Well, with five school aged children and a toddler who’s a thumb sucker, my crew has the potential to come into contact with lots of germies. So how do we keep our immune systems healthy and strong? We do that by eating lots of fruits and veggies, hand washing, exericse and getting adequate rest.
But to bolster our ability to fight off illness, we have another weapon in our arsenal.
Elderberry Syrup
As far back as Ancient Egypt, people have been using Elderberries as part of their wellness plan. Elderberries, also known as Sambucus, are used to treat a variety of ailments such as cold, fevers and nasal congestion.
Over the last few years I’ve been asked on many occasions my recipe for elderberry syrup so I’m finally taking an opportunity to write it down here for all my buddies who are looking for a recipe. Elderberry syrup can be purchased in your local natural food store but it’s just as easy to make and more cost effective to just whip up at batch since you may already have a few of the ingredients right at home.
Elderberry Syrup
1/2 cup dried elderberries
1 cinnamon stick
4 cloves
2 inch piece fresh ginger (peeled & sliced)
4 cups water
1/2 cup honey
Step 1
In a pot bring 4 cups water to boil. Add all ingredients except honey. Simmer on medium low for about 20 minutes or until liquid reduces by half.
Step 2
Remove from heat and strain.
Step 3
Add honey and stir well. Store in a mason jar in the fridge.
Here’s to keeping your family healthy and whole during cold and flu season.
As always, it is my prayer that you’ve been Inspired To Live Fully!
All it takes is ONE thing.
Any.one.thing.
Working late one evening.
Extreme fatigue one day.
A phone call delivering bad news.
Then, you look up one day and realize you’ve fallen off the wagon.
But such is life right? Stops and starts and stops and starts again. Life can be cyclical like that at times. But just because you binged on those cookies doesn’t mean you cannot recover well. It does no good to swim in a sea of self-condemnation because all that will do is drive you into the arms of the next cookie; nor does it erase all the positive steps you made in seeking to honor your temple.
God saw you the day you kept walking past the office kitchen loaded with donuts. God saw you the day you chose the apple out of your purse instead of the candy from the vending machine. God saw you when you made it to your 6am bootcamp class when you wanted nothing more than to sleep late on that rainy morning.
And because God sees you and loves you, He’s willing to help you get back on track. All is not lost. Here’s the good news. Falling off isn’t fatal, it’s staying there that will cause you trouble. Now get up, dust yourself off and get back on it! When we fall, God is faithful to pick us up and set our feet on solid ground (Psalm 40:2).
Here are your 5 Steps For Reclaiming Your Health When You’ve Fallen Off The Wagon
Destroy The Idols & Repent
Anytime we allow anything to consume us, to become an elevated object of our affection or to replace the space devoted to God, we allow that thing to become an idol. And food surely has a way of becoming an idol. Slothfulness has a way of becoming an idol. Right now in Jesus’ name we bring destruction to anything we’ve allowed to become an idol. Repentance is our inward response to knowing we’ve done something offensive to God. It is when we own up to our wrongdoing and decide that we will turn away from it. So today we stand and declare that idols are eradicated and we repent for dishonoring our temples.
Forgive Yourself
The enemy of our souls seeks to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10) and as such seeks to rip you to shreds. He will play the highlight reel of every stumble you’ve ever had. He will keep reminding you, “Guilty, guilty, guilty!”
BUT GOD!
“So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.” Romans 8:1-2
So forgive yourself and silence the enemy. Jesus’ death presents you holy, without blemish and free from accusation (Colossians 1:22). There is freedom in forgiveness so forgive yourself as God forgives you.
Self Assess
So how did you fall off the wagon? Were you overworked and overwhelmed? Were your hormones out of whack? Assess how you got here. Are there any particular triggers, patterns or even times of year that contribute to you neglecting your health? I had some triggers this summer. You can read more of that HERE. Knowing how you got here can help you cut it off at the pass should you start leaning off the wagon.
Enlist Support
We are not made to traverse the rigors of life alone. Thus, it is crucial that we are in a supportive community that encourages us, teaches us AND holds us accountable. Where is that community for you? Well, you’ve got one RIGHT HERE. It is not easy when you go to work and there is sugar on your co-worker’s desk. It is not easy when the grocery store is mainly stocked with junk masquerading as food. It is not easy when you truly don’t have the energy and motivation to workout. It is not easy when you want to read a novel more than you want to read your bible. Argh! But that is exactly when community support kicks in, giving us the prod we need to stay on the right track. In community we sharpen one another (Proverbs 27:17), restore one another and bear each other’s burdens (Galatians 6:1-2).
