Allergies and Jesus

People get allergies when their bodies mistake a harmless substance as harmful and attack it. I never suffered from this until recently and the culprit may be my cats.

A month or so back I started having random episodes of heavy sneezing, itchy eyes and congestion that would come and go. Then came the headache that lasted for days and ibuprofen wouldn’t touch. All are signs of allergies and all flare up when I’m home.

It is often easier to tell when our physical health is failing us than when our spiritual health is. The only way to stay sensitive to God is through daily Bible study and prayer. If we’re not sensitive to the things of the Lord, we don’t realize when we become spiritually sick.

The Holy Spirit is a lot like our immune system except He doesn’t make mistakes and attacks only what is evil, not what is good. When the devil attacks us, the Holy Spirit living in us gives us the discernment to recognize the attack and fight it. He brings the victory. And like our immune system, our spiritual discernment can grow weak if we don’t take care of it.

I’ll be experimenting with the cause of my new allergies over the next few weeks. And I want to take care of my spiritual health just as much as my physical, so I’ll be spending less time with my cats and more time with my Jesus.

A tumble down the stairs

Both of my nieces stayed the night for the first time on Saturday. I had one or the other overnight before, but never both together. It’s true that kids change everything – your routine, your sleep, your plans – but I think that change is for the better.

My sister and brother-in-law stayed late enough on Saturday night to get both girls into bed before they left. I was worried about Bella waking up, getting out of bed and falling down the stairs in the middle of the night so my sister let me borrow a gate. We put the gate at the top of the stairs and arranged the room so both girls had a safe place to sleep, and went downstairs for some late night pizza.

Baby Abbi fell asleep so my sister carried her upstairs to put her to bed. Unbeknown to her at the time, Bella followed her up the stairs. If it had not been for the gate meant for her safety, everything would have been fine. But when Bella reached the gate at the top of the stairs she tried getting over it and couldn’t. She lost control and somersaulted down the entire length of our stairs.

Everyone was worried about the poor girl. It could have been a nasty fall that did serious damage. Thankfully, the fall was neither nasty nor damaging and after the initial outburst, she was fine.

It was a lesson learned for me. Though Bella’s getting to be more of a big girl every day, she’s still just a babe and needs protection. As those entrusted with her care, we’re responsible for her safety until she’s old enough to not need that protection any more.

It’s funny how your thoughts change when a precious child is in your arms and you’re worried she might be hurt. God cares the same way for us. We never outgrow our need for His protection and He’ll never stop being the Good Shepherd who looks after us.

So, thank you, Lord, for protecting Bella and help me to watch over the children you entrust to my care as well as You look after me.

Running just for fun

I’m one of those people who actually enjoys exercising. Even if it hurts and I’m exhausted in the middle of it I keep going because it’s more than worth it. It makes me feel good inside and out, it gives me more energy and confidence, and keeps me honest about the lifestyle I choose to live (I’m not going to undo my hard work by chowing down on junk food).

I realize not everyone shares this opinion of mine but many can appreciate it. Taking care of your body prepares you for a higher quality of life.

While I’m pretty consistent about exercising, my husband and I are not consistent about doing it together. We go in spurts; one week we do it every day, the next week maybe once or twice, and the week after that we find so many excuses that we don’t go at all. We recently started running together and this time I hope it sticks.

There are advantages to working out together. It’s time spent together. It’s pain shared together. It’s accomplishments met together. It’s accountability and motivation to continue on when you want to quit. It’s fun because we do it together and it bonds us. We haven’t yet reach any distances that would impress the world but right now it’s not about reaching those distances. It’s about consistency and commitment.

So wives, pick an activity to do with your husband and try your best to carve out time to do it regularly. It doesn’t have to be high intensity but I would encourage it to be something that keeps you active. The physical and emotional benefits will bless your marriage (wink, wink!).

My pumpernickel bread

I never tire of reading about healthy foods and finding new healthy recipes. I can spend hours searching websites for key ingredients to keep stocked in my kitchen and how to use them.

I didn’t always care so much about eating healthy food but when the conviction hit me, it was strong and lasting. I fought the old cravings and weaned myself off of junk food as a teen. Now, if I over indulge in food that’s not good for me, my stomach protests and I soon wish I could scrape it out of me. After a time of eating healthy foods, junk food holds less appeal. I prefer eating the food that gives me the nutrition I need to look and feel my best.

One way I help put healthy food in my family’s bellies is by making our bread. It started with honey wheat bread and has moved to pumpernickel bread. I successfully made my first loaf of pumpernickel bread and am a huge fan! It’s packed full of good stuff and is very yummy. It doesn’t have to be homemade to be healthy, but good health is important to me and I get satisfaction out of making nutritious food for my family.

