Hey y'all, and happy Monday.
If you are new here, Monday Manna is our weekly sit-down at the table together: a personal word from our week, a short devotional, and a full recap of everything we published so you never miss a thing.
This week we are writing to you from Michigan, in the middle of a tender season with family.
Grab your matcha latte, settle in, and let's make this a great week together…
What We’re Loving This Week
Eyesight Upgrade: 74% Off iGenics “Tree of Life” Herbal Vision Support
Screen Time Takes a Toll. Support Macular Health, Visual Function, and Healthy Aging Eyes with Lutein, Zeaxanthin, Antioxidants, and Eye-Focused Nutrients.
The One Word God Keeps Pressing On Us in Michigan
We’re writing from Midland, Michigan, at Mimi's kitchen table, about 800 miles from home. We came up to visit Mama Z's family, and a few days in, her father was admitted to the emergency room with pneumonia. He has not been doing well, so we have decided to extend our trip and stay as long as the family needs us.
Some of you walked with us back in the spring, when we wrote about the morning Papa forgot Mama Z's name. Dementia has kept taking more of him since then, and now this. Mimi is carrying so much: the caretaking, the doctor visits, the weight of watching the man she loves slip further away, and 800 miles has never felt longer. So we keep coming, as often as we can, to lighten the load any way we can. This trip so far has been all about yard work, getting the garden ready, trees trimmed, bushes hedged, and doing all the work Papa used to do when he was mobile.
The kids love being with family. Mimi's heart is full with a houseful of grandchildren underfoot. And even though Papa often does not know who we are, we are here to serve, to love, and to sneak little moments of joy along the way. We are not taking these small things for granted anymore.
Honestly, even sneaking away to write to you has been a gift this week.
The ability to reach and help and serve people online has been the lifeblood of our Bible Health ministry for all these years, and lately Substack has felt more like therapy for us than anything else. :)
Every deep dive we build, every weekly Swap, every verse we research, it all flows out of this same calling that keeps carrying us through the hard seasons. We are grateful for this community more than you know.
Truth is, we did not expect to be in this caretaking stage of life at this point. Mama Z turns 48 in a couple of months and is still nursing our seventh baby. On top of it all, we are watching AI reshape the entire industry we built Bible Health and Natural Living Family on 12 years ago, and we have had to rethink the whole model. There are a lot of questions right now without immediate answers, and fear, doubt, uncertainty, and confusion all try to crowd into our thoughts and our prayers.
This is a battle that no amount of striving can win. It is the kind that only resting in God can settle.
Be still, and know that I am God. — Psalm 46:10
We have read that verse a hundred times, but this season it reads less like a poster and more like a command we finally have no choice but to obey.
Being still is not quitting, and it is not pretending the hard things are not hard. It is laying the questions down at the feet of the One who already holds the answers, and trusting Him to carry what we cannot. Surrender is the word for this season. Not surrender as defeat, but surrender as the deliberate handing over of everything we have been white-knuckling, our parents, our kids, our work, our future, into hands far stronger and kinder than ours.
Can you relate?
Maybe you are in a challenging caretaking season with your children, or watching a parent fade, or facing questions with no clear answers. If so, you are not alone, and we are not carrying it nearly as well as the internet makes it look.
Before we get into everything we published this past week, here is a word for your Monday…
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YOUR DAILY MANNA
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. — Lamentations 3:22-23
Jeremiah wrote those words sitting in the rubble of everything he loved. Not from a mountaintop, but from the lowest valley of his life, and that is exactly why they carry weight. He was not denying the grief. He was finding the one thing that had not been taken from him.
This is the heart of Monday Manna. When God fed His people in the wilderness, He did not hand them a month of provision to store up. He gave them manna for the day, fresh every morning, enough for what that day required. They had to trust Him again when they woke up.
A caretaking season, or any hard season, has a way of stripping you down to that same daily dependence. You stop asking God for a stockpile of strength to get through the whole ordeal, and you start asking for just enough grace for today. And every morning, it is there. New. Sufficient. His faithfulness does not run out, even when ours does.
So do not carry tomorrow's weight today. Gather the manna in front of you, thank Him for it, and trust that there will be more when the sun comes up.
WHAT WE PUBLISHED THIS WEEK
Bible Health is where we teach the why. Over on Natural Living Family, we teach the how: the recipes, the swaps, the practical version of everything we believe here.
1. The 7 Areas of Abundant Life Most Christians Overlook
Most health advice stops at the body, but the abundant life Jesus promised in John 10:10 touches all seven areas of who you are: spiritual, physical, mental, emotional, financial, occupational, and social. We wrote this one for every Christian who has felt the tension between their faith and their health and wanted to bring the whole conversation back into balance. It is free, and it may reframe how you think about stewardship entirely.
