With Winter weather comes the occasional cough. My family has found this homemade natural cough syrup to be very effective against a hacking cough. It combines the benefits of honey and essential oils to produce a yummy concoction that Mary Poppins would approve.
Honey can be the all-natural cure when it comes to pesky colds. A persistent cough that won’t go away can easily be remedied with two teaspoons of honey. Children with nighttime cough due to colds, cough less frequently when they receive two teaspoons of honey 30 minutes before bed. The golden liquid’s thick consistency helps coat the throat while the sweet taste is believed to trigger nerve endings that protect the throat from incessant coughing.
Add to honey’s curative properties the power of essential oils, and you create an effective deterrent for the persistent cough.
Lavender heals burns and cuts, relieves insomnia, reduces stress, is a powerful antihistamine, reduces inflammation, and soothes sunburn. Lavender is the number one essential oil to have in your survival kit.
Peppermint is one of the oldest and most highly regarded herbs for soothing digestion. Additionally, peppermint has been found to improve mental accuracy, and sooth the respiratory system. Peppermint essential oil is also a very effective natural painkiller and muscle relaxant. It is especially helpful in soothing an aching back, sore muscles, and melting away a tension headache.
Lemon oil has been used on colds, coughs and flu. It helps prevent spread of contagious infections and supports a weakened immune system. It supports the body with phlegm removal and helps decongestion as well as stimulating the lymphatic system and helping an overworked liver.
In the Bible, where it says incense. it refers to frankincense which comes from the boswella tree. It takes 40 years to produce one drop of oil. Frankincense supports the immune system, helps respiratory ailments, depression, and gout. The combination of honey and these essential oils will help bolster the immune system in its fight with the cold and flu season.
Why is it called Thieves? How Thieves essential oil got its name. Europeans began producing essential oils in the 12th century. During the Plague of the 15th century, certain thieves were able to rob the dead without fear of becoming infected by the terrible disease. After being captured and charged with robbing the dead and dying victims of the plague, the thieves were offered a deal. The magistrate offered them leniency if they would reveal how they managed to avoid contracting the dreaded infection, in spite of their close proximity with the infected corpses.
The thieves disclosed that they were perfumers and spice traders, and that they had rubbed themselves with a concoction of aromatic herbs (cinnamon, and clove). Young Living Essential Oils begins testing Thieves Blend, a proprietary combination of cinnamon, clove and rosemary essential oils for its potent antimicrobial properties. Thieves Blend was found to have a 99.6 percent kill rate against airborne bacteria.
The combination of honey and these essential oils will help bolster the immune system in its fight with the cold and flu season.
My kitchen windowsill is one of the busiest traffic patterns in my house. Just now it is hosting a jade tree rooting, a sourdough starter, two basil rootings, and three Colorado columbines started from seed.
My husband and I are intrigued by the invisible phenomena of wild yeast. We had not yet heard that there be “wild yeast” having only been introduced to the yeast found in little foil packets at the grocery store, so we set a trap to hunt the invisible guests floating though our airwaves.
Following information on Pinterest I mixed 1/4 cup vital wheat gluten with 1/4 cup distilled water. It was important to use filtered water as the chlorine in tap water kills the airborne yeast that we are trying to capture in the flour and water mixture. I didn’t have any cheesecloth, so I used a coffee filter secured with a rubber band on the jar mouth to keep marauding insects or dirt from harassing my wild yeast.
Sure enough, the next day saw our trap bubbling with yeasty bubbles. Of course, once captured I was responsible for feeding the little critters just like any other pet with a daily ration of ¼ flour and ¼ cup distilled water stirred into the existing concoction. I fed the mixture for seven days. The wild yeast needs food to digest every day to continue producing yeast.
My water distiller that I purchased years ago provided the filtered water needed. The aquifer that provides our town water is filled with minerals and then chlorinated by the city, so the distiller has been instrumental in providing water for drinking and hunting wild yeast.
Our counter top water distiller has saved us hundreds of dollars over the years. The average person drinks ½ gallon of water daily, so I figure that between my husband and myself we drink 365 gallons of water a year. If purchased, the water would cost about $325 a year. We’ve saved enough money distilling our own water to go on a safari to hunt wild yeast.
