Prayer is our connection with God. It lifts the heavy burdens off of the soul who is tired and weary. It brings fresh hope and speaks new life into the heart of man. Prayer keeps us trusting and keep us humble. True prayer forces me to let go of control and walk in humility. It plants hope and purpose in my soul and gives me new eyes to see the beauty of who God is.
My challenge to you is for just a moment to stop scrolling through your newsfeed and spend these next few minutes in prayer. What your soul needs is not more updates, "likes" and hash-tags it needs a connection with the living God. It needs that constant daily source of living water to flow fresh through your veins. You don't need one more thing to add to your to do list. You just need to "be" with your Father. To go with Him where He goes and to stop for just a moment to listen to His voice.
Intentional prayer isn't done on the fly or in the shower. It's done in the stillness and quietness of your soul. Where its just you and your Father. It's there where you hear His voice more clearly.
Disconnect to reconnect with God. It's really quite simple. Now, get off of here and go spend time with your Father. He desires to breathe His life into you today.
Adult Acne.
Gross....
I say this from personal experience.
It's embarrassing, frustrating and at times it feels hopeless. Why am I almost 30 and for the last 11 years my face has been breaking out like a 13 year old going through puberty...
Take this pill, it will clear your acne up for the most part, but it will make your body very sensitive to the sun and make your arms and hands tingle all over. Oh, and when you try to get off this pill, your acne will breakout worse than before you got in it. So good luck being on an antibiotic the rest of your life....:/
Or wait, try this creme it will make those acne scars disappear, but oh by the way, it makes your skin EXTREMELY dry and when you sweat on your face a rash will break out.
These were only a few of the frustrations that I dealt with as an adult who suffered from mild/moderate acne on and off for the last 11 years of my life.
I asked my dermatologist questions like, there has to be a root cause to this, are we addressing the root cause of the issue or just masking the problem with antibiotics? Or, am I going to need to be on antibiotics for the rest of my life? That doesn't seem good for my body....
In a round about way she told me that we weren't addressing the root problem, but that hopefully through antibiotics the problem would eventually go away. I didn't care for that answer having been on antibiotics now for two years and when I tried to go off of them my face broke out like pepperoni pizza.
So, I decided to go the holistic route. I met with a holistic health practitioner and she and I for about a year tackled this issue. We figured out some interesting things that modern medicine neglected to tell me in the dermatologist office.
1. Most adult acne sufferers issues come from within the gut due to an overgrowth of candida. It's not a hormonal issue. My issue stemmed from my liver. Therefore, I'm on supplements that target healthy liver balance. It was remarkable to me the difference I saw in my skin once I got on liver supplements.
2. I also realized at least for me that gluten and sugar seem to make my skin breakout (lots of holistic nutritionists will tell you the same for acne sufferers) Therefore, I avoid them, because it seems like every time I have them my face breaks out. I hope to eventually start re-introducing gluten back into my diet, but for now as I figure things out I'm avoiding it. This means I really don't eat much fruit anymore either, maybe once or twice a week. I hope to slowly start adding fruit back in and see how my skin reacts. I just started in with no sugar or fruit a couple of months ago and noticed a change in my skin when I did it. A lot of this is trial and error. You have to pay attention to your skin and how you're eating.
I might have some sweet or baked good once every two weeks. I also don't eat overly processed foods. I eat a holistic diet 90% percent of the time.
3. I used to get 2-3 breakouts every couple of days. Now I get 1-3 every couple of weeks. To me, that is worth being off crazy medicine that gives you weird side effects and doesn't fix the root problem.
4. I also take a zinc supplement as well.
5. For about a year I cut out dairy too, but have slowly started reintroducing that back into my diet. Mostly through keifer yogurt which I have about 1/2 cup everyday now. This is full of probiotics and is GREAT for gut integrity.
6. I DO NOT WASH MY FACE ANYMORE. Yes, its true. I use this regimen instead.
-at night I wash my face off with hot water, wipe with a towel, then I take a mixture of Bragg's apple cider vinegar and water that I made and (1 cup purified water, 1 cup ACV) put that on a cotton ball and use that to cleanse my face. I'm not kidding this stuff is pure gold. When I had a breakout before it would 1-2 weeks to not be noticeable anymore, where now with this its almost gone in 1-3 days. It's remarkable.
-after cleansing with ACV I turn on my oven, stick my face inside so that it gets hot and take a small amount of Nutiva Organic coconut oil and use that to moisturize my face. Why the oven? Because Coconut oil isn't a liquid its a solid that has to be heated so if I didn't have a hot face it wouldn't melt and spread, plus it opens up my pours a lot better.
-in the morning I use a mixture of Trader Joe's raw honey, fresh squeezed lemon and cinnamon. I wash my face off with hot water, wipe with a towel, put my mixture on and let it sit for 10-20 min. Then I wipe that off!
-Lastly, after my honey mask I put on a daily moisturizer made by Aubree organics. You can find it at your local health food store. It's great stuff!
My face has never looked clearer. My acne scars are going away (I've had some of these for YEARS) and my face is no longer oily like it used to be. And I'm getting less breakouts then ever!
Is it hard work, sure! It's not fun giving up certain foods, but to me the change in diet and my routine for cleansing my face is totally worth it.
I was hesitant to share about my journey. Mostly, because of my pride. Admitting to having acne as an adult can be humiliating, but I'm hoping that maybe someone who is in the spot that I was in a year ago might benefit from stepping away from conventional medicine and really try to tackle the root issue of their acne. Now, I'm not saying that what I did will work for you, but maybe trying a few things would. It's a lot of trial and error and its a very long process. It's a process that I'm still in when it comes to figuring out my diet, but I'm certainly in a MUCH better spot and for the first time feel like I've got things under control.
I'm praising God for that. We shouldn't be surprised that He would give us the cure to certain ailments naturally!
As always consult your doctor before starting any new regimens. There are some great holistic health practitioners that can give you some great guidance, because what worked for me, may not work for you.
If you feel like just watching a great video about what I just said. Here's one that really helped me. Dr. Axe (4 Secrets to Cure Acne Forever) It's pretty much what I follow!
