About five years ago, it seemed like people all around me were radically changing their eating habits. What was my normal from growing up was suddenly looking disgusting compared to what I was hearing others talk about putting in their mouths, and I did not know what I was to do with that!
To say I was overwhelmed would be an understatement. To say that I was hurt a few times by others condemning and judgmental remarks about my kids and me is being kind.
I love to learn new things. I like to be taught by others. However, I found very few people in those days willing to have a polite conversation about what they had learned and why they were making changes. They seemed to just want to impose their food laws on me.
My "normal" was nothing like what these folks were describing they were eating. My dad grew up on a farm in the country and though his family had a garden and livestock, they fried everything in bad fats. My mom grew up in the city for most of her life, and her family didn't have much money so they ate whatever they could get!
When my parents married, they also struggled to make ends meet for a long time. It was standard that my dad worked 16 hour days or more even by the time I came along twelve years into their marriage.
My momma cooked like she had been taught and tried to learn to cook like my dad enjoyed. I am the youngest of three children. I was quite a surprise for my parents and my brothers are 8 and 12 years older than me. They were often not around and it would just be my parents and me at dinnertime. Unfortunately, I became a very picky child and my parents didn't push me to try new things. I was pregnant with my first son before I had a real salad!
So, as you can imagine, when five years ago, people in my sphere were talking about putting vegetables in everything and not allowing their kids any sugar, etc... well, I was overwhelmed. Sodas and snacks were my normal, and I didn't know how bad they were for me!
To make matters harder, it wasn't even like these people around me were all in agreement with what they were eating either. So many people were doing so many different things and one would say, "You should eat this!" and another would say, "No! Never eat that!"
I was so confused and so tired of feeling like a complete failure as a wife and mom because of food that I tried to avoid anybody that was talking about the subject!
One day while reading the Bible, I was struck by Romans 14 that touches on what we eat. I realized that like many things, this was another individual issue for each of us before the Lord and none of us should be trying to be the Holy Spirit for others.
As I searched God's Word more for direction and prayed, He led me to other passages for my family. I began to understand that different people will face different issues, and if we are seeking God for wisdom for what we need to do, then He promises to give that wisdom liberally to His children who ask Him for it...even regarding what we should eat or abstain from.
That brought me a lot of peace, and I no longer avoided conversations because I didn't want to feel attacked; I avoided them because I wanted God's opinion and not man's!
I will continue to share on the steps God walked me through, but I am praying today that if you are in the dazed and confused place of, "Where do I even start?" that you will be enveloped with peace and begin to hear God direct your steps. :)
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