A Frightening Breakfast......

The picture below pretty much tells the story. I decided to have a fresh peach for my breakfast this morning. It looked perfectly ripe and so juicy.  So I peeled and sliced it open. Then I suddenly became horrified ....I cut the peach and the pit popped open as I cut through the middle of the peach. There in the center of the peach was this bug - it was ALIVE!!! Suddenly I was no longer hungry for peaches. Has anyone else ever experienced similar? I contacted our local Coop Food Store as that is where we bought the peaches. I do not know what kind of bug it is or if it is dangerous or not.

In my peach!!

Healing is from The Lord....

Psalm 46:10 
Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.

picture from coffee4thesoul.wordpress.com

Be Still And Know ( author unknown )

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Be still and know that I am God
Be still and know that I am God
Be still and know that I am God

I am the Lord that healeth thee
I am the Lord that healeth thee
I am the Lord that healeth thee

In Thee, O Lord, do I put my trust
In Thee, O Lord, do I put my trust
In Thee, O Lord, do I put my trust

Luke 4:18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,

Exodus 15:26  And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee.

The Oil and the Wine...

Revelation 6: 5-6 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.  And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.

I was listening to Back to the Bible yesterday where Woodrow Kroll was teaching on the four horsemen of the apocalypse. What caught my attention was his explanation of the line in verse 6 of Revelation 6 where it says : and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.  The first seal is the antichrist making his appearance, the second seal is a war on the earth and then the third seal  represents a famine. During the times of this famine, it will cost a person's entire daily wage to buy food sufficient for just one person. Then we come to part "and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine".  What does that mean?? Woodrow Kroll seemed unsure of the meaning but he suggested that in the days of this tribulation there will still be a divide among the rich and poor people on the earth. The poor struggling to put food on the table and the rich having excess described by the terms oil and wine. BUT, I would like to share a different perspective on the interpretation of "the oil and wine". My Dad ( he has already passed on to glory) was a preacher and Bible teacher and he had quite a different explanation for this. He believed that the "oil and wine" refers to medicine and heathcare being available to those in need of it. (Whether it will be government run is not clear but  perhaps you could think of organizations such as The Red Cross etc) Let me explain why he thought "oil and wine" could refer to medicine and healthcare. We all have heard Bible teachers say you must interpret Scripture with Scripture. When you look in the story of the good Samaritan - what does the Samaritan use to dress the wounds of the injured man who fell among thieves. Luke 10:34 says And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. We can see from this that oil and wine were used in Biblical times for medicinal purposes.
 So to conclude, I cannot say whether Woodrow Kroll has the correct interpretation here or whether my Dad does but for the benefit of those living in the days of the tribulation period, I would hope that healthcare and medicine would be available to them in those days.

Aborting Girl Babies- it's just Wrong!!

It's pretty hard to believe and very sad indeed to hear that here in Canada, people are aborting girl babies just because they are female. I heard about it again a couple of days ago on my local radio station - a discussion on this very topic. I find it very hard to hear these kinds of stories. I am firmly opposed to abortion and in my opinion this should not be happening here in Canada. It is unimaginable to think that anyone could disregard life like that.

According to the radio story, this practice of aborting a girl baby is being done in greater proportions by immigrant families, where in their home countries this type of abortion is an acceptable practice.  It was reported that it is even showing up in the statisical data that has been collected by the government of Canada. It was said that these immigrant families see the birth of a daughter  as a burden. They worry that a daughter will somehow dishonor the family - perhaps by adapting to the secular culture of Canada.  The daughter will not make the family's riches increase while a son will be able to earn a higher income and so the family's riches will increase and he  will be able to take care of the elderly in the family. The radio story went on to say that the birth of a son is preferred as the family name can be carried on to the next generation through a son. A son is considered a benefit to the family much like a retirement plan is a benefit to be desired.
The report stated that some hospitals in Canada are trying to discourage this practice of aborting the baby girls. If the hospital becomes aware that a family is looking to know the gender of the child simply for a possible gender based abortion, the medical professionals are refusing to inform the parents of the gender of the child until such a time as abortion would be illegal here. The problem obviously lies with the fact that people who favor abortion do not place value on the unborn human baby's life.
God is the giver of life. It is his decision to create a new life. God is the one who made us all and He is the one who invented the family.  No one should take it upon themselves to make the choice to end a human life that God has lovingly created. The Bible says very clearly that we shall not kill or murder anyone. Deuteronomy 5: 17  Thou shalt not kill.
Just to prove to everyone that God values human life, He writes in Revelation 13:10  He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.
I would encourage anyone who is looking to have an abortion to stop that idea from going any further and rather seek help from a Christian friend and Pastor. Pray to the Lord God in Heaven, He will help you in your situation when you seek Him with your whole heart.

Roll Kuchen & Watermelon and Healthy Eating....

Proverbs 3:5-6 says Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

There is really not a tastier treat than Mennonite Roll Kuchen with a slice of watermelon on the side.  Any one raised in a Mennonite family could tell you so. I am looking forward to having Roll Kuchen with the watermelon that are growing in my garden. I took the picture below a few days ago and it shows that the watermelons will still need a couple more weeks to mature and ripen. It has been a very warm and dry summer at my home here in southern Manitoba. Today the temperature is +35C ( that is about 95F) so the garden is feeling

the heat and lack of moisture today. 

