November 8th - A Redemptive Story

They say there are moments in time that are so impactful, so life changing, that they split time and you forever see life as before and after that moment. “Before our accident”. “After the diagnoses”. “Before the divorce”. “After the fire”.
We all have these moments in our lives. Some have more than others. Some are not so big, some are huge. Some are positive - a marriage, the birth of a child, graduating from school - but it seems to be the negative ones that leave the greatest impact in our lives and are the ones that mark time as before and after, for most of us.
I never knew that November 8th, 2012 was one of those dates until November 8th of 2016.

November 8th, 2012, my husband, only daughter at the time and I headed out from Fort McMurray to Edmonton. It was the day that kick started a trip, that would lead me to visiting family in Grande Prairie, back to Edmonton to see Cesar Millan - The Dog Whisperer - spending hours in the ER with no answers for myself and heading back home to Fort McMurray (Nov 14th).
Little did I know that November 8th, 2012 was a day that kick started a huge chain of events that would forever change my life, impact my marriage and family, and give me a new whole new perspective in life.
While I was away with our daughter, our dog Boston was slightly injured and I was experiencing terrible stomach cramps with no answers. After arriving back in Ft.Mac our SUV was parked outside my in-laws house while I was visiting and my husband was at work(Nov 15th). A knock on the door and we were informed that the SUV had been hit and the driver took off, never to be found, leaving us with a $1000 deductible and several months without our own vehicle.
On Nov 18th, I was hit was some devastating news that rocked my world to its very core, making the past couple of very crappy weeks, seem like nothing!
What is it about bad times, bad news, that it always seems to come in threes?
How could so much change in 10 short days?
From about November 2012 to February 2013, was one of the hardest times in my life, thus far. It still affects me to this day, 5 years later. We have experienced a lot in these past 5 years, both good and bad, but those few months were definitely the hardest.

When you walk through a period of grief or trauma, of hardship and pain, you never know when you will come out the other side. It rarely just happens, you don’t just cry yourself to bed one night and wake up full of joy the next morning. It’s one step at a time, sometimes a few steps backwards, until one day, you realize that things are different. That the pain isn’t so fresh anymore. Maybe it’s not quite a scar yet but the scab is healing over.
It hit me suddenly one day while I was driving, listening to some music. I think it was last year - 2016 - that it dawned on me.
I had spent a few years listening to music, identifying with songs/lyrics, such as (click names for Youtube videos) :


Broken Hallelujah by The Afters

I can barely stand right now.

Everything is crashing down,

And I wonder where you are.

I try to find the words to pray.

I don't always know what to say,

But you're the one that can hear my heart.

Even though I don't know what your plan is,

I know you make beauty from these ashes.



Hold Me Together by Royal Tailor

Hello Mercy,

I have been searching for you lately

I've been wounded and from what I hear

You have the remedy

They told me You would be for me

So now I need to know

Is this a love that can save me

Or say You will then don't

Will You stay with me when nobody is around

If this is real, then tell now

Can you hold me together

Can your love reach down this far

Can you hold me together

Cause without You holding my heart

I'm falling apart

Falling apart

Fall Apart by Josh Wilson

‘Cause my whole world is caving in

But I feel You now more than I did then

How can I come to the end of me

And somehow still have all I need

God, I want to know You more

Maybe this is how it starts

I find You when I fall apart

Then one day I was listening to some “new” music and I started to cry as the lyrics finally reached my heart, after being etched into my brain from repeated listens!

Through All of It by Colton Dixon

Life's been a journey

I've seen joy, I've seen regret

Oh and You have been my God

Through all of it

My Story by Big Daddy Weave

If I told you my story

You would hear Hope that wouldn't let go

And if I told you my story

You would hear Love that never gave up

And if I told you my story

You would hear Life, but it wasn't mine

If I told you my story

You would hear victory over the enemy

And if I told you my story

You would hear freedom that was won for me

And if I told you my story

You would hear Life overcome the grave

Call It Grace by Unspoken

It’s the light that pierces through you

To the darkest hidden place

It knows your deepest secrets

But it never looks away

It’s the gentle hand that pulls you

From the judgment of the crowd

When you stand before them guilty

And you’ve got no way out

Some may call it foolish and impossible

But for every heart it rescues it’s a miracle

It’s nothing less than scandalous

This love that took our place

Just call it what it is

Call it grace

Redeemed by Big Daddy Weave

Seems like all I can see was the struggle

Haunted by ghosts that lived in my past

Bound up in shackles of all my failures

Wondering how long is this gonna last

Then You look at this prisoner and say to me "son

Stop fighting a fight that's already been won"

