The disease of depletion and the one who can heal it

“In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength.”

Women Resting by William Bougereau

I am sure that the majority of health problems in mothers these days are a result of depletion.

Depletion of emotions, minerals, energy and spirit abounds in the female population, especially the mothers.
We are being mined on every level.
Our feminine resources are precious commodities being extracted via everything from influencer culture to homeschooling co-ops.
We are busy, over-extended, over-stimulated and we are tired.

If you’re easily angered, your hair isn’t what it used to be, you have digestive issues, energy spikes and lows, temperature regulation challenges, hormone and mood swings, loss of libido, difficulty focusing, pelvic floor problems, persistent weight challenges, food intolerances, developing autoimmune issues, suboptimal elimination ….all these issues can be traced back to a tired body that is lacking what it needs to function.
Sure, the specifics of each respective health challenge can vary, but I can tell you as someone that worked with women with all these issues for nearly a decade, these situations stem from a lack of rest and nourishment.

I’m not talking the need for protein shakes and power naps, strength training routines and supplements.

I mean restorative, soul and body fulfilling rest that generates balance and peace.

Many of us have come face to face with a health challenges such as these and rushed to the internet to seek the answer.
Sometimes we don’t even seek answers but an influencermercial comes across our feed speaking exactly to our current struggle and offering solutions, it’s uncanny.

We try workouts and vitamins, mindset habits and mobility exercises, sometimes we see brief improvement, yet we often end up back where we started, maybe even worse.

Working as a women strength and wellness coach for nearly 10 years I came face to face with this phenomenon. Some health problems truly were simple easy fixes, but often women (me included) found ourselves putting out fires all over the body, shoving our fingers into one leak after another in the dyke that was our health making ourselves even more busy and stressed by the many regimens and health strategies promised to fix our problems!

Eventually when I stopped listening to all the talking heads in the world and started focusing on what my greatest teacher was showing me via my own body and revelations, I began to see all of the problems I was encountering both in my clients and myself could be traced back to one major issue.

Depletion.
We were spent.
We were stripped bare and struggling to function.

We had entered into motherhood underfed and under-rested but we didn’t know it.
We have been consuming mineral deplete-foods, chasing careers and accomplishment, experienced the whiplash of broken relationships and homes and trying to perform in the world as people (lol) with periods.
Many of us are parentified perfectionists who use adrenaline and accomplishment to tell us who we are and we using caffeine and inspiration to keep us afloat.

Then one lovely day we discover that we are pregnant!
We will be growing a human being.
What we don’t know is that we are already behind in the game of just keeping ourselves afloat.
Pregnancy, while challenging for the body in so many ways, can be profoundly healing too.
The increases consumption of calories, need for rest and body’s burst of hormones can smooth the edges of many a health challenge.
But even if we feel great during pregnancy many of us can find ourselves struggling 3, 6,9, 12 months on the other side of natal struggling and never understanding why.

I could tell you from experience what sorts of strategies work.
Replenishing minerals, addressing suppressed emotions, consuming more calorically dense whole foods and less blue light are all good places to start, the specifics to your unique internal eco-system require an individualized approach.

And the beauty is that there are countless practitioners and wise elders in the world that can help you become restored.
They can walk you through the most impactful foods, habits, internal and external work that you need to do.

But I know this for sure: the direction and wisdom of how to go about caring for ourselves and addressing this depleted state must come from the Lord.
You’ll want to work with the people He provides.
You’ll want to consume the foods He has blessed upon you.
You will want to follow the path He carves out for you.

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No one knows better than He you medical and emotional history, the current state of things in your body and what you need right in this moment.

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He can teach and show you, if you simply ask to be shown and are willing to wait and trust in His guidance.

He awakens Me morning by morning,

He awakens my ear to hear as the learned.
He has opened my ear; and I was not rebellious, nor did I turn away.

Isaiah 50:5

No one wants you chasing supplements and magic bullet fixes as much as the enemy.

“What shall we eat? What shall we wear?” Or “What shall we wear?”
After all these things the pagans seek.
Matthew 6:31-32

And He doesn’t especially want you going to other sources for answers before Him:

He’s before all things and in Him all things hold together.

Colossians 1:17

Asa became disease in his feet and his malady was severe; yet in his disease he did not seek the Lord but the physicians.

2 Chronicles 16:12

We are not the first people to become caught up by the world, chasing after trends, standards, fads and foolishness.
Scripture is full of examples of how God’s own chosen people refused to benefit from connection they have to Him.
They wanted a King, they wanted idols, they desired earthly success and quick solutions even while all along their Father was there to provide for their needs.

They wanted to go their own way.
I’m sure at times they didn’t even know how rebellious a decision this was.

I have been confronted in my own health journey in this very thing.
I have come face to face with my Father who has shown me how many times I ran after “solutions” trying to “fix” myself only to throw fuel upon the fire.
He has brought me back to a place of trusting His wisdom first.
He has shown me the benefit of asking Him first before jumping to fix things.
He has taught me that all my needs are provided and I need to trust in His timing and His process, after all, He made everything anyways, well He made me and you and anything worth putting in our bodies comes from His creation.

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May you tired and worn out women that are only now starting to connect the dots and recognize that your struggles stem from depletion, may you experience the fullness and healing that is from the Author of Life.

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May the Most High direct you to the answers, the changes and the strategies so you may feel whole again and ready to serve and exist in the beautiful ways you have been called to in this world.

Stop searching the culture for your health answers and don’t forget to “test everything in the Spirit.”

“Woe to the rebellious children,” say the Lord “Who take counsel, but not of Me, and who devise plans but not of My Spirit.” Isaiah 30:1

Lay these idols aside and go weary and burdened to the one that can give you true rest.

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“In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength.”

Isaiah 30:15

The Lord is your shepherd, you shall not want.

Shepherd-Painting-

xoxo,

Sarah