Holistic Approach
Remember you are a triune being. You are a spirit, housed within a body, with a soul that allows you to engage with God’s creation. Thus any plan for honoring your health has to be a holistic one. You must nurture your spirit, nourish your body and regulate your soul. To neglect any one of these areas is to neglect them all.
By employing the above steps, I’m certain you’ll be riding high on the wellness wagon. Let me know in the comments which step you might find challenging so that I can pray with you.
“Don’t you know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God in your body.” 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
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As always, it is my prayer that you’ve been Inspired To Live Fully!
Toni Morrison
“It’s interesting to see when a kid walks into the room… does your face light up? That’s what they’re looking for…when my children used to walk in the room when they were little, I looked at them to see if they had buckled their trousers or if their hair was combed or their socks were up…so you think your affection and your deep love is on display cause you’re caring for them, it’s not. When they see you they see the critical face…what’s wrong now? …But then if you let your face speak what’s in your heart. Because when they walked in the room I was glad to see them. It’s just as small as that, you see.”
Nobel laureate and novelist, Toni Morrison shared these deep yet simply stated musings on an episode of Oprah’s Lifeclass. So eloquently she illustrated the difference between meeting temporal needs and maximizing on the opportunity to connect with the heart. Oprah went on to say that one of her own biggest learning lessons of the early 90’s was that the common denominator in the human experience is that everyone wants to be appreciated or validated.
And don’t we see that in our world today? The rash brazenness of broken people intent on hurting themselves and others because they long to be seen, to be known, to be validated, and to be loved.
And oh how many times I’ve missed the mark on this. But watching this segment left an indelible mark on me, raising my awareness of SEEING my children. Morrison captures the essence of it because truly much of parental life is consumed with meeting temporal needs which can suffocate connection. Endless piles of laundry, shuttling children to and from activities, cooking meals, you know the drill.
The job of parenting finds us doing seemingly important things for our children but we don’t want to miss out on the needed thing. Just as Jesus affirmed that Mary had chosen the better part, let us choose the better part and that is connecting with the hearts of our children. Doing so demands that we slow down.
The human heart craves connection and we must make ourselves available for our children.
How available are you if your face is planted in an electronic device when your child is trying to talk to you? How available are you when you an inundated with 2 million worries because that stack of medical bills keeps getting higher and higher?
This is when you have to cast all your cares on God and eliminate distractions so that you make yourself available for connection. Connection is carried out through communication. It is imperative that you communicate in ways that your child can perceive and receive. Be sure to check out 5 Ways To Communicate With Your Child Better.
Love sees and love notices and love cares. When a pregnant Hagar attempted to flee because of Sarai’s cruelty, she had an encounter with el-Roi, The God Who Sees. Not only did the angel of the Lord see her there, he blessed her. Just as God saw Hagar sitting there, He sees you and He sees your children. Yup, that’s what love does; love sees. Our children, in their own unique way are crying out, “Do you see me?” And in return, it is not the critical face, the glare or the correction of external trappings that I want to offer. I want them to see my face light up.
“It’s just as small as that you see.”
Some of the thoughts shared in this post are adapted from my book, Purposeful Parenting. Be sure to pick up a copy for yourself or one for a friend.
As always it is my prayer that you’ve been Inspired To Live Fully!
You know the old saying. Perhaps your mama said it or your grandma said it or the mean ole lady next door said it to your mama about you,
“Children should be seen and not heard!”
Which is really ridiculous because this statement implies that children should not be SEEN or HEARD. And I don’t know about you, but I believe part of the reason the world is so jacked up today is because we’ve got adult “children” running around today who are broken; they weren’t seen or heard and their behavior is a cry to be noticed.
But can we just give a holla and a hand clap that we are empowered to parent as we see fit. While mama & ‘nem gave us some fundamental tools that have helped us become successful, today we can keep, adapt, modify or even discard some of the things we saw and heard in our childhood.
Let’s be clear, children should be SEEN and HEARD.
The heart of every human craves connection. And when connection is stifled, it will manifest in a myriad of unpleasant ways. So let’s cut that off at the pass and be purposeful in connecting with our children. And one of the primary ways we connect hearts is through open, loving communication. So here are 5 ways you can communicate better with your child starting today.
To get the 5 tips, join me over @ Mommifaceted.
As always, it is my prayer that you’ve been Inspired To Live Fully even in your parenting!
“Oh no, oh no, oh no!”, I said to myself as I went to plug my external payment device into my phone. I was setting up to vend at an event and lo and behold I found myself between a rock and a hard place. I forgot that my new phone was not compatible with the reader.
