Wholehearted Health

It never ceases to amaze me how God can author such brilliant beauty from seemingly nothing. From ashes. Dust. The tiniest little seed planted in faith. In the hope that something good will come. One minute there’s nothing remarkable to see with our eyes and the next, unimaginable beauty. 

All of creation, ourselves included, exists to usher into our world the character of God. His immense love, beauty, wisdom, faithfulness. His rhythms, creativity, thoughtfulness, elaborateness. It all tells a story. His. Who He is. What He enjoys. The way He works.

For this orchid to thrive in the purpose for which He created it, for its beauty to fully mature, it has to be nurtured with a proper balance of certain elements. Harmonic relationships with light, air, water, good soil, other creatures, rest periods, and other forms of care directly correlate to the level at which this orchid will be able to display God to the world. The level to which it becomes what (who) it was made to be. 

It’s the same for us. It isn’t just what we eat, how much we work out, or what supplements we take that help us thrive. God uses a whole host of simple things intricately woven together to nourish and grow us, both spiritually and physically, as whole beings, from our ashes into the beauty and purposes for which we were created. 

Fortunately for us, learning the path to such life doesn’t have to be a mystery. God denies wisdom to none of His children, assuming we receive it in faith and do not doubt His willingness to provide (James 1:5-8). 

In the asking, we receive. 

In the seeking, we find. 

In the knocking, doors open. 

(Matthew 7:7)

I have learned that for me, much like this orchid, I need rhythms of light and darkness to flourish. A time to work (to move and use my body heartily for the Lord, to absorb light and life) and a time to rest (to process what I’ve absorbed, to regenerate, to recover). 

I need to remain connected to the ground from which I came. To live close to my food sources. To extract the nutrients I need from the same dust from which I came. The same dust to which I will return. Simple, uncomplicated, local, nourishing, food and water. To avoid certain chemicals and preservatives that poorly affect my gut health and therefor my mental health. Unfortunately, in current culture, this isn’t the easiest thing to do and due to depleted soils & erosion, some of our soil lacks proper nutrition, meaning even if I had all the resources I needed to grow, process and eat food as I was designed to, my body still may not receive still all the nutrients required for physical and mental health. So for the present time, until regenerative farming becomes more of a reality, I supplement with quality supplements to ensure my body has what it needs to function well. 

However, I’ve also learned, I can take all the supplements, do all the workouts, eat all the healthy food I want and it will still only get me so far. My body was not designed to thrive without harmony. And I can’t have true harmony without peace with God. Without knowing He is with, for, guiding, teaching, working all things to the good of His children. It’s one thing to trust Jesus for salvation for the future. It’s a different level of trust to believe that Jesus saves us now. Everyday. All day. Through a restored relationship with our almighty, all-knowing, all-powerful Creator. God is with us and for us. And because of that we can live in a restful, harmonic state. We can renew our minds to His truth and break all agreements we have with the lies of the enemy that keep us in deadly bondage. 

He sets us free to LOVE. 

Free to live GRATEFUL lives. 

Free to SERVE others and put ourselves last. 

To be vulnerable enough to have MEANINGFUL RELATIONSHIPS. 

All of which are CLINICALLY SHOWN to improve mental and physical health. 

It amazes me how much trusting God and living how He instructs brings healing to my body. The benefits are immediate. As soon as I choose to trust the Lord and believe His truths instead of Satan’s lies, my stress hormones begin to drop and my body makes room for healing to kick in, for inflammation to lower, for chemicals to balance, for nutrition and exercise to do what it was created to do, for peace, harmony and joy to reign supreme. 

“My people perish for lack of knowledge,” doesn’t just refer to spiritual death (Hosea 4:6). Not knowing God and the way He designed us and the world to work is dangerous. It robs us of the abundant life Jesus died to give us. It robs us of who He made us to be. It keeps us stuck in the ashes, instead of blossoming into beauty. 

I’m not a doctor. I’m not a life or health coach. I have no degrees or certifications to my name that make me any sort of expert in the field of health and wellness. But I thoughtfully live this journey every day. After Covid infected me in 2020, it left in its wake a hard season of life that required a lot of work and wisdom (not my own) to get back to a place of mental and physical stability.

It was a miserable season of being buried in the dust, in the dark, afraid and feeling alone, trying with all my might to stay faithful and believe that even though I couldn’t see it, God was working. Breaking something down to build it back stronger and better than ever. I wouldn’t choose to go back to that season, but I wouldn’t trade it. God proved His faithfulness. He honored His promise for wisdom and revealed truths that brought my life from a state of ashes to a state of far greater beauty than it had previously known.

And He will do the same for you in your darkness. If you ask, He will answer. If you seek for ways, He will provide them. If you knock, He will open the doors you need to walk through. 

They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. (Psalm 126:5)

The promise is there. Beauty can bloom from seemingly nothing. The only question is, will we choose to seek, trust and embrace His plans for what is required to get us there? 

I pray we consistently choose to do so. What a tragedy for the world to miss out on the beauty for which God intended our lives. On who God made us to be and what He made us to do. Let’s not rob the world of something God planned, in all His goodness, as a way of bringing His Kingdom to earth. Let’s make the effort. Let’s do the work. But do it trusting that much like this orchid, the work and the waiting will all be immeasurably worth it. 

All my love,

Lisa