HEALING GOD’S WAY

Addressing the mind-body-spirit connection.
Kiri Christina Hyatt, editor

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1. MINISTRY ARTICLE: WOMEN’S NEIGHBORHOOD PRAYER INTERNATIONAL
   By Kiri Christina Hyatt (c)

It was about eleven years ago that Joan Bond was asked to organize prayer groups all over San Antonio Texas to pray for the Billy Graham Crusade that was to take place the next year. She petitioned churches to schedule weekly prayer meetings, which many did. I personally made it a point to attend one such prayer meeting.

Once the Billy Graham Crusade was over, the Lord led Joan Bond to form a new prayer ministry. She called woman all over the city to gather together for monthly prayer meetings to pray for revival, our elected officials, families, pastors, schools, and much more. Woman responded and the Women’s Neighborhood Prayer International (WNP) was born.

Joan’s initial dream was for every zip code in San Antonio to have at least one woman’s pray group. I am a member of one of these groups. Every month a group of us meet in a woman’s home and prayer for an hour. Joan Bond provides a prayer guide for us to follow. It is a wonderful feeling knowing that every day somewhere in the city a group of women are spending time together praying for our nation.

Over the years this prayer ministry has grown beyond anything Joan could imagine. It is no longer a San Antonio ministry, but has grown worldwide. There are groups of women meeting all over the United States and beyond. Recently a WNP group was established in Tokyo Japan. Joan has also realized that many women are busy with work and their family and simply are unable to meet for prayer in a woman’s home. Thus, Women’s Marketplace Prayer International (WMP) was born. Instead of meeting in a home, prayer groups are being formed in the workplace. Women are gathering at work for prayer. They meet either before or after work or during their lunch break.

WNP and WMP are much more then just women praying. It has a board of directors and organizes a lot of local prayer events here in San Antonio and probably elsewhere. As you can image all this keeps Joan very busy. You might also assume she has a godly husband who understands the importance of prayer and supports her work. You might even assume that her husband is probably a prayer warrior too. If that is what you have been assuming then you are wrong.

The other day I received a mailing from Joan where she wrote:

"The words ethical, moral, honest, caring, unselfish, and encouraging are words that could only begin to describe my husband, Jerry’s character. Even so, Jerry came to realize on September 6^th of last year that his goodness was not going to get him into heaven and that he needed strength and courage beyond himself. It was then that he confessed that he was a sinner and needed a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, and he prayed to receive Him. Jerry’s next words to me were ‘thank you for not giving up praying for me.’"

Jerry died February 21, 2007.

As I read Joan’s letter, several thoughts came to my mind.

Being Good Is Not Enough:

Joan described her husband Jerry as "ethical, moral, honest, caring, unselfish, and encouraging". Yet for most of his life Jerry was not saved. He did not know Jesus. He was not a Christian. If Jerry had died in that state he would have gone to hell. The Bible makes it clear being good is not enough to get into heaven.

Romans 3:23 says, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God"

Jerry came to the realization that being good was not enough. He also realized he could no longer depend on himself. He needed Jesus. When Jerry confessed his need for Jesus his life was changed.

Romans 10:9-10 says, "if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."

Notice Romans does not say going to church or that getting baptized saves a person. Many people hope they will go to heaven because they believe Jesus is God. But James, the half-brother of Jesus said believing is not enough.

James 2:20 says, "You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe — and tremble!"

Believing Jesus is God well not get a person into heaven. The demons believe and know beyond any doubt that Jesus is God but they are not saved. Many people believe Jesus is God but reject Him as Lord of their life. They never ask Jesus to come into their life and be their Lord. In order to be saved we must confess Jesus is Lord and we must ask Him to be our Lord.

2 Corinthians 5:15 says, "He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again."

Jerry realized being in control of his life was not working. So He asked Jesus to take control and his life was transformed.

Are you positive you are saved? Is Jesus your friend or is He your Lord? If there is any doubt in your mind as to your relationship with Jesus, ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth to you. If you want to talk to me about this or any other issue feel free to send me an email.

Excuses:

When Joan was asked to organize prayer meetings for the Billy Graham Crusade eleven years ago she could have easily declined. She had an unsaved husband at home to attend to. I have no idea how he felt about this endeavor but most husbands in the same situation would not be supportive and may even forbid a wife from taking on such a time consuming task. Joan though listened to the Lord and agreed to be the prayer coordinator for the crusade. I can imagine that Jerry might have been glad when the crusade was over with so he could have his wife back. But when God led her to form WNP shortly after the crusade, she obeyed.

