Giving thanks for ALL things

What about being thankful for those things that are not really very pleasant? Does not God tell us in His Word to be thankful for ALL things?

In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. – 1 Thessalonians 5:18

Lately I have been thinking about this verse and trying to thank God when things arise which  I would not entitle as “good”.

Thanking God for the trials of this temporal earthly life reminds me to have a heavenly perspective! Thanking God for trials helps me remember that God is all powerful and in His complete goodness He is using trails in my life for His glory until one day we are caught up to be with Him in glory and there we will bow before Him and glorify Him!

Here are just a few amazing verse that show us some purposes for trials:

Produces patience (James 1:3, Romans 5:3) Produces maturity (James 1:4) Produces experience (Romans 5:4) Produces hope (Romans 5:4) Produces strength (2 Corinthians 12:10) Produces more of Christ’s likeness (Romans 8:28-29) Produces an outlet for ministry (2 Corinthians 1:4)

MOST of all…our trials should result in bringing God glory!

Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: - 1 Peter 1:6-7

Give God thanks for ALL things!! 

In the Kitchen

I <3 to cook and bake, try new recipes and create my own concoctions! Sometimes they are good and other times they are.... well...."tasty". This is a very neutral term you see....everything has flavor right? ....whether or not it is a good flavor or bad :P In our family "tasty" is a more gentle way to say "you don't need to make THAT again" :P I am in no way going to tern this blog into one of those cooking blogs. I have far to many other things that I would rather spend my time doing. But, just for sheer fun every now and then I may post a recipe :)

This morning I was about to start breakfast and Luke piped in that he had a hankerin' for some fried apples. Hmmm...fried apples and apple/pecan pancakes...that sounds good! Luke joined me in the kitchen this morning and fried up some amazin' apples!

I very highly dislike that recipes are always written out with the list of ingredient and then at the bottom are the instructions. You have to scan back and forth, back and forth from top to bottom. It's quite tedious. I kind of understand that you want to be able to see at a glance all the ingredients required but I personally would prefer to have the process alongside the ingredients! So since this is my blog, I can do it how I like right! :D

APPLE PECAN PANCAKES

Mix together: 

1 Egg

1 Cup Whole Wheat Flour

1/2 Cup Rolled Oats

1 Cup Milk

1 T Baking Powder

1 t Baking Soda

1 T Sugar or Honey

Dash Salt

2 t Cinnamon

Shot of Vanilla Extract  

Chop 3/4 Cup of Pecans to desired fineness and add to mixture 

Heat CAST IRON griddle till a drop of water sizzles when splashed on the service.

Grease griddle with some kind of fat product. I like to use bacon grease!

Apply 1/3 cup of batter to griddle and cook till bubbles on the service of the pancake begin to pop.

Cook on opposite side till the edges are no longer gooey. 

FRIED APPLES 

Luke did this process for me! He is such a cool brother! :) 

Slice apples 

Heat a skillet and apply a hardy layer of butter.

Arrange Apples in the skillet.

Apply a good coating of Cinnamon Sugar, flip and repeat.

Allow apples to fry till beginning to caramelize, flip and repeat. 

Make sure that you don't get the skillet so hot that the sugar burns! :/

Scoop apples into a bowl including the syrup that has formed in the skillet!

Server over pancakes! 

ENJOY! 

Seriously....you don't even need maple syrup on these! :)

Little things...

Yesterday Luke and I ventured out to find some critters to photograph within the bounds of our camp. From the general view there was not much moving but a closer look revealed that an abundance of activity was underway by little things.

All things bright and beautiful,

All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful:
The Lord God made them all.

1. He gave us eyes to see them,
   And lips that we might tell
   How great is God Almighty,
   Who has made all things well.

Colossians 1:15-22

Jesus Christ is the visible manifestation of God!

Jesus Christ is the firstborn of every creature!

Jesus Christ is the Creator of all things!

Jesus Christ holds all things together!

Jesus Christ is the head of the Church!

Jesus Christ is the preeminent One!

Jesus Christ has made peace through His blood!

Jesus Christ can present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in His sight!

Thankful for a friend

Have just been reminded recently of how very blessed I am to have this girl as my friend!

People usually speak of peer pressure as a bad thing...but when you have godly friends "peer pressure" from them can be a very good thing! :) So thankful for this godly friend!  

Wherever He may guide me,

No want shall turn me back;

My Shepherd is beside me,

And nothing can I lack.

His wisdom ever waketh;

His sight is never dim;

He knows the way He taketh,

And I will walk with Him.

- Anna L. Waring

The Glory of the Cross

Here promises were exchange for fulfillment, shadows give way to reality, sin is judges, forgiveness is offered, wrath is propitiated, grace is enthroned, death is defeated, life and immortality come to light, Satan received his mortal wound, the glorious victory of righteousness is assured, the kingdom of darkness received its deathblow and the kingdom of His dear Son triumphs. The cross separated darkness from light, the temporal from the eternal, the carnal for the spiritual, death from immortality, perdition from life, hell from heaven. It is the foundation of the salvation of God, the only hope for mankind, the pinnacle of Christ's self-giving love for man.It is the manifestation of the holiness and righteousness of God in relation to sin. It brings reconciliation, redemption, restoration, and the eventual realization of glorification. It brings praise and glory to the one and only God who Himself actualized it!

This is the glory of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ! 

