December 14, 2011

* The GAPS diet did NOT heal us

While I am thankful to God for leading us to the GAPS diet and I agree that it is a very healing diet, the GAPS diet did not heal us. God healed us. He did not heal us through the GAPS diet. He healed us by His Word. (Psalm 107:20)

God is love. Love heals. He IS the Great Physician.

I will try to explain what happened, but by no means do I have a formula for receiving healing. It is God who heals. There IS power in the blood and in the Name of Jesus!!!

I was so very depressed after more than one and a half years on the GAPS diet and seeing regressions, yet again. It felt like a prison. There was NO way out!!! A friend counseled me by listening to all that I had to say and by asking me one simple question. The question was, "What are you doing to seek first His Kingdom and His Righteousness in your life?"

At first, I was a little bit annoyed because I really thought that I had been seeking God all these years. I couldn't get the question out of my head. I began to wonder what it really meant to seek Him. How does one go about seeking Him? I didn't know.

I came to realize that I knew a lot about God, but I didn't really know God. I read His Word. I listened to the sermons and tried to apply the teachings to my life. I memorized lots of scripture and tried to apply what I knew to my life, but I just could not do it consistently. I participated in Bible studies. I prayed all day everyday, but my prayers were primarily asking God to help me and to help others. I did praise God, I thanked Him, I confessed my sins, and I made my requests, but I was not seeking a relationship with God.

So I did the only thing I knew to do: I humbled myself as a little child and I asked my Heavenly Father to teach me. I figured that He is really the only One who has all the answers. In Jeremiah 33:3, God says, "Ask me, and I will show you great and unsearchable things that you have never known."

I was reading through the Bible so I began to talk to God and ask Him about passages of scripture that didn't make sense to me. Later, I would find the answer in another part of scripture, or in a Bible study, or a sermon. I began to notice that certain topics were very repetitious. I kept reading, "Your faith has healed you." I kept reading, "Love one another," "Love your neighbor as yourself," "As I have loved you, so you must love one another," "a new commandment I give you: Love one another," "The entire law is summed up in this one command: Love your neighbor as yourself," "but the fruit of the Spirit is love..." "These three remain: faith, hope, and love, but the greatest of these is love." "Nothing matters except faith expressing itself in love."

If anyone reads this and wants to know the references for any or all of these, I will gladly share. I just want to post this soon. I recommend reading all of Galatians, John 13-17, and all of 1 John.

I have found more, so much more, but it is best if one seeks the Lord for these things so I do not want to give it all away as it would not mean near as much to one who had not searched it out with the Lord. I have simply believed what God has written in His Word.

Note: Previously, I was not confident to read my Bible and try to understand it, because I had been told so many times that you have to understand the history and the context to understand the true meaning of the words. What a lie!!!! I was afraid, but 2 Timothy 1:7 says that "God did not give us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, of love, and of a sound mind."

I began to read the Word of God and I tried to understand it. I asked my "Abba" to help me understand it and I reasoned that if I guessed wrong (as my children often do) that He would be patient with me and would teach me all things as I become ready to learn it, just as I am patient with my kids and I teach them new things as they become developmentally ready to learn it. God is so good. He is teaching me.

I became convinced that love was more important than anything else I could do for my kids and one day I simply had faith that my daughter could eat honey and would not react. She did eat and she didn't react. I later gave some to CKS, and he did not react. They have been eating fruit and honey ever since. They only had reactions on bad days where love was not reigning in our house. I found that I could make my kids sick in an instant by criticizing them or yelling at them or shaming them in any way. I would love them back to health and, indeed, the reactions would go away. So I concluded that Love heals. However, we all still reacted to everything NOT on the GAPS diet.

I kept reading God's Word, seeking God, His Kingdom, and His Righteousness. He is amazing!!! I can't and won't tell you everything I have learned. I will, however, encourage everyone to "seek first His Kingdom and His Righteousness" (Matthew 6:33). Also, check out Matthew 7:7-8. Ask God and He will tell you everything you need to know. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 1:7). Don't just read His Word; talk to Him about it and believe what He tells you. It is amazing!!! HE is amazing!!!

I came to a point where I believed that it was indeed God's will to heal us. I prayed for complete healing everyday, believing that He would indeed heal us. I spoke the Word of the Lord (verses I have memorized) all day and talked to God as if He were my daddy in the room with me. At some point, I knew we had to step out in faith (prove our faith genuine) and expose ourselves to the foods/environments that we had been reacting to for so long. We bought some bread at the Farmer's Market and ate it with butter. We were fine. We kept eating bread and butter and added in other non-GAPS food. We were fine.

Note: When I began to eat bread and butter, about a week earlier, the kids had reactions akin to pre-GAPS or early GAPS. CKS regressed. KES became enraged and hateful. It was insane. I'm the one who ate the food and no one else knew of it. The children were still having "reactions" when I gave them the bread and butter, and I believed that they would be fine and would actually improve. They were and they did. Rashes were as bad as they have ever been, but they have been improving.

