xoxo 

It’s Monday. My brain is a little tired from the weekend so I’m not going to get too deep on ya! I just thought I’d talk about what’s been on my mind lately, and that’s the challenge I’ve given myself to eat gluten free. My disclaimer would be this: I’m not making any promises!!

During our 7 Day Juice Fast (you can read about it in previous blog posts) I felt incredible! That was a little odd to me being that most fasts cause you to feel bad the first few days. I never felt bad. In fact, I felt better than usual. After we broke the fast my system had a hard time returning to normal. That’s when I decided that maybe I shouldn’t go back to normal. I’ve always struggled with minor digestive issues so maybe I should try to doing something different. That’s when I thought about trying out eating gluten free. There are quite a few ladies in our church that eat this way so I started asking a few questions. This is what I’ve learned so far:

- Eating gluten free can be a little more expensive, especially if you are a carb eater.

- Use gluten free ready flour mixes for baking. Don’t try to make your own mix of flours if you’re not knowledgeable of what each flour does (which I am not!). I bought a pancake/waffle mix and absolutely LOVE it. So do my kids which is a big winner for me! I also bought a muffin mix. I made banana/choc. chip and banana/blueberry muffins already. The texture was more like a mixture between a normal muffin and corn bread but the taste was pretty good. My kids liked those too.

- Jason’s Deli has a gluten free menu. The bread is surprisingly pretty good.

-Walmart has a small section devoted to all gluten free products (cookies, pastas, flour, cereal, etc.).

- The clothing store, Altered State, has a cookbook called “Baby Cakes” that I hear is great for gluten free sweets recipes. I plan to get that.

I have no idea how long I will keep this up, but I’d like to see if it helps! I will let you know!

I welcome any advice or ideas if you’ve gone the gluten free route.

Until next time…. XO

She’s the super hero of anxiety. Beneath the mask and all that spandex she’s a villain at heart. She’s powerful I tell you! She’s modern day. N

Worry is easily justified as a noble act. After all, isn’t worry what mothers are supposed to do? Not really. We and everyone else is supposed to respond to every situation in faith. Fear will always be knocking at the door, and inevitably sometimes we will give in and wear her like a new pair of shoes. But when you do, strip off her cape, throw out the worst case scenario and tell God you trust Him. THINK about if the best case scenario happened. That will open up the door for the possibility of it actually happening. This is a constant act I must intentionally do. It starts with intentionally making the decision to stop negative thinking and walk by faith. Be warned, though, Anxiety Girl is persistent and doesn’t like to take no for an answer. But keep at it. Eventually FAITH wins and she’s forces out, leaping away to the next willing victim!  

Hebrews 11:6 “Without faith it is impossibly to please God.”

On day 6 I drank several jars of my juice I had stored in the fridge. Of course, it’s always best to juice and drink right away, but I had a busy weekend so I used what was on hand. On Saturday evening I incorporated small amounts of food, such as a banana and edamame. On Sunday, day 7, I broke my fast around 2:00. This was, by far, the best fast I have ever done. After 2 or 3 days of fasting the hunger pains went away. I only had to hush the desire to munch out of habit not hunger. I felt good the entire time. I think the key is continually drinking juice. This year I’d like to incorporate 1 or 2 day juice fast every couple of months just to give my system a break and a jolt of vitamins. 

Spiritually I enjoyed this fast. I had a lot of quiet time. I wrote, I read, I sat and enjoyed God’s peace, I listened and I talked to Him. My spirit felt calm. That’s why I spiritually love fasting. Your mind, body and will are set apart for the Lord and are completely submitted to your spirit man. That makes for a really good week. 

Consider making fasting a regular part of your life in 2012. It can just be for a day. Outside of your regular routine with the Lord, carve out time to completely focus on Him. After this week I feel better equipped to walk out the days of 2012!

It seems that God has been writing a sentence for me over the past few weeks and into this fast. From daily scripture to the books I’ve picked up, “Believe” is the message I’m continually hearing. Sounds common, cliche even, but for me, I know it’s from the Lord. Coming out of a season where my believer was almost all believed out, I’m taking this time to refresh, regroup and challenge my faith again. I think of the 20 long years Abraham believed God to see His promise fulfilled. In his humanity there must have been times he desperately needed to regroup, clear his mind of doubt and recall the promise once again. This is why I like celebrating a new year. It gives us a chance to mentally “start over” or get back to what we lost sight of during the previous 12 months.  

What is God calling you to believe for in 2012? He’s powerful and can do what He says He can do. If only we’d believe. 

Genesis 15:6 “Abram believed the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness.”

Today I juiced by color. Think I’m getting a little bored?!? I made three different kinds of juice. Red, Orange, and Yellow. Kind of like Kindergarten. The Red consisted of grape, radish, cranberry, strawberry, red cabbage, ginger root, apple, and orange (I don’t love the radish!). The Yellow consisted of orange, carrots, a few grapes and apple. The Orange consisted of mango, apple, and orange. So, that’s what I will “eat” today. 

A little trick a friend told me about last night: instead of peeling your oranges you can shave them with a potato peeler. It removes the bitter outside but leaves the white pith, which is really good for you. Thanks Ellen!

If you’re feeling weary, don’t quit. Remember, we’re in this with you!

