I Love How God Works!
It’s true! I love watching how God works in my life and in other’s lives. I also love when He chooses to use me to help others. I have said, on more than one occasion, that I don’t know WHY He sent me to school to become an Aromatherapist, I just know that He DID. Maybe it’s simply to help my family and friends through whatever life throws their direction, or maybe it’s to help people who happen to find me and want to try out a holistic approach to their health. All I know is that I’m along for the ride and willing to move in whatever direction God decides to send me.
For the last several years, I have been meeting with an amazing group of ladies for Bible Study on Wednesday afternoons during our lunch break. The cast of characters has changed several times, but the central theme is always God and Him working in our lives.
I Love (BS)²
It took some time, but a couple of years ago we landed on a name for our group. We are not the typical Bible study group that you imagine or have seen in movies. We do NOT look like Stepford wives. We do NOT coif our hair (we do like to get mani-pedis ). We do NOT clutch our pearls (at least seriously). We DO, however, all enjoy a glass of wine, tumbler of Scotch, or a nice mixed drink while we study (not all the time, but sometimes for sure). Hence the name of our group Bible Study Beers and Spirits (BS)².
We have studied many of the Bible’s books together during our time: John, Jonah, Esther, Ruth, Galatians, etc. We have also studied books written by some great authors: CS Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters (very difficult, but SO good), Max Lucado’s Anxious for Nothing (not a favorite), John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress (worth it), Stasi and John Eldredge’s Captivating (OH MY WORD!) and currently we are stumbling our way through Eldredge’s Becoming Myself.
This study is difficult, to put it mildly. As with any study, you will get out of it what you put into it. If you want to dive into WHO God made you to be then I would NOT start here. Start with Captivating and then, when you are led to this study, dive in with some ladies that you can be real with. I won’t lie; I stomped around the house cursing (in my head), asking God to show me the answers to some of these questions. I have had to put the book aside (sometimes for minutes, sometimes hours, sometimes days) as I struggle within myself and cry out to God to reveal to me what I am missing. One of the ladies broke out in hives–ALL OVER HER BODY–as she worked through the questions and ended up at urgent care because her entire face was swollen. One of the ladies decided that the content was just too difficult to work through with us (vulnerability is HARD) and decided to drop out. This study is difficult.
The Prompting
We were preparing for Session #3 of the 8-session Study Guide.
I love the way that Stasi lays the groundwork in her studies. Following the example of the Gospel she presents the fact (just the facts) that we are flawed, that the enemy has been working since the dawn of time against the perfect plan of God, and that we buy into the lies of the evil one. Then she masterfully begins to show God. Session #3 is part of the first half of that plan. The title of this session (which covers 2 chapters in the book) is Our Mothers, Ourselves. It is all about the wounds that the enemy inflicts upon us through our mothers. Now, please understand that this is NOT a mother bashing session, but an opportunity to understand why we are the way we are and how our mothers helped to shape us. It is a difficult suitcase to unpack!
So, Saturday God impressed upon me the need to create an emotional support blend for the group since this topic was going to be a difficult one. I thought, “OK, I’ll just make a blend that we can diffuse while we’re studying…that should be good.” I did know that I needed to wait for God to reveal what he wanted in this blend. I did some research into what essential oils (EO) would be good for emotional support. I came up with a pretty long list and wrote them all down. According to Battaglia (who quotes Mojay on many of the emotional aspects) I came up with:
- Cedarwood Virginia (C. atlantica)
- Cape chamomile (E. punculatus)
- Cypress (C. sempervirens)
- Eucalyptus (E. globulus)
- Immortelle (H. angustifolia)
- Frankincesne (B. carterii)
- Juniper (J. communis)
- Lemon (C. limonum)
- Rosemary (R. officinalis)
- Myrrh (C. myrrha)
- Pine (P. sylvestris)
- Saldalwood (S. album)
- Rose (R. damascena)
- Red mandarin (C. reticulate)
Normally at this point I would start to eliminate and narrow down my selections. I felt that God was asking me to hold off, so I did. I figured that Tuesday night or Wednesday morning I could just throw it together, call it good, and head out the door. WRONG!
WAKE UP!
