She called to tell me a dream she had about me.
I'll get to the dream in a minute.....
In the meantime, I am somewhat embarrassed with what I'm about to share. I don't have a great way to explain it. But I felt like everywhere I looked I saw tragedy and death. From the global tragedy of ISIS, national disasters, listening to friends who are struggling with not knowing the future of their sick babies, a dead bird on the sidewalk of our morning walk route....I just felt overwhelmed with what I'll call for lack of a better word, 'death sightings'. The embarrassing part is that part of me wanted to run from it all - in a sense I didn't want to embrace these tragedies...I wanted to get as far from them as possible. Having cancer and rough surgeries kind of feels like coming face to face with death. Let me be clear, though: I know that my physical death is not the end and that my future is in Heaven with God, the Lord Almighty. But for some reason, I just felt like death/the end of earthly things was always right around the corner. I just wanted to ignore it all. And I kind of did.
Then we were sitting in church listening to a guest pastor preach about being on mission for Christ. Being intentional about sharing the good news of Life Eternal with the broken. It was a very relevant message, but I had no idea how relevant. He shared some stories of how his church back home was investing in their community, specifically a young lady....it was a very sweet story and then all the sudden I heard him say 'she passed away after being diagnosed with Stage IV breast cancer'. Whew. My heart kind of skipped a beat...not the good kind of 'skipped a beat'. I felt like God was literally telling me to 'pay attention' to what I'm sharing with you.
Because for whatever reason. Not due to my own merit. Not due to any righteousness of my own. Not due to anything else other than God. Not due to anything I have done/accomplished. For whatever reason, God in His mercy, has granted me a second chance. I don't understand why I was able to find cancer in the earlier stages vs. a metastasized cancer. I don't understand why I was given a glimpse of the Angel. There is nothing I have done to earn this second chance. It is sheer Grace from the Maker of the Universe. That's it. Nothing of me, all by His Grace, I have been given a second chance. I have no idea how many years this second chance includes...none of us do. I just know that this second chance involves a mission.
And part of that mission is to share Good News with the broken and those that don't know Him. That's it, pure and simple. This can look different from day to day. Somedays I feel like I've blown it before the clock even reads 8:30, kids are whining and this momma is short on Grace. But my 'second chance' means I dust myself off and get my 'rear in gear'.
Back to my friend's dream. There was a funny background to the dream where she, Rich and I were in the Army together....but at some point I was in a terrible wreck/accident. After the wreck she and I were hugging and through tears and the smoke I looked down and realized that I was not hurt. Despite the terrible wreck, I was okay. Talk about making me cry. Can I say how powerful words of Hope and Future are for me these days? I was in a terrible wreck, but I was okay. I don't know what this dream specifically means for the future, but I do know that it took my breath away when she told me about it.
I was in a terrible wreck called cancer. But His Mercy sustains me. So I am now on mission. To share His Hope and Love for the broken and lost.
I have said before that food has nothing to do with the salvation of your soul. It has zilch to do with where your soul resides. That said, part of my mission is to share how to be good stewards of the bodies given us by our Creator.
I mentioned that this post would be about carbohydrates, which has gotten a bad rap these days. With all the gluten-free, 'don't eat rice because of arsenic', atkins, paleo, 'apples are a bad fruit because they have too many carbs', count your carbs type of food trends it is hard to know what is what.
First, we have to differentiate between types of carbohydrates. Bread has carbohydrates. So does spinach. So does an apple. Not all carbohydrates are equal. I think the most common trend is being 'grain free'. This refers mostly to those who are gluten free (although there are a ton of other grains, too!) due to sensitivity or being diagnosed with Celiac's. You've probably heard about the theory behind grains, specifically, wheat and why it is wreaking havoc on the health of so many...how the crop was hybridized (for reasons other than nourishment or health!) to create a higher yield and it contains much higher levels of gluten than the original version. Not to mention the crops that are GMOs (much more of that later....).
Here is our family's practice of grains. We eat grains. It includes homemade sourdough bread, soaked and sprouted grains. That's about it. Ezekial Bread and Angelic House Bakery are some brands that offer these options. This is how we balance grains and carbohydrates: We fill up on the most nutritious/nourishing carbohydrates first, then add in a slice of toast/roll/wrap. What does that look like? At dinner, I've started offering my kids their veggies (again, veggies DO have some carbohydrates) first (some get bigger portions than others...the key is they TRY it), then the main meal. Seconds are offered after another serving of veggies. After they are full dessert is offered.
It simply allows me to get our kiddos used to the taste of veggies (I read it can take up to 30 times of exposing a kid to a new taste before they accept it!), and I take advantage of their hungry appetites when they are more likely to just eat something because they are hungry. Hope that helps and makes sense.
For now, my mini mission includes getting this crew to swim lessons and back with momma's sanity in check! :)
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