So we’re at day 3 and I’m actually feeling pretty good. After this week I may not want to see juice for a while, though! Yesterday I went too many hours on water alone so today I juiced extra and stored it in jars to take with me throughout the day. If you choose to ever do this, fill the jars up almost to the top so as little air as possible is in the jar. I added pineapple today- yum! I’m learning, to me, that pineapple and strawberry mask most of the veggie taste- almost.

Yesterday I juiced grapes, celery and cucumber. It was the worst thing I’ve ever tasted! So I gave it to my husband. Joking, he was a good sport and actually volunteered to drink it!

Here’s a scripture that spoke to me today:

Proverbs 4:23 “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”

This week part of my focus is what I put into my body. How much more should we focus on a regular basis what we allow to get into our heart?

Thanks for reading! Have a great day.

So, yesterday I experimented around with ingredients. Some good, some not so good, but I downed it anyway. I’ve learned that celery, carrots, cabbage and tomato combined aren’t my favorite flavors but hey, I’ve consumed more vegetables in a day and a half then I think I do in a month! Here’s a nifty little fact: drinking 8 ounces of carrot juice is equivalent to eating a little more than a pound of raw carrots! That fact came straight out of the book, “Juice Fasting Bible” by Sandra Cabot, M.D. It’s a great read full of juicing info. There are plenty of websites to google too.

Today I needed more fruit so I ran into Walmart. What do you know I had to pick the time the bakery was baking fresh French Bread. The smell was wafting through the store. Painful! As I put ginger root into my cart I actually held my breath and maybe even called the ginger root a few bad names. Foods I don’t even like were tempting me. So, word of advice: while on a fast- stay out the grocery store!

If you’re fasting this week I hope you are going strong. If not, no worries, just get back in the game. Do whatever God has put on your heart to do. Carve out time for Him. Listen to hear His voice. In the end it will be worth every ounce of effort!

Day 1:

If you are not participating in any kind of beginning of the year fast, I highly encourage you to do so. Our church, Keypoint Church, always does a fast the first week of the year. As difficult as this fast can be to my flesh, it is equally, if not more, inspiring to my Spirit! As crazy as it may sound I look forward to fasting (any faster understands this) because I love the anticipation building within me to see and hear what the Lord will do and say. He, like always, proves faithful! It’s important not to view fasting as just a time of denying yourself- it is so much more than that! It’s to carve out more time with the Lord, focus on Him and hear what He has to say.

Fasting is also beneficial to your health. This is the first year I will be doing a juice fast for 7 days. If you are interested you will need a juicer and lots of fruits and veggies. I don’t have an expensive juicer. Mine is from juiceman.com and I’ve been pleased with it. This morning was the kick off! I’m 2 hrs. into my fast and so far its going well! I’ll let you know more tomorrow. Here’s what I juiced this morning:

4 oranges (peeled but left the white pith-the skin close to the orange)

3 apples (green)

6-7 strawberries

2 organic carrots

2 handfuls of cranberries

1 sweet potato

1 kiwi

This made enough juice for Casey and me with some left over that I’m about to drink up. It was honestly really good! The sweet potato and carrots are for added vitamins but also make the juice even sweeter. As the day goes on I plan to juice more veggies with just a little fruit. Here’s a list of what I have:

Kale

Cucumbers

Lettuce

Cabbage

Broccoli (I’ll let you know how it tastes!)

Parsnips

Zucchini

Radish

Really, you can juice nearly any veggie and fruit, but don’t waste your time or money on blueberries, bananas and other fruits that won’t yield a lot of juice (just eat those when the fast is over).

Tip: If you don’t drink all your juice right away you can either:

-immediately freeze it and as soon as it thaws immediately drink

-store in frig in container with lid

-store in mason jars filled all the way to top with lid (this is what I do)

The key is to keep air out so juice won’t oxidize.

If you are fasting I’d love to hear what you do, and if you choose to juice fast, let me know about it.

XO

It was my time to speak. I felt very unworthy to be standing in front such a valiant group of women, yet I knew God had placed me there so I encouraged them on things such as trusting God, keeping an eternal perspective and remembering we have hope. I witnessed the wiping of tears, bitter faces that looked away when I looked into their eyes (they’re still working on understanding it all… that’s okay, God isn’t threatened), and smiles of hope. I offered my best and sat down feeling satisfied that maybe, just maybe someone was encouraged, and my story slapped the devil around a bit. I believe it did. Later the sweet lady serving my tea whispered to me that ironically she, too, had lost a child. She didn’t seem upset. I offered to pray for her anyway. Then the tears came. She quickly erased them as if they never existed, but God and I knew they did. It reminded me all the more that you never know what someone is carrying in his or her heart. I was glad I took the moment to reach out to her. Before I left mother after mother approached me. They told more of their story, I prayed and hugged each one.

Last Sunday was a day I will never forget. I will carry a piece of those precious, warrior ladies in my heart.  It was one of those cherished times when God tangibly revealed to me once again how He is taking what the enemy meant for my destruction and is using it for my good.  I was able to offer hope. And I am confident many took it. 

Whatever you have walked through, place it in the hands of your Heavenly Father. He will turn it around. It can benefit your life and others in ways you never imagined!

2 Peter 3:8 “With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.”   

I will see you soon, H!