Brawta is a Jamaican Creole word meaning ‘something thrown in for free, as a bonus’. After posting my 2021 Tests and Testimonies, Part 2, I received a call from someone who wanted to place an order for my Carrot Medley Loaves. That left me thinking, “How could you have omitted that juicy part of the 2021 testimony?” Then I realized I’d also omitted other juicy parts, so this post will be a ‘likkle brawta’ (a little bonus) to top up my testimony.

This past summer I rejoiced in the recovery of physical strength and flexibility – once more being able to lift simple household weights, bend and stretch for things in the kitchen, tire less easily doing chores, walk farther without pain, and so on. There was just one thing that really bugged me. I wanted to fast in concert with my intercession for various people, but was finding it difficult to do so, and I felt that the culprit was sugar. I’d been craving sugar and carbs, with little self-control.

When my own efforts at resistance failed, I consulted a spiritual sister about this, seeking prayer for victory over ‘sugarholism’. This sister was notably gifted with the discerning of spirits (1 Corinthians 12:10) and I thought perhaps she could help me with this problem through deliverance ministry. However, she discerned that there would be no quick fix for me, as mine was a physiological rather than simply a spiritual problem. I would have to (in her words) “fast out the sugar.” She had medical qualifications as well as being a reputable minister, so I took her recommendations seriously as she outlined the following strategy for a partial fast. I should get myself a juicer, shop frequently for certain organic vegetables and fruits based on a recipe she provided, extract and combine their juices, and use that as my only ‘food’ for an extended partial fast, to free myself of the cravings for processed sugar and thereby free myself to fast for intercession.

I diligently set out on this path, but it was no easy undertaking. The organic fruits and veggies were expensive and not always available at my favourite supermarket, so I had to go further. The juicing was messy and time-consuming, and the clean-up afterwards was tedious. Yet the health benefits were almost immediate – boosted energy, relief from cravings, and generally improved wellbeing. However, I realized right away that my juicer was leaving some amount of juice in the shredded by-product. With all the investment of time, effort and money, it didn’t seem right to simply throw all of that great juicy fibre into the garbage. After all, God had put fibre into those foods for a purpose, so I decided to get creative with this by-product. Separating the carrot, beet, apple and citrus fibre from the green veggie fibre, I used them to tweak a Jamaican Carrot Cake recipe, producing something new … a lower-sugar, higher fibre, many fruited loaf! Those of my family and inlaws who lived close by were the tasters and judges of this new product, and they helped to choose a name for it – the Carrot Medley Loaf!  

‘Proof of the pudding’ came in waves. First, it was judged very tasty – by the children, parents and seniors who first sampled it. They shared it with their wider circles and another wave of reports came in, some quite surprising. Persons who had to monitor their sugars said that my low sugar, high fibre product did not affect them at all. One weight-watcher excitedly reported that she felt as if it actually helped her. A couple of guys who had regular sports practice relished it as their after-practice treat. So I began to get orders for Carrot Medley Loaves, which I priced by comparison with ordinary Carrot Cakes available in the supermarkets. Some customers who had relatives in another city took them there as gifts and more orders came in. I was encouraged to try making a gluten-free version, and that also went well with further tweaking of the recipe. HalleluYah, my baking experiment was paying off!

All of this happened while I was still having various medical tests following the health crisis of earlier months. Due to illness in the spring, I hadn’t resumed my part-time contract work. I had told my agency I’d only be available once it was determined that a second surgery wasn’t necessary. That’s the reason why I had time during the summer to undertake this baking. The expectation was that a new contract would have to be found for me when I was ready to work again; but – lo and behold – God had worked in His mysterious ways while I was recuperating, and the contract in which I’d been employed had been unexpectedly extended to the end of the year! So in October the agency was able to get me right back into that contract.

Before that, however, God blessed me with yet another juicy benefit from all that free time. I had the opportunity to prepare and preach two very well-received messages at our Fellowship, where expectations of speakers are fairly high. You don’t just go to the podium and pontificate. To successfully deliver what I knew God wanted delivered (having presented topics to our pastor and received the go-ahead for two of them) I knew I’d have to package each message with engaging sights and sounds. Not being a PowerPoint or techy expert, that took appreciable preparation time. I hadn’t preached in years, and the opportunity to do so was almost as much a blessing as the congregation’s response.

Now I’m back to a regular diet and part-time employment, but I still do enough juicing to promote health and keep our freezer stocked with Carrot Medley ingredients to bake once or twice per week, and I’m still free of ‘sugarholism’.  How’s that for three ‘brawta’ testimonies to the awesome goodness of God in 2021?