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Apple Turnover |
 On
he way to Othello from our Portland home that still had not sold, I was
running low on funds my husband had given me for the trip. My four
children were crying out that their tummies were on empty. I had given
them a half of a Taco Bell burrito each, for that is all the money I
had. They told me with tears in their eyes, that was not enough. I looked
up into the sky and said to God that I needed help feeding His children. Tears
were in my eyes. My mother heart was saddened that I could not
immediately grant their needs. It would be another hour and a half till I
could reach our rented home and look in the cupboards for something to fix
for them. During that time, I would hear their cries for food getting even
louder. I asked God if He was listening. |
 The
complaining and restlessness grew worse in the van. The van was full of
items we were moving into our Othello rented home. Things were being
dumped over as the restlessness and hunger increased. As I took my exit
off the freeway, I saw bright red all over the ground. Looking
closer, I recognized they were freshly picked apples that had fallen from
a Semi truck as he turned the corner too fast. Two huge wooden bins
were on their sides and the bright red apples had spread for a great
distance. As I pulled over, the children piled out of the van and grabbed
an apple in each hand and began to munch. As they stuffed their tummies
with apples, one of them let out a squeal of delight. He had found where
the trucker had even left his pastry, still in its wrapper. It was opened
in a minute and you should have heard the thrilled children having a
party. |
| Of
course I did not have the camera available or I would have recorded this
amazing sight. I knew in my heart that the poor farmer had lost some money
and maybe the trucker yet it was counted as a blessing just right for our
needs. Perhaps he really did not care for he just left the apples on
the ground. Since the apples would just spoil there, we gathered what we
could into boxes and took them home. |
 We
figured out many fun ways to fix those apples. They were cooked into
waffles, and made into sauce. |
  We
made an apple crisp every week and sometimes three times a week. |
 Apple
Pie was another way we fixed the apples. |
  Apple
Puffs is another delightful way. It was filled with thickened apple
chunks. Instead of cinnamon which irritates the lining of the stomach and
intestine, we used cardamom and coriander. It has a delightful flavor. |
 What
fun it was coming up with new ways to present the apples to the delighted
children. These fruit bars were another way. |
| The glazed apple cookie is so soft and delicious. Variety is the spice of life! |
 "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse,
that there may be meat in Mine house, and prove Me now herewith, . . . if I will not
open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that
there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field. . . . And all nations shall call you blessed; for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts." Mal. 3:10-12. {COL 144.5}So it is with every other one of God's requirements. All His gifts are promised on condition of obedience. God has a heaven full of blessings for those who will co-operate with Him. All who obey Him may with confidence claim the fulfillment of His promises. {COL 145.1} Christ Object Lessons by Ellen White The verse promises the fruit would not be cast into the field. Since the fruit was cast in the field, perhaps the farmer or trucker were not tithing! |
| But what is it that elevates man in the sight of God? Is it his accumulation of money?-- No; for God declares, The gold and the silver are mine. If man abuses his entrusted treasures, God can scatter faster than man can gather. Man may have brilliant intellect; he may be rich in the possession of natural endowments. But these are all given him by God, his Maker. God can remove the gift of reason, and in a moment man will become as Nebuchadnezzar, degraded to the level of he beasts of the field. This God does because man acts as though his wisdom and power had been gotten independently of Him. {1SM 297.3} |