Honouring God with our Senses - Part 2

Enjoyment of a good thing can become a bad thing when desire for it overtakes desire for God, or our desire for it turns into a demand. We can be easily persuaded that the 'best' thing to do, is to avoid it all-together.  But while that might appear to be the 'easiest' way to handle the risk of over-indulgence or wrong indulgence of our senses , it may not be the biblical or the 'best' way….. 

Now, I'm not advocating the deliberate courting of temptation, but I am concerned that I can easily employ my own 'system' of resisting temptation by an extreme 'pendulum swing' rather than relying on Christ to enable me to resist extremes.  

The 'best' thing is to work at keeping balance, at exercising self-control, at taking every thought captive and testing/discerning all of life.  But its also the hardest thing to do.

Another way of looking at this is that we very rarely put equal 'weight' on both ends of an issue - we tend to emphasise one over the other in the process of our 'over-reactionary pendulum swing'.  

We have to work hard to give equal 'weight' to each side - a bit like a perfectly matched tug of war that doesn't succeed in being pulled in either direction. The position is not idle or passive but equally active and strong on each end.  Shall we say: 'anti-sin' on one side, but equally 'pro-righteousness' on the other side. In life we find that very hard to do. 

Though it might be hard, it is the required reality for the great part of our Christian walk and I know it will also be the road to experiencing the most joy in what God wants us to experience, and if it is the right way, it is the choice for which we will have the strength of the Holy Spirit......so.....

Though our five senses may be avenues of temptation, before there was sin in this world, God graciously and lovingly gave us our senses as gifts  - and I want to ponder on each, one by one and take the time to enjoy the gifts God has given in our senses. Part of honouring God is worshipping Him with our thankfulness.   

Join with me in focusing on the blessing of our senses and rejoicing in God's wonderful love toward us - saying THANKYOU with me....for….

Sight

What a wonderful gift we have to be able to see.  Just ask someone who is blind.  We can see where to walk, we can see to make sure we choose clothes that match, we can see to operate machines, we can see to enjoy the beauty of flowers, animals, ocean views, electrical storms, brilliant sunrises, a baby's smile and a beautiful bride.  

It is so easy to take for granted the things we can see on a daily basis and the way God has lavishly and over abundantly coloured our world - He could have made it all grey!  Think how 'down' we get after a few days of 'grey weather', but imagine if in our whole life we only ever saw all of life in our world like a B&W photo. 

Scripture likens our salvation to the wonder that it would be to be blind and then to see!

Thank you Lord for SIGHT

Hearing

What a wonderful gift we have to be able to hear.  Just ask someone who is deaf.  We can hear a child's first words, we can hear the songs of birds or a beautiful choir or the rich sounds of a cello or bold sounds of a trumpet or the delicate sounds of an African thumb piano.  We can hear singing, clapping, running streams and pounding waves at the beach or the wind rustling through the leaves on the tree.  As I type I recall the 'thunder' of the sound of the water flowing over the mighty Victoria Falls.  

Hearing is so crucial to our ability to learn and communicate.  

God tells us that if we have ears to hear, we need to be taking time to 'hear' Him.  Scripture also tells us that it is through 'hearing' the gospel that we can be saved.

What can you add to the list....?

Thank you Lord for HEARING

Smell

But what a wonderful gift of smell we have been given. Maybe you don't know anyone who has lost their sense of smell - but it can happen.  It's hard to imagine a world in which there was no pleasant aroma - the smell of a rose, of a roast dinner cooking, of a freshly washed and powdered baby, of the freshness of sun-dried cotton bed sheets, of the wind blowing through the leaves of a lemon scented gum tree or a port wine magnolia bush or our jasmine, or as the leaf of a lavender bush is crushed, or the rind of a lemon is grated.  

