Thursday, December 15, 2011

Preserve me O God

"Preserve me O God, for in You I put my trust.
O my soul, you have said to the LORD,
'You are my Lord,
My goodness is nothing apart from You.'
As for the saints who are on the earth,
'They are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight.'
Their sorrows shall be multiplied who hasten after another god;
Their drink offerings of blood I will not offer,
Nor take up their names on my lips.
O LORD, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup;
You maintain my lot.
The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places;
Yes, I have a good inheritance.
I will bless the LORD who has given me counsel;
My heart also instructs me in the night seasons.
I have set the LORD always before me;
Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved. 
Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices;
My flesh also will rest in hope.
For You will not leave my soul in Sheol,
Nor will You alow Your Holy One to see corruption.
You will show me the path of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
At your right hand are pleasures forevermore."  Psalm 16

When I am battling something in my life, I look for scripture that declares promises of the Lord.  My immediate and extended family was hit during the Thanksgiving holiday week with a stomach virus that has gone around our town and we were unable to socialize with our extended families.  Now, there has been a coughing-crud going around and we have it.  My child and husband have it the worst.  I have been spared and am so thankful.  When they are sick, they need lots of attention.  If I were as sick, it would affect their recovery.  Unfortunately I have not rested either. 
Although I am a nurse and my family is accustomed to constant hand-washing and wiping our store buggies down as we enter our local stores, we are exposed to a wide variety of germs through school, work, and church.  I tend to have a good immunity, but my child and husband do not.  They are much more suceptable to invading pathogens than I am.  This is how I usually get sick myself...through them bringing it home.  Although, I use many homemade cleansers, I still like the use of Lysol and airing-out our home when we have been invaded by nasty germs.  Unfortunately it is wet and muggy this week and the airing-out will have to wait a few days when the rain and humidity moves out.
I cling to the Word and love to soak in His presence and at times like these.  I seek Him out more partly from my need and partly because I do not feel up to doing much else.  I love the book of Psalms.  It seems like there is always something that I am going through that can be related to a Psalm.  I love to declare the Truth in my heart and my home when I feel oppressed.  It renews my strength, faith, and courage to face the battle.  Do you have something that you feel is pushing down on you?  I urge you to find your battle-cry in the Word today.  My all-time favorite is Psalm 63.  I go back to this one often.  I am curious to which one speaks to your heart the most.
Since I am a bit tired, I have not done much except help my husband prep our bathroom for our new soaking tub.  When he has more energy, he will finish the installation.  But I am in need of some new toothpaste.  So I will share that homemade recipe with you.  I went to an old basic recipe that has probably been overlooked for many years with all of the new specialty toothpastes out there now.  This one is made from baking soda, sea salt, mint, and water.  Sounds simple huhn?  It took just a few days to get use to the consistency, but after using it for several months, I can not stand regular toothpaste.  I accidentally picked up the regular tube instead of my toothpaste and I thought I put soap in my mouth.  The bubbles were horrible after using basic toothpaste. 

2/3 cup baking soda
4 tsp fine sea salt
1-2 tsp peppermint extract (you can use a few drops of mint essential oil)
Water until desired consistency (add 1 tspn at a time)

I reduced the salt by a tspn for my personal preference.  The extract will evaporate easier than the essential oil, so the flavor lasts longer with the oil.  I use a small disposable ziploc/glad-type container and keep a plastic spoon on it for application. 
Since I am a nurse, I do not like germs and contaminating anything...even if I am the only one using it.  Several months ago, our local salvage store had a great discount on hygiene products and we have plenty of toothpaste and deodorant left.  My husband says he will finish it all off before, he jumps completely on my bandwagon.  That is quite alright.  Fortunately, my daughter is not so picky.  I plan to use the deodorant containers with my homemade recipes after they are empty.  Recyling can be simple that way.  I look forward to hearing about your homemade and cost-saving creations. 
You can find this simple recipe at http://www.diynatural.com/homemade-toothpaste-recipe-easy-and-frugal/
God Bless you and yours,
Marla B.

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