stickers in a planner. Having something fancy is just overwhelming.

Journaling is a great way to be cognitive of little successes.

I’m always writing.

I keep a food and exercise journal on my smartphone.

I make notes for future blog posts in several places.

But this past year, and especially this past winter, I’ve gotten lazy and sedentary.

Some days, I look back and it feels like I did virtually nothing.

I recently began journaling my days to realize how much I do accomplish.

I don’t write down every little bitty thing, but I sketch out my day so I can look back and see what I did, because some days, it feels like I just watched Netflix all day.

I have just plain little spiral notebooks for my daily journal.

I read and write a lot.

And sometimes, it feels like I spend most of my time in the kitchen – prepping, cooking, and cleaning.

I was sick for a week, so I didn’t actually do so much. I needed to really rest and recharge. There wasn’t much to write about.

Then, I got back into gear.

Most of these aren’t great accomplishments by most standards, but they help me to feel better about how I spend my days.

I try to be peaceful and use my time wisely.

I don’t like to be busy or rushing. I like to move in easy rhythms with the seasons and holidays.

I love the daily examen from St. Ignatius:

1. Become aware of God’s presence.
2. Review the day with gratitude.
3. Pay attention to your emotions.
4. Choose one feature of the day and focus prayer around it.
5. Look toward tomorrow.

Download an Examen prayer card here.

I have some simple daily goals:

I want to read, exercise, complete lessons and read alouds and Bible study with my kids.

I also have a prayer journal.

I write scripture every day with monthly themed plans from Sweet Blessings.

I write prayers and praises – with dates so I can go back and look at it.

I write my exercises and travel experiences.

I recently got a recipe journal to track our favorite meals since I always tweak the recipes and forget.

Journaling is a great way to relax and keep track of events, milestones, thoughts, dreams…

Make a list of things you do every day.
Make a list of things that make you happy.
Compare the lists.
Adjust accordingly.

How journaling helps me:

Stress relief – it helps me to stay peaceful.
Personal growth – it helps me to learn about myself.
Helps clarify my thoughts and emotions – it helps me to work out issues with my past and present.
Problem solving – it helps me to be metacognitive.
Purge emotions – I can write about troublesome issues privately.

A Baker’s Dozen Reasons to Journal:

Exercise log
Foods you’ve eaten, especially to rule out allergies or sensitivities, or to save favorite recipes
Quotes you love
Travel
Art
Nature
Poetry
Books you’ve read or want to read
Movies you’ve watched or want to watch
Memories
Wines or beers you’ve loved
Daybook or daily log
Prayer and/or Scripture

Do you journal? How does it help you?

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Prayer

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October 16, 2014 By Jennifer Lambert 1 Comment

If you’re a prayer warrior, you’re extra awesome.

I’m just not.

Some of us are just called to it more than others.

Yes, I know what the Bible says about prayer.

And I do pray. Probably much less than you do. And I think it’s ok.

I’m tired of beating myself up.

I “forget.” I’m tired of seeing the bragging of prayer lists and journals and images of all the people you’re praying for. If you say you’re randomly praying for me, how exactly do you know what I need? What if you’re praying for the opposite of what I want or what God’s will is?

You’re great and I’m just not.

I’m tired of that twinge of guilt every single time I see a prayer request on social media. I think it’s super you reach out to your five gazillion social media “friends” to ask for much-needed prayer for your particular anxiety. You’re so open and transparent. I’m not being sarcastic. (Not much.)

And I’m just not that open.

And I just don’t have time nor desire to pray for

your missing keys.
your doctor’s appointment.
your son’s trip to the dentist.
your business meeting.
your husband’s interview.
your neighbor’s health issues.
your grandma in hospice.

Or the plethora of other issues that I’m so, so sorry you and your loved ones are experiencing.

When you post a praise, I gladly rejoice with you.

I “like” it. That’s prayer too, you know. And I see it all too seldom.

