We WANT to Honor God

We WANT to honor God

Christians in general want to honor God, their Creator. And by Christians, I mean followers of Christ. There are many who claim to be Christian who show no sign of being Christ-like. So, let’s start over…

Followers of Christ want to honor their God.

We prepare a tithe – a monetary offering – to give to our God, usually placing it in the offering plate of our place of worship.

We daily set aside time to spend with our God, reading his Word and praying. As we mature spiritually, we learn to understand the need for sharing intimate time with our God.

We honor our God by being willing to set aside what we’re doing to help someone in need.

We honor our God with our words, keeping them kind rather than harsh. We don’t curse. We don’t humiliate. We strive to build up, not tear down.

We know how to extend grace (oft times we need God’s power to do so).

But do we honor God with our food choices? At least in this country, that seems very difficult – if not impossible – to do.

So many of us struggle with our health: autoimmune diseases, intestinal disorders, cancers, depression, neurological (ADHD and OCD), emphysema and other skin disorders. Serious health issues are common place. A stash of prescription medicines in the home is common place, and expected. Medical tests are common place and expected, sometimes forced. Damaging flu vaccines are pushed on us, forced on medical staff, and atrociously proclaimed as safe and helpful.

Let me add here that I’m not preaching at others, I’m also talking to myself. I’ve been looking at how I honor God – or not – with food choices.

Yes, there are things I can’t eat. Wheat and most milk products cause problems, and if I avoid them I can stay away from doctors. Since that’s become a die-hard goal of mine, I’m willing. But there are other choices I – at home at least – choose to stay away from. You’ve heard about the damaging effects of high fructose corn syrup, aspartame (diet pop, etc.), MSG, and by now you may even have heard reports on the damaging effects of soy (unfermented soy) which is included on many an ingredient list in your kitchen and is in almost all dressings and mayonnaises. We limit our sugars and grains, but going completely carb-free isn’t the wisest choice for health.

I like to look at things logically. God gave us a vast amount of food choices, and it seems logical to me that he means for us to enjoy them, and use them wisely.

There are other things we’ve learned lately as a culture. An improper balance of omega-3 and omega-6 causes inflammation and illness. An improper balance of alkalizing foods and non-alkalizing foods causes inflammation and illness.

So logically I want to increase omega-3s and alkalizing foods in my diet. Or another way to work at it, to eat more anti-inflammatory foods.

If I could convince the people I care about to change just TWO things in their diets, it would be to:

1) learn what healing fats are and use them properly,

2) somehow get yourself unaddicted to the diet drinks!!!! (And sweet drinks in general.)

(Ask God; he has the power to get you there, especially if you’re genuinely wanting to honor him with your food choices.)

So, honoring God. How do we honor God with our food choices?

Way too often we go at food with a devil-may-care attitude.

“This may kill me, but it tastes so good, so – I don’t care!”

Is that honoring God? Are we honoring God when our poor health keeps us bound in some form or another – sometimes literally – so that we are limited in how much of ourselves we can offer him? When we’re constantly scheduling medical appointments, we limit our calendars for being free to serve him.

I want to try to write a prayer…

So here goes…

Oh Father, you are God Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. You have made us in your image and you desire to spend time with us, you long for our worship. There are so many ways to worship you, Lord. Honoring you with our choices is a form of worship. Enable us and empower us to honor you – to worship you – with our food choices. There are so many false messages about what is good for us. Open the eyes of your people to see the truth, to care about how we treat our bodies and our minds. I love you, Lord, and I worship you with my words; I lift my hands to you in song and praise, worshiping you. Help me, empower me, to worship you with my food choices.

Worship

I will often focus on attributes of God as a form of prayerful meditation.
Here are a few:

Omniscient ● Omnipotent ● Omnipresent ● Holy ● Sovereign

● Merciful ● Righteous ● Forgiving Love ● My Authority

~ ~ ~

For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith.  

–1 John 5:4

~ ~ ~

For further study:

This fat can be life-changing for those who struggle with health, IF you can get past your culturally cultivated fear of saturated fat:

http://180degreehealth.com/2007/10/spotlight-on-coconut-oil

http://180degreehealth.com/2010/11/refined-coconut-oil

I personally use the expeller-pressed coconut oil – in cooking, and also as a nightly supplement for digestive health.

Follow-up to Our Three-Week Diet - or - Kids’ Eating Habits Can Change

My last blog told about our three-week weight-loss diet we were starting. It didn’t go as great as we would have liked. Gene lost 10 pounds, I lost just five. But we came out of it with some changes. We liked having our meals laid out week by week, it made grocery shopping so much simpler, and we both knew by looking at the week’s list what to prepare for any given meal. It’s not easy each week to take time to sit down and plan, but eventually when we have about four weeks planned that we enjoy, we’ll just repeat them. We’d only done one week so far, then my husband got a tooth infection and needed a root canal. No planning happened then. And then we had vacation. Now it’s time to spend time laying out a few weeks of menu-planning.

Another thing the diet did for us…

That diet included a lot of avocados – a very nutritious fruit. We want to keep that up. And on that same note, I want to incorporate chia seeds into meals. I have no trouble just taking a handful of seeds and swallowing them with water (like itty bitty pills). But Gene won’t do that, so I’ll need to look at my meals once they’re laid out and see where I can toss them in. (Why chia seeds? They’re an omega-3 food, and ever since I started using them as a supplement over a year ago, I ceased having eczema-like patches on my hands.)

