Faith

Thank you… Sincerely… from the bottom of my heart for clicking on my Faith page. This is the reason for my blog. God has done a miraculous work in my heart and I believe I have a story to tell. It’s not easy to share from the deepest parts of the heart… but I’m going to do my best. I pray that God will continue to work on my heart as I share, but even more-so, I pray that my story will impact your faith. That somehow, you will be changed too.

Life gets in the way sometimes… or should I say, throws curve-balls…

~ wine&myrrh ~ 2 Comments

Oh goodness… where do I begin? I was sooooo excited and motivated when I started my blog, but here we are more than 6 months since the last post.  Why? Life! So much has happened in the last few months, that I have had so many, “I should blog about this” moments, then… the thought passes and I get sidetracked or think, “oh maybe next time.”   What’s been going on?  Way too much for one blog entry…  so, here’s a summary of the last 6 months and my goal is to come back frequently and write more in detail… I need to… it’ll be therapeutic and healing for my heart.

In April I wrote about my journey  with Essential oils which I am still passionate about, and then…

First week of May I decided to pursue my passion in sharing the oils to help others, and specifically the Healing Oils of the Bible and the history of anointing… but then…

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Mid-May – I found out I was pregnant with #4 and for the first time in all my pregnancies, I really struggled with this news… it was NOT good timing in my book. My energy level plummeted… A good day was getting out of bed. Our finances were going the opposite direction than they should be and a dear friend was battling for his life.

baby 4

Mid June – One of our dearest 36 year old friends passed away from a brain tumor. I really don’t want to go here tonight… but my heart had been aching since March when the tumor reappeared and his last week or two of life was the hardest thing my heart has ever been through. Ever.

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June/July/August –  Summer time I was still insanely tired from being pregnant. I had some really good days, but most of the time I felt super accomplished if I got out of bed, fed my children, made sure they were entertained, and got them back into bed. Essential oils? Oh, I used them a lot, but no energy to study or share them.

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September/October – Life got crazier, but brighter… On September 1st, we had our first ultrasound and found out we would be welcoming another princess to the family. My heart instantly grew when I saw her and for the first time I could say I was truly excited to be adding to our family. Finances were still tight and yet Jorge decided to make a career change and pursue his life-long hearts desire – aviation.  Not exactly the “right” thing to do when you are needing an income, but the smile on Jorge’s face after his first flight… absolutely hands-down priceless. I will give 110% to make sure that the joy his heart feels and the smile on his face stays.  God’s got a plan with this… and I KNOW that it is good.

Jorge's new Piper Warrior!
Jorge’s new Piper Warrior!

November… here we are. We are overwhelmed by so many emotions and the whirlwind of life… yet, so excited and at peace about what the future has in store for us.  I have so much to share on this blog about things I have learned about pregnancy, motherhood, life in general, oils, parenting and marriage… all in the last 6 months.

I know SO many others are in a similar season as we are. So, my prayer for each and every one of you is that YOU would seek out your passion. It might seem silly to seek it out, but if God has planted that desire in your heart, wouldn’t it be silly NOT to pursue it?  I pray that God would reveal the deepest desires of your heart to you because so often we lose sight of them along the way.

Thanks for reading!

Sarah

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My journey of Faith with Essential Oils… from a Perfect Provider.

~ wine&myrrh ~ 1 Comment

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. I say that from the get-go, because this is a really important post for me. Essential Oils have impacted my life in a VERY deep way (not only our health), but I haven’t felt led to share about them too much on my blog thus far. But I feel like the time is now and I will be sharing about them more.

I bought my first kit of Young Living Essential Oils in May 2013 and I want to tell you what led me to make this crazy life changing decision….

From a very early age, 6 months to be exact, Lucas began a scary journey which would eventually have a name… Chronic Croup. Any cold, flu, germ he caught went straight to inflammation in his larynx and it would quickly become much more than a cold. He struggled with Croup approximately every 6 weeks for years. It was awful. Once we moved to Texas, at one point Lucas was very medicated… Singulair, Zyrtec, Nasonex, and nebulizer 2-3 times a day. Eventually all of that stopped working for him and we wmoved to different medicines: (Flonase & Flovent) which cut the frequency of croup down quite a bit. But his 2 ER visits with steroid shots and serious breathing treatments were so so so scary. There’s nothing quite like watching your child struggle just to breath. We eventually had emergency steroids here in the house just in case it got bad enough… in 4 years of life, Lucas had a lot of steroids.

So, 2 years ago, Lucas began to cough the stereotypical “seal” croup cough. I couldn’t imagine giving him MORE steroids… he had had WAY too many in his 5 years of life.  I began to do research for natural solutions. I found a lot of information regarding essential oils and I researched… and researched some more and then researched some more. I knew my very trusted friend Sonja used them, so I asked her about them. She was confident I could find relief for Lucas.