You see, it was God who healed us, not GAPS. We had been reacting to so many things just a few weeks earlier. Now we are fine. Praise the Name of Jesus!!! All glory to God!!!

We have enjoyed treats at Christmas parties. We had our own special day where we decorated the Christmas tree, watched the Nativity Story, drank hot chocolate, and ate candy canes. We shared a Thanksgiving meal with our family. We ate dinner at church with our church family. We can eat anything. My kids can play with play dough again!!! WooHoo!!! Healed!

The GAPS diet did NOT heal us! God did!!!

[As of 12/20/14, we have been off GAPS for more than three years and are enjoying freedom from the fear of food and toxins.  You can be free, too!  I want you to be free!  Please go to http://gapsfamily.blogspot.com/2014/12/our-story.html to find links that will guide you through our story.  Be encouraged!]

13 comments:

  1. Awesome.

    (Coreen)

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  2. Thank you so much for this post ... i have been on the Gaps diet for about 5 months now and am 6 and a half months pregnant with my sixth child . I really enjoy the way of eating , but also started feeling less then happy when it came to functions outside the home and being so quick to not eat what others made. God has also brought me threw lots of healing . I had my children on this diet for three weeks but it really brought more stress and turmoil to our home , they already ate a traditional diet very low in wheat anyway, my husband finally put his foot down .. he saw how this was not for us all and how it was making me more sad in the end. I am still on Gaps , but they are not . They are all well and doing great . I see results in me only Christ could bring and I am not so quick to not eat what others make , yes i do not eat grains and sweets at functions , but i do not just pass up a piece of meat because its not organic . Or stop eating the veggies because they are not my own . I eat well on Gaps at home , and really want to show love to others . Thank you again for this post . Sorry it was so long !!


    - Leah -

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  3. Leah, I'm glad my post encouraged you. Bless you on your journey. I can't wait to see where God leads you. I can see you have great faith. God is so good and He loves us so much! Congratulations on this new baby to come soon. I'm saying a prayer for you and your family and for the safe delivery of your baby. Children really are a gift from God. I am so thankful for each one of our children. God has taught me so much about myself and my relationship with Him. Bless all of you! Happy New Year!

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  4. I wrote before, but my post disappeared, so I apologize if this is posted twice. But this post of yours really spoke to me. My three year old son Joel is on GAPS right now on the Intro stage. It was very difficult as he's already a picky eater. He hated the soups and veggies and he was starting to lose so much weight that I got scared. On Day 4 I caved and scrambled some eggs for him which he gobbled up (we could never get him to eat eggs before!). I couldn't bear seeing him so miserable, so I ended up fast tracking through the stages. I was beating myself up with guilt that I couldn't even last 5 days on Stage 1, and was thinking I blew it. This diet will never work because I didn't do it perfectly. But reading your blog reminded me that its not the diet that heals us. God is the ultimate healer and His grace can cover our mistakes and failures because He is compassionate and merciful. Regardless of my failure, I believe God can still work through them and He will not be limited by our mistakes! I surrender the results to Him and if He still heals my son, He will. If He doesn't, that's okay too, there's another plan. Anyways, thanks so much for this blog. Its awesome to read about GAPS from a spiritual standpoint and that it is GOD who heals!

    Tina

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  5. Hi Tina,

    I'm not sure what happened to your earlier comment. It may have gotten lost in my e-mail. I am so blessed to hear that my blog/post is an encouragement to you. That was the purpose for writing it, aside from just journaling our journey for my own remembrance.

    You are right! God is NOT limited. He can, and will, do all His Holy Will. I pray that healing comes quickly to your son.

    You know, we did not do the GAPS diet perfectly, yet we saw wonderful results. All along, we were trusting God to heal our family, but we often forgot ourselves and temporarily put our faith in the diet. I found that no doctor and no diet can heal us. Only God can heal us, and He is more than able.

    Press on, my friend, and be patient in affliction and faithful in prayer.

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  6. Thank you so much for this. It was just what I needed right now. I had been on GAPS for 2 months with my children and saw amazing results early on but lost connection with my heart as I began to feel obsessed with trying to do GAPS perfectly in a GAPS unfriendly world. I then became pregnant and craved raw milk desperately so I went back to raw milk. I had some reactions that were unclear to me as to wether they were from the milk or just my body still healing. 11 weeks into the pregnancy I miscarried and about a month after that felt myself falling apart hormonally, physically, emotionally and most of all spiritually. Now 6 months after starting GAPS I am still doing it with my children but not perfectly. I am finding as I let go of my obsession with the diet and allow some wiggle room and have more faith in mine and my children's abilities to heal, I am enjoying my food and family more and we are all doing fine. I still have plenty of healing to do but you helped me to realize that what I've forgotten is the healing ability of faith in God. In the past whenever I've put my faith in God it's always worked. Maybe not as fast as I'd like but it's always worked. Thank you for reminding me of the strongest healer of all. Many blessings to you.

