Kris Kues

Health Tip:

To help combat sleep difficulties, don't read, eat, or work in your bed. This helps protect your sleep, both for falling and staying asleep.

I hope you're having a good weekend. Weekends are such a wonderful time to refocus and set priorities for the week. For me, I always look forward to relaxing and enjoying my three men. Being outnumbered by two teenage boys and a wonderful husband has its benefits , as I am often spoiled like a Queen!

A huge discouragement for me recently has come as I have started struggling with sleep. For much of my career as a nurse practitioner I have heard people talking about their difficulties with falling asleep, or staying asleep. I remember being puzzled at how many people have this health issue.. Well, now its my turn! So... I guess now's when I get to put into practice what Ive told people for years.. The concept of sleep hygiene. If you look it up online, you will see that sleep hygiene is basically a way for us to train our minds to 'go to sleep'.. Who would've thought wed need help with that? Well, its part of living in a fast paced society, with constant stimulous around us. The basic idea is that we must not bring our work to bed ( as I type in bed.. sigh.. ;-) Anyway, it really does work, it just takes a few weeks to change our sleep habits...

For many of us, we struggle with sleep because we also struggle with the 'demon' of anxiety.. Our minds are racing... worrying.. I love how many times God addresses anxiety in the Bible.. and for me.. the one I cling to is " He will keep in PERFECT peace him whose mind is steadfast on you".. Resting in God's control is really the only place for perfect peace...

On that note, I leave you with the story of Henry ( name changed for privacy). Henry was an elderly man who had been married for over 50 years. The last year of his marriage his wife was diagnosed with a lung disease that was terminal. Rather than keep his wife in the hospital, Henry brought the hospital to his wife. Her bedroom was full of tubes and machines. And yet, it had always been her wish to die at home. A year after her diagnosis, Henry's wife breathed her last in her own bedroom, laying in Henry's arms.. as he held her close he says he felt a peace that passes understanding, knowing that in that moment his wife was cured.

Now that's the kind of peace I want to live my life with.. the kind that comes from certainty of knowing who holds my every breath, from sleeping to waking!.