I went to her house and bought a Premium Starter kit of oils which included 10 oils at the time and she gave me a sample of a blend called RC and told me what to try with him.  I can still remember thinking… “I’m nuts and I can’t even imagine what Jorge will think when I bring home $100 worth of essential oils.” But I did… I am so grateful I did.  I began to use them primarily on Lucas’s feet, but also diluted on his chest, neck, and back. To my astonishment… they were doing something. And to my sheer amazement I didn’t have to pull out the steroids, use any medicine, or even take him to the doctor. I was floored.

I was still very unsure of the oils. I began to pray about them and wanted to hear from the Lord if I should continue to use them or not. What he told me what the following… “You (you all) have forgotten about my perfect provision.”  That’s all I heard and I had to seriously chew on what that meant for weeks. I still think about it quite often. And He began to open my eyes to the tangibleness of the Bible. In Philippians 4:19 it says:

philippians_4_19I have always thought of that verse in a very “spiritual” way… but wait… He did create everything on the earth in order to meet our needs. He created the perfect food for us to eat and created the trees and everything we needed in order to have shelter. He DID create physical tangible things for YOU and ME. And what I find amazing, is that the same breath, the same voice that created You and Me… created all living things. We believe humans are miracles of creation… but even the grass outside is living and contains the breath of God.

Over the course of the next 6 months we saw the oils help out our family in so many ways… wart, cramps, pollen allergies, severe respirator infections cuts, bruises, headaches, stomach issues,  and more. I was (and still am) super incredibly grateful. Because we saw the oils work for so many ailments,  2 things happened… my faith in His provision being sufficient for me began to grow, I really believe in the power of what He has created for us. And that He knew perfectly well what we as humans NEEDED to survive, so He created it.

I also began to have the thought that the essential oils were all we needed in our home and that we were going to be able to use them to cure everything. We didn’t need anything else. I can’t tell you for sure how many times that thought went through my head… but probably a dozen. The very last time I had the thought… out of no-where I felt extremely convicted and as though time stopped for a split second. He, the creator, reminded me VERY clearly… “NO NO NO… I am the healer. These oils are a TOOL I have given you for healing, but I can heal you with the whisper of my voice, the laying of hands, through prayer, or however I wish”. WOW. I had began focusing on creation and NOT on the CREATOR. This began even another journey of truly trusting Him as the Healer and who I need to go to as the great Physician. He will guide me… to oils, to others, to the doctor, to medicine, or just to Him.

This journey of oils is about Him. What He has done for us and continues to do. It’s about remembering and BELIEVING Him for who he says He is. He says He is the healer, our provider, our everything… but yet, so often we look elsewhere instead of to Him.

Story to be continued…

I have a lot on my heart to share about health in the future, but I truly believe that the Lord is taking us back to the basics. He wants us to remember what He has created for us. His provision is perfect, yet man is trying to improve upon it? How does that work? I believe He has equipped us to be creative, but not to replace what He has already given us.

What would it look like if we truly believed in Him as our Healer?  If we were to listen to Him for guidance on what to eat, what to use as medicine (as they did for thousands of years), or how to live our daily lives.  If we got out and enjoyed nature… but sadly, we often eat our own food creations void of nutrition and full of chemicals. We stare at our phones (guilty as charged) or our tv’s instead of truly enjoying life and His creation outside.

Do you have an experience with Lord as your provider? Healer? Have essential oils impacted your life?

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Awakening the desires, passions, dreams of our heart…

~ wine&myrrh ~ 1 Comment

The Lord is calling us.. crying out for us to get to know Him more.

The Bible says He has supplied for all of our needs, but do we really, truly believe it?

The Word says, He is our great Physician… do we call upon Him, the master of the universe? Not just for prayers begging to be healed, but do we seek Him? Wait on Him? for Him to give us answers?

Do we trust Him? 100%?  We know He loves us, but He wants a relationship. But what do we need first? To learn to hear His voice.
Have you ever heard His voice?
Do you know how to hear His voice?

Sometimes His voice is as clear as day… an audible voice. But, that’s a rarity today. I have only met one person who says they hear the Lord audibly. Have you ever felt as though you were talking to yourself? Giving yourself ideas… yet, almost thought you were a little crazy? What is that were Him?

He TALKS to us. The Bible says He does. If you don’t think you are worth being talked to… check out all the people in the Bible He spoke to, and it’s almost guaranteed they were a “worse” human being for all practical purposes. He loves us no matter what. NO MATTER WHAT!

We need to be quiet. Sit, write what comes to our mind. Our Father in heaven is kind. He is convicting, but Kind, so kind. He wants to know you. You are His child. He formed YOU in your mother’s womb. No one else can do that. It’s His miracle of life. You are no mistake. You have a purpose in this life… the dreams and passions in your heart. (Do you know who put those there? He did. As silly as they may seem… it’s worth it to take a deeper look at them.)

