~By Sharon Czerwien
It is New Year’s Day! In my opinion, 2021 went rather quickly.
My mom and I have been blogging together on “Bumps Are Okay” for just over a year. Since we were newbies back then, I thought I would re-post the first part of my New Year’s Day blog from last year since many of you may not have seen it.
From my 2021 post…
How many of you have a food sensitivity or allergy? I know, this is a silly question for a New Year's post!
My daughter has a gluten sensitivity. Too much of it will give her headaches. Thankfully, it is not a gluten allergy, but gluten still creates stress in her body. This this is what WebMD says about allergies and sensitivities, "A food allergy is caused by your immune system reacting to the food when it doesn't need to. With a food intolerance, your immune system isn't responsible. Most of the time it's a problem with digesting the food." [1]
With an allergic reaction, someone's body is wrongly fighting what is otherwise okay. Even with a food sensitivity, the body is not adequately digesting. The processing is not working correctly in some way.
I feel as if we must analyze how we spiritually process our life's bumps (hardships)! When a trial strikes, is our automatic response to 'wrongly fight’ what is otherwise good? (See my blog post on 'Bumps Galore' regarding Romans 8.)
Do we have a spiritual allergy or aversion to life’s difficulties? Or, do we 'just' mainly have a sensitivity towards a trial at hand? Maybe we are not ‘all-out fighting’ God about our situation, but maybe we are not processing it properly, resulting in needless spiritual digestive discomfort.
Please understand, I am not downplaying the pain that bumps or trials bring. The trials in life can be intense, and we have been created as emotional beings. I am just referring to our perspective in our responses to the trials.
For example, are we negatively putting up a fight against what God chooses to sovereignly bring our way (and for our spiritual good)? We must guard against having an improper aversion to what God brings along our personal road.
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In 2 Thessalonians 1:3-5, Paul declared how he was thankful for the Thessalonian believers’ growing faith. These Christians showed endurance in spite of their trials.
As 2022 is just beginning, these verses are a superb example for me. I pray that each of us will increase our faith THIS YEAR!
Side Note:
I recently purchased a neat gluten-free cookbook. Our Bible study leader’s daughter recently published this, and I was pleased to purchase it. A picture is included. It is called Everyday Muffin Party by Heather Englund.
~My daughter quickly scoped out a recipe that we plan to bake. I am not a baker (sorry, dad!), but the author’s recipes do not overwhelm me. That’s a bonus for me!
Take it easy this year, and let’s increase our faith!
~Sharon Czerwien
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[1] WebMD Medical Reference, Reviewed by Melinda Ratini, DO, MS, Feb 18, 2020 https://www.webmd.com/allergies/food-allergy-intolerances . Accessed Jan 1, 2021.