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PLEASE HELP! THIS FAMILY WHO IS PART OF OUR LOCAL CHURCH SCHOOL WHO WAS INVOLVED IN HORRIFIC ACCIDENT YESTERDAY AND HAS LOST THEIR 9 MONTH OLD.  PRAY FOR THE OTHERS IN SERIOUS CONDITION IN HOSPITAL.

Carter McIntosh (Formerly Ingram) and her two sons, Brayden and Sawyer were in a terrible car accident on Monday, August 3rd. The car crash claimed the life of her 9 month old baby boy, Sawyer. As Carter and her husband JP face a tragedy that no parent should ever face, we ask for donations to lighten the burden their family is facing. Carter is such a kind soul, as is her entire family and we know her strong faith in the Lord will see her through this tribulation as well as support from her family and friends. If you feel led to, please help us in donating to the McIntosh family during this time of grief.

CLICK HERE TO DONATE TO THIS FAMILY

LIVING TO GIVE

LIVING TO GIVE

Yesterday, while shopping at a local market to grab some dinner items, I ran into this man standing at a kiosk sampling some food.  The Chef wanted me to try some Italian Moscato wine with strawberries in which I had to turn down because I can’t tolerate acidic fruit.  

As I was speaking to the Chef in regards to methods I have been trying to use to heal my stomach, the gentleman next to me joined in the conversation.  I was speaking of the bone marrow broth I often make.  

He joyfully begin speaking of his childhood memory of his mother making the broth every week.  He implied how soothing it was, the aroma in the house, and to the tummy.  I was excited to run across an individual who could relate to the goodness of this savory broth. For so many others haven't a clue of what I am talking about or too afraid to try cooking it.  

He smiled with great delight thinking about growing up on a farm as he shared a little more of his story.  As we continued to talk, we moved on to the next kiosk sample of Tilapia fish and sautéed vegetables, we commented on the flavor enhancing sauce that was used.  He then asked for more of the sautéed goodness.  

At one point, he stopped with head bowed looking down at his shirt and said, “I’m so embarrassed I must look awful, this shirt is so filthy”.  I laughed and said, “My husband works in construction I see this every day”.  He smiled and said, “I have another shirt in my car, I should have changed”.  I said, “I wouldn’t worry about it, people come in here shopping all the time covered in debris from work, your good”.   We departed with wishing each other a great rest of the day. 

As I headed out of the store after checking out, I noticed that same gentleman sitting at an outside lawn table displayed for sale.  It struck my heart at that very moment that the man was homeless.  He was just trying to cool off from this grueling heat, and was sampling to get what little morsels of food he could.  My kids asked how I knew.  I said, I just do.  The memory of the comment about the dirty shirt came back to me.  My heart sank, as I remembered us talking previously in the store at the sample cart, and here I stood with a cart full of groceries, while his stomach was probably screaming for anything to fill it.  I knew I had no cash on me, and nothing edible to hand him immediately. 

Sure enough my children and I watched him start walking down the hot streets of Houston with sign in hand asking for food, or anything that would help.  We were stuck at traffic light watching people passing by without acknowledging him, as he waived and said “God bless you” anyway.

The kids and I decided that we needed to get to a fast-food place for him.  As I was driving in my barely air-conditioned vehicle and complaining of the traffic and heat, I almost decided to just keep driving straight home.  We had already been overheated at the gym, and a little aggravation at the long line and wait at check out.  I even said out loud to the kids, “You know by the time we get the food and make it back around the freeway stuck in traffic he will probably be gone”.  

Their reply, “But Mom…we have to at least try….right?”  Ugh, I knew they were right....I was just so tempted due to the heat.  Yet, I knew this man and others were experiencing worse.  I absolutely knew that in normal circumstances I wouldn’t pain stakingly whip around the crowded freeway to run back to sit in extreme temps.  However, God spoke to my heart, stopped me dead in my tracks at a drive-thru which we waited another twenty minutes through an overly crowded order process…clothing soaked sweating profusely.  When I finally got up to the window, almost became briefly impatient for lack of heat tolerance, as it seemed they had to go grow the cow first to make the burgers I ordered for the gentleman. 

There were two ladies who questioned my sign on the vehicle and asked for a card.  I shared with them briefly the ministry of Food For Soul Magazine and that the rush for food was to get it to a homeless man that we now had to drive back another three miles and somehow snag before traffic lights turned green.