I pray now that your heart be awakened to the passions and desires that have long been dormant inside of you. The Lord says now is the time for you to thrive. He desires great abundance for you. I speak again to your heart… awaken. AWAKEN! Desires… dreams… passions… awaken.  He has created you for a time such as this. He has NOT created you to be a slave to this world. A slave to your job or anyone else. He has created you FREE. Free to be YOU… just the way He made you. He created YOU in HIS image… that’s an amazing image.

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Listen to this twice. The first time you can read the lyrics, but the second time, close your eyes and just listen and breath it in. Listen again if you need to.

Today is the day to take care of yourself… listen to your heart, believe in who He created you to be. The expectations of this world are fleeting… rather place your eyes upon Him… upon His throne.He will guide you.

Just ask. Simply ask.

Be quiet. and Listen. All He wants us to do is listen. His words are kind and full of love. Not of condemnation and  ‘”what ifs”… but of life and purpose and living our lives focused on Him and who He created us to be.

That… is freedom. Pure simple freedom. It’s not easy… the world’s standards say otherwise.  It starts with ONE step in front of the other. ONE small decision leads to another. Sometimes ONE decision is harder than the next. But HE… He always follows through and loves on His children. He always accompanies us and carries us when we believe we can no longer continue.

I challenge you this week… take 10 minutes to journal any thoughts that comes through your head. Most of this post was written with my head down on my desk and my eyes closed. Whatever thought came to my mind… I typed it. Is this the most amazing blog ever? maybe not. Is it super creative… I’m not sure. But it doesn’t matter. I want to be obedient, even when it doesn’t look “right” or “perfect”. It has taken me a while to get here… but I’m happy (most of the time) with being “here”… “present”… “not performing”.

My heart’s cry is for you to know Him. The creator. Not the stereotypical… “Jesus loves me because the Bible tells me so”, but a knowing, deep in your soul, that the creator of the Universe, creator of mankind, creator of all things good, loves you completely. 100%. Learn to rest in that love. Believe it. Hold on tight to it. Once you grasp it… you’ll be able to give it away.  Pure & Simple Love.

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Love is what makes the world go round right? It might actually be true.

Thank you for taking the time to read my late night ramblings.

Love, Sarah

 

Babies in Heaven… and the Love of a Father. Part 5.

~ wine&myrrh ~ Leave a comment

Supernatural Experience #4:

If you haven’t read my previous blogs please do so… this is a continuation of our miscarriage story…

In my blog “Part 3” I shared about our miscarriage. I shared the following experience on my Facebook page last October 15th, 2014 on “Remember your Babies Day”. The amount of support and encouragement I received that day is a big part of the reason why Wine & Myrrh exists. My story had touched others and I felt the Lord prompting me to continue to share more of my story and revealing more of Him along the way.

jeremiah 1-5

There’s more to the miscarriage story: Before I got pregnant I had been praying quite a bit about getting pregnant again and I felt the Lord asking me to be more specific and share with Him my heart’s desire… So, I told him that my hearts desire was for a beautiful little girl with brown hair and blue eyes. I imagined a small little girl with long wavy hair and blue eyes like my mom. (The brown hair wouldn’t be a stretch, but the blue eyes were a long shot with such a strong gene for dark brown eyes). We NEVER shared the pregnancy or miscarriage with our boys….

Fast-forward a few months… Gabriel told us he had gone to Heaven again. He told us a few details and then he nonchalantly says this… “Oh, and I met my sister while I was there.”  I still remember my heart skipping a few beats. “What Gabriel?!?! What do you mean??” I asked. “Yes, I met my sister, she went straight from mommy’s tummy to heaven”. I had to take a few deep breaths and brace myself a little. How in the world did he know that? I asked him what she looked like… he responded. “Oh, she was really pretty with brown curly hair and BLUE eyes”.  I only remember sitting there shocked and in awe. “How did you know she was your sister?” I asked. His response didn’t give me the detailed answer I was looking for. He somewhat shrugged and just said, “I just knew it was her.” God is so good. Our baby girl is up there with my grandparents and others waiting for the rest of us to join her.  I have such a deep longing to see her beautiful face… I have another Liliana Sophia here on earth and she will be 3 years old this year.  When I imagine her with blue eyes… I believe I am able to have a glimpse of our Liliana Sophia who is waiting for us up in heaven.

