“A PURE RIVER OF WATER…”

After a bicycle accident three years ago, I was in a wheelchair and wasn’t walking for several months.  When I did get back on my feet, for three years the fear of riding stayed with me. Finally, the challenge to “brave it” grew strong.

Our neighborhood is extensive with thousands of homes, wide sidewalks and roads that wind. You don’t find your way here easily. Today, I got out there on my bicycle. It is hot (eighty-seven degrees). The rack I used for a water bottle had somehow disappeared in the three years off the bike. Hot weather, no water! Here is what came to my mind (as I heard my “Track my Ride” tell me it was five miles,” A great voice out of heaven…”And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.” Revelation 22:1.

Funny, it was hot and there was no water as I rode today…the verse about a pure river of water of life became powerful. I thought about it the last mile. As I’ve thought about food from my father and mother’s Bible reading to their eight children, the light shined into my heart about the figurative and literal importance of water. A fresh revelation of the love of God. Water! Life saving physically. And “a pure river of water of life” the eternal life saving water. 

Do you remember what Jesus said to the Samaritan woman at the well (who was obviously in need of life saving water):

“Whosoever drinks of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” John 4:14.

Jesus the “Bread of Life” and the “Water of Life” loves you and me. His nourishment is obvious and life giving. Eat the literal food mentioned throughout the Bible. Take the gift of eternal life, the spiritual food. Drink the water of life.

“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” Romans 10:9. I have.

WHOLE GRAINS...THINK ABOUT YOUR HEART

 Whole grains information:

A pungent, powerful and natural resource for your heart and health is eating whole grains. My recommendation is to leave white flour, bleached sugar behind and all chemicals behind. This information from Mayo Clinic is not to miss:

Whole grains: Hearty options for a healthy diet - Mayo Clinic

MY SIMPLE HOMEMADE WHOLE WHEAT BREAD

 BREAD RECIPE … By Lizzie

Yes, organic whole wheat costs a little more. I use it for breadmaking. After all it is for the people I love so much.

Inspiration for all of us: “And wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengthens man's heart.” Psalm 104:15.

WHOLE WHEAT BREAD

Ingredients

6 Cups (or five ½: save ½ C for Kneading) whole wheat flour (room temperature. Cold mixture will not rise).

3 Cups slightly warm water

1/3 Cup Oats (soak in ½ cup warm water 10 minutes) or use cooked Oatmeal (leftover is good)

1/3 Cup Olive Oil

½ Stick Butter

1/3 Cup pure Honey

1 Tablespoon active dry Yeast

1 Tablespoon Salt

Directions:

First Proof Yeast and mixture: Mix 1 c. flour, ½ c. slightly warm water, 1/3 c. oil, 1/3 c. honey, ½ stk. soft butter, 1T. salt and 1 T. yeast. Let rise 15 minutes to proof. (Proofing is when Yeast causes mixture to begin to bubble).

When the mixture begins to bubble, (15 min.) add remaining flour (about 4 or 5 cups), water and oatmeal: it will be a soft ball.

In a large bowl, mix proofed warm water, oil, butter, honey, yeast, and salt. 

Add five ½ to 6 Cups whole wheat flour to liquid mixture. Mix well. (save one cup for adding to the kneading surface). Let dough rest for 15 minutes in bowl.

Knead

Put remaining 1 Cup flour on a kneading surface (countertop or large breadboard). KNEAD 100 X…as you work this dough into the flour, dough will not be sticky.

1. Prepare 1 or 2 cookie sheets, spread liberally with butter and flour. 

2. Cut dough into three rounds to form for loaves. Place on 1 or 2 cooking sheets.

3. Beat one egg. Add 3 Tablespoons Old Fashioned Dry Oats to egg. Mix.

4. Spread oat and egg mixture on round loaves with fingers.

5. Let shaped dough rise in a warm place for about 1 hour.

6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake for about 35 minutes.

Bake until the top of the loaf sounds hollow when tapped, about 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool for 15 to 20 minutes before removing from the pan and transferring to a cooling rack. Cover with towel. Let cool an additional hour before wrapping or slicing. 

STORE AT ROOM TEMPERATURE

Let bread cool completely before wrapping it.

Wrap the bread in tight container or wrap (I use plastic wrap).

It will be good for seven days at room temperature.

FREEZE

Wrap loaves tightly: Freeze.

COMFORT FOOD CAN KILL YOU

Why has the profitable food industry become so lax! So often devitalized and addictive, processed ingredients, and chemicals go into food. Called “fast food” it is not healing for your body, as food should be with large servings sometimes leaving you wanting more.

Major hindrances to your health: processed sugar, corn syrup, degermed and bleached wheat, chemical sweeteners, seed oils and chemicals.

We struggle to know how to be healthy. The first thing? Go to God, pray for wisdom, and look at your available wisdom. "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." James 1:5. That is a promise to all of us who follow Jesus. Talking to His followers Jesus said, "Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth..." John 16:13. One example of real comfort food: "And it shall come to pass, for the abundance of milk that they shall give he shall eat butter: for butter and honey shall every one eat that is left in the land." Isaiah 7:22.

The first place to look for food that is healing and natural is the Bible. In it is literal and figurative wisdom illustrated by food all through it. This is where I have gone. Food examples are to us and for us and would not be there if not an illustration of potent nutrition. Checking one dietitian and the next is going to lead you to change with a new “discovery.”  An example is the worldwide love for coffee. Growing up my father understood it to be harmful. Nutrition experts warned that it is harmful for your health. This year, reading an expert (recommended by one of our State Senators}, the dietitian said that three or four cups of coffee every day will prolong your life. 

