Unsatisfied

"... though you will have food to eat, you will not be satisfied."  ~ Lev. 26:26

Like many other women around the country, I'm reading Made to Crave by Lysa TerKeurst right now.  I'm working through it with my Bible study friends - we just met last night - and I'm studying it online with Melissa Taylor.  I've watched all the webcasts and have been reading Lysa's blog for a few years, so food messages are about to come pouring out of my ears right now.  That's okay, though - I obviously need them.

This morning as I was reading along in my Bible, plodding through Leviticus with Wendy Pope (I really like these Proverbs 31 ladies - can ya tell??), something suddenly jumped out at me.  God was telling the people how important it was to maintain the new covenant and what He would do if the Israelites didn't uphold their end of the bargain.  (They didn't, of course.  They messed up over and over and over and over ... well, you get the idea.)

God said that He would mess with their food, to use Lysa's words!  He says to obey His laws or, while food will be hard to come by and will be rationed, there will be food to eat - but they won't be happy with that.  They won't be satisfied.

Now, I'd think that if I messed up so badly as to cause the God of the Universe to reach down His hand and create droughts and bring in neighbors to steal my crops and change the world's weather patterns, the little matter of happy taste buds wouldn't be that important.  I would think that I'd be stressing more about finding enough water or the proper nutrients for my kids, but God knew something that I'm too dense and stubborn to figure out:  He knew that keeping my taste buds off balance would just send me into a tailspin.  Remove a Hershey's kiss or two and I'll deal.  Take away ALL of  my chocolate and my cheeseburgers and I'm one cranky girl. You'll get my attention this way. 

And guess what? There's no 'if' I were to mess up this badly.  I HAVE messed up this badly.  I DO mess up this badly.  I'm just as stubborn as the Israelites - I keep messing up over and over again.  What does this mean for me?  Unlike the Israelites, we are covered in Jesus' grace.  That first covenant has been fulfilled and we're operating under a different umbrella.  I don't think that gives us a 'get-out-of-jail-free' card, though.  He still wants our attention.  I think He's still using food to get it.

I looked up 'satisfied' in dictionary.com and got the word 'content.'  When I looked up UNsatisfied, I found the word 'ungratified.'  I looked that up to get the official definition, and found that 'gratified' means 'receiving what was desired.'  A note comes with that definition, though, that changing the form of the word 'gratified' will give you 'grateful,' which  means having or showing thanks.

In a rather roundabout way, doesn't this mean that when we are ungrateful, we become disobedient?  When we become disobedient, we reveal our distance from God.  When we aren't listening and staying snuggled in close to God, He knows that messing with our food will create cravings in us - cravings that we might mistake at first for a hot fudge sundae, but that we'll soon figure out are solely for Him.  When we stay closely connected to Him, we can revel in His peace and those crazy cravings go away - because we have what we REALLY desire most of all.

I haven't read all of the book yet - I'm trying to be patient and study it as I go - but this verse really jumped out at me today.  I'm sure Lysa already knows all of this, but for me, this was a revelation kind of moment.  God knows IN ADVANCE what He's going to do to get our attention (of course - He knows everything).  He has His heavenly behavior modification plan all mapped out.  He's been warning us for thousands of years that He'll mess with our food if we stray too far.  Why does it surprise me when He does what He says He'll do?  

More importantly, how can I stay tucked in there closely  - how can I keep my attention on Him and not on  chocolate cheesecake - so He doesn't need to do it again??

"The Promises She Keeps" by Erin Healy

Promise, a young singer trying to make her mark on the world before succumbing to a terminal genetic disease, actively pursues her singing and modeling career - and isn't sure how she continues to survive the freak accidents that suddenly follow her.  Porta, an aging sorceress hears about these accidents and decides that Promise holds the key to immortality for which she's spent a lifetime searching.  Chase, an autistic artist, suddenly changes his routine and reaches out to strangers, bringing a new understanding of life and love to everyone who knows him.

I couldn't decide at the beginning of this book who I wanted to cheer for.  Most stories have a clear hero and a clear villian, but several times these characters got a bit murky.  The reasons for some of their actions are unknown  at first, and I started to be a bit disappointed in this character or that one - until I realized that each one was only 'human.'  The interrelationships between the cast of characters becomes more and more clear throughout the story, as do the themes of love and what eternal life really means.  This book is in no way preachy but shows simply how to live out one's faith - how to internalize what you believe until it just oozes naturally out your pores.

The Christian faith is not based on sunshine and roses, and Healy shows that while we live in a dark and fallen world, and may even dive pretty deeply into the nasty parts of this world, we don't have to stay there.  Redemption and love belong to everyone who chooses to accept them  - and I love the way that Healy shares this message through Chase and Promise.  If you're looking for a story that will stretch your imagination and yet bring home a sound message, this is the book for you.

