Getting Up when Life Knocks You Down (Part 1): Rallying Support, Family Time & Setting a Spiritual Foundation – Podcast Episode 30

Natural Living Family Podcast, Episode 30Transcript: Getting Up When Life Knocks You Down (part 1): Rallying Support, Family Time & Setting a Spiritual Foundation

The contents of this presentation are for informational purposes only and are not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. This presentation does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.

 

[0:00 – 0:59] Prelude- Rallying Support, Family Time & Setting a Spiritual Foundation

Mama Z: One thing I think it’s really important for people to realize, is many times things aren’t as bad as we think they are.

Dr. Z: Amen. It is reality.

Mama Z: And we can’t see what God sees. I remember being up in the airplane. And we travel a lot. And God just brought that to my attention like right there. Like He’s like, look at all this. You can’t even pick your house out of all of where you’re at right now.

Dr. Z: Yep.

Mama Z: But I see things from even a higher view. I see the start. I see the finish. And everything in between.

Dr. Z: You have a God perspective. Okay, how do you get a God perspective?

Mama Z: You have to take a step back.

Dr. Z: What am I showing you on my phone?

Mama Z: You’re showing me Isaiah 54.

Dr. Z: Yeah, let me read the Bible.

Mama Z: I told you. What’s your favorite thing when I say it to you?

Dr. Z: How do you get a God perspective?

Mama Z: You read the Bible.

Dr. Z: That is the answer.

 

[1:00 – 1:39] Intro

Dr. Z: Hi, this is Dr. Z.

Mama Z: And Mama Z. And welcome to episode 30 of The Natural Living Family Podcast.

Dr. Z: Each week, we invite you into our home to talk about how you can master the art and science of natural living. And we share the same tips our family uses every day to enjoy an abundant life. And you’re going to love today’s talk.

Mama Z: So, come on it and get comfortable. After all, you are one of the family. Our natural living family.

Dr. Z: But before we dive into all the fun today, we’re excited to share special note about today’s sponsor.

 

[1:40 – 2:00] Sponsor Spotlight: Thrive Market

Mama Z: As a special gift to our Natural Living Family Podcast listeners, Thrive Market is giving you twenty-five percent off your first order.

Dr. Z: Plus, a free thirty-day trial. Simply go to NaturalLivingFamilyPodcast.com to find the special link so you can redeem this deal on the show notes from today’s episode.

 

[2:01 – 9:07] Diffuser Reveal: Coco Love

Dr. Z: Bum, bum, bum. I am so excited about today. Welcome, everyone, to the show. Because we’re going to be talking about getting up when life knocks you down. And as of right now, this is definitely going to be a two-parter. We’ve already done a couple two parts this summer.

Mama Z: See he came up with this one. Usually he blames the two-parters on me.

Dr. Z: I usually do. So, we have a lot of good things. I mean, July has been, like the summer has been the two part summer. We had detoxing your home in your life, two parts. It was part one, part two. That was in July 8th and 15^th. And then Episodes 25th and 26th. And then, we kind of skipped a two-parter. We talked about pursuing your dreams when facing opposition. And then we did a two-parter on detoxing your emotions, Episode 28 and 29.

So, this is on the heels of detoxing your emotions. But you know, we want to pursue this idea of pursuing your dreams when facing opposition. But what happens when life knocks you down? So, I think there’s a lot of overlap. So, in the middle of these detoxing two-parters, if you noticed, we are trying to mix the practical with the spiritual, with just how to live life every day. Be sure to listen to episode 27. I hope that blesses you because it really blessed me.

Mama Z: Yeah, you’re still talking about it. I didn’t even know it was Episode 27. I know which one you were talking.

Dr. Z: It was powerful, pursuing your dreams when facing opposition. So, that really inspired me to come up with this topic, Getting Up When Life Knocks You Down. Got lots to say.

Mama Z: Who inspired you? Excuse me?

Dr. Z: What this, Episode 27. I inspired me.

Mama Z: You said.

Dr. Z: What?

Mama Z: What are we going to talk about? And I said, I think it’s a great time to talk about this. Remember?

Dr. Z: Wait, you are taking credit for everything?

Mama Z: I’m not taking credit for everything. But I did come up with this one.

Dr. Z: You did.

Mama Z: Yes.

Dr. Z: What did you say, though?

Mama Z: I don’t know what I called it.

Dr. Z: Exactly.

Mama Z: But this was what it was.

Dr. Z: Yeah, yeah. I don’t know.

Mama Z: Yes, this is what it was.

Dr. Z: I don’t’ know.

Mama Z: When life happens.

Dr. Z: Yeah, you said, yeah, I don’t know.

Mama Z: And I was talking about the, oh, yeah Mister.

Dr. Z: Whatever. I’ll give you partial attribution.

Mama Z: Oh, listen. I might get a third credit over here.

Dr. Z: Yeah, anyway.

Mama Z: Listen to him.

Dr. Z: What’s in our diffuser?

Mama Z: All right. This is Coco Love. And I really put this together for you. And so, it has a drop of copaiba, a drop of rose. a drop of jasmine, a drop of cocoa, a drop of vanilla, and a drop of ylang ylang. There’s your favorite. I mean, I put it in there. And I was like, this smells like Eric’s cologne.

Dr. Z: I love it. And it looks great if you’re watching this on YouTube or Facebook. You could see the beautiful floral arrangement. You got to brag on this. And I’m sorry for those listening to the podcast, you can’t see what she put together here. But what do you have in here?

Mama Z: This is so this is a completely edible bouquet except for the cannas.

Dr. Z: From our garden.

Mama Z: From the garden.

Dr. Z: From our yarden. What do they call it? Yard, we’re an urban homestead.

Mama Z: This is are many different gardens it came from. So, we’ve got our rose. And this is an awesome edible rose. And it is like an orange and pink, which was my favorite. I remember when you surprised me with them. You came all the way to Midland when I was working on a project and you surprised me with a dozen of these kind of roses. It was so sweet.

Dr. Z: I’m awesome, like that.

Mama Z: Just ask you.

Dr. Z: Chris is just like…Chris is just smiling. Hey, man.

Hey, hold on a second. Should we talk about Reggie? when I went to that conference with him? Because guys got to listen and step up.

Mama Z: Okay, step up.

Dr. Z: Because I’m an influencer.

Mama Z: Yeah, yeah. Do it.

Dr. Z: I’m an influencer of good things. So, we’re at an event. My first time I’ve ever traveled with this man. He’s a good friend of ours. Reggie Black, who owns and runs Better Way Health and Beta Kids Supplement Companies. And we’re at this networking, marketing event in 2015. I remember because we’re stuck on a layover in John Wayne Airport in California. And I remember, just remembering, I wanted to bless you and Ester. So, I called the local florist, I’m like, “Hey, can you send over some flowers in the next couple hours to my wife?” And actually, I only did for you. Actually, I only did for you because he had to one up me. So, I sent you a beautiful bouquet. And he heard me. And he didn’t say anything. Again, we’re sharing a hotel room together.

Next thing, I know I get out of the shower and I can tell he’s just hanging up the phone. And he was talking about sending flowers. And he ended up sending it to his daughter Abigail too. So, he sent flowers to his wife. He totally took credit for it. He’s never done anything like that before. Reggie, if you’re listening, I’m calling you out on this. Amy, I take all the credit for all the flowers Reggie has ever given you.

Mama Z: Hey, he’s one of my sponsors for Mrs. America. Don’t make him mad, okay?

