Fearfully & Wonderfully Made

September 30, 2018 in Nourished Body, Nourished Mind, Nourished Soul

“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well,” Psalm 139:14.

Sometimes it’s hard to read verses like this and find peace with them when our bodies feel broken, maimed, undesirable. These are not the descriptors that God gave our bodies. He made us good, in his image, fearfully and wonderfully. So then what happened? Why do our bodies sometimes feel broken? Why do they wear out? Why do we look in the mirror sometimes and wish to see a different reflection?

Our bodies had been designed in the image of God which is described in Genesis 1:27: "So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them." After Adam and Eve created distance between themselves and God in the Garden of Eden, creation—including our bodies—began to break down.

But God used this situation to write a beautiful redemption story. He would send Jesus to "comfort the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release the prisoners from darkness" (Isaiah 61:1b). Jesus came to reconcile us with God and he is now preparing our final home with him. We will not always have broken and maimed bodies. We will be restored and made new. What a great hope we have in Christ!

Cooking for Health & Healing

August 26, 2018 in Nourished Body, Nourished Mind

The Living Wellness team is excited to share a Guest Blog Post from the legal team at Schultz & Myers who, for over 10 years, have been helping people that have experienced personal injuries.

A personal injury can make you feel sad, angry, overwhelmed, and many other emotions. Depending on the severity of your injury, you may not be able to work or engage in your favorite activities.

While an injury is not a joyous event, it is something that you can begin to recover from with the right mindset. Many people who experience a personal injury turn to activities to fill the void left by injury. While you do need to take time to recover, certain activities can help speed up the process so you can get back to doing the things you love.

During your recovery, you may want to consider engaging in culinary therapy. Cooking may be stressful to some people, but to others, it’s truly therapeutic. There is a distinct link between cooking and recovery, let's explore the benefits:

Eating Healthy on a Budget: Part 2

June 03, 2017 in Nourished Home, Nourished Body

Ever come home from the grocery store and look between the receipt and your bags of groceries wondering, “I must have left a bag in the car. Did I really spend this much and only get a couple bags of food?!”

We at Living Wellness love to eat tasty and nourishing food while also not breaking the bank. That is why we are continuing our series “Eating Healthy on a Budget.” In today’s blog post, we're sharing part one of Living Wellness team member Julie Frandsen’s presentation from Bridging the Gap’s Single Mom’s Retreat which wrapped up this weekend! What a wonderful time of encouragement and blessing.

Today we are going to talk about one of my favorite topics: Food!!! I love to cook and provide good tasting, mouth watering, nourishing meals and snacks for my family. If am I honest…sometimes I am successful at doing this, and other times not so much. My hope is that you will learn some practical tips of how to save money at the grocery store while also not compromising the quality of the foods that you buy.

First things first. In order to talk about healthy eating on budget, we first need to know how to eat healthy!

My Wake-Up Call

May 07, 2017 in Nourished Body, Nourished Mind

As I sit here, staring down at my four fingers with four Band-Aids on them, I realize my failed glucose test was a not so rude awakening.

Let's rewind a week to that first glucose test.

I have been healthy my whole pregnancy, way more healthy than I was with my last pregnancy, 10 years ago. I have been choosing to nourish my body by eating more vegetables and exercising a couple times a week. So when I failed that glucose test, I got a bit teary behind the eyes. My healthy pregnancy suddenly felt all turn around and upside down (a little like the picture above). The thing that made my eyes gush open was when the doctor said, "eight pounds gained in one month, that's a little much for this stage of your pregnancy." I cried all the way home from that appointment.

Touching-up Your Makeup Routine: Part Two

November 20, 2016 in Nourished Body

As I mentioned in last week's post, I have been working on "touching-up" my makeup routine over the past few years by choosing products listed in the "low hazard" category on the Environmental Work Group's (EWG) website Skin Deep.

The reason makeup matters is because everything we put on our skin eventually works its way into our blood stream. So, if we use toxic makeup, our body absorbs those toxins--ugh! We have other options. We can make a few swaps with our makeup and nourish our body in the process.

Alima Pure is the makeup I use daily, and I love it. I have now been using their products for almost three years and have learned some tricks along the way that I'm excited to share with you.

Touching-Up Your Makeup Routine: Part One

November 13, 2016 in Nourished Body

Recently my 10-year-old niece asked me "Why do you wear makeup?" I've come along way from my self-conscious days of middle and high school when I felt the need to hide behind my makeup, so I thought for a moment before I responded to her question.

See I wanted to answer her question honestly while preserving and protecting her own self-imagine as a woman and image-bearer of God. I said something to the effect of "I wear makeup not because I feel like I HAVE to or NEED to, but because it is fun to put on. I prefer to put very little makeup on and have it look natural." Do I feel prettier with my makeup on? Yes, but I've reached a place where I love myself regardless. I don't NEED to wear makeup to the grocery store, but I do feel a bit more comfortable with it on. Hey, I'm a work in progress :)

Anyway, in my pursuit to remove unnecessary and harmful chemicals in my life, I discovered one daily routine that needed serious attention...my makeup. Have you ever looked into what is in your makeup?