Blessed by veggies for juicing.
Standing on God's promises develops our faith. It's a propulsion system leading us deeper into a relationship with him. It's an interaction with him. He gives direction and we follow. He covers us with peace and joy. We take it in to our body, mind and spirit and enjoy it. He gives a bit of faith and we stand a little taller in his promises...and this goes on and on as we walk in the Lord. Faith is active and it's working with the Lord in concert. It's a lovely harmony of his voice and ours and at times a crescendo, then a return to a sweet melody. It's the dance we do with the Lord that makes the music life fulfilling and nurtures our faith.
This leads me to standing on the promises of being healed and walking in his peace. So, I've made several decisions this week about my health -post cancer.
1) It's really important to my continued health and well-being to focus on two priorities: reduce stress and lose weight. Once these are underway we will add others.
2) Physical Therapy is working so I should keep doing it.
3) I'm going to follow the Radical Remission ideals and consciously integrate all nine principles into my life.
4) The Lord put it on my heart -to write- -it's inscribed on my spirit. Write. Write. Write. So here I am writing to you dear reader. And Martyr is coming along as well.
5) Giving up foods such as gluten, meat and sugar was a good the start to radically changing my diet, but I also need to add in the most nutrient rich foods I can through plant based eating. Which will help with weight loss.
6) I will follow the Lord's prompting and touches to my heart about any decisions that need to be made (I'm always working on this one...not always successfully).
Today is day 4 of a 10 day juice/vegetable fast. Although I'll likely continue the juice fast for 40 days. It has been interesting to start juicing with my family. We aren't nearly as frustrated without 'normal meals' as I would have thought. If you haven't seen Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead by Joe Cross it's worth watching at least once. I don't know if juicing is the answer to healing everything but I've seen it work last summer with my hubby's rash. It was a horrid rash that covered over 80% of his body and stayed for months and months. Juicing last year really healed it up. Juicing fits with my top 6 decisions and so juicing it is!
In the last post, I mentioned receiving confirmations that I am cancer-free. Having a confirmation like this an answer. But I can wonder and question and chase down a more substantive answer. It will never be enough. When we doubt like a double minded person a burning bush wouldn't be enough.
When we receive confirmations from righteous, faithful people, we are to believe that confirmation. Honestly, we all want answers from the Lord -and we want the answers clearly defined and immediately. However, God answers however he wishes and for his purposes. It's important to work with our Lord, not against him.
If I know that he's given an answer then my response needs to be faith. If I lack faith, then my response needs to be a request for more faith from Jesus. We can't muster up a mustard seed of faith on our own. All faith is given from the Lord. I have to say that pursuing greater faith in all areas of my life has been twenty years in the making and he has given way more faith than I could ever request. Yet, I can, on any given day -I can drop that faith back in his lap and pick up worry and fearfulness. Worse yet, I try to make things work on my own.
I know that as I listen to his voice and to his directions (in the Bible and in prayer and through others) he does answer. Now the catch is sometimes I'm not sensitive to his answer or I don't like the answer. So I try to remind myself that we aren't promised an easier life in following Jesus, but we are promised something better.
Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
-Phil 4:5-7 (ESV)
When the verse above is really examined The Lord wants the following from me and the rewards are promised, but it's up to me to be obedient:
-be reasonable around and with others
-do not be anxious about ANYTHING
-in everything by prayer and supplication (giving a request to God)
-with thanksgiving (not only no complaining, but actively being thankful when praying) let your requests be known to God
Here's what he will do:
-The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding (which is greater than our human minds can comprehend will
1) Guard your hearts and
2) Guard your minds in Christ Jesus.
That's an amazing command from the Lord. He's the Creator of heaven and earth. He's the Alpha and Omega. He created me, the tiny birds that sing in the morning, the sun that shines on the flowers, the butterflies that delight my heart. He can do anything he wants with his power and he is offering us a promise, if we are obedient. What?!
He doesn't have to do this. He doesn't have to give us anything. But our God is loving and we are his children. So he gives generously and to all who come to him.
Our responsibility is to stand on these promises. This means to take it in. Accept and believe without doubting; to give our pain and sadness and concerns to the Lord -not keeping them to ourselves as we like to do as we complain about life. It's selfish to keep these things to ourselves and it's disobedient. Ultimately it's self destructive.
And all of it is for his glory and our joy. It's completely for the purpose to develop the relationship for our eternity with the Lord.
Juicing at home is wonderful.
But finding a place in town (Mad Coffee $8 on Indian Wells Rd) that makes juice is even more wonderful!! This is the Pineapple Express. I had the cup filled to the top with ice -so that I didn't drink too much fruit sugar.
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