Step 1 – Page 4 – Walk in Trust

Acceptance

Day 10

Today’s reflection is a bit difficult for those of us with a tendency towards perfectionism to accept. When we hear about ‘acceptance’ we may think of giving in, accepting our lot in life and staying where we are. But that’s not really what this is about. It’s about not throwing shade on our current situation, not hating every little thing so much that we can’t enjoy the good that is there. It’s coming to a point where we can say ‘I’m ok, and I’m on my way’, my life is not perfect but it’s ok. It’s offering those things that bring us stress to the Lord and relinquishing them to Him. And then we stop fighting with it, we simply need to pray and obey! Listen to the Lord in prayer and then obey the little steps that He puts before us. Be open to receiving His graces. It’s about dying to our own will, so that we can live for His.

Index

Introduction	Stepping into it, series intro.	video
	Week 1 intro	*Core intro
Thanksgiving	Day 1	*Attentiveness to God’s blessings
Commitment	Day 2	*To be all in for whatever the Lord wants of us on this journey.
Love	Day 3	*To love God with our whole heart, mind and soul…and others as ourselves. It’s at the core of who we are, not simply what we do.
Trust	Day 4	*Childlike confidence that He leads us step by step.
Kindness	Day 5	Out of the fullness of the heart, the mouth speaks. Focus on the Kingdom
Tenacity	Day 6	* Setting up a specific prayer time
	Week 1 recap	LOVING GOD WITH OUR WHOLE MIND What is health and wellness The Mind’s purpose is to envision God and Heaven (to see the unseen).
Endurance	Day 7	Our feelings and emotions Consecrating them to the Lord for His purposes
Forgiveness	Day 8	Effect of unforgiveness ph balance
Perseverance	Day 9	Mary’s help for the journey The Rosary The white ladder consecration video 2 (the rosary)
Acceptance	Day 10
Patience	Day 11
Humility	Day 12
	Week 2 Recap	LOVING GOD WITH OUR WHOLE HEART AND MIND

Young Living

Perseverance

Day 9

Today is the Feast Day of Our Lady of the Rosary, very meaningful as we focus on Perseverance. I often like to speak about God’s beautiful and intelligent plan for creation. Well, Mary was a big part of that plan. Not only did she give birth to the Savior, but she’s now united with Him as we hope to be one day and can assist us on our wellness journey and help us to persevere.

There’s a story that I read about some time after the Lord gave me the insights on the circular staircase, it really confirmed things for me. It’s attributed to Saint Francis’ spiritual director…Fra Leo. He had a dream of two ladders, a red one of legalism and the white one of grace. At the top of the red one stood this solemn Jesus that appeared demanding and harsh. As hard as the friars tried to climb this ladder, they would only make it up a few steps and they would back slide and have to continuously restart. Then St. Francis told them to come to the white ladder instead. At the top of the white ladder stood Mary, who is full of grace herself and a loving, encouraging Mother to each of us who are in Christ. And they were able to persevere and make it to the top. Remember, Jesus IS the way! He doesn’t stand from afar calling us…He is there with us for every step and brings in all the help we may need.

I took this photo when I visited Portugal back in 2013. This white circular staircase is located at the parish church of the shepherd Children of Fatima.

You can read about my circular staircase HERE.

This week’s Marian Consecration video is on the Rosary. Coincidence? I don’t think so! 😀

Introduction	Stepping into it, series intro.	video
	Week 1 intro	*Core intro
Thanksgiving	Day 1	*Attentiveness to God’s blessings
Commitment	Day 2	*To be all in for whatever the Lord wants of us on this journey.
Love	Day 3	*To love God with our whole heart, mind and soul…and others as ourselves. It’s at the core of who we are, not simply what we do.
Trust	Day 4	*Childlike confidence that He leads us step by step.
Kindness	Day 5	Out of the fullness of the heart, the mouth speaks. Focus on the Kingdom
Tenacity	Day 6	* Setting up a specific prayer time
	Week 1 recap	LOVING GOD WITH OUR WHOLE MIND What is health and wellness The Mind’s purpose is to envision God and Heaven (to see the unseen).
Endurance	Day 7	Our feelings and emotions Consecrating them to the Lord for His purposes
Forgiveness	Day 8	Effect of unforgiveness ph balance
Perseverance	Day 9	Mary’s help for the journey The Rosary The white ladder consecration video 2 (the rosary)
Acceptance	Day 10
Patience	Day 11
Humility	Day 12
	Week 2 Recap	LOVING GOD WITH OUR WHOLE HEART AND MIND

Forgiveness

Our thoughts, feelings and emotions have consequences in the physical realm of our bodies.