Dr. Z: I love you. But anyway, Chris is like, “Whoa, that’s a good idea.” But anyway, guys got to step up. We need to encourage and influence one another to bless our wives.

Mama Z: Well, I’ll tell you the best time was when I, and I can’t remember. I can’t remember if it was that, I was on bed rest, or it was just a long time that I was going to be out of time with the kids and stuff. But I was gone to Michigan and you had asked me like some weird questions. Like, where are you going to be at ten thirty, blah, blah, blah. And I’m like, “I don’t know. I’m probably going to go to the grocery store because I can only go,” if I was on bedrest, I could only do like one activity a day. Then I had to sleep multiple hours. So, I’m like, “I have no idea.” And so, then all of a sudden, not only was flowers there, but you were there with the flowers and gave them to me.

Dr. Z: Yeah, I crushed that too. God gives me these, I totally forgot about that. God gives me these ideas.

Mama Z: I still have those. I dried those. I dried all those. And I still have them in like a little sachet bag. And I dried them because, you know, going right into the dehydrator, they look perfect. Just like these.

So anyway, what else is in this amazing bouquet is I’ve got rosemary and lavender, sorrel. I’ve got echinacea. I’ve got heirloom carrots. So, it looks a lot like your Queen Anne’s Lace. But it doesn’t have like the middle flower, that’s a different color. And then we’ve got our cannas and we also have basil.

Dr. Z: Isn’t there a wildflower thing? Oh, that’s carrot?

Mama Z: Yeah, that’s heirloom carrot.

Dr. Z: I had no idea. Can you eat that? Does it taste like carrots?

Mama Z: There’s carrots in the garden, honey.

Dr. Z: Like this is the flowers of the carrot?

Mama Z: Yeah.

Dr. Z: I have no idea. Hold on, I can eat this?

Mama Z: Yeah. We make jelly out of that. It’s just like Queen Anne’s lace. Yeah.

Dr. Z: It has a carrot-y flavor to it. Ha! I love it.

 

[9:08 – 14:04] Mama Z’s Upcoming Gardening Class

Dr. Z: Hey, go to MamaZGardening.com. Go to MamaZGardening.com because we are still wrapping up her summer blowout. We had to liquidate all of the inventory because we are getting ready for—

Mama Z: Yes, the next one, the master class.

Dr. Z: Chris, how close are we getting done to this gardening class? Are we getting close?

Chris: Within a few weeks.

Dr. Z: Few weeks.

Mama Z: Awesome.

Dr. Z: You guys and gals are going to love this. This is next level. Like you’ve never seen anything like this ever in the history of the internet. You are going to love this. Anyway, go to MommaZGardening. You can actually eat this?

Mama Z: Yeah. And this is actually pineapple sage.

Dr. Z: I’m not going to get sick.

Mama Z: No, honey, you keep eating it. And when you make jelly out of this, you steep it like a tea. Then you strain off the flowers and do all kinds of amazing stuff. And that’s what we gave for our wedding.

Dr. Z: It’s earthy.

Mama Z: As the gift to everybody that came.

Dr. Z: This isn’t Queen Anne’s Lace though.

Mama Z: It’s in the same family. Yes, it is. It really is. Yes.

Dr. Z: I’m not arguing that. Okay, I get it. This is cool. I love it.

Mama Z: Yeah. So, I have pineapple sage.

Dr. Z: I’m just eating your bouquet here. And I can eat this flower, this rose petal?

Mama Z: Yes. I make you tea.

Dr. Z: This is edible. She says everything is edible.

Mama Z: Everything is edible except for the cannas.

Dr. Z: What happens if I eat that?

Mama Z: I’ve never eaten those. I don’t know if they are edible or not but don’t do it.

Dr. Z: So, here is the thing about eating a rose. It’s kind of like just a novelty.

Mama Z: No, it isn’t.

Dr. Z: It’s like, “Eh, I’m eating a rose.”

Mama Z: No, these, I spent a day.

Dr. Z: It doesn’t taste at all, like it smells. It’s like bait and switch.

Mama Z: Eat a rose. Our friend, Jim Long, wrote a book called Eat a Rose.

Dr. Z: They are really bitter. I’m eating roses right now. Anyway, I’m just like grazing. I love it.

Mama Z: You sure can.

Dr. Z: You did great with that. It’s just beautiful. I’m just bragging on you. And then I end up bragging on me. And then we brag on Jesus because ultimately God’s given us…

Here’s the thing you all, when getting up when life knocks you down, God has given you the creativity to enjoy all the seasons of life. And this Podcast is going to help you, inspire you, and it might seem like we are just rambling, which we kind of are to be honest with you. But we’re giving you little tips along the way of how we are dealing because we’ve kind of been knocked down lately. Life just knocked us down a little bit. And we know how to do things, and how to support each other, how to love each other. Whether it is buying each other flowers or picking wildflowers. What was it? Elijah? When we were in Michigan a couple of weeks ago.

Mama Z: Yeah.

Dr. Z: He just picked up some random weeds that look kind of colorful and give it to Mama, like, “Here’s a little bouquet.” That’s the kind of stuff the kids have always seen in me. I’ve raised them to do that kind of thing. And Sabrina does it to another level with her beautiful garden. But this is how you enjoy life and how to get it. You have to something to live for. You have to have little wins. You have to have little…I don’t want to use the word, what is it? The clouds, and streaks, and you know, whatever. You know, I’m saying the streaks in the clouds? Or help me out. I’m struggling here. Struggling here.

Mama Z: Yeah, you have to have the little wins.

Dr. Z: You know what I’m talking about Christopher? The phrase like you look for whatever in the clouds? Look for?

Chris: The silver lining in the clouds?

Dr. Z: Yes. So, yes, awesome. You need to always look for the silver linings in the clouds and you need to be able to appreciate what God has put around you.

Mama Z: And God’s beauty, as well.

Dr. Z: It’s such a big part of it.

Mama Z: Because like, there is seed time and harvest.

Dr. Z: Yes.

Mama Z: And a lot of times when we’re sowing so much into our kid’s lives, and to you know, your business, and trying to keep everything balanced and all of that stuff. You really have to take time and be grateful for the things that you have. Because you know, I mean our gardens outside are just, they look amazing right now. And it’s so cool because you know, when our work guys were out there, they were like, “Wow, your backyard has come to a new level. Like this is amazing.”

And just all of the different plants, and the squashes, and all the food back there, not to mention to the flowers. We have thousands of plants. And so, it’s really fun to see, you know, every day something different. And now that the kids are trained more, they don’t usually go out and pick my flowers out there. Because it may or may not be time for certain things like that. They will do just like, Elijah did, he went into the open field when they were playing games and picked me all kinds of flower. That was so sweet. Then he gave them to me and then he gave them to my mom. And my mom put them into water. It was a double-gifted gift, and we all appreciated it.

Dr. Z: Yeah, and Ester did those. She got those two rocks that were flat, that kind of pushed together. And then she picked wildflowers. And it was really cool.

Mama Z: She like pressed them. And then it was almost like a vase to it.

 

[14:05 – 17:22] How to Get Up When Life Knocks You Down

Dr. Z: So, how do you get up when life knocks you down? We’re going to talk about two things. Setting a spiritual foundation, that is absolutely key. And I want to read the entire Chapter of Isaiah 54. And most people don’t think of Isaiah 54. Most people, most Christians always go back to Isaiah 53 when it talks about Christ dying for our sins and being the lamb led to the slaughter. And you know, by His stripes you are healed. And you know, there are some really famous well quoted verses in Isaiah 53. But man, God doesn’t let go. Isaiah 54 is just as powerful. And we’re going to bring that to light.