Often we know we should do something but we let people or circumstances stop us. The Bible is clear on a lot of issues but often we find excuses why we cannot or will not obey. I have even come across people who find excuses why they cannot or will not read the Bible, go to church, or even pray.

I understand that sometimes health issues can make it virtually impossible to attend church, but I have also met some extremely ill individuals who found a way to worship the Lord and stay in communion with other Christians despite health problems.

I have a friend who became legally blind as an adult but has still found a way to spend time in the Bible daily. At the same time I have known folks who have given me one excuse after another why they cannot read the Bible or even listen to the Bible on tape or the radio, yet they all were able to watch TV. When I was very ill nothing kept me from at least listening to the Bible on tape, it was that important to me.

Our daily lives reflect what is important to us. If God is important, then we find a way to spend time with Him, to read the Bible, to pray, even to worship Him. Prayer is important to Joan and so nothing kept her from obeying God as He called her to form a ministry of prayer. If worship or prayer or even reading our Bible is really not that important to us, then it is

easy to come up with an excuse why we cannot obey God in that area of our life. If God is not really all that important to you or me, then it will be revealed in our lives.

Is your relationship with Jesus more important than anything else in your life? If you answered yes, does your life confirm or deny your answer? If you answered no, today is a good time to spend some time with God repenting of your sin and asking Him for help identifying the root cause of the problem.

Are you positive you are a Christian? If not, I recommend you take that step today by praying the following prayer:

Dear Father God, I know I am a sinner. I believe Jesus died on the cross for my sins and I ask for your forgiveness in the name of Jesus. I believe Jesus died, was buried and was resurrected. And, here and now, I receive and acknowledge Jesus as my personal Savior, and I say to Him, come into my heart Lord Jesus, and be the Lord of my life. I thank you for the forgiveness of my sins, the gift of salvation and everlasting life, because of Your merciful grace. Amen.

If you prayed this prayer, please let me know. ao_communities@yahoo.com

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2. MESSAGE FROM A FRIEND

[If you have a testimony you would like to share, please send it in.]

You've really done it this time, Dorothy," I said to myself hauling yet another 20-pound bag of Idahos out to my car. My Mustang was chock-full of spuds; the bags were stacked shoulder-high in the front and back, and stuffed in the trunk.

I settled into the driver's seat, removing a renegade potato wedged beneath the parking brake. I was in my first year as outreach leader for the women's circle at our church, and I liked to think that what I lacked in experience I made up for in enthusiasm. Instead of just donating money like we had in past years, I wanted to organize at least one project each month. When a friend mentioned how her husband would always get an extra bag of potatoes at the grocery store to drop off at a shelter, it really got me going. I organized a potato drive and it turned out to be one of our most successful projects ever.

Problem was, I hadn't thought about what we would do with all the spuds. I imagined myself driving around town for days on end with a car full of rotting potatoes.

Then I remembered a shelter near my house. I could get rid of at least a few bags there, and maybe get some more leads.

When I knocked on the door, a frazzled-looking woman answered. "I don't know if you need food donations ... " I began.

"We sure do!" she cut in. "The cook from our soup kitchen just came to me, frantic. He was getting ready to fix today's meal when he discovered our grocery order didn't get delivered. The pantry is practically bare." She glanced at her watch anxiously. "In just a couple of hours, there will be more than fifty hungry people expecting a meal, and we have nothing to feed them. Well take anything. What do you have?"

"Well, actually, just potatoes," I said sheepishly. "But lots of them."

She stared at me. "Do you know what's on the meal schedule for today?" she asked. "Potato soup!"

By Dorothy Kennett, Bloomington, Illinois

Source: Guideposts, Copyright (c) November 2000, http://www.guideposts.org

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3. SITE OF THE WEEK

DISCLAIMER: The following news stories are provided as a source of scientific information on mind/body medical research, environmental issues, and other topics.   AOCCCI does not necessarily agree with all the viewpoints or suggestions expressed in these articles. Not all viewpoints and/or therapy modalities recommended in these secular news stories are compatible with Christianity. If you have any questions or doubts about a therapy mentioned in a news story below,feel free to contact AOCCCI for advice.   These news stories are provided as a public service only.  

4.1 Baby remedy is clear as day
    Sarah Boseley, health editor, The Guardian
    November 23, 2004

The old-fashioned nannies of the nation were right. The best way to get small babies to sleep well at night is to take them out in the pram for a good airing in the afternoon, a scientific study has concluded.

