Nourished: A memoir of food, faith & enduring love with recipes by Lia Huber

I really had no idea what to expect from Lia Huber's memoir Nourished. Even when I first started reading it, I was unsure.  Lia is completely unlike me.  She is an urban world traveler, risk taker, hipster.  I am a small town, stay at home, play-it-safe middle aged mom. Really, we are so different that I doubted I would relate to her or even like her much.  I underestimated two things: the connection of food and Jesus.  Lia loves both and so do I.  Common ground right there. 

Lia's story is fascinating and takes the reader around the world as she learns about food and expands her cooking and eating repertoire.  She loves to immerse herself in different cultures and study the ways they grow, cook and eat food, passing along what she learns to others.  Each chapter of the book ends with a recipe and most sound delicious.  Some are exotic, some are more homespun.  I have bookmarked several to try. 

Even more fascinating to me was Lia's journey of faith.  God, who knows her heart best, draws her to himself through food. Calls her to partake of the bread and wine that nourish her beyond what she herself knew she needed.  Like any relationship, Lia's relationship with the Lord has its ups and downs.  Moments of soaring, open trust and moments of doubt and anger. 

One such moment occurs when things are crashing in for Lia.  Her mom had a stroke, she and her husband were in deep debt, and her own health was tenuous at best. Lia rages at God that timeless question, "Why?!".  She hears him say to her heart, "I am not in your fear.  I am not in your worry. I am here, waiting for you, in hope and light and life.  And you need to come to me here if you want me to be with you." God's quiet answer to Lia spoke to me as well and was a blessing for a stormy time in my own life. James 4:8 says, "Draw near to me and I will draw near to you."  So simple, yet so easy to forget. 

If you too enjoy food and faith, you'll love Nourished. May it nourish your heart as it did mine.  I received a copy of this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for my honest review.