Now earlier that day I had already experienced the AC failing on me while driving in 90 degree weather, driving 55 miles to and from dropping my children off so I could attend this event and the car not starting up after I stopped to get cash.
So when I came upon this challenge I was nearly undone. But I held my resolve. I grabbed my keys and drove to the nearest mobile phone store. They had the adapter but it was grossly overpriced. So I proceeded to the nearest five and dime as my grandma would call it. Much to my delight they had the adapter.
Sweaty with no AC but adapter in hand I raced back to the event. I was looking forward to sharing the hope of my book, Purposeful Parenting with this church full of mothers. I plugged in the adapter, and…..nothing.
That’s right. NOTHING. IT.DID.NOT.WORK.
“Forget it, I’ll just pack up and go home,” I told myself because in that moment giving up was so much easier. I had had ENOUGH!
“This is ridiculous.”
“I can’t do this.”
“Why God?”
My internal rant was quickly getting the best of me until God spoke. “Are you committed?”
To which I responded with my continued internal temper tantrum. And very lovingly He asked me again, “Are you committed?”
Feeling dejected, I took a walk to the restroom to mull over the question. As I let a tear slip from my eye, I was wracked with frustration for being willing to give up so easy because being committed in the hard spaces was not new to me.
Two months into my 1st year of college my mother died suddenly. I went back to my home state to regroup but one month later I returned to school. The very next year, mother’s younger brother died. I was ravaged with hurt but I persevered. The very next year, my mother’s sister, the aunt with whom I used to live died also. Back to back to back; mama, uncle, auntie, all gone. But my commitment remained.
So staring into the face of my current “wanna give up”, I was sandwich between tenacity and grit. With my feet firmly planted on the Chief Cornerstone, coupled with a Phone-A-Friend, I decided to stay committed. I decided to not give up when in that moment giving up felt like it would have been so much easier.
And may your hearts be fully committed to the LORD our God. 1 Kings 8:61a
A sweet sister in Christ, Linda Mendable told me when giving up seems easier than staying committed you’ve got to have Great Resolve In Turbulence, GRIT.
There’s no way around it. Carrying out your kingdom mandate is going to be tough. You will face situations where giving up seems so much easier. But during these times I encourage you to remember, GOD IS THERE!
And not only is He there, He loves you. And not only does He love you, He believes in you. And not only does He believe in you, He’s empowering you by way of the Holy Spirit within you. You have proven yourself faithful, so He’s committed great works into your care.
So how do we stay committed?
- You have to remember that God is for you. Even when the situation doesn’t feel good to your flesh, He’s working it together for your good.
- Look for God in the situation. Ask Him, “What am I supposed to learn from this?”
- Remember your “why”.
- Positive self-talk. Tell yourself, “You can!” “You will!”
- Phone-A-Friend. When in crisis, send out an SOS.
You have to be committed to what has been committed into your care and custody. God has placed special things in your trust, to be kept, guarded, protected, developed and eventually disseminated so that it will reproduce after its own kind.
What has He committed into your care?
- Financial Blessings
- Children
- Leadership
- Spiritual Gifts
- Artistic Abilities
Giving up might seem easier in the moment but staying committed will reap great dividends for the kingdom.
Commit your activities to the LORD, and your plans will be achieved. Proverbs 16:3
As always, it is my prayer that you’ve been Inspired To Live Fully!
You ask
You beg
You pray
You petition
And when you do so, you expect God to move. After all, He IS the God who answers prayers. You’ve asked God to heal your marriage, to help you raise your children, to heal your body, to keep you in your right mind.
And the very mouth that uttered those prayers, is the same mouth that can render those prayer null and void.
The mouth that says:
“I can’t stand my husband. He’s driving me crazy.”
“My child is getting on my last nerve and I can’t take it anymore.”
“God my body feels terrible. I can’t do this. My knees are killing me.”
“God I don’t know how much more I can take. I’m losing my mind.”
You know, those defeatist, self-loathing under your breath utterances. Those too are a form of prayer.
So here is your three step fix to pray right. While there are many modes and methods of prayer, I want to give you three simple steps for approaching the throne of grace so that you don’t find yourself negating or nullifying your own prayers.
PRAY IN FAITH
When you come to God, you must have faith, knowing and believing that He can and will do what He said He will do. He wants to do exceedingly, abundantly above all that you can ask or imagine but you have to come into agreement with His plans for your life.