After 12-16 hours, scoop the sourdough mixture onto a well-floured counter and gently fold flour into dough until it does not stick to the floured surface. The outside of the dough should not be sticky although the middle dough may be somewhat sticky. This process may take up to 1 cup of flour. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes. Cool on wire rack before slicing.
After seven days of feeding, I removed ¼ cup of the yeast mixture, placed it in a clean jar, and fed it with ¼ cup flour and ¼ cup distilled water to start a new batch of sourdough, I placed the new starter in a warm counter location, and turned my attention to making bread.
I used the 4 Ingredient Sourdough Bread recipe from the Practical Stewardship blog. The recipe calls for ¼ cup of starter, 2 cups flour (and more for kneading), 1 ½ cup distilled water, and 1 teaspoon salt. Mix these four ingredients together in a glass bowl, cover with plastic or a dishtowel, and place in a warm spot overnight. The sourdough mixture will look somewhat sponge-like after rising overnight.
The remaining sourdough starter may be used as it is in recipes for waffles, pancakes, muffins, or disposed of if unneeded.
Powerful and effective intercession is the result of believers learning, and living, the principles of faith, obedience, and righteousness. Consider these ten qualities as you stand in the gap for others.
Come in Love
Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8). We cannot pray effectively or have any spiritual authority concerning anyone we do not love as God does. It’s the love of the Father that provides the needed perspective to pray for those who don’t know Him or can’t see Him. We may not like what others do or agree with their decisions, but God’s heart for them is unchanging and is always redemptive. Come in Faith
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him (Hebrews 11:6). Faith comes by reading, listening to, and embracing His Word. It comes as we worship and praise Him. It grows as we focus our heart and attention on what He has already accomplished in our lives. Getting rid of anxiety or fear and nurturing a faith that is unshakeable enables effective intercessors to move mountains and displace strongholds.
Come in Obedience
“If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you” (John 15:7). The fruit of our prayers is often determined by our own walk of obedience to His Word. He will entrust spiritual authority to those who follow through with His commands. Effective intercessors determine to walk in personal obedience and pray from that place of total surrender to His will and purpose.
Pray with proper authority
“I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over Me” (John 14:30). He was heard because of His reverent submission (Hebrews 5:7). Jesus had authority over the enemy because there was nothing the Accuser could bring against Him in the courts of heaven. Because Jesus was in submission to His Father and was free of sin and compromise, He had legal authority over the evil one. Intercession has enhanced power when one is submitted to God’s appointed spiritual authorities, both in heaven as well as on earth.
Pray for Holiness
Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14). Jesus is preparing for Himself a Bride that is without spot or wrinkle. His goal is to make us holy so that we might truly see Him and know Him. This may involve pruning and discipline, but we can pray with the assurance of His redemptive purpose in setting apart a people to display His glory and shatter the darkness.
Pray for the Heart
“The good man brings good things out of the good treasure of his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil treasure of his heart. For out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45). Ultimately, any sin issue is a heart issue. As we intercede for those struggling in sin and darkness, effective prayers will go straight to the heart, asking that it would be hungry and thirsty for Truth. Praying for this deep region of the soul can bring the Father’s healing touch and convert even the hardest of hearts.
Pray for Truth
“When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—He will testify about Me” (John 15:26). Truth is what sets the heart free. People are held captive by the Father of Lies. Lack of information and ignorance of God’s Word can be displaced when we pray for accurate facts and a clear presentation of Truth. Jesus is the Living Word that reveals the Heavenly Father’s heart to those searching for answers.
Pray for Right Agreements
Every matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses (2 Corinthians 13:1). There is power in agreement. Our spiritual adversary knows this and works to unite the ungodly in order to accomplish his plans. Godly prayers work when believers come into oneness of heart and spirit in order to resist the enemy’s schemes and stand firm in God’s righteous purposes. Spiritual power is multiplied where God finds agreement (Matthew 18:19, “If two of you agree on earth…”).
