Welcome to a NEW year!

A week has passed, yet 2015 still remains new, fresh and full of possibility, true?  The past several days especially I have focused on various areas of life, taken stock so to speak, and outlined a few next steps.

Not too many, just a few.

Evaluating new direction often leads to reflecting back, and friends…2014 was a difficult, incredibly rough and hard year for me personally and for our family.  Literally every two months for an entire year, a significant crisis arose.

Not the normal oh my, look what just happened type of ordeal, but difficulties where intense pain and heartache introduced themselves with persistence, not letting us loose for long.

We were never alone, our faith grew, our family survived.  We experienced deep love and care from so many, and 2014 offered good as well.

I am ready for a fresh year however…

In the midst of swirling issues, helping my physical body to sustain the stress grew into an important focus.  This body of mine is ultra-sensitive to outside stressors!  As a result, my immune system plummets and things just overall become a mess physically.

By mid-2014 I grew determined NOT to allow this to happen.  I could not control the difficulties we faced, but I could implement healthier and stronger self-care practices.  A few steps helpful and successful for me….

Natural Stress Relief

Support adrenal glands 

Plenty of information can be found on the topic, and one really helpful book could be read, but the basic message is that stress will do a number on the body’s adrenal glands.  Adrenals already support the body in dealing with stress, so we need them functioning in top form!

I knew this from experiencing previous burnout and adrenal fatigue, and so introduced the supplement Adrenal Stress End into my days (I still take a capsule in the morning and at night).  This made a huge difference.

While Stress End includes B vitamins, I also added a time-released vitamin B supplement every other day.  My body has a hard time holding on to B vitamins, especially when stressed, so this part was critical.

Get Enough Sleep

Needless to say, with sooo many things on my mind, sleep was greatly compromised much of the year.  It is hard for me to stay asleep all night long, and regulating sleep patterns still rises to high priority on my list.

Helpful-to-me sleep helps:

• Egyptian licorice tea – very yummy and licorice I’ve read is great for the adrenals!  Check out contraindications as licorice tea should not be consumed daily for long periods of time.
• Magnesium supplement – about 1/2 hour before bedtime helped several nights a week.
• A Spoonk – think me crazy, but I love, love the Spoonk!  Basically, it is a bunch of plastic pointy ‘needles’ on a mat.  Reported to assist with deeper sleep, I will testify to this fact.  I do not use it nightly, but for about 30 minutes before bedtime every few days.  Love it.

Build Immunity

This past fall I was introduced to a new-to-me form of Vitamin C and it has been excellent not only for adrenal support, but for immunity support as well.

Lypo-Spheric Vitamin C comes as a ‘glob’ to drink with water, and the vitamin is encapsulated in a lipid so your body won’t flush it all out like other forms of C vitamins.  To find more information and a video click here.  I take one packet (1,ooo mg of vitamin C!) most mornings — with no stomach aches (sometimes a side effect of taking too much C at once).

Daily, I also use essential oils to support my immune system.  If you would like to know more about essential oils, just let me know!

Practice Gratitude

Many days last year, noticing the good and celebrating it proved to be a difficult task.  But, good was there….always.  Though I didn’t keep up for all 365 days, for most of the year I wrote down one thing to be thankful for daily.  Small or big things to remember and express gratefulness for.

This collection of praises reminded me of God’s goodness in the face of darkness, and caused my heart to remain steady.  I have already started this year’s list!

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A BIG 2015 Plan

We have always practiced intentional rest — not perfectly, and sometimes not enough, but my message here on the blog reflects in our home as well.  Rest is vitally important.

I am excited to share that in 2015, our family is taking off three full months from ministry life for the primary purpose of REST.  

Three months from work we love and will return to, but in which we are truly in need of a pause.  Right now tentative ‘restful’ plans are on paper as we think, pray and toss around ideas.  More on this sabbatical plan of ours as the year unfolds!

 And you…any 2015 plans to share?

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