I remember the time my husband had an inhalation burn when some gas exploded in a kitchen he was cooking in a few years ago and it damaged (thankfully only temporarily) his nasal passages and caused a loss of sense of smell - not good for a 'chef'! Aromas can make us feel physically sick/nauseous or make us feel relaxed or happy.  Aromatherapy is used in homes and hospitals, in shops and offices. 

God even tells us that our lives are an aroma - we can be a sweet smelling aroma to Him.  We can also be the aroma of life or death to those around us.

What can you add to the list...?

Thank you Lord for SMELL

Taste

How often when we give thanks for a meal do we thank God for the ability to taste it and thus enjoy it!  I remember hearing of someone who no longer had a sense of taste and how much of a horrible chore it was to eat!  God has given us tastebuds so we can actually enjoy the process of eating!  We can enjoy flavours and blends of flavours and have it spur us on to cook all the wonderful food God has given us on this earth, in endlessly creative ways.  Let's praise Him for the ability to taste a sweet cheesecake or a fresh apple or juicy mango or BBQ chicken or grilled steak or the rich sauce of Beef Strogonoff or the spice of an Indian curry or the  blend of flavours on a pizza or the tang of a grapefruit or the bitter delight of dark chocolate or the creaminess of ice-cream or the saltiness of hot chips.  

God uses this understanding of ours about taste to tells us to 'taste and see that the Lord is good'.

What can you add to the list...?

Thank you Lord for TASTE

Touch

What a wonderful gift we have been given with the sense of touch - just ask someone who has leprosy or has been in solitary confinement.  We can touch a starfish at a marine park or pat a dog or stroke a kitten or knead dough,  or feel the warmth of a bath, the holding of a hand or the pat on the back from a friend.  We can feel the softness of a newborn baby's skin or the prickles of a pineapple or wet sand between our toes at the beach or the rough bark of a tree. Touch is also an interesting sense in that is seems to have an extra dimension to it - an emotional and physical well-being dimension. 

Something like massage can actually have physically positive effects on our health and it has been shown that a person's physical well-being is better when they are touched - such that it is ensured that even prematurely born babies now are given as much touch as possible and people in old age homes, cancer and dementia patients have been known to do much better when they can enjoy touch, whether its a hug or patting a dog. I have even found personally with my POTS issues that a gentle stroking touch can lower my heart rate.  

Touch is also the only sense which is enjoyed over the entire body - all the other senses have their 'receptor' on the head/face.

The sense of touch can definitely also be a very real means of protection as it is through touch that we know if something is so hot that it will burn us or too sharp that it will cut us. Linked to the sense of touch is also the sense of pain. (Doctor to leprosy patients Dr Paul Brand once wrote a book   'The Gift of Pain', because we can suffer major damage when we can't feel pain)  

But also linked to the sense of touch is the sense of pleasure.  Touch as a hug or cuddle or squeeze or grasp of the hand or arm around the shoulder can communicate volumes of love to another person, and be received as strong communication from another person. God made us to enjoy, give and receive touch from each other, although of course in appropriate ways that will differ from whether its from a spouse or a parent to a friend or an acquaintance or a stranger.  But none-the-less touch is not something to avoid but to embrace (no pun intended!) 

Jesus' ministry was full of 'touch' and leaves us with an example to follow - especially touching those who the world considered 'untouchable' and blessing them with love and compassion, and the honour of acceptance and love.  

What can you add to the list....?

Thank you Lord for TOUCH.

What an amazing God we have who has blessed us so wonderfully by giving us these five senses to enjoy the world He has given, and give us even greater cause to praise and honour Him!! 

Honouring God with our Senses Part 1

Our Jasmine vine is in flower and the scent is definitly in the air. Even just one flower in our bedroom permeated the air in the whole room! Our sense of smell has certainly been aroused by the purfume of this little white flower.

In fact, as I took the photo below, many of my senses were stimulated - yes the ability to smell the aroma of the flower, but also sight to be able to see the flower, ears to hear the wind blowing through the leaves around me, and touch as I held some of the flowers. The only sense I didn't engage was that of taste!

