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"The thistle is a prickly flower, aye, but how it is sweetly worn."

Sunday, July 27, 2014

On putting my money where my mouth is



I once blogged about giving of the fat of our lives and how that might have looked for me a couple years ago.  My 2012 theme was contentment seeking to reject more wordly things so I could give more.  Many clergy have sought this life through monasteries and such for years, so this is hardly profound.  But it's hard- In some ways, I have rejected some of these things, but other things seem to constantly fill their place.  I daily fight the urge to serve 2 masters.

I've justified that different ways.  For a long time I justified it because I was so busy being Christ's hands and feet to so many needy children at my previous school.  And looking back- as hard as that was and as much as I poured into loving them- I don't think I was completely wrong in that.  But I've since moved schools, so the emotional and physical sacrifice is different.

I also justified that because I was a single mom with a pretty dead beat ex husband.  Doing it all on my own was really hard in every way, including financially.  I worked really hard to give back the ways that I did, and I do think that the Lord understood.  But that excuse is also now null and void because the Lord has provided Jude and I an amazing husband/father figure who provides help for us in so many ways.

Currently, I do tithe to my church most of my 10% that I make.  The rest of that 10% I put towards sponsoring a child through Compassion International.  I do think that's an awesome thing to do.  I'd like to think that's enough.  And then I read books like Radical or Kisses for Katie, and I wonder if it really is.  Is minimum really good enough?  I mean Christ wandered homeless basically to share truth with the world.  Paul was in chains most of his ministry it seemed like.  Am I really being a good steward?  I just don't really know.  I know I've struggled with budgeting- but I don't need *more* money.  I need to use what I have better.  And I do want to do more.  I want to break the chains that tie me to materialism.  I don't want to need what this world offers.

Recently, the Lord has provided this little side job of sharing oils.  Now, lets not pretend that I make much more than some spending cash on it, because I don't.  But I make something- it's nice to have.  It's also not a need.  So I am committing this extra cash to The Lord.  For now, it's not so hard to give this little bits to him.  Maybe one day it will get harder.  But honestly, the Lord created this whole knowledge, opportunity, everything, so it's honestly His business.  Not mine at all.  (this is always the case...)  So anyway, I just want to say publicly so that I can be held accountable- Money I make off of Young Living oils will be given to a specific cause each month.  I'm going to share the cause each month hoping that I can keep myself on top of it.  And who knows- it could be fun to share what The Lord does with this!

So for this month I gave my $50 to Catholic Charities of Dallas to help with the unaccompanied minors entering our state.  If you aren't aware of the increasingly insane numbers of Latin American children coming across our borders with no families, you need to be.  It's incredibly sad to think about the amount of tragedy these children have experience and continue to experience.  I am hopeful to find more hands on ways to help these children.  Really, I'd just like to find a way to give them my extra bedroom!  But for now, I will be satisfied with donating.  (and if you know of a way I can help out more please let me know!)

I am so thankful The Lord provided oils for my healing and pray He can use this small sum to heal others!

If you would like more info about Young Living Essential Oils, email me at rinehartash@gmail.com or find me on facebook at Ashley Sitton to be invited to an online class myself and a friend are doing on July 31st.

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Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Why Young Living won my oily heart

Not oil related- but lovely nonetheless

So I am sold on Young Living these days.  For me, there is just so many reasons I feel 100% comfortable with using these in my home.  I came to that conclusion because that's where I felt the research led me.  I really, really encourage all people to do their own research, but I am going to share some of my main reasons for choosing Young Living Essential Oils.

1- Over 20 years of history in the oil business.  I like this because after a generation, one can tell if there are going to be any adverse effects.  Young Living has been around long enough to know if there is a problem with their oils.  I find that incredibly reassuring to know that they have been truly tested over time.