And also, setting yourself up for happiness. And that’s something why are we talking about flowers, and kids, and gardening. Because you know, when you set yourself for happiness, having a support system, making sure you have family time, doing things like gardening or making sure you have beautiful things around your house. That helps you get up when life knocks you do. It’s the little things.

Mama Z: And you know, it’s also really important that, you know, I remember my favorite Pastor said, you know, “Flies don’t land on hot stoves.” And if you watch them, they do not land on hot stoves, literally. So, you take that example when things are going awry around you. You really have to press in more to God and be as on fire for God as you possibly can. Sometimes that is fasting. And somethings, you know, you just have to keep yourself free and really submitted to the Lord. And consecrated. That’s a word that a lot of people don’t talk about. But it’s really important. We are set apart. And we’re all called according to a purpose. We all have different gifts in the body of Christ, you know. We’re all part of the body of Christ. So, we’re all different body parts, so to speak. I like to think that you know, I’m not the armpit. But I could be.

But it’s really important to know what your place is. And know what to do when you get in those situations because if you’ve already pre-planned it. We always talk about proper planning. Well, it’s really important because I’ll tell you when we talked about it, you know a few podcasts ago. When all the things would go wild. Right before your midterms and finals when you’re in school, and all the stuff. I mean, having our laundry machine empty out through the toilet was not the best thing.

And when it happened the second time, you recognize the sounds that are not going right. And you immediately go and shut it off. So, you start to feel certain feelings when you know that, you know life could possibly knock you down. And you’ve got to put your barriers up even more so. And I think, you know, I was telling you last night. It’s kind of like when you’re about ready to have breakthrough. That’s why we really have to push through especially when we know that God’s doing something special in our life.

 

[17:23 – 19:55] Testimonials

Dr. Z: Hold that thought. Like we actually haven’t even officially started yet. Like I think we hit a record. We are like at sixteen minutes and we haven’t even done the testimonial and announcements.

Mama Z: So, you are cutting me off and now we are going to go to the testimonial.

Dr. Z: No, you are like, by the time we do this we are going to have to go to the sponsor.

Mama Z: I’m on fire for this, okay?

Dr. Z: Okay, you mentioned, you wanted to talk about pressing into the Lord. So, make a note, pressing into the Lord, that is what you want to talk about. So, that is your thing. But why do we have to read this testimonial? Why? Because it’s testimonial that we recently received, sets the tone for the entire discussion. By the way, I think we just broke the record for the longest prelude introduction to any podcast in the history of the world.

Oh, My Goodness Experience, this is from Ramona Gold from the US of A. She just wrote us a five star review. And thank you, by the way, for all of you who are leaving us reviews. And if you haven’t, please do. We love reading them and we’d love to read yours.

Listening, here’s what Ramona Gold says, “Listening to the “Having a Spirit of Excellence Podcast” this morning, was an oh my goodness experience. Dr. Z and Mama Z are as real as you can be. They don’t pretend to have it all together and are far from perfection.” Thank you, I guess.

Mama Z: I think she’s talking about you, for sure.

Dr. Z: They want to, okay, okay. “They want to encourage people to live a life of excellence for an audience of one, our Lord and Savior. It was so delightful in so many ways. Spiritually, emotionally, mentally, etcetera. I took away some copious notes and I especially like this quote. “Blessed are the flexible for they shall never be broken. Thank you…” Oh, this is nice. “Thank you Thrive Market for sponsoring this Podcast.” That is from Ramona Gold. And she was talking about Having a Spirit of Excellence, which was, I’m looking it up, episode 17.

So, if you haven’t, check out episode 17. We published that back May 13, 2019. And read it. Go to the website, read the show notes, you can always go to NaturalLivingFamilyPodcast.com. And that’s awesome. Thank you, Ramona. You know, I really appreciate it. I really appreciate these, just these vote of confidences, the, “Hey, thank you so much for doing what you are doing” because that’s why we have done what we have done.

 

[19:56 – 25:38] Pressing Into The Lord When Life Happens

So, why did Sabrina last night say, “Hey, let’s talk about pressing into the Lord.” I was like, “What does that mean? What’s the title? Like, how do we spin that into an actionable?” Because that’s what you did. You said, “I want to talk about pressing to the Lord.” I’m like, “Okay, how do we make this into an actionable?”

Mama Z: Pressing into the Lord when life happens.

Dr. Z: Yeah, and I’m like, “Okay, what does that mean?” And I’m like, “Okay, let’s teach.

Mama Z: So, wait a second, you were actually just giving me credit. I think that is at least two thirds now. I’ve gone from one third to two thirds.

Dr. Z: So, when you talk about getting up when life knocks you down. The reason why we’re talking about this is because life has knocked us down a lot. And we’ve overcome. And we’ve learned through Christ how to overcome. In so, when we do a show like this, it’s just not out of a hat. We are not making this up and we are not like, “Oh, I heard this on a story and let me quote someone else’s testimony.” We are going to share and already have our own personal stories and things. And that’s why this is so important because we want you to have your ah-ha moment. Just like Ramona Gold had her ah-ha moment.

And if right now, you’re in a season, or you are in an actual moment, like right now, just happened. Life just knocked you do. You can get up immediately. And if you are not in a season or if you are not in a moment today, where life has knocked you do. Be ready, it will happen. It’s not even a matter of if. It’s a matter of when. Because it’s a very biblical concept. It’s why Jesus says, “In this world, you will have trouble.” I mean aka, life is going to knock you down.” In this world you will have trouble but take heart, I have overcome the world.”

So, before I let Sabrina loose on the whole press into the Lord topic, I want to let you know why I wrote the title the way that I did. Because getting up when life knocks you down reminds me of Enoch. And by the way I was actually talking to the Brother Enoch. And he was the man that lead me to Christ sixteen years ago. I was just talking to him. He is still my mentor. We still keep in touch. And he’s now, I should know, forgive me Lord, 77 years old or something like that. He’s well into his mid-70s. And he has copious amounts of wisdom, and love, and knowledge. And I remember, I’ll never forget Enoch, telling me when he would go to church, it was a life lesson. He was really trying to teach me. And Chris, I think you’ll appreciate this.

Enoch would say, when someone would go up to him and be like, “Hey brother, has is life treating you?” Because that’s something that people say. Maybe more so down south. But wherever, we are in Atlanta, Georgia. I’ve heard this a lot. Like, “Hey, brother, how is life treating you? Hey there, Enoch. Hey there, Eric. Hey there, Sabrina. How is life treating you?”

When Enoch would respond, “Life has been treating horrible. But God is good.” And it was a life lesson of like life doesn’t treat you at all. We know that the system of life, we know that the world system, we know that in this world you will have trouble. But God is good. God is the blessing. God is the rock. And if our happiness, if our joy, if our contentment, if our ability to function in this world is dependent of what happens in life. We are always going to be disappointed. We are going to be disillusioned. And we’re never going to fulfill what God has for us because life is never going to meet our expectations.

God came to solve that problem. By sending his son to solve the problem of the sin issue. Which leads us into so many things. So, maybe it’s not a matter of did life knock you down. A lot of it’s our problems. A lot of its our sin. A lot of its our issues. But you know what, God has a solution, Christ. And just by virtue of this planet, being what this planet is, a fallen state. We are in a society, ever since Adam and Eve sinned, this planet has been on a crash course slowly. But a crash course to destruction. That’s why God’s going to cleanse it. I mean, we are about to enter, praise God, hallelujah. Let’s get the rapture folks coming up soon here. Giving me an amen. That we’re coming to the point where we are going to be made a new.