2. Ten Medications, Four Foods, and the God Who Healed Me
This one is tender for us. Mama Z opens up about a fragile season in her twenties, when her health had unraveled and her world had narrowed to almost nothing, and the ten-day fast where she finally stopped striving and surrendered the whole thing to God. What He did in that season became the foundation of everything we teach. It is the testimony underneath Bible Health, and this week's Bible Health Swap, Mama Z's DIY Detox Bath recipe with a printable card, comes right out of it. For our paid family.
FROM NATURAL LIVING FAMILY
Here is what we made this week over with our NLF community...
1. DIY Toothpaste, Heal Cavities Naturally, and Essential Oils for Oral Health
We mixed up Mama Z's homemade toothpaste with bentonite clay, baking soda, and essential oils, no fluoride or SLS, and walked through why oral health and gut health are far more connected than most people realize.
2. Healing Peppermint Oil and a DIY Cologne for Dad
We put together Dr. Z's peppermint oil guide for natural energy, digestion, focus, and sore muscles, right next to Mama Z's DIY cologne that gives Dad a clean, masculine scent without the synthetic fragrance cloud.
3. Essential Oils for Brain Health and a Bleach-Free All-Purpose Cleaner
We shared the oils Dr. Z keeps close for memory and focus, rosemary, cinnamon bark, and lemon balm, alongside Mama Z's baking-soda all-purpose cleaner for a lower-toxin home. This one has been on our hearts for obvious reasons this week.
Spotlight: The Eye Support Most Screen Users Overlook
Screens are everywhere.
Phones. Tablets. Computers. TVs. Late-night scrolling. Long workdays. Kids doing school online.
And whether we like it or not, our eyes are carrying more strain than ever.
That is why vision support needs to be more than an afterthought and we like herbal formulas like iGenics.
Millions of adults deal with age-related eye concerns, and the CDC lists age-related macular degeneration, cataract, diabetic retinopathy, and glaucoma among the leading causes of blindness and low vision in the United States.
That does not mean we live in fear.
It means we steward our eyes with wisdom.
Start with the basics:
Schedule regular eye exams.
Get outside in natural light.
Manage blood sugar and blood pressure.
Quit Smoking, Avoid 2nd Hand Smoke & Limit Alcohol
Eat more leafy greens, citrus, berries, carrots, egg yolks, and omega-3-rich foods.
Protect against digital eye strain (take screen breaks)
Blink often while staring at screens (don’t squint)
Follow the 20-20-20 rule (every 20 minutes, look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds - ideally something natural like a house plant or a tree outside)
Use blue-light filters or glasses.
And consider targeted nutrients for eye support.
Nutrients like lutein, zeaxanthin, vitamin C, vitamin E, zinc, and copper have been studied for macular health and age-related eye support.
The AREDS2 research is especially important because it looked at specific nutrient combinations for people with certain stages of age-related macular degeneration.
iGenics is an herbal vision support formula made with eye-focused nutrients designed to support macular health, visual function, antioxidant protection, and healthy aging eyes.
This is not about claiming one supplement restores vision.
It is not about pretending herbs replace eye exams.
And it is not about ignoring serious symptoms.
If you have sudden vision changes, eye pain, flashing lights, floaters, diabetic eye concerns, glaucoma, cataracts, or diagnosed macular degeneration, work with a qualified eye-care professional.
But if your eyes feel tired from screen time, aging, and modern life, this is a smart time to support the body systems that help protect your vision.
Right now, iGenics is 74% off for a limited time for our Natural Living Family.
Welcome to the Bible Health Revival!
You don’t have to keep guessing. The Bible Health Blueprint gives your family a faith-first approach that replaces confusion with confidence, starting your first week. Weekly Bible Health Swaps, devotionals, livestreams, and the full teaching archive. Everything you need to stop guessing and start living.
Paid members get instant access to the Bible Health Blueprint: a 30-day, Scripture-first approach that replaces confusion with confidence. It walks your family through real changes, one day at a time, backed by research and rooted in God’s Word. Subscribers unlock the complete Starter Kit the moment they join.
As always, our hope and prayer is that you experience the abundant life.
~ Dr. Z & Mama Z
P.S. Not sure if paid is right for you?
Try everything Bible Health members get for 7 days, completely free. The Blueprint bundle, the weekly swaps, the livestream mentorship, and the Vault, all of it, on us. If it is not for you, cancel before the 7 days are up and you will never be charged. Start Your 7-Day Free Trial.
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The information is for educational purposes only and not medical advice. Statements about health products have not been evaluated by the FDA and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Results may vary. Consult a qualified healthcare provider before using any health product or making changes to your wellness routine.
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I use the same ingredients for my toothpaste as Mama Z, minus the stevia, except I now use wet ingredients to make it into a cream toothpaste. I love the orange clothes mixture. I got the idea to add Orange EO from you guys!