By: Laura Churchman, CPNP, CTP, HHC It is almost time for Christmas!!! I hope you are all finding joy during this amazing time of year, celebrating the birth of Christ. God is teaching me a lot during this holiday season and I cannot wait to share with you!
This past year held many challenges which had our family in a constant state of transition. It has definitely felt like an uphill battle. As I prepare for all the holiday festivities, I am finding myself remembering a climb I did over the summer. The picture above is Saddle Back Mountain in Oregon. To put it into perspective, the little black speck at the top of the mountain is a person. It's not a major mountain climb for the experienced... but I am far from experienced. So, it was a big deal for me. I remember about 200 yards into the steep, uphill climb I was already lagging behind my super-fit friends thinking "what have I gotten myself into?" However, I am a very determined person. Sometimes this is a helpful quality but if it is not met with prayer and obedience, it can be downright stubbornness (just ask my husband). In this case, the determination was good. I needed to climb this mountain. I needed to feel every bit of burning pain, hear every doubt in my head, experience every moment where it got hard to breath so that I could overcome all of it. We all have metaphorical mountains in front of us. At different points in time, the height of the mountains will vary but they are mountains, nonetheless. In the midst of climbing, we will exhibit different behaviors. These behaviors can be good or negative, short term or chronic - depending on the root cause. These behaviors are key to where we are with God during these trials. We tend to be very accepting in acknowledging when we are exhibiting good behaviors such as staying steadfast in prayer, focused on God, standing in His unexplainable peace - all which allow us to be calm in chaos, forgiving, and full of mercy and grace. But what about the negative behaviors? If you're anything like me, you may tend to ignore them, justify them, or even indulge in them. The previous week was a very difficult one. There is a mountain I have been climbing for 15 years and the peek seems to be nowhere in sight. Like my climb this past summer, there have been great moments of overcoming and beautiful views as I climb this mountain, but endurance is key and many times I find myself getting weak and weary. In those moments, I realized I have had a trending negative behavior - lashing out in anger with hurtful words. The Lord really wanted me to work through this question, "why am I behaving this way?" This question brought me back to something a friend asked me once, "what lie from satan are you believing?" While pondering these thoughts, I was challenged with another question, "where are my hope and expectations rooted?" Well, since I am a Christian, immediately I wanted to say that all my hope and expectations are rooted in Christ. But if I am being honest, there are times when they are not. The truth was that I was lashing out in anger and hurtful words because I was emotionally hurting. My hope and expectations were rooted in that mountain, not the Lord. This was a major breakthrough for me. What does it mean if our hope and expectations are in the Lord? It means, that with a childlike faith, we look upon Him as our provider, comforter, healer, source of strength, you name it. So then, our hope and expectations are not in our jobs, spouse, shelter, or any other circumstance. Do you see? This is why we can have peace about our finances when we are between jobs. This is why we can be calm when the world around us seems to be falling. This is why we can have strength when the world would expect us to be weak and weary. Christ. Is. Why. Jesus changes everything. The Holy Bible says that satan is a deceiver and liar (2 Cor. 11:3, John 8:44). It also says that, "...the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one." (1 Thes. 3:3). "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." (John 10:10). satan wants to destroy you. God wants to give you life. Often, negative behaviors can have negative effects on our health. Overtime, this will affect our overall wellness and quality of life. This is why this is a topic that we must humbly address. If we do not deal with the root cause of the behaviors we are exhibiting, we will not be able to truly overcome them. The negative behaviors will continue, and we will ultimately see the effects it will have on our health and relationship with God. There are multiple reasons behind certain behaviors. For example, sometimes dietary cravings are linked to actual deficiencies in our bodies. However, we cannot afford to deny emotional roots without truly evaluating the situation. The point is this: our physical health is directly related to our mental, emotional, and spiritual health. So, I humbly encourage you to take a minute and evaluate your life. What negative behaviors have you been exhibiting lately? What lies from satan are at the root of those behaviors? What truths does God say in regard to those lies? Mediate on those truths. Pray for the Lord to bring you out of negative behaviors and into His light. He is always faithful, my friend. Always. Blessings, Laura Churchman, CPNP, CTP, HHC Founder of Healing from the Root
