If You Have a Need, Plant a Seed!

I get emails from one of The Daniel Fast websites that I follow. I thought this one was good enough to share.


If You Have a Need, Plant a Seed!
"Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap." Galatians 6:7
Yesterday I was talking with a new believer who is under some heavy financial pressures. He was filled with worry and fear and just kept shaking his head saying, "This is so hard. It's just so hard." We had a good conversation and I was able to encourage him . . . but when I asked him about tithing, his immediate response was, "Oh, I don't even want to go there. I am too broke. I can't even think about that right now."
He was so emphatic, that I didn't press it. Plus, he was in conversations with his pastor about his new found faith and his giving. I didn't want to get in the way of any of that . . .
But I did give him one picture for him to think about, "Imagine Farmer Bill standing at the edge of his 30 acre field. He's looking up to the sky and once again lamenting to God, "Why don't you make this crop grow. I have been waiting and waiting. I have been pleading with you. But the only thing growing in this field is weeds!"
Suddenly the clouds begin to rumble and Bill knows it's the voice of the Lord, "Hey Bill, I've been patient, too. When are you going to plant the seed?"
Planting seed isn't just about money . . . although God's commandments are very clear about tithing. But we also need to look at every area of need and see if we're like Farmer Bill. Maybe you're frustrated with your spouse because you're not getting the kind of attention you want . . . check out your seed. Perhaps you feel lonely and don't' want to sit at home another weekend with nothing to do . . . check out your seed. Or possibly you are wondering why you don't have the kind of deep and intimate spiritual life you want . . . check out your seed.
God is clear on this subject, and He says He will not be mocked. Whatever we sow, we will also reap. That works both ways. We can be planting seeds of love and kindness. Or we can plant seeds of strife and contention. We can plant seeds of trust and faith or we can plant seeds of worry and fear.
The next time you get ready to present a request to the Lord, first make sure you have good seed in the ground. Don't be like Farmer Bill . . . but instead be like the farmers who have such abundance that they have to sell it, store it and give it away!
Susan Gregory
The Daniel Fast Blogger
http://DanielFast.wordpress.com
http://www.daniel-fast.com

Fast and on sparkpeople.com! I'm so proud of all of my friends who are joining me on this weight loss journey! We're going to be healthier and hopefully skinnier!! YAY!

I have had several people ask me to help them come up with menus or food plans. One of the great things about this site is that sparkpeople will do that for you. If you'd like an even more personal food plan though, email me and I'll be happy to get you started off. Once you find things that you like and that work for you, it becomes easier to eat healthy! Trust me, I'm a walking advertisement! :) I know what I need to be eating and have known what I need to be eating, I just chose not to. Hopefully that's your issue also!

As this new year progresses, hopefully we'll all see a change physically, mentally and spiritually! I can't wait to see our results!!!!

Get Started Guide

If you join SparkPeople.com (it's free) and request me as a friend, you can actually see EVERYTHING that I've eaten since beginning the fast. I'll also send you some websites and recipes :)

http://www.sparkpeople.com/mypage.asp?id=CKINNEER
http://danielsfastcookbook.com/
http://danielfast.wordpress.com/daniel-fast-food-list/

One of the best places to get food from is Kroger. Publix also has quite a bit of organic foods that will work on the fast.

I found only one actual bread that doesn't have any added sugar in the ingredients. It's really good but kind of expensive. http://www.foodforlife.com/ We've been using organic butter and sugar free organic jelly and the cinnamon raisin bread for breakfast with either fruit or a banana. Oatmeal is also a great breakfast item. Get the whole grain (no sugar in ingredients) oatmeal. I like to mix it with vanilla almond milk (it's not milk...it's made out of almonds so it's not soy either) and raisins and cinnamon. That's normally what I have for breakfast.

Buy a bunch of frozen veggies (they are easier to cook and cheaper than buying cans) and a bunch of frozen fruits. Make sure that your fruits are not perserved in sugar. These are good snacks. Nuts are good snacks too. I also found these veggie stixs that are all natural and are YUMMY! They are in the potato chip isle. For lunch a salad or soup (Amy's Organics has a lot of veggie soups without added sugar). Or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (using natural ingredients).

For dinner we do ALOT of brown rice. You can get some ideas from my page. One of my faves so far was brown rice, okra, squash and diced tomatoes. Oh and onions. You can get whole wheat tortillas and make bean burritos. I made this yesterday and I think the recipe is on my page, if not, just email me. It's really easy. Red beans and rice is good. Black eyed peas and rice. I also found some rice spaghetti with no sugar. Publix probably has it. You can buy the cans of just tomato sauce (no sugar added) and add spices for a sauce. I made a really yummy mushroom and orzo soup.

You just really have to plan and look for these things but I'm posting stuff as I'm making it. When you go out, you can go to Wendys and get a baked potato (no toppings) and a side salad. Be careful about your dressings also though...ALOT have sugar added. Balslamic (sp?) is normally okay.

I hope this helps so far. And I'll be happy to keep sending you stuff if you want me to!

Charity

The Daniel Fast

Because I have had so many people asking me for ideas for The Daniel Fast, I've decided to start keeping a blog. I hope this helps those of you participating in The Fast and those of you who just want to start eating healthier!!! Have fun!

Birthday Boy

Today is Caleb's 5th birthday! I can't believe how quickly the time has flown. It seems like just yesterday he was my sweet newborn baby. Every stage has been so much fun and such a learning experience. I can't wait to see what the next few years have in store for us! I love my stinker!!!!!!

