November 8, 2016

Let There Be Light (Part One)

The Lord has been teaching me so much about healing in the last decade. I believe that it is always God’s will to heal us; however, we have not understood some fundamental things that can stand in the way.

We are spirit, soul and body; a three part being created in the image of God. In the Hebrew language, there is no word for ‘spiritual.’ God’s people understood that there is no division between these three things. It is the Greek culture and exaltation of knowledge over Spirit that emphasized and distinguished the difference.


Several years ago I asked the Lord, “How can fasting (going without food) affect you spiritually?” It was a fascinating thought to me. And over the last couple of years, the Lord began to show me the answer.

We live in a fallen world. None of us will get through this life without being accosted by poison; physically damaging toxins and soul damaging wounds. Every day we eat and drink and breathe in things that are physically damaging to our bodies.

Non-filtered water, white flour and sugar, and preservatives are all known carcinogens. Drinking one cola or carbonated beverage wipes out your immune system for 27 hours. Doctors now know that even the plastics that ‘good’ food is packaged in can be absorbed into the food and when eaten, is harmful to us. The colorings and preservatives in makeup, hair coloring and even antiperspirants can cause skin cancer. The one that really makes me chuckle (in a non-amused way) is that there is an ingredient in sun-block is a known carcinogen and that people are becoming sick by not getting enough vitamin D from sun exposure! There is evidence that skin cancer is not caused by the sun but by a lack of good nutrition. 

But even more than that, doctors now recognize that anger can cause cancer and other health problems. Stress causes heart disease. Depression and grief cause us to become sick. Scripture confirms that hope deferred makes the heart sick. Proverbs 13:12

But even more recently, I discovered Dr. Caroline Leaf. She is a neuroscientist who has proven that "as a man thinks, so he is." Proverbs 23:7 She has proven that 99.9% of all sickness originates in our thought life and that sickness that we are born with, originated in the thought life of our ancestors. You can find her on YouTube and her books on Amazon. 

Sometimes when we are emotionally wounded, we are unable to handle the depth of our emotions all at once. People who have lost a loved one express a feeling of numbness for a season and the grief surfaces over time. This is our mind and body’s defense against overwhelming pain. When this happens, our bodies store the ‘pain’ in our cells and tissues, in the form of toxins. Unless flushed out, these toxins can and will cause illness.

Unforgiveness and anger against someone causes stress and toxins are stored in our cells. Men seem to suffer more with heart disease than women. Crying is a gift from God that helps cleanse our mind and body of toxins and releases positive endorphins into the body for healing.

Even when choosing forgiveness and walking in it, these toxins can be left in our cells to do damage! Our body needs to be in an alkaline state for health. The above mentioned things, like sugar, cause our cells to be acidic. An acidic cell cannot hold oxygen and a cell without oxygen becomes cancerous.

The Bible gives a clear solution. It tells us that when one of us is sick, to confess our sins to the elders and they will anoint you with oil and you will recover. (James 5:14-16) I would like to break this down a little.

I believe confessing our sin to an elder simply means sharing our hearts and weaknesses with someone who is spiritually mature. It means cleansing our souls of the anger, the unforgiveness; confessing our wrong doings, etc. If we confess our sins and He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

Then the Word says that they will anoint us with oil. The Bible says that without knowledge the people perish (Hosea 4:6) and this verse can apply to the anointing with oil.

At His birth, Jesus was given three gifts; gold, frankincense and myrrh. (Matthew 2:11)  What was the frankincense and myrrh and why was it valued so highly?

Frankincense and myrrh are essential oils or ‘perfumes.’ Spikenard was the essential oil or perfume that was poured on Jesus’ feet by the woman. (This is actually mentioned several times and there is evidence three different women at different times put ‘perfume’ on Jesus feet.) These were and still are costly essential oils and have great value today.

An essential oil is the life essence of a plant. Plants are alive and these oils are removed without heat so as to not destroy the life of the oil. Mary knew the value of the frankincense and myrrh as both are highly antibacterial, antifungal, and have great healing properties. The people of Jesus’ times knew the value and uses of these perfumes and used them extensively. Even generations earlier, David mentions cleansing himself with hyssop in the Psalms. Hyssop was a plant that grew abundantly in that region and the oil from it was ‘cleansing.’

Essential oils heal on a cellular level. Within twenty minutes of applying a single drop of oil, it actively affects every cell in your body, bringing oxygen and cleansing to each cell. These oils remove toxins from the cells and oxygenate the cells restoring the alkaline balance and bringing healing.

