Recipes From Around the World – Book Review – Sharon Wilharm

Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, and I know that many women across the country are already making plans for their annual V-Day Pity Party. It’s so easy to feel sorry for ourselves if we don’t have a special Valentine or if we have someone, but he doesn’t send us flowers or candy or buy us a new diamond ring like we were hoping for.

I’ve been there. I remember being single and wishing I were married. And I’ve been married and wished I had a more romantic celebration. This year we’re both sickly so we’re just hoping that by Sunday, we’ll feel good enough to go see a First Lady matinee after church then enjoy a yummy meal at Chuy’s.

For many women around the world, though, they’re not dreaming of roses or Reeses or rings. They’re dreaming of food for their family or fresh drinking water for their sick child.

For over four decades, Operation Blessing has shared God’s love by alleviating human suffering in every state and over 90 nations. Their generous partners provide:
• Clean water to thirsty people in remote villages and disaster zones
• Food to famine victims, long-term hunger solutions for developing communities, plus groceries and support for struggling families here in America
• Medical care and life-changing surgeries for men, women, and children in desperately poor regions of the world
• Disaster relief to those devastated by hurricanes, fires, earthquakes, and other catastrophes

Operation Blessing has just released Recipes From Around the World. It includes recipes from countries where Operation Blessing is changing lives. But it’s more than mere recipes. It’s stories of individuals who know what it’s like to truly have a bad Valentine’s Day. It’s Arturo and Fabiano whose house in Guatemala was destroyed by an earthquake. It’s Denis and Mirna in Honduras whose children cried themselves to sleep because there was no money to buy food. It’s Yasmin in Israel who couldn’t cook because her electrical system couldn’t handle a stove or hot water heater.

As you read the stories of these and many other individuals around the world and how Operation Blessing turned their lives around, you’ll realize how truly blessed you are. Then you can flip through the yummy looking recipes and as you eat exotic foods from other lands, you can pray for those who are suffering this year and say a special prayer for people like Operation Blessing workers who are generously providing for basic needs that we take for granted.