So many of us have loved ones that we hope have gone to heaven before us. Although it ought to be a time of celebration that they are experiencing the King of Kings, it doesn’t take away the pain of not having them physically in our lives anymore.  If I can reassure you of one this it is this. God is Good. SO SO good. If you have had a miscarriage or lost a child, without a shadow of a doubt I can tell you where they are. Why? Because God is good. Heaven exists and where else would an all-loving Father place His children except near to Him.

rock

Super Natural Experience #5 – The Faith of a Child

Around the same time we were hanging out as a family and Gabriel says, “oh, I forgot to tell you something about heaven.”  From everything else he had told us, of course we were “all ears”.  He said that he had seen the throne room and had seen God’s and Jesus’s throne up close. He started out by telling us that both thrones where covered with the word LOVE in all different languages and that one of the thrones was made out of gold and the other out of silver.  I asked him, “what else did you notice about the thrones?” He said, the Gold one has a star at the top and the silver one has a big heart.” Without a doubt, there was at least one question remaining… “That’s awesome Gabriel, who was sitting in each throne?” Gabriel said, “Jesus is in the gold chair and God is in the silver chair.”   I had him. I knew I had caught him fibbing… I just knew it.  Mind you, Gabriel was only 5, what did he know about the value of gold or silver? . “Gabriel, are you sure God was in the silver chair and Jesus in the gold chair?” “YUP!” “Hmmm, are you sure?” “YUP!” “I would have thought God would be in the Gold chair and Jesus in the silver.” “Oh mom…. God loved Jesus so much that he gave him the Gold chair.” I rest my case. No rebuttal. Gabriel clearly knew better than I did. Now THAT is the faith of a child. Simple. Out of the box. The  unconditional LOVE of our heavenly Father towards His own Son.

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When I saw this picture it made it gives me a vision of what it might have looked like when Gabriel saw the Father and Son.

I pray that my experiences encourage you to seek God and then seek Him some more. Cry out for Him to show you all of Him… to get to know Him more. He is good and has SOOO much more in store for YOU. For all of us. Everyone has a different story, but God gets to use our whole story for His glory. All of it. It is NEVER too late.

Do you have a ‘lil one in Heaven? I would love to hear your story.

God IS supernatural. Our family will never be the same. My story Part 4

~ wine&myrrh ~ Leave a comment

Our UNFORGETTABLE Supernatural Experience #3:

In my last blog I mentioned how Jorge and I began our “Supernatural” journey by attending the Convergence School of Supernatural Ministry. It’s a “sister-school” to Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry, so if you’ve ever heard the christian band Bethel or Jesus Culture – most of them came out of BSSM, where the supernatural is part of a normal Christian walk and which is why I believe their songs are so stinking Holy Spirit anointed. 🙂

During CSSM, Jorge and I had heard this song in Spanish by Elias Arguello of DimensionCielo. He and his wife dedicated themselves 1000% to worship day in and day out and began to hear angels sing along with them. Jorge and I believed it to be true and prayed and prayed and PRAYED some more that we would be able to hear them too. Listen for yourself:

A few months after beginning ministry school (CSSM), we had an unforgettable moment with our son Gabriel who would have been 5 at the time. One night he went to bed with a low-grade fever. Around 1:30 in the morning Gabriel woke up, so I went into his room with him. I started to pray for him but I had a really strong sense that I needed to get Jorge. I went and got Jorge and we prayed over Gabriel for almost an entire hour. (An hour? That’s a miracle in of itself at 2am). We felt as though Gabriel’s fever was better so we went back to bed….

Only I couldn’t sleep… Gabriel had gone back to bed, as well as Jorge. Jorge fell asleep immediately. As I was laying there I started to hear musical bell sounds. I looked at my phone… nothing. I looked over at Jorge thinking maybe he had music on his phone… nothing. That’s when my eyes open up wide and I took in a really deep breath…  I KNEW that I was hearing the angelic sounds we had been longing to hear. AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

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The next morning I awoke and stared at Jorge waiting for him to get up. He finally did and I blurted out “You’ll never guess what I heard last night?!?!” Immediately he responded “You heard them too?!?!”. He had been woken up at 3:30 am hearing the same angelic bells, only Jorge jumped up and ran around the house in hopes of seeing angels. He says he would have jumped through a hole in the wall if he would have been able to follow the sound. 🙂

As if that wasn’t enough….

About 5 minutes later Gabriel came into our room with a HUGE smile on his face. He blurted out, “I’m not sick anymore!”. We asked him, “how do you know?”
He responded super excited, “Jesus healed me!”
“How do you know that?” He responded, “Jesus and God came to our house last night.”
“Oh, really? What did they say?” He nonchalantly responded, “They took me to heaven.”
“Oh, wow, what was heaven like?” He responded, “There is a big white castle in the middle with flowers on this side (left), and this side (right), and in the middle and behind.” (He was using his hands to describe the picture).
Jorge asked, “What colors were the flowers?” He responded, “They were all colors, like rainbow colors.”

