Hunger and thirst

  I say this purely out of gratitude to God and not to make anyone jealous :)... I'm writing this today from a hotel room in Herradura, Costa Rica.  My husband has a speaking engagement here, and baby and I got to come along for the ride!  There are a few pictures at the bottom and I'll post more to my general blog photos later.  But... that's not what I'm really writing about.

  Food for thought...I've been pondering John 6:35 since memorizing it with the kids a couple weeks ago.

John 6:35

And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst."

   I certainly know what it is to hunger and thirst both physically and spiritually.  Spiritually, it's that longing for more of the One who created us, to know Him more and enter into deeper intimacy with Him.  And He says in Matthew 5:6 "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled." So, I know this hunger and thirst - to long to be free from the sin that so easily entangles and that every moment would be a God moment because He lives in me!!! and that makes all the difference in the world.  In fact, other than sprinklings of intimate moments, I have to say that most of my conscious spiritual thoughts revolve around being hungry and thirsty for more than my day to day experience rather than a day to day experience or sense of being filled.
     What does it really mean that if I come to Him, I'll never hunger and if I believe in Him I'll never thirst?  At face value, it seems to mean that my spiritual needs and desires will be satiated or satisfied when I come to Him and believe in Him.  I think that also goes along with abiding in Him.  Yet,how do I get from hungering and thirsting - from longing- to satisfaction?

   From these verses, the answer is quite simple, come to Him, believe, have the hunger and thirst and the rest is His work. As I've pondered this for about 3 weeks, struggling for some substantive answer to make sense of my reality, I finally feel some revelation from God and confidence to finish this post that I started a week ago.

     I think that as a society, we are largely hungry/thirsty for more, for bigger, restless and never satisfied. In God we want to see or experience something big that effortlessly maintains itself in our thoughts and actions.  And, I think, the hungering and thirsting is pretty effortless, but maybe the coming is the problem.  My mom shared a Francis Chan sermon on her blog Bible study on the Fear of the Lord. (Links to both: www.rebeccapsmall.com  and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXPKK9QNpJA) 

   In Chan's video, he talks about coming to God and how often as Christians we go to church to hear from God or chase around this or that person who seems to really be connecting to God when He has given us access directly to Himself.  We don't have to be content with hearing from Moses, we can go up the mountain and meet with the fearful, living God ourselves.  We can come...

   So, I found myself sitting outside early this morning, listening to the sound of the waves and the sound of God's voice, simply walking up the mountain myself, quieting myself and feeling filled.  I need to do that more and by the grace of God, the more time I spend in His presence, I may like Moses, bring His glory down and show others the path to the top of that mountain.  

Nehemiah 9:15

In their hunger you gave them bread from heaven and in their thirst you brought them water from the rock; you told them to go in and take possession of the land you had sworn with uplifted hand to give them.

     God is a God who delights in satisfying His people, in giving good gifts.  I think often we're hungering for the wrong things, however.  We're hungering for something bigger, deeper, more life changing...for the things He does, the biproduct of being with Him rather than hungering simply for God Himself.  Like Adam and Eve in the garden, we have been given rich abundance, all that we need and more and we find ourselves pining for the one thing we can't have, the one thing He knows we don't need.  

  

   But, if we will hunger for God Himself - the Joy of all the Earth, and we come to Him, we will be satisfied, satiated, filled.  Not just thrown scraps or having the edge taken off our hunger - but be filled.

     How does this fit in with my mission to help kids eat healthier/be healthier?  Well, I'll post some great recipes we've used this past week, but more important than what they put in their stomachs, we need to show our children where to find and how to find spiritual satisfaction - to lead them up the mountain that they too may be filled rather than left wandering in the desert pining for satisfaction in God but feeling hungry and thirsty.

  For lent, we have given up sugar, so the following are some recipes we've found to be delightful and sugar free!  Hands down best is the Chocolate Avocado mousse - lots of different recipe options on the web!  Those on Pinterest can follow my "sugar free sweetness" board for more!

http://www.theironyou.com/2013/11/chocolate-avocado-chia-pudding.html

http://www.scalingbackblog.com/sweet-treats/chocolate-hazelnut-avocado-cake/
http://www.rawmazing.com/white-chocolate-dark-chocolate-raspberry-tort/

http://thecoconutmama.com/2012/09/homemade-chocolate-chips-soy-free-dairy-free-vegan/

http://www.ambitiouskitchen.com/2014/07/the-best-coconut-flour-chocolate-chunk-bars/

My husband says...and what not to do ever, ever, EVER! or God in the kitchen

Yes, this blog post has way to many names and...
No, you don't need to fear that your name will be the next one mentioned in my blog!  :)

So, what does my husband say?  He's excited that I'm blogging but really likes it when I blog about spiritual things - which got me to thinking about how to incorporate that into my already committed topics of : kids and whole food/clean eating.

