Sep
29
Posted by Glenys
A book I have just finished reading again after many years is “You Can Be The Wife Of A Happy Husband” by Darian B Cooper. In one of her chapters she tells of God’s Umbrella of protection through His Divine Order.In a world where we see the havoc that comes from stepping out of the umbrella of God’s protection, it would serve us well to reassess just what the Divine Order of God’s Protection is. Darian has illustrated the Divine Order thus:
The illustration is self-explanatory really. In my own life, I have found that when this order wasn’t followed, my life would be out of kilter. I remember the times when I was working outside of the home, that trying to keep the home going as normal, mother my children and be available to my husband at all times produced stress in me that often would end up in illness. I was over committed and fatigued.
God brought me full circle to being a stay at home mother and enjoying it by having me walk through some very rocky valleys. I was hospitalised for weeks at a time during which I was shown how much I did appreciate my home and miss being with my family. A bout of glandular fever which lasted for 6 months, brought home to me that my job was creating a lot of stress that God did not require me to carry. And my children were not being cared for properly by a woman I paid a lot of money to, for before and after school care.
About this time, I was being discipled by a lovely group of Titus 2 women who were the most contented and fulfilled women I had ever met. Through all of these experiences, God showed me that the Divine Order is the best. These women taught me about our priorities as godly women. And I am blessed today to have had the privilege of being a stay at home mother for most of my children’s formative years. I am so grateful to God and to those women.
When a woman places herself under the protection of God’s Umbrella of Divine Order, she not only finds fulfillment as a wife, mother and homemaker, but she allows her husband to become the head of his home- the position given him by God in His wisdom. By allowing her husband to lead, she is strengthening her marriage and home and creating strong bonds to develop between not only her children to their father, but herself and her husband. Where a marriage is strong, there is every chance that godly children will be raised.
God has provided the blueprint for a successful marriage and family. It is we who mess things up when we live outside of that blueprint by coming out from under the Umbrella of God’s protection. I urge you ladies, to rethink your life and check if you are living under the protection of the LORD. If not, it would be to your eternal advantage to take measures to step back under His protection and allow God to protect you and your family.
God provides protection for your husband too when he is under His Umbrella of Protection. In providing for you and the family, and despite perhaps being an unbeliever, he is still to be respected as the head of the home. But even so, he is to be in submission to God. This is God’s Divine Order. Many a family has come to ruin because a husband has allowed a wife to usurp his God-given authority as head of the home, and forced his wife to take on the role of leader- a position that God did not intend her to have to take.
We all know of marriages that have suffered because the wife has usurped her husband’s role and has decided to lead. It is often a cause for divorce at the most and the husband’s dissatisfaction at the least. And in this day and age particularly, we often see children ruling the home with demands, petulant displays of temper and tantrums, excessive shouting and fighting, argumentativeness, surliness and disobedience. This is another case of God’s Divine Order being breached- and the family suffer the consequences. Children come under the parents in the Divine Order.
Seeing the trouble that breaching the Divine Order makes for us, we would be wise indeed to stop and reflect just where we are in our own life- and if we find we have come out from under God’s Umbrella of protection for us, we would be prudent in getting back into order so that God can bless us and lighten our daily cares.
I sincerely praise God for making His ways known to us so that we and our loved ones may be blessed as we live under His protection and love.
© Glenys Robyn Hicks
Sep
29
Posted by wardeh
by Wardeh Harmon
When we first married, my husband told me how much he loved salads and how he would love to eat salad every day. I’m sorry to admit that I didn’t take him at his word until about five years into our marriage. After repeated encouragements from him and a desire growing in me to provide healthier foods for our family, I started serving salads at every lunch and dinner. Now it has been another five years that we have eaten salad daily. There are perhaps a dozen days a year when we do not have salad. Those days we don’t have it, we miss it.
Our son, Mikah, is looking forward to his 6th birthday. When I asked him what he wanted to eat on his birthday, he said — pancakes for breakfast, grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch, and cabbage salad for dinner. He frequently eats more than one helping of salad. But he is not the only one in our family who loves salad; we all do.
Mikah’s favorite salad is cabbage salad; he’s already requested it for his 6th birthday dinner.