Some years ago I read an excerpt from a book by RC Sproul and copied it into my notebook (and found it again recently on-line) - all about the dangers of being a sensual Christian.  Now that's not 'sexual' but 'sensual'...ie living by what feels good as opposed to what is good - ie living according to our 'senses' alone, rather than by truth.

Here's the quote:

R. C. wrote, 

"I have often been tempted to write a book by the title, The sensuous Christian.

What is the sensuous Christian?

"The sensuous Christian is one who lives by his feelings rather than through his understanding of the Word of God. The sensuous Christian cannot be moved to service, prayer or study unless he 'feels like it.' His Christian life is only as effective as the intensity of present feelings. When he experiences spiritual euphoria, he is a whirlwind of Godly activity; when he is depressed, he is a spiritual incompetent. He constantly seeks new and fresh spiritual experiences and uses them to determine the Word of God. His 'inner feelings' become the ultimate test of truth."

"The sensuous Christian goes his merry way until he encounters the pain of life that is not so merry and he folds. He usually ends up embracing a kind of 'relational theology' (that most dreadful curse on modern Christianity) where personal relationships and experience take precedence over the Word of God. If the scripture calls us to action that may jeopardize a personal relationship, then the scripture must be compromised. The highest law of the sensuous Christian is that bad feelings must be avoided at all cost." (R. C. Sproul, Knowing Scripture, pp. 26-27). 

accessed on 25 May 2013 at     http://thinkpoint.wordpress.com/2013/05/22/the-sensuous-christian/?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzEmail&utm_content=5575&utm_campaign=0

So is it ok to enjoy what is felt by our senses?

While the above is totally true and always a timely warning, I am often reminded, and was again recently, that as human beings we tend to be 'reactionary' and even 'over-reactionary'.  My Great grandfather used to say we are 'Pendulum swingers'.  In other words we find it hard to keep a balance.  We are prone to swing to one extreme, then realise we have over-emphasised something and then we push hard against that which has previously swung us to that extreme, so as to try to get some balance.  In continuing to push hard against it, we don't realise we have again 'over-pushed' until we are way on the other side and something awakens us to our 'new' extreme.  And thus begins the process yet again!!!

Anyhow, something happened recently that 'awakened' me to an 'extreme' in this area of 'avoiding' being a sensual Christian. So I did ask myself that question:

Is being sensual always wrong?  

Just think for a minute....who gave us our senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch?

If God gave them to us, maybe, just maybe, he has a way in which they are meant to function in honour and glory of Him.  Yes, they might be able to be distorted, twisted and focused in a wrong direction, but that doesn't make them actually wrong in themselves.

So that got me thinking. Even though I should be aware they can be 'harnessed' by the sinful nature for sinful purposes, I should also be aware that God has a purpose for creating them for His glory and honour. If I just suppress them or only view them negatively, that is also sin, and actually dishonours God.  I must be careful not to despise what God doesn't despise and in fact He created for our good.

John Piper has written much on how pleasure itself is not wrong - what we pleasure in and why, is the issue.  Enjoying life is not wrong. 

God has given us His gifts to richly enjoy -  what we enjoy, how and why, is the issue.

Keep reading in Part 2 coming up…..

The Desert, Dehydration and Living Water

Living on the edge of  the Kalahari desert means lots of dust and dry air.

But if dry air can shrivel up an avocado while left on the kitchen counter to half its size over the course of a few weeks, imagine what the dry does to a human body!

Well, yes, we humans drink extra water to make up for the loss.

But when our bodies lose water at a great rate, it is difficult to keep up with the water loss.  The result.....dehydration.

The last couple of weeks have mostly been very hot, windy, dusty and dry.

Day after day, our afternoon humidity levels have reached single figures!  Yes that is correct.... single figures.  That's lower than aeroplane cabin humidity.

Coming from the sub-tropical coastal region of Australia I really didn't like summer humidity in the 90% zone, but 9% and below isn't much fun either.