We have derived our modern day perfumes from these oils but in doing so have killed all the benefits and are now left with just the scent. The amazing thing to me is that when the oils are alive, the scent itself is healing!

A study of the Greek word ‘anoint’ reveals that we have generically translated three different words to the English word ‘anoint.’ One of the Greek words is the root word for ‘therapy’ and from this we understand that it meant a long term applying of the oil to restore healing.

There was and is healing in the oil itself! I have for years been taught that you could use any oil and that it was a ‘touch-point’ for the Holy Spirit. Yes, the Holy Spirit can absolutely heal in that very moment without any oil at all, but over the centuries we have lost our knowledge of God’s natural way of healing that He made available in the Garden when He created plants.

There are hundreds of oils. One commonly known is lavender. Lavender is a wonderful oil that heals burns, causes peace and relaxation and has multiple benefits. But a lavender scented product does not have healing ability. It’s important to understand that the healing comes from the life of the plant and is destroyed through processing.

Fasting is also beneficial as it again cleanses the cells on a molecular level! These toxins stored in our cells are essentially ‘strongholds.’ Remember, there is no difference between the physical and the spiritual. When these toxins are cleared from our bodies, we are healed of ‘spiritual’ things as well as ‘physical’ things. The Word says, “Beloved, above all things, I desire that you be in good health and prosper, even as your soul prospers.” (3 John 2) The Word shows a clear alignment with soul health and physical health and even more than He desires that we be healed, God desires that we walk in good health!

You can learn more about these oils by reading, “Healing Oils, Healing Hands” by Linda Smith and “Healing Oils of the Bible” by Dr. David Stewart (both available on Amazon.) Another necessary book is “The Reference Guide for Essential Oils” I typically ask the Holy Spirit what oil I need to use and then confirm it in this book. 

Thieves’ Oil (Young Living) and On Guard (DoTerra) are essentially the same oil blends. The original oil was called Thieves’ Oil because during the Black Plague, thieves used it successfully to rob the dead without becoming sick themselves. It’s a powerful combination of clove, lemon, cinnamon bark, eucalyptus, and rosemary and has been found to be strong enough to reduce bacterial cultures by 99.96%!  My family uses it whenever we have been exposed to sickness or feel like we may be coming down with something. We rub it on the bottoms of our feet, on the backs of our neck and on the glands on the sides of our neck and breathe it in.  My husband and I have not been to the doctor in over ten years. Thieves’ Oil will even kill strep and staph germs if caught early enough.

I will post Part Two of this tomorrow!  Have a wonderful day!

love and blessings~

November 4, 2016

Our Master Bathroom

The day after my last post, the demo crew showed up and we began the process of remodeling our master bathroom. I'm sorry it has taken me SO long to share it with you!

We absolutely love it! It's girly and romantic and over-the-top and still - my husband loves it, too!

This is the first time that we've ever hired professionals to do the work for us. I had imagined a simple, quick process but we ran into some complications that slowed us down and forced us to make some changes.




The main one was a drain pipe placement that our plumber said that "in the 20+ years of his being a plumber, he had never seen anything like it!"  We were not able to figure out if our master bath was an addition after the house was built, or if it was a walk-in closet and half bath that was changed to a master bath, but whatever it was, it had resulted in this drain pipe being 6" out from the wall and 6" up off the floor.

Usually, it would be in the wall or floor but because of the ceiling of the family room, which runs along this wall, it could not be put there. (see the silver flashing at an angle in the wall?)

This is our bathroom before. You can see how the previous vanity and tub covered this pipe. This picture looks nice but things were definitely worn.

We had two choices: a) tear out about 20' of floor that runs under multiple closets and walls and lay a new drain pipe under the floor connecting to a 'normal' drain pipe in the adjacent bathroom, or b) build a new wall and platform,for the tub, to cover the existing drain pipe. *sigh*

Our new claw foot tub was already sitting in a crate in our garage but I still paused for about two weeks trying to decide what to do. I had envisioned a wide, open floor plan with our vanity and tub sitting in the room and I was very disappointed.

And this also meant that my husband would need to build a wall and platform and that everything would stop until this was done.

But that's what we did.
This is the view looking from our tub to the shower room.

So, a two week estimate turned into an eight week long job. We had to cancel our trip to Colorado and stay home and finish a bathroom. I share all this not to complain but in case you think you're the only one that has encountered obstacles when it comes to remodeling. I pretty much think it's the norm.

And it was well worth it!