I am redeemed, You set me free

So I'll shake off theses heavy chains

And wipe away every stain now I'm not who I used to be

I am redeemed

I'm redeemed

So I know that’s a lot of lyrics to read and I didn’t even post the full songs! Thank you for sticking with me so far!
So where is the redemption in my story? What is so significant about November 8th?
For 3 years I never thought of November 8th 2012. I knew that those few weeks in November were horrible and I never want to go through that again, but I never thought about Nov 8th.
Then, last year, as I went through Facebook memories, I saw a status I posted on November 8th, 2012.

Heading out to Edmonton today then Grande Prairie on Saturday! Can't wait!! :) Praying for safe travels for us and the in-laws as they will be traveling tonight!

Turns out that November 8th was the date the kickstarted what would turn into a month from hell!
I still look back at all those memories of that time through tainted glasses. I have come through a lot of healing, but I know there is still more to go.
So where is the redemption?
November 8th, 2013, one year later, we welcomed our second baby into our lives. It took 3 years before I saw that God had redeemed that date for me, for my family. Now, a year later, I am finally getting around to writing about it!
Redemption, healing, it rarely happens the way we expect it to. And I am sure it always takes a lot longer than we wish it would!
It took me hearing the lyrics to the songs I was currently listening to and seeing how far I had come from the songs of the past 4 years. It took my looking back over my “memories” to even know that Nov 8th had played a role that fateful November of 2012.

I am so far from where I want to be in life, as a person. I am so deeply messed up. This is just one small piece of my story. One piece of the redemption God is working in my life.
God took a specific date in my life, a date that held no significance to me, He redeemed it, and in His perfect timing, He revealed to me His redemption and healing in my story.
My daughter was due on November 11th, 2013. I prayed that she would be born the 12th, making her birthday 11/12/13. None of my children were born on the days I wanted. Now I know the story of why one of them was born the day they were.
If I told you my story it would be of a God greater than me, bigger than my mess, working so much grace, mercy and redemption, into my life.
If I told you my story, it would all point back to Him, who gave me my story.
My story is written by The Author, my Maker, my Savior, my Redeemer, my Saving Grace.
My Story is His Story and it is one of hope, healing and redemption.


2 Corinthians 1:3-4English Standard Version (ESV)

God of All Comfort

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

Adulting 101: Fad Diets vs Facts Part 2

Fad Diets vs Facts Part Two

So I spent a bunch of time typing up 2 pages of notes that I took at Adulting 101: Fad Diets vs Facts then posted it for everyone! Then forgot about the other page of notes I took that was behind the hand out sheets I put in my notebook! Oops! So here is Part Deux!

How can you tell if there is added sugar to a product?
The ingredients list is listed by weight – the more there is of it, the higher up on the list it is. Sometimes companies will break down the kinds of sugars and so it looks like less, because they are further down the list!
Anything ending in OSE is a sugar!
Just Googled this -- http://sugarscience.ucsf.edu/hidden-in-plain-sight/#.WeQk-mhSyUk --- There are at least 61 different names for sugar listed on food labels. These include common names, such as sucrose and high-fructose corn syrup, as well as barley malt, dextrose, maltose and rice syrup, among others. The full list of 61 names is found on the right side of the webpage. SIXTYONE names!! That’s just crazy!
Sugar is sugar (salt is salt).

Wanna lose weight? Record everything you are eating. It will make you think twice about whether or not you want to it! This makes you mindful of what you are eating. How often have you sat there mindlessly eating a bag of chips (insert go to snack here) without thinking of just how much you’ve been eating?

Do not drink your calories! If you drink a 500 calorie drink before dinner, it will not make you eat 500 calories less. Liquid calories just do not make you feel full the way actual food does.
Starbucks Calories - https://www.starbucks.com/menu/catalog/nutrition?drink=espresso#view_control=nutrition 

Grande (16oz) Chai Latte (what would be my go to drink) -- https://www.starbucks.com/menu/drinks/tea/chai-latte?foodZone=9999 – 42 grams of sugar!!! :O :O :O (39g with coconut milk, which takes the saturated fat from 10% to 22%!)

