My Big WHY for Juice Fasting

Today is day 24 of my 30 day juice cleanse and I have decided to write my story and what motivated me to do this. Many of you know, last month I went to the USA to do some additional study/training to add to my Naturopathy training and to attend a Young Living Retreat with my global essential oil family. My trip was so amazing and I had a wonderful time, making beautiful lifelong connections, learning, growing, upgrading, awakening with lots of tears and laughter along the way.

 My last 24 hours in the USA were not so fun because I started to have pain in my left ovary and the pain became more and more intense. My roommate Karlyn loved and served me so well, applying oils, running a bath, contacting others for support and so much more. I was so loved and supported by all my new friends and Young Living family, however, the pain only increased to the point where I was shaking and needed to go to ER. My check in time for my flight that day was 4:15pm and I arrived at ER about 11.

As the Young Living retreat was ending many had to catch flights and make the trip home, but my amazing brand new friend Leslie took me to ER.  I will forever treasure in my heart the love and care she showed me. The pain was so intense I continued to tremble and cry. I was quickly seen and taken for an ultrasound which was very uncomfortable while being in so much pain. While I was walking back to the room after the ultrasound, I was overcome with pain and emotion. Here I was, due to fly home today, and I was in ER in incredible pain. 

That’s when I broke down. I started to cry, and weep and then I was overcome with a full blown panic attack. 

Fast breathing and unrestrained sorrow poured forth from me. Leslie quickly came to me, and she embraced me. Even as I type this now, tears are filling my eyes as I recall the intensity of my pain and yet, the intensity of love that held me in that moment. I heard the overhead speakers declare that there was a panic attack taking place, and despite some of this being a blur, I was aware there was a rush of activity and a screen was placed around the area I was.

Words cannot fully describe that moment, but as you read this, I know your heart can feel my inner world. So much pain, yet so much love. So much fear, yet I was wrapped in arms of love and peace. Within a few minutes, I was able to slow my breathing down and peace overcame me. This is the first time the pain severely reduced and I knew I was going to be ok.

The rest of the story I will summarise quickly. I had a cat scan to make sure there were no other source of this pain and the ultrasound results came back inconclusive because I was shaking too much during the scans. I finally was able to get some serious pain meds to calm the pain and give me confidence that I could travel 17 hours in a plane. Leslie continually engaged my vision with hope. She kept asking me how I will feel once I am home with my family. She kept faith that I would make it to my flight and begin my journey home. I am forever grateful for her faith and love. 

As I said, my check in time was 4:15 and we made is to the airport at 5pm. Phew! I checked in and it was time for me to fly solo. I cried my way through the airport. I looked a mess, I felt a mess, but I also felt so relieved that I was beginning my journey home. I had a 2 hour flight to Houston (which I slept) and I was wheel cheered through the airport to my next flight (now that’s an experience for a young fit mama). When I awoke on my final flight home, I was pain free and have not experienced any pain since then.

Sooooo, all this to say, this was the major push to do my juice cleanse. My body had whispered in the past that there was an issue here, but this time it SHOUTED and I heard my body loud and clear. I could choose to have surgery and have the cyst on my ovary removed, or I could have faith in all that I have been learning …the healing power of food, faith, declarations, emotional release and my God given ability to heal. My good friend Jack who I met in the USA advised me that a 30 day juice feast would give my body the nutrients and time it needed to heal, and so here I am.

I used to be able to feel the cyst each day, as it was up to 10cm and caused my tummy to look bloated, so I have enjoyed seeing my tummy flatten and I can no longer feel anything there. I am overjoyed with this miracle and I am booked in for a scan to confirm what I know has happened. I know so much more has taken place in my body than I can know, so I celebrate this transformation deep within my being. I am on my final 7 days of my cleanse and then I will transition gradually into eating whole foods again next week. I am so thankful for this opportunity to upgrade my health and experience the healing power of juice feasting. 

The Importance of Recognizing Self

Yesterday I began my new assignment on the immune system as part of my studies to be a Naturopath. I love to study and learn new things and I especially love it when God begins to show me a parallel between the human body and spiritual truth. Well, I had this expectation in my spirit yesterday and as I was reading I could sense the spirit of wisdom and revelation lingering, ready to unlock some truth to me. Over the next few hours as I read and answered assignment questions I received this beautiful and timely word for the Body of Christ. I awoke today with an excitement to share it.