I believe it is our God-given responsibility to take care of our bodies and I get frustrated when I see people neglecting to do it. Choosing not to exercise and eat nutritious food is neglecting to care for the vessel God gave you to honor Him with. I was thinking about this the other day, and realized that I need to pray for this passion to grow into a burden for people’s spiritual wellbeing as well as physical. Health does not stop with the body, a healthy body can still have a dying soul.

I began to pray that the Lord would help me and Mark develop the spiritual disciplines we need to honor Him, just as He’s helping us develop the discipline to eat right and exercise. I look forward to how the Lord will use this experience to deepen our faith and will share the journey with you all as we go.

A $30,000 wedding budget?!

I was talking with a new friend about weddings and swapping stories about some of the crazy things people do when I was awestruck by the story of one girl overspending on her wedding day.

Most girls dream of the big day when they get to be the princess and have things set out just the way they want them. Some weddings are big and some weddings are small but every wedding is run on a budget. This is when us girls start getting creative with our plans.

There are ways to have a beautiful wedding on a small budget, but just imagine what could be accomplished with a large budget. With a $30,000 budget, the sky would be the limit. You could even through in the honeymoon and a limo. But expectations vary from girl to girl because there was a blooming bride who passed her $30,000 budget and moved right up to $45,000 and counting.

There’s a lot of debate that could go on about such an exorbitant affair but there’s only one point I want to make: It’s not the wedding day but the marriage that counts. If people invested just as much time and energy into their marriages as they did their wedding days, I believe the divorce rate in America would be significantly lower.

So for all you brides to be out there, take it from a girl who’s been your shoes. It’s not the fanfare that accompanies the wedding that’s important. It’s what happens when that day is over and your life with your husband begins. Invest in your marriage and you’ll have good memories from a lifetime of days spent together, not just one.

15 minutes of prayer

When I was employed in full-time child care, I found it easy to make time for daily prayer and meditating on the Bible. The day would naturally have quiet moments and I was blessed with the ability to make faith a part of the day for me and the kids.

It got a lot harder when I jumped over to corporate America. Working full time, fulfilling my church responsibilities, taking care of a home and performing my other wifely duties makes for a full day. I have much more demand on my time than I used to and I often feel the stress of that demand.

A few weeks I go I became convicted about my time management habits. Though I devotedly follow a Bible reading plan and send up prayers throughout the day, I lost the time I used to spend just sitting at the Lord’s feet. So I decided to set aside 15 minutes every day to close myself into a room and seek the face of Jesus.

I pray for a lot of the same things every day. I pray for my husband, our marriage, our future kids and our ability to parent them and train them in the ways of the Lord so they commit to Him at an early age and obey Him all their lives. I pray the same for my nieces. I pray for the struggles other family members are having, my church and my work. I pray for the relationships I have with my coworkers and that I would daily be a testimony of Jesus to them.

I don’t feel bad about praying for the same things every day because they’re important things. Some days I struggle with finding the time because I’m not home to lock myself into my room. But this I know, my life is better for doing it and everything else I do is affected by it. My temperament is sweeter, my home is more peaceful and those I love are being looked after.

Fifteen minutes isn’t a lot of time in a day and it’s a commitment I can keep. As I grow, I want that time to grow too. Can you imagine what it’s like to experience the blessing of a full “sweet hour of prayer”? It would be amazing!

Living for Christ at work - how much does it matter?

I've spent a lot of time thinking about my witness at work lately. Mainly because I've reacted all too human for my own liking and am deeply convicted about being filled with me and not God.

Some people may tell me I take things to the extreme but to me, and to God, the little things count. If God cares for the lost then it grieves him when you don't speak up for your faith. If Jesus came to cast His light into the darkness then it's important that we are set apart, loving those in the world but not living as those in the world. If God hates lies then he is angered when we're not completely honest with our boss. And this is where it gets really hard.

Reading your Bible every day and checking off the verses isn't enough to keep your heart, your life, filled with the Spirit. There must be time devoted to seeking His face, seeking forgiveness, praying to know His will, praying over the people around you, praying over the lost and even praying over your work. I confess that I have failed to do this and I know that is the reason for the unrest in my heart.

Today this grumbler is throwing in the towel because I admit that I can't do it on my own. It's hard to wake up and go to a job you dread and even harder to do it with the right attitude. I believe the right attitude is not only a respectful and kind one, but also an honest one. So when I don't address my concerns and don't speak up for myself, I am wrong. Those negative feelings mount and come out in conversation to my co-workers, the ones I'm called to witness to.

How awful it is to not stand out for the Lord.

I believe that you can still hold your head high after a bad day if you know you've handled the difficult circumstances to the glory of God. That means with honesty, sincerity and without grumbling. With God's help, I'm going to try.