Category Archives: A Pandemic Journey

Joy that is Real

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Have you ever noticed that the joy found in this world doesn’t last indefinitely? It can be here today and gone tomorrow. I have definitely experienced this and have found over and over that the only true joy that is never fleeting is the joy found in Jesus. It’s so amazing to me that God gave us the most precious gift of all time by sending his one and only Son to earth in the form of a precious baby, born of a virgin. Truly a miraculous birth! And through his birth, life, death, and resurrection, there is hope for now but not just for now…for all eternity. That is so comforting to me. He died for my sins and took my place. What great love and sacrifice, actually the most wonderful love story ever! His love is never ending and He will never leave me or forsake me. That fills me with great joy when I truly comprehend the meaning of that.

Just think, Jesus knows what it’s like to be both the Son of God and human like us. He is holy and pure and He never sinned while he was on this earth, but he understands what it’s like to be a man. Satan tempted him but Jesus never gave in and always responded back to Satan with scripture from God’s Word, the Bible. So when Satan tempts me with fear, worry, or despair, I try to respond back with scripture too. I wish I did it all the time but I don’t. But I am getting better at it.

Jesus understands these hard days of the pandemic. He experienced a lot during his 33 years on earth. He’s the source of true joy yesterday, today, and forever! He always has been the source since his birth, and actually has been for those hearing prophecy about his coming and looking forward to it with the greatest of hopes. He definitely is my true joy today without a doubt, and He always will be.

My kids gave me a plaque that I have on my fireplace mantle. It says, “Don’t worry about tomorrow, God is already there.”  A plaque could also say don’t worry about losing true joy because it will be there tomorrow.

 

Coconut Flour Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips

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I’ve been cooking so much since this Pandemic started. Does that sound familiar? I’ve heard that from other people too. I haven’t baked this much in ages either. I decided though, after the first month, that I needed to focus on healthy treats and sweets.

The internet is a great source of recipes. And after having over-ripe bananas several times, I decided to bake banana bread. I’ve heard from other people that they’ve been baking a lot of banana bread too.  I wanted something gluten-free, though, because gluten can cause an inflammatory response. I know it does with me if I eat very much.

In my search for a good gluten free recipe, I came across one using coconut flour. I tried it and thought it was delicious. However, when I counted up the fat grams in the loaf, I thought WOW! That’s a lot of fat no matter how healthy the fat. So I tweaked the recipe and substituted 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce for 1/2 cup of the fat. It worked fine!

I kept tweaking the recipe. I wanted to increase the protein in it so it would be a complete breakfast in one large slice of banana bread. It already had three eggs but I upped it to four large eggs which made 24 grams of protein. I also added a scoop of organic whey protein powder, which added 20 grams of protein, plus a tablespoon of almond milk to add more moisture. The almond butter added protein as well.

So here’s my recipe. It’s gluten-free, high protein, lower fat, no added sugar if you don’t count the chocolate chips (ha ha), and has a good amount of fiber which makes it filling. You mix it up in one pan which is awesome for easy clean up. You don’t need a mixer. This is SO easy!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. I line my loaf pan with parchment paper or you can grease the pan if you prefer. Put the bananas in a large bowl and mash them with a fork. Add the wet ingredients and mix together. It’s okay if there are a few small lumps. Add the dry ingredients and mix well but do not overmix. Then last, add the chocolate chips. (You can tell I almost forgot the chocolate chips. I just placed them on top.)

Bake for 40-45 minutes. Enjoy!

WET INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 cup minimum of mashed ripe bananas (or two small-medium bananas)
  • 4 large eggs (I use organic, pasture raised)
  • 1/4 – 1/3 cup almond butter
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce (I keep the single serving, lunchbox sizes on hand. One of those is 1/2 cup applesauce. Perfect!  Again, I use organic.)
  • 1 tablespoon Coconut Oil (I use organic. You can use butter if you don’t have coconut oil. The original recipe called for 1/2 cup of coconut oil and no applesauce.)
  • 1 tablespoon Almond Milk (Leave this out if you don’t add whey protein powder to this recipe.  I use unsweetened vanilla almond milk)
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla (Make sure you buy 100% vanilla. It’s so worth it! I don’t wash the measuring spoon until later that day because I keep smelling the vanilla scent left on the spoon. So relaxing!)

DRY INGREDIENTS:

  • 1/2 Coconut Flour (I use organic)
  • 1 scoop of Whey Protein Powder (Optional. I use organic – mine has a very light vanilla flavor)
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

Store in an airtight container. It will last four days on the counter (unless eaten sooner than that).

Enjoy! ~ Charla

 

 

Finding Peace in Troubled Times

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I cried this morning during my prayer time. I cried yesterday morning, too. This morning, the enormity of all the people suffering in the world right now was overwhelming to me. Yesterday, I read an article about a dad opening an empty refrigerator trying to find food for his hungry 11 year old. It made me think what if that was either of my grandsons who are around that age. There are way too many hungry people right now because of job loss. And there are other stories out there that bring tears to my eyes as well. It’s just. too. much.

I don’t have answers. I don’t know why. But I do know we live in a broken world. I know there are things in the heavenly realms we know nothing about. (If you’re not familiar with the Bible, there’s a book called Ephesians that has six chapters. The sixth chapter talks about the spiritual world.)

So, what do I do in all this mess? These are things that have helped me a lot:

  • Take one day at a time! (the Bible talks about doing that)
  • Count my blessings! Don’t take anything for granted! (the Bible talks about this)
  • Look for ways every week that I can help others! (the Bible talks about this)
  • Trust God and give him all my worries, problems, fears, concerns! (God tells me in the Bible over and over again to trust Him and not to fear. He’s never let me down!)
  • Trust that God is in the midst of all that’s going on, working and helping in ways that I don’t know about.

I do better some days than others, but overall, I’m doing so much better than the first few weeks of the pandemic. Faith over fear is what I tell myself.

I found a song on YouTube recently that I love. It’s one of the things that helps calm my soul if I’m feeling anxiety start to creep up. The name of the song is simple. Here’s the link for  “Peace.”  I feel peaceful every time after I listen to it.

~ Charla

 

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