At this time I remembered a picture of heaven that an 11-year-old girl (now 18) named Akiane had painted prophetically about heaven. I found the picture on my phone and asked Gabriel if this kind of looked like heaven:
heavenI can’t even accurately describe Gabriel’s response to me, but the look in his face is ingrained in my memory.  He was stunned. He looked at me very very sternly, “Mommy, who sent you that?” I shrugged my shoulders. “MOMMY, WHO SENT YOU THAT?!?!” I told him that I just knew this little girl had painted it. He said, “Look Mommy, that’s heaven! See… there’s the castle! Here’s the flowers on this side, and this side, down the middle, yeah, and look, there’s the tall skinny trees in the back!!”

Jorge asked, “Gabriel, what else did you see?” He responded, “God and Jesus are there sitting on their thrones. There are some kids there who used to be really really sick, but in heaven they aren’t sick anymore, so they decided to stay in Heaven.”

At this point we were still a little skeptical of Gabriel’s experience, but since Gabriel said he had seen God and Jesus Jorge asked him. “Where was Jesus sitting? I mean, if I am God and Jesus is sitting next to me, where was Jesus sitting?” Without hesitating Gabriel pointed to Jorge’s right hand side.  (What 5-year-old boys knows that?)

Then Jorge had ONE last questions, ” How did you get back to your bed?Did you come back through the fireplace?” We could have never been prepared for what Gabriel was about to tell us.  Gabriel’s response floored us… he said, “No, not through the fireplace. They just brought me down through the roof, but as I was coming down, I saw angels surrounding our house.”  (Angels surrounding our house?  I’m still in awe. Before this moment I had been pondering the idea that Jorge and I were a little on the crazy side. Could those have been the same one we heard a few hours earlier?)

Coincidence that Jorge and I heard angels that night? We definitely know it’s not.

So, now what? We have yet to hear those same angelic sounds again and although I would LOVE to hear them… the Lord keeps showing us new aspects and dimensions of Him. But still… I think it’s time to start listening to that song again and usher more of His presence into our home.

Here is Akiane’s painting of Jesus that she painted when she was 8.
When I asked Gabriel who it was, without hesitation (just like in the book Heaven is for real) he said, “That’s Jesus.”  “I just know.”
Jesus-by-Akiane-Kramarik-768x1024

Is God Supernatural? Does He still do SUPERNATURAL stuff? My story Part 3.

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Is God Supernatural? I believe just about every believer would answer this question with a “YES! Of course He is!”  The idea of “God” is supernatural. The miracle of creating a baby to some is supernatural, but that’s not really what I’m alluding to… I mean… does God still do supernatural “weird” stuff like he “used” to do in the Bible?

I started this blog in January will full expectations of blogging once a week, but I haven’t blogged in exactly 1 month and I think I know why. Every time I pray about what to write next, I feel the Lord has told me “I want you to tell everyone about me and who I am”.  One word… Daunting. I believe I have been avoiding this blog like the plague.  This will likely take a while to write as I type through all the emotions. So… here we go to places most do not know about.

I grew up believing God loved me, but I never knew He talked to me, nor did I ever see anything “supernatural”. I take that back, in high school I saw some people in Belize on a mission trip, in a church, in a fit of laughing hysteria. I had no clue what was going on, I don’t remember getting an explanation for it, nor did I ever ask. But I believe now, that was my 1st experience with crazy supernatural stuff. I believe it is what the book of Acts calls Drunk in the Spirit and God was ALL about that!

I believe God speaks to many people through dreams and my amazing hubby is one of them. I don’t dream very often, but he does ALL THE TIME.  (I’m a little jealous)

Supernatural Experience #1.  In the summer of 2011, one morning I messaged Jorge and told him I was ONE day late (I hope you know what that means). Jorge proceeded to tell me that the night before he had been awoken to an audible voice that said Liliana Sophia. (These were the two names we liked if we ever had a girl). Jorge said it was the “weirdest” thing, but that he immediately turned towards me, placed his hand over my stomach and started praying life over my belly. (I don’t think we had ever laid hands on each other in prayer, so it was definitely a strange occurrence). Needless to say I told him to get home ASAP with a pregnancy test. He did… and two lines showed up. WOO HOO! However, one week later I began to bleed and went to the doctor who confirmed what I believed had happened. A miscarriage due to low progesterone. Jorge waited a few days to share with me the following:  About 3 days after I had tested positive, he had had a dream that my body was some sort of vessel and that he saw a baby being taken out of the vessel. Sounds a little creepy and I struggled for months with this asking the Lord why He would give Jorge a baby name and then a not-so-nice dream.  A few months later I began to ask the Lord so many questions and although I don’t feel I need to share the details of what He told me, the most important is that He gave my heart peace and I knew that when a baby came again I would need supplemental progesterone.

