Your Body is the Temple of the Holy Spirit.

    1st Corinthians 6:19 "Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God and you are not your own?"

    It's a familiar verse to many. Recently the Holy Spirit reminded me of the important truth behind this verse. I have known this verse for most of my life but never really thought about all the implications surrounding it. One of which is the need to care for my body and seek medical attention when needed and not simply ignore my body telling me it needs servicing.

    Hubby and I were chatting with someone after church a few weeks ago and the principle of our bodies being a temple and being considerate of what we eat came up and that we should be mindful of what we eat.

    There are many different aspects to this Bible verse. The one that hits home the hardest now is my need to care for my physical health better. I'm the person who blatantly ignores my "check engine" light and says, "I'll be fine." A few weeks ago, I woke up on my sister's couch on my way home from my parent's house after a week-long visit. I chose the couch instead of a bed because the couch was closest to the front door and I wanted to sneak out at 3 am and finish the drive home. So I got up at 3 am and was back on the road by 3:30 am. I discovered a knot in my shoulder blade. I thought little of it other than it was funny because my sister mentioned having a knot in the same shoulder the night before. It's not the first time I had a knot there so I ignored it and finished my drive home. About an hr and a half from home, I started to feel a pain in my chest. By the time I got home, taking a deep breath was very painful. I ended up calling in sick to work on Monday because I was still in pain and didn't know why. Later that day I thought that I had a series of knots ranging from my shoulder blade, under my armpit and my chest. I was avoiding making a massage appointment for the knots because a) I'm stubborn and b) they are expensive. A week later, during the long weekend, the pain changed and it now felt like the pain I had experienced years ago when I popped my rib out. I didn't think it was my rib originally because I didn't feel a pop and because the first time it happened there was an obvious pop, so I assumed that ribs always make a popping motion when they come out of place. Turn out they don't and I should stop assuming things. The pain changing was the nerve becoming inflamed and angry. Ironically I tell people not to assume and yet here I am doing just that.

    I finally made a chiropractor appointment and got it put back into place. Then I accidentally popped it out that night. I had already booked a follow-up appointment at the end of the week and with everything going on with hubby and his rash I left the rib out of place for another week and waited for my next appointment.

    Friday finally arrived and I got it fixed again and then spent the weekend figuring out what movements to do and not to do. I started practicing actively listening to my body. When I felt the need for rest and a heating pad I took a break and when I felt the need to move I moved. My chiropractor said I would be in pain for a while because there is a nerve that runs along the top of one of the ribs that I popped out of place. Because it was out of place for an extended amount of time the nerve was inflamed and angry. Monday morning came along and my ribs still felt tender, but as the day went on I could feel the rib and nerve calming down and settling back into their respective places. By Wednesday I had all but forgotten to watch the movement of my torso and the nerve pain was almost gone.

    The moral of the story. Is that if I hadn't been so stubborn, I could have avoided three weeks of pain. On Wednesday I felt something in my back where the rib popped out in the first place, I wasn't sure if it was a knot or the rib coming back out of place, so I quickly made an appointment for this coming Monday. I'm practicing listening to my body and taking care of God's temple properly.

    Rereading this verse has reminded me of all the other ways God calls us to care for our bodies and renewed my perspective on my health. Particularly in regards to food and exercise and that on the days when I don't want to make the "right" choices, by making the right choices, I'm honouring and blessing God and myself.

    How about you friend? Are you honouring God with your temple and listening to your body when it tells you what it needs? I pray that you are or that you start now like I am. I pray this blesses and encourages you today.

Happy Saturday friend.

God Bless

~Hannah

The Spirit of Overwhelm

    It has been a rough week. On Tuesday, hubby discovered a rash on his finger that spread to spots on his arms and legs. At the time we didn't know what it was which made him concerned, especially about it spreading to me, which meant that we started going through much more bedding and towels than normal, which meant that the laundry pile was growing faster than I could wash it.

    Enter overwhelm. I quickly started feeling very overwhelmed by all the laundry. I would go to work and do my job. then I came home and did laundry for the evening. Thankfully that only lasted two nights, but between those two evenings, I did six or seven large loads of laundry. I also didn't know how long it would last. We hadn't seen the doctor yet so we didn't know what the problem was, or how to fix it. Would the pile maintain its size for a week or would we be fine and it would end after seeing the doctor? Needless to say, we were both anxious for the answer. I was so overwhelmed that I wasn't able to think or do anything else. Hubby was equally stressed because he didn't know what was happening to his body.

    For two nights I went to the shop and did several large loads of laundry. Work kept me distracted during the day, but as soon as I arrived home the feeling of overwhelm would hit me like a ton of bricks. No, I was never mad about the excess laundry. I was upset that I had to care for hubby but that's a whole other issue. I was simply overwhelmed by the pile. Thankfully the pile did come to an end after the dr apt. Looking back it was only two nights of endless laundry and overwhelm, but when you are in the middle of it and have no idea when it will end, it's hard.

