Day 14 – Kiss the Banana Cake Goodbye

I love cake, especially my mom’s cakes. My mom makes the best cakes in the world (I am not biased or anything), but they are delicious. However, since my surgery, along with many other things in my life — came a change in my diet.

Before my surgery, I had read and researched eating plans of others who had the same procedure I was having done. Some said their diet changed tremendously, while others said after a month or so they were able to resume a normal well-balanced diet. I was optimistic and knew that I would fall into the latter category, but unfortunately that did not occur.

Much to my dismay, my digestive system has decided to rebel on me and not cooperate with anything other than cheese, eggs, a bit of bread,  baked potatoes, chicken, tuna, and mild on the spices. Pretty much everything has to be bland, bland, bland. This was death to my flavor loving palate and sweet tooth. My body will not tolerate any vegetables cooked or raw, most fruits, steak, nuts, coconut, popcorn, most desserts, and the list goes on.  That being said, this past weekend our church was having a barbecue and my mom made cakes for it, and one of those cakes happened to be my favorite — BANANA. I can eat a banana on occasion so I just knew I could splurge and have some cake. For health reasons, I had not had this cake in probably over a year so I was in cake heaven. I had a piece on on Saturday and a very small piece on Sunday along with a barbeque sandwich. All was going well, or so I thought, until Monday evening when the problems occurred. Let the pain and nausea party begin and it carried over into yesterday as well. So much for my optimism that “a little bit won’t hurt.” Yeah right. So along with the many other things I have kissed goodbye this year, the time has come for me to kiss my sweet banana cake goodbye. No more for me.

I know I sound a bit dramatic, and after all it is just food, but adjusting to this new diet and way of life over the past six months has been hard. However, the Lord so sweetly reminded me yesterday to get over myself and my wants, and to remember that He has provided me with what I need to live, and that these foods I so greatly desire, are not needed for me to survive.

I was reminded to be thankful for this season even though it does not include all the rich foods and many other things that I was once able to enjoy. The stripping away process of life is never easy but necessary for our growth in all areas. I will leave you with the passage below and I hope God uses it to encourage your soul today as it did for me.

As Matthew 6: 25-27, states, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?  Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”