A God realized people, us, we’ve ruined this planet. We got to get a new one. A new Heaven and a new Earth. And that’s what we’re moving towards. So, you got to think, this state, this world system, is in a state of corruption. And we’re doing our best in Christ to be incorruptible, right. Incorruptible seed. So, when someone asks you, “Hey there, how’s life treating you?” Well, “Life’s not treating me so good. But you know what, God is awesome.” And that will throw anyone through a loop, unless it’s me or Enoch. Because we saw that.

Mama Z: Well, because everybody’s expecting you say fine, great, busy, whatever.

Dr. Z: Oh, life’s been tough. Life’s been good. Oh, life’s been okay. Aches and pains. And you ask someone old in the South, they have their litany of things. Aches and pains, this and that.

Mama Z:  Aches and pains and the weather. You get two things: aches and pains, and the weather.

Dr. Z: This so and so. That so and so.

Mama Z: But we can’t be moved by our circumstances.

Dr. Z: Nope. Press into the Lord. Why do you want to talk about this, it’s so important? So, when life knocks you down, how do you get up? We are talking about what’s the thing here. This is practical. This episode we are talking about setting the spiritual foundation. And after the break we are going to talk about setting yourself up for happiness. We are going to talk about some really cool practical things.

Mama Z: I always prefer from the positive.

Dr. Z: And next episode, we’re going to be covering even more practical things to do. And I got really something special that I experienced actually today.

 

[25:39 – 31:12] Setting the Spiritual Foundation

But anyway, setting the spiritual foundation. What you are calling, “Press into the Lord.” What does that mean?

Mama Z: We have to remember we’re all, God’s put certain desires in our heart. And it’s really important to see where we’re at as a benchmark to. And a benchmark, you know, for being hot for the Lord. You know, I was talking to someone yesterday and she was like, “You know, I just started going back to church and I hadn’t been to church in a while. I hadn’t been, you know, hanging out with like-minded Christian people.” And she’s like, “I just didn’t realize that a year had gone by and I had pulled so far away. And you know, I thought it was a lot of life situation. But a lot of it was my situation and in life at the time because I wasn’t happy. And just turning to other things. So, it was not really life. It was what I did. And how I responded to it.”

And so, it made me think about a lot of different things. And so, we talked about that. My grandpa always used to say, “You have to choose friends that represent you.” If you look at your friends, are they a good representation of you? Because you’re going to attract like-minded people. And one thing she said was, she realized that some of those people were not people that were lifting her up. They didn’t believe the same way. And it wasn’t good. And so, she shifted a lot of what she’s doing.

But it made me think about a lot of other things because, you know, when you look at what faith is. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. We are all believing God for certain things whether it’s in our career, or spiritually, or for our family, or other things. And so, you look at some of the things that could possibly take you off. And we know that the trying of our faith works patience. But we need to let patience have its perfect work. Because we know that we will be perfect and entire wanting nothing. Which if we’re wanting nothing, that means all our needs are met as well.

But we also know that hope deferred makes the heart sick. So, people give up sometimes when it’s too early. And you need to really be pressing into the Lord. Like I was talking to you about the spaceships. You know, when they take off, it takes all of this energy and all this force and it’s the shakiest and the toughest right before you hit that breakthrough at the atmosphere. And so, we need to press on in God because when we go through that point a lot of times, there’s a lot of resistance right before we get a breakthrough.

And so, we have to remember the scripture that says, you know, “We will reap in due season if you faint not.” I believe it’s Galatians 6:9. And that there are all different kinds of seasons in life, you know. And in Ecclesiastes that talks about, you know, a time for happiness and time for sadness. You know, all those different seasons. But we know that everything is beautiful in God’s time.

And so, you know, what we always say. That we acknowledge God, he will guide our path. If God’s put something in our heart that were believing the Lord for. And it’s something after his will, which we know that his will by reading the word and what it says about those things. And we can line it up with that. Then we know that we need to press in until that comes to fruition. And we know that God is well able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all we could ask or think. But we need to make sure that things are lined up in our life to make sure that those goals in those things that he’s put in our heart. That those passions that he put in our heart, are ready, and we are pointed in the right direction to see those come through.

Dr. Z: So, when you say press into the Lord, you are alluding to fate?

Mama Z: I’m alluding to faith.

Dr. Z: Okay, faith. So, again, getting up when life knocks you down. First of all, to summarize it.

Mama Z: Because we are talking about the foundation.

Dr. Z: So, you’re talking about having a spiritual foundation where your faith propels you to get up in faith. Like you mentioned so many times with Norman Vincent Peale.

Mama Z: Throw your heart over the bar and your body, mind, and soul will follow.

Dr. Z: So, what happened? What does this mean when life knocks you down? It could be a number of things. You get hurt. Something happens a broken relationship. I mean, you lose your job. Your car breaks down. I mean everything, just imagine when life knocks you down. Like you can have, your day can just completely go topsy-turvy. You wake up in the morning, you might be groggy. You stub your toe. You know, you drink a cup of coffee that’s burnt. It’s like, “Yuck, my whole day is shot now!” It’s like that is how quickly it can happen. You get into a downward…

Mama Z: If you drink cups of coffee.

Dr. Z: Well, some people. Or us, like you, whatever.

Mama Z: I did not burn your matcha latte. I promise you.

Dr. Z: You get a phone call from someone. You check your bank account and you realize it’s missing a couple zeros. And the next thing you know, life just knocks you down like this, snap. It’s that instant.

Mama Z: The thing is that, we know things are going to happen every day. And it was at the point.

 

[31:13 – 38:18] How to Operate in Faith IN THE MOMENT of Despair

Dr. Z: So, how do you press into the Lord? So, let’s go back into this? What happens? You look at your bank account, for some reason, you completely just were in another space financially. And you look the says, “OM goodness, I don’t even have money to pay bills this month.” You just got knocked down. And you just like get that feeling in the pit of your stomach. Or you just get that phone call, like we just heard. Yet another friend, a family member, got diagnosed with cancer. And like, “Wow, boy.” It’s like that affects the whole family. Or you go outside, and you see one of the kids with a broken collar bone. It’s like, oh. In that moment, what are you doing? Literally in that moment, how to activate your faith? What are you doing to press into the Lord?

Mama Z: Well, first of all, it says in the Word, pray without ceasing. And it’s not necessarily that you’re sitting there praying every single second of every single day, but that your prayerful and that you’re always bringing these things to God. You have a relationship with God. Like you and I have a relationship. And it’s putting all those things in front of the Lord, knowing that stuff is going to happen. And it’s one thing when you hear. But then it’s another thing when you go through it. I remember all of the things that would happen. And it got to the point where I knew that stuff was going to go completely awry when you had midterms and finals, always. Or when you had a launch or whatever. And sometimes, you know, it was when I made the decision that we know stuff is going to happen. But we commit all these things to the Lord.

And wherever there is evil, we know that God is far above that. And his grace is going to abound much more than that. And when you look at those situations, all of a sudden in a different way, it’s not going to bother you anymore. Because you know that if stuff is happening over here, God’s going to be even more powerful with other things that are happening. And you know, when we came and all of the Christmas ornaments and stuff, had all fallen off of all of our shelves. And both of the shelves had like collapsed, at that point, I remember because you know Christmas is kind of big thing for us. And I just said, “You know what? We are not going to look at the boxes today or everything that fell. We just are not.”

Dr. Z: Yeah, to put things into context, we go on a trip.

