Testimony ....

July 2018

Testimony

Dear Brothers and Sisters in the Lord! Thank you so much your newsletter and your sacrificial work. I am going to share with my brothers and sisters in the local church. –Ervin Láng

I love listening to your monthly CD, which I always receive, they are very spiritual uplifting. I am suffering from Parkinson's illness and my male friend has the same illness. We live at [the Adventist Retirement Village at Victoria Point, Queensland], and would appreciate your prayer's in finding a cure for our illness. Christian Love. –Vera

Pastor Hal,
I looked at this opportunity for the religious right to flex their muscles and helping the president to try and make America great again! Over the last 6 years or so we can think of putting a 1,000-piece puzzle [together]. As you start the process, it is hard to find the right piece but as the picture comes down to the final pieces you can see where we are heading. I agree that the Lord sees the end from the beginning and He is allowing all of this now as we near the Second Coming of Jesus. We need to be active in presenting our end-time message now, by planting the seeds of truth while we can. Thank you for your ministry. I had friends who attended your meeting in the Perth area and was blessed.

Keep The Faith Website
Abide Wellness Retreat,
Victoria



She was obviously hurting as she walked by our exhibit at the market in Melbourne. Eddie, one of our staff members at Abide Wellness Retreat who was working the exhibit approached her and said, “God loves you.”

Abide Wellness Retreat has a very large garden. We send Eddie to the markets every week to sell produce and also products from our shop. But we also have a lot of Christian books and literature to give away. When Eddie said “God loves you,” she looked up at him and sighed. “I would love for you to convince me of that.”

“This book will convince you that Jesus loves you,” Eddie said. He handed her a copy of Desire of Ages. Choking back the tears, she accepted it and said, “you're a good man.”

But Eddie wasn’t done yet. “Would you mind, if I offer you another free book,” he said, as he held out a copy of Path to Peace (Steps to Christ). By this time the woman couldn’t say anything. She just accepted it too and moved on wiping her eyes.

Imagine one day, this dear woman coming to Eddie somewhere around the tree of life and joyfully telling him that she is there because he reached out to her at the Caribbean Park Market in Melbourne? What a day that could be!

Abide Wellness Retreat in Victoria is also reaching hearts. “I think God is calling me back,” said Virginia.

Virginia had come to Abide Wellness Retreat for the five-night program. She had some health issues to address. Her husband is a retired parliamentarian from the federal parliament of Australia. Being from Greece, Virginia had been raised in the Greek Orthodox Church but had left God and had not attended church for a long time.

Virginia just loved the warm and friendly environment of Abide. She connected so well with Lolita, our clinician, and other staff members in a very short time. She warmed to the thought for the day, which is a short worship we do with the guests each morning and evening. It wasn’t long before she asked if she could stay two weeks instead of just one.

We arranged for someone to look after her for the weekend, as our program wasn’t running through the weekend. Plus her husband came to stay with her for a couple of nights.

Virginia just soaked up the atmosphere at Abide. She asked lots of questions and engaged the other guests and staff continually.

One day, Alison, one of our staff members, was explaining some home remedies in the garden. As they talked together, Alison suggested that she should consider reconnecting with God. That’s when she said, “I think God is calling me back.”

And He certainly is. That’s the wonderful thing about a health retreat. It is one of the ways God strongly uses to call people back to Himself. He reaches right down and through our team touches their hearts.

Virginia is worried about her husband. He is not a Christian and doesn’t want her to be a Christian. So, please pray for Virginia to give her courage to follow God’s call.

Amaroo Water Gardens Health Retreat
Highwood Health Retreat
Highwood Soul - Highwood's Alumni Page
Abide Wellness Retreat at Amaroo Water Gardens, South Australia



Keith’s wife had a doctor’s appointment. They came to the clinic really early, and stayed late. They even let people go ahead of them. Keith just sat in the lounge room and sat in the lounge room and sat in the lounge room. Hour after hour, he sat by the fire drinking tea and chatting with the patients as they came and went.

