Super Health

In the beginning of my conversion I encountered a book worth a whopping $0.45 at the thrift shop. Super Health. When I skimmed it the first 10 or so times, my life barely looked like the prescribed methods of living, eating, and moving. So I was skeptical. How could this man have "all the answers"? Especially at time, when to be honest, I had all the answers ;).

After about 6 months of more research, I read it again. Most of what was written in this Super Health book seemed validated by a number of different resources. By that point I also had more experience in making lifestyle choices based on the promptings of God the Holy Spirit. Somehow I was still stubborn, oops! I mean skeptical.

After a full year, I read it again. I had to put that book down I was so mad!

For all that cycling and wavering and experimenting I was doing, all I found about Super healthy living went back to the methods in that first freakn' book I read! That I owned. That I could've been implementing the Entire time! But of course not. I had to be me. Accept defeat the long torturous way.

If you can read. If you want to be Super Healthy. If you even just want to know what healthy might look like, I recommend:

Super Health by Steven Pratt M.D. and Sharyn Kolberg

The world offers and packages WAY TOO MUCH. Don't be paralyzed by So Many Options. This is it. Approved by God the Holy Spirit. How do I know? Because in this book you learn to respect your body. To eat what your body actually needs to eat and exercise it the way it needs to be exercised. They also share ways to care for the environment, to keep your mind healthy and to help your body heal itself naturally. It is by no means the end all be all. Yet, it has so much of the truth that it IS worth your time and focus.

For the rest of my life, I will review this book when I'm off the mark and need to jog my memory on what Physical Health is. Truly!

Why is this SO important I would put it on my blog about spirituality? Well, I have been raising my beautiful children to seek the truth. To seek all that is good. To seek God and meet him where He is. Humans are spirit creatures And we have a body. Too many times I have sought to "purify" my spirit. How incomplete all my attempts have been because of the disrespect I have shown my body. Our spirit and our bodies are interwoven. We cannot live one without the other. We cannot discipline one without disciplining the other. Just because Jesus can redeem my body and soul whatever the debt, doesn't mean I should just continue to the run up the bill. There is real and immediate damage to our bodies and souls when we don't live the way God intended us to live. Yes, that means eating the right foods, exercising the right way, spending our time on things that are worthy and holy. Surrounding yourself with people that will help you stay focused on these Godly truths.

Now do I follow all these truths perfectly? I Wish! It is hard to have discipline, especially in such an undisciplined society. But Jesus experienced temptation and never wavered. I waver, but at least I know that He has been there and can help me through when I want His help. Everyday I get to practice a little more, and can resist more. This is just the warm up. A chance to create a little Heaven here on earth. I don't know about you, but I would rather my life be a little more like Heaven instead of more like Hell.

Endurance

There was a day back in September. A day that just hurt my head and my heart. A day when God the Creator, My Father, asked too much of me. Maybe over the course of a year all these changes and curve balls might have been manageable. But there were 5 absolutely and ridiculously gigantic changes that God asked of me and I Got Angry. Why me? Why now? Why all at the same freakin' time? Are you freakin' kidding me? My head was just spinning. I was nauseated with worry. 

Now normally I agree with my husband who said, "Honey, it's Sunday, let's go to church." I couldn't. I was not public-capable. If anyone came up to me before or after church and asked me how our little family was doing, I didn't even want to think about how I would've reacted. The crazy would've found a way out somehow.

I felt this tug. This overwhelming need. Yes, Need. I needed to be out in the garden weeding. I needed to tend to my little plants. All I could picture, all could fathom was being out there with my shovel messing up some damn weeds. I knew the ache and the soreness that would follow. I knew the overwhelming drowsiness that would wash over me once I returned to my work in our family routine (dinner prep, dinner, dinner clean, bathtime, prayer time, go to sleep already! time). How hard it would be to muster enough energy to actually be nice to them after giving so much of myself to the garden. But I Had to. 

It was there where I found Him. My body was working. My brain was turned off. I was alone. Except for the breeze. Then I heard the dirt. I heard the chirping of the crickets. I heard my breath. I heard life happening. Some of it happening bigger than me, while some of it was smaller than me. It was happening regardless. To me, because of me, around me, everywhere, regardless of me. Life was happening because of God. I was just one drop in the river of life. I flowed and followed the course with the rest of life, in my little corner of the world. It wasn't until I surrendered and flowed with life that I found peace. I had to let go of my own expectations and stipulations about what life is. My perspective doesn't matter in that way. What matters is what God intends life to be. We can either find the rhythm or we can continue feeling completely and utterly out of sync. I gave up myself so I could participate in the river of life. Which is where I found myself. The self that God intended me to be. To cope the way I was meant to cope. To love the way I was meant to love. To forgive the way I was meant to forgive. And to endure.

To endure because of God. To endure regardless of my situation.