    On Friday morning, after arriving at work I was feeling very overwhelmed again. I don't recall if the Holy Spirit prompted me or if I thought it on my own. But I remembered how we as believers don't fight our battles on a human level but on a spiritual level. So I decided it was time to pray and send the spirit of overwhelm packing. And it did. My heart and mind felt clean and clear again, allowing me to enjoy the rest of my day. And make a grocery list and menu for the next week. Usually, that's Thursday's chore, but on Thursday my brain was in laundry mode and nothing else.

    We had an apt with a walk-in clinic on Friday afternoon where we got helpful answers and a treatment plan. That appointment relieved all of our anxiety. We still had some relational stresses to deal with that were a result of the rash. but over time they were relieved.

    It has now been just over a week since this all happened. Hubby's rash is cleared up and the treatment plan has come to an end and life has returned to normal.

    The moral of the story friend is to pray. Something I'm preaching to myself as I type this up as well. Yes, I remembered to pray on that Friday morning over the spirit of overwhelm, but we also need to remember to pray about everything that is going on in our lives on a daily basis and to remember that we are not fighting against man, but against the spiritual realm. Ephesians 6:10- 18 "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armour of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 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. Therefore put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the word of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints."

God Bless

~Hannah

Hubby and I took a day trip to Goderich yesterday and enjoyed their beautiful beach.

Lucky's Bridge

    Growing up I always wanted a dog. We briefly had one when I was 10, but then she passed away. So I made do with my stuffed dog Lucky. From the age of 8 when I received Lucky and into my teen years Lucky went everywhere with me. Okay, I did not bring her to school, but everywhere I travelled she was right beside me. On long car rides my mom would lovingly use her as a neck pillow. As a child, she went everywhere with me. I would put plastic baggies on her feet, made her a harness and leash and walk her like a real dog. I would bounce her on the ground trying to make it look like she was real.

    One day my family and I were walking along a suspension bridge on a hike an hour away from home. As usual, I was making Lucky walk/bounce beside me. Lucky is a Dalmatian the size of a Shih Tzu. While walking along the suspension bridge a couple with their Shih Tzu walked up behind us. Their Shi Tzu who was on a retractable leash, so they had more freedom than a standard leash came up behind Lucky and sniffed her butt thinking that she was real. A moment later everyone realized what had happened. The owners of the dog were embarrassed and apologetic. We all had a good laugh and it made for a funny and special memory that I will always remember.

    After bringing Blessing home five years ago I decided that I needed a picture of Lucky, Blessing and I on the bridge. Which I now call, "Lucky's Bridge." It has taken me five years to get this picture because I live 7 hrs away from that bridge, I don't get that far north very often, and I kept forgetting to pack Lucky.

    A few weeks ago I was up north visiting my parents and on my way home from my visit, I was finally able to stop and get a picture with my real and stuffed dogs.

    I'm proud of myself for finally getting this picture taken. This picture represents my inner child and my adult self coming together. I'm a big believer in the concept of our "inner child." I named mine while I was in counselling years ago and am looking forward to returning to counselling shortly and working on healing some of Mini Me's (inner child) trauma. Both Mini Me and Adult Me are both proud of what this picture represents. Mini Me always wanted a dog and was content to enjoy Lucky all while knowing that one day adult me would get a dog once I was an adult and had a family of my own. And I am proud of my adult self because not only did I finally get this picture taken, but I was able to take care of Mini Me's dream of having a dog. I am also proud because I have a bad habit of saying, "I'll do it/get it next time." For example, I will be at the store doing groceries or something and see something I would like and tell myself that I will get it next time. Simply because I do not want to spend the money on it, even if I have the money to spend. I struggle to spend money on myself.

    I haven't intentionally put this picture off all these years. I mainly forgot to bring Lucky with me over the last five years when travelling to my parent's place. This time though I finally remembered to pack her. On the way up north I was thinking of taking the picture before I arrived in Sudbury, but then realized that my camera batteries were dead. So I thought I would take it on the way home. when it came time to head home I was feeling homesick and just wanted to get home. So I contemplated skipping it all together. I got into the car and put the GPS on for the bridge and decided that I would decide how I felt once I arrived there. As I approached the bridge I reminded myself that it wasn't going to add that much more time to my travel and that I would still get home on time. I also reminded myself that I don't do a whole lot for myself and needed to do this. From the moment I was taking the picture and likely for the rest of my life I will be thankful, grateful and proud of myself for stopping and taking that photo.

I pray that this memory of mine triggers some happy childhood memories of yours and blesses you today.