What’s So Good About Vegetables, Anyway?
The fresh vegetables (and possibly, fruits) that comprise a healthy salad provide many health benefits. Fresh vegetables are rich in vitamins and minerals, which are great for keeping our bodies healthy and preventing against disease. Fresh vegetables provide dietary fiber, keeping the body regular. These foods are low-calorie and low-fat, so filling up on them helps keep calorie and fat intake low — a great aid in keeping weight down or losing weight. My family likes to eat salad last in the meal. We serve conservative portions of the main dish and then fill up on salad.
And in addition to all the health benefits, salads taste great and feel good. The textures — cool, crisp and/or crunchy — are pleasing. The tastes — fresh, fruity, spicy, or mild — delight the palate. I can’t think of anyone I’ve met who doesn’t like at least a couple different vegetables. There are picky individuals, I know, and there are definitely picky children. If you have any children like this in your home, I would encourage you to take heart. I read once (I wish I knew where it was) that it takes about a dozen tries of a new food before a child will accept it.
The Healthy Salad Habit
Some dietary habits people start and keep for awhile, but then find difficult to keep up. They may get bored. They may find the preparation time consuming and wearing. They may not be able to find the necessary ingredients year round. For the salad habit, each season provides a bountiful variety of ingredients. This makes it hard to be bored and allows families access to varied ingredients. Salads are also easy to prepare — just wash, chop, mix and add a dressing.
The Salad Technique
Ready for an easy recipe that is always adaptable to what you have on hand? You’ll need: greens, additional vegetables, toppings and dressing. Then you take what you have and wash, chop, and toss.
First, the base is usually some type of green. For the best nutritional value, the darker the greens are, the better. Excellent greens are red & green leaf lettuce, romaine lettuce, spinach, arugula (a little spicy, so this is good to mix in with other greens), frisee greens, butter lettuce, and cabbage (red or purple). Herbs also make tasty salad greens. I love eating a salad where some of the greens are fresh basil, dill, parsley and cilantro. In light of the recent bagged lettuce e.coli scare, it is best to purchase locally grown heads or bunches of greens.
To properly wash greens, soak in a deep basin of cold water. Completely immerse the greens and let them sit for about 5 minutes. Agitate gently and let sit for another 5 minutes. Remove from the water, shake the excess water off gently, and then spin dry in a salad spinner (or wrap in towels).
Greens keep better if they are torn by hand into bite-size chunks, rather than cut or chopped with a knife. This is a great job for young ones. My children love to dry the greens with the salad spinner and then tear the lettuces into the salad bowl.
Next, you’ll need additional vegetables. I cannot possibly list all the potential vegetables you could add to a salad, but here are a few:
- bell peppers — diced or sliced thinly
- green onions — sliced thinly
- broccoli florets
- cauliflower florets
- carrots — diced or shredded
- celery — diced
- peas
- green beans
- kohlrabi
- squash or zucchini — sliced thinly
- cucumbers — sliced thinly
- radishes — thinly sliced or shredded
- tomatoes — diced, quartered or sliced
A great way to mix up the variety of salads is to vary the presentation of these additional vegetables. For instance, dice the peppers one night and thinly slice them the next.
Third, adding toppings really brightens up a salad. Toppings are ingredients you sprinkle on the top or mix into the salad in smaller amounts, such as:
- raisins or other dried fruits
- nuts — raw or toasted
- seeds — toasted sesame seeds or sunflower seeds
- homemade croutons — leftover bread heels chopped up, drizzled with oil, sprinkled with a seasoning salt, and toasted under the broiler
- sprouts
- fresh herbs — chopped
- dried herbs
- cheese — shredded or cubed
- olives — whole, diced or sliced
- beans — cooked and cold
The remaining component is the dressing. Use your favorite healthy dressing or search the internet for some new ideas. Our favorite dressing is one I make myself in less than five minutes. I take my glass salad dressing container with a plastic removable pour spout (or a pint size jar with lid). In it, I put a little sweetener (raw honey or raw agave syrup), about 1/2 teaspoon each of sea salt and onion powder, along with 1/4 teaspoon of pepper. I also add dried herbs, but more liberally, about 1 to 1-1/2 teaspoons of each. Usually I pick dill because that is my favorite herb flavor for salad dressing. Over all this, I fill the container 1/4 to 1/3 of the way up with raw apple cider vinegar or balsamic vinegar (or some of each). I put the lid on and shake it all up. I remove the lid and fill the rest of the container up with extra virgin olive oil and a dash of toasted sesame seed oil. Replace lid and shake well before each serving. Dressings should always be used conservatively.