Infinite Plan

"In infinite wisdom God designed salvation; in infinite grace and at infinite cost God procured salvation in Christ Jesus, His only begotten Son; in infinite power God sent forth the Holy Spirit to actualize salvation in the individual; in infinite compassion God instituted missions - first through Israel and now through His Church - in order that helpless and hopeless mankind might hear, know and believe the Good News of the infinite salvation of God for mankind." - George Peters in A Biblical Theology of Missions

"Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." - Philippians 2:6-8 

These are amazing verses! Jesus Christ is God Almighty and He took on the form of a man. Hebrews 2 tells us that man is lower than the angels. God’s Son took on the form of His creation but not even of His highest creation (Angels) but of an even lower creation (Man), veiled His awesome glory, chose to abide under certain limitations of humanity and died an extremely cruel death in order to provide salvation for sinners like me. Who is more worthy of my life? None! 

September 26th, 2013

50 years ago today my Papa was born. In 1991 the doctors told him that his second child would be born to him on September 26th. I was that second child but come as his early birthday present on September 23rd. Papa and Mama did not know if they were going to have a girl or a boy and Papa was afraid to have a daughter because he didn't think he had what it would take to raise a girl. I stand here today, 22 years later, and say with all my heart that he has been the best Papa a girl has ever had!

Happy Birthday Papa! Thank you for walking with God! I love you!

What Grace!

"What Grace! From heaven to earth, from glory to shame, from Master to servant, from life to death, even the death of the cross!" 

Warren Wiersbe in his commentary on Philippians 2 

Thought for the Day

"While Jesus is representing me in heaven, may I reflect Him on earth."

- Puritan Prayer 

God will NOT forsake Israel!

"Nevertheless my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David. His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me. It shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven. Selah." 

- Psalm 89:33-37

A Day at the Zoo

                Due to Zeke's 6th birthday a trip to the Zoo was in order. It is amazing to see God's handy work. The creatures that are there so clearly testify of a Creator...but still mankind so often refuses to acknowledge it. 

"For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:" - Romans 1:20 

A Few Pictures from the day:

The Photographer and her trusty Canon :)  

These Two are NO kin to the monkey! But they are two of God's AMAZING creations! 

"An ant sucker upper" - Zeke 

Single Meaning of Scripture

When God wrote the Bible did He write in understandable language with a specific message? I believe He did! There is single meaning in Scripture not multiple meanings or interpretations that very from culture to culture.

I read this great example and would like to share it with you.

When God communicated to Adam, "Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." (Gen. 2:16b-17) Adam apparently understood this statement as God intended it and communicated it to Eve as well. Confusion entered the picture when the serpent suggested to Eve that God's plain statement had another deeper meaning. He said, "Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." (Gen. 3:4b-5).

There is great danger in reading into God's Word things that are not truly written! God did not communicate to man in riddles that he must decode. Rather, He wrote in understandable language exactly what He wanted man to know! We have a good God and He has given us His Word! Let us read it for what it says so that we may know Him and glorify Him!

Quote of the Day

"It shall greatly help ye to understand Scripture if thou mark not only what is spoken or written, but of whom, and to whom, with what words, at what time, where, to what extent, with what circumstances, considering what goeth before and what followeith." - Myles Coverdale

God's sovereignty in the life of ZVI

                 

I just recently finished reading ZVI-The Miraculous Story of Triumph Over the Holocaust by Elwood McQuaid. Zvi was born into a Jewish family in Poland. At the age of 10 he was separated from his family and spent the years of World War II alone, constantly fleeing for his life. These accounts are incredible! Do you ever wonder why you are still alive? That it seems like you should not have lives through something? God has a purpose for your life; He is not through with you! This is so evidently displayed in Zvi’s life! In all reality, he should not have lived through the Holocaust…but he did! Through reading this book, you can see why God kept him alive and how God used this Jewish man for Him! Zvi was never reunited with his family, after the war he traveled to Israel, fought in the wars for the Independence of Israel (he should not have survived this either), how he was saved through reading a Bible given to him by a elderly lady, how he was shunned by his Jewish brothers for believing in “That one”, and see the incredible boldness he had for sharing about the Messiah to anyone and everyone! Zvi is still alive in Israel sharing the gospel daily with Jews, Arabs, and Gentiles alike. I highly recommend this book! It is easy, fun, and a blessing to read!

Looking Back

Graduation has come and gone and I am settling back into my old room in Lopez Canyon, slowly unpacking and getting organized. I come to the bottom of a box and found the book filled with notes from the chapel messages, special speakers, my own thoughts and prayer from the past 2 years of CBI. So I looked back through it and found a FEW quotes and thoughts to share with you. :)

I am so blessed to be saved and to have the Word of God so that I can know my Savior better!

• Does grace motivate me? – challenge from Uncle Phil
• “Education is not the answer…the Word of God is” – Mr. Baxter
• “Victory over sin is based on Christ’s merit, not ours.” – Mr. Baxter
• “All of God’s attributes show God’s glory!” – Uncle Phil
• “Know what you mean by what you say.” – Mr. Friesen
• “A teacher must be apt to learn” – Mr. Friesen
• “God’s goodest gift is His Holy Spirit.” – Mr. Baxter
• When men mock Israel they are mocking God.
• “It does not matter who gets the credit if God gets the GLORY.” – Mr. Clement
• “Worship should be happening in whatever we are doing, not just in song.” – Dave Neufeld
• “The only thing that had enough power to hold Christ to the cross was Christ Himself.” – Keith Singer
• “We cannot live the Christian life without the Holy Spirit” – Mr. Baxter
• “Ever believer is equipped by God for the journey that is ahead of them.” – Mr. Baxter
• Walking worthy is not for the goal of my spirituality…but for God’s glory!
• We know God…so don’t live like we do not know Him.
• “Walking worthy is not of us, but of Christ in us.” – Uncle Phil
• “It makes more since to build an ark then to put ourselves under the Law.” – Uncle Phil
• “Its not about what I do, its about what Christ has already done on the cross. - Bob Anderson