God Bless

~Hannah

Fearfully & Wonderfully Made

    About a month ago the Lord put it on my heart to start a small business of making and selling scrunchies and barrette scrunchies. I added in the Wristlet Keychains. I had to wait a few weeks until I had a few extra bucks to buy supplies. As much as it annoyed me to wait it allowed the desire to take root. I had some supplies already on hand and made a few for my best friends and myself. Looking back, I should have spent that time designing a logo and all those logistical things, instead of just daydreaming and counting down the days until I could go shopping.

    Finally, last weekend I bought some of the supplies and started sewing. Little by little this past week I have been adding to my inventory. It's finally becoming real and no longer just an idea.

    Over the last few days, I have spent some time thinking about the particulars. Things I hadn't thought through yet. Like what colours I will offer regularly and how much time I want /can devote to it regularly. I was having a hard time deciding what colours I wanted to offer consistently. I wanted to offer my favourite colours and a few others to ensure I cover a broad range of customers, but not offer so many colours that I overwhelm myself. I should have decided that before I went fabric shopping, but I didn't. I simply bought a variety of colours. I was overthinking about it at work and getting a little stressed about it. I then reminded myself that worry and anxiety are not from the Lord, but this dream is. So I put away the anxiety and made a decision. Which I am happy with.

    Then I was thinking about how much time I should dedicate to it. Then either my mind or the Holy Spirit reminded me that as much as I put into it, I will get in return. Which has given me peace about putting in as much as possible but not so much that it affects my family life. 

    I decided last week that because I consider it a job and no longer just a hobby, I will not sew on Sundays. If I do sew on Sunday, it will be a personal project and not for sale. God gifted Sundays to us. We thank Him for that gift by resting from our regular work on Sundays. So, no sewing for profit on Sundays. I also tithe the first 10% of my sales. Hubby and I believe in the Bible and the principles of tithing from our income. So, I am tithing off of this income as well. I don't share this tithing part with you to brag, I'm sharing because I am a believer and as a believer I believe differently than unbelievers. Plus, lots of people like to shop local and believers like to shop from and support other believer's businesses. So I am announcing it here and it will be evident in my marketing. God provides financially for us and in return we return the first 10% to Him and then use the rest to take care of our family and those around us. I feel that tithing through this little side hustle of mine is even more important in a sense because he gave me the idea/desire and I want to thank Him for it. Yes, I'm grateful for my day job and how combined with my hubby's income it takes care of my family. But that job is simply a job, versus something that I enjoy and do on my own time.

    At this time I will be selling through Instagram and Facebook. I was thinking of using Etsy as well but for now, I will stick with these two platforms and see what the Lord does. I'm excited to have these two social media pages looking pretty and ready for business early this week.

Hope to see you there, friend.

Until then,

God Bless

~Hannah

Haven't made my logo yet, so a pretty tree line from last fall.

Don't Skip Your Morning Bible Reading Time.

    Oh my goodness, what a day. Boring and dragging. Work is fine, the tasks that I am completing are not boring or irritating or anything. But I'm bored. Music and podcasts are not satisfying. It's Friday and payday. You would think I would be in a great mood. But I'm not.

    Unfortunately, I did not get into the Word of God today. Hubby and I had a really late night last night and I decided to sleep in a bit which took away my time in my Bible and my housework time. I decided I would be so tired that I wouldn't take anything in while reading my Bible anyway, so extra sleep was a better idea. So I slept for an hour and then got ready for work. It's been a struggle all morning. The first chunk of the day dragged on terribly.

    Then, when I had a minute, I decided to journal my thoughts on my notepad on my phone.

    Holy Spirit reminded me of a podcast that I listened to a while ago and one of the hosts mentioned that the days when she doesn't get into her Bible in the morning, her day is off. I then remembered that I skipped my Bible reading time this morning too. I opened up my Bible app and listened to the book of Daniel. Instantly the icky feeling of boredom and everything else that I couldn't quite put my finger on were gone. I looked at the clock shortly after and was pleasantly surprised to see a chunk of time had passed getting me that much closer to the end of my work day.

    It was 10 am when I looked at the clock, meaning my work day was half done and we were an hour away from lunch. Before I looked at the clock I was feeling hungry and thought, "Oh great, I'm hungry and it's probably two hours from lunch," then I saw the clock and was relieved and excited that it was only an hour away from lunch and that my hunger was reasonable.

    The moral of the story is don't skip out on Bible reading time in favour of sleep.

    Heck, I didn't put two and two together, but even our few minutes together this morning before hubby brought me to work were rough. We have barely argued or anything recently and this morning I threw a slight hissy fit which resulted in some frustration for both of us.

So, read your Bible. It makes all the difference.

I pray this encourages you today, friend.

God Bless

~Hannah

Downtown, Wallaceburg, ON

Thankful For The Bad Days.