Down a hallway, lined with closet doors, is our toilet/shower room. We used the same tile in our shower as the floors. It's a marble-looking porcelain set on a diagonal with a very small grout line. I loved this tile because although I could not get a very clear picture, there's also a faint gold edge to gray veining. The floor is a preset octagonal tile in a coordinating gray.

Our tile expert set the tile so that the vein was flowing vertically.  Our shower is double with a rain head on one side and a hand-shower on the other.
I designed the simple insert shelf and our tile layer carried it out beautifully!

Our bathroom ceiling is literally a hardwood floor product. It was a little dark and dated and I used SW Deer Valley, SW Chateau Brown, mixed with a little chalk paint additive and made the ceiling match our doors and woodwork in the rest of the house. Here's the before and after:
It softened the ceiling nicely, giving it the rustic wood feel that I love.  The chandelier in here is the same. I removed the crystals and then gave it a coat of antique white paint, then a coat of gold and silver.
I loved this picture from HobbyLobby. I wanted our bathroom filled with reminders of God's love and grace.

I have always loved the look of a claw foot slipper tub but didn't know if I would like the functionality. Without being too personal, I do! It's very comfortable and I love having the spray handle for rinsing. I'm a bath-person and it has fulfilled all my dreams! ha! And the platform, which I didn't plan, enables you to see out the window while bathing.
We still have a few things we'd like to do to. We'd like to replace all the closet doors that line the hall between the vanity and the shower room and there are two light fixtures in that area that we plan on replacing. We'll do those things eventually.

But for now, we are happy and so blessed!

love and blessings~


"Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." Psalm 51:7


vanity:- Amazon 
faucets - Joss & Main
mirrors - Amazon
wall sconce - Overstock
slipper tub - Menard's
floor and shower tile - Carpet Gallery
shower door - Menard's
shower faucets - Lowe's
towel racks and accessories - Amazon
toothbrush holders and vanity accessories - HomeGoods
tub rack - Joss & Main
tub accessories - HomeGoods
rug -HomeGoods
antique chair - bought from a friend
floor candlesticks - Furniture City Consignment
all wall art - HobbyLobby
curtains - I made them from Bluestone polyester Warehousefabrics

I'm joining these parties:
impartinggrace



October 12, 2016

Invisible People

Many years ago, when I had been attending a church for several years, a new woman began to attend. Because I had been there for several years, I knew every one who came regularly. We had laughed and cried and prayed together, taken care of each others' children, shared meals and coffee. We knew each other well. We were friends.

When this new lady came, I was not interested in having a new friend. I was satisfied with my place in life.

One of my close friends immediately befriended her, pulling her into the church and making her feel comfortable. I watched her and was still not interested. And I recognized that I was doing it.

Finally, after several months I began to get to know her. She became a friend.

I would find out what this felt like a few years later when we moved across the country. We began attending a large church and went week after week without anyone attempting to get to know us. In their defense, some people spoke warmly to us and it was a large church. They could have assumed someone else had befriended us. Some people have lived in the same place all their lives and don't know what it feels like to not know anyone or have any friends.

I showed up at the women's ministry one morning and sat at a table alone. All the other women knew each other and were standing in groups, talking and laughing. I finally stood up and went over to one the groups and stood with them. No one spoke to me and I remember one lady looking at me like I was rude to come and stand with them. And I knew how she felt.

After a year of no one including us, we stayed home for about a month. The pastor's wife called me one day and asked me why we hadn't been there. I told her that no one talked to us. She assigned someone to us. *smile* That family would become our best friends and we are still close friends 20+ years later.

I learned my lesson. But more than that, one day the Lord spoke to me. He told me that everyone is important to Him, that everyone has a gift or talent that the Body of Christ needs to be complete. Everyone has something valuable to say, if we will stop and listen. Because He's no respecter of persons, He has shared His heart with all of us and for us to hear His heart, we will have to value and listen to each person. Or the Body is not complete.

1 Corinthians 11:23-34 talks about  discerning the Lord's Body as we come together for communion. This passage warns us that if we do not value and discern the Body of Christ, we drink judgment upon ourselves and many of us have become sick or weak because of it.

Look around your church or your place of employment. Do you esteem everyone equally or is there someone that seems to be invisible to others? Maybe they're not attractive or popular. Maybe they won't elevate your status. May they just don't appeal to you.

And then realize that they're precious to God. They have a story. They have an importance to God and to the Body of Christ. They are Somebody. Look at them and see them. See them through God's eyes and love them.

love and blessings~