Keith and his wife love coming to Amaroo so much that they make a whole day of it. They love the place with its little lake in front of the lodge. They love to watch the birds and see the waterfowl foraging on the lake. They sit in the lounge room by the cozy fire and talk to the other patients as they come and go. They roam around the property. They let other guests go ahead of them, just so they can enjoy the atmosphere a bit longer. When the day is nearly over, they are still there.

Amanda, our receptionist and office manager, approached them and asked if they had plans for the evening. “Just sitting here,” Keith said, “brings my blood pressure down." The peaceful and tranquil atmosphere at Abide at Amaroo Water Gardens is a perfect fit for him.

Recently, another non-SDA patient asked about our faith when she saw our Christian literature and comments on the white board in the lounge room. Amanda had the opportunity to explain a little about Seventh-day Adventists.

Another patient picked up a copy of Last Generation magazine which is published by my wife and looked through it. She even read a couple of the articles. “May I subscribe to this magazine,” she asked. “I love the articles in here. They are such good articles.” We’ve put her in touch with the subscription department of the Last Generation magazine.

Friends, God is working on our patients and guests. Please don’t forget to pray for them, and for us. We’re on the front lines and we need the grace of God to reach the hearts of those God sends along our path. God bless you. And thank you for your prayers.

Amaroo Water Gardens Health Retreat
Highwood Health Retreat
Highwood Soul - Highwood's Alumni Page


Nature Knows Best



A Diet that Lowers Risk of Breast Cancer

Can what you eat actually lower your risk of dying from a disease like cancer? A new study published in JAMA Oncology, provides some intriguing evidence that diet may indeed lower the risk of dying from cancer.

Researchers studied data for 48,000 women enrolled in the ongoing Women’s Health Initiative, a large national study. “All of the women were cancer-free at the start of the study, and nearly 20,000 were randomly assigned to change their diet and lower their fat intake to about 20% of their daily calories (the average American eats about 30% of their daily calories from fat). They were also encouraged to eat more fruits, vegetables and whole grains. The other women weren’t given instructions to change their diet but were educated about nutrition and a healthy diet.

“After 8.5 years of follow up, in which the researchers tracked the number of cancers that were diagnosed and the causes of death for women who died, the scientists found that among women diagnosed with breast cancer, those in the low-fat diet group lowered their risk of dying from the disease by 22%, compared to women in the regular diet group. The low-fat group also had a 24% lower risk of dying from other cancers and a 38% lower risk of dying from heart disease compared to women assigned to the diet education group.

“‘What we see is a pretty remarkable effect,’” says Dr. Rowan Chlebowski, the primary researcher on the study. “While previous studies looked at the effect of diet before cancer diagnoses, the current study was able to analyze how diet seemed to affect cancer after a diagnosis, since the women continued with their assigned diet whether they were diagnosed with cancer or not. ‘What we’ve shown is that it looks like dietary intervention after diagnosis [of breast cancer] was more important than dietary intervention before diagnosis.’

“The study also hinted that women who stuck with the lower fat diet for longer periods had the strongest chances of surviving breast cancer; this trend was supported by the fact that the benefit seemed to wane after the study ended.

“The benefit in reducing cancer death came even with relatively modest changes in the women’s diets; while the target was 20% of a day’s calories from fat, many women were only able to achieve 25% or even 27% of their daily calories from fat, Chlebowski says. ‘It seemed like the intervention needed was quite modest.’

“Given the number of people involved in the study, Chlebowski says the idea of including diet as part of treatment programs for diseases including cancer should gain support. He notes that other studies—particularly those looking into the microbes that live in and within the body and are affected by what we eat—lend support to the possibility that food can affect our biology, and in turn, our vulnerability and response to disease. ‘This idea is now entering the mainstream and is getting focused, high-level research attention,’ he says.

“A plain diet, free from spices, and flesh meats, and grease of all kinds, would prove a blessing to you, and would save your wife a great amount of suffering, grief, and despondence...” Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 2 pages 45 and 46.

Nature Knows Best!

Source Reference:
This Kind of Diet May Lower the Risk of Dying from Breast Cancer