Let The Weak Say I Am Strong

My heart is heavy. My heart is full.

Thoughts are turning. I want to sleep but cannot.

God I cry out to you. You have laid so many on my mind. Many of my friends are longing and needing you.

They need you more. More than yesterday! I need you more. More than words can say.

God I lift them up to you. Hold them. Carry them. Give them the strength they need. The strength they don’t know they have. Me too Lord.

For my friends grieving the loss of their child. Taken too soon. We cry out to you! Hold them tight. Remind them of your love.

My friends seeking to mend family relationships. Restore them.

Marriages barely hanging on. Show them how to love. You first. And each other over all others.

Friends longing to be pregnant. Desperately praying for a miracle baby. Touch the womb. Touch their hearts.

For my friends rejoicing and still praying over their mom’s brain surgery. How hard this has been on them. Thank you God for hearing their prayers. Continue to touch and heal!

God hold tight and guide my single friend longing to do right by you. Show them how and give them the strength to stand firm.

For my sister grieving the loss of her friend. And for this friend’s family. Give the peace only you can.

Lord be with friend with unknown medical issues. Heal her pain. Help the doctors find answers and solutions or remove it all together. Only you can.

Provide jobs for many of my friends looking for your guidance and direction for what is next.

Touch my body. Heal me God. Renew me. Give us another baby if it be your will. In your perfect timing. Continue to heal our hurting hearts from the miscarriages. And my friends also grieving these same losses.

My friend holding strong in her marriage as her husband is seeking your help to overcome his past.

God be with single mom friend. She is having difficulty with the ex husband. Help them communicate only when necessary and be civil for the kids. Give her strength to ignore his negativity and to raise her children in a godly environment.

Prepare my friend and sister in law as they are giving birth soon. Allow them to rest in the next few weeks. Let the births be uneventful yet full of joy!

For Abundant Life reaching out to the community of Grand Prairie and surrounding areas. Let us show your love to those who need it. That we may be your light.

And so many more on my mind. You know. You see.

God you are the only one who knows us inside and out. The only one who can heal our pain. The only one who can carry us. Let us fall in your arms and may we find rest when we are weary.

Give thanks with a grateful heart. Give thanks to the Holy One. Give thanks because He’s given Jesus Christ, His Son.

And now let the weak say, “I am strong”.
Let the poor say, “I am rich
Because of what the Lord has done for us”

Amen.

Treating Mastitis Naturally: Part 1

This is my story; a hopeless woman, who almost gave up.

Friday, January 20, 2012… Conner had been bit by ants all over his feet the day before, and Elias had been running a temperature. I got up with two screaming children, who needed me to carry them.

I immediately noticed my back was hurting terribly. I took Advil to relieve some of the pain so I could survive the day with my poor, ill children. As the day carried on, I noticed I was feeling worse. My whole body was aching terribly and I began to get chills.

I had sent my husband a couple of texts by this point about the pain I was in. By the afternoon, I was bawling from my pain. The pain was so unbearable and I could no longer care for myself or my children, so I requested James come home.

As soon as he walked in the door I immediately went to bed. Curled up under the bedspreads I laid there from about 1:45 until 8:30 that night. Within that time, I woke up only to nurse, use the restroom, and vomit. Once I did finally get out of bed, it was only to go snuggle on the couch in living room to try to eat something.

By this point, we assumed the flu. James gave me medicine to try to help, but I felt very little relief. I went back to bed.

That night was horrible. Elias was sleeping next to me so I didn’t have to get up to feed him, but every time he touched me I was in terrible pain. My sweet husband finally got up with him and went to the living room to sleep the remainder of the night so I could rest more.

By the next morning I told him this did not seem like the flu. I had no major symptoms of the flu, other than my body aching terribly and chills. I also realized that my right breast was extremely sensitive to touch, yet the left side was just fine.

I began to research. I am pretty good at self diagnosing, and I refused for my husband to take me to the ER just to find out something silly like cold or flu. Also, if I was going to the ER it was going to be after I had diagnosed the problem ;-).

If you know me, you aren’t surprised by this stubbornness at all.

I called my husband in the room.

Read this. Doesn’t that make sense???”

Mastitis! I’ve heard of this, but had little knowledge as to what it would mean for me and how to treat it.

As I laid in bed in terrible pain, (although I did feel a LITTLE better once I knew what the problem was) I went to the internet for research. I called my mother-in-law, a former midwife. I called my midwife with Conner, Betty Winford from Special Beginnings. All of which provided different perspectives and lots of great advice! A wonderful friend of ours, who also happens to be a nurse, gave me some wonderful, natural advice throughout the weekend as well.

Part 2