Mama Z: We talked about this in another podcast.

Dr. Z: And most people knew we were gone for two weeks, after driving fifteen hours from Michigan down to Georgia. We get home.

Mama Z: The basement was partially flooded.

Dr. Z: We get home at like twelve, one o’clock in the morning.

Mama Z: Our first thing is to do—at that time because we had a house that flooded all the time—was check the basement. I mean you’d wake up in the middle of the night if it was raining.

Dr. Z: Pipes were frozen. And something happened, the house settled and boom. The whole like, heavy duty, like not cheap but not expensive, shelving unit just collapsed.

Mama Z: Yeah, from Home Depot or Lowes.

Dr. Z: Like fifteen tote boxes of all of Sabrina’s China and her Christmas ornaments. All this stuff that she really cherished over the years. Like boom.

Mama Z: And you know, it’s just stuff. We can’t obviously—

Dr. Z: A lot of stuff though, that’s priceless.

Mama Z: But we can’t, we are not going to be able to take a U-Haul there too.

Dr. Z: How do you press into the Lord at that moment? I’m trying to draw this out of you here. I’m trying to draw this out of you. You want to talk about pressing into the Lord. Okay, that happens. Someone just gets the bomb dropped on them.

Mama Z: Right.

Dr. Z: What is the first thing you do?

Mama Z: The first thing you do is you pray. And the second thing you do, is you have to make a decision that you are not going to let this circumstance change what God has done for you and what he is going to do for you. And you are not going to let it take you off course.

Dr. Z: So, you’re talking pray, mindset, and then hopefully you don’t take action until you feel peace.

Mama Z: Right. Like the next day. So, the next day I went downstairs. And I gave it to the Lord. You know, and this doesn’t have to be as menial as, you know, Christmas stuff. I mean this can be big decision. This can be family members with cancer. I mean, we’ve dealt with all of this. But I remember my favorite Pastor saying, “Before you believe God to heal you from, you know, this or that. You got to be able to believe in a pair of socks.” You know, like look at where your faith meter is at. And know that God is able to do these little things for you. But he’s also able to do these bigger things for you, too. And so, the next day I remember I went down there and it really wasn’t as bad as it looked because it looked really bad.

Dr. Z: Yeah, every box was tumbled over.

Mama Z: And two humongous shelves, and each one of them had like four or five actual shelves on it.

Dr. Z: Because why? You did a good job packing it so that things wouldn’t break. That’s what you did. You did a good job packing. But not to go into too much of this story.

Mama Z: It wasn’t as bad as I thought. And many times.

Dr. Z: We have to take a break here. We are over halfway. We got to take a break. But I mean, here’s what we have to do after the break. Because we are essentially, what I want to do is pull Sabrina’s sharing about the spiritual foundation. Is first, when I’m at a call, creating in yourself a crisis management mode. Having a foundation where you know what your crisis management is. Like when you are going through again crisis management, are you running alcohol? Are you running to a drug like either an anti-depressant? Are you running to a narcotic, like I used to? Are you running to something that might not be too healthy for you, like chocolate? Or are you running to maybe something that just helps you forget about your issues like pornography? Or something along those lines? Maybe TV shows you shouldn’t be watching? Like this is something people do in crisis management. And this is how people get overweight when they are dealing with stress. It’s called stress eating. They are in crisis management and they go to something that gives them an immediate endorphin rush.

And again, this is a scientific piece to this. This isn’t just all hyper-spiritual pie-in-the-sky, let’s read the Bible, and kumbaya. No.

Mama Z: Although that is a great song.

Dr. Z: God is the author and finisher of our faith, you know. He has set before us the path to live and is very practical. Our God and Father is very scientifically minded. And so, there’s a reason I’m just trying to help people understand. Like for Sabrina she calls it pressing into the Lord. I’m going to call it crisis management mode. I’m going to cover right after the break here. Something that I just did because we just had a crisis in our business and how I managed it. And the day after, which is today, I was like, “I feel so much better.” But before we talk about that, a quick word from our sponsor.

 

[38:19 – 38:59] Sponsor Spotlight: Thrive Market

Dr Z: There’s nothing like hearing the door ball of the delivery person letting me know that a Thrive Market package has landed on our doorstep. It’s like Christmastime every time we get a package.

Mama Z: Yes, from ingredients to snacks, it’s so awesome. And the kids go nuts.

Dr. Z: We love Thrive Market the convenience, the price, and just the movement because we know that every dollar spent goes towards a more sustainable, healthy, natural world. So, if you haven’t joined, then what are you waiting for? You’re going to absolutely love it.

 

[39:00 – 47:55] How Do You Get a God Perspective on Your Challenges?

Mama Z: And before you talk about that, one thing I think it’s really important for people to realize is many times things aren’t as bad as we think they are.

Dr. Z: Amen. Perception is reality.

Mama Z: And we can’t see what God sees. I remember being up in the airplane, you know, and we travel a lot. So, God just brought that to my attention, like right there. Like He’s like, “Look at all this. You can’t even pick your house out of all of where you’re at right now. But I see things from even a higher view. I see the start. I see the finish and everything in between.”

Dr. Z: You have a God perspective. How do you get a God perspective?

Mama Z: You have to take a step back.

Dr. Z: What is that? What am I showing you on my phone?

Mama Z: You’re showing me Isaiah 54.

Dr. Z: Yeah, let me read the Bible.

Mama Z: Let’s, I told you. What’s your favorite thing when I say it to you?

Dr. Z: How do you get a God perspective?

Mama Z: Read the Bible.

Dr. Z: That is the answer. And you have to—don’t forgot—write down in your notes, fasting. Because you talked about that last night fasting and pray. So, how do you get a God perspective? Again, getting up when life knocks you down. First is setting, if you don’t already have the foundation set. No better time than when you are knocked down is to set a foundation, a spiritual foundation. And what do you do? Sabrina said, “I agree a hundred percent. The first thing you do, fall on your knees. If you actually can’t literally, actually fall on your knees because you’re at work, in a position where you are in the middle of a…Can you imagine?

Mama Z: Every time before I speak—

Dr. Z: Can you imagine in the middle of a meeting and like something crazy happens. Like just imagine, you are in the middle of a meeting, you are giving a presentation, and you just like spill coffee on your shirt in front of twenty people. You are not going to fall on your knees in front of twenty people. But, you can very briefly.

Mama Z: But you do know what it’s like to spill things on your shirt because you do that regularly. So, tell us what you do.

Dr. Z: So, setting the foundation where you automatically pray, first. Again, ideally you are on your knees. You’re in your prayer closet. Like I did yesterday, you get alone with the Lord.

Mama Z: And if you have to go to the bathroom.

Dr. Z: Yes, that works.

Mama Z: And do that because I’ll tell you, every time when I speak, there is not a time that I don’t, I’m not on my knees before the Lord. I mean we know that that’s where our strength is from the Lord.

Dr. Z: And so, that first is how you get a God perspective is praying. And then that’s when you dive into the Word. And that’s where you dive into something that you know will encourage you. Something that you know will build you up. And at the end of the day, you might not feel different as you read it. But I promise you, I could promise you in the Lord because we know that God’s word will not return void.

This is a promise from the Bible that you have to believe and claim and understand that you read something in the Bible. It will manifest, it will come to fruit. Hopefully sooner than later. And so, if you’re also in a position, right now, like you are not dealing with anything. Praise the Lord, good for you. You are not knocked down by life. Set the foundation now so that when something happens it won’t be as burdensome. And that’s something I’ve learned when life knocks me down, when the enemy comes attacks me, when people oppressed me, it’s not as bad as it was in the past. Because I’m growing, I’m more mature.