2.  Years of research.  Research which actually other companies quote.  The frankincense's effect on cancer cells research was done (and is continuing to be done) using Young Living frankincense.  This doesn't mean that other company's frankincense is bad.  But there is a certain comfort in knowing that you know that you know this frankincense has been actually studied as helping with cancer.  And that's just one example.  Most of the research is shared as fact by other companies- it's just what I have found is that the research is based on Young Living oils- and other companies are just repeating their info.
*this is actually the biggest reason I went with Young Living


3.  Effectiveness.  Big oils like the immune boosting blends, peppermint, the pain blends were just more effective.  No they don't always smell as sweet or taste as sweet as other brands- but they work better, and I think that's important.  I've also noticed over time that the effects of the Young Living oils seem to last longer than others.  I felt like for pain especially, I had to reapply and reapply and reapply previously.  But with Young Living, the amounts of time between reapplication are longer.


4.  Emotional research + options.  The amount of blends Young Living has for emotional related issues is intense.  Blending oils is a tricky business- and not something an amateur can always effectively do.  With other oils, I had to blend more on my own.  With Young Living, most of them have already been expertly blended for me.  No guessing on the effective and correct amounts of each oil or which oil to put in first (because all these little details make a HUGE difference).  And Young Living is doing an incredible amount of research with emotions and oils- there is an entire kit out new this year about this very thing!  The research and testimonies on it are amazing.  And again, instead of guessing on it yourself, Young Living did the research for you.


5.  Health research + options.  I don't know as much about this, but there are multiple blends Young Living has that target major body systems: heart, muscles, liver, immune system.  I actually tried mixing up my own blend for heart flutters from anxiety.  Which is ok, but it was a total guessing game.  Young Living, again, took the guessing out.  A lot of the oils are ones I put in my blend, but unlike my blend, it is blended with wisdom and knowledge about oils.


6.  Seed to Seal.  This just means that Young Living isn't paying someone else for their oils.  They plant the seeds, grow the seeds, harvest, distill, bottle the entire thing themselves.  Now I am not going to be as die hard about this one simply because I am more of an 'empower the local' person.  And in many ways, this might be the one thing I differ with YL about.  But I will say I like that Young Living is truly an essential oil company in every sense of the word- not just a distributor of oils if that makes sense.


7.  Payment plan.  If you are interested in the business side, I actually think Young Living is more profitable.  For one thing, you make $30 more with Young Living for each person who signs up.  Previously, I would have had to really 'build my pyramid' to do much with it.  Which isn't what I really wanted to do.  I love sharing oils with people, but I have no interest in strategizing some hierarchy plan.  Young Living much more would work for someone like me who likes sharing, but isn't looking to do much with it full time.  I could actually do more than possibly (on a good day) break even!


8.  Research on frequencies.  Young Living studies body frequencies a ton.  I don't understand this completely yet.  However, they studied the frequency of a person who was feeling joy, determined the number, and then set out to create a blend that had the same frequency as a person feeling joy.  Thus you have the Joy blend.  That is amazing to me.  They didn't just blend oils that produce euphoric feelings, there was a mathematical reasoning behind it.  Powerful!


9.  Young Living did it first.  There are plenty of other oil companies now.  Some are perfectly fine and safe.  Some you should use with caution.  But all of them came After Young Living.  And the more I look at other companies, the more I see them compare themselves to Young Living.  Young Living is the standard, the original, and all these other companies are setting themselves up to compete with Young Living.  There might be great things about other companies, but Young Living still started it.  Personally, I prefer the original.


10.  Research.  I just want to repeat that one.  My research confirmed that this was the right company, and I continue to come back amazed with the research that backs this company up.  Even precaution wise.  Young Living has really introduced me to the importance of using precaution with oils and little ones and which ones can cause an adverse reaction.  I can't imagine not knowing this information!   And I certainly can't imagine sharing these with others without that information!


If you would like to know more about Young Living's kit, scroll back because there are posts and posts on my opinions on the kit.  And if you are interested in learning more, email me at rinehartash@gmail.com or click the link to my facebook page Sweetly Worn Blog

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