In fact last Thursday afternoon humidity was down to 4%!

This is the weather of dry skin, static electricity and limp lifeless dry hair.

It is nice in that you don't feel a 'sweaty mess' or get that 'hot and sticky' feeling.  But the heat becomes subtly problematic, as you don't notice perspiration as it evaporates too quickly.  It's easy not to realise how much water the body is losing.  Both water and salts that the body needs, are lost.

Children and babies are particularly vulnerable. We hear of occasions when a baby dies and we ask what caused the death. We are told 'the doctor said "the baby's body had no water"..... - the way of saying the baby died from dehydration. 

Here in southern Botswana we are being told we are heading for the driest summer in 34 years.  In a year when keeping hydrated is of utmost importance, we are also having the biggest access to water issues that this area of the country has faced since Independence almost 50 years ago.  4 days out of every week households and businesses and schools and hospitals have their water cut off to try to ration supplies.  The main hospital in the capital city is not able to perform all the operations needed.

The local dams have failed (are empty) and almost all water is being piped to us from the north of the country via the 360km pipeline that is perpetually getting leaks and having to be shut down for repairs for several days at a time.  Our village recently went for several weeks without water in the taps when people went to get a drink.

This problem is exacerbated by the fact that through urban migration, over a 1/4 of the country's population now live in the south east where the biggest water supply issues are.

Thankfully the property we live on has its own large tank to store extra water and we always keep a collection of full jerry cans at the house.

But this summer is predicted to be very challenging indeed!

So what are the effects on the body of dehydration which we have to be constantly aware of in our day to day lives here?

Mild to Moderate Dehydration –  need to increase water and salt minerals	Severe dehydration – need to get to hospital
Thirsty	Extreme Thirst
Dry, sticky Mouth	Irritability and Confusion
Dry eyes – low tears	Dry Skin that doesn't bounce back when pinched
Dry skin	Rapid heartbeat
Headache	Low blood pressure
Constipation	No tears when crying
Tiredness or lightheadedness	Fever
Minimal and/or dark Urine	No Urination for over 12 hrs
Muscle Cramps
	In serious cases - unconsciousness

In addition – low humidity in the air can cause:

Irritated nasal passages and bleeding nose

Inflammation of respiratory tract

Increased risk of colds, flu and other infections

Viruses last longer and spread more easily

Dry Irritated Eyes

Dry, scaly, itchy skin

Cracked skin especially on the feet

Our bodies are over 72% water and although the general rule is to drink at least  8 glasses of water a day (in addition to coffee, tea, soda or alcohol), we can often need to drink more than that to keep ahead of perspiration and evaporation in low humidity environments.

Our bodies also contain sodium, magnesium, potassium, calcium and chloride salts which are lost through perspiration (and through vomiting and diarrhoea which can also cause dehydration), so we have to make sure we keep our salt intake up as well. (that is not just highly refined table salt, but through wet sea salt or himalayan crystal salt)  Salt helps the body 'store' water as well as give it minerals for proper functioning.  Eating lots of bananas and spinach and nuts that provide potassium, can help.

As we think about the need for our bodies to get enough regular water in dry environments, I am reminded of a spiritual parallel. If we don't take in enough spiritual 'living water' through time with God and in His Word, we will be spiritually dehydrated.  We will get weak, tired, confused and our spiritual health will suffer.  In a very spiritually dry environment, we need to be even more diligent to 'take in' spiritual nourishment and refreshment.  Time with God in prayer and in the word and with other members of the body of Christ is vital.  In fact prayer and time in the Word is a bit like the regularly needed water and salt, and good heart to heart Word-filled fellowship is a bit like a periodic high potency cold energy-packed fruit smoothie drink on a hot day!

Pray that we will be careful to remain physically and spiritually hydrated and alert to the symptoms of lack of hydration!