Day 8

Again, going back to what we were created for, to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him. What if He is calling us to ‘serve’ someone for whom we are holding a grudge? Maybe the Lord has given us a special message that they need, or vice versa. If anything is holding us back from being totally open to do God’s will, that needs to be resolved immediately. We are closing ourselves off from receiving the graces that were meant for us as well. We are all so interconnected, it’s like the feet being angry at the stomach…and making the whole body suffer by refusing to walk to the fridge. 😀

The other aspect of unforgiveness is how toxic those types of feelings can be in the long run. Our thoughts, feelings and emotions have consequences in the physical realm of our bodies. For instance when we start thinking of a delicious food that we love, our mouth may start to salivate in preparation of consuming it. Or if we start thinking of a project that we are dreading, then maybe our heart will start pounding. This is because at the cellular level we are Chemical beings and all Chemistry as we may have learned in high school falls into Alkaline(base) or acids.

Our wonderfully created body is the same, there’s a balance that must be maintained for health. For instance our blood needs to maintain a balance averaging around 7.4 or so. That is just slightly alkaline and it will do whatever it takes to keep it within a particular window or we would die. So the blood will draw necessary minerals from every other part of the body in order to keep us alive, it’s an extraordinary feat. However the rest of the body may not fare so well. That’s what happens when we are in constant emotional turmoil, our bodies need to work extra hard to keep us balanced.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.

Forgiveness, release, detox, alkaline, healing, wholeness

Young Living Essential Oils

“The lesson is simple:Give forgiveness and you will unleash a flood of grace on yourself and those around you. When you clench your fists and grit your teeth in anger toward someone, you have no room in your heart for God to place His hand in yours. Replace your clenched fist with an open hand and watch as God fills your soul to overflowing.”

Endurance

Day 7

This week we’ll be looking at loving God with our whole heart. But just like the mind itself which was created with a Divine purpose (for us to envision and desire heaven and remain focused on our goal), our emotions too were created by God with a similar Divine purpose, being the agent that draws us to Him. However satan’s big plan is to warp creation and as a consequence, there are so many of us suffering. That makes it all the more crucial to submit and consecrate this area to God, we can also ask our Blessed Mother to be a mother to us now. She’s endured all the heavy emotions of humanity, she understands our suffering.

Here is what the Catechism of the Catholic church has to say about emotions!

It is often said that the “heart” is the seat of the emotions, it turns out that this is not in our physical heart at all, but in the part of the brain called the Limbic System.

This explains why some smells can trigger some pretty intense emotions and memories. It turns out that certain scents can actually help in the healing process as well. Essential oils’ tiny particles can make their way up the olfactory bulb, to stimulate this part of the brain and different plants have different healing properties. I just love how Our Creator knew our needs and created all accordingly. So there are different oils that fit different needs. I will list a few below. I’m not a doctor and this is not an Rx. simply something that helps me. Pray and Obey!!!

Young Living

Week 1: Loving God with Our Whole Mind

Health as officially defined by the World Health Organization, is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.

I want to suggest that total wellness goes even further, let us take a look at what we were created for.

"Why did God make you?" The Baltimore Catechism says the answer is:
"God made me to know him, to love him, and to serve him
in this world and to be happy with him forever in the next."

The following passage tells us what that entails.

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your HEART and with all your SOUL and with all your STRENGTH and with all your MIND, and your neighbor as yourself.”
Luke 10:27

(Psalm 139:14) also tells us that we have been fearfully and wonderfully made. Our loving Creator has given us exactly what we need to accomplish His purposes…Mind, Body and SOUL. Then looking at it this way, ‘un-wellness’ or ‘dis’ease…becomes anything that blocks the way of this.

The first week we started with the Mind.

Philippians 4:6-9

⁶Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition,
with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷And the peace of God, which
transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
⁸Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right,
whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent
or praiseworthy—think about such things. ⁹Whatever you have learned or received
or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be
with you.

