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| New King James Version (NKJV) |
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Isaiah 43:16, 18-19 16 Thus says the LORD, who makes a way in the sea And a path through the mighty waters, |
18 “ Do not remember the former things, Nor consider the things of old. 19 Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness And rivers in the desert.
New King James Version (NKJV) |
via www.cnn.com
3 When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which You have ordained,As the blue moon rises for us tomorrow night, let us not forget the One who will be hanging this glorious decoration in the night sky for us to behold.
(Nicholas Poussin 1594-1665)
Summer (Ruth and Boaz)
I know that I have posted these memory verses earlier this year. But tonight the phone rang while I was cleaning the dinner dishes. It was a call that I wasn't expecting, but that I was overjoyed to receive. My sweet Father in Law, who has been so very sick and in the hospital at Duke Univeristy for a while is FINALLY at home! It was so great to hear his voice knowing that he is at home and not in a hospital bed for the first time in over a month. I had been trying to decide what verses to post today. After taking the call from Daddy B, it was quite clear what I needed to post about. The verses tried to make their way into my thoughts but I was missing some pieces. So today, I'm revisiting some verses that I hold very dear.
16 But Ruth said:
“ Entreat me not to leave you,
Or to turn back from following after you;
For wherever you go, I will go;
And wherever you lodge, I will lodge;
Your people shall be my people,
And your God, my God.
What are some special verses for you that the Lord has brought to the forefront for you?
Christmas Carrots
(my adaptation of the Piccadilly restaurant's recipe for carrot soufflé)
4 pounds of baby carrots (pre peeled in bags)
2 sticks of salted real butter
5 large eggs, well beaten
3 tsp. baking powder
1 ½ cups sugar
4 Tbsp. flour
3 tsp. pure vanilla extract
powdered sugar for dusting
1. Boil the baby carrots until very tender and drain them well. While the carrots are hot, puree them in a food processor until smooth. I have a large food processor, so I puree them in two batches. Divide the butter into how many batches that you are going to puree. For me, doing two batches, I use 1 stick of butter in each batch. If you are doing 4 batches of puree, then you would use ½ stick of butter with each batch. It will depend on how large your processor is as to how many batches of puree that you will need to do.
2. Measure dry ingredients and add them to a mixing bowl and set aside. Once you have finished all of your puree, add puree to dry ingredients and mix with a heavy spatula. Take out 2-3 Tbsp. of the mixture and add to the bowl of beaten eggs to temper the eggs. Once mixed, add the egg mixture back to the large bowl of the carrot mixture and blend thoroughly.
3. Preheat the oven to 350°. Spray a 9" x 13" baking dish with non stick cooking spray. Pour the soufflé mixture into the baking dish and bake at 350° for 1 hour. If using a disposable aluminum dish, choose the 9" x 13" lasagne pan. If using a dish of your own, a 9" x 13" glass dish works well.
4. Dust the top of the soufflé with powdered sugar and serve hot.
This dish has become one of my immediate family's favorites, so much so that no one want sweet potato casserole anymore. I made this on Christmas Eve for an extended family gathering. It went over very well, especially considering that it was being served to a "die hard" sweet potato casserole crowd!
It's so good that you can even eat it as a dessert!
Enjoy!
Jesus is the ONLY reason!
4 Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, 5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife,[a] who was with child. 6 So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. 7 And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
Jesus is the ONLY reason!
I think one of the greatest bible studies I ever attended was a ladies weekend with the most precious and a most anointed teacher, Margaret Ashmore. The study was on the beatitudes from Matthew 5:1-11. I'll never forget sitting in the pew in the chapel at Cottage Hill Baptist Church listening to Margaret delve deep, deep into each verse one by one, so deep that we could have probably spent a weeks study on each verse by itself. As I was trying to decide the last few days about Memory Monday, the memory of this study jumped to the forefront of my mind. I know I still have my notes from that study somewhere...and I'm going to find them this week...it's my mission. I know that they are over 11 or 12 years old, but I think I may be able to find that journal!
What studies have made a lasting impression on you and on your walk with the Lord over the years?
11 “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. 12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
1 Corinthians 7:10-16 (New King James Version)
Keep Your Marriage Vows
10 Now to the married I command, yet not I but the Lord: A wife is not to depart from her husband. 11 But even if she does depart, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband. And a husband is not to divorce his wife.
12 But to the rest I, not the Lord, say: If any brother has a wife who does not believe, and she is willing to live with him, let him not divorce her. 13 And a woman who has a husband who does not believe, if he is willing to live with her, let her not divorce him. 14 For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband; otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy. 15 But if the unbeliever departs, let him depart; a brother or a sister is not under bondage in suchcases. But God has called us to peace. 16 For how do you know, O wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, O husband, whether you will save your wife?
I don't want this post to take away from the charges listed in the scriptures above. I simply want to tell you that today, I personally witnessed the mighty hand of the Lord Jesus Christ move through a broken marriage that was most certainly on the way to the dark guillotine of divorce. The last few weeks in the lives of this family have been lives ridden with torment by the Enemy. But today, the Enemy's head was crushed! His manipulative plans to destroy a wife, a husband and two children were FOILED by the Lord God almighty! Since the attack on this family began a few weeks ago, there have been hundreds of prayers lifted to the Lord in intercession. We have been believing and standing on the truths that our God is sovereign, He is faithful and just to forgive and He is our Advocate! He is "El Roi", "The God Who Sees Me". There are no circumstances that escape His supreme awareness of our lives and all that is happening in them. Praise God for the power of conviction and for the healing salve that He is applying to this couple and their family. Thank you Lord....You receive all the glory!