We use extra virgin olive oil, organic honey, pure butter, salt, and whole grain cereal. Homemade whole grain bread. Vegetables, fruit, beef, chicken, salmon. In Scripture, food allowances changed four times and give responsibility to us. "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?" I Co.6:19.

God’s provision for us:  "And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food..." Genesis 2:9.  See the Medical News Today below:

Medical News Today

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com › articles › ultra-processed-food-consumption-linked-to-premature-preventable-death

Dietary patterns can have an immense impact on health outcomes. 

• Ultra-processed foods that go through large amounts of processing can lose nutritional value and contain unhealthy elements.

• A new study adds to a growing body of research showing that ultra-processed food consumption may cause premature, preventable death. 

 

START SOMEWHERE

For the first years of our marriage and before I could afford to buy what I liked in the grocery store, our three sons, Joshua, Josiah, and Zachariah were one to five. Eric was earning minimum wage as an Electrician’s Helper. My budget for food was $18.00 a week. The cost of much of “the healthy” food was often above my ability to pay; fruit and vegetables on sale saved us. I remember praying as I shopped and looked at the fresh fruit and vegetable departments, “Lord, I cannot buy those big red apples. They are there and out of reach. Help me to be able to buy them.” It was up to God to provide, I knew. We ate healthy low-cost food. The grapes and pears were expensive, so I looked for fresh fruit on sale. Vegetables, cut and bagged were beautiful and convenient, but I got good at chopping.

For many months I bought whole wheat flour from a friend who ground it fresh and delivered it to us. Baking bread came naturally. My mother had baked whole wheat bread often for our family of ten. Also, I could bake granola cereal with whole oats, raisins, honey, butter, and olive oil, simple ingredients. As I ground whole grains and made things from them it was from the example of my father, who strongly believed in "food wisdom" from the Bible. 

I made whole wheat chocolate cake, oatmeal cake, and carrot cake. The frosting, cooked on a double broiler with raw sugar and egg whites, then cream cheese added. Meat was for flavor: mostly beef, and chicken. 

As the years went by, my belief that simple whole food (often mentioned in the Bible) was one of the biggest benefits and offerings given to my husband and children.  

REPOSTED FEBRUARY 5, 2025

FOOD AND FAITH GO TOGETHER

REPOSTED: BLOG NOVEMBER 8, 2022

You can have a noticeable change in your health in ten days. It took Daniel, and his three friends that long to prove that “things grown” are effective quickly (in Daniel 1:12).

If food by faith is a new thought for you, think of this: the journey of your life is a one-time opportunity to do the best you can, to search for the most wisdom you can find. You can become physically, spiritually, mentally all God created you to be! It’s by faith. 

The variety provided by our Creator is vast, from cows and sheep to grains and watermelon, nuts, broccoli, and squash…how about a focus on our health!

If we believe in an all-wise Creator, eating the right food makes sense. He made everything to be for the wellbeing of all humanity: our welfare, health, and our eternal salvation. He poured love into our world through the life, crucifixion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, “The Way, the Truth and the Life….”. His love also shows in the creation of the natural things grown for you to eat…

"And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." (I Thessalonians 5:23). Sanctified means set apart. Faith…or believing and acting on what God says is an adventure. 

Medical News Today

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com › articles › ultra-processed-food-consumption-linked-to-premature-preventable-death

Dietary patterns can have an immense impact on health outcomes. 

• Ultra-processed foods that go through large amounts of processing can lose nutritional value and contain unhealthy elements.

• A new study adds to a growing body of research showing that ultra-processed food consumption may cause premature, preventable death. 

THIS BLOG IS ABOUT HEALTH…NOT “YOU ARE RIGHTEOUS IF YOU DO THIS”

When my interest in health and finding food recommendations in the Bible stirred me to write to you about it, the thought came to me: “God mentions food throughout Scripture. This would be important to recognize.”

The Bible was written by “holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." "For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." 2 Peter 1:21.

The challenge in our day, as I understand it, is to discern what is good and health building for us and what is harmful. Over time, the degermed grain, bleached and having chemicals added is made into bread that smells good, tastes good (is even addicting), cheap and easy to find. 

Other food, also sold around every corner in many towns, is harmful over time. Fats, seed oils, bioengineered (nonfood), “natural flavor” which is now known to have chemicals hidden behind the name, sugar that is bleached, corn syrup which is sold to sweeten food…the harm of “fast food” is clearly understood if you study how fried chicken is made.

This cheap, glamorously packaged “food” is often not food at all.

Here is the reason for my passion for healthy food: God created it for our health and wellbeing from the beginning. An incentive for me to eat food that God intended for humankind from the beginning of the creation: at eighty-two, with a long history of interest in food in the Bible. "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them." Genesis 1:27. 

God changed the “rules” for food four times. Read the Bible, then read it repeatedly. Notice how often food is mentioned. When Jesus said, "I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst." (John 6:35). The message is literal and in addition pictures figurative truth. Bread made well is a basis for good health as Jesus is the "living bread" that gives us eternal life when we accept Him. 

Jesus talked about “eating” the bread which He was! "I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." John 6:51. This is offering you and me eternal life.

We have freedom to choose. They are not legal rules. Food is just there in the Bible to benefit by. "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." I Corinthians 10:31. Simply put be wise about your diet.