(Please click on the underlined words to take you to a previous post on the subject.)

First we began with Thanksgiving which helped us to take inventory of all that we have been blessed with and put us in a position to now be attentive to and in turn to receive all the blessings that the Lord wants to give us. Then we made a Commitment to following the Lord and whatever path He may lead us on during this journey. We confessed our Trust in Him and His ways, and we looked at the role of love and kindness in the healing process and in defining our mission. Then finally the week ended with Tenacity and our need to keep going back to the ‘core’ for nourishment.

The Young living products that I find helpful for mind health.

Please check my YOUNG LIVING PAGE for more information.

Some of the books we looked at this week were.

Next week we will be focusing on Loving God with our whole ‘HEART”…which is the seat of our emotions. And we will also be looking at Mary’s role in helping us ascend the spiral stair case. Please keep checkin back. If you are doing this program with me, please leave a comment for me, either here or on my social media sites so that I can add you to my prayer list. I think the Lord is getting ready to release an abundance of graces!!! Many blessings to you all.

Commitment

Day 2

This whole process that I’m calling a ‘boot camp’ is not about achieving perfection. It’s about living a life grounded on our faith, listening to the voice of God within and taking the necessary steps from there…no matter how many slip ups we may have…we don’t give up. That’s where this sense of commitment comes in handy. You won’t be following my plan or anyone else’s plan for you…you will be following God’s will and once you know that Voice, there’s no way that you won’t want to commit.

Life these days is going by at a fast clip and social media and the over abundance of information…even really good stuff…can overwhelm us. We read a post and we move on, many times barely acknowledging it. But this boot camp isn’t about acquiring new knowledge…you most likely already know everything that I’m going to be sharing with you here. It’s about moving that information from your head to your heart. Acquiring a purpose and keeping a laser focus on it.

Our ultimate goal in all that we do is Union with God Himself. So give Him the areas that you are the weakest in and let Him strengthen you.

The following video is part one of the Marian Consecration Series. It’s so good…a must watch if you are doing this boot camp with me.

Sometimes our focus needs a little bit of help from the physical realm. I try to always go to my oils first. So here are a few things that may help. I was diagnosed with ADHD inattentive and was put on stimulants at one point. Then I felt the Lord leading me to a better way for me. This is where I tell you to ‘pray and obey’…do what is best for you.

Thanksgiving

Day 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwiFNqR8svA

What a beautiful place to start, just being grateful for all we already have, before we set forth asking for more graces and more blessings. It’s all pure gift, as we go about ascending the staircase of holiness, let us never forget that it’s all by His grace, each baby step, it is He that makes it all possible with Our Blessed Mother and all the saints interceding for us.

It’s a good idea to take inventory of where we are, all that we already possess. Being aware of and counting our blessings, opens us up to receive more. We are all so greatly blessed in so many ways, regardless of whatever current situation we may find ourselves in. But sometimes grumbling becomes our default option. That’s the first thing that needs to change on the path to total wellness (aka holiness).

The saints show us how to be grateful in all situations, we are able to do this because we know that God is in control and what He allows is for our own ultimate good and He can bring many blessings out of it. So whatever you are struggling with a this very moment…ask the Lord to give you a heart that is filled with gratitude in that very situation.

IV. PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING

From the Catechism of the Catholic Church

2637 Thanksgiving characterizes the prayer of the Church which, in celebrating the Eucharist, reveals and becomes more fully what she is. Indeed, in the work of salvation, Christ sets creation free from sin and death to consecrate it anew and make it return to the Father, for his glory. The thanksgiving of the members of the Body participates in that of their Head.

Eucharist literally means ‘Thanksgiving’.

Prayers of Thanksgiving

Stepping into Total Wellness

Week one

So here we go, we are starting our first week stepping together and we are going to start at the very beginning. At the foundation of it all. First you need the Core in shape. So watch my video on that first.

