The Healthy Kitchen Challenge 2017

The Great Kitchen Cleanout 2017 is going on right now at House of O'Sullivan!!!


No, I'm not joking guys. Two of my friends started a Healthy Kitchen Challenge yesterday. We all know how sugar and other things lead to more inflammation in your body, even at the cellular level. I know those things need to go, but y'all, I don't really want to part with some of them. How do you reconcile that?

The Day 1 challenge was super easy. Just go to your pantry and toss out one item that you don't need to have. Ok, I can do that. I threw everyone's potato chips......I kept my soda.

There is a verse in the Bible that says all things are permissiable but not all things are beneficial. Therefore, I could drink all the Dr. Pepper I could ever want, right? It is permissable, but am I benefitting myself? Well the answer is no. -.....And, if I kick my soda habit, God will love me more, right?

I think sometimes, and maybe more so for women, that we think if we could just lose __# of pounds, if we could just kick the habit of ______ that God would be pleased with us. If I do 1-2-3 then God will be happy and He will answer all of my prayers. Is that the way we view God? A tyrant who must be pleased and then He makes you happy?

I used to.

Then, I found freedom. God is full of Grace and Mercy,  girlfriend. He wants you to succeed. He is rooting for you. He sees just you and He says, "Thats my creation. I made her. She is amazing." He thinks you are great even if you do eat an entire pack of Girl Scout Thin Mints!!!

Let's be clear, I am not talking straight up sin that goes against what God teaches us in the Bible. I am speaking to those of us who have made a declaration of believing in Jesus, the FINISHED work on the cross, and striving to follow Him. If you have done that, then my friend, you can walk in freedom.

Freedom, even in the midst of all the laundry that is crying to be done, the fact that groceries STILL need to be bought this week, and in all the rest of the chaos we call life......freedom.

When I screw it up, His grace is sufficient for me. When I go to Him, I only find Mercy. I sit at His feet and just let Him bathe me in sweet mercy and grace until I feel like I can get up and face one more day, one more kid leaving home, one more demand, one more crisis, one more health issue, one more day.....I can make it one more day.

As for the soda habit and the healthy kitchen challenge......well, we will just have to see how that plays out!

Walking this journey with you,