So, if you need a guidance of maybe somewhere to start in the Bible…Maybe you want something new. Maybe you want something fresh. Maybe you’re like just tell me what to read. Well, I’m going to read Isaiah 54. For a million different reasons, I feel it’s very inspiring. And also, there’s a verse in here. Why? Because there is a verse that you quote all the time, toward the end. And I started reading, I think it was verse 17, I’m like, “Wow, this whole chapter is good.”

Mama Z: The whole one is good.

Dr. Z: So, if life has knocked you down or you just want to be smart, I believe in be prepared when life will knock you down sooner than later. Read this Chapter. Isaiah 54 Verse 1.

“Shout for joy, O barren one, you who have borne no child; Break forth into joyful shouting and cry aloud, you who have not travailed; For the sons of the desolate one will be more numerous. Than the sons of the married woman, says the Lord.”

There’s a lot to said about that.

“Enlarge the place of your tent; Stretch out the curtains of your dwellings, spare not; Lengthen your cords and strengthen your pegs. For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left. And your descendants will possess nations and will resettle the desolate cities. Fear not, for you will not be put to shame; And do not feel humiliated, for you will not be disgraced; But you will forget the shame of your youth, and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more.”

And that applies to so many things other than being a barren widow or whatever that might be. Just think about, you’ll forget the shame of your youth. And a lot of us have been shamed by society for a number of different things: How you look, how you feel, how you smell, where you came from, and the money you make.

“Your husband is your Maker, whose name is the Lord of hosts; And your redeemer is the Holy One of Israel, who is called the God of all the earth. For the Lord has called you, like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, even like a wife of one’s youth when she is rejected, says your God. For a brief moment I forsook you, but with great compassion I will gather you. In an outburst of anger I hid my face from you for a moment.”

Why because of sin, right?

“But with everlasting lovingkindness I will have compassion on you.”

And all of these promises right now, are yes and amen in Christ because of Jesus, he covered our sin. So, we could take this verse and be like God is speaking to me right now.

“For this is like the days of Noah.”

This is verse 9.

“When I swore that the waters of Noah would not flood the earth again; So I have sworn that I will not be angry with you, nor will I rebuke you.”

This is, God is not angry with you, Christian man, Christian woman, young and old. You have accepted Jesus as your Lord. Your sins are forgiven. It’s under the blood. He will not rebuke you.

“For the mountains may be removed and the hills may shake, but My lovingkindness will not be removed from you, and My covenant of peace will not be shaken, says the Lord who has compassion on you. O afflicted one, storm-tossed, and not comforted, behold, I will set your stones in antimony, and your foundations I will lay in sapphires. Moreover, I will make your battlements of rubies, and your gates of crystal, and your entire wall of precious stones. All your sons will be taught of the Lord; And the well-being of your sons will be great. In righteousness you will be established; You will be far from oppressed, for you will not fear; And from terror, it will not come near you. If anyone fiercely assails you it will not be from me. Whoever assails you will fall because of you. Behold, I Myself have created the smith who blows the fire of coals and brings out a weapon for its work; For I have created the destroyer to ruin.”

And Sabrina this is your verse.

“No weapon that is formed against you will prosper.”

Repeat that after me.

“No weapon that is formed against me will prosper. And every tongue that accuses me in judgment you will condemn.”

Mama Z: And in other versions, it says, “Will be shown to be wrong.”

Dr. Z: “This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord.”

I’m a servant of the Lord. I raise my hand.

“And their vindication is from me, declares the Lord.”

Mama Z: Absolutely. Absolutely.

Dr. Z: Has life knocked you down? Has someone accused you? Have you just been filed divorce papers? Have you just been told that your company is going bankrupt or you’re losing your job? Have you just been told something happened to your kids? Are you in a position where you’re physically, emotionally, mentally hurting?

Mama Z: Or you got a bad diagnosis.

Dr. Z: “No weapon that is formed against you will prosper. Every tongue that accuses you in judgment, you will condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord.”

And we could have totally read just verse seventeen and that would have been powerful in itself. But, how wonderful was it just to spend, just—what?—three minutes or whatever, to read all seventeen verses in that one little chapter.

How do you press into the Lord? What is crisis management? How do you set the foundation? Pray. Read God’s word. And do. And this is something practical. We are going to end here. We have just a few minutes.

And we have to think about a cool Natural Living Family tip. I think Sabrina, I’m putting you on the spot here because we didn’t talk about this before. I really think a Natural Living Family tip should be something about pretty, gardening, something to make your house nice.

 

[47:56 – 55:12] How to Set Yourself up for Happiness

Dr. Z: So, setting yourself up for happiness and three things we want to talk about is you mentioned, with your grandpa, just in general, the support that you have around you of people. And doing something that you know will bring a smile on your face. Like for Sabrina that’s gardening. She loves putting together floral arrangements. For me and Sabrina, of course its family time.

So, when life knocks you down, what better time in the world than to pick up the phone, call a girlfriend, call a buddy? Call, like you, I’m sure your mom is going to be top three people you call. And one of the Lisa’s. Your best friend Lisa is in and hopefully I make the short list.

Mama Z: Well, okay. So, basically, what I want you do is look at your phone and see who your quick call list is. I noticed on yours, I’m your only one on there. Like I’m like your quick call list. Unless you changed it. I was the only one on your like iPhone special list.

Dr. Z: Yeah, it’s called favorites.

Mama Z: Favorites.

Dr. Z: Yup, Sabrina is the only one you can see on my phone. Here it is.

Mama Z: So, if you go, it’s the proof. I was like, who is on his favorites, you know, I was trying to find something in your phone. I can’t remember, it was like my mom’s. So, I figured my mom.

Dr. Z: Because you are my favorite.

Mama Z: I figured my mom was like on your favorite or something like that.

Dr. Z: There’s a reason why I did that too.

Mama Z: So, when you look at my phone, I have a heart. It’s a green heart. And it says your name and it’s surrounded by green hearts. So, when you go to actually try to find it, I can’t find it by typing in Eric. Because I have to but the emojis in there or I can’t find it. Which sometimes gets really annoying. But when you pop up, you have like green hearts around you. It says Dr. Z type thing.

Dr. Z: I have a special ring tone.

Mama Z: Yes, of course you do. It’s the King, The Fan Fair. People are like, “Oh, the King is calling.” So, then the second person on my list is my mom. And then followed by Lisa. And Lisa then you know, some of my other, and my sister. Well actually it’s my sisters after that, you know, both of my sisters. And then some family members.

Dr. Z: Who is your lifeline? Who is your support? Who can you call when something happens?

Mama Z: Yeah, who’s on your short list? Your favorites list on your phone if you have an iPhone?

Dr. Z: But no, this is after you pray.

Mama Z: Right, after you pray.

Dr. Z: And I would say after even if you are out and about and you don’t have your Bible next to you. Pick up your phone, get the Bible out.

Mama Z: Yeah, you got an Instant Bible.

Dr. Z: Go to BibleGateway.com or whatever it is. And get a verse or two.

Mama Z: Or the Blue Letter Bible app.

Dr. Z: Get a verse or two and say, “God I need your mind on this. I need your wisdom. I need to have your perspective.” Because you mentioned perspective in one of the wise things my father has ever taught was perception is reality. And I’m telling you something, that’s very true.

Mama Z: It is.

Dr. Z: Five people will look at the same car accident with five completely different stories. And everyone swears to God it’s the truth. And it’s like, “Ah.”