Putting it all Together
So you have your greens, additional vegetables, toppings and dressings. How do you arrange it? One option is to toss it all together. Whether or not you toss the salad in the dressing is up to you. In general though, only add the dressing if you’re planning to consume all the salad right away, for it won’t keep long. The exception to this is cabbage salad, which will keep longer mixed with dressing.
A layered salad is truly appealing. Put the greens on the bottom. Spread the additional vegetables out over the greens and finally, sprinkle the entire salad with the toppings.
I have a friend who recently served us a salad using a lovely presentation. She tossed the greens only with the dressing. Then on a beautiful platter, she arranged separate piles of all the toppings and additional vegetables. Not only did it look gorgeous, but we all got to make a salad according to our own tastes.
My friend’s beautiful platter full of salad toppings.
However you decide to fix your salad, I would encourage you to use a pretty bowl. God created such beauty in His vegetables, so it is nice to serve the salad in a special way. This doesn’t mean your salad bowl has to be expensive, just special. I have a couple salad bowls from thrift stores and they’re some of my favorites.
Turn Your Salad Into a Meal
If you add a protein source to your salad — such as cooked wild salmon, cooked and cubed chicken, shredded roast beef, or hard boiled eggs — you now have a healthy, one dish meal.
When my mother-in-love visited us, she showed me how to make Chinese Chicken Salad. It was a delicious meal all to its own.
Some Salad Recipes
For recipes or more information please visit:
I always welcome your comments, questions or suggestions. Please write to me at wardeh@t2chk.org or comment below.
© Copyright 2006 by Wardeh Harmon. Used with permission from the author.
Sep
25
Posted by Glenys
Over the years I have spent a lot of time in hospitals with a spinal disease which caused bad back problems. Whilst spending 2 weeks at a time in traction, flat on my back and unable to move at all, the days would drag out so slowly and my thoughts would naturally turn to home.
In the morning, I would look at my watch and note that it was time for my children to be getting ready for school and I would wonder if their father or grandmother had everything under control and if the children were buying their lunch at the school canteen or taking a cut lunch. Were they missing me? I missed them. Terribly. And as I felt my eyes fill, I knew that I would give anything to be with them, looking after my own household.
Now this was a strange thing to think because I have to be honest and say that I often had suffered from a dislike of homemaking in my younger years and I can remember saying on occasion that I would rather be working outside the home than being trapped there, doing endless loads of laundry and changing little bottoms, wiping little noses and washing floors!
But as the long weeks dragged on, punctuated only by bedpans and meals, I realised that life has a way of making us think of those things that truly matter. And as I watched the nurse close the drapes, heralding another long night of snoring patients and torchlight visits by nurses checking on my legs and feet, my heart would almost break longing to be home in my own bed surrounded by my family.
I would fall asleep dreaming and planning of changes that I would make as soon as I got home- ways that I could be a better wife, mother and homemaker. And as soon as the nurse came in at 6am throwing the drapes apart and bringing in the morning medications, my mind would turn to planning new homemaking schedules and better routines and I would find myself pining to be mistress of my home once again.
Sometimes I think God brings things into our lives so that we may learn from them. In my case, my enforced bed rest made me re-evaluate my life and realise that I had the best of life already. Until my back problems, I didn’t really enjoy my role as homemaker- I loved being a wife and mother- but housework- forget it! It took a few bouts of traction to get me to be still long enough to really consider that which is truly important.
And as I finally healed of the disease that ate away all the discs in my lower back, I not only regained my physical strength, but my spiritual strength. For God not only healed my back, but my attitudes. I resumed my homemaking duties with gusto and enthusiasm. I was thankful for the valuable lesson learned-that it is a blessing to be able to be the mistress of your own home- and that you never know what you have, until it’s gone!
© Glenys Robyn Hicks
Picture by Trisha Romance
