Align Your Armor, My Friend & prepare for An Adventure!

Last Friday was my children’s first day off from school. But because it was just the start of the weekend it didn’t feel much different.

Monday was a holiday, Tuesday was intense, Wednesday was grocery shopping for the return of the Nicholes Army, and here we are Thursday… Wow… it is here, summer has returned. 🦋

I have missed my kids and our normal routines so much this past school year. It has been a whirlwind of feelings. So many feelings.

Last year my husband and I sold our home and picked up our family to go on an adventure. And an Adventure it has been!

I have been totally and completely tried and tested in every category of my life it seems, but there have been Boundless Miracles to counteract every test!

It was as if my entire being knew the kiddos were returning, and just last Thursday I entered into a deep, deep, depressive moment. It was as if to show me that the end was near and test if I could endure completely.

Last Thursday & Friday experiences were black and white from one another. Friday was a complete healing experience. And this is why…

1. I reached out to a friend and she let me just talk and cry.

2. I apologized to God for becoming so anxious and bitter and the weight I was holding on to lifted and literally freed my soul!

3. That, and my kids were finally home!

(I need to brush over a clarification. My children rocked their public school experience and our community is amazing! This is what they needed. We all needed it. However, that truth didn’t make any of the experience “easy” by any means. This knowledge just made it, “easier”.)

Of course, it wasn’t perfect. We had to revisit expectations and boundaries, but ARE home! ❤️

This experience reminded me of a consistent dream I use to have as a child.

Do you know of or remember the old TVs that would do black-and-white static if the channel was unavailable or not working? Kind of like in the horror movie “The Ring”?

Well, that was what my dreams were like. Complete static! But all of a sudden as the static would completely fade into either a deep dark abyss or a soft, white cloud of nothingness. Oddly neither scenario was quite comforting for me and I feel like I am beginning to know why.

I enjoyed the quietness of the white cloud… but the nothingness was depressing, and the dark abyss was frightening. Is that how depression and anxiety work or what they look like?

My 2 top Strengths are Empathy and Activator. The white nothingness felt cold, uninviting, and there was nothing to do, nothing to fix, achieve, or focus on. And of course, the darkness was just more than I could handle.

Oddly I knew even as a child that dream would be a monumental part of my life, but I just wasn’t sure how or why? Now, I feel like I beginning to know. 🧐

I must know, watch and be aware of myself. What triggers me, what makes me tick, what motivates me? This is how I gather my armor and align it right.

Christ died for us so that we might repent (change) and live. He asked that all glory be to God! Sometimes when I choose to pray, gather & pick “myself” up I find myself commenting, “Wow! I rocked it!!! I totally got this!” As I was doing this Monday morning after my weekend of turn around I pondered for a moment… “I rocked it?”

“Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men.”

I asked myself, “Malinda, did you rock it?” I answered, “I am actually super grateful for my choice to pray for help, so I could rock it, through God's help.” And that made me think about Christ my brother. Christ is perfect! Completely perfect. One perfect thing He did, said, “I will choose death to free the people and ‘All Glory to God!”

Why did He say this, perfectly? Because Christ knew it wasn’t His choice if we chose to be changed and saved, but instead we would have that choice.

Next level… He knew that we MUST CHOOSE to ask God to help change us! Some people say depression is a choice, or anxiety is a choice. I don’t know about you, but sometimes it doesn’t “feel” like much of a choice.

Here is the reality though… choosing to ask for help in those deepest darkest moments, or get off your butt in those quiet nothing hours… that is a CHOICE! Sometimes choosing to LIVE is just that, a choice from the agency was given. For me, that choice always begins with a prayer to God to help with that next first step.

“ALL GLORY TO GOD!” ❤️

So yes, Jesus Christ died for ME & for YOU! But all Glory to God, because our perfect brother knew His perfect choice to die, and that was that… a choice of His agency. His saving sacrifice and Atonement gave us an opportunity to live again, though our choices will fail us time and time again.

Our agency gives us a choice to ask God to catch us, lift us up, and remove our depression, fears, and anxieties. Step-by-step, line-upon-line… and day-after-day.

Today was my children’s first day back, and I missed them something fierce! It will never be the same as it was before we began this adventure. I am grateful for the miracle of memories so that I can remember the pure bliss of our Homeschool experience.

Maybe even one day… this new season and adventure will be a miracle memory. Even though this last year has seemed so “mad hard” one day I will look back and be grateful for our time of growth. 🦋

But today… today I am grateful for our moment this morning to slip right back into our Armor Alignment Routine as if we didn’t just go through 10 months of adventurous struggle and growth.

I am grateful that I taught my children what I had so that when they came home it was that easy. Resetting the boundary and jumping right back in. Was there resistance? Sure… we are human. But as we put on our “purify” oil and began our AA song… it all just came together and we rocked out with our Saving Grace from God and the light of our Savior Jesus Christ. 💎

Below is our shortest version of the Armor Alignment Process that you can do quickly, and with your littles… Just add any DoTERRA Essential Oil and You are All Set! 😎

Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes (The Armor of God)

Words and music: Anon. (Words: The Armor of God: Malinda Nicholes)

The AA Book is coming SOON & you can find my podcast simply by googling the Armor Alignment Podcast. (Secure Podcast Platforms, Spotify, Amazon, Google, Captivate, or my LivDosha Website)

Until next time my friend remember,

Liv Dosha!

Malinda