It excited them to see someone bringing food to the homeless.  It became a testimony of an act of kindness if nothing else.  We quickly got back on the freeway feeder and headed back missing a turn and getting stuck once more in the onslaught of cars baking in the heat.  

We searched for the man but couldn’t see him.  We finally drove under freeway and across and there he was!  Cars were rushing passed us and almost into us as we pulled over quickly with hazards on and honked at him.  He ran to the vehicle recognizing our faces from the store immediately.  We handed him a water bottle and the food explaining that I didn’t have any cash on me, he grabbed my hand kissing it and thanking me over and over.  He reached in cab to hug me and told the kids… “You have a great mom”.  My heart was overwhelmed with gratitude!  You see, I had a very rough start that morning.  I was hurt by some words that penetrated my soul.  I almost didn’t even leave my house allowing this thing to get to me.  

If I had allowed myself to get stuck on the emotion of pain, I would have never been able to bless this man with some food.  I would have never received the blessing of his kind words.  I would have never been shopping in a store with the company of this pure gentleman and having great conversation in which not once did it seem he was homeless or once did he ask me for anything.  

When this gentle homeless man kissed my hand...I felt a kiss from God.  It was more than just doing a good thing, it became a personal thing.  I tear up now just thinking about it, because so often we miss opportunities to be God’s hands and feet because we get stuck on ourselves, our personal stuff that tends to distract us from our destiny.  We think that we are the ones being a blessing to the receiver, but no my friend...it is the giver who receives the richest blessing of all...

There is no greater feeling of love, then to give.  I can’t explain it.  If I had to stop giving, I would literally stop living.  

-Brenda Graff

Founder 

Food For Soul Magazine

CLICK HERE TO READ HOW A HOMELESS MAN SAVED A WOMAN'S LIFE

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GRACE STANDS ALONE

She stands with such grace, with a smile on her face

And shares a hug or two.

She walks a straight line and holds her head high

When she’s in front of you.

She speaks with excitement and delight

Never sharing her life of fright in the night.

Her hands are gentle as they wipe away tears.

From her siblings faces left living in fear.

She gave up school to care for the tots

Since her father was taken, mother works a lot.

Her clothes are made of sack cloth or whatever binds.

Her feet are marred and covered with many ripped lines.

Since she is older,

She carries heavy vessels on her shoulders.

She prepares meals to feed her brothers and sis

While stretching food upon their shared dish.

Her pillow is a chair in the corner it sits.

The bed is her knees upon which she fits.

The nights are so loud with the angry drunk men

That threaten to enter her family’s den.

She works to protect and keep the others safe,

While wiping the tears from her own scarred face.

Grace is her style, it is what keeps her alive.

She believes in her maker which makes her thrive.

Love is her mission, and nothing can take that away

She waits and hopes for someone to help some day.

To sponsor her family and help them to live

Even if a little is all one can give.

To give her a chance to live out her dream

To finish her schooling it may seem,

an unnecessary task,

Yet, what she would learn is not just in books

but also how to give back.

She prays for the one yes in all the rejection

Despite the no’s believes it’s no reflection

On her family or gender, country or theme

All she knows is that she has a dream.

Her name is Grace for she has surely shown

Such mercy and love in her very own home.

Grace continues to wait alone for the help of another

A loving man, wife, sister or a brother.

Will Grace continue to stand alone?

Or will you help her education and home?

                                  -Brenda A. Graff

Founder of Food For Soul Magazine

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Matthew 25:35-40New International Version (NIV)

³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶ I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

³⁷ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸ When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ³⁹ When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

⁴⁰ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

 

SLEEPWALKING

 

By Brenda Graff

                The alarm sounds, its 4:30 a.m. as you already hear the alarms going off in your head of the day’s task ahead of you.  It seems to be a struggle just to kick the covers off and prepare to get up.   Feeling as if you haven’t slept one hour the night before.  Still tired, half asleep you stumble to the bathroom, take a look in the mirror, and ugh!  You think to yourself, “Where have the years gone?”  This person staring back at me cannot be me!  Counting a new wrinkle, a gray strand of hair, or plucking one from your chin if a female... 

Seriously? Ugh.  Another worry line, another wrinkle.

, or one from your nose if a male.  How did life go by so fast? 

What gives?  I just shaved down those ear
hairs yesterday.