We want to continue the raw fruits and vegetables. Even medical experts will tell you that if you want to avoid cancer, eat vegetables. I know a couple of people (I know there are many more) who just don’t like vegetables. One is my daughter. We didn’t have a lot of money when she was young, so sadly we didn’t have veggies at our table often. Plus I didn’t know how crucial it was so I don’t know if we would have had them anyway.

The veggies I ate as a child were corn and green beans. Growing up I much preferred the meat and potatoes, and the pizza and chips, and the PB&J and chocolate milk.

So my great apologies to my children!!

My advice to new parents: teach your children a different normal than what you grew up with. If it’s normal, that’s the heritage they’ll love.

Let me tell you a story…

When my second grandchild was born, he had serious digestive and *neurological issues. My daughter decided to take the very hard road and learn the difficult lessons of healing with food. By the time her third child was born, she was ready to put all three of them on what’s called the GAPS Diet. It was torture, for her and the grandparents. To get children to eat veggies when they’re not used to eating veggies, it sometimes seems as though you’re starving them. But in hindsight it was good for all of them. For healing, yes. But now they ALL eat raw veggies, and yes, they eat culturally normal food now – pizza, donuts, candy. But they’ll eat veggies too. My oldest grandchild, who in some regards had the most difficult journey of giving up those sweets and pops he had been enjoying, now loves “crunchy” vegetables. (And by hard journey, I mean I witnessed his anger through it. He wanted his sweets! Desperately!) When he’s at Grandma’s, and I list an upcoming meal, and if veggies are on the list, he’s all over it! The last time he said that relatively new cultural line, “You had me at veggies.” Kids’ eating habits CAN change. So can adults’.

*I’d like to mention here at the end in case someone happens upon this story who has a child with the same issues.

The neurological issue my second grandchild dealt with was speech apraxia. He couldn’t make consonant sounds. He’d look at you and “talk” about something very important to him, but nothing came. It was all vowel-like sounds – he’d hold his mouth open and never close it as he formed (or didn’t form) words. He didn’t seem to even notice the sounds that were missing – he was young, but he sometimes seemed frustrated that we didn’t understand him. The diagnosis of speech apraxia made so much sense. A few days after starting the GAPS diet, the proper sounds began to come through. It took time and work, but you should see him now. I just gaze in wonder at him and his beautiful nature and personality. There are so many horror stories of children with speech apraxia, and other neurological issues, whose parents never hear that healing the gut is so powerful for physical and neurological healing. And even if they hear it, it doesn’t make sense to them. How can diet affect the mind?

Next blog: “Honoring God”

Don’t be impressed with your own wisdom. Instead, fear the Lord and turn away from evil. Then you will have healing for your body and strength for your bones. (Proverbs 3:7-8)

Losing Unwanted Pounds...I Hope

This is my husband making breakfast. My Nigerian apron adds a nice touch.

We’re on Day 3 of what’s called the Beyond Diet Edge 21 day program. Theoretically we can lose 21 pounds in 21 days. So far so good; I’m down three pounds! Wanna know what I love about this weight loss program? Everything is spelled out! I don’t have to think about meals or menus or the best way to exercise. It’s A-B-C ready – all organized in a ring binder. The meals are simple and quick to prepare. I feel so organized.

When we shopped for our first week, the cart kept filling up with produce. That sounds nice as far as nutrition goes, but it was the highest bill we’ve had in a while. Since the program is set for one, and some meals seem to be made for more than one, I’m hoping that some of this food is going to last into the second week.

Each day we’re supposed to eat five times. It can be a bit difficult, especially on Sundays. That’s today. My preacher husband didn't think he should step down from the pulpit to go grab his mid-morning snack. And leaving the sanctuary just for a snack didn’t seem like a very good idea for his wife to do, either. J

Also, since it’s Sunday, we didn’t get to exercise, but we should have time this evening.

Here’s a sample of a day’s menu/plan:

Week 1 / Day 1

MEALS

7-8am: Breakfast Bake

10-11am: 1 oz Raw Almonds, Small Apple

1-2pm: Simple Side Salad with Apple Cider Vinegar Dressing topped with 4 oz of Cooked Chicken/Turkey/Fish
4-5pm: 1 cup Kale Chips with 2 Hard Boiled Eggs
7-8pm: Veggie Stew

EXERCISE

Perform Warm-up first

A - Squat Push Press

A - Table Top

A - Bridge - Back on Ball

A - Push Up

A - Floor Dips or

A - Chair Dips

A - Side Crunch

A - Wall T's

A - Swiss Ball W's

A - Cobra on Swiss Ball

A - Planks

If you could have seen us trying these new (for us) exercises, I'm guessing you would have had a good laugh. Especially when we tried to balance on the gigantic exercise ball - a first for us. Let's hope it gets easier.

______________________________________________________

But for you who fear my name, the Sun of Righteousness will 

rise with healing in his wings. And you will go free, leaping with 

joy like calves let out to pasture. (Malachi 4:2)