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By: Laura Churchman, CPNP, CTP, HHC Why this picture? Knowing what I was going to write today, I looked for a bush on fire. When I saw this picture I thought it was so symbolic of the burning bush and living water. There is so much depth to the faithfulness of the Lord. Welcome! My name is Laura Churchman. I am so excited to start this blog! I am a Christian, called by God into the medical field. I have seen and learned so much in the last decade and the one thing I know for sure is that more than anything else, I want to follow Jesus Christ. So, I am a Christian before I am any of the alphabet soup of letters after my name. Healthcare as it pertains to Christianity is a strong conviction that the Lord has placed on my heart. For years I have been praying about how to incorporate this conviction into my profession. I felt God was calling me to do/offer more than just being loving and kind to those I encountered, but I did not know what. After years of praying for His provisions and guidance, God opened the door for my practice, Healing from the Root. My prayer is that the Lord would have His way with this practice. It is such a blessing to me to have the opportunity to serve in this capacity. My heart's desire is that I would be a vessel for the Holy Spirit to speak to His people about their health. That with the knowledge the Lord has taught me in my Christian walk, schooling, and life, He will bless others through me. As a Christian medical provider, I am here to help educate, guide, encourage, pray and fast with my fellow Christians as I walk with them through their healthcare needs and questions. I would like to share with you the details about the conviction I mentioned above. It rocked my world when the Lord convicted me. There was a lot I realized I needed to allow the Holy Spirit to change in me. I had to decide, do I address the Nineveh within or end up in the belly of a whale? (Come on, that was a good Bible reference!) Lol, I have to keep a sense of humor. This is a hard message to give, hear, and receive. Transformation processes with the Lord are ongoing, therefore grace for ourselves and others is needed as we will not meet perfection this side of Heaven. I am a testimony to the fact that what I am about to discuss with you will not lead to an easy path, but it is so worth it! Trust the process. The Lord is always faithful. There is no judgement. We are not perfect. We make mistakes. We are sinners. But above all that, we are saved, we are loved, and we are children of the one and only God! I am committed to following His lead. So here I am, ready and willing to serve. Now let me quit rambling and get to the story :) As He often does, God convicted me through His word. Here is the first verse He spoke to me: "Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies." 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, The Holy Bible Then... “Do not come any closer,” the LORD warned. “Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground." Exodus 3:5, The Holy Bible Mike drop.
Now bear with me while we unpack this together... First, think about it, what an experience that must have been, being in the presence of the Lord, standing on holy ground!? It is hard to imagine what that might have been like. In the midst of me diving deeper into this thought, I felt the Lord speaking to me, "you are holy ground. My Holy Spirit dwells within you." I had been a Christian for several years at this point and never viewed myself as holy ground. How could I? I knew all the sins I committed? But wait... Jesus washes our sins away. (1John 1:7) They are thrown into the sea of forgetfulness. (Micah 7:19) Now, we can move forward. I knew the Bible addressed the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, but for some reason that did not convert in my head to my body being holy ground. Like many Christians, I have referred to my body being a temple without really understanding the magnitude of that statement. Really, lets take a second to think about that. Where else in the Bible do we see the Holy Spirit dwelling? What about the Tabernacle in the most Holy place? This was where God dwelt with his people (Exodus 25:22). How careful did Moses have to be in following such specific instructions to build the Tabernacle? (Exodus 25-27) Who could enter the most Holy place and how often? (Hebrews 9:7) And what about the Ark of the Covenant?! Have you read 2 Samuel 6? Out of good intentions Uzzah tried to steady the Ark but unbeknownst to him, there was a specific way to handle the Ark (Exodus 25:13-14) and the anger of the Lord came upon him. Clearly, holy ground is to be revered and respected. What is the honest answer for each of us when we evaluate how we treat our temple? Our perfect God does not expect perfection from us but He faithfully perfects us if we allow Him to. It takes an active role on our end to respond with obedience. Obedience for each of us might look different as what tempts each us is different. Some acts of obedience may look the same. The first act is to pray to the Lord to reveal areas in which we are not honoring His temple and respond with humility and repentance. Next, we pray for His guidance as we strive to do better. Without judgement, I am here to help. Are you ready to start cleaning up your temple? |
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