Broken Nose

Well my stinker butt broke his nose at school on Thursday. I get a call around lunch time from my husband who says, "Can you call Caleb's doctor. I just got a call from the school and apparently Caleb fell on the playground. He was fine until about an hour after the fall when it seems his head is swelling and he is complaining of a bad headache." That's all he says! I, of course, begin freaking out like most mothers would when they hear words like head swelling, bad headache... so I call his doctor and they immediately let me speak with a nurse. She asks me questions such as where is the swelling, what's hurting? I have no answers so I call the school nurse. As soon as I'm paged through and say who I am she tells me that Caleb was playing on the playground and fell somehow. On his way down he hit his nose. It bled a little and so she fixed him up and sent him to class. Apparently an hour or so later it started swelling and he was complaining of a headache (turns out it was hurting ON his nose, not his head but hey, he's only 4). After speaking with her, our doctors nurse and an emergency room nurse we decide not to take Caleb into the ER at this time. His nose is too swollen for them to do anything anyway and the first thing he asks when Seth picks him up is whether or not he can play in the playset at McDonalds. I think he's fine...

We still haven't taken him to the doctor. He has his five year check up in a week so I figure I'll let them look at it then but we're about 95% sure it's broken and he had such a cute little nose :(

I'm not sure why God decided to give me two boys! Already Caleb has broken his arm in two places and now his nose. AND he's a good kid! He's not a wild child and he's not extremely physical. He just seems to be a klutz. :) I am not looking forward to little E becoming mobile if this is what it leads too...Oh well, I suppose things could be MUCH worse!

Birthdays!!

In two weeks both of my boys will hit new milestones...so sad :( Caleb will turn 5 YEARS OLD!!! We've already told him he's not allowed to turn 6, ha ha ha! He says, "Yes I will mom!" He's such a big boy. He is at the local elementary school in the Georgia PreK program. He loves his school and his teachers. If you ask him if he likes it he says, "I wish I was there right now!"

Elijah will be 6 months four days before Caleb's birthday. He is such a chunker and a sweet boy. Somehow we got blessed with two awesome boys. Eli is definitely a little more high maintenance than Caleb was but still nowhere near what I've seen from some babies. He's learning how to sit up by himself although he weighs so much that it is very difficult for him to fully support his head quite yet. He's learning. He also scoots on the floor. I think crawling will come very soon.

One of the issues that we're dealing with right now is the Swine Flu or H1N1. I'm not 100% sold on the vaccine yet. Caleb and I both got the regular flu vaccination and Eli will too but as for the H1N1 vaccine...I just don't know. I'm still debating. Right now we're doing everything that we can to keep ourselves healthy. Each of us are taking vitamins (except for Eli) as well as veggie/fruit supplements. Here are also some good to know health tips.

Prevent Swine Flu - Good Advice
Dr. Vinay Goyal is an MBBS,DRM,DNB (Intensivist and Thyroid specialist) having clinical experience of over 20 years. He has worked in institutions like Hinduja Hospital , Bombay Hospital , Saifee Hospital , Tata Memorial etc.. Presently, he is heading our Nuclear Medicine Department and Thyroid clinic at Riddhivinayak Cardiac and Critical Centre, Malad (W).

The following message given by him, I feel makes a lot of sense and is important for all to know.

The only portals of entry are the nostrils and mouth/throat. In a global epidemic of this nature, it's almost impossible to avoid coming into contact with H1N1 in spite of all precautions. Contact with H1N1 is not so much of a problem as proliferation is.

While you are still healthy and not showing any symptoms of H1N1 infection, in order to prevent proliferation, aggravation of symptoms and development of secondary infections, some very simple steps, not fully highlighted in most official communications, can be practiced (instead of focusing on how to stock N95 or Tamiflu):

1. Frequent hand-washing (well highlighted in all official communications).
2. "Hands-off-the-face" approach. Resist all temptations to touch any part of face (unless you want to eat or bathe).
3. *Gargle twice a day with warm salt water (use Listerine if you don't trust salt). *H1N1 takes 2-3 days after initial infection in the throat/ nasal cavity to proliferate and show characteristic symptoms. Simple gargling prevents proliferation. In a way, gargling with salt water has the same effect on a healthy individual that Tamiflu has on an infected one. Don't underestimate this simple, inexpensive and powerful preventative method.
4. Similar to 3 above, *clean your nostrils at least once every day with warm salt water. *Not everybody may be good at Jala Neti or Sutra Neti (very good Yoga asanas to clean nasal cavities), but *blowing the nose hard once a day and swabbing both nostrils with cotton buds dipped in warm salt water is very effective in bringing down viral population.*
5. *Boost your natural immunity with foods that are rich in Vitamin C (Amla and other citrus fruits). *If you have to supplement with Vitamin C tablets, make sure that it also has Zinc to boost absorption.
6. *Drink as much of warm liquids (tea, coffee, etc) as you can. *Drinking warm liquids has the same effect as gargling, but in the reverse direction. They wash off proliferating viruses from the throat into the stomach where they cannot survive, proliferate or do any harm and Vitamin D

I suggest you pass this on to your entire e-list. You never know 20 who might pay attention to it - and STAY ALIVE because of it.

So what are you doing about the vaccine??? ~ Charity