That dang latte.

It might sound strange, but I knew I was going to write this post after I spent the afternoon yesterday in wretched stomach pain. The clarity came this morning, but I knew it was coming last night. There are slightly two parts to this post, and I promise I will combine them. Stay with me. lol.

You may recall my blog post a few months ago about going a little "crunchy." If you missed it, well, you can check out my craziness here. 

Basically, during that time, I went 40 days without dairy, meat, sugar, or basically anything processed. It was pretty insane, but I somehow survived. As I slowly began to add a few things back into my diet, I was noticing how some things my body didn't really respond well to.

Dairy has been one of them. I have never in my life thought of myself as lactose intolerant, but it was so strange how after cleansing myself in a major way I was able to really see more clearly what certain things were doing to my body as I tried to put them back in. I've pretty much eliminated dairy from my diet for many reasons that are not important to this post, but the main one was just the way it would make me feel after trying to add it back in on occasion. Awful.

So yesterday, I felt I earned a good ol' Starbucks run, and when I saw the Vanilla Chai latte plastered on the board I was sold in an instant. It's only a grande.. I told myself. How much milk could that possibly be? I'll be fine. I casually ordered my grande with nonfat milk (I don't do soy) and the barista of course asked, "do you want the whip cream?" Ok, so I have this weird thing.. where I feel like if I order something nonfat then it's totally valid to keep the whip cream because somehow in my mind it cancels each other out. It makes no sense at all, as I'm typing this I'm realizing it all the more, but there you have it. So I requested, like always, to keep the whip cream. lol.

Oh that warm, frothy, cinnamon, vanilla, spice taste was so incredible... for about 20 minutes. I got back to my neighborhood and popped in on my sister and couldn't stop complaining about the incredible pain in my stomach. All I wanted to do was curl in a ball on my side and wait it out. I threw a few death glares at my latte, and put it down, for good.

The pain took hours to subside and I felt off for the rest of the evening.

Then this morning I had a crazy God moment where some things I've been mulling over in my head all made a little more sense and the image that flashed across my brain was that dang latte.

Let me explain. So, this is that second part I was telling you about. I challenged myself at the beginning of this year to read through the Bible in a year. I have never done this before, and to be completely honest, this came about because I started to feel some conviction in the fact that whenever I am wanting to give people biblical counsel, to the best of my ability, I find myself recommending people books. Now, I LOVE books. Books are absolutely fantastic, and the Lord uses AMAZING authors to teach His word in fascinating ways.  

My little check in my soul was that I was spending more time reading those awesome books then I was spending in the most important book of ALL.

Jesus loves me, this I know, for the BIBLE tells me so...

You know how I like to change refrains of songs?

Well, I felt like I was singing a different verse. Once again. Sigh.

Jesus loves me, this I know, for this *insert other awesome book* tells me so.

So my little conviction started stirring and then I read this blog post, which confirmed some things. (PS. I will definitely be telling you about this gal soon.) So January 1st was coming and it was one of those perfect opportunities to start this whole bible-in-a-year thing.

Now it's only been 15 days and I've absolutely been loving being in the word everyday. I know this is a simple truth, and we are called to live on the Word, our daily bread, but in all reality, I have never made it a solid habit to be in the word everyday. I could give you every excuse in the book why, but finally something changed, and I was ready to do this Bible-in-a-year thing. I knew it would force me into a habit that I would never regret.

Funny what happens.. I've found myself eager to open my Bible when the rare free moment in a busy mom of 3's day arises. The app on my phone has been fantastic, giving me daily reminders and I've even plugged my phone into my car and let the app read to me while driving. Not too shabby the technology we now possess. It's like the more I'm diving in to this book, the more I crave it. I'm also reading a few other AWESOME books on the side, but, my number one right now is getting my daily reading done in our Lord's book.

So now, stay with me, back to my crazy new way of life in regards to my eating.. I remember reading and hearing that as time went on you would actually crave vegetables, and the foods you used to want would no longer look so tasty. I am here to tell you, once again, it's true. Fast forward a few months now and I actually get excited about making a soup of tuscan kale and butternut squash! If you would have known me even 6 months ago, tuscan kale would have never made it's way into my shopping cart, let alone into my soup. It's like.. this crazy thing, where as you find out more about the health benefits of something, and then when you see it actually change your life in regards to how you feel after eating.. you naturally want more of it. I think you can see where I'm going with this.

So now I'm chomping down daily on God's incredible word and I'm feeling it wreck havoc on me.. in a good way. Clarity is coming quicker, this awesome God we serve is on the forefront of my mind.This isn't just something that is going to help me feel better, the word is life altering. Now these are some health benefits worth talking about! lol.

And right when I start to want to pat myself on the back, stand up a little taller, tell myself, good job Heather, look at you reading the Bible every day now, well it's like I just took a swig of that dang latte again. Oh pride. You are something. At least now I'm realizing that, like dairy, my body is not too keen on this haughtiness either. It honestly doesn't matter if I read the Bible in a year. I should be re-reading the Bible every year for the rest of my life.

Am I going to keep going? YES. Why? Because God has put this on my heart for this year, and maybe he has put in on yours too. Not so that we may boast about it, but so that we can gain a greater understanding of who HE is. Help us to create an amazingly awesome habit of being in the word daily. To hold each other accountable. I get so excited thinking about it! I just have to spit out the latte when I feel it coming. And if you see one in my hand, I give you full permission to take it from me. Got it?

The most effective means the enemy has to keep us from being full of the Spirit is to keep us full of ourselves. - Beth Moore

Thanks Beth, you always put me in my place as well. ;)

I feel like living in the word each day so far has been like a major cleanse of my soul. 

I'm now craving the good stuff and although I might have a swig here and there of those dang lattes, my prayer is to someday rid myself of those dang lattes for good. And guess what, there's only one answer to that. And it's gonna take more than a few death glares.

 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." John 15:5

I can't wait to see what the Lord has up His sleeve this year.. 

Who's with me?

Oh, and here's proof of my tuscan kale and butternut squash soup. Seriously.. amazing.

Recipe here.  Pin away my friends, pin away. lol.

 

♥