Supernatural Experience #2:  In August 2011, Jorge and I embarked on a journey that would FOREVER and COMPLETELY alter our lives. We began the Convergence School of Supernatural Ministry here in Fort Worth, Texas.  One of my very FIRST supernatural experiences led me to realize that God REALLY, I mean REALLY cares about the itty bitty things in our lives.  We always started out school with an hour of worship. As I sat there, I was talking to myself (in my head) about the severe pain in my neck and how that evening I was going to ask Jorge to try to massage it away. (End of conversation in my head). A few minutes later I moved a few chairs down to sit right next to a friend named Grace.  After about 30 seconds she jumped up, looked me straight in the face and said, “Don’t Move!”.  ummm… ok. I didn’t move.  She walked behind our row of chairs, came behind me and started massaging my shoulders and neck. WHY in the world would she have done THAT?  God. HE WAS EASE DROPPING on the conversation I was having with MYSELF!  I was totally and utterly UNDONE. But God… He knew what it would take to open up my heart to all the incredible things He wanted to continue to do in my life…. that He cared about IT ALL.

Supernatural CRAZY experience #3… next blog post.

The word SUPERNATURAL is scary. Why? Because it’s OUT OF OUR CONTROL and out of our comfort zone. We say we trust God, but when it comes to Holy Spirit… often times we don’t let Him in. I never used to… mainly because I didn’t know how.  The Bible says we are to do GREATER works than Jesus did. But how can we without the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit? Many say the supernatural ceased with the prophets… where does it say that in the Bible? I haven’t been able to locate it. And frankly, now I don’t want to. Life with Holy Spirit is so much more fun and exciting, and yet, I have never felt so at peace along-side all the chaos of the world.

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When we are in His will, it is the safest place to be.
Psalm 91:2 says: I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”  If we trust Him, I mean REALLY trust Him, we will ask Him to show us ALL of Him, not just the parts we like.

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**Just because YOU haven’t seen the supernatural, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. I don’t believe God is hunting us down to show us the supernatural. Rather, I believe He wants us to chase after Him no matter what it looks like, no matter where it takes us, and to ask Him for ALL of Him. If you want to see the supernatural, find out where God is showing off and go see for yourself. I bet you’ll find out more about God than you could ever imagine.

pour out my spirit

Do YOU have a story? I believe God wants you to share your story too. He is good. 100% good. Event the crazy supernatural stories of Him reveal His goodness. Share them here or let me know where your blog is!

Healing my heart – From feeling like a failure to finding passion & achievement. Part 2 of my story…

~ wine&myrrh ~ Leave a comment

This blog is throwing me for a LOOP! I had a completely different picture in my mind of how my blog would flow for the next few months, but I have definitely learned over the past couple of years that when the Lord lays something on your heart and you actually let HIM lead… He likes to mix things up a little. He’s funny (and frustrating) that way. I thought I was going to write my auto-biography chronologically, but I don’t think it’s headed in that direction. . I thought my non-blogger self would only “blog” once a week or so. Yup… this will be 4 posts in 12 days. Apparently I have a lot on my heart.

In my last post I opened up about my biggest struggle… feeling incompetent, like I’m never good enough, someone else is always better at xyz, never reaching a goal, essentially a failure. Don’t get me wrong, those thoughts don’t consume me at all times. I have been on a journey of healing my heart the past few years, but every now and then, those thoughts sneak right back in. During ministry school I read a book called Super Natural Ways of Royalty by Kris Vallotton and Bill Johnson and it really spoke to this area of my heart.  It really helped me to see my identity in Christ. That I am a Princess of the Most High King. Not in a snooty kind of way, but that I can stand up straight, firmly, in who I am. He is my Heavenly Father, and as His daughter, He has put passions in my heart and given me qualities that NO ONE ELSE HAS. Not better, not worse, just different.

SWOR

During this time at ministry school I learned and saw a lot of INCREDIBLE things. Like I said in a previous post, ministry school changed my life. But the absolute most priceless thing I learned, after being a Christian for nearly 20 years, was to recognize the voice of the God.  Up until the age of THIRTY-ONE, I had NO CLUE that God spoke to me. I had NO IDEA how to hear His voice and plus… why on earth would HE the Creator want to speak to me? But… it was all in His timing and I am so thankful for that.

The photos below are of a journal entry I made on 2/17/2013. While in ministry school I journaled A LOT, otherwise I normally only journal about every 6 months or so. I probably ought to more, but I guess that’s what my blog is for now. 🙂

Journal1    journal2The majority of the writing is what the Lord was telling me, what is in parenthesis is my response to His questions. Essentially He was asking me what I wanted to do and what I had in my heart. My response:

“I want to help with our financial burden to allow for more ministry, use my talents, help others financially and physically. To make an impact. To make a difference.”