Grande Pumpkin Spice Latte with 2% milk and whip cream – 50g sugar!! https://www.starbucks.com/menu/drinks/espresso/pumpkin-spice-latte

Ok, I will stop ruining all your favorite drinks! And this is not to throw Starbucks under the bus, I just know they are popular.

Tim Hortons - https://www.fatsecret.ca/calories-nutrition/tim-hortons

My fall favorite from Tims – Pumpkin Spice Muffin --- https://www.fatsecret.ca/calories-nutrition/tim-hortons/pumpkin-spice-muffin/1-muffin -- ouch! Think I am going to be doing a lot more baking at home! Yikes!!!

Eat a bigger breakfast and do not skip breakfast! When you skip breakfast, your body will store fat later, to keep you from starving! Eating a bigger breakfast will help keep you fuller throughout the day and you will eat less calories (don’t skip meals!).
3 meals and 1-2 snacks is what is reccommended but find what works for you! If 6 small meals/snacks works better and you are getting the correct calories and eating a balanced diet, then keep it up!

Eat high fiber foods. They make you feel fuller over time. These include fruits and veggies and whole grains. Eat these throughout the day. Best colours are dark green and orange!

To help you stay on track with diet and budget, plan meals ahead of time, make a list and stick to the list!
Shop the perimiter of the store, where the fresh, non proccessed foods are. Don’t shop when you are hungry. As one of the other participiants said, be mindful when you go shopping. Do you love chocolate and even the smell of it will make you want to buy it? Keep in mind around Christmas (or Halloween or Easter) when there is even more chocolate in the stores, in your face! Make a list, stick to it, ignore the chocolate!

Calcium is important. If you cannot have dairy products, make sure you are getting enough! You want 1000mg a day, taken as 500mg twice daily.

There is an Overeaters Annoymonus in town Monday

8:00 PM

Evergreen CCR Church

101 Tundra Dr
Fort McMurray, AB T9J 1G4
Canada

Contact: Linda

Phone: 587-644-0657
https://oa.org/find-a-meeting/?type=0&country=Canada&sort=ASC&distance=25&lat=56.7454238&longit=-111.47784130000002&zip=t9k%202h4&limit=100&submit=true

(no child care provided).

Also suggested to watch Embrace on Netflix – about loving your body!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__2AayArYfs
More support in Fort McMurray - The Primary Care Network -- http://wbpcn.ca/About/Pages/PrimaryCareinFortMcMurray.aspx

Adulting 101: Fad Diets vs Facts.

Adulting 101: Fad Diets vs Facts.

     95% of people will gain back the weight after coming off a restrictive diet. – This happens because people want to lose a lot of weight and quickly. So they greatly restrict their diets for a time, and they do lose the weight. But this new diet isn’t something they can sustain for the long run, so when they come off this diet, they gain back all that lost weight, sometimes more.
         We have to change our thinking of dieting from “what can I do for a time to lose this extra weight” to “what can I do, for the rest of my life, that will allow me to be a healthy weight and healthy over all”.
        It is not all or nothing. Think about one small change you can make today, that will benefit you in the long run.
       Drink a large Starbucks every day? Why not try a medium or small? Or 3 large drinks a week, the rest of the week drinking regular coffee/tea and water, water, water! Eventually you may be able to cut out those high calorie, high sugar drinks from your diet, enjoying them only occassionaly.
     Eat dessert every night? Why not cut back to 3 times a week instead. Try fresh fruit with a small amount of whip cream, instead of cake or ice cream!
     Eat off smaller plates.
     It takes 20 minutes for your brain to tell you that you’re full. Slow down and wait before going back for seconds.
     Watch your portions and read labels – check those portion sizes!!!


        If you continue to eat a very restrictive diet, you will end up losing more muscle mass than fat, which you may not be able to build back up.

     Fad diets that cut out food groups – like suddenly going vegan or cutting out all carbs, good and bad – cuts out nutrients and vitamins that you need in your diet.
If you are looking to cut back on or cut out animal products, dairy, carbs, etc, look at what those things provide for you and make sure you are getting what you need. Cutting our dairy? Make sure you are getting enough calcium. Cutting out meat? Look for good sources of protein.

Healthy weight loss is 1-2 pounds a week. That is a reduction of 500 calories a day! This will allow you to maintain lean muscle mass and lose the fat.