The one particular part of our immune response that I received revelation on was the development of self-recognition. You see, our immune system provides us with protection from ‘foreign invaders’ that seek to attack and destroy us causing sickness, death and disease. Without this system, we would easily die from invading pathogens. However, of equal importance is our system’s ability to recognise which cells are ‘self’ and which cells are ‘foreign’.

There is a very complex process that our body goes through to develop our immune system to recognise ‘self’ so that we do not attack and destroy our own cells (as seen in autoimmune diseases). There are two processes known as positive and negative selection which ‘weed out’ immune cells that do not recognise self and this is where I received revelation of what is happening in the body of Christ.

We are in a process of developing recognition of ‘self’ as the children of God. And by self, I do not mean just me as an individual. We are a body. One body. Jesus himself prayed that we would be one as He is one with the Father (John 17:21). We are in a season where we must embrace and recognize Christ in us and Christ in others and complete Oneness as a body.

There is a ‘positive and negative selection’ taking place which is eliminating those cells in the body that try to attack ‘self’. We could call it self-sabotage. See, what I didn’t tell you was that those immune cells that try to attack ‘self’ cells are destroyed. Yes your body completely annihilates these cells and entire cells lines that are ‘out of line’.

Anything we do or say that attacks ‘self’ is up for annihilation. Whether it is myself or my neighbor, my friend or another church member, my children or a careless driver, these ‘cells’ or thoughts or actions need to die. This is the process of crucifixion. For a body to thrive, we must not attack ourselves. We must rightly discern ‘foreign invaders’ and attack with full force, but we cannot live with self-sabotage.

The good news here is that the immune cells that do not attack ‘self’ are then multiplied and sent all over the body to do their job of attacking only foreign invaders. This is where my spirit is excited. There is a multiplication that is about to happen. Everything in us that walks in LOVE towards the body is about to be multiplied and sent throughout the body to deal to the real enemy.

So I am encouraged today to embrace the ‘weeding out’ process of any thoughts, ways or actions that are attacking ‘self’ which includes myself and others. Let us remember we are ONE BODY. Any thought that is less than love is not worthy to be reproduced and not worthy to ‘serve’ the body. Every time we choose love towards others and recognize that it really is our ‘self’ we are setting ourselves up for greater service towards mankind.

I pray that those who have ears to hear will hear what the spirit is saying today. I pray for grace to confess our shortcomings and ‘crucify’ anything that is less than love towards ourselves and others. I pray for an awakening to love the ‘whole body’ and begin to recognize ourselves as one body.

Much Love to you today

Rani

Daily Strategies for Living Free

While in prayer, Jesus revealed to me a strategy that the enemy has been using to enslave God’s children at this time. I saw spiderwebs. Hundreds of them like you sometimes see on clear days drifting in the sky (google informs me it is called spider ballooning). So thin and fine. So weightless and seemingly powerless. However I saw that the strategy of the enemy was to use that which seemed small and insignificant to go under the radar. These thin wisps of spider web represented very small occurrences. Little offenses. Little lies. Unforgiveness for little things. Small acts of unrighteousness.

 The only reason this strategy had any power was that God’s people were too busy, stressed or overworked to notice the small webs. One small web on its own could not do too much but as the number of small webs increased, it began to entangle people. I saw multiple small webs targeting people daily in an attempt to quickly enslave them and I saw a consistency of webs day after day, trying to find a victim.

Jesus revealed to me a few small webs that had come my way during the week and I was amazed at how small they were and yet how I had let them remain on me till this time. I was also amazed at the number of small instances that had occurred and how they had a negative impact on me.

The only reason I am sharing this is because Jesus only reveals the enemy’s strategy so that we can overcome with a greater and victorious strategy.  And this is our calling. This is our inheritance. And these are just 3 of many strategies that Jesus gave me.

1) Jesus said that the webs are easily discerned when we are present or still.

2) Jesus also told me that the webs easily disintegrate in the refining fire.

3) Jesus reminded me that the webs can also be washed off in the River.

The key is to make room for these activities daily.

When we are present and still, it is easy to see, feel or discern a web that has attached itself to us during the day. This is a KEY strategy for God’s children at this time. It is time to live present and increasingly aware in every moment. When we are present in love and light, discerning darkness or fear is much more obvious. We can easily remove the web ourselves when we see it.

When we invite Christ’s refining fire to purify us, it will reveal all impure thoughts and motives which can easily be dealt with. Again, this is simple and easy to do but it just takes time and intent. The more we embrace the refining fire, the greater the awareness of the state of our own heart.

