Healthy Minute- GAPS diet

GAPS stands for Gut and Psychology Syndrome. It is a protocol created by Dr Natasha Campbell McBride to heal your gut thereby healing certain health problems created by an imbalance in the intestines.
Dr McBride used this diet on her autistic child and found that it cured him not only of his stomach ailments, but also his autism. She has since recommended this diet to anyone who has issues with any sort of stomach, intestinal, and neurological disorders.
This diet is a very restrictive diet that some people may need to be on for years.
You can order Dr McBride's book which is exhaustive if you want all the science background to this diet. Or, if you only want the protocol in simple steps you can get GAPS Guide by Baden Lashkov.
The basic premise of this diet is to heal the gut through easily digested healing soups made with bone broth while growing and regulating your good intestinal bacteria. Slowly, you will add foods back into your diet as long as your body can handle them. This sounds tough, but if you're dealing with severe symptoms this diet will quickly get control of them and eventually take them away permanently!
Since others have a lot of good research out there, I'm going to include their links:

GAPS introduction stage

GAPS experience review

GAPS stages

GAPS website

David's Five Smooth Stones (video sermon)

Immunity Tonic recipe

1/2 cup horseradish peeled and grated
 2 habanero peppers seeded and grated 
 1/4 cup organic garlic
 1/4 cup organic onion minced 
 1/2 cup fresh organic ginger peeled and grated 
 2 TBS organic turmeric powder
 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
 Zest and juice from 1 organic lemon
 24 oz. Bragg's apple cider vinegar 

While wearing gloves and maybe a bandana around your mouth and nose, peel and grate horseradish in a well ventilated area. This stuff is potent!
While still wearing the gloves, remove the seeds from the peppers and grate them.Remove the gloves and wash hands and wrists with soap and water.
Now, mince the garlic and onion and grate the  ginger.
Layer all the ingredients in a quart sized Mason jars, except for the vinegar. Don't put your face directly over the jar since the potency of the horseradish is still very viable!
Pour in apple cider vinegar until you fill it to the top.
Do not use the metal lids to seal this! You want to get those plastic lids that are now available.
Store in a dark, cool place for one month and shake daily.
After one month, strain the liquid from the pulp. Store in a glass container.
Take 1/2 tsp daily to boost immunity. This can be taken straight, added with honey to hot water for a spicy drink, or even added to a cup of bone broth.
If you're sick, you can take more as you can tolerate it.
Please, do not take this with stomach ulcers. If you feel a burning in your esophagus or stomach after taking then discontinue use and work on healing your stomach lining with Dr Natasha Campbell McBride's GAP protocol.



         

Believer's Heritage - Haralan Popov

In 1948, Haralan I. Popov, a pastor in Bulgaria, was arrested and falsely accused of “being a spy” for countries such as United States and Great Britain.

Pastor Popov spent a total of 13 years, 2 months in 16 Communist prisons and concentration camps for his uncompromising faith in Jesus Christ. His prominence as a devote Christian leader brought him severe physical torture at the hands of the Soviet KGB and their Bulgarian quislings. His amazing testimony of Christian courage is recorded in his autobiography, Tortured For His Faith.

On November 13, 1988, Haralan Popov passed away.

This message is taken from an oldish tape before the Iron Curtain was demolished.

Penny's Homemade Coffee Grounds Blend recipe

Use these three types of green coffee beans, roasted at home for this blend:
Ethiopian Sidamo
Brazilian Bourbon Peaberry
Dominican Republic Ramirez Honey

In a container, mix together the home roasted and ground coffee mentioned above. Use  1/2 cup ground coffee of each type for a total of 1.5 cups of coffee grounds.
To this add the following:
1/2 tsp Himalayan sea salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 TBS cacao powder
1 TBS ground chicory root
1/4 tsp of vanilla bean powder 

Mix all ingredients together and store in a air tight container in the fridge.

Use 2 tsp per 8 oz cup of coffee.

Good with with my homemade non-dairy coffee creamer.

When I Consider How My Light Here Is Spent (poem)

When I consider how my light is spent,
   Ere half my days in this dark world and wide,
   And that one talent which is death to hide
Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
   My true account, lest He returning chide;
   "Doth God exact day-labor, light denied?"
I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies, "God doth not need
   Either man's work or His own gifts. Who best
   Bear His mild yoke, they serve Him best. His state
Is kingly: thousands at His bidding speed,
   And post o'er land and ocean without rest;
   They also serve who only stand and wait."

-John Milton

That's Where I Found Mercy (song)

One Time Won't Hurt

When people want to sin they usually come up with some excuse. That in itself should show you that it is a sin. Many people say "everybody's doing it", while others use the excuse "nobody will ever know". But, the most believable lie that many people say is "one time won't hurt".
But, that's the danger of sin- one time CAN hurt.
When David committed adultery with Bathsheba, he didn't realize how much the price of that sin would be. The baby died, his daughter raped by his son, her brother murdering the rapist and then trying to take over the kingdom (which led to that son's death) was all part of the price for that one sin.
But, most people don't look much further than that. Did you know that David paid even more than just what was mentioned above? David wrote a Psalm after Nathan the prophet came to him and let him know that the sin wasn't ignored by God. In this Psalm, he says some things that show us how this sin affected him personally.
It hurt his cleanliness. In the Old Testament, you had to keep the law to gain entrance to Paradise. If you died without having sacrificed an offering to have that sin covered you went to hell.
Psalm 51:1-2- Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. 
David also hurt his mind. Have you ever had something just keep coming to mind no matter how hard you try to push past it? Satan loves to throw our sins in our faces. David was forever haunted by this remembrance.
Psalm 51:3-7-  For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
He hurt his own heart and his spirit. His joy was gone. There was no comfort from the Lord while he was enduring the consequences of his actions. There was fear and dread and wondering if he were to pay not only in this life, but also in hell for eternity.
Psalm 51:8-12- Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.
David also suffered some consequences in his body. Sexually transmitted diseases are not something new. They've been around for a very long time. And, it takes just one promiscuous moment to contract an STD for a lifetime!
Psalms 38:11- My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my sore; and my kinsmen stand afar off.
Probably the most lasting hurt was that of his testimony. From then on, people talked about the man after God's own heart with an addendum.
I Kings 15:5- Because David did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.
This one time became a public lesson to the world. Everyone for all eternity will know about the one time David committed adultery.
Psalm 51:13-19- Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.  Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise. For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion: build thou the walls of Jerusalem. Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar.
God promises forgiveness of our sins when we confess them to Him.
I John 1:9-  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
But, forgiveness will not take away the consequences of sin.
Galatians 6:7-8- Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
Sin does hurt. Sin leaves a lasting impression on our lives and the lives of others. One time can bring in a whole shipload of momentous payments that you will have to endure.