But what are Roll Kuchen you ask? Roll Kuchen is a Mennonite food - deep fried sort of bread/cookie. It is made with heavy cream so it would be high in calories also. Some people would say it is not a healthy choice in one's diet but in my opinion, if you eat healthy regularly, you can enjoy special treats like this every now and then with no real health issues developing. That is my opinion. My Grandmother lived to be 95 years old and I know for a fact that she never worried about healthy eating at all. I believe the real issue is the chemicals that is in the foods we eat today. Chickens are mass produced in small enclosed areas and to keep them from contaminating one another, they are fed antibiotics in their daily feed rations. Cows are given hormones to increase milk production and farmers are growing mostly genetically modified grains and spraying the crops with all sorts of chemicals for diseases and to promote crop growth. These are the things that in my opinion are unhealthy. So in the old days, when my Grandmother was preparing food, they were eating fresh garden products and pork, chicken, eggs  and beef meat from animals that grew on their own farms and no chemicals and antibiotics or growth hormones were used. That was the real healthy way of eating.

But back to my Roll Kuchen, I want to share the recipe here with those of you who read my blog, and maybe, just maybe someday you will have a chance to enjoy some delicious Roll Kuchen with a slice of watermelon on the side. It is my hope that you will get the chance.

This is my Mom's recipe for Roll Kuchen.

SisterSparrow's Mom's Roll Kuchen

Put 1 egg ( unbeaten)  into a 1 cup measuring cup. Now fill the cup with heavy cream. Pour this into large mixing bowl. Repeat the process 1 more time. ( Put egg into the cup, pour it full of cream). Now add 1 extra egg to into the egg/cream mixture, Also add 1/4 cup of milk and 1 tsp of salt. Beat together well. Now add flour, mixing in a cup of flour at a time until you have a medium dough that is not sticky.  Turn out onto well floured table mixing in a little more flour as you prepare to roll it out the same as you would for a pie. Cut the dough into squares and put a small slit in each square that you cut. Preheat your deep fat fryer to 350-375F. Please be very careful with the hot deep fat fryer so as to not injure yourself. Gently place the cut Kuchen into the deep fat fryer, turning the Kuchen over once while frying. Fry till a nice light golden brown. Serve immediately with a slice of watermelon and ENJOY!

Note: Now that I am allergic to milk, I will not be able to have this recipe but I am going to try to figure out a recipe using alternatives to milk and cream so I can also enjoy this special summer treat.

Milk Allergy / Milk and Lactose Intolerance

3 John 3: 2  Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.
The reason I am writing this post about milk allergy is that it is my hope that my struggles with this problem will help someone out there who is suffering to get to a healthier place in their life also.  I do not have any medical qualifications at all, I can only speak from my own experiences. I believe that God is seriously interested in helping us in all areas of our lives and that includes our health. I have come to understand that lactose intolerance is not the same as a milk allergy. So here is my story.
I had known for about 7 years that I was intolerant to milk. As is the case of most people I know that are milk intolerant, consumming milk or milk products will then cause stomach ache, bloating and diarrhea, so it was for years for me also. I could have ice-cream, pudding, pizza or whatever knowing that I would pay for it later in the ways listed previously. But I accepted that. Slowly the symptoms got worse and I cut down on my milk intake but I would still consume some. One of my friends who also is milk intolerant said she could have milk without it bothering if she took 2 week breaks from milk consumption in between. It helped her to be more able to tolerate it again. So I did that also and it seemed true and I continued to consume milk, after all milk is  supposedly  nature's most perfect food. Then last fall I began to feel generally sick constantly, nauseous, hot, almost feverish as if my body were fighting itself, and frequent anxiety spells. It didn't occur to me really that it was related to me consuming milk. Then it turned to stomach attacks where about a half hour after a meal where I had conummed a milk product, I would experience serious stomach pain, nearly passing out and felt very sick. I would be sick in bed for a few hours after the attack. The pain in my stomach would slowly disappear in three days time. This attack happened to me three times  and I knew I needed to get to a doctor. Just as I was preparing myself emotionally for visiting my doctor, thinking that I must have developed some very serious disease, I felt the LORD whisper in my ear - "you know you are intolerant to milk, Stop having milk!"  I knew right there that before I would go to the doctor I had to do this. God had instructed me to go off milk entirely. So I did. Since then I have not had any more attacks and I feel so much better over all. I would not say that I am super healthy or that I won't be sick anymore or anything close to  that but I have learned that God is interested in my health! and I find that very exciting indeed. I pray to Him for my health.
I learned that there is a difference between being allergic to milk and being lactose intolerant. With an allergy you will experience a serious reaction, mine occured about a half hour after the meal, while with intolerance it will produce unwanted ill feeling effects but it is not as life threatening at that point.
I know now that I must not consume any milk, not even trace amounts. The difficult part is of course to know what food products contain milk and which ones do not. For example, my daughter loves microwave popcorn. So one day  her and I decided to make some. I was so looking forward to eating some of it and I had read the ingredient list on the bag and I thought it should be fine. So we had our popcorn and soon I began to feel nauseous, and I thought to myself - I feel like I have had milk but I didn't think I had. I reread the ingredient list on the popcorn and one ingredient was butter flavor. I went on the internet to see what butter flavor is made of and sure enough it was made from milk. So as you can see, I am still making mistakes as I learn to this new way of eating. I have found ways to cook without milk now using milk free margarine ( Fleishmans, or Becel vegan). The hardest part is learning which words on an ingredient list all are forms of milk There is milk is many many food products that you would not expect it to be in. An example being chocolate. A woman like me likes her chocolate but it's not easy to find milk free chocolate just any place. I don't mind drinking an occasional glass of soy milk but I can't quite accept that on breakfast cereal yet. I enjoy orange juice that is fortified with calcium and Vitamin D. All I can say is that it is an ongoing learning process for me and that I know the LORD is with me in my journey. May God bless and have mercy on all who are suffering with health issues of any sort.
Philippians 4:6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.