Those of the older and wiser generation who used to leave the pram outside the back door covered with a cat net may consider this pronouncement from a psychologist at Liverpool John Moores University to be a touch of the blindingly obvious.

But according to Yvonne Harrison, whose study appears in the Journal of Sleep Research today, it is not fresh air that makes all the difference but daylight.

She asked the parents of 56 babies to describe their babies' sleeping habits, and then attach a light-monitoring teddy bear to their clothes and their cots. At six weeks, and then at nine and 12 weeks, she took readings to establish how much light each baby had been exposed to over three consecutive days. One finding stood out: babies who got a lot of light in the afternoon were better sleepers.

It is not where the light comes from, but the quantity of it between midday and 4pm that seems to matter, she says. Her theory is that it is all connected with circadian rhythms. When the baby is born, the area of the brain concerned with the body clock is immature, she says.

In her research, Ms Harrison was looking for an answer to another habit of babies that torments their parents - inconsolable evening crying.

Originally she wondered whether this 6 o'clock wailing could be triggered by a loss of light. But although her study found that evening crying was normal and probably not to do with colic, it didn't have anything to do with light or loss of it either. Those who cried most, however, slept least.

Reassuringly, the study confirmed that the crying gets less and the night-time sleeping gets better as time goes on.

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4.2 Study: Bigger Babies Get No Break Later On
    Dec 07, 2004

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Bigger babies are not guaranteed to grow into healthier adults when it comes to cholesterol levels and related heart disease problems, a study said on Tuesday.

The finding, based on studies covering more than 74,000 people worldwide, is the latest report to question a theory that enhanced nutrition during pregnancy leads to bigger birth weights that protect against a variety of later-life ills, the authors said.

The researchers Australia's University of Sydney and at Britain's Oxford University and St George's Hospital said they found cholesterol levels only fractionally higher in adults who were light at birth compared to adults who were heavy babies.

In the United States in 2001 the average birth weight was 7.6 pounds (3.4 kg), a figure that has not changed markedly since at least 1970. Tuesday's report, an analysis of more than 70 existing studies, did not detail what constituted heavy birth weights in those studied.

"While good maternal nutrition during pregnancy is clearly important, there is little evidence to suggest that size at birth is a risk factor for later disease in adult life," said Rachel Huxley, of the George Institute at the University of Sydney, the chief author of the report.

"What matters most is how we choose to live now. Eating well, exercising and not smoking are key to a long and healthy life," she added in the report published in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association.

Huxley published previous research in the Lancet in 2002 which, she said, disproved a link between birth weight and high blood pressure problems later in life.

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4.3 Baby weight gain 'over-estimated'
    By Ania Lichtarowicz
    BBC World Service health reporter
    February 4, 2005

Growth tables used to chart a baby's development may be inaccurate, on-going research suggests.

The World Health Organization study found they may over-estimate how quickly babies should put on weight.

This may have caused unnecessary concern about for breastfed babies, who gain weight more slowly.

The research was dicussed at a meeting organised by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the International Obesity Task Force.

The child development growth charts in widspread use are largely based on studies of formula fed children from more than 20 years ago.

Formula fed babies tend to put weight on faster than their breastfed counterparts.

So, although it is widely accepted that breast milk provides babies with the best possible combination of nutrients, the charts appeared to suggest that many breastfed children were failing to thrive - even after just two or three months.

The latest WHO study, of 8,440 children from six countries, found that target weights for two and three-year-olds were 15% to 20% too high.

And the charts suggest healthy one-year-old weighs between 22.5lb (10.2kg) and 28.5lb (12.93kg), when in fact the true healthy weight is 21lb (9.53kg) to 26lb (11.79kg), they say.

The researchers say the current overfeeding of babies could explain in part why this generation of adults is the fattest ever.

The WHO will release new growth charts based on breast-fed babies at the end of the year.

Researcher Dr Mecedes de Onis said: "The new standards provide a much better description of the physiological growth and they establish that breast fed infants are the biological norm.

"Paediatricians will be able to congratulate parents on having exclusively breast fed their infants instead of spending time as they do now in trying to reassure them that the apparent growth faltering of the baby is not a reason for concern and is due to the imperfections of the growth charts that are being used for their growth."

Dr Prakash Shetty, head of nutrition planning at the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation, said the new recommendations mean that daily energy intake for babies should be about 7% less than current levels.