I received a free copy of this book from Thomas Nelson's Booksneeze program in exchange for an unbiased review.

"Indivisible" by Kristen Heitzmann

Chief of Police Jonah Westfall typically fights only small-town crime in Redford, Colorado, but a series of animal mutilations and a rising drug problem bring about new challenges for his small  force.  Westfall struggles to hold onto his sobriety while he continues to make peace with his past, which includes Tia Manning - a childhood friend with whom he shares a stormy history.  Can Westfall restore peace to his beloved town - before someone gets hurt?

I LOVE the way that Heitzmann weaves this story!  The cast of characters grows slowly, as do their connections, which truly brings to life each person and their own personal story.  The characters each have his/her fatal flaw, which serves to make them seem real, instead of packaged and plastic.  Each one has his or her own well-developed style and story to tell, yet all cause the reader to ponder one main question: how do we deal with the pain of being hurt?  Each character in the story reacts in a different way to past pain, and seeing the consequences of each can be eye-opening.  Past mistakes are not glossed over or seen as 'acceptable' sins, but are viewed for what they are - dark problems with far-reaching consequences.

For a Christian book, there is very little so-called Christian 'stuff' here.  There is no preaching or outright teaching, but the faith of the author - and the characters who have it - is evident in the twist of the story.  Manning and Westfall do discuss their faith a few times, but those discussions are used more as a springboard for solving relationship issues and understanding the choices they had made in the past few years.  Someone looking for a Bible verse on every page should, perhaps, look elsewhere; but for someone who wants to read an incredible, suspenseful, realistic story about people who have faith, this is the book to read.

I received a free copy of this book from Multnomah's Books for Bloggers program in exchange for an honest review.

'Sun Stand Still' by Stephen Furtick

Several thousand years ago, God held the sun still for a full 24 hours in answer to Joshua's audacious prayer and His own promise.   Pastor Stephen Furtick of Elevation Church in Charlotte, North Carolina believes He'll do the the same for us today - we need only ask Him.

Based on stories of miracles throughout the Bible and those who believed that God would make them happen, Furtick's book details how to activate your own audacious faith soundly.  He explains how to pray using God's own Word and how to fully realize God's plan for your life.

Furtick is young and it shows in his writing.  His style is easy to read and grabs your attention with his blunt word choice, but his passion for God clearly shows through.  The book is full of stories that he personally vouches for about how strongly active God is today, and despite his age, Furtick has a wealth of experience and has well researched his topic.

This book will definitely captivate you and want you to dive deeper into your relationship with God.  I would definitely recommend this to anyone!

I received a free copy of this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for an unbiased review.

Fiber Information

One of the health tips we discussed last night was proper eating - including eating enough fiber.  This website lets you choose the foods you've eaten in what amounts and then calculates how much fiber you've consumed.  No math for you to do!

The Wake Forest doc said we women should eat about 25 grams of fiber each day.  How are you doing?

'Made to Crave' by Lysa TerKeurst ....

has hit the New York Times bestseller's list!  I can't wait to read it.  :-)

Our first MTC meeting will be tonight at 8:15 PM at Isabelle's.  We'll talk about this week's webcast and work our way through the DVD series when it arrives.  If you missed this week's webcast, you can catch the next one at her website over here on Monday at 8 PM.  It will re-air on Tuesday.  Check the website for times.

Hope to see you tonight!

"An Amish Love" by Beth Wiseman, Kathleen Fuller, and Kelly Long

An Amish Love is actually three novellas in on book - and since all take place in one town with overlapping characters, it's easy to transition from one to the next.  Each story is about someone who has left and how they find their way home again.  Each story includes faith, love, and forgiveness as themes.  Naaman Lapp left his wife at home while he went to visit relatives, only to return nearly one year later, facing distrust and confusion from his family.  Abby Kauffman wants a way out of her father's silent household so badly that she tricks a newcomer into marriage - realizing too late what she's done.  Ellie Chupp was jilted after an accident left her blind - can she forgive those involved and learn to love again?

The writing styles of each author make the stories flow smoothly.  Set within the same Amish community, with the same peripheral characters and locations mentioned, this set feels more like one work.

I enjoyed the writing style of these authors and the questions that each story raised in my mind.  If blinded, could I easily forgive?  If my husband left, could I welcome him home with open arms?  Am I careful and thoughtful in my dealings with others?

I definitely enjoyed this book and would recommend it to others.

I received a free copy of this book from Thomas Nelson in exchange for an impartial review.