Mama Z: Everybody has it from their own.

Dr. Z: Our perception, our past, our future, our present skews how we see life.

Mama Z: And a good benchmark about that. There’s a scripture that says,

“Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.”

So, see what’s coming out of your mouth as well. Because life and death are in the power of the tongue. And they that love it, eat the fruit there of.

Dr. Z: All right, this is a sneak peek and I think what’s going to be episode 33 or 34. Maybe 35, if we got to get on a roll.

Mama Z: Words.

Dr. Z: Keep your mouth shut.

Mama Z: Yeah. And most of the time.

Dr. Z: How about that? I’m not yelling at you.

Mama Z: No.

Dr. Z: I’m not. And my kids would be like, “You just swore.” You know because we don’t say shut up. But shut up. Shut the trap. Stop talking.

Mama Z: I think the proper term is SU.

Dr. Z: Don’t speak. Just stop.

Mama Z: Put tape over it. Get the duct tape out if you have to.

Dr. Z: At that moment, stop because you will more than likely say something that you’ll soon regret or will put something in motion that you do not want. And we are going to cover power of words in a future episode coming soon at Natural Living Family Podcast.

But yes, so first, faith.

Mama Z: You’ve got to get God on the scene.

Dr. Z: First pray. First read the Bible. First keep your mouth shut. First this is what you are doing, go to a support line, and then by that time this is a little time has gone on. Now, let’s do something practical. And this is where some of you, like your sister comes to mind. Your sister, Samantha, who has gone through just a whirlwind journey losing her husband to Glioblastoma. Being a widow at thirty-five, with two young kids, and she found running. Now, she’s a half marathon runner. And she has found running a great cathartic, cleansing, freeing, experience.

So, I would assume, and I haven’t asked her. But I’m assuming, Sam, has a tough day at work. Something happens with the kids or something. And she knows she can go to run.

Mama Z: Have you ever, this was something because she and I exercised. I remember when she came to me and said, “You know, how do I get healthy?” And this was in high school. And she actually put a poster next to her, it’s the one where the lady has like a cap on and she is flexing her muscles. And she had like another picture of this other lady and it was like, you have to get out there and do it. They were the people that she’s like, “They are telling me to get out there and do it, you know.” So, she would work out. And one thing, when we were running. And I can’t remember something had happened, but you can’t cry when you’re running you. It’s really hard to cry when you’re running. I don’t know if you’ve ever tried.

Dr. Z: Physically.

Mama Z: Physically it is literally very hard to cry when you’re running. So, and we’ve talked about this too because you know, she had some runs that involve tears. And it is really hard to operate the system, I don’t know what goes on in the body at the time. And maybe you know, the science behind all that jazz. But like it is really hard to. So, it forces you to get out of your comfort zone and to do something physically for your body that is a release. And then you’re doing exercise and there’s so much that goes into it.

And we all have to find out what is a positive release for our body? Because we all go to certain things, whether its food, or like you mentioned some of the other things. And we don’t want to take a time in our life that we need to move through something so that God could utilize it. Or utilize that pain to make it a platform. But you have to get through a situation before you can, you know, be on the other side of it and actually help somebody else.

I think it’s important, you have to walk through that. And so, if it is pleasant breads, then you need to fast them. If it’s, you know, TV then you need to fast that. There are certain things that you run to when you need to run to God. And God wants you to run to Him. So, whatever it is.

 

[55:13 – 57:41] The Power of Fasting

Mama Z: For instance, we had gone to a pageant and just because of timing and everything. I didn’t get a chance to eat dinner. And I never like anything to cause me a headache. Well, I didn’t eat dinner and it caused me a headache. Well, I didn’t like that So yeah, I said, “You know what? I really think that then I’m going to fast in the morning and pray, because I don’t usually get a headache if I choose to fast.” And I’m like, “Yeah, I don’t want food to ever be something that, not having it is going to make me have a headache or whatever.”

And I could have had salad. I could have some other things. But I had packed a dinner and I didn’t get a chance to eat it. And it was then too late. And you don’t want to eat at ten o’clock at night. You need that time on empty stomach for your body to recuperate and all of that stuff. So, I was like, “Nope, I think it’s time that I have a fasting morning.” So, I had fasted from basically lunch until the next day at lunch. And you know, sometimes you have to put your body under to really hear God. And in Isaiah 58, it does talk about the dynamics of fasting and some of the benefits of fasting. And you could hear God better. God brings forth healing speedily.

Let’s say, if it’s chocolate or whatever you run to for, you know, for comfort or food. Then maybe it’s something that you do need to fast, the pleasant breads, some of the sweets. If you are a sweet person. I’m not a sweet person. But I just really wanted to get like, you know, God’s perspective because I’ve had a few more headaches than I normally have. And I know we have a lot going on and stuff like that. So, I’m like, “No. If it’s food it’s going under and I’m going to fast. And get God’s perspective on the scene.” And I really felt like I had a breakthrough. And it was really good. It was good for my body. And it was good just spiritually.

But like even you said, you know, “We have been going a like a hundred and twenty percent for a while. And we need to now let it overtake us either.” So, it was partially that to. And it was good. A good fast.

 

[57:42 – 1:03:45] Find a Release

Dr. Z: So, you find a release.

Mama Z: Yes.

Dr. Z: You find a release and for some people, and we are going to cover in just a minute, a fun little cutesy makes you happy kind of gardening tip. That will put a smile on your face. Who doesn’t like flowers? Who doesn’t like seeing something grow? And that’s something too, if you have a long standing crisis that you are dealing with, if you are caretaker for a sick child or a parent. That’s not going away typically anytime soon.

You need something that you could really devote your time to and having your you know, you could go out and get what are those little sand things? You know, those sand little those meditation things that I see people have with their little rakes? You know what they are called? The mediation, sand, we just saw it. We just went to a retreat.

Mama Z: Oh, like a Japanese garden?

Dr. Z:  Yeah. So, you could do something where you go outside in your Japanese garden and play with your rake and do somethings. But even make it more practical, having a place that you go to that you are seeing growth. I think that’s very important. Journaling, having something that, maybe it’s art. Something you can devote time to without necessarily having to think. Like your father and I were talking about, when we were visiting your folks home last month. We were talking about the benefits and how much we like just mindless yard work. I love going outside and picking cherries. And doing that because I’m not thinking about anything. I’m thinking about stuff but it is not like my mind is not on overdrive. It’s just like I can be, “Okay.”

Mama Z: Except for the difference between you and my dad, he will tell you that he picked 1,082 cherry pits. Or 1,320 cherries.

Dr. Z: I actually asked him, “How do you focus on that?”

Mama Z: He’s like, “I count it.”

Dr. Z: See that’s actually the paradox because your father said, “Oh, yeah. I love it. It’s just mindless.” No, no, no, mindless is not counting.

Mama Z: No, no. If you have a knack for numbers, which I do.

Dr. Z: Yeah, its mindless. It’s rain man.

Mama Z: Yeah.

Dr. Z: I get it.

Mama Z: And I am. It’s so.

Dr. Z: It’s like sewing, you are doing something repetitive and you don’t realize it.

Mama Z: When I worked at a photography studio, every account had a six digit number on the envelope. And I memorized and I knew where certain ones were. I mean, like, I just have a thing for numbers. It’s a number thing.

Dr. Z: So, anyway, if something were to happen, I’m like I’m outside picking cherries. If you are that person, you are tending your garden. I feel there is so much therapy around gardening, which is why Sabrina did her gardening class. There’s something. There is a reason why God over and over again in His Word, where He talks about gardening.