'Been thinking about.....Tears

Over the last few years I think I have cried more tears than all the years prior put together - tears of pain, grief, helplessness, exhaustion, stress, confusion, sadness, hurt and even at times joy.  I was not normally one of those 'teary types', but POTS seems to affect one's stress tolerance levels and emotions in various ways and though still not what some might call 'buckets of tears', its been quite a bit more than 'normal' for me.

Today, while looking for something else in my inbox, I came across an old blogpost by Tim Challies on Challies.com in regard to how society generally regards a Man crying as shameful.....yet Christ wept!  I then recalled that some years back I had come across an article by Answers in Genesis on the Miracle of Tears.

And so it got me thinking a bit more about tears.... "Words from the heart that can't be spoken', as I saw them once described.

1. Tears are one of the very first aspects of life we experience!  And our infant years are filled with crying and tears as it is our sole means of verbal communication at first - a basic response to whatever is not 'right' or 'nice' or 'comfortable' in life whether its hunger, a soiled nappy/diaper or colic pain.

2. We will only be free of tears once we reach heaven, where we are told that God Himself will wipe away every tear from our eyes - they will be gone forever.  (Revelation 21:4)

But between our birth into this world and our promotion to the next, tears are part of life.  But are they bad, or shameful or to be repressed and discouraged?  I believe not.  

So how should I ... you, deal with tears - those of our own and those of others?

Tears are not Shameful....

1. Did you realise that Scripture actually commands us to weep?  We are to weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice.  We are not told to tell a weeping person to stop or reprimand them or try to cheer them up with laughter, but we are told to join them! Chapter 2 of a book called "Loving Well" by Dr William Smith expands on this. (I'd recommend the whole book actually! ...and until 2pm USA EST Mon 12 May 2014 you can download a PDF of it for free!) If God is instructing us to weep, and to obey Him is to please HIm and therefore honour Him, then weeping with others who weep actually pleases God and honours Him.

2. Jesus wept - he wept over the sad sinful state of Jerusalem (Luke 19:41), and he wept over the sad loss of his friend Lazarus, and he wept with his friends in their sad loss of their brother Lazarus (John 11:35).  If Jesus who always honoured His Father perfectly, wept, then it is definitely not shameful to weep.  Jesus didn't just tell his friends to 'get over it' and all the reasons why they shouldn't weep, He also wept with them.

3. Even though our society seems to treat Men crying as something 'weak' or 'shameful', men are not excluded from these situations, instead, if Jesus wept, here we are given the most supreme 'ok' for men to cry.

God made tears and the ability to cry

1. God made our voice, and the sounds we make of crying are ones, when emotions are such, that it is too difficult to find words to express them. It is a sound that comes from the depths of our being in times of grief, sadness and stress

2. Humans can cry - Animals cannot ......God made the way our body responds chemically to emotion and tears are part of that process. It seems from Scientific Studies that tears remove toxic substances from the body that build up from stress and that suppressing tears increases stress levels and diseases caused by stress. And so all of us, men as well as women, should not feel ashamed to cry.

3 Texila American University described various benefits of tears and then summarised them as "Tears are God's gift to us.  It's our holy water.  They heal us as they flow."

God notices and values our tears

• He stores them in His bottle (Psalm 56:8) - here is an interesting article about tear bottles and their use down through the ages...(although I don't go along with some of the mystical ideas of the author) I find it interesting Scripture doesn't seem to say God records our 'happy' times on earth, but rather our 'sad' times - those times when the sadness and pain of this sin-filled world overwhelms our soul.  It is a reminder that the effects of sin in this world and the pain that His creation has to endure because of it, is something that is very much constantly on His heart.  His heart is not hard to our suffering, but tender toward it.
• Jesus allowed (and did not rebuke or chasten) the woman to bathe his feet in her tears (Luke 7:38)