There is a point in life when you reach a certain age you begin the countdown of years left.  If you listen to statistics then you count every second.  It’s enough to set you in panic mode, trying to cram every activity possible into every breathing moment.  You don’t want to miss a thing. 

You still got the bucket list of things you want to experience before the ultimate departure from this world.  I got to thinking about this the other day, seriously thinking about it found myself wondering what on earth is there that I would want to experience before I die?  I’ve had the privilege of experiencing much so far. 

I’ve met BETH MOORE in person and had the honor of her blessings over my life in one of the most unexpected places (a grocery store). That truly was one for my real bucket list.  I've met Joyce and Dave Meyers, broke bread with George Bush right before he ran for President.  I even got to take a photo with Mattress Max that day (if anyone remembers who that is) this was nearly a century ago.   

I’ve met some wonderful celebrities and sang on stage with a few in little watering holes years ago.  I have traveled to New York a few times and heard the homeless sing in the subways, and dance on the trains freely gifting the audience with their incredible talent.  I continue to meet wonderful scholars, teachers, speakers, writers, and musicians.  

What I have discovered is that whether celebrity or (as we call normal) every day hard-working citizens is this:  We all share a common bond (a need for love, acceptance, and Jesus).  We can be hurt, suffer in ways money cannot fix.   Titles mean nothing when your under the gun with chemo. The show will go on with or without you.  Life is fleeting to all BIG, small, thin, tall, RICH, or poor.  Fame can't heal an addict, abuser, or broken (only God can). I once heard someone say they stay as far away from 'high society' as we call it...as possible.  The truth is, they need God just as much as the poverty stricken.  God didn't say. "Go into only the poor areas of this world and preach the gospel". No HE said, 

Mark 16:15

Then He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation.

God isn't partial, therefore we shouldn't be either.

  

Back to the point. I have had the privilege of holding six beautiful babies at birth , my very own...who caused love to pour out of me in ways I didn’t know existed. I have worked with Special Olympics and children with autism finding their joy is unexplainable, yet so incredible, and contagious!  I had the honor of speaking in prisons, domestic and community shelters, an schools, and watching a miracle of God give way as many gave their lives to him despite their circumstance. 

God has blessed me with the ability to write and publish books, and articles (something my mother always forecasted I would do since small..."wish you had been here to see this ma")  I have had the pleasure of holding a hand while reading Psalms to persons waiting to be taken to their eternal home.  

I have water-skied, went tubing, roller-bladed, ice-skated, rafted, traveled through many states, climbed water falls, and camped in some of the highest mountains. 

I’ve had the incredible honor of meeting many women and men in nursing homes who fought in wars, ran our cities, and states with stories of heroism and sorrow.  I’ve had the pleasure of feeling the little arms of a grandchild around my neck and hearing “Grandma”.  I've laid on the cool grass of the eve and starred into the sky of a million stars in awe of God's incredible beauty.  I've sat on the shores at the beach and felt the winds of sea water brush over me with pure "peace be still".  What more could I want?  Perhaps an uninterrupted date night with Hubby before retiring to a nursing home or grave would be really awesome!

After mulling over a few possibilities such as:  a trip to Paris (ugh...no...hate flying too long), a cruise (not wanting to catch dysentery), bungee jumping (not ready to die that way), swimming across an ocean (not prepared to have leg gnawed off by sharks),

Back off man!  I thought you were a Vegan.

I realized I would probably settle for back stage passes to meet Andrea Bocelli and a chance to accompany him on stage singing “The Prayer” song.  I would also love to take all my six kids and grands to Disneyland.  Even though four of mine our already adults.  I think I would still get to experience the glistening wonder in their eyes of excitement  over the animation and thrilling sights and sounds…and perhaps they would have a taste of what it was like to be a kid again,

and not live their lives so fast, and serious all the time just as I have.   

Maybe they wouldn’t ever have the unfortunate opportunity of waking up too young in the mirror looking old and asking themselves, “Where have all the years gone?”

Did I sleepwalk through mine?  Much!  I was so overwhelmed with responsibilities and circumstances around me, I exhaustively lived.  Rarely getting sleep, kept me in a constant state of insomnia and exhaustion.  It wasn’t until in this recent year that I had to force myself to slow down.  Take a nap when needed.  Turn off cell phones at times for total peace and quiet.  Yes, sometimes even overnight.  Sometimes there are times, you just have to do that. 

