I have never canned in my life. Although I have sincerely wanted to and have all the supplies to do so, I have never been brave enough to attempt it. Sadly I have allowed my fears and worries, of the what ifs of canning, to overtake my desire to do it. I was always fearful that if I did something wrong I would poison my family with botulism or something else.
It reminded me of back when I was afraid to use my pressure cooker, I had one for many years before I became brave enough to try it. I was always afraid if I used it wrong it would explode and we would all get burned lol. I am thankful that I overcame that fear for I love to use my pressure cooker now! Can you tell just how much I worry about things? lol
Funny how when we allow fear to rule over us we will fail before we even try. I want to be able to face my fears and overcome them so that is why I choose to do those things that I am afraid to do. I don't want my children to learn to be fearful! I want them to learn to always lean on God and trust Him to guide them in all things! I am only willing to face my fears with the Lord by my side. If I attempt to face them on my own I know I can and will easily fail. For the enemy is always looking for an open door in order to attack.
But one of my favorite verses is this...
I can do all things through Christ who strenghtens me.
Philippians 4:13
This is also a verse I teach to my children early on so they know it well.
Because fear is something I have battled all my life, long before I became a christian. Too many times it will try to rear its ugly head in my life. It is during those times I find myself running to the Lord with much frequency. I ask for Him to help me overcome my temptation to fall prey to that fear and worry and to not allow it to rule over me. I remind myself that the enemy is a liar and he is just playing on my fears. I know this is just his way of trying to rule over my thoughts and get me to fail and lose faith in myself.
I also felt that by learning to can I was imparting a good skill in my children as well as myself. I wanted my children to know how to can and to do it with confidence.
I figured the best place to start was to ask many people many questions. Then the time came to squash those canning fears. I was going to give water bath canning the fair shake it deserved. I got everything all ready to start. I decided to make strawberry jam. Unfortunately by the time I was ready to start it was already starting to get very late. It was important to me to take my time and do this the right way and not rush through it. I decided I should wait. I knew that this could of been the enemy trying to discourage me by telling me see you are never going to accomplish this so you might as well give up. Even though I was somewhat disappointed I was not going to allow the enemy to defeat me or discourage me. I told myself it is not over I am still going to can as soon as I have more time to do it. I plan on following through with my word to myself!!
While I was going through my supplies to put them away I came across a package that said pectin for making freezer jam. I figured why not? I still wanted to make some homemade jam and although I wouldn't be able to do the actual canning that I was wanting to do, it was still homemade jam. Something good was still going to come out of it.
Being I am very health conscious raw jam was sounding pretty good at the moment. Whenever possible I prefer raw food for family and myself. There are just so many benefits to eating raw food! So I attempted to make my first batch of raw freezer jam. Here were the results. It came out great. The following is all I used...
4-1 pound containers of fresh fruit
1-1/2 cups of raw sugar cane
1 pkg. of the freezer pectin shown in the picture. I am unsure if the ingredients are all healthy so I am looking into it. If they are if not I want to see if there is a healthy alternative.
We ate some of the jam this morning and it sure was yummy.
Even though I didn't get to can last night at least I can finally say I have made homemade jam. I am going to can jam with the next batch of fruit I buy. Wish me luck lol!
Dearest Lord, thank you for the opportunity to learn new things. Thank you for the blessings you bestow upon us! I know I can do all things through you! You are my truth and my safe place! When I attempt to can I will be leaning on you through the whole process! In Jesus name I pray, Amen~
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