A few of my pictures lately...enjoy!

^{For the director of music. A psalm of David. A song.
1} Praise awaits you, our God, in Zion;
to you our vows will be fulfilled.

² You who answer prayer,
to you all people will come.
³ When we were overwhelmed by sins,
you forgave our transgressions.

⁴ Blessed are those you choose
and bring near to live in your courts!
We are filled with the good things of your house,
of your holy temple.

⁵ You answer us with awesome and righteous deeds,
God our Savior,
the hope of all the ends of the earth
and of the farthest seas,

⁶ who formed the mountains by your power,
having armed yourself with strength,
⁷ who stilled the roaring of the seas,
the roaring of their waves,
and the turmoil of the nations.

⁸ The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders;
where morning dawns, where evening fades,
you call forth songs of joy. Psalm 68:1-8

The Healing Power of Touch

I may be biased in part while writting about the power of TOUCH, being that my number one love language is in fact TOUCH, but please hear me out on this and take a little adventure with me...

Let's begin with this pivitol fact that God created us with 5 senses; to hear, see, smell, taste and TOUCH. Why do we have these 5 senses? They allow us to take in information, share information and communicate. Each of these senses have many different faucets to them which make them very unique and vital to how we navigate through our lives as they unfold. Through these senses whether it be positive or negative, information is communicated to our mind, body and soul which in turn shapes our beliefs, forms our opinions and influences our decisions. Check this out, it seems to me that the very first sense we get to experience is with TOUCH...

Psalm 139:13-16 (NLT) 13 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14 Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. 15 You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. 16 You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.

God, our creator knit, formed and wove us together in our mother's womb, He was first to TOUCH us! Through His creative and gentle TOUCH we were made! How cool is that!So what is it about TOUCH that affects our entire world? It affirms us, it comforts us, and it has the power to heals us. From the very moment that we come into this world the way we recieve TOUCH, give TOUCH and even how seldom or often we receive TOUCH will shape our world. Our mental, emotional and physical health actually depends highly on our experience with TOUCH. It has been proven that children who grow up with a lack of frequent and tender touch will not develop correctly be more insecure and have low self confidence. TOUCH actually releases endorphins in our brain and essentially helps us feel good. Just ask a physcologist, chiropractor or massage thereapist and they will all tell you how essential TOUCH is to our over all well-being. It is proven to reduce a person's heart rate, lower blood pressure, reduce stress, increase whit blood cells, ease pain, generate hope and heal! Jesus must have know this truth all to well or why else would He have said over and over again when referring to healing to lay our hands on the sick, then we will see them recover!

Mark 16:17-18 And these signs will accompany those who believe...they will lay hands on the sick and they will recover.

So truth be told I myself am a personal witness to the healing power of TOUCH. About 10 yrs ago God rescued me from a spiralling pit leading to none other then death. At that time in my life I was so closed off to TOUCH to the point where my sister when introducing me to people in church she would say, "this is my sister and she does not shake hands," so that no one would try to TOUCH or even hug me. Ha! how funny, now I am so addicted to hugs! Since that time of rescue numerous times the breakthrough, growth and freedom I so desperately was in search of came through a simple TOUCH or hug. I began to discover that all along my number one love language is TOUCH. Through this healing the passion I have always for massage began to come back to life. While I give massage I love to just allow Holy Spirit, Jesus, and Papa God lead me and allow them to encounter that person! I give Him my hands in an act of worship and service, through this His healing TOUCH is then released through my hands. Massage is something that has always come natural to me and something that sparks a passion in my heart! Those of you that know me well my interest in massage is no surprise to you, and those of you who do not, here is a little insight into my world :-)

Our good good God has opened the doors for me to go to massage school! I am so excited and a bit scared all wrapped into one. I have wanted this for years and years! It is exciting because it is a dream being fulfilled and scary because it still requires me to jump of the cliff in faith that resources, finances and the time that I need to complete this school will be provided and worked out. I attended my first class on Wednesday the 16th and my expected graduation date is October 8th!

Thanks to all of you who say Amen! to this pursuit. Teruah