But we should not ignore that God's gift of tears can be abused and mis-used

- 

• a child for example may use the 'bursting into tears' to melt the mother's heart and try to avoid needed discipline
• some people (especially some children and some women) seem to have a greater ability to 'turn on tears' than others and can develop a pattern of manipulation or gaining sympathy

(NOTE: having said the above we must also be careful not to assume that a person is 'turning on the tears' just because they cry over something we think shouldn't be cried over.  To ignore or dismiss someone's real pain without properly ascertaining its reason is cruel, unloving and dishonouring to Christ. If there is an ungodly reason, there may still be no reason to totally ignore the person, but rather seek to help them but in a way that doesn't re-inforce the pattern but enables them to see it and overcome it....And it is thought that possibly a substance called prolactin is involved in being more likely to cry and women have much higher levels than men so are more likely to cry than men, with no negative intent.) 

• our tears can be unnecessarily prolonged in self-pity/self-focus or circumstance-focus instead of turning to God in our tears and focusing on Him and allowing Him to minister to us His peace.
• we need to watch our hearts, but also know that God sees our hearts even if others misunderstand
• I read some good advice that if you feel you need to really cry and its just not the time to do it or might be misconstrued, just hold off while you need to, and find a quiet personal place later on....but don't just always hold it in!  Recently Challies.com had a link to a really lovely article for mothers' day about a godly persevering mum who retreated to her bedroom to weep after a particularly stressful day...

If we are to follow, obey and honour Christ, its OK to cry: 

- for the lostness of the lost

- over our own sin

- with others who hurt

- when we feel grief, loss and the pain of that

because : 

We are actually exhibiting God's heart when ....

- we grieve for what grieves Him (sin and its effects of pain, hurt, loss)

- when we come alongside and care for those who are hurting as we weep with them

& We are allowing our bodies to function as God created them to, as we are actually allowing God, through the way He made us, to help heal our emotional pain.

And to conclude......

I was reminded in a devotional book by Joni Eareckson Tada recently (More Precious than Silver) that when at last we will experience freedom from the effects of sin in our world and in our lives and we will have 'no more tears' because of what Christ has done for us, He Himself will actually still bear the scars of our sin - He will be our Lamb but "as though it had been slain" (Rev 5:6)- He will still bear the evidence of what He suffered willingly on our behalf.  He will still bear the reality of the shame of the death-price that He paid, yet it will be those same scars that will be our reason to give Him the greatest praise and honour for all eternity!

May my, your, our tears not be something to inhibit or submerge or harden ourselves against, but something to experience as part of God's plan for our well-being and a reminder of His love for us, and a cause to praise Him for all eternity when while he still bears the scars of sin, we will enter the fulness of 'no more tears'!

- 

'Been thinking about.....ZZZZzzzzzz

Sleep!

It's a basic necessity of life, and more of a necessity than we often realise.

I've been learning some things about sleep recently that have been a challenge to me that I thought I might share more widely....

While Scripture tells us we shouldn't love sleep too much, it also tells us that God "gives His beloved sleep"

I used to wonder at this verse, and puzzle over why, if God says He gives us sleep, that on some occasions I found it hard to sleep?

I have come to realise that more than specific occasions to question God (maybe he wanted me awake to pray??), it is a verse that reminds me that the daily factor of 'sleep' in our lives is, in and of itself a 'gift'.  Our bodies can't function without it.

Then recently when our 'prodigal son' confessed faith in Christ, one of the things that he said had changed for him was that he said he was now sleeping, and sleeping peacefully and soundly, like he never had before.  I was reminded that 'in Christ', if we are willing, we have the opportunity to trust our Heavenly Father, rest in Him and know His peace in our sleep, at a level that many in this world cannot even begin to enjoy.

In addition to these facts, (as we often seemed to be a broken record to our student sons about the need to sleep and not just be up reading and studying at all hours of the night), I began to learn more about this amazing daily period of shut-eye that is part of every human being's life.

I'll call them my sleep 'half-dozen'!!