"If you look at the requirements of these children who are exclusively breast-fed, their requirements of energy are much lower that those of formula fed infants."

Too much food, too little exercise

But babies are not the only ones who may have been being overfed.

Dr Shetty said the way calorie intake is measured should be changed.

Instead of just having two different amounts for men and women, people need to be assessed on how much energy they use, he said.

Someone who sits at a desk all day and does not exercise should consume fewer than 1,700 calories - significantly less than current recommendations of 2,000 calories for women and 2,500 for men.

Meanwhile, an individual who has an active job and does a lot of exercise like running marathons should be eating about 4,000 calories a day.

Dr Shetty said the amount of food we eat should be based on individuals energy expenditure.

He also recommended that we do more exercise.

"People must be physically very active and they must have activity levels which account for between 30 to 60 minutes of brisk walking everyday in order to maintain physical fitness and good health."

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4.4 Study: Parents Can Help Babies Get Rhythm
    By Lauran Neergaard, AP Medical Writer
    June 3, 2005

WASHINGTON - Gently bounce a baby while you sing, and you'll usually get squeals of glee. But it's not just fun: Feeling the beat helps wire babies' brains to hear rhythm. So says new research that tested moms and babies doing what comes naturally — dancing around together.

Everybody knows babies love music. Around the globe, parents sing to their infants in a special way, with a distinctive high pitch that's soothingly slow for a lullaby and elaborately bright at playtime. Babies catch on quickly, able to perceive aspects of melody and recognize different beats at just a few months of age.

As psychologist Laurel Trainor studied how babies perceive music, she noticed that parents hardly ever sing to them without bouncing or rocking or playing with their feet. She wondered if that movement was important developmentally.

Her research shows it is: Using multiple senses helps the brain learn about rhythm — how we move indeed influences what we hear — Trainor reports in Friday's edition of the journal Science.

"It's wiring the sensory system," said Trainor, of Canada's McMaster University. "That early experience that parents do naturally is probably really important for learning down the road."

Consider it an early step toward learning to make music, or at least to really appreciate it, said infant development specialist David Lewkowicz, a psychology professor at Florida Atlantic University.

"It's a very clever kind of study," said Lewkowicz, whose own research also shows that stimulating multiple senses is important for brain development. "When babies are learning about their world, we should never lose sight of the fact that they are learning in a ... multisensory context."

Trainor and colleague Jessica Phillips-Silver tested 16 healthy 7-month-olds by having them listen to music made by a snare drum and sticks that had an ambiguous rhythm — no accented beats. Mothers bounced half the infants on every second beat, in a march-like rhythm, and half on every third beat, in a waltz-like rhythm.

Then the researchers played the music again, this time with the beats accented in either the march or waltz pattern.

The babies preferred to listen to the pattern that matched how they'd been bounced. (Trainor measured preference by how long the babies looked at speakers playing the different selections.)

Watching someone else bounce to the music didn't do the trick. In a series of tests, the babies picked out a rhythm only if they'd been moved to that beat while listening to the original, nonaccented tune.

Nor was vision necessary. Blindfolded babies picked out the rhythm, too, as long as they'd been bounced.

So what if you don't boogie with your baby?

No one needs continual bouncing, and passive listening certainly isn't bad. "But they're not getting the full experience that they would naturally get in most human cultures" without some bouncing along, says Trainor, whose research was funded by the Canadian government. "It suggests that you're better off to do music in an interactive way.

"It probably doesn't matter if you listen to Mozart or a rock band or jazz," she adds. "All those kinds of music and concurrent rhythms go to wire up the brain."

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On the Net:

Songs for kids: http://www.niehs.nih.gov/kids/music.htm

Audio samples of beat patterns used in the tests are available at:

http://wid.ap.org/audio/babyrhythm.html

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4.5 Doctors challenge baby feeding myths:
    Doctors say fighting obesity might mean changing early habits

(AP) -- Ditch the rice cereal and mashed peas, and make way for enchiladas, curry and even -- gasp! -- hot peppers.

It's time to discard everything you think you know about feeding babies. It turns out most advice parents get about weaning infants onto solid foods -- even from pediatricians -- is more myth than science.

That's right, rice cereal may not be the best first food. Peanut butter doesn't have to wait until after the first birthday. Offering fruits before vegetables won't breed a sweet tooth. And strong spices? Bring 'em on.

"There's a bunch of mythology out there about this," says Dr. David Bergman, a Stanford University pediatrics professor. "There's not much evidence to support any particular way of doing things."