   As I reflect on our food experiments and trying new things, two things come to mind.  First, my oldest does not like salad, but on occasion, we make her eat it. Last night was one of those occasions. Friends had brought us a delicious salad with sprouts and homemade croutons, radishes and other good stuff. I gave some to Eve and she ate it all without a word. I asked her if she was beginning to like salad. She said, "No, I still don't really like it. I'm just not complaining."
    I need to learn from that wise girl. How many times am I in situations I don't like and I let people know how miserable I am. I may do what is unpleasant as a duty but I'll let someone know that I'm unhappy about it.  Or at least grumble to God about it. Yet, how blessed and joyful it made me that Eve responded in the way that she did. I want to give God that same pleasure in all circumstances.  It's made me ponder a lot about the Israelites and how God HATED their constant complaining.  It brought a lot of trouble down on them like: snakes, plagues, and even food poisoning!!!  Yup, it's all there.  So, no complaining and cook your food well....properly.
   Which, brings me to my next point: food can be cooked too well.  Never, ever, EVER leave chicken on high in a pan, forget about it and run to the grocery store!!!  I must say, I did have a fleeting thought: "I should just wait and put this on when I get back" ( NEVER ignore the HS when he speaks to you in this gentle fashion!) And I thought, "Nah, I'll just turn it on real quick and turn it off as soon as I leave the house, that way the chicken will already be cooked or mostly cooked when I get home!"
  Yes, sadly, this was me on Sunday.  So, I run to the grocery store with my boys (Girls are out at a Father/daughter Valentines ball with Daddy) and can smell my offense as I drive up the driveway.  As approach my door I can hear the fire alarm blaring and wonder if I'm going to walk into my kitchen on fire!  As God's grace would have it, fire itself hadn't broken out yet but smoke was billowing out my door and dense throughout the house.  I ran in, opened a couple windows and ran back out, and then repeated the process until windows in nearly every room and all doors were opened.  My visions of getting a nap before working evening shift in the ER were quickly dissipating - at a much more rapid rate than the smoke from my house.  Oh, I did turn the burner off and remove the pan too.
   As I watched smoke pour out of my house and someone drive by very slowly looking concerned, or was it amused? puzzled?  just interested?  I don't know, but I thought..."I don't need this!"  I have plenty of other things to do this week!  Ever wonder what it would take to get the smell of smoke/burnt plastic lid handle out of your house?  Me neither...until now.
  So, folks, don't try that at home.  I don't recommend it.  Food should be cooked well but not TOO WELL.
  Yes, I've been scrubbing down doors, walls, furniture, door frames, window frames, cabinets, etc, etc with vinegar water, covered my couches, chairs and carpets in baking soda over night and vacuumed it up, lit candles, opened windows and put bowls of diced onions in water around the house all to absorb and remove the smell.  It is slowly getting better and I've never so thoroughly spring-cleaned my house.  Tomorrow is shampooing carpet and couches.
  Friday I hope to plant my early spring starts!

     Are you sitting on the edge of your seat wondering what the second thing I have been reflecting on is??? Or did you forget, like I did that I mentioned there were two things up at the second paragraph?  Yes, this blog is getting way too long.  I think I'll close and post more later.  So, goodnight.

Recipe of the week:  

Homemade ketchup: Jon says it's the best he's ever had!

http://bakerette.com/homemade-ketchup-honey-agave/

My mother-in-law said...

We were in Indiana over Christmas and I was talking with my mother in law about food, as we often do. We both have a great affection for food and are pursuing a more whole food, nutritious means of creating and consuming good food. She suggested that I blog about healthy\clean eating, but encouraged me to find my own niche. I pondered this over the past weeks and decided that if I were to have a niche in this at all, it would be blogging about how to introduce healthy / clean eating to children.

   I've also decided that starting something new at the beginning of January is so passe, and really February is the ideal time to start. This ensures that the energy and enthusiasm that generally goes into New Year's resolutions has thoroughly faded and whatever is going to be started has a better chance of lasting. (At least that's the excuse I gave myself or not having started before now.)  And if you're going to talk about a healthier lifestyle, it helps to incorporate exercising as well. This morning I did day one of a 30 day CrossFit challenge at home. After five rounds of 10 pushups, 10 sit ups and 10 air squats I'm feeling a little shaky but accomplished. Www.lifemadefull.com/30-day-crossfit-challenge-workouts/

     So, on to food because that was the point I started with... Presently, my greatest debt of gratitude goes out to food network's show "Chopped". I've been watching this on occasion with my daughters while feeding the baby, and they have enjoyed watching chefs create meals centered around a basket of mystery ingredients. This show has inspired my girls to be more adventurous in their cooking and eating. So, we have started our own version of Chopped in our house. Each of my children have a day when they cook with me. On our grocery shopping adventures, we pick out several vegetables or healthy ingredients that we are unfamiliar with and then utilize them on our cooking day. Emma came up with the idea of eggplant hash browns on her own and they were delicious.

  For now, my plan is to try to write on a weekly basis and post recipes that have passed the judges approval in our "chopped kitchen" and feel free to post your own recipes that are tried and found delicious.  Favorites from this past week were baked carrot fries, and celery root, sweet potato and bacon hash, though I recommend a 2:1 ratio on the sweet potatoes vs celery root.  http://www.rubiesandradishes.com/2013/09/16/yam-celery-root-bacon-hash/

Jon said he would order this at a restaurant: meal was glazed pork http://allrecipes.com/recipe/honey-glazed-pork-chops/  used honey and coconut sugar, mashed potatoes with dairy-free butter and mayo, s/p and garlic, and baked carrot fries http://noshon.it/recipes/oven-baked-carrot-sweet-potato-fries/

Other hits:
Almond crusted eggplant: http://alimentageuse.com/home/2014/01/23/almond-crusted-baked-eggplant/
cherry and blueberry crumble made with non-dairy butter and almond flour crust
Edamame Quinoa salad: http://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/2014/09/edamame-quinoa-salad.html