17 The LORD your God in your midst, Zephaniah 3:17 (New King James Version)
The Mighty One, will save;
He will rejoice over you with gladness,
He will quiet you with His love,
He will rejoice over you with singing.”
Woo Hoo! I LOVE Christmas movies, I LOVE Charles Dickens and I LOVE that I'm going on a date with my husband on Saturday night! We're headed to see Disney's A Christmas Carol and out to dinner Saturday night.....
What are some of your favorite places to go for your date nights?
I am always thankful for Kim at To Know Him for challenging us at Cafe Chat over at the Internet Cafe. And today's question is another great one that begs us to dig deep(er). When I read the qquestion, all I could see is a huge ticking timepiece. I had to look introspectively and realize that my own personal gift that I can bring is more time with my Heavenly Father. I immediately saw a flash of the "inventory" of things that I spend my time on. When I see this flash, I see that one thing that doesn't flash as "bright" as the other "things" is the time that I should be spending with Him.
I know that Kim's challenge to us regarding our gifts is for the coming year, but I certainly can work on this now. Like Kim, I feel that I think about the Lord and His birth so much during the Christmas season. It's not that I "don't" think about Him throughout the year, but the Christmas season, I can't help but imagine what it must have been like. The cold. The ride on a donkey...while pregnant. The stinky, smelly stable. The terror of being "found out" by Herod. The Magi. The scared young mother. The worried new dad. Putting a new born in an animal feeding trough. And all of that, just so that this tiny baby would come and save my filthy sin! So if He would do that for me, a rotten sinner, why won't I give the gift of my time back to Him?
Thank you Kim for the reminder and the challenge....I'm done preaching to myself now!
9 When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was.
Since we are in a season of Advent, I am posting the scripture for today instead of the typical Memory Monday scripture. For other Memory Monday posts, please visit The Simple Wife. The Photo is from the Allen Home, as a part of the Candlelit Chickasaw Home Tour. Stay tuned for Tuesday's post with the rest of the beautiful pictures from the Christmas homes in the tour.
Okay, I know that this blog is typically not a sports oriented blog, but I just have to shout it from the rooftops! ROLL TIDE ROLL! University of Alabama Crimson Tide got some "Gator Meat" last night in the upset against Florida for the SEC Championship. We are SOOOO excited! BCS here we come! Now I just wish that we had the extra $1600 to go to the game to see them play!
ROLL TIDE!
Celebrating Advent
Today's reading.............
Who will shepherd My people Israel.’”[a]
My sweet friend Joanne Heim over at The Simple Wife left a great link for a sheet of Advent bookmarks that list all of the Advent candles, and all of the Advent scripture readings as well. You can find the bookmarks by downloading advent bookmarkers here.
We got a little preoccupied last year and didn't spend as much time together studying the Advent scriptures. But this year, we are going to purpose to do these readings outside of our own individual quiet times. I thought that I would share the link in this post so that you can print a copy of your own. If you would like to read more about Advent, please stop by Joanne's archives from November 2008.
I will also post the candle lighting and reading guide here. I pray that you will find this to be a great way to share the true meaning of Christmas within your family and with others. You can get the advent candles and wreaths to go along with it or you can keep it as simple as just following the readings. Any way that you choose, just keep Christ in the center of it all.
May you be richly blessed this Christmas season. Praise God from Whom ALL Blessings Flow!
Many Blessings,
As Art Linkletter used to say with such verve, "Kids say the darndest things!". In my mind, that phrase really should have been "Kids say the CUTEST and SWEETEST things! While my brother and his family were in town for the week of Thanksgiving, we learned very quickly that it was absolutely NO secret that our most PRECIOUS little three year old niece has a favorite Christmas song. Here on the local dials, we are blessed to have several "all Christmas, all the time" radio channels. My sister in law had told me that our sweet little Mag-pie has been SOOOOO into the Christmas spirit for the last couple of weeks. She's at the age that she is just soaking up every little Christmas-ey detail. One of these details has been the song "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year". Every time she hears it in the car on the Christmas station, she gets SO excited and wants to sing along--SO CUTE! And once the song is off, she begs "can it be da-moswunnafel-time-of-dayear again"? So, with all of this said....as the first song in my Christmas playlist, I have added little Mag-pie's favorite tune for her (and your) listening enjoyment...and so that she can hear it anytime she wants from her Mommy and Daddy's computer! Crank up the volume y'all!
We love you sweet girl!
I discovered this great recipe over at Monica's blog, The Homespun Heart. This is a great mix to have on hand! I'm going to make a jar for myself this weekend and think I may even may a few "gift jars" of this handy dandy little mix!
7 So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.2 Corinthians 9:7 (New King James Version)
Thanks to Monica for always sharing such great tips and ideas. If you have not visited Monica, please stop by her "house"....I guarantee that you will see something there that will make you smile!
Cream Soup Mix
2 c. powdered milk
3/4 c. cornstarch
1/4 c. chicken bouillon
2 Tbsp. onion flakes
1 tsp. basil leaves
1 tsp. thyme, ground
1/2 tsp. pepper
Mix all ingredients in an airtight container. When you have a recipe that calls for cream of chicken soup, blend 1/3 c. of dry mixture with 1 1/4 c. cold water. Cook, stirring until thickened. Use as recipe requires.
14 But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.”Matthew 19:14 (New King James Version)