I feel that I need to tell you that when I sleep, I sleep HARD! Once my head hits the pillow I don’t wake up until my alarm screams at me at 4am. So, when I wake up in the middle of the night for no apparent reason, there is usually a reason; that reason is God. He has awakened me, in the past, mostly to pray for people. This time, it really was no different. My prayers just included blending.
I woke up right around midnight on Monday night with words, EOs, and prayers bombarding me! Seriously, it was like being in the Millennium Falcon as they jump into hyper-speed! Images and words whizzing past me. I actually thought “I’ll be able to remember all this when I wake up in the morning; then I’ll write it all down and call it good.” That thought lasted about as long as a warm cookie coming out of the oven! Almost like a cattle prod poking my hind quarters, I jumped out of bed, headed to my office, and began praying. I asked God what He wanted from me. I clearly received the message that I needed to make an individual blend for each of the ladies, He clearly told me to not leave myself out (which I would be inclined to do….He knows me so well), tell them what the blend could do for them, and then, the “cherry-on-top,” I heard Him very clearly say “tell them HOW I see them.”
What?!
I’ll Give You the Words
Yup, that’s right. He wanted to use me to not only make holistic (mind, body, and spirit) blends for each of these amazing ladies, but He also wanted for me to be his voice. Honestly, being His voice is not new for me. He uses me all the time to speak the words that people need to hear from Him. In this context, though, it was new because of the Aromatherapy portion. But, I trusted and believed that He would use my skills and my voice to bring life to the ladies during this very laborious session.
I’m not going to share the names of the ladies that I meet with, but they have given me permission to share about the blends and what God has said and done through these EOs.
The Bible is clear in that we are made up of Flesh, Mind, and Spirit.
Holistic Aromatherapy considers all parts of the person.
Galatians has quite a bit to say about the flesh. In the NIV there are 163 scripture passages talking about the mind and over 500 talking about the spirit (of course, this is all of the times spirit is mentioned, not just about our spirit, but the Holy Spirit as well). When a holistic aromatherapist considers the EOs to use in a blend they are thinking about this trinity of mind, body, and spirit. This occasion was not different. As I began considering each person, God told me what to put in their blend. I honestly had no idea why each oil was chosen, just that they were. Red mandarin was the ONLY EO that they all had in common.
#1 Juniper Berry, Rose, Red Mandarin
#2 Cape chamomile, frankincense, lemon, red mandarin
#3 Myrrh, immortelle, sandalwood, red mandarin
#4 Cedarwood Virginia, cypress, rosemary, red mandarin
#5 Eucalyptus, Pine, red mandarin
Each blend was titled “Becoming (person’s name)”Each of these blends is as individual as the ladies they were created for. After I figured out what was going into each blend, He immediately told me what to tell them. The words were simple:
#1 You are Joy, Trust, and Emotion
#2 You are Trusted and Grounded
#3 You are Open, Soft, and Forgiving
#4 You are Trusting, Love, and In Flux
#5 You are Trust (not trusting or trusted…just trust) and Fearless
But the meanings were so DEEP! I gave out the blends before we began discussing the lesson (I’m pretty sure I saw some tears). To each one I gave a small bottle of the undiluted blend that they could put a few drops onto the felt in a diffuser necklace that I gave them and I also gave each one a roller ball ready to apply to the heart and forehead. I instructed them that any time they need a reminder of who they are in Christ to apply the blend and when they are praying or working through study at home they can diffuse. Consider the Old Testament when the Levites would burn incense to symbolically raise their prayers to heaven….same concept. I also told them that because these were blends of EOs that depending on what was going on they may detect different scents at different times and this is completely normal.
After we wept, stumbled, angered our way through the session I asked if anyone would be interested in sharing what God had revealed to them through their blends and words. Everyone was eager.
#1- her blend has the ability to bring profound spiritual ease, promote self-love and nurturing, heal emotional wounds, and open her heart and purify. It can help her restore trust and relieve worry and unpleasant memories. It also can breathe happiness, childlike feelings, and offer love and protection.
This spoke very deeply to her. She comes from a background of sexual abuse, witchcraft, and an overbearing mother. All of the EOs in this blend spoke specifically to her and offers the support that she needs. She shared that she even broke down weeping tears of joy as she contemplated God’s goodness (this is huge for someone who is mostly stoic)
#2- her blend has the ability to be spiritually cleansing. It can ease mental chatter, clear the mind, relieve nervous tension, counteract agitation and anger,and alleviate emotional fears. It can help her to find ways to cut ties with the past that block her personal growth. It also can breathe happiness, childlike feelings, and offer love and protection.