Word of that has been slow to reach parents and the stacks of baby books they rely on to navigate this often intimidating period of their children's lives. But that may be changing.

As research increasingly suggests a child's first experiences with food shape later eating habits, doctors say battling obesity and improving the American diet may mean debunking the myths and broadening babies' palates.

It's easier -- and harder -- than it sounds. Easier because experts say 6-month-olds can eat many of the same things their parents do. Harder because it's tough to find detailed guidance for nervous parents.

"Parents have lost touch with the notion that these charts are guides, not rules," says Rachel Brandeis, a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association. "Babies start with a very clean palate and it's your job to mold it."

It's easy to mistake that for a regimented process. Most parents are told to start rice cereal at 6 months, then slowly progress to simple vegetables, mild fruits and finally pasta and meat.

Ethnic foods and spices are mostly ignored by the guidelines -- cinnamon and avocados are about as exotic as it gets -- and parents are warned of potential allergens such as nuts and seafood for at least a year.

Yet experts say children over 6 months can handle most anything, with a few caveats: Be cautious if you have a family history of allergies; introduce one food at a time and watch for any problems; and make sure the food isn't a choking hazard.

Parents elsewhere in the world certainly take a more freewheeling approach, often starting babies on heartier, more flavorful fare -- from meats in African countries to fish and radishes in Japan and artichokes and tomatoes in France.

The difference is cultural, not scientific, says Dr. Jatinder Bhatia, a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics' nutrition committee who says the American approach suffers from a Western bias that fails to reflect the nation's ethnic diversity.

Bhatia says he hopes his group soon will address not only that, but also ways to better educate parents about which rules must be followed and which ones are only suggestions.

Rayya Azarbeygui, a 35-year-old Lebanese immigrant living in New York, isn't waiting. After her son was born last year, she decided he should eat the same foods she does -- heavily seasoned Middle Eastern dishes like hummus and baba ghanoush.

"My pediatrician thinks I'm completely crazy," says Azarbeygui, whose son is now 13 months old. "But you know, he sees my child

thriving and so says, 'You know what, children in India eat like that. Why not yours?"'

How to introduce healthy children to solid food has rarely been studied. Even the federal government has given it little attention; dietary guidelines apply only to children 2 and older.

In a review of the research, Nancy Butte, a pediatrics professor at Baylor College of Medicine, found that many strongly held assumptions -- such as the need to offer foods in a particular order or to delay allergenic foods -- have little scientific basis.

Take rice cereal, for example. Under conventional American wisdom, it's the best first food. But Butte says iron-rich meat -- often one of the last foods American parents introduce -- would be a better choice.

Grain cereals might be worst thing

Dr. David Ludwig of Children's Hospital Boston, a specialist in pediatric nutrition, says some studies suggest rice and other highly processed grain cereals actually could be among the worst foods for infants.

"These foods are in a certain sense no different from adding sugar to formula. They digest very rapidly in the body into sugar, raising blood sugar and insulin levels" and could contribute to later health problems, including obesity, he says.

The lack of variety in the American approach also could be a problem. Exposing infants to more foods may help them adapt to different foods later, which Ludwig says may be key to getting older children to eat healthier.

Food allergy fears get some of the blame for the bland approach. For decades doctors have said the best way to prevent allergies is to limit infants to bland foods, avoiding seasonings, citrus, nuts and certain seafood.

But Butte's review found no evidence that children without family histories of food allergies benefit from this. Others suspect avoiding certain foods or eating bland diets actually could make allergies more likely. Some exposure might be a good thing.

And bring on the spices. Science is catching up with the folklore that babies in the womb and those who are breast-fed taste -- and develop a taste for -- whatever Mom eats. So experts say if Mom enjoys loads of oregano, baby might, too.

That's been Maru Mondragon's experience. The 40-year-old Mexican indulged on spicy foods while pregnant with her youngest son, 21-month-old Russell, but not while carrying his 3-year-old brother, Christian.

Christian has a mild palate while his younger brother snacks on jalapenos and demands hot salsa on everything.

"If it is really spicy, he cries, but still keeps eating it," says Mondragon, who moved to Denver four years ago.

That's the sort of approach Bhatia says more parents should know about. Parents should view this as a chance to encourage children to embrace healthy eating habits and introduce them to their culture and heritage.

"So you eat a lot of curry," he says, "try junior on a mild curry."

Copyright 2005 The Aossociated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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