Feel like you’re being crushed?

Your setback is you being set apart

The idea of anointing oil has its origins in the practices of shepherds. Sheep, often troubled by bugs, lice, and other pests, benefit from this oil poured on their heads. This makes their heads too slippery for insects to inhabit, protecting and cleansing them. The oil also acts as an antiseptic for wounds. The oil itself comes from crushing olives, a reminder that anointing comes through crushing. Without the crushing, there is no oil. Without the pressing, there is no anointing. What may seem like destruction is God anointing you. The crushing is His way of anointing you. This anointing is your breakthrough in disguise. Trust in what you cannot see. Reflecting on my own season of life, I have experienced significant loss. A car accident transformed my entire existence. It altered my ability to work, to drive, and changed the dynamics of my relationship with my daughter. She felt as though she had to become the parent. A lifetime of driving her to school, appointments, her first job, and friends shifted to her having to drive me to my appointments. I had to leave the home I lived in for thirteen years and move back in with my parents. I am not one to openly express my emotions, but God knows the heartache and despair I felt over the past year. I battled days of depression, fear, and hopelessness. I became envious of others' tragedies, believing they were somehow more blessed than I was. I felt frustration towards those who saw my time in the hospital while I was unconscious. They spoke of their healing encounters through me, but I couldn't. All I knew was that I was fine, and then I woke up in the hospital with a completely different life. It took longer than I wished to realize that I have my own healing story to tell. My story doesn't include the breathing tubes, feeding tubes, and tracheostomy seen by others. It isn't about the many prayers for my life, although I acknowledge their power and the collective effort of so many. My story begins when I regained consciousness in the hospital and continued when I came home.