December 19, 2011

* Enjoying Our Freedom

We are still doing well.  Our sound minds come from the Spirit of God.  (2 Timothy 1:7)

Sweets are everywhere!  I allow my children a reasonable ration of sweet treats each day.  They are fine.

A reasonable ration would be a few pieces of candy, or a piece of cake, or a donut.

Plus, we are eating bread and butter almost daily, or white rice, sweet potatoes, etc.

Shopping, cooking, cleaning is less!!!

Beds are most often dry.  Laundry is less!!!

Everyone sleep through the night!!!

I can now experiment with all kinds of ferments!  WooHoo!  I have my first batch of Beet Kvass fermenting right now.  I think my husband has ordered the Wild Fermentation book for me.  Since we can now have whey (and, well, anything), I can try many new ferments.

We have reduced the amount of Bio-Kult by nearly one half and will drop it completely when I get more ferments going and into our regular routine.  We cut our dose of FCLO by about half.  No more Natural Calm Magnesium.  Cost is less!!!

We have stopped juicing regularly and do not have lemon water everyday.  Food prep time is less!!!

My hubby and I have actually gone out on a date: ate at a restaurant and went Christmas shopping.  What fun!  Stress is Less!!!

We participated in a Christmas concert and dinner at church.  Amazingly, all of our 5 children, ages 2-13, sat quietly on the front row for the duration of the concert.  I was impressed.   We ate what was served at the dinner, including something from the dessert table.  Choosing was difficult, as there were so many choices and we limited ourselves to one.  My children were curious why others filled their plates with 3-4 different desserts.  Hmm.  We could actually have true fellowship with others and talk about something other than food.

God is so good!  Praise Jesus, because He is the One who healed us!

Everyone, all six of us, are having normal formed bowel movements every day.

Bloating is gone!!!  I have received so many comments on my slender figure as of late.  Nice!

No one has itchy skin!

Energy and attitudes are high! "Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." (Isaiah 40:31)

Eye contact is AWESOME!!!  Love it!!!

The children play well together.  They all play together.  They LIKE playing with each other.

There is a lot of tickling, chasing, laughing, and playing happening at our house.  There is peace at our house.  "For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." (Romans 14:17)

My daughter, KES, has only had one leg cramp once since we started eating off-GAPS.  I prayed in Jesus' Name, and Jesus took the pain away.  I kid you not!  "Christ the Power of God" (1 Corinthians 1:24)

My daughter, KRS, has only had one headache since we started eating off-GAPS.  I prayed for her in Jesus' Name, and Jesus took the pain away completely.  I kid you not!  "If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you."  (John 15:7)

Search it out!  "Seek first His Kingdom and His Righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."  (Matthew 6:33)  Seek Him!  He is the ONLY ONE who has all the answers.  He is the ONLY ONE who can make you righteous.  He is the ONLY ONE who can heal us.

He loves us and He wants to heal us.  He sent His Son to die for us, so that we might be saved, and saved means so much more than an insurance policy to get into heaven.  Saved means saved.  Saved now.  It means saved from sin and saved from the power of sin in our lives.  It means saved from death, eternal life.  It means healed.  There's more.  The Greek word "sozo" means: to save, keep safe and sound, to rescue from danger or destruction.  It is often translated as heal, save, cured, made well, preserved, recover, restore, etc.

He saved us from our slavery to sin and restored us to what we were always meant to be; sons, who were created in His image for His glory.  He has clothed us in His righteousness.  Wow!

"God is love." (1 John 4:8) "There is no fear in love.  But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.  The one who fears is not made perfect in love." (1 John 4:18)  Oh, YES!

Search it out!  Seek Him!  It's good.  It's all good.

5 comments:

  1. This is amazing. I wrote a comment on your post "The Gaps diet did not heal us." My son Joel is on the diet, but I've been too scared to give him something not on the Gaps list. I think its a lack of faith - perhaps I should try. When you decided to give your daughter honey for the first time, was it a firm conviction of the Lord or did you just do it "in faith?"