And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. Hebrews 11:6
PRAY HIS WORD
The bible says angels hearken to perform the Word of the Lord. Your angelic hosts are on standby, ready to work on your behalf. Warring angels, ministering angels, all waiting …And they are dispatched when you release the Word of God.
Jesus taught us to pray in this manner …Thy kingdom come, thy will be done. How do we know God’s will? He reveals His will to us when we spend time with Him in His Word. Additionally, when His word is hidden in our hearts, it becomes imbedded in our souls such that when we pray, we are speaking back to God that hidden Word. And when we pray in that manner, we have the surety that He hears us and that we will be granted what we have asked for.
If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done to you. John 15:7
This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him. 1 John 5:14-15
DON’T PRAY AMISS
Ok friends, this is where we gotta do better. Many of you know to pray in faith. Many of you know how to pray the Word. But this is where we get caught up. We have to be very diligent to guard our thoughts and to guard our speech. We have to be purposeful to think and speak in alignment with heaven. We have to take toxic thoughts captive and declare the truth of the Word in prayer so that we are not negating and nullifying our own prayers. We will not be found praying amiss.
Or you pray and yet do not receive, because you pray wrongly, your object being to waste what you get on some pleasure or another. James 4:3
Praying in faith, His word and not amiss. That’s how we do it. And I’ve been on the other side of doing it this way. I have prayed contrary to God’s will. I’ve uttered words that were diametrically opposed to what God had shown. I’m sharing some of those testimonies here, so be sure to watch and learn from my errors.
As always, it is my prayer that you’ve been Inspired To Live Fully!
There are many variations of passages of Lorem Ipsum available, but the majority have suffered alteration in some form, by injected humour, or randomised words which don’t look even slightly believable. Read more
You ever stand before a mountain and think, “God help! This is insurmountable.”
You know, the mountains of:
A health challenge
A wayward child
A stack of bills
A perceived lack of purpose or direction
A fractured relationship
At one time or another, we all face some type of mountain.
And the enemy will really try to convince you that you cannot get over, scale, go around or go through the mountain. Because he is the father of lies, he will blow his hot acidic breath in your face. With acrid spittle flying off his tongue, he’ll attempt to release words to make you feel defeated.
BUT GOD!
No weapon formed against you will prosper and every tongue that rises against you in judgement shall be condemned.
Let me assure you of this today, any obstacle, encumbrance or mountain you face is in fact
SURMOUNTABLE
Jehovah Nissi, The Banner, is raised and you are victorious!
Jehovah Sabaoth, The Lord of Hosts leads the charge into battle vanquishing your enemies.
Jehovah Gibbor, The Mighty Man of War, contends with those that contend with you.
To SURMOUNT means: to prevail over :overcome, surmount an obstacle, to get to the top of :climb, to stand or lie at the top of.
Yes, putting on your armor, going into battle and standing having done all to stand may have left you a little weary. On that ascent up the mountain to surmount, your legs may have been feeling the burn and you may be fatigued. But friend, those tired legs don’t mean you’ve lost. That weary soul doesn’t mean the issues of life are insurmountable.
When you surmount, you in fact:
Conquer
Prevail
Triumph
Beat
Upend
Vanquish
Sounds to me like you ought to sing, you ought to dance and you ought to shout because it looks like you are winning! Just when the enemy thought he had you, you decided to rest in the finished work of Jesus and to stand firm in the truth of who His is and who you are in Him. And in Christ you surmount and are victorious!
Let’s seal it with a prayer…
With you for me God, who can be against me? Thank you Lord for securing the victory. Jehovah Nissi, I lift you high. Jehovah Gibbor, contend on my behalf. Jehovah Sabaoth, lead the charge. The enemy is a defeated foe trampled under my feet. I am more than a conqueror through Christ Jesus. The Lion of the tribe of Judah has conquered. I am delivered because the Lord has set His love upon me. Every obstacle, roadblock and interference in the way of my destiny shall be surmounted by the power of the Holy Spirit at work in me. Thank you God, that in Christ you always lead me in triumphal procession. I reign victorious in You! AMEN.
As always, it is my prayer that you’ve been Inspired To Live Fully!
AFTERWARD: As I was in prayer the day after I wrote this post the Lord spoke to me very clearly with a word for you and for me. “Remember, every mountain does have not to be scaled, bulldozed or circumvented. As an act of your faith you can command the mountain to MOVE and it shall move. Listen to my voice. Follow my directions and activate your faith when I tell you to do so”, says the Spirit of the Living God.
There are many variations of passages of Lorem Ipsum available, but the majority have suffered alteration in some form, by injected humour, or randomised words which don’t look even slightly believable. Read more