… This journal entry will be looped back in in a few seconds…

Fast forward 3.5 months and my 2nd son Lucas started getting a croupy cough (he battled chronic croup for years… was on massive amount of steroids, 2 ER visits, etc…), but this time I had had enough… way too many steroids. I researched anything and everything I could which led me to Young Living Essential Oils. I prayed and asked God if i was going nuts to actually try essential oils. His response to me… “You (meaning you all) have forgotten about MY PERFECT PROVISION”. Sold. Done. Nothing more to ask. The Bible says that God has given us EVERYTHING we need. EVEN MEDICINE. There’s a lot more to this journey, but I want to get to the heart of this particular post. For more than 6 months we began seeing the power of essential oils in our home.  We saw God’s own medicine do what it was supposed to do…. for croup, warts, pollen allergies, feminine infection, respiratory infections, cuts, bruises, headaches, stomach problems, etc…

After seeing this… I became passionate. Passionate about spreading the goodness of the Lord through something so old, yet forgotten. How did I miss the fact that essential oils or the plants that produce them are mentioned in the Bible over 600 times? I had NO CLUE that Frankincense, myrrh and spikenard still existed. (How cool is that?). As I began to share with others I saw the health of friends and family changing for the better around me. As they began to share, they started becoming passionate too. About a year after using essential oils in my family I felt the Lord urge me to do this as a formal business. REALLY?!?! Me? There’s no WAY IN THE WORLD I would be successful at something like this… achievement and I are not usually in the same sentence.

The beginning was very very slow and HARD… very hard. But God is so good and patient with me. From the beginning my focus has been to keep my heart in the right place. Little by little my business has grown. I had to set my first goal – Silver level within 6 months. Deep inside it was scary to have a goal. I don’t make goals, because then I don’t have to reach them. I stayed focused… prayed A LOT… and rather than 6 months… I made my goal in 4 months (Oct 2013). Are you KIDDING me?  I’m still in disbelief…because the prize for reaching my goal was a kit of 120 oils and it just came in the mail a few days ago.

Silverin6Just after achieving my goal I opened up my journal to begin writing and accidentally turned it to my journal entry from Feb 2013. I had completely forgotten about it and honestly don’t remember writing about it. What impacted me so deeply is that… 1. I am financially contributing to my family 2. I am using talents God has given me. 3. I am helping others with their health AND finances and 4. I am starting to see that I can make an impact/difference.

God has taken my struggles and turned them into something incredible. I still struggle and wonder if I will make it to my next goal… but there’s a little voice inside that says… “go for it. you got it. take a risk. push on”.

What is YOUR passion? What has the Lord laid on your heart? Have you achieved something you never thought possible? Or do you need to revisit your passions and take a small step forward towards those dreams?  I believe the Lord places passions and desires on our hearts and is SO happy when we realize they are from Him and take a chance towards those dreams. I would love to hear your stories or know how to pray for you.

Love, Sarah

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As RAW as it gets. My story(ies)… Part 1 of many.

~ wine&myrrh ~ 7 Comments

Meet Sarah. Me. This is my story… an auto-biography of sorts. I will take you on a journey through my life… my ups and down, misconceptions, “legalistic religious” beliefs, dreams, passions, crazy experiences, hurts, joys, my challenges and challenges to you… everything. How they have all evolved into who I am today.

I know I am about to be vulnerable. That’s a weird place to intentionally choose to walk into. But, I feel it is important. I have a story to share, and if I can impact one person’s life in a positive way… it was all worth it.  All I ask from you is to be open, sensitive to my heart, and before judging me, please ask questions and open up a conversation.  And please, if something impacts you in a positive way… I would love to know about that too.

I was born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska as a city girl. My mom grew up as the farm girl, not me. (I’ve never shared this before, but I secretly wish I had been a farm girl because now that I would love to garden and have animals, but am utterly CLUELESS). I grew up with my mom (Jennifer) and dad (Art) ( they are still married) and my older brother A.C. (His real name is Arthur Carl Jetter III, which I think is pretty cool. My second son’s middle name is even Arthur.)

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(Photo 1: Family farm in Louisville, NE & Photo 2: Jorge and I, 3 kiddos, My parents, and My brother and his wife Sara. )

I don’t have the a lot of memories from my childhood… I wish I did. But what I do remember was good. Holidays, Vacations, Family times, etc… Thankfully my mom has been amazing at keeping photo albums, so we can look back at so any good times. One of the things I remember was my mom taking us to church on Sundays to King of Kings Lutheran Church. I honestly don’t remember if it was every week or sporadically, but eventually we only went on holidays. Then at some point in junior high, my mom told me that I had to do Confirmation Classes at church. I was NOT HAPPY to say the least, but it was a non-negotiable as far as I remember.  So… my 8th grade year I started going to church again. Little did I know that this was just the beginning of an amazing journey.  Low and behold I met some new friends and loved the new “social” scene. Once confirmation classes were over and I was “confirmed”, I continued to go to church so that I could hang out with my friends.  That’s not a “holy & righteous” thing to admit. But it’s true. What I know now is that God is good, can turn anything for His glory, He is interested in the journey, and cares about my heart TODAY. It’s not about how pretty the journey began.