Does a quick glance up towards the heavens count as a prayer? Cuz that’s all I may attempt as I keep scrolling through my newsfeed. [Insert advice about how I could be praying instead of trolling Facebook here.]

I’m trying to prioritize my time.

Really I am. Praying for you isn’t even on the list, sorry. I have my family first.

I wonder how many people who say they pray really do.

At least I’m honest.

“And when you come before God, don’t turn that into a theatrical production either. All these people making a regular show out of their prayers, hoping for stardom! Do you think God sits in a box seat?
“Here’s what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace. Matthew 6:5-6 MSG

And I do know prayer warriors and they’re the ones I turn to when I have a real need. Cuz I know they care. I email or message them with a concern. Facebook doesn’t care. All the gazillions of “friends” on that newsfeed don’t care, most of whom aren’t even Christian. I don’t want healing light or colored crystals or positive thoughts or any of that new age garbage.

Some days it’s all I can do to read a quick morning devo, say mealtime blessings and bedtime prayers with my children.

My praying unceasingly is often more groans and mumblings that I can make it through the day with no one injuring herself or himself.

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We All Make Mistakes

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March 18, 2014 By Jennifer Lambert 4 Comments

I had an awesome mama moment with my son when he was a toddler.

He dropped an egg and, out of fear, he hid it.

He did admit he dropped an egg.

I am glad he told me.

I gathered towels and went to go help clean up the mess. When I couldn’t find a mess, I asked him about it.

He stammered and lied.

I found where he hid the egg. The shell had barely cracked and the membrane was still intact. There was no mess.

He stared at me, wide-eyed in fear, as I held the cracked egg in my hand.

I told him to sit on the sofa for a minute.

He cried.

I threw the egg out.

I pulled out our Child Training Bible and read aloud the verses on lying and we discussed them and prayed, holding hands. I hugged him and told him how much I love him.

I told him I’m not mad and mistakes happen. I thanked him for telling me he broke an egg, and that I will always help him clean up his mistakes.

He is so much more than a broken eggshell.

Leading him in prayer over the sin of lying was so much easier than yelling, shaming, isolating him in a timeout over a hidden broken egg.

I could have cracked his shell, smeared his soul, and spilled his heart out all over the floor.

I did that too often with my firstborn. We’re still rebuilding.

Too often, we as parents are the reason our children lie. They’re afraid of consequences. They don’t feel safe enough to tell the truth.

Do we as adults feel safe enough for truth?

Don’t exasperate your children by coming down hard on them. Take them by the hand and lead them in the way of the Master. Ephesians 6:4

Forgiveness is good.

How many times do I make a mistake and then hide it, pretend it didn’t happen, or even lie about it (even if I only deceive myself)?

Do you have any mistakes you need help cleaning up?

Jesus would love to help.

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5 Days of Homeschooling Essentials {Day 4: Supplies}

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January 23, 2014 By Jennifer Lambert 6 Comments

Sure, we need to plan.

We need to know our strengths and weaknesses.

We need to know our enemy.

We need supplies. But more than paper and pencils, books and crayons.

We need God. We need God’s Word. We need prayer.

He is our ultimate supplier.

Select a verse from the Bible as a foundation for your homeschool, for your family, for your marriage. Tie it into your mission statement, visions, goals.

I recommend the book Lead Your Family Like Jesus to help you work out all that. It’s really brilliant and it helped my husband join me in leading our family by setting those goals.

How can you get supplied?

pray
Bible study
Scripture memorization
sing or listen to Christian music and hymns, or even classical
read the Word
listen to the Word online, on CD, podcasts, or sermons (or have kids read aloud!)
set Bible verses to music or get some fun CDs that do that already (Seeds Family Worship, Hide Em In Your Heart, and Songs for Saplings are favorites)
watch Christian videos on Netflix or DVD (What’s in the Bible?, Veggie Tales, Nest, Friends and Heroes)
fellowship with other like-minded Christians

Mamas, make sure you’re well-supplied.

