Crying Over Tomato Soup

You need an entire life just to know about tomatoes. Ferran Adria 

How much do I know about tomatoes? My parents didn’t raise me with a garden in Arkansas to not know about tomatoes. I could make you anything from tomato paste to salsa, and tell you just how to add them into a dish to enhance the flavors. I’ve never really liked raw tomatoes, but cooking with them? That’s a whole new world. But after 16 tomatoes started turning my stomach, literally. I couldn’t eat them without feeling sick, and it just continued getting worse. At 21 I found out I’m actually allergic to tomatoes, are you kidding me? Now I could tell you exactly why and how I’m allergic to them, thanks latex, and what else has latex in it. I eat salsa like it’s going out of style (forget the stomach pains, it’s worth it) I can’t be allergic to tomatoes. But sure enough, I cut them out of my diet for a month. When I reintroduced them it was worse than ever before, pain, swelling, and flushed skin. Basically I turned into a tomato in pain. So I gave up all tomatoes. No more salsa, ketchup, or tomato soup. Have I mentioned how much I love tomato soup? I would eat tomato soup all fall if I could, and I did for a few years, but I gave it up. 

Then I started fundraising, y’all know G has a sense of humor right? Well, let me tell y’all, G really had a laugh with me fundraising. For a month I ran a produce stand that sold, wait for it, tomatoes! Oh I had others, fruits, peppers, cucumbers, melons, bread, jams, and jellies but tomatoes were my best seller. Every day at the stand I’d get the question “how do they taste?” and I’d just answer that I didn’t actually know, I’m allergic. People would look at me like I was crazy, I mean I probably would have too a few years before, seriously who’s allergic to tomatoes? But nevertheless G brought in almost $10,000 from that stand alone. Can you believe that? All that from sitting on the side of a road in the middle of nowhere Arkansas, selling the main thing I’m allergic to. And then I left on the Race, months of laughing and explaining my allergy while not being too worried about it. If they got in my food I’d simply pick them out and move on, I figured G had better things for me than dealing with that allergy. 

Then I got to Turkey. Within the first few days here I was talking to one of my teammates and mentioned how much I love tomato soup and that I actually really missed it. That next day I ordered food at an Indian restaurant and it was filled with tomatoes, Jenna W pointed it out after I ate almost all of it. At that point I just shrugged and PD G would help me out, actually my whole team PD for no reaction. And you know what? There was no reaction, I spent the next two weeks Ping and asking G what was going on. Every single time I would get the same answer “trust” so I did, I ate whatever was given to me and didn’t worry. Our host fed us tomato soup within the first two days, I asked G before eating it and got the same “trust” so I ate it. For two weeks I ate whatever I wanted, including tomato soup, and had absolutely no reaction. Are y’all heading this? Is my invisible microphone working? I ATE TOMATO SOUP AND HAD NO REACTION. The main thing I’m allergic to, I was able to eat and have no reaction. So I kept Ping and asking what was happening, I mean it was amazing but I was confused and just floating along trusting I’d be fine. Well, G gave me my answer while eating tomato soup (again) with our host. It was simple, I loved tomatoes, soup, salsa, whatever I loved it and He loves me. Guys, I got healed of my tomato allergy because G wants me to have things I love. Imagine that. He loves us so much he wants us to be able to have things we love. Even something as simple as tomato soup. As this download from the L came in I just sat in my hosts living room and cried while explaining it to my team. We all laughed and cried together, it’s not everyday you get healed of an allergy. 

The day after that revelation I realized something else, I found out I was allergic to tomatoes in June of 2019, in June of 2020 I started with the tomato stand, and in June of 2021 G healed my tomato allergy. A three year journey I didn’t even know I was on, how many other journeys could I possibly be on that I don’t know about yet? What journey are you possibly on that you haven’t noticed yet?