We are blessed to be able to come and wash in the River of Life anytime we choose. We are blessed to have full access to this place of such purity, cleansing and fun. The webs easily wash off in this heavenly place and not only that, but there are many more beautiful things to receive in exchange.

So my prayer is that we have an awareness of Christ’s nearness in every moment of our days. I pray that we will not give the enemy a foothold, small or large. I pray that we would embrace the refining fire in both the Word and prayer. I pray that we would become more familiar with the River of Life and our inheritance in heavenly places.

I bless you this day with an awakening to Christ in YOU.

Much Love,

Raneeta

Love Whispers before He Shouts

God IS love. He is always speaking. He is always expressing His love towards us. Sadly, we are often not even aware of His love each day because His whisper can be drowned out by the clatter of this world.

I watched a movie last night that lingered on in my mind and heart. It lingered long enough to awaken areas of my parenting into greater love and joy (my funny accents and goofiness are back). I thought to myself, it may seem crazy but this movie has changed my life.

And then in dawned on me, the whispers in life can drastically change our lives if we choose to meditate on them and embrace the truth being spoken. However, sometimes in the busyness of life, the clatter of the world drowns out the whispers and we miss golden opportunities to grow in love. This made me ponder what maturity looks like.

I realised that…

Maturity can be measured by the level of resistance required for us to make adjustments in our lives towards greater LOVE. In other words, the mature respond to whispers.

Remember. Love whispers first. Only when we are still can we hear Him. If we constantly do not hear the whisper, love does raise His voice, because after all, He delights in loving us all. Love will speak up. Love will raise His voice. And ultimately Love will shout if necessary because Love never gives up.

Our bodies are the same. They begin by whispering to us when things are out of balance. A slightly sore knee, a sniffly nose, a headache. They all begin as whispers and if we give attention to those needs when they whisper, we find balance returns quickly.

However, if we ignore the whispers, just like Love, our bodies will raise their voice. The pain will get stronger, the symptoms will increase and the level of discomfort will increase. We have been magnificently made for balance and wholeness. If the whispers and nudges are constantly ignored, this leads to shouting which I would call chronic illness.

So if you feel that circumstances in your life are shouting at you or your body is screaming out to you, maybe it is time to pay attention. Maybe it is time to be still and ask yourself, “what is it that Love is teaching me in this season” or “What does my body require of me right now.” I dare you. Because I know Love has your best interest in mind and I know your body desires to be whole. Let us embrace the whispers of love and health today, and prevent the need for Love to shout.

May we have ears to hear what Love is whispering to us today.

Health and Harmony to you,

Raneeta Grace

The Trainer Wheels of Religion

As a mother of 3 beautiful children, I have had the honour and joy over the past few years of watching all three of them learn to ride a bike. Each child's experience has been unique, however, what I learned from our last child's experience was the most significant of all.

Trainer wheels are a disadvantage. 

Yup, that's what I just said. From my experience, trainer wheels were a waste of time and in fact they hindered our girls from learning to balance on their own. The bridge between riding with trainer wheels and learning to ride without them is basically the same as learning to ride a bike from scratch,




You see, we bought our third child a balance bike. Genius inventions. They are genius because they allow a child to learn balance without having to focus on pedaling. It took our son 10 minutes to learn to ride a pedal bike after riding his balance bike. It took our daughters a few weeks to get the hang of riding without trainer wheels and they were far more freaked out as well.

Now you may be asking me, what does this have to do with religion? Well, basically everything. You see, religion is just like the trainer wheels of a bike.

Religion takes away our ability to find balance from within, and dictates to us what is right and wrong. Religion allows us to live 'uprightly' with external supports rather than living balanced from within.

Religion will never replace a relationship with Love Himself - Jesus Christ. He is my inner guide to living balanced. In my opinion, living religiously hinders our ability to hear God and walk with Him personally. When Jesus walked the earth, he frequently offended the religious people, and in my experience with Jesus, He has frequently offended the religious mindset in me and challenged my views of right and wrong by speaking directly to my heart.

Although I grew up in a beautiful Christian home with loving parents, I still grew up using the trainer wheels of religion. Judging what is right and wrong based on what I was told. On my journey of walking out my faith in relationship with Jesus, I have had to unlearn relying on what religion dictates to me, and relearn the art of staying connected with Christ in my heart.

My prayer is that we will all awaken to freedom in Jesus and throw off the trainer wheels. Yes, we may fall and graze our knees. Yes we may lean too far to the left or right, but that is how we were designed to learn. The pure joy of riding balanced with the wind in our hair is the same joy we can experience riding freely with Christ at the center.