I know it’s hard to wake up early and go to bed late. I know it takes so much energy and emotion to care for our families and homeschools. If we don’t care for ourselves, we won’t be able to continue. Make sure you care for yourself spiritually too.

Be in the Word and show your kids that it’s important. Have family Bible time where you study, read, pray, and worship together. If your husband isn’t interested or available, do it anyway. Make it a part of your homeschool day. Pray, pray, pray for your husbands, yourself, your marriage, your children, your homeschool, your kids’ future spouses and babies.

You can never pray enough or too much.

Like social media is always “out there” so too should our prayers be.

Make prayer an ongoing conversation in your lives. Teach your kids by example.

Have a life of prayer.

The whole series:

Day 1: Planning

Day 2: Know Yourself

Day 3: Know Your Enemy

Day 4: Supplies

Day 5: Let Go

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31 Days of Servant Leadership: Prayer Resources

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October 12, 2013 By Jennifer Lambert 3 Comments

Welcome back to 31 Days of Servant Leadership! Prayer is so important to raising servant leaders. Jesus modeled for us so many times when we prayed to His Father.

There are numerous accounts of the power of prayer in the Bible.

Read it. Pray it. Sing it. Teach it your children.

O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Luke 18:13b

The Homeschool Mother’s Prayer Journal

“Not every day is picture-perfect.”

Amen?

Rebecca encourages homeschool moms with simple prayer journaling over curriculum choices to anger and depression. The power of prayer over everyday life as a homeschool mom is amazing. This book will bless you. And you can do the journals with your kids. Let them see mama pray! Pray with your kids.

I’m always careful with recommending books and resources on Bible and prayer. Too many authors are wolves in sheep’s clothing and sound great on the surface but teach insidious doctrine that borders on or even leaps into New Age or Eastern religious ideas. I won’t recommend many modern books because they weave in too many compromises. If you look at the best seller list for religion for the past decade or so, it is disheartening how many popular books have little or nothing to do with the real God of the Bible or the teachings of Jesus.

Other prayer ideas:

Prayer Cards for Children and Husbands. Love the idea of putting them on a ring and praying whenever you have a moment. Don’t waste those moments!
A HUGE list of Catholic Prayer Resources for Families.
Pray for the Nations with The Seed Company.
Pray and memorize scripture.
Sing psalms to God.
Pray the names of God.

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Ask Me Anything

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September 19, 2013 By Jennifer Lambert Leave a Comment

Questions.

Questions.

Questions.

It begins in toddlerhood: “Why?”

The point is never to discourage her so she stops asking you and starts seeking answers elsewhere.

While it often is so annoying and inconvenient, it is necessary and good for our children to ask questions to understand the world around them.

Take a moment and breathe a little prayer and formulate an answer for your child the next time she asks. Sometimes it’s hard. Sometimes it’s an interruption.

Kids will seek negative attention if they’re not getting positive attention. They prefer to be yelled at than be ignored.

My kids ask the greatest questions. Their questions remind me of their curious minds that God gave them. It also shows me how much they really do know based on the level of their questioning.

Alex is very curious about blood lately. He wants to know where it comes from, how it’s made, what’s in it, what it does. He’s three!

I am exhausted by all the questions.

Katie wants to visit a Native American tribe and learn their ways and language. Tori wants to watch bugs. Liz wants to know why Dad enjoys hot sauce on his food.

Their vocabulary, connections, and memory work help them to formulate very intelligent questions to get higher level information about whatever they’re learning about. I am often amazed.

I am so blessed by my children wanting to constantly know more, more, more.

God gave them such beautiful minds and hearts that I long to protect.

Katie is fascinated by animals. So, we encourage her by subscribing to NatGeo kids, Zoobooks, Ranger Rick, and her library account is full of animal books. She told me this morning that she wants to learn all the languages in the world. I pray that she finds her calling and focuses on her talents and gifts for Jesus.