I learnt that:

1. God created sleep and created us to need sleep, and a certain amount of sleep - so to try to defy that, is actually defying and dishonouring God's design for us.

2. Essentially God gives a kind of sleep to His beloved children, that one who is unsaved and/or carrying all their burdens of sin on their own shoulders, cannot fully know.

3. God tells us not to love sleep too much - we need to work if we are going to eat (Proverbs 20:13)

4. God also tells us that we have to keep the truth of point '3' in balance, and not become workaholics and deprive ourselves of sleep because we have become obsessive about 'getting money' to 'get more stuff'! (Psalm 127:1,2)  It is in this context that God tells us that He gives His beloved sleep. We need to remember that God created sleep and has given it as a gift - a blessing - to our bodies.  We should neither abuse or refuse that gift.

5. Rather than be quick to 'blame' God for the times I didn't sleep well, I have discovered that often times, there were basic elements of my life that I needed to change, because they were affecting my ability to sleep.  Therefore like any health issue, I should seek out ways to better take care of this 'tent' (body) God has given me for the time He has put me on this earth.

6.  Our modern lifestyle has much in it that threatens (and often succeeds) in 'stealing' our sleep. From diet to computers, and stress. The articles (with links below) that I have been reading give examples such as the light of our computer screens will be detrimental to our sleep if we are exposed to it within an hour of bed.   I should be considering these factors if I want to honour God and the gift He has given of 'sleep', by taking care of my body as the dwelling place of His Holy Spirit and the vessel of His work/ministry, and making sure I let it get the sleep it needs.

To conclude, I have come to realise that if I am to have my mind fully available to God to use for His purposes, I have to be responsible to keep it in the best working order I am able to.  I also have come to realise the significant truth that if I do not give my body sufficient sleep, so that its more difficult for me to engage my mind and have it 'fully available' to the Lord, my lack of bodily discipline is actually quenching the ability of the Holy Spirit to produce His fruit in and through me - such as self-control and loving others.  If I am honest with myself...when I am tired its much harder to have self-control, to speak with grace, or to think of the needs of others, because all my 'brain energy' is taken with just keeping myself functioning!

Our modern world, from the electric light to the internet and smart phone, has made life so helpful in so many ways. But you know, I am also quite rebuked, corrected and instructed, as I study sleep in the light of God's word and my calling to walk worthy of the Lord - honouring and glorifying Him. It's hard to say 'no' to people's demands and technology's temptations!  Technological 'helps' can be a massive 'hindrance' as well, and if I don't keep them well in their place as 'servants' rather than their tendency to want to 'master' me and 'take over' my life (1 Corinthians 6:12), I will dishonour the Lord instead of bringing glory to Him. 

Oh Lord help me to honour You with my sleep!

In my 'research' about sleep I came across various bits of information that I found very helpful...so I thought I should share them with you....

Click here for a link with some interesting information on our need for sleep and what we should and should not do to maximise our sleep.

Click here for interesting results of a sleep study done a couple of years ago by the National Sleep Foundation in the USA and their tips for better sleep

Click here for some latest research about the importance of sleep for the health of our brains - and click here for a video clip about the same research 

Click here for some more fascinating information about what happens to your body as you sleep 

 (*although.... for an interesting aside on this last link - it says under the heading of 'blood' that our heart-rate drops 10-30 beats per minute when we are asleep - with my Dysautonomia/POTS my heart-rate was not going down at all while I was asleep, instead it was going quite high! No wonder, my body and brain were struggling! It was like I was at the gym all day and all night!....I praise the Lord that my 'sleep' heart-rate has been coming down and now after 3.5 years it is at least mostly about equal if not just a little lower than my day-time resting heart rate...and while some of that improvement has come through some medication/supplements, some of it has also come from learning how to better prepare myself for good sleep, rather than hinder good sleep by what I do in the evening hours - in consideration of some of the information in those articles above).

(sleep deprivation poster photo from Kids in Australia )