    ReplyDelete
  2. Tina Kim,

    It was a firm conviction. I just "knew" that they would be fine. There is a difference between having a firm conviction and hoping that I am understanding something correctly. Jesus said that anything is possible for him who believes. Believing and wanting to believe are not the same. Also, praying in fear and praying in faith are not the same and do not get the same results. I mean this: when my son cried out that his eye hurt (like when he was sick and regressing), I prayed in fear and he kept on crying. Fear is the opposite of faith. When I realized what I was doing, I stopped praying in fear and began to pray believing that God would help. My son continued to cry out about his eye from time to time and I would put my hand over his eye and pray, in faith (truly believing), and the pain would subside very quickly. He has not cried out about his eye hurting in a long time. That spiritual battle is over. Hebrews 11:6 says, "Without faith it is impossible to please God. Anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him." Ask God to give you faith. Seek Him in His Word. Jesus said, "Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened." I asked, and God has given to me. Ask. He will give you faith, because it is His will for us to believe Him.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank you so much for this reply. It makes things so much clearer for me. I never thought about praying in fear, but I realize that I've done that so many times. I need to ask for more faith. Today was tough for me, as I was wondering if I'll ever have a conversation with my child, but somehow, I know God has a plan in all of this. Thanks so much for your blog - it really has ministered to me, especially about asking and receiving from Him!

    ReplyDelete
  4. First I want to say just how encouraging reading your last few posts have been. I know they are older posts by now, but I have re-read them, read them to my children, and had my dh read them. I stand in awe of the power of God! Years ago, about 8, I was encouraged to read the bible as if it were the first time. I was told to not think about what others wrote about what it said, but to see what it said myself. To take God at his word. I started doing that and some amazing things were starting to happen in my family. But then I started to back off, I had just had a baby and a move to another city within 3 weeks time. I never got *it* back. But I read your words and I say to myself..."I want THAT!!!" I want to know that I know that God is all powerful. Instead I have prayed in fear. I have asked the Lord for faith and wisdom. Things were just getting worse around here and so I took a half day to really get before the Lord. I 'handed' over all of my plans, asked Him to arrange them, and give them back to me when I was supposed to deal with them. Then, no kidding, the very next day I fell and broke my knee!! Ha! I was laid up for over a month. With 7 children, this was no small matter :-) We have been on GAPS for 7 months. I have grown weary. We continue to struggle with some issues (although a lot has changed). We were hit with the Norovirus, a horrid stomach bug, and all my leaky gut issues have returned. Ugh. I really just want to make healthy, nourishing food, like sourdough bread. God gave us these things as food, and yet it is 'bad', even though He says it is 'good'. I know it is good, but my body hasn't figured that out yet. I want to BELIEVE we are healed, like His word says, but I don't. I think about all those out there that said they believed, but then fell ill, and ask myself why I think I would be any different. To make a move in the right direction, I have cut out a lot of reading. I am focusing on getting our family in some sembelence of order. My next goal is to just pour over the Word. Have my mind renewed. I need, and want for my mind to be renewed. I want to have faith that moves mountains, for my family's sake. My family did not want to do GAPS, so as a compromise we decided to do it for a year. We are now over the half way mark and too many issues stand unresolved. The biggest being our failure to thrive son, who is 5.5 years old, and still wearing a size 2-3T. His 3 yr. old brother is taller and weighs more than he does.

    Sorry to have written a novel :-) After all that, I want to say reading about your experience has given me the incentive to dive in, into God's word and see what HE has to say about all of this. I pray that I will be back soon to update you on how it is going. Thank you for sharing your testimony.

    Kerri

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh, Kerri, your words are so wonderful and encouraging. I am so pleased to know that my testimony has encouraged another believer to dig into God's Word and seek Him. Seek Him and you WILL find him. He rewards those who earnestly seek Him. Remember to put on the full armor of God (Ephesians 6). You have entered the battlefield and the enemy does not want you to go where you are going (hence the broken knee). Pray for God's protection. Pray for His strength. Pray continually in the Spirit about all kinds of things (Ephesians 6). Expect resistance, but do not be afraid, because the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. I have some battle stories to share. You have encouraged me, and I will post soon to share what we have been through and where we are. We ARE indeed healed! All six of us are healed! I look forward to hearing an update from you every now and again. God bless you!

    ReplyDelete