We began our journey back to the burgh last year when my daughter became ill. It took a few doctor’s visits to determine the root cause of her illness, but through prayer, a particular doctor offered a possibility. And an MRI proved her to be correct. But there was more. Something else was not right, so additional doctor’s visits and a second illness reared it’s ugly head. It was clear, Satan was on the rampage attacking my daughter. The second illness was deemed as incurable, she’ll have to live with it for the rest of her life, with a possibility of taking multiple medications. I did not accept it. I will not accept a dire diagnosis. Not because I didn’t believe that she had the illness, as there was a plethora of evidence to indicate that she did. No, I know that the God that I serve is bigger than any incurable disease and I became bound and determined to build my faith and trust in God that He would perform a mighty work in my girl’s life! NO! I say NO to illness, sickness, aches, pains, colds, allergies and any other disease that Satan wants to throw our way to prevent us from doing God’s work. In the name of Jesus, NO MORE ILLNESS! Of course I wanted the healing NOW, but God had a plan. Doesn’t He always? This was a plan to move us back to Pennsylvania, back to the burgh. A plan to show both of us that He is bigger than a disease. A plan full of abundance, grace and above all else, love! His love is so great. He loves us more and more and more!
Before we made our final move from Indiana to Pittsburgh in early April, we had one final trip to the doctor. Although my girl was getting healthier and healthier, she was still taking three medications. The doc suggested that she begin to wean off of one med completely and slowly reduce the dosages of the others. The road to complete healing had begun!
Now fast forward to June on a lovely, sunny Sunday. As always, we began the day by going to church, but this day would be different. There was a particularly strong emphasis on praying for the sick who were in the service. When asked who needed prayer, my girl raised her hand. In a few moments, she, and the others who needed prayer, were surrounded by prayer warriors. When asked the need, she requested completely healing of this incurable disease. A word was spoken over her that she should expect a good report from the doctor on her next visit. And that was that! I knew without a shadow of a doubt that she was healed and that the disease was gone. But there is no physical evidence that could ‘prove’ this, so we prayed for something that would show the healing. Now being ‘new’ to the area, we had to wait a long time to get an appointment with a new doctor. We had an appointment in June, but days before, we were contacted that his doc did not accept our health insurance (we had been previously told that he did). They offered an appointment for mid July with another doc in the group who did accept our insurance, so we agreed to wait until July. As this unfolded, I realized that the original doc was not the doc that God intended us to see. He planned for us to see the one scheduled in July. Never know the exact reason for the switch, but I trust God, since He has never failed us. So July came and we went to the appointment with anticipation. On the way there, I began to pray that the doctor would suggest that my girl did not have this disease and did not need the meds. That she would decide this “on her own” (or because God put these words in her mouth, to be exact). The appointment began with the usual list of questions and upon the conclusion, the doc said, in so many words, “After reviewing her file, sent from Indiana, and after reviewing the information given in the intake appointments, and with the answers today, it is my belief that she does NOT have this disease, and that she was previously misdiagnosed. And we should begin to wean her off all meds, starting today!” Praise you Jesus!!! Jump for joy! God is Good all the time. My girl is healed. Completely healed. We give the glory, honor and praise to the Almighty God!! All it takes is faith the grain of a mustard seed:
Luke 17:6
And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.
Matthew 17:20
Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."
And you can move mountains! In my book, this disease was a mountain. My daughter was chained to the mountain with the possibility of taking meds her entire life. But glory to God, the chains are broken, and we moved a mountain, through Jesus Christ! And you can too, A grain of a mustard seed, just a grain. All things are possible! I can do ALL things through Christ, who gives me strength - Philippians 4:13!!
And now that my girl is off of the meds completely, she is doing great! She decided to whip up a batch of Chocolaty Peanut Butter Muffins. These muffins are full of protein, taste wonderful and are healthy! Yes, healthy! They are flourless because ripened bananas, along with a couple other ingredients, including eggs, give them the push they need to replace the flour. And whereas you can use sugar, if you prefer, we use pure maple syrup or honey with just a touch of brown sugar. And where do we buy our honey? From the Monroeville Farmers Market, of course. And the muffins are not only tasty with that rich chocolaty, peanut butter goodness, but they fill you up - a winning combination.
God is Good, All the Time!
Priscilla
Chocolaty Peanut Butter Muffins
3 very ripe bananas, mashed (about 1 cup mashed)
1/2 16 ounce jar organic peanut butter - I like crunchy PB
3 whole eggs
1/2 cup honey or pure maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 cup cacao
1/8 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup plus mini chocolate chips - optional
1/2 cup chopped peanuts or sunflower seeds or pepitas - optional
Preheat your oven to 350F and prepare a muffin tin with paper lines, or use butter or cooking spray.
In a large bowl, begin to smash the bananas to break them down. Blend in the peanut butter, followed by the eggs, one at a time. Then add the honey or pure maple syrup and the vanilla. Now, begin to fold the dry ingredients, the cacao, brown sugar, sea salt and cinnamon and finally the baking soda. Add the mini chocolate chips, if you like or any of the other optional ingredients.
Using a small scoop or measuring cup, pour the batter into each muffin cup, distributing the batter evenly. If there is extra batter, grab a small oven safe bowl, spray it quickly and add the batter. Depending on the size of the bowl and extra batter, this may take a bit longer to bake.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. The muffins should be puffed up, firm and 'dry'. If they look too wet and jiggly, bake an additional 2 minutes, but keep a watch because you don't want to over bake.
Very important: Allow the Chocolaty Peanut Butter Muffins to cool for 15 minutes before removing from the pan. The muffins will continue to firm up as they cool down. Removing them from too early could deflate them.
Serve immediately with preserves the farmers market or fresh fruit, or, store the Chocolaty Peanut Butter Muffins in a sealed container in the fridge for a week, plus. We bake a double batch about every two weeks and they taste just as good on day 14 as they did on day one.
NOTE: Almond butter or sunflower butter may be substituted for the peanut butter in this recipe.