Pray for Tangible Evidence
My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power (1 Corinthians 2:4). Many who are lost and wandering are looking for evidence of a loving God. The church was birthed in signs, wonders, and miracles in order to display God’s power and love to those who were truly seeking. Effective intercessors believe that the power of God’s love should be experienced in personal and tangible ways. Prayers are offered with great expectation in a supernatural God who moves in love and power to give hope to a dying world.
Thank you, Wanda. To position your heart and mind to see powerful and lasting impact, you might want to study the words of Jesus. As a daily devotional you can order The Jesus Quest: Meditations on the Words of Jesus to focus your daily devotions.
I have a little black
book that’s filled with liaisons between the heart and palate. Only
4” x 6” it was given to me by my father before my first speech
meet. I was sixteen and performing Renaissance by
Edna St. Vincent Millay. As he gave it to me, I can still hear and see him
say, “You can use this, but I want it back when you’re finished.”
Figuratively, I guess
I never finished because I still have the handy little vinyl notebook, and it
still has the original typed copy of the poem that qualified me for the State
Speech Meet that year, but its uses have been transformed through the
years. It has become the residing place of all those special recipes
from friends and family. Many of them are called after the person
who gave them to me such as Sophie’s Vegetable Dip, Mom’s
Famous Yeast Rolls, and, of course, Rosalyn’s Resurrection
Chocolate.
My sister Rosalyn also
has multiple sclerosis, and in the last five years since the diagnosis has
consistently lost more use of her motor skills. MS, as it is
familiarly known, attacks the myelin sheath that surrounds the nerve paths to
and from the brain. When the sheath is eaten through, the nerve shorts out
and no longer carries the messages from the brain to other parts of the
body.
My sister Rosalyn is beautiful. Let me rephrase that. I have two sisters, and both of them are exquisitely beautiful. Both are younger than I, and both live far from Colorado. So the only time we get together is during holiday travels and special celebrations.
Rosalyn, besides being beautiful, is also fiercely independent. Although she must use a three-wheeled cart to carry her throughout the grade school where she works as a school secretary and must go to the mall in a wheel-chair, and must use a walker to walk, she refuses to give up the independence of going when she can go and doing when she can do. Her response is always, “Let me do it now; there may come a time when I can’t do it for myself.” — which brings me back to the Resurrection Chocolate.
When we arrived in
southern Oklahoma at her home, she had made us this luscious
dessert. Pecans are abundant in the neighborhood, and my nephew had
harvested them from the ground. Rosalyn had taken them to the pecan
crackers to make them easy to shell, and we had a grocery bag full as one of
our Christmas presents under the tree.
She had just finished
putting the filling on the pecan crust and slowly lowered herself back into her
wheelchair with a sigh. As she lifted her leg onto the footrest, I
noticed that her leg muscles began to twitch uncontrollably. Her
only comment was, “I stood too long.”
Truly, dessert that
night was a labor of love. So as I turn the pages of that old, vinyl
notebook, I relive each recipe in mind and heart. Here is a picture
of my father, handing me a plain black folder that has become a record of
memory; a picture of Thanksgiving bounty with the aroma of Mom’s yeast rolls
surrounding the family of my childhood; a picture of my sister’s lovely smile
as she says, “Let me do it while I can.”
Resurrection is a good
word—full of hope, expectation, rejoicing. Yes, I think I’ll name
it Rosalyn’s Resurrection Chocolate—an appropriate name for a labor
of love. After all, the other Resurrection was also the result of a
labor of love.
Rosalyn’s Resurrection Chocolate
Ingredients:
½ cup butter
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup flour
8 oz cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
1 small 1 oz package chocolate pudding
3 cups cool whip
Directions:
Mix butter, pecans and flour. Press into a 9×12 baking pan and bake at 350 degrees until set.
Cream the powdered sugar and cream cheese together and spread over cooled crust.
Mix pudding according to package directions and add cool whip to pudding.
Spread pudding mixture over crust and cream cheese.
Welcome to Country Parson's Wife, I'm Dr. Mary Ellen, author, teacher and wife of a country pastor for 50 years. My blog is dedicated to a lifestyle built on faith, family, simplicity and self-sufficiency that enhances the health, peace, beauty and industry of our homes and gardens.
My prayer is that you be encouraged and propelled into the abundant life God has prepared for you.
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