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  7. To Anonymous - I am so pleased that this has encouraged you. God is so good to bring us encouragement through other believer's testimonies. He is the Great Physician! He is Love and Love heals! Truly. Matthew 6:33 - Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you. Many blessings to you, my friend.

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  8. To All - Do check out a later post called Healed Because of the GAPS Diet, and read the comments section to learn about another child who has been healed by the power of God. God is worthy of our praise! He is Awesome! God wants us to seek Him. He says that if we seek Him, we will find Him. He wants us to believe Him and obey Him, which is easy to do when you begin to understand who He is. God is Love!

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  9. WOW thank you so much for this post. God works in mysterious ways. My family is not on GAPS but I have been researching it to see if it would benefit my daughter who has cystic fibrosis. A lady on a forum shared her story of healing by first seeking God and she included a link to this post. I have been so spiritually starved lately and this post has nourished my soul. God has used it to guide me away from the destructive path I was on. The timing has been perfect. So thank you so much and God Bless you and your family. I am now seeking God, His Kingdom and His Righteousness. I love it I want more and more, I can't wait to spend time with God now. It is such a Blessing :)

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  10. To Anonymous - I must have been busy when I got this comment. I posted it, but did not reply. How wonderful that God is leading you to seek Him and His righteousness. He is near and He will be found by those who seek Him. His word says it is so. I pray for you and for your daughter. May the Lord bless you with healing by His power, because He is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine. Praise God, for He is worthy of our praise!

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  11. Thank you for your post. I wish I could say that I got that far on the GAPS diet. I only lasted about 11/2 months when my body crashed with adrenal fatigue and my thyroid went wacky. Both my son and I are having alot of stomach pain and acid reflux. I began to look at GAPS as a possible healing solution. I sought the Lord and felt the go ahead (perhaps I was mistaken) and only did about four days with my son. We were in such pain that we ended having to go to a regular doctor and get a proton pump inhibitor (Nexium and Prevced)/ For me this was humbling but I know our footsteps are ordered by the Lord. I have pretty much dropped much of GAPS espcially for my son. We are just trying to get him to eat anything. We have been gluten free for years and he is not doing dairy either. I started to include some goat's milk keifer and some grains into my diet and feel better in my body but my stomach issues are not yet resolved.
    For me I feel the Lord is teaching to look only to him for healing. He knows, I have tried and my efforts have failed me. We are still needing His direction and of course, His healing. I know He is good and I am trying to have the faith you talked about in your post to trust that He will bring healing to us.

    Teresa Deuel
    New Mexico

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  12. Hi Teresa,

    So good of you to write and share your experience. You are right that the Lord is good! He is good all the time. His word says so. The faith I talked about did not happen overnight. I began to seek the Lord and ask Him to teach me through His word. I found out that faith is a gift. (It is by grace we have been saved, through faith, and this not of ourselves, it is a gift from God, so that no one can boast.)

    First, I had to have faith to believe His word. I had been filled with so many lies that I was afraid to try to read and understand the word on my own, but God says we must come as a little child or we will never enter the kingdom of heaven. So I reasoned that I did not have to be a scholar to read His word. I approached Him as a little child. He is my Heavenly Father, and I can call Him Abba.

    Once I began to read His word and believe that God meant what He said and that it was for me, then I had to ask Him for faith to really believe it. I could see clearly enough what God says is true, but my experiences told my brain the opposite. God's word trumps my experience. I asked God for faith to really believe, and He gave it to me.

    Oh, understanding that God is love, and that His command to me is to love, was key!!! Love is the fulfillment of the law! (somewhere in Romans and Galatians and...) God's command to us is to love (John 13:34 among other references). I read a few days ago the response of the man born blind, who was healed by Jesus, to the Pharisees, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will. Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” (John 9:30-33)

    You are right that the Lord is calling you to look only to Him for healing. He is calling all of us to look to Him. I read this week in Isaiah 31:1 "Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in the multitude of their chariots and in the great strength of their horsemen, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel, or seek help from the LORD." Also, I read today in Psalm 20:7 "Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God."

    I am still learning and growing. I urge you to seek the Lord by reading His word and talking to Him about what you read, asking Him to teach you and to help you believe what He tells you. Remember that His word trumps our past experiences.

    May God bless you, Teresa, and your child, with the fullness of His joy and also with healing. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding...this will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones." (Proverbs 3:5-8)

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  13. Look for comments by Tina Kim on Healed Because of the GAPS Diet and Enjoying Our Freedom. By faith, her son is healing, too!

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