Staying in a constant flight or fright mode awaiting for stuff to arise, is exhausting.  It got to a point where I dreaded answering my phone for any reason.  I wasn’t sure if it was going to be another death, cancer diagnosis, accident, divorce, or depression call.  Yet, the ministry God has called me to for many years is to often take those calls, whether it be consoling a family at funeral processions, waiting it out with someone in a hospital waiting room, or holding the hand of someone who is broken-hearted.  Actually HE has called us all to do just that.  Isaiah 61:1  You don't need to be ordained, just BE available!

However, I do believe that at times you can get so busy putting out fires you forget to fill up the extinguisher.  Over time this can make you become desensitized, overly exhausted, and seemingly insensitive to the needs of others.  Before you realize it, you have sleepwalked through the years.  Unable to comprehend how the toddler who once sheltered behind your legs hanging on for dear life, is now moving off to college. 

You realize that you won’t get to hear the echoing sounds of your daughter’s screeches as she screams “higher daddy, higher” on the swing set of joy,

it’s too late for that…instead you will walk her down the aisle into the arms of the other man in her life, her husband. 

Suddenly, your spouse who you promised you would take to the opera, or dinner someday only has a date with chemo.  

The friend you said you would visit years ago, will only get to experience your presence at their graveside.

Have you been sleep walking?  Stop living life vicariously through others, social media, or television.  This isn’t the new normal!  We are supposed to live and live life abundantly.  This has nothing to do with the big home, the fancy cars, or ginormous diamonds to wear.  You can’t take any of that with you when you die.  Prestigious titles, positions, and salaries are not going to bring you to a place of everlasting joy or close personal relationship with others. 

Money can’t buy you love.    Money sure helps though…it is a struggle to be struggling all the time, don’t get me wrong. 

However, if I had to choose how I would want to be stranded with someone, it would have to be the person who was made up of heart, not gold. 

Money is not evil!  However, it can drive a person who worships it to an early grave and cause them to suffer many relational issues.  It can cause someone to sleep walk through a marriage, rearing of children, time with spouse, time serving for God.   Because having it all is never ever enough.  Ecclesiastes 5:10

Anyone can throw money at a cause, but to give time away, is more of a precious commodity.  It is in that time you develop relationships.  You experience the realness of another’s soul.  You learn something new. 

There has to be balance in work, play, family, and ministry time.  There has to be time for restoration, and separation.  A time to laugh, a time to die.  You can have a meaningful or meaningless life.  (The book of Ecclesiastes)

Do you want to sleepwalk your way through life or experience it.? Life isn’t like “Motel 6” it won’t always leave the light on waiting for you to come home. James 4:14

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 Brenda A. Graff

Soul Inspired!

 

 

 

CLICK HERE TO READ NEW ISSUE OF FOOD FOR SOUL MAGAZINE JUNE-JULY 2015

Gravity

 

 By Brenda Graff

What do you do when you find yourself being pulled under by a tidal wave?  Insurmountable odds facing your every moment?  How does one prepare for disaster?  Do you bank up or buck up?  I don’t care if you board, hoard, and store up in preparation for devastating circumstances…it can still catch you off guard.  Like with the devastating floods we have recently in our area this past month in Texas.  Many families unexpectedly met head on with disaster and watching their belongings and some lives swept away suddenly. 

I remember how many times, I’ve boasted at the fact that I was prepared to go through whatever God would have me experience…after all, I totally had faith in Him, I thought.  It wasn’t until in later years, I figured out what faith walking was really all about.  I am reminded of a movie I watched recently called Interstellar, a 2014 epic science fiction film starring Matthew McConaughey, playing the character of (Cooper). The film features a crew of astronauts who travel through a wormhole in search of a new home for humanity.

The scene:
Cooper and TARS (a robot) detach their shuttles into a black hole, sacrificing themselves to collect data on the singularity, and propel (co-partners) Amelia and CASE (robot) faster by reducing the ship's mass. As the shuttle falls into the black hole, gravitational forces rip it apart, ejecting Cooper into the interior, which resembles a tesseract (a four-dimensional analog of the cube).

He finds himself at first sight in fear of death unable to control the circumstance as he is witnessing and viewing into what seems to be his daughter’s room the day he was departing as she sobs on her bed more than 50 years earlier. 