Tori is analytical and domestic. She loves to help with chores and cook and I am more than happy to have her cheerful help. Her favorite subjects are math and physical science. I pray that she finds a way to use her gentle heart for the glory of God. I pray she is protected from mean people because I fear it would break her rather than make her stronger.

Alex is our only boy. He is a lover. He is a gentleman. He has a mind of his own. I pray he becomes a strong leader for God’s kingdom and does wonderful, world-changing things.

Liz loves language. She loves to read. She is also a blank slate. I really have to be careful assuming she knows something or has made a connection between two concepts. Often, she just doesn’t know and we get upset at one another. I know if she attended school, she would be labeled an “airhead” or other, uglier, names. I pray that I am patient with her and help her become discerning of the world.

My middle girls are night and day different from other, but they complement each other. I pray they stay close to each other. I know that school would kill their love of learning and creativity.

I pray for communication to always be open with my kids.

I pray they always feel comfortable coming to me to discuss anything.

If I don’t know the answer or the question makes me uncomfortable, I pray I have the strength to tell my kids, “Let’s look that up together.”

I don’t want my kids looking up sex questions on Google. I don’t want them being discipled by pop music and Hollywood.

I want them to be different.

I pray there is never a time when they seek answers in the world for the important questions.

I pray that I am always available and God provides the answers through me.

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Spiritual Warfare

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September 14, 2013 By Jennifer Lambert 6 Comments

After a week of illness and injury, I am overjoyed to be physically well again.

The lambs took care of me when I was down for the count the other morning.

Wolfberry superjuice, homemade chicken noodle soup with Thieves essential oil, and my coffee.

I was so sick I only drank half a cup of coffee that day.

That should let y’all know how sick I was!

I broke down and went the doctor, more for a diagnosis than to get any prescription. I wanted to know what this monster was so I could attack it with the proper essential oils and supplements.

The funny thing?

Of course they said it’s a virus.

But the blood work showed I am perfectly healthy. No bacteria. No virus. No nothing.

Hmmm.

This week has been rough. When I tagged this picture earlier online, I used the hashtag #spiritualwarfare because I didn’t know what it was.

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Ephesians 6:12

I popped my back Monday morning when I picked up Alex to carry him downstairs. I spent the day on the sofa, attempting to keep everyone on task while popping essential oil capsules.

When I woke up Tuesday, my back was much better, but my hips were excruciating. My husband said it was probably from compensating for my back pain. Could be. I spent another half day on the couch.

I thought I was getting headachey and sore from all the rain and storms. The barometric pressure affects me.

Praise Him in the storm!

He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed. Psalm 107:29

Then I got really sick. Like fever, headache from hell, aches kinda sick. I felt like someone had punched me in my armpits. It was so weird. I could barely stay upright and couldn’t function.

The house was a mess. No school was accomplished. Chaos.

I took essential oils Thieves, Frankincense, and Oregano in gelatin capsules before bed Wednesday night and when I woke up Thursday. I spent the morning in bed.

Then I went to the doctor (to get that diagnosis to know which essential oils to take. “I had a virus.” Always their answer since they don’t know!).

I took another capsule when I got home and spent the day in bed. Also oregano on my spine. Another blend on my spine and chest. Thieves on my feet.

My Feel Better Capsule:

Thieves
Frankincense
Oregano

I felt better in the evening and even went to my youngest daughter’s soccer practice and out to dinner with the family.

More essential oils before bed.

I woke up Friday right as rain. Energetic and cheerful. Pain free.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28

Praising Jesus and having a new appreciation for those who are in constant pain or have chronic illness. Jesus brought you to my mind. I pray for you. I don’t know how you live with it. Just one week of it did me in. I think He wanted me to know what it’s like for some people. Now I can relate.

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