Go on. Trust yourself. Trust the Christ in You. Trust this walk of faith.
I believe in You.
Love Raneeta

The Power of Harmony

The past few years have been a wonderful journey of health and wellness for our family as we discovered the power of essential oils and natural health. It has been a fascinating journey that has opened our eyes and minds to so much more about health and wholeness. 

Along the journey of striving for good health, we discovered the most powerful protection for our family was not nutrition, essential oils or even prayer, it was actually a HOME filled with love, peace and harmony. 

Now don't get me wrong, I am ALL FOR nutrition, essential oils and prayer, in fact, I wholeheartedly embrace these things, however my journey has taught me that love, peace and harmony are the key that override it all (I was gonna say 'the key that trumps it all' but maybe that is not fitting during the US elections. lol). Psalm 133 puts it this way, "How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity (harmony)! It is like precious oil poured on the head."

I would love to be able to say that we have perfect harmony in our home, but that would be a lie. There have been many times when peace and harmony are not present in our home and fear, strife and anger have been present. In these times, I have learned about the power and protection of harmony.

Harmony is beautiful. Harmony is when everything is united in love. Harmony is a sweet sound. It is peaceful. It is blissful. When you hear a sound that is out of harmony, it creates discord. It is unpleasant. It causes us to not feel at ease. It actually causes dis-ease to your ears and being. 

That was a big clue for me right there! Dis-ease!

We were created for harmony. Our body is designed for harmony. Love, joy and peace flow freely from harmonious relationships. When there is harmony, the bible describes it like precious oil being poured on the head (Psalm 133 as mentioned above), and you know what, that oil flows down to the rest of the body.

When my husband and I are in harmony, our home is filled with love and peace. It is just incredible. The children are happy and healthy, things go smoothly and even our pets benefit from our harmony. However, when we are out of harmony because we get offended or annoyed by one another, the atmosphere of our home changes quite obviously. There is more conflict among our children, things go wrong and I have even noticed that we become more susceptible to sickness.

I have tested out this revelation time and time again, and this has only further revealed the truth about harmony. As a couple, we have learnt the power of unity and harmony. We have learnt that nothing can penetrate that bond of love. We have learnt that if the enemy cannot put a wedge in between us, he has no way of getting in at all. This is the power of harmony that has led to breakthrough after breakthrough in our home with our health, our relationships, the atmosphere of our home and our business.

It is now obvious to me why the bible says to make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit (Eph 4:3) because it is SO POWERFUL! I encourage you to test this out for yourself. Place HARMONY and UNITY as the top priority for your home today and step back and watch your family blossom. Sure, it might not happen over night, but as you continue in harmony, you will see blessing after blessing flood your home, your health and your family. 

Written with much love
Raneeta

From Trying to Growing

Combining my studies to be a naturopath and my love for creation, I often receive lots of life lessons through plants. Today on this glorious spring day I decided to take a break from the paperwork to let the chickens out for a roam, collect some eggs and check up on some of my favourite trees in our backyard.

After hugging some chickens and admiring some of our trees, I was overcome with beauty and awe about how each tree produces such amazing fruit for us. My avocado tree for example was a gift from my dad 6 years ago when we first built our house. This is its 3^rd year of fruit and we have had about 100 avocados this year! Yummo! And as I stand and admire this superfood tree, I reflect on how simply this tree blesses me. 

It does not TRY to produce fruit. It just does.

That’s when it hit me. Just like plants, my role in life is to take what I am given and allow myself to grow the fruit that I have been preordained to grow.  

A tree is planted, and it accepts where and when it is planted. A tree is exposed to the climate and receives the rain that falls, the sun that shines, the storms that pass and the temperatures that envelop it, and the tree converts these factors into growth. It is in the everyday, mundane factors of life that we can grow without striving or effort, but just by being thankful and present.

 My avocado tree does not look across the lawn at my mandarin tree and wish it could produce sweet and juicy fruit instead of thick and creamy fruit. So we too must learn to embrace the fruit that we are called to produce in life, and let the fruit of others bless the world as they have been created to be. 

Each fruit has a different purpose and function. Each are unique. Each are needed. Let us learn to honour the fruit on another’s life as well as loving and honouring the fruit in our own lives.

Let us quit ‘trying’ to be anything or produce anything and let us just BE present in gratitude, allowing everything in life to grow us and produce the fruit we were created to produce. 

Peace and Harmony to you and your homes,

Raneeta Curtis