    Thankful for the bad days. An odd sentiment I know. But without the bad days, we can't say how good the good days are. Today was a bad day. The day didn't start quite the way I had hoped and it quickly went downhill landing in a depressive episode. I did manage to get a lot of stuff done considering. I have learned not to let my emotional state control my productivity and that I can either lay on the couch and feel bad or get stuff done and still feel bad but at least my to-do list is getting checked off. I couldn't do what I wanted to do, which was sewing. But, I did get today's housework chore and tomorrow's chores done along with most of the laundry washed and dried. So it was a productive day, just not an emotionally good day. I'm trying to remind myself that because I am ahead on housework I will have more time and energy this week to dig into my next sewing project and learn a new photography skill that I need to add to my repertoire.

    While walking Blessing tonight and thanking God for the bad days I was also thinking about how we need all the different opposites. Not only do we need the bad days, so that we can know how good the good days are. But we also need bigger/heavier people and smaller people. If we didn't have both then no one would know that they are bigger or smaller because they would not have anything to compare their size to. Hear me out, I'm not talking Instagram comparison, I'm talking healthy realistic comparison. I wouldn't know how small I am unless I had someone bigger to compare myself to. If we were all one size we wouldn't know what size we are. I'm also short, but I only know that because of being around taller people.

    Food is also another category where we need both. We need McDonald's to know just how healthy a garden salad is and how good you feel after eating it.

    We need both sides of all the categories to appreciate and know the difference between each of these things.

    That being said, bad days are not nice at the moment, I'd much rather be in a good mood than on the verge of tears. But that's life sometimes. We also need the bad days so that we remember to rely on the Lord. God also allows hard times and bad things to happen so that not only do we learn to rely on Him, but also so that He can display  His power and majesty in our lives. Because it's on our worst days when the doctor gives us bad news and we have to rely on Him all the more for our strength that we see His power. It is on our medium bad days when our emotions are a mess that we get to be reminded that we are not simply robots who go to work, pay bills, eat and sleep. It's on these days that we are reminded that we are human and experience God-given emotions.

    So the next time you are having a bad day, as hard as it is, praise the Lord. Thank Him for the bad day. Then start thanking Him for all your blessings and start defeating the lies of the enemy. I know it's not easy or fun, but not everything in life is.

God Bless

~Hannah

Distracted.

    "Father, forgive me for being distracted. More and more lately I find my mind wandering during the worship set at church. My mind has been wandering off and thinking about clothing and outfit ideas or admiring the outfits of the worship team. Last week my mind was wondering and thinking about my new sewing business idea and the different colour sets that I want to make my products into. All good, wonderful things Lord. But distracting nonetheless. I am singing along and yet my mind wanders off. Once the sermon starts and I start taking notes, my brain focuses and I start soaking in the message. Only when we are standing and worshiping through song does my mind wonder."

    After praying this prayer I started thinking through my situation and trying to analyze it. I thought about how last week I prayed about listening to my hubby talk about his hobbies and how I need to do the opposite of what I am currently doing and listen attentively and care. Someone reminded me to listen because I care about my hubby. Not because I care about the topic. That helped a lot. I spent the next week listening to him a whole lot better. Then I fell off the wagon a bit but I'm back on it now. Basically, I was thinking about how I started practicing doing the opposite of what I had been doing with hubby and how it was working, so I was wondering if I could do the same with the worship music at church. I love worship music, and I have always thought of it as one of the ways that I connect with God.

A few minutes later...

    Holy Spirit: "Eve was tempted by the serpent with things that were desirable and in and of themselves were not bad."

    Because the enemy is sneaky and likes to sneak into our brains and trip us up on small stuff so we won't notice and then all of a sudden, he is tripping us up on big things.

    This Sunday I directed my thoughts a little better and sang the songs over myself. One of the songs we sang says, "I sought the Lord and He heard and He answered." and then repeats several times. Every time we sang that line I reminded myself of a time when I prayed and He answered. Like the prayer, I prayed about my hubby before he asked me to be his girl. I had casually dated a few guys before meeting hubby. When I got to Bible College and was tired of casually dating, I noticed hubby. The cute guy at the end of my table during the welcome dinner. I wasn't planning to date at that college. I figured I would date once I transferred to the next school the following year. A story for another day. Anyway, when I started crushing on hubby, I asked God to take away my feelings if he wasn't the one. Long story short, next to my salvation, he is my favourite answered prayer and biggest blessing.

    I also reminded myself of other answered prayers. Like when God told me what to name our dog, Blessing and many other prayers. As I practiced reminding myself of these answered prayers, the song and the worship became that much more rich for me. Best of all, I was no longer distracted. I was now meditating on the goodness and faithfulness of my Lord and Savior.

    Do you struggle with paying attention during worship or any other time during your church service on Sunday, friend? If so, I pray this encourages you in your walk with Christ.

God Bless

~Hannah