Unfortunately, this is the lady that dropped out, so I’m not sure how the blend affected her. It was delivered, though, and I’m trusting that God is doing amazing things in her.
#3- her blend has the ability to bring inner stillness and peace, calm mental chatter, bring serenity, and can unite the physical and spiritual parts of her being. It is for those who have become too cerebral, seek quietness, youth, and the ability to disperse embedded repression. It is for those who have difficulty expressing their anger, despair and deep wounding. It also can breathe happiness, childlike feelings, and offer love and protection.
This is the lady who ended up at urgent care. She has so much repressed emotion that it comes out of her skin! She shared with us that her mother was told, as a young child, that whenever something bad happened to her that she needed to have rhinoceros skin. Have you seen a rhino? Their skin is tough! Nothing can penetrate! That is what a beautiful, emotional, sensitive little girl was told to be! She, in turn, told her beautiful, emotional and sensitive girl to have rhino skin too! She has desperately tried to bury her emotions, and her body rebels against her when she does. **note- one of the EOs in her blend is Immortelle- this particular EO is excellent for skin conditions…WHAT?! Almost like God knew what He was doing.
#4- This blend can bring clarity to your thoughts, wisdom, and can strengthen life within. It can help you transform negative situations into ones of strength and wisdom. It also can breathe happiness, childlike feelings, and offer love and protection.
This energetic lady is the kind of person that, if you allow it to, will make you exhausted just talking to her. She is ELECTRIC! (her body even shorts out electronic devices so she cannot wear watches, Fitbits, etc. for more than a month before they die) She comes from a rough background, though, and has “powered through” more than most people face in an entire life. The thing that was interesting about this blend were the words that God spoke. I was taken aback by what He declared about her: “in flux” sounded so harsh! A couple of days after the fact I had a conversation with her about this. I was so put out that I had to look up what ‘flux’ meant. According to dictionary.com flux = fluid. She was NOT convinced. She was so sure that God saw her the way that she saw herself, that flux meant “a plastic bag tossed about by the wind.” That is not so. God sees her as electricity flowing. When an electric circuit is open, the energy can flow (if she is open to God then He is able to flow through her). It completely changed her mindset and she is starting to embrace how electric He has created her.
#5- her blend can cleanse any conflict or negative energy, restore vitality, positivity, endurance and strength. It can help her replace undue guilt with forgiveness and self-acceptance and revive her spirit. I can assist her as she seeks letting go of feeling responsible for actions, mistakes, and suffering, It also can breathe happiness, childlike feelings, and offer love and protection.
I have known this particular lady for YEARS! This blend encompasses her amazing personality beautifully. God is doing amazing things in her life, opening her eyes to her potential in Christ, and building her into a mighty force to be reckoned with. She said that for many days after we met, she felt stuck and unable to move forward with the study and the blend, along with her prayers, allowed her to move forward.
This is NOT the End
I am so thrilled that God moved in this way. I cannot begin to tell you how much I am honored that He chose me to help bring healing to the ladies that I do life with each week. God created each one of us exactly how He wants us to be. It’s hard for us to see that as beautiful because of the fallen nature of our world, but being with these ladies each week, vulnerable and honest, building each other up in Christ, calling each other out when needed, trusting God to lead and guide, IS beautiful.
YOU are beautiful.
You ARE beautiful.
You are BEAUTIFUL.
Let that sink in. In our ‘Becoming’ maybe we need to begin seeing ourselves as God sees us and believe Him when he says we are Joy, Trust, Emotion, Trusted, Grounded, Open, Soft, Forgiving, Trusting, Love, In Flux, Trust, and Fearless. (Cue “The Breakfast Club” closing credits)
As always, if you have any questions please feel free to post them below or send me a message. Always consult with a Registered Aromatherapist before using any essential oil blend of if you have questions.
References
Battaglia, S. (2003). The complete guide to aromatherapy (second ed.). Brisbane QLD, Australia: The International Centre of Holistic Aromatherapy.
Eldredge, S. (2013). Becoming myself: Embracing god’s dream of you. Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook.