Peppermint tea is healing my sinus infection....again!

     Yesterday I woke up with a nasty sinus infection, probably due to the allergies that are plaguing our household. 
     I was super bummed out, because we have a family wedding coming up and a little vacation. I have lots to do before then. I don't have time for a sinus infection! 
     Despite that, it was raging. 
     I decided to go at it like I did last time — without a trip to the doctor. 

     It's not that I don't think the doctor is a good place to go for a sinus infection. It's just that I get them chronically, and I am not a big fan of antibiotics, which lead to all kinds of other complications for me. 
     So I reached for my Jordan Essential Oil Peppermint. I put a drop in my morning tea and a drop in my Sleepy Time Tea last night. (Warning: It is very, very strong. Be prepared! One drop is sufficient, but oil doesn't blend well, so you'll likely get it in the first few sips.) Later, my daughter rubbed my sinuses, helping with drainage. I'm still experiencing the effects of the infection today, but I already feel the healing. I'm about 10 times better than yesterday. So I added another drop to this morning's tea, and I'll keep doing it (while also taking a daily probiotic) until the symptoms clear up. 
     This is the second time I've used Peppermint oil to help fix my sinuses, and I'm pleased with the results!
     Earlier this year, I signed up to sell for Jordan, except I didn't plan to actually sell it. I don't have time to hold spas, but I am already using some of the products in the Mighty Strong Girls spas that we are holding as fundraisers. I figured I would simply take advantage of the discount for the products we were going to use.
     I didn't expect to get this excited about another home-based, direct-sales company. But I absolutely fell in love with Jordan! Why? 
      1. The company and founder are Jesus-centered. 
      2. The products are all made in America. In Missouri, in fact!
     3. They are all-natural products. 
     4. They are high quality. 
     5. I have loved everything I've tried so far. 
     The Sleepy blend has transformed nights for our ADHD child. The Dead Sea Salts are wonderfully relaxing and soothing. The magnesium lotion sucks the pain and weariness right out of my muscles. I could go on and on, and I probably will on future blog posts. 
     I don't expect to have parties or spas. But I would love it if you would shop in my store if there's something that interests you, because buying from my online shop (and my online Trades of Hope store) help give me an income so I can do my real job — Mighty Strong Girls.
     xoxoxo,
     Amy

Being intentional = forgiveness

Every now and then, this crazy — or maybe not-so-crazy — inner part of my being wants to update my social media status with something like: I love gay people. Or, conservatives rock! Or, I am friends with some real far, far, far left liberals. Or, I love people who use government benefits, even when they are capable of getting a job. Or, let's do something nice for inmates today. Or, I love porn addicts. Or, prostitutes are nice girls.

Nothing shows our true colors like the way we feel about "some people." The disagreements. The opinions. The divisions. It's easy to put yourself on a pedestal; how much harder is it to lift up someone who stands for something with which you disagree — or something the "church" condemns?  How hard is it to love them in a way that puts their needs before yours? Most of us can't handle that kind of love. It's excruciating, because our emotions are tangled up in it. 

Who I love shouldn't be tied to their choices, behavior, past, mistakes, opinions, lifestyle choices, job (or lack of one), etc. It's sad when we make it about these trivial things, because we are missing out on knowing — and loving — some pretty awesome people that God would like for us to encounter!

God wants a relationship with all of the above. He loves them all. They are all at least as valuable in His eyes as you are. Maybe more. No matter how much you despise someone, that person is a child of God's. He gets to be the judge. I don't. His ways are mysterious. Mine are not, because I am human. And my heart is deceitful. Sometimes I just like to remind myself that love is complicated from our side of things. It doesn't come naturally. It takes faith and action, and love has absolutely nothing to do with how we feel. Because emotions are a dangerous way to measure love, and they prevent us from putting love in action. 

Loving people has everything to do with being intentional. We don't come at it naturally, so God gave us laws that include how we are to treat others. Then He showed us that the laws still couldn't contain our feelings. That we would hate anyway. Especially if we attempted to apply the laws on others, because then we wriggle our way into the self-righteous judgement seat. Laws aren't really there to prove to others that they have faults or to compare yourself to another. Laws are designed as mirrors we use individually to look into our own sinful souls.

Once we see ourselves as guilty of violating God's laws, then we should understand why He sent Jesus. We should understand grace and how — because we get to receive it — we get to extend it. Jesus is the way. He is peace. He is truth. He is love. He showed us how to love. He became the law.  And He boils down the law into two commands: Love God and love people. 

Some of us struggle still. But you see, love is a choice. As such, we are bound to get tripped up by it and fall on our sinful faces. When we mess up, like God knew we would, we can ask those we love to forgive us our shortcomings and we can forgive those who put us in a box, categorize us or hate on us even when we don't deserve it. Forgiveness is both the cost of love and the gift that comes out of love. It looks like a cross from God's point of view. 

Before Jesus left the world, He told His disciples to pick up their crosses and follow Him. If you believe and if you want to be a follower, then love should look like a cross from your point of view, too. 

Forgiveness is love in action. I want to be forgiving, as much as I want to be forgiven. I want to be loving, even when it's hard. I want to be intentional. How about you? 

Always ask why, part two

Why has she put on so much weight? 

Why doesn't she come to our meetings anymore? 

Why on earth is she cutting herself? What's wrong with her?

Why does she always seem to cold to me? 

I wrote part one of this post a few months ago, and as I came back to it and reviewed it, it occurred to me something was missing — another, more complicated reason we don't often ask why. Because once one person knows your why, it seems the whole dang world knows. So we believe the lie that we are protecting ourselves from hurt by telling nobody, by holding it all inside.