Low carb diets will help you lose weight in the short term because of reduced calories. To lose weight, you want to reduce calories safely, without compromising nutrients and vitamins!

There is no scientific evidence for cleanses or detoxes. Our body was created to natrually cleanse/detox our bodies, mostly through the liver, using nutrients. The best thing we can do to help our bodies detox is to eat a healthy, well-balanced diet, making sure to get enough nutrients and vitamins, and drink lots of fluids.

Eat fish twice a week! Flaked, or light, tuna is better for you than other tuna (less mercury). Salmon is also very healthy.

Wanna eat healthy but don’t like a lot of healthy foods? It takes up to 3 months for your taste buds to change. Keep trying new foods and continue to add them as much as you can to your meals!

We eat about double the amount of sodium we need. If you are trying to cut back on salt, foods may taste more bland in the beginning, but keep it up (remember 3 months!) and your taste buds will adjust. If you reduce sodium then go out to eat, you will notice the difference!
     Most of our excess sodium is found in processed foods. Check labels! 5% or less DV (Daily Value) is low, 15% or higher is too high!

Whenever possible, vitamines and minerals should come from food first. In Alberta we are all low on Vit D! Take 1000 IU daily!

Fad diets affect our moods and our thinking. We tend to have all or nothing thinking. We get on a restrictive diet and are doing well, but we slip up and eat a piece of bread/bag of chips/chocolate/pizza and we think that we’ve ruined our entire diet and all the hard work of the past is ruined. Remember to find a diet that works for you and to get to a place where you do not feel guilty over a slice of pizza or a chocolate bar! Don’t beat yourself up but continue, one step at a time, toward over all healthy habits. 2 steps back doesn’t erase the 50 steps forward you already took!

     If you want to lose weight, restrict your calories (reduction of 500 a day = 1-2 pounds a week). Fill up on healthy foods – 3 meals, 1-2 snacks a day – and cut out the junk food. Count your calories and check portion sizes. 2 cookies might fit into your calorie goal in a day, a box of cookies probably not! Although if you only ate a box of cookies, you might not go over your calories but you’ll compromise nutrients and vitamins and most likely have way to much sugar!!

     Exercise is important, but cutting calories is going to help you lose the weight in the beginning. You cannot eat however you want and just exercise it off (unless maybe your an Olympian or currently running a marathon!).
Find exercise you enjoy – like your diet – it has to be something you will want to continue for the long haul.

You cannot out run your diet!

The greater your lean body mass, the better your matabolism.

Gut health is important and can affect your weight. Get some probiotics and fermented food!

Plate portions – 50% fruits and veggies, 25% protien, 25% healthy carbs.

Again watch your portions – example, you need 6-7 servings of grain products a day. One serving is 1 slice of bread or ½ a bagel or ½ cup rice or pasta. If you go to a resturant and order pasta, you are getting about 6-7 servings in that one dish. Tip – ask for a to go container before you start eating and pack up half your food to bring home! Now you have lunch for tomorrow :D
Meat and alternatives – you need about 2 servings a day. A 6 ounce steak from the keg? 3 servings!
   My thinking is that you can enjoy these foods – like a 6oz steak – but in moderation! And if you want a full bagel for breakfast, just know that is 2 servings of grains, not one.
 The Keg tip – my husband and I will order a meal to share, getting 6-8 oz steak, with veggies (vrs a twice baked potato) and usually crab legs. We get to enjoy a good meal, cut our calories, and save on the bill!





https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/canada-food-guides.html

Wanna add more lentiles to your diet? You can replace meat in your meals (or do 50/50 meat/lentiles). Check out Pulse Alberta to find out more information. https://pulse.ab.ca/


What’s A Pulse?

Pulses (including dry peas, beans, lentils and chickpeas) are the edible seeds of legumes. Pulses are grown for food and feed in countries around the world, and they are unique among grain crops in their ability to partner with certain soil bacteria to take nitrogen, an essential plant nutrient, from the air and turn it into a form that can be used by plants.

Are you new to growing pulses?

Looking for new crops to add into your rotation? Alberta Pulse Growers is here to come alongside you to ensure your pulse experience is a success.