After the ‘core’ the first step is ‘Self’ that’s the one that we’ll be dealing with here for the next few weeks. This is the area of personal wellness…mind, body and spirit. We will begin with mind, as our state of mind has a deep effect on the other two. In the core video above I mention how we were intelligently created, Our loving Creator blessed us with not just a body, but this incredible part of ourselves, our mind. This is how we can come to know Him, Love Him and make the choice to serve Him. Our mind has a sacred purpose, we are to use it to envision heaven and it can help to guide us in making right choices. But we often find that satan can get ahold of it pretty easily and it ends up taking us in the opposite direction of heaven instead. But even with the mind as uncontrollable as it sometime can seem. We have choice available to us to maximize our mental health and our thought processes. As the week progresses I will present some of these options to you.

Here is the program for week 1. The daily virtues are taken form ‘Mary’s Mantle Consecration’.

Spirit

day 1

day 2

day 3

day 4

day 5

day 6

day 7

Thanksgiving

Commitment

Love

Trust

Kindness

Tenacity

Endurance

Body

*Healing Sleep

Mind

*Purpose

*Focus

I am a Young Living representative, and will post products that may be helpful as we go along. https://www.steppingintoit.com/young-living/ You can order products as a one time only and pay retail price, or start your own journey with Young Living by ordering a starter kit with product at heavily discounted prices and can then buy at wholesale prices.

Focus

Sleep

BOOK

Journal

Arise

You have been made right with God. Head to the Promised Land, where you will lack nothing. Abundance awaits you. Be alive to God’s calling, respond with obedience, follow Him completely. Everything that God created is good, be not afraid. The Lord provides comfort and blessings for you to pass it on. Rise up in God’s freedom!

Now He uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume. Our lives are a Christlike fragrance rising up to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing. –2 Corinthians 2:14-15

The Plan for Lent and Beyond

I often hear people say that they can’t do such and such a thing for Lent because they’ll fail, or won’t do it properly, or whatever other excuse they can come up with. The thing is that that’s sort of the point. I mean if you are trying to let go of sin, then yes…success is imperative. However, if you are merely giving up a good because you are a little too attached to it, then it’s ok to face the struggle. In fact I’d say that it’s a big part of what Lent is about. You need to come to the point that you realize that you can’t do it on your own and that you need a ‘Savior’…you NEED Jesus! No matter what our struggles are, He’s the only One that can provide the perfect solution for us.No problem is too big, or too small. So the aim of Lent is not to test your own strength, but for you to come to realize and depend on God’s and build or strengthen your relationship with Him. That’s it…that’s the point…a more intimate walk with Jesus!

So after having prayed about it and feeling that this is what the Lord wants from you, then you are ready for the Lenten Journey. Stick with me and we’ll ‘step into it’ together. The way we make it through is to keep our focus on Jesus. You’ve heard the phrase, keep the goal in mind. It’s the same idea. We are going to be crossing the barren desert into the Promised Land. So we will be focusing on what is in front of us and not on what is underneath our feet, nor on that which we have left behind. The thing that is waiting for us is a life of grace and virtue. So that is exactly what we’ll be focusing on, with Jesus by our side the entire time. The Lord has given me 12 Virtues to focus on. I had started on February 13th with the Nineveh 90 folks but I’m being inspired to start over, and to keep going until Pentecost! Come Holy Spirit!

Here is a list of the Virtues we’ll be focusing on:

Wk 1: Humility Wk 5: Faith Wk 9: Courage

Wk 2: Chastity Wk 6: Hope Wk 10: Obedience

Wk 3: Friendship Wk 7: Patience Wk 11: Perserverance

Wk 4: Love Wk 8: Wisdom Wk 12: Poverty

We will appropriately start with humility this coming week and will continue stepping right through Holy Week which will see us focusing on Hope for the conclusion of Lent, then if you decide to keep going with me we will complete the 12 weeks and then start back up with Humility which leads us right to Pentecost Sunday.

We will of course be open to ALL of God’s graces and any work that He wants to do in and through us. However by focusing on a specific virtue, we are giving ourselves holy boundaries so that our mind and strength doesn’t get scattered in every which way.

Help for the Journey:

1)If you need book suggestions, please check out Our Book Store , I will be adding new books as I feel inspired.

2) You can download my FREE daily planner that I’ve put together just for this journey. Nineveh Daily Planner

3) And you can also reach out to me at any time via the different Social Media sites.

Facebook

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So I hope that you decide to step into this Lenten Journey with me, as we aim to keep our focus on Jesus and the virtues that He’d like us to learn and grow in.