and not the gluten-free kind :).
What's that?
"Huh?" you ask...
"Don't do it!" you shout...
Oh, I'm doing it. And not just pizza.
chili cheese fritos.
yummy wedding shower cake.
blue bell's birthday cake ice cream.
friggin doughy, cheese covered pizza.
and I'm still alive!
I've had an amazing change in my life this past week and all glory goes to my Awesome God...
who didn't just heal my body,
but more importantly, renewed my mind.
may this sweet little testimony create a bubbling in your heart and praise on your lips.
JUNE 2010
Most of you know I got extremely sick last summer and couldn't quite figure out what was going on. Long story short, the doctor diagnosed me as both lactose- and gluten- intolerant. No dairy. No wheat. No malt, barley or rye. She was right and for almost a year now, I've had a very strict diet. It was hard at first, but became second-nature after a while. I told myself...no griping, no whining. This is just how it is. If I want to be healthly, just don't eat certain things. A lot of things.
My sister mentioned praying over me a few times and somehow I just let it go. Never directly said no out loud but I also never petitioned, yes please. With any other thing I'm quick to pray...for some reason, this was different. I was obstinate.
Fast forward to MAY 15, 2011
Hassyn, my precious little niece, has a big heart for her Heavenly Father and is getting baptized.
This was our conversation at the end of church:
A: Hassyn, will you pray for me?
H: Yes. What do you need?
A: Well, I'm allergic to some foods and my body can't handle them very well. Can you pray for that to go away?
H: Well, do you like to eat that?
A: :) yes
H: ok
Then, her precious little hands took mine and we closed our eyes to pray. I waited for her and then realized she wasn't praying out loud. After a while, I took a quick peek to see if she was still praying. I think she could sense that I looked up and cracked her eye open to glance at me ;) and then continued to pray. Shortly after, she finished:
A: Thank you Hassyn. What did you pray for?
H: I prayed that you will be able to eat the food you liked and that it would not hurt your body, in Jesus' name.
Did I mention, she's 6? Oh, how sweet is the faith of a child!
Two things stick out to me.
1) I felt led to ask her to pray because I know her prayers are not jaded and the faith of a child (in Jesus) is powerful. meaning, as we grow older I feel like our minds are more susceptible to believing lies and letting Satan get a foothold if we are not fully dependent on and believing in God's Word.
I felt like I had been believing a lie about my body.
2) When Hassyn asked me, "Do you like to eat those foods?," that thought had not crossed my mind. To me, it had never mattered about whether or not I enjoyed the food...just the fact that I couldn't eat it and had to work harder about preparing my meals. When she asked that, I thought, "I've been missing the point. I'm forgetting that my Father loves me and wants the best for me." I fully believed and only focused on those dietary restrictions. The Lord reminded me again of Peter's vision of the unclean foods and who am I to believe in and put those restrictions up? God cares for me and has authority over his creation. I had forgotten that.
So, I've eaten various forms of gluten since last Monday with no consequence! Well, maybe some gas here and there ;)...but nothing like it was. I had a semi-bad reaction just a few weeks ago, so I know it was still an issue and didn't just go away eventually, like some people will probably try to say.
Satan will do all he can to make this seem meaningless.
But I know better...you know better.
do you understand?!
This is big time! I'm no longer gluten-free, I'm truly FREE of gluten!
Praise God and thank you sweet little Hassyn for praying for your Aunt Ge.
Here is a recent page from Hassyn's journal...
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