Roast Chicken

A while back, Christian called me to ask if I had any advice on fasting. He was wanting to start adding fasting into his life and wasn’t sure how to go about it. Christian was saying he was getting ready to watch a video by a popular preacher who did one on fasting…but he thought he would ask me first.

I said…easy peasy. The best advice I can give you is this. Don’t follow man’s ways. Follow Father. Ask Him to tell you how to fast His way…the way that pleases Him. Then listen…and obey.

I added. Fast from what He tells you to fast from. Start fasting when He tells you to…and end when He tells you to. Super easy. That is the formula I have followed for many years.

Once upon a time ago, He had me fast from music. For years! Killer! That was rough at first for me, but I later got used to it and finally came to the conclusion I would never get to listen to music again. I was wrong…thankfully…but I had gotten to a place of peace without music. That was the point. To talk to Him…instead of USING music as a distraction to avoid issues within. Quite a journey for me because music was an idol for me years ago. Now…I listen to Him through the music no matter what type of song He is singing through. He is always there if you have ears to hear Him speaking.

That being said…fasting His way is unlimited in what He could ask you to fast from and for how long. Listening to Him is the key.

Sneaking Suspicion

I had this strange feeling that Father had more reasons for Christian to ask ME than just to educate Christian on the matter. PRETTY suspicious I was. After 30 years, I get His sneakiness in how He approaches me on matters. I am no fool here. Not my first rodeo.

A few days later…He brings my face up.

Here is the deal. About a year ago, I broke out in hives in different places on my body. Itch like no other. I HATE hives. It seems like I am plagued with hives when I have allergic reactions to something I get on my skin, or I ingest. They make me miserable. I have discovered over the years the only relief I can get from the itching is to scald them with a blow dryer. I just put that baby on high and try to melt the skin right off. Sounds painful I know but it is the lesser of the two evils in my opinion. A burn or hives??? The scalding is less painful and doesn’t drive me mad in my mind from the itching.

It took months for the itching to stop and slowly all the hives and rashes disappeared…EXCEPT for my face. Lovely! Thrilled…NOT. 😩

One evening a few months ago, I took some pictures of the rash on my face and sent a text message to my doctor in St. Louis. In the text, I told her the saga and asked if she knew what it was and what I should do. Her response…looks like Peri Oral Dermatitis due to gut dysbiosis. We need to do a stool sample and see what is going on in the gut. She wanted me to register with a certain company she deals with for the testing. Once they had my results, they would formulate special supplements for me to take that were custom-fitted to the issues in my gut.

Ok…gotcha.

The Test

Got the testing done. Got the results. Taking the supplements monthly now.

Along with the testing, the company gives you the list of foods you need to avoid…and foods your body NEEDS…with an emphasis on superfoods. Those foods will boost your gut microbiome into healthy land.

I am on month two.

After Christian’s call, Father brings up the rash on my face…reminding me of my diet. Oh MAN…don’t like where He is going with this. It is one of those moments where I WANTED so badly to put my hands over my ears and start singing loudly so I can’t hear what He is saying…but the problem with that is…He speaks inside my mind through my spiritual ears. I can’t shut Him out.

I know what He is saying…my diet has to be refined. FASTING from certain foods that I don’t want to cut out of my diet.

Under protest, I go visit a local meat market to stock up on some meat and bones so I can start making BROTH. Oh, my goodness.

A Positive Note

I had been craving ribeye for quite some time. I like a good ¾-inch cut ribeye with a super sear on both sides and medium rare in the middle. Just MARVY to all my senses. My eyes landed on one of those babies standing there in the market, and I said…SOLD! It was DELISH! I cooked it when I got back home…wasn’t going to wait any longer. Had some roasted sweet potatoes with it too. Yummo!

The Diet

In my mind, He wants me to start drinking broth again…like doing the GAPS diet all over again. The horror of all horrors. Not really…but man…that is a hard diet to follow. Hard for one to do…but worse when you are putting three children through it with you.

GAPS stands for Gut and Psychology Diet. It is about resetting the gut which impacts everything mental and emotional too.

Over the years of trying to regain my health within my gut, I have tried a variety of diets. The Candida Diet, the GAPS diet, the AIP (Autoimmune Paleo) Diet, and the Paleo Diet…to name a few. After years of permanently removing counterfeit foods from my diet…I have regained an enormous amount of health in my body. I am grateful for the healing that has taken place over the years. It has been a battle…of epic proportions.

I am surprised I am as healthy as I am after what Father has put me through these last five years. Only He could have sustained my health to this degree through that.

Although the rash has looked bad to me, I feel it is minor.

The Broth

I made my broth, started consuming it, and had been existing on soup for about a week I would guess. One morning I woke up and checked my rash in the mirror like always when I noticed it looked remarkably better.

Later, Vanessa was sitting on the couch, and I plopped down with her. I said to her…well…my face looks pretty incredible this morning…BUT I am starving. She lost it. Crying laughing at me. You know that laugh when someone can hardly breathe??? Yep…that was her.

She says to me…it is so funny because it is so true. Yep…my thoughts exactly.

What good does it do to fast from foods to heal my face if I AM STARVING???? I told her…I can see my rib cage again. I am rapidly losing weight.

It is crazy how I can lose weight faster than most gain weight. It just falls off of my body.

Vanessa has encountered the diets as well. She gets me. We spent the next 30 minutes lamenting and LAUGHING about Father’s food choices for us and the craziness of our lives when it comes to food.

Truly…only those who have done the GAPS diet can understand the pain and the humor that goes along with it. You can either laugh or cry…sometimes we have done both. I tend to choose to make fun of the whole thing and laugh about it.

Later In the Day

Later that day, I was still sitting on the couch feeling much like a sloth because I lacked the energy to do anything due to a lack of food. So Father says to me…I bought you meat at the meat market…and you have plenty of veggies from the garden…go COOK some MEAT.

WOW…I had just moved into a new phase in the diet…I was so happy I could hardly get off that couch fast enough.

The picture above of my beautiful roasted chicken is the result of Father telling me to go, COOK some MEAT. I poured some oil on that baby and smothered her in sage, thyme, and rosemary. Then I put an entire bulb of garlic in there to roast with her…along with some carrots, onions, and cabbage from the garden.

It was divine.

Vanessa tasted the skin and was super impressed…although out of the goodness of her heart, she didn’t eat any. Let me have it all. She KNOWS the pain. However, the dogs and my granddaughter were not so considerate. Beggars.

I wasn’t feeling very generous with them all.

The Saga

The saga continues. I am following His diet plan for me and hoping soon…hoping so very soon, He will heal my body and this madness will come to an end for me. I miss my daily dose of chocolate although the withdrawal is over. Lol.