Have you ever unearthed the why of someone's struggles and then ran as fast as you could in the other direction? Or, ran as fast as you could, telling everyone on the way what you just learned? In other words, have you ever found out someone's story, learned about their messy place and then gossiped about it?

I have. I did this recently. I learned. I was shocked at someone else's why. I told. Then as I heard a friend repeat my gossip to another friend, it was as if a curtain was pulled back. God showed me how damaging it was. To the person who was — at least so far — unaware of what we were saying, to me, to my friend, to our relationships with one another, to God's kingdom.

Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. James 4:11

Do we not tend to justify these two things: Not caring enough to ask others what's going on, what's hurting them, or finding out how to help them AND  misusing this type of information when we know it. 

I'm embarrassed. I am the reason it has become so hard to share the why. 

But I'm so thankful for the amazing friendships in my life right now, because my friend sensed my judgment of her when I called out her gossip. What she didn't know, because in my pride I didn't confess, was the guilt I felt for my own part in the act. Yet she forced me into an uncomfortable situation where we could examine the mess. It was ugly looking in the mirror, I tell you.

The truth is I dream of a place where girls and women can be raw and honest with each other, but to get there, first we have to stop the gossip. It's hurtful, and it makes being honest and loving one another more complicated, if not impossible.

Gossip leads to judgment. Judgment leads to hate. Hate leads to wars. 

  

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to live my life in self-righteous hatred or judgement of even one other human being. Will I stumble? Will I occasionally gossip? Will I screw up and hurt people? Yes, because I am only human. I see countless people who complain about Christians judging non-Christians or Muslims hating Christians. We see acts of atrocity committed in the name of every faith, and then use it to justify a hate for that faith. Wake up people, because we all do it. Slap whatever label on it you want, but the reality is that the fault isn't really with the group, the faith or the label.

God's word offers us a glimpse of truth: The human heart is full of evils. His word doesn't classifying the hearts — as in these sects, certain religions, those tribes, certain countries, specific people. His description for this atrocity of the heart is human. All hearts are capable of hatred and evil. 

The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? Jeremiah 17:9

Because I have screwed up, because I have sinned and because I will continue to make mistakes, I want grace! I want to be loved and forgiven, so I will keep putting myself out there to constantly love and forgive others. In every mess, including my own.

A friend and I were discussing this recently and we wondered: Is there a way we can police one another on gossip with grace? Is there a way to help our sisters in our social circles shut down gossip without it being harmful (like the ax of judgment coming down) on our friendships? 

I want to know, because I crave both things — good healthy friendships and an end to this destructive behavior. 

In the meantime, I will keep asking why. As much as I am able, I will ask not about someone secondhand, but to someone firsthand. In order to love them better. In order to see them the way God sees them. In order to get to the heart of the matter. Because I believe our Heavenly Creator really wants us to care about the why, no matter how messy or complicated or risky it might be.

One of my favorite quotes is this one, and it's where I want to be:

“Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people.”

~ Eleanor Roosevelt 

 Will you help me get here? 

G
  my favorite reat minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/e/eleanorroo385439.html#8L9l6EYXo3MD0K2r.99

Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/e/eleanorroo385439.html#8L9l6EYXo3MD0K2r.99

Always ask why, part one

Often when we want more information about something, we ask where, when, who and what. Rarely we ask why — the most critical question of all. 

Why is where the story unfolds, the reason someone is motivated to do something or act a certain way. When we ask why, we begin to understand the person behind the event or incident. We begin to relate. 

As a reporter, the why was always my favorite question. It's the mean of the story. It's the good stuff, my dear friends.

Why is where compassion and empathy enter, where hate begins to evaporate. 

There’s this girl I know who latches onto new girls who move into the community, forces her friendship on them, drops other friends (saying cruel things to and about them in the process) and then repeats the cycle when another new girl comes into the picture. 

Anyone examining this from the outside sees the wake of damage and recognizes the unscrupulous and unhealthy behavior of this girl. She appears pathetic and dangerous and most certainly untrustworthy. 

We clearly see what is going on, who is involved, as well as the when and where of her actions. What we don’t readily see or even ask ourselves is why. Do we know? Do we even care?

 

Because more than likely, she has been hurt in the past, probably by someone close to her. Maybe she was neglected time and time again by a parent, who made promises and never delivered. 

Unless we ask why, we will never see the human behind the action that disgusts us. Until we ask why, we can have no sympathy or compassion. Not asking why allows us to transfer disgust from the action to the person, and this is where hate breeds.

If I'm fully honest with myself, I must admit that not asking  why is my way of avoiding the mess. If I don't ask, I don't have to feel obligated to clean it up or even offer her my love while we both look at our own individual messes, unsure of what to do next. 

 

Isn't it true that most of us simply want to turn our back on others rather than even ask this one question? We justify it because it will "protect our heart" or keep us out of a messy situation or prevent us from having to deal with something really real and really complicated. Or, keep us from having to address something of our own that is equally messy that we have cordoned off in our brain so that we don't have to face it. Is it not a fact that when we stop asking why, our relationships are no longer deep and meaningful? 

Some 2,000 years ago, a man named Jesus died. There is little controversy about the what, when and where.  There is some dispute about the who — Son of God, Son of man. But have you ever really, really reflected on why?

If you have never asked yourself before, today is the day. Revel in the why. Ask yourself. Search for answers. Be determined to understand the reason behind the act. Go unearth clues and seek out evidence. 

The why always has been and will always remain the most critical question at the heart of all relationships that matter, the relationships that are worth having.