During my sophomore year of high school my life/heart began to shift… the Lord was calling me into a deeper place with Him. All of a sudden it wasn’t about seeing my friends anymore… there was something else I longed for when I went to church.  While in high school I was very involved in school activities: tennis, gymnastics, and band. Yes, I was a band nerd… a cool one though, right? Anyway. I began to play piano when I was 5 and saxophone when I was 11, and played both until I graduated.

RAW Heart #1… I LOVED playing music… both saxophone and piano. It gave me joy and touched my soul, BUT I always felt like I wasn’t as good as the others around me.  I have so many shoulda, woulda, coulda thoughts whenever I think about music when I was younger. Maybe had I just expressed to someone, probably my mom, how important it TRULY was to me, I could have had private lessons to improve my skills. But… I didn’t. When I went to college (TCU), I toured the music building to see how I could fit music in, but felt so incredibly incompetent that I walked out and stopped playing music all together.   The saxophone stayed in the closet and I didn’t make the effort to find a piano.  I have played the piano probably twice a year since then. My husband even bought me one in Guatemala, but it was hard to find the time with 2 little boys running around. Then, I started worship classes through ministry school a couple years ago, but that was entirely overwhelming and again, I felt like a failure.  This is definitely one of my biggest “regrets”, yet it’s not too late.
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Challenge for myself: Find time for music. Get a piano or learn guitar… this year !
Challenge for you: What do you love? What is your passion? How can you fit it in this year? If you are willing to share, I would love to hear your story.
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Welcome to Wine & Myrrh

~ wine&myrrh ~ 3 Comments

Welcome. It feels a little strange to think someone might actually read my blog. This is my first post EVER into the massive blog-o-sphere. I NEVER thought I would blog. I don’t see myself as a good writer (probably not fair to compare myself with other amazing blogs) , and I avoid venturing  into new things. Well, here I am. Blogging.

Wine & Myrrh is already impacting my heart. I’ve had to come to a place where I felt like my opinions and stories were worth sharing. I shared a part of my story a few months ago on Facebook about a miscarriage I had and I couldn’t believe the amount of feedback. I realized that it’s not ME on this journey… we are ALL on this journey together, but our individual paths look a little bit different. After that Facebook post, I really prayed and felt I was supposed to begin sharing my story. All of it. No doubt some parts will likely be boring, but I hope  other parts will encourage, strengthen, and increase the faith of those reading.

Why Wine&Myrrh?  Here’s why…

Biblical Meaning
Mark 15:23 “Then they offered him (Jesus) wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it.” Both the wine and the myrrh would have helped relax and numb Jesus’s pain while He hung on the cross, however HE REFUSED IT.  Not only did it fulfill a prophecy that He would drink vinegar, but Jesus bore 100% of the pain for us, when He could have easily had just a little bit of relief. Wow. Insert “Jesus loves me” song here. I know He loves me.

Wine
– I like wine. 🙂
– Symbolizes Miracles: Jesus turned water into wine.
– Symbolizes Jesus: wine symbolizes His blood poured out for me and you.
– Represents joy, celebration, and festivity, & the abundant blessings of God.
– Also symbolizes our need for self control (in all areas of life).

Myrrh
-Symbolizes Beauty & Marriage – it was a popular custom to lay a bundle of myrrh on one’s chest while sleeping as a beauty treatment in preparation for a wedding.  Esther was provided oil of myrrh before her wedding.— Song of Solomon 1:13
– Symbolizes bitterness, suffering, and affliction. The Hebrew word for myrrh is Mowr which means “distilled,” and comes from the root word Marar which means “bitterness.” The baby Jesus would grow to suffer greatly as a man and would pay the ultimate price when He gave His life on the cross for all who would believe in Him.
-Symbolizes Christ’s Return: Revelation 8:3-4 tells us that the original altar of incense continues to be used before the throne of God in Heaven. Psalm 45:8 describes Yeshua’s (Jesus) garments: “All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia…” (This oil blend smells AMAZING!)
-Myrrh is an essential oil – it has incredible healing properties AND essential oils have become my passion and purpose in this season of life.

So, what does this all mean to me? God is good. He has provided so many good things for me including wine and myrrh, but because they are good doesn’t mean there is no limit. Like the saying goes there can be “too much of a good thing”. Too much wine leads too drunkenness and possibly even death. Too much myrrh… honestly I don’t know what happens with the ingestion of too much myrrh resin or essential oil, but I’m guessing  it wouldn’t be a good idea. Today’s society is a “feels good = good” society. I believe I have a responsibility to take care of myself, my family, and my friends and family.  I do my best to use the Bible as my guide for right and wrong… mixed in with what the Holy Spirit tells me and sometimes a ‘lil ol common sense.

Thank you for reading and joining me on this journey. I pray abundant blessings over you and yours during the 2015 year.

Love, Sarah

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