Daniel Fasts, Elimination Diets and Intimacy with God

    My husband and I decided at the end of 2016 that in January of 2017 we would do a 21 day Daniel Fast. For us, that basically meant a vegan diet with no sugars (still did honey and maple syrup) and no caffeine (no coffee, but drinking decaf tea!).
The point of the Fast wasn’t to lose weight – though that would be a great benefit!! – but to break the old bad habits, addictions to sugar, get us thinking about healthy food choices and how we want to change our diet for the long run, and of course to draw closer to God.
          I also have struggles with allergic reactions, to I don’t know what, which are extremely frustrating, last for days and are painful. The area around my lips gets very red, tingles, burns and itches for a day or two, and for the next few days after are very dry and itchy. So in my journey to grow closer to God, I also want to find some answers and solutions to my physical aliments.

          Our Fast started Thursday, January 12^th and for almost 2 weeks was going very well. It is an adjustment to cut out all meat and dairy (and sugar!!!!!!!!) and trying to think of what you will make without having your favorite meals to fall back on... and very little eating out or ordering in! But it was going well and we were still enjoying so many healthy and yummy foods! Then on Tuesday, day 13 of 21, I had some Fast friendly pancakes for breakfast (I was getting really tired of oatmeal), which included some of my homemade applesauce, and I had an allergic reaction! Now I don’t remember if there is any sugar in that batch of applesauce but I was 90% sure it was just apples and cinnamon! So frustrating!
I thought that maybe I was allergic to cinnamon before, but then I tried putting cinnamon in my mouth with no reaction. I’ve been eating oatmeal with cinnamon and maple syrup for days with no reaction. I’ve been drinking cinnamon tea with no reaction. Ok... so maybe it’s not cinnamon.. Apples? My allergist said that apples could bother me... but I’ve been eating raw apples with no problems! I made an apple pie like filling with cut up apples, cinnamon, maple syrup and oats and baked it and had no problems... the pancakes were made with chia seeds... I use chia seeds a lot in my baking. But I don’t react to everything I bake, so this is the frustrating part for me. I also react to things that do not have chia seeds in them. (Pancake recipe can found - http://completerecipes.com/Healthy-Banana-Pancakes.html?back_url=./ - I used chia seeds instead of eggs, used my homemade applesauce, added cinnamon and no Vinnamon).
The day after my reaction to the pancakes, I bought some more hummus (which I had been eating so much of for the Fast) and it made my reaction worse! I bought a different brand than the one we had been eating all along! Ugh!!! Should have known!

          Anyway... at that point I knew I had to do a version of an Elimination Diet to try and start to get some answers to my very frustrating and seemingly random reactions. Then at least I might have something to go to the allergist with in the future. But I knew this diet wasn’t just about figuring out allergies. I knew this diet went so much deeper than that. I knew months ago I should be doing this diet, but then I would have a good couple of weeks with no reactions and justify and excuse to myself once again that I didn’t really have to do this diet. But when God is asking you to do something – something that will ultimately be a blessing to you – then no matter how much you put it off, excuse it, or try to justify it away, He is not going to let up! This reaction was my breaking point after 2 weeks on the Daniel Fast.
My husband is continuing on with his last week of the Fast but I broke the Fast a week early and am doing a 7 day Elimination Diet. I am on day 5 of eating chicken, beef, rice, salt and water... breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack. Though I haven’t really been all that hungry lately, so it’s more like brunch, dinner and maybe a 3^rd meal in there somewhere.

          What makes me think God is the one nudging me towards an Elimination Diet and not just my body and my complete frustration and lack of answers to these allergic reactions? What is it that makes me think God is using the seemingly randomness of my reactions to get my attention?
          When I started the Fast I started reading this book, Made to Crave by Lysa Terkeurst (one of my favorite Christian authors! You just know that what she is sharing with you is a personal journey God has brought her through! So powerful.). I read the first few chapters while walking on the treadmill at the gym. I knew this book would hold a lot of insight, and of course, it spoke directly to me and to a lot of my struggles with food. At one point, she was talking about running 3 miles a day but one day she felt that God was telling her to keep running until He told her to stop. That day she ran 8.6 miles! I average 3km on the treadmill in an hour! I have no desire to take up running or jogging or any long distance exercise. Not saying it will never happen, but that’s not a desire of mine!!! But I felt like this Elimination Diet was my 8.6 mile run. I felt like this Diet was God calling me to walk with Him in His strength. That the Fast had a few challenges but still too many comforts. That instead of really pressing into God when having a craving for coffee or ice cream (or chocolate, or cookies, or chicken in our chili or beef in our tacos.....) I was just snacking on popcorn (big large bowls of popcorn almost nightly...it became my new major craving!) and drinking a nice, hot cup of tea. I wasn’t replacing my food cravings with God, but just different food.

