One of those bumps was a physiological need. Kenny had suffered some long time pain with a knee injury that needed to be corrected with surgery, especially since he'd just re-injured it again during our engagement. It was an urgent need as soon as we got married and settled in (as settled as you can be after 4 short months of married life).
Another one of those speed bumps was a choice we made to take on a 4-week clean eating challenge. Sounds simple. You're probably thinking- just eat lots of veggies, right? Wrong. It was hard. Turns out it's really hard not to eat ANY processed things because that means you have to make everything FROM SCRATCH. This is not my cup of tea, as some of you know. But when you take on a 4-week clean eating challenge, you pick up that cup of tea, make yourself like the tea, and choke it down to survive. I spent hours in the kitchen. Typically this is something we enjoy doing as a couple, but due to speed bump #1, my teammate was laid up in the other room.
It was quite the culture shock, as you can imagine. In a matter of 4 months we went from dating, not living together, working so hard to be pure and self-controlled in our physical life to married, living together, learning all of the new stuff that comes with a new marriage, AND now I was live-in nurse to a patient that I had just committed my life to. To be clear, he was a very gracious patient who thanked me often. And he's just pretty cute so that helped.
Also, I was embarking on a domestic journey to become that hallowed Proverbs 31 woman. You've probably heard of her. She's hard working, wise, respected, overflowing with love and positivity, her house is always tidy and always smells like fresh baked cookies...
And I felt like I was failing.
In fact I felt like I was the opposite- grumpy, worn out, and resentful. I envied the couples who basked in the perfection of the honeymoon period. I wanted to wait on some difficult times- wait until we were more established, ready (whatever that means).
However, there came a point where I realized, while right in the middle of the clean eating, surgery recovery month, that my God of enough was drawing me in. He wanted to interact with me as I chopped that onion, blended another smoothie. He wanted to lift my head, look into my eyes and remind me that He was sufficient. I needed to slow down, forget about perfection, and sit with him to receive the grace I was lacking.
The month of crazy speed bumps turned out to be such a gift to our new marriage. Maybe the basking-in-the-honeymoon-period wasn't realistic, but oh how we needed the stability of companionship. These challenges, when placed in the Lord's hands, have become the thread that knitted our hearts together and we now look back at this time with fondness. It was the month that we solidified our dependence on each other.
I stumbled on this recipe for clean eating banana muffins and OH BOY. They were our saving grace during a time of grasping for comforting tastes. These flourless, sugarless treats are just as homey and rich as banana bread, but are packed with protein and substance. I usually double the recipe to make 12 large muffins (recipe only makes 8-9). I use agave instead of honey. Enjoy as a dessert, eat them for breakfast, or just for a snack! Happy clean eating!
Flourless Almond
Butter Muffins
Ingredients
•
½ cup almond butter (can use other
nut butter as well)
•
1 ripe medium/large banana
•
1 egg
•
¼ cup honey or agave
•
½ cup rolled oats
•
2 Tbsp. ground flaxseed
•
1 tsp. vanilla extract
•
½ tsp. baking soda
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375F and prepare a
muffin pan by spraying 9 cavities with cooking spray. Set aside.
Add all ingredients except for
chocolate chips to a blender and blend on high until oats are broken down and
batter is smooth and creamy. Pour batter into prepared muffin pan,
filling each cavity until it is about ¾ full.
(Adapted from Amanda at Running With Spoons)
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