Feeding The Body And The Soul

By Nancy A. Stewart

Hunger. It comes in all shapes and forms. Physical hunger....gotta have that cheeseburger! Spiritual hunger....need some answers to my questions God! And sometimes they meet.....the physical and the spiritual hunger and when they do, it's truly a divine feast! When I was growing up, mealtime was the BEST! We took time to talk to each other, discuss our day and have a prayer to express thankfulness for our blessings! It was my favorite time of the day because it combined my two favorite things.....good food for the body and good faith-based conversation for the soul. In writing "Feeding the Body and the Soul" I have tried to once again capture that loving, caring, growing, learning atmosphere that we experienced around the dinner table. The wonderful part about this book is not only it's content but it's flexibility. It can be used in a family setting, a small study group setting or a book club setting. With timely topics for discussion, delicious, easy recipes to share and even some study questions to get things started, everyone can walk away "full"! Come join me on this journey of reading, studying, discussing and eating.....it promises to be a fulfilling experience!!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Sep 14, 2017
• ISBN: 9781635758160

Book preview

What’s on the Menu?

When was the last time you and your family sat down together for an uninterrupted meal? Keep in mind uninterrupted includes no phone calls, no texts, no e-mails, no visitors—in other words, NO outside intrusion. Okay, I know that’s a hard one to answer because you may not be able to remember the last time you enjoyed such a meal.

I’m on a mission to bring back the family dinner. Today when you say, Let’s eat! everyone gets in the car. What’s up with that? I’ve heard all kinds of excuses: Our schedules just won’t allow it, I don’t have time to cook, My family wouldn’t know what to say to each other! (WHAAAT? How sad! All the more reason to do it!)

Growing up in my household, we had one hard fast rule: we ate dinner together, uninterrupted, at the table; and we discussed our day. I must confess it was a time when I felt, as a kid, really important because everyone was interested in what happened in my world that day. We all shared experiences, both good and bad, and in the process we learned a lot from and about each other. You can’t tell me that doesn’t open the lines of communication. I KNOW it does.

Today in our tech-savvy world you can’t even go to a restaurant and observe people eating and enjoying each other’s company because they’re too busy checking their phones. How do our children learn social skills and common etiquette for that matter if they don’t see it modeled at home?

I feel so passionate about this I’ve written this book to help families get back on track at dinnertime. It has a daily topic that is newsworthy to discuss along with some very simple delicious recipes for an easy, quick dinner. And for those people who say they don’t have time, I ask you to think of it this way—it’s an investment in your family’s future. Believe it or not you are together a relatively short period and you should make the most of it. And besides, I’ve found people make time for what they really want to do.

The plan is simple: start out slow with a commitment to each other to eat together as a family with no interruptions two nights a week. Today our kids are pulled in so many directions—sports practice, dance lessons, piano lessons, study prep, etc., etc. And I think you will find this is a welcome change for them. In a recent study conducted by a group of architects who were searching for just what the youth in churches want in their designated space in the church building, they found overwhelmingly the answer was a place to just hang out and do nothing with people we like. WOW! Sorta sounds like we’re raising some stressed-out individuals.

Okay, who’s with me on this? Just two nights a week to share an UNINTERRUPTED meal with a simple one-dish dinner, a salad, and some great conversation. Trust me, this may be the best investment you make in your family’s state of mind and their future. Let’s do it!

Also, in the back of this book, you will find some simple questions about the topic of the day to help get the conversation started around the dinner table. Hope this helps!

Fruity Chicken Salad

3 cans (13 ounces) all-white meat chicken, drained and shredded

1 cup green seedless grapes, washed and cut in half

2 Granny Smith green apples, peeled and chopped

4 stalks celery, washed and chopped

1 medium white onion, peeled and chopped

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1 level tablespoon celery salt

1/4 cup dry parsley flakes

1/2 cup mayonnaise

In large mixing bowl mix all ingredients thoroughly, adding more mayo to your taste if needed. Cover and chill for at least two hours. Serve on a bed of lettuce with a baked potato and bread sticks for a delicious meal!

