Do you wish you could just upload yourself to “The Cloud” for a night of restful sleep? Oh, if it could be that easy!

I (Jill) was tired for ten long years. All the time for all that time. I recall sitting on the front step of our home with our youngest son. He was about six years old, and we were having a lovely conversation about Heaven after someone we knew had gone to live there. I told him what I’d read in the Bible about Paradise and he suddenly got an inspired look on his face. His eyes widened, and he exclaimed, “Mommy! You won’t be tired anymore!”

Ugh. That moment made me realize how my battle with sleep – lack thereof – affected not only me but my family. I was a mess and there was no telling day to day if I would be Dr. Jekyl or Mrs. Hyde. Would I be the haggard, depressed, and crabby mom or the energetic, organized mom? It all depended on whether I got my miracle – a sound and deep sleep. Insomnia was robbing me of being the kind of women I was created by God to be: joyful, engaging, consistent, firm but loving, fun, patient, and productive. Day to day was a crap shoot… more crap than shoot, I’d say.

“Why in the heck didn’t you just take sleeping pills?” you ask. My answer: I am weird. I knew that once I started down that road, there would be no end. So I went the direction of herbs and alternative medicine. These things definitely helped, but after spending loads of time and loads of money on chiropractors and naturopathic remedies I still wasn’t cured. So I prayed. I had others pray. I fasted. I had others fast. I cried. I made others cry.  And I waited…

Until one sweet day — well, it was more like a week, one of the best weeks of my life — my answer came from a most unexpected source…

Are you, beloved blog-reader friend seeking solutions to your sleep problems? You’re not alone! Dr. Oz notes a recent study that lays out the ugly ramifications of sleep deprivation. “Sleep is necessary to rejuvenate the connections between brain cells; these connections become increasingly erratic the longer you’re awake.” He goes on to say that when sleep is disrupted, the brain connections essential for attentiveness and memory are also disrupted…Now what was I going to say? Oh, yes. I remember now.

Let’s pray.

Father, You have all the answers to the very real dilemmas we live with. You care about sparrows; you care about us much more. Again, we lift up to you those who are plagued with insomnia. Give them Shalom tonight. And give them a practical way out; please fix what is broken. Amen.