i'm having a blast!

"God blessed them and said to them, 'Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.'  Then God said, 'I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.' And it was so."    Genesis 1:28-30

 I am praising the Lord today for these verses that I have so often looked over.  He gave us every animal and every plant for our enjoyment and for food!  It has been such an eye-opening experience learning about how food is processed and digested, experimenting with fresh vegetables, learning how to substitute almond/coconut flour for white/wheat flour, looking for grass-fed meat farms and Community Supported Agriculture groups, and researching and then cooking Paleo recipes.  Food has never tasted so rich or been so vibrant in color, pure beauty! I'm having a blast cooking!

I have baked before (mainly the usual... cakes, brownies, cookies, pies) and cooked simple recipes... pretty much anything that was in my comfort zone. If the recipe called for an ingredient I had never heard of or seen, if I didn't know how to chop it or where to buy it, I refused to try it.  If the preparation time was too long, the process too messy, or it required several different dishes, forget it! 

But switching to Paleo has really forced me out of my comfort zone. Can I get a Hallelujah? Praise the Lord! And Amen!

This week I've made fajitas wrapped in lettuce (not cabbage!)...

sweet potato recovery bars (with homemade sweet potato puree)...

a ginormous omelet (this one was a disaster!)...

cookies with almond flour and coconut nectar...

garlic mashed potatoes (which was actually cauliflower)...

and spaghetti with spaghetti squash, but I didn't get a picture.

Okay so I'm definitely not a food photographer. And maybe the foods I've cooked with are foods you've been cooking with since age five. But I've branched out, and those of you who know me, know that's huge! (Especially since I was so addicted to carbohydrates and sugar.)

For the last two years, it seems the only thing that's been on my mind has been my infertility. I know... "relax, and it will happen!"  I'd like to see you walk this road and see how you handle that statement.  It's not easy to just relax and not think about being the one thing I feel I was created to be... a mom!

But the Lord has finally led me to a place where I can set my mind on something other than fertility, and it's actually become a beautiful worship experience.  Matt Chandler, from the Village Church, once said that everything we find pleasure in should result in worship to our Creator!  These past few years my time with the Lord has been sweet, but out of desperation... a crying out for Him to hear my prayers and draw near to me!  But in the last two weeks it has turned into a very different experience. It has been full of praise, adoration, and gratefulness. He has filled my cup to overflowing!  I never would have thought giving up carbohydrates and sugar meant getting more of Jesus!

This morning I found this...

ONE pink flower growing amidst a hundred white ones.  My favorite color is pink so I couldn't help but think of this as the Lord smiling down on me. Oh how well he knows me!

He is beautiful. And I'm so glad He's leading me in His ways, not mine.

humbled by His faithfulness and love,

sarah jane