The parable of the sower. You know, I am the vine. You are the branches. My father is, you know, the vine keeper. Just think about all the different analogies God’s sent.

Mama Z: But you know, one thing that’s important and you know, we are in the garden a lot.

Dr. Z: That was the first job by the way. Yeah, first job. The first occupation history of man was gardening. And that’s why Adam, God said.

Mama Z: You know people were so impressed with my parent’s gardens. If you didn’t see the pictures on Instagram and Facebook. So, the biggest question that people got, and this is what they asked. Like I’m listening to people ask. They’re like, “Wow, you have no weeds in your garden. How did you do that? Is there a special magical spray?” He’s like, “I picked them.”

Dr. Z: And her father doesn’t know how to sugar coat. He’s like, “Umm, I picked them.”

Mama Z: And he goes, “It’s usually about five hundred to a thousand weeds a day.” Just like that, okay. And this lady comes up to me and said, “Did you pick your five hundred to thousand weeds per day?” I said, “Oh, we do regularly. And actually, I had to pick a thousand weeds before I could play with my friends. And then I had to hand edge all of these trees. And we had to fill them with water.” And the lady just looked at me and her mouth was like half open. So, then the other question was, “I see your grass here has no weeds in it. So, what do you spray on it?” And he goes, “Actually, I don’t. I pick the weeds on my hands and knees.” And it’s funny because we—

Dr. Z: That’s episode 6 by the way, where you cover picking your thousand weeds.

Mama Z: The thing is that we came across the same thing. We had a special kind of grass put it for its non-toxic nature because the way that it grows. It chokes out weeds, blah, blah, blah. But, they removed all of the top stuff but you’re still going to have…When we were filming part of the closing out of the garden. There was probably about, thousands, there was definitely thousands of acorns everywhere. Well an acorn at some point is going to produce some fruit or at least some of them are because when we over seed for lettuce, we get the baby greens like you buy at the store. We pull them out. We eat them.

Well, if we have, you know, tens of thousands of acorns, we’re going to get a couple sprouts that could potentially turn into a tree. So, I was thinking, I’m like, I wonder if we’re going to have some weeds from this? Well, yeah. I mean you are. And so, then it was like, I had somebody ask “Well, do you have an essential oil for that?” And I was like, “Well, the essential oil sprays that I have will either annihilate everything or it’ll help with the bugs.” But, it might be cell selectivity with our bodies, but it sure isn’t when you burning something out in the grass.

Dr. Z: You have to pick the weeds.

Mama Z: You’ve got to pick the weeds. So, when people are like, “Oh, I really like your yard. It looks really good. There’s not a lot of weeds.” It’s because when you’re out there, you’re still pulling weeds. And we still have to constantly do it. But it’s a lot less once you get like the majority of the weeds taken care of. And you know what? We have to do that in life too. We’ve got to pick the weeds. There are so many lessons to learn about gardening in life as well.

Dr. Z: Yup, so, how do you get up in life knocks you down? You pick some weeds. Literally, actually physical weeds, and you pick some spiritual weeds that might be coming up in relationships.

 

[1:03:46 – 1:04:47] Spending Time with Loved Ones

Dr. Z: And we’re going to end really quick just with a short note. Spend some time with your family. Spend some time. Again, we talked about the support having a lifeline. But actually, spending time with these people. Grabbing a cup of tea or spending time playing a sport or whatever it is that you like to do. Snuggle up with your hubby, your kids. Watch a movie, whatever it might be. We have been having epic games of Yahtzee here at the house. That kind of stuff just forget about what’s going on. Don’t focus and enjoy what you’ve given.

And that’s something we are going to cover next episode more is about making sure you enjoy the process. And we talked about it in a previous episode, thriving in survival mode. It’s not really what I want to cover. I want to springboard off of that concept. But it’s about what practical things can you do so you continue to see victory in your life so that you can get up, so that you don’t essentially lose focus of all the blessings that God has given you.

[1:04:48 – 1:05:44] Have You Taken Advantage of the Summer Blowout Sale?!

Dr. Z: And so, with that before we transition to the Natural Living Family tip. I want to remind everyone, that we still have our summer blowout sale right now for Mama Z’s gardening class. And if you are watching this or listening to this, after the sale ends, don’t worry about it because by that time, hopefully Chris and I will all be done with all the little pieces around Mama Z’s upcoming gardening class. You’re going to love it.

Just go to MamaZGardening.com. And check out, just sign up, and check out a quick little free screening of it. And get it. It’s like super discount because as you’ve heard gardening has been such a pivotal part of her life. And she really shines in the garden. So, with that said—

 

[1:05:45 – 1:07:12] Natural Living Tip: Beautifying Your Home

Mama Z: So, for your Natural Living Tip, one of the things that I enjoy is making bouquets around the house every week. And all you need to do is if you want to make your own, you can grab a few different bouquets at the grocery store or Costco, Kroger. And then put them together and make them in different rooms.

Now, if you want to make your own bouquets from the garden. What I like to do is do a combination of herbs, and flowers, and other flowering herbs. And so, what you can do is make sure that when you pick out your plants, whether their perennial or annual. That it’s going to be something that you’re going to be able to cut off blooms and actually be able to bring them inside so you can make your own bouquets because in the middle of the summer is one of the perfect times to grab bouquets, whether they’re herbs, or flowers, or even some vegetable greens. Like our heirloom carrot flowers that look just like our Queen Anne’s Lace.

It’s so important to make sure that when you do that, it’s the things that make you happy. And that uplift your spirit. That when you smell them you get that same aromatic benefit that you do from essential oils. And it’s really important to making something that you enjoy, that makes you happy, that will lift your spirit. But also, it will do it for everybody that walks into your house as well.

 

[1:07:13 – 1:07:54] Sponsor Spotlight: Thrive Market

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Dr. Z: Now, keep in mind Thrive markets prices are already twenty-five to fifty percent off, and now they are giving you an extra additional twenty-five percent off your first order, plus, a free thirty day trial.

Mama Z: If you’re like me, you will definitely be making a grocery run this week. So, why not give Thrive Market a try and shop from your home?

Dr. Z: Simply go to NaturalLivingFamilyPodcast.com to find the special link so you could redeem this deal on the show notes from today’s episode.

 

[1:07:55 – end] Episode WrapUp

Dr. Z: Love it.

Mama Z: Yeah.

Dr. Z: And that is a wrap. I hope you’ve enjoyed listening. And we hope that you truly are going to take some of the advice that we share today and be determined in your heart that you could get up when life knocks you down. And I got to give a plug because you’re not going to miss next episode.

Mama Z: You aren’t.

Dr. Z: Episode 31 is going to be something that’s going to take this to another level and give you lots of great practical tips.

Mama Z: I’ve got lots of tidbits to share, too.

Dr. Z: And as a reminder, you can find all of the Natural Living Family Podcasts episodes, show notes, and transcripts on NaturalLivingFamilyPodcast.com.

While on our website, please don’t forget to sign up for our weekly podcast newsletter, which includes a personal invite to join our private Facebook group so you can connect one on one with me and Mama Z and meet thousands of other natural living lovers, just like you. Don’t forget, please subscribe to our podcast and leave a review. We love hearing what you have to say about our show. And we want to read your review to the world because they’re so encouraging.

Well folks as always is Dr. Z.

Mama Z: And Mama Z.

Dr. Z: And our hope and prayer, is that you and your family truly experience the abundant life. God bless, bye-bye.