What We Say vs. What We Do

Hypocrisy as defined by Webster’s Dictionary is the behavior of people who do things that they tell other people not to do or behavior that does not agree with what someone claims to believe. Uh-oh. Sounds pretty serious, huh? No wonder Jesus spoke against it on many occasions. He taught His followers to live as they believed, make their lives a living testament to their faith.

No wonder the number one reason given by nonbelievers for NOT having faith is the hypocrisy they see in those who claim to be Christians. Ouch! I know you have experienced it and so have I. Someone tells you how to act or what to do, but their behavior is just the opposite. You can certainly see how that does not reflect well on Christians. That’s why I have such a hard time understanding all the hate in our world today. We say we’re Christians and we go to church and go through all the right motions, but the true colors come out in a crisis. Let something really heinous happen in a community, and suddenly everyone wants revenge, sometimes even before the full truth of the matter is known. We are quick to be judge and jury.

I’m a huge sports fan, and ESPN is on at our house all the time. I recently watched a 30 for 30 documentary about the Duke Lacrosse team that was accused of rape and sexual misconduct. Everyone jumped on the hate bandwagon—townspeople, famous sports figures, the media, and even well-known ministers. The hate was all-consuming toward this group of young men. Yet, after months and months of public humiliation and degradation, they were found innocent on all charges! It seems the district attorney in that county was up for reelection, and even though he KNEW they did not commit these crimes, he thought if he could get the notoriety of prosecuting them and finding them guilty he could win the election. He actually put thirty young men and their families through unmentionable public harassment and pain just to win an election, and he didn’t care if they spent years in prison for a crime they did not commit. Yet he spoke of himself as a God-fearing Christian who wants only to see justice done. By the way, he said that as he was entering church with his family one Sunday morning. Oh my, I would not want to stand near him in a storm for fear of a lightning strike!

During Isaiah’s ministry, he spoke to the people of Jerusalem and warned them in a speech found in Isaiah 29:13–15:

The Lord says: These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught. Therefore once more I will astound these people with wonder upon wonder, the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish. Woe to those who go to great depths to hide their plans from the Lord, who do their work in darkness and think, ‘Who sees us? Who will ever know?’

We hear this theme again in James 1:26, If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue and deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. I think this clearly tells us where Jesus stands on the subject of hypocrisy.

Challenge for the day: Be the best reflection of Christ you can possibly be. Before you act or respond, think what Jesus would have done in the same situation!

How Many Gods Do You Worship?

How many gods do you worship? Okay, I know you think that’s a silly question. We worship THE God as in God Almighty! Agreed. But let’s think outside the box for a minute. What is a god? Webster’s Dictionary defines god as a a supreme being, someone or something we idolize. Uh-oh, that last one hits a little closer to home than I like. I know we worship God, but what other gods do we let sneak into our lives and take over?

Kyle Idleman in his book Gods at War addresses this very real and timely topic. In the book Idleman helps every believer recognize there are false gods at war within each of us and they battle for a place of glory and control in our lives. Now let’s remember the definition of god. We are all wired for worship, but we often end up valuing and honoring the idols of money, career, food, romance, success, pleasure etc., etc. When we allow these false gods to take the place of our close relationship with God, we set ourselves up for disaster.

As a self-professed workaholic, I can personally relate with what Idleman is saying. For years I put career ahead of faith, family, and everything else in my life. It became all-consuming. Yes, I went to church, taught Sunday school, helped with Vacation Bible School. It appeared I was doing all the right things, but honestly, I was just going through the motions. Even when I was in church I was thinking about all the work I needed to do that afternoon to be ahead of the pack on Monday. Of course, career is only one pitfall. It can be making money, finding pleasure, etc. Now that is not to say these things are wrong, but it is to say there should be a balance and a set of priorities.

Someone once said in a workshop I attended