June 20, 2013

A wise woman once wrote: “...there is more religion in a loaf of good bread than many think.” ¹

For those of you familiar with Ellen G White, you may recognise these words to be hers. Our family values Mrs White’s inspiration and insights into life and health, and also her advice to follow the Bible firstly, and her work as the lesser light.

As you may have read, we have enjoyed homemade bread for many years. And, yes! There was the occasional strange loaf which was eaten with good grace rather than enjoyment!  

By the way, not all people choose homemade bread. For some people bought bread is best. And that is their choice, and maybe all that is available, or affordable. For millions of people around the world bread doesn’t even enter their daily thoughts. But for millions of others, bread has been a main food choice for generation upon generation.

God made each one of us with a free will, to make our own choices. His greatest desire is for each of us to learn about Him, who He is, how He loves us. And then we may choose to live with God the Father and His lovely son Jesus Christ every day.

“...if anyone loves God, this one is known by Him.” 1 Corinthians 8:3

“...for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live.” 1 Corinthians 8:6

Even if we make choices which are not the best, God is faithful in His love for us and longs to forgive us. “For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive...” Psalm 86:5

Well, we always thought that homemade bread, made with freshly ground organic grains was a good thing in our lives. But when one of us became chronically ill, the suggestion was made to try eliminating all grains containing gluten. We began praying!

And so began our journey into the Valley of Digestive Healing including a trip down Gluten Free Lane, and Grain Free Avenue! What we have learned over two years has broadened our knowledge of health, healing, how the brain learns and how the brain can be assaulted by our food choices. Oh, and we learned how to make Grain Free bread and baking! What a blessing!

From Dr Chris Reading (now deceased) and his wonderful book “Trace Your Genes to Health,” we learned of symptoms, diseases and causes of death that relate to one another. His speciality was Family Trees! Yes, Dr Reading had people make a family tree showing illness, disease, disorder and cause of death for as many generations as possible. The eye opener for us was that many people, often with mystifying symptoms and diseases have a genetic difficulty with digesting grains. All grains.

Dr Reading also seemed to group sugar cane into the grain family. He carefully prescribed high quality supplements with strict instructions to avoid foods he suspected were causing disease, and time and time again his patients recovered fully.

That’s today’s thought...but let me tell you, we had so much more to learn as God led us in the Valley of Digestive Health. Until next time...may you enjoy “... showers of blessing.” Ezekiel 34:26

 Next time: Bible Study - What Fits You?

1  Ellen G White. Testimony Studies on Diet and Foods, page 95, excerpt from Testimonies for the Church 2:369-370 retrieved 19 June 2013 from http://text.egwwritings.org/publication.php?pubtype=Book&bookCode=TSDF&pagenumber=95