He had remembered what a fellow astronaut had said to him regarding death.  “You know you’re dying when you see your kid’s faces”.  He starts frantically screaming, “No-no-no!”

Was this an illusion?  Is this the final moments before last breath?

It was a very intense, heart wrenching scene.  I watched in anticipation, this life hanging in the balance and stuck in this dark, dreadful, black hole.  

Would Cooper survive?  How will he get out?  Is there light at the end of the tunnel? 

Yes, Cooper survived, it was never his intention to stay in the black hole permanently, and eventually he reunited with his daughter, who was now on her death bed of old age.  

You see, Cooper, panicked and became so distracted and busy trying to solve a problem he basically had no control over, that he lost time and years with his daughter and son.  He arrived to her virtually non-aged due to the wormhole and time difference in dimensions.

Determined to get back to his family he didn’t give up.  He figured out a way through the black hole.  He refused to get stuck there.

How often do we find ourselves drawn in by the black holes of this life?  The gravity of grief, regret, and gargantuan fear pulls at us....persuading us to stop living, only focus on the frightening circumstances or loss.

We can get caught up in situations that are truly beyond our control, and begin to panic.  We fail to see that God sees the full picture.  We only get a glimpse.  Some tend to fear the unknown, and their future without not knowing what is going to take place.

  

It is frightening to get a phone call that is lurking with bad news.  I know, I’ve been there.  Once you get the information, what do you do with it?  Scream, cry, and shout at someone?  Kick the dog?  Drown yourself in misery and self-pity?  You might do all of these things…and it would be a normal human response at first, but I’m not advocating the kicking of any pet!  But, we must not get stuck there!  How many years are wasted in anguish, grief, unsettled anger, doubt, or FEAR?

It is all based on FEAR!  The gravitational pull of fear can rip us apart at the seams.  It can tear families apart, cause businesses, and ministries to crumble.

Fear brings out many emotions more than just anxiety.  It brings with it a multi-personality mess!  Insecurity rears its ugly head causing relational conflicts.  Sorrowful grief that last too long leads to lasting depression, and isolation in turn causing more anxiety.  

It is a vicious cycle. Anger, regret, disbelief, and insomnia become your new best friends.  It blocks the view of the light at the end of the tunnel.  

It is in those unfamiliar, unidentifiable defining moments where true faith begins to emerge.  How in the world could anyone experience light, if they had not been in darkness?  Healing if they had not been sick?  Forgiveness if they had not been forgiven?  We cannot wallow in that hole too long, otherwise, gravitational forces will rip us apart, ejecting our souls into a chronic state of confusion, doubt, and chaos.  

We don’t have to live that way.  If we could just understand that Jesus Christ, the one who loved us, more than His own life… is with us at all times.  He is there in the midnight hour when fear grips us with thoughts of “What If’s?”  

He sees every tear hit the ground,

every sigh of disappointment, every grieving moment we experience, and He is telling us DO NOT FEAR, DO NOT WORRY, DO NOT BE ANXIOUS FOR NOTHING 365 times in the Bible! Weeping may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning. (Psalms 30:5)

Joshua 1:9
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Isaiah 41:10
Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Matthew 6:25-34
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ... Psalm 139:7-10
Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. Psalm 23:4
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

Psalm 91

1 Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High
    will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress,
    my God, in whom I trust.”

3 Surely he will save you
    from the fowler’s snare
    and from the deadly pestilence.
4 He will cover you with his feathers,
    and under his wings you will find refuge;
    his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
5 You will not fear the terror of night,
    nor the arrow that flies by day,
6 nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
    nor the plague that destroys at midday.
7 A thousand may fall at your side,
    ten thousand at your right hand,
    but it will not come near you.
8 You will only observe with your eyes
    and see the punishment of the wicked.

9 If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,”
    and you make the Most High your dwelling,
10 no harm will overtake you,
    no disaster will come near your tent.
11 For he will command his angels concerning you
    to guard you in all your ways;
12 they will lift you up in their hands,
    so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread on the lion and the cobra;
    you will trample the great lion and the serpent.

14 “Because he[b] loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him;
    I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
15 He will call on me, and I will answer him;
    I will be with him in trouble,
    I will deliver him and honor him.
16 With long life I will satisfy him
    and show him my salvation.”

Brenda A. Graff / Founder of
FOOD FOR SOUL MAGAZINE