          In Made to Crave, Lysa Terkeurst talked about praying to God to unsettle her. To bring out all the junk she needed to deal with to the surface. Well I have got to tell you, I am feeling very unsettled. It took about 12 hours into my Diet to be upset about not having a hot cup of tea, and knowing I wouldn’t be able to have a hot cup of tea (or coffee) for the next week plus. Who knows when I will be able to add back in tea, coffee (I’m ok with decaf), sugar and cream? And the very fact that you can only add one new ingredient every 24 hours (assuming there is no reaction) is DRIVING ME CRAZY!!! That’s like 72 hours before I can drink an actual cup of coffee (or tea, assuming it is one ingredient and not one of the many flavors I have like Birthday Cake or Caramel Popcorn....).
What has me feeling very frustrated is that I was drinking coffee (with cream and sugar) before my Fast and drinking tea before and during my Fast, with no reactions! Not around my lips anyway. So why, oh why, can’t I just have one darn cup of anything hot (besides just water!!) after my 7 days are over??!! WHY!!????? Ok, ok, yes, I understand how Elimination Diets are meant to work and why you only add one thing back at a time (in case you do have a reaction). This is just my flesh screaming at me. This is just my flesh yelling and screaming, slowly and painfully dying...
          I am feeling unsettled. I am feeling restless. I feel like I am going to go crazy! I dished out applesauce for my daughters lunches this week and I could smell the applesauce that was used in the dreaded pancakes that caused the reaction, and it smelled so delicious (kind of like apple pie filling), my mouth was watering and I have never wanted applesauce before so much in my life!
And I am feeling pretty miserable. My stomach is stilling giving me issues (thanks to being a woman! And the fact that I can only use salt for flavoring probably isn’t helping!), and almost 3 weeks into a Fast/Diet, with  lots of water and no caffeine, (and no processed sugars) and I am just feeling like crap! I’m still very tired and my stomach has felt hard and bloated for most of it. And it really doesn’t help that out of 3 weeks, I’ve had a week of PMS and a week of what follows PMS! So all of this is just adding to my frustrations of not being able to turn to food (or drink) for any comfort.

          I really want to make this journey about God. Not about what I can or cannot eat. Not about the number on the scale (though I do have a goal to lose weight this year.). I want it to be about denying myself in order to deal with all the junk and thanking God for the good and healthy food I can eat. I want it to be about finding my identity and building the foundation and rooting myself to the truths of God’s Word. I want it to be about finding satisfaction, comfort, love, joy and peace in God. But mostly it just feels like one big, miserable pity party, where my flesh slowly, and not willingly, dies, with no spiritual break through at all.
          I know I have been making poor food choices for decades (sugar is definitely my biggest weakness/struggle) and 3 weeks isn’t going to magically fix all my food/diet issues and struggles. I know that I must walk with God every day, and not just for 3 weeks. I am just at the beginning of this journey and not loving it and feeling miserable! I need a lot of prayer, that is for sure! And mostly I just want this Diet to be over so I can eat ice cream, and cookies and chocolate and drink coffee and tea, and eat more healthy foods and have all the things I cannot eat right now.
          So, if you’ve managed to read this far, thank you! This is just the beginning of a life long journey. I am miserable and this is my explanation of my Fast/Diet and my rant of my frustrations. And if you’re a person of prayer, I would really appreciate your prayers for strength to walk through this Elimination Diet, for spiritual break through and a closer, deeper, more intimate connection with God, and answers to the physical side of things like the allergic reactions and what is causing them.

Psalm 78:18New International Version (NIV)

¹⁸ They willfully put God to the test
    by demanding the food they craved.

Psalm 5:1-3The Message (MSG)

A David Psalm

5 ^1-3 Listen, God! Please, pay attention!
Can you make sense of these ramblings,
my groans and cries?
    King-God, I need your help.
Every morning
    you’ll hear me at it again.
Every morning
    I lay out the pieces of my life
    on your altar
    and watch for fire to descend.