It’s almost here – Easter, my favorite holiday! Without Easter there is no reason to get out of bed. No reason to celebrate a birthday. No reason to hope for anything good to come to this difficult life. No hope for eternal life with God.
The result will be something delicious and beautiful, and you won’t be exhausted!
But there IS Easter! Why? Jesus arose from the dead! He is alive! He conquered death and hell. That means my I can live, truly live in this life, and live eternally. I have trusted in Christ – that His death on the cross was the penalty for my sin. He has rescued me! Oh, what reason to celebrate not just this Sunday, but every day!!
Today on Good Friday, we remember that Jesus died on the cross. We remember His pain and suffering as He hung between the thieves, though He had never sinned. We hear Him cry out in the darkness, “Forgive them, for they know not what they do,” and we know that the word, “them” includes you and me. We crucified Him. We were guilty. We remember that He was buried in a borrowed tomb, and three days later, He arose!
My heart is so thankful that He lives and He gives me purpose for every day! If you don’t have an assurance of eternal life, He loves you, and if you had been the only one born, He would have died just for you. Acknowledge that you are a sinner and put your faith in Him alone. He can rescue you from sin and eternal separation from Him in hell and fill your life with the joy of knowing Him now.
My church, Boones Creek Bible Church is having a Good Friday service today, April 15 at 4:00 in the afternoon. We would love to have you join us. It’s going to be a precious time of remembering His sacrifice on the cross.
Also, if you don’t have a church home, we’d love for you to come to our Easter service at 10:30 Sunday morning.
If you need a great object lesson to share with children about what Jesus’ death on the cross accomplished, you can watch this demonstration I did here on You Tube.
I hope your weekend was a blessing! Let’s start your week off with a great granola for breakfast or snacking!
I love the chocolate granola I buy in the grocery store, but it is very expensive. I was happy to find a recipe and then tweak it a little bit to come up with a recipe that I like even better than the grocery store version!
Sprinkled over Greek yogurt and fresh fruit, this is a favorite breakfast!
Chocolate Strawberry Granola
½ cup coconut oil ¼ cup honey ¼ cup brown sugar 3 Tablespoons cocoa powder 3 cups oats 1 cup chopped walnuts 1 teaspoon vanilla ¼ teaspoon salt 1 cup of freeze dried strawberries, crushed 3 Tablespoons chocolate chips
DIRECTIONS:
1. In a small saucepan, heat sugar, oil and honey until sugar dissolves and mixture starts to bubble. Turn off stove and remove from heat. 2. In a separate bowl add oats, walnuts, cocoa powder and salt. Add sugar and oil mixture and vanilla. 3. Stir to coat and pour onto a baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray. Bake at 275°F for 40-45 minutes, stirring every 10-15 minutes.
4. Set tray on the counter and sprinkle with chocolate chips and stir to melt into the granola. Allow to cool and add strawberries.
Sweet, slightly crunchy, and chocolate-y, this is so good any time of the day! Also, I have occasionally found the freeze dried strawberries at The Dollar Tree!
I store the granola in a large glass jar when it has cooled completely.
I’m working on some glitches with my blog media, but if you want to see a picture of this granola, go to my Instagram account and you’ll find it there! Look for the camera/Instagram icon on this page. Click it and you’ll find the granola picture there!
Have you ever tried Chocolate Granola? I hope you’ll make this simple recipe. My traditional recipe is here and a healthier version is here.
I’m excited to have the blessing of speaking at The Wilds ladies’ retreat this weekend. There are 19 or 20 of our church ladies attending and I’m so excited to share this weekend with these precious sisters in. Christ.
Springtime at The Wilds!
The van is packed and we’re headed to do some shopping and enjoy lunch out before getting to camp. This will be full, fun day!
I pray your weekend is full of seeing God at work! I’ll be anxious to share all the details of the weekend very soon!
I pray you’re making plans to be in a Bible preaching church on Sunday!
The fires that burned their way through the Great Smoky Mountains several years ago destroyed acre after acre of forestry, leaving only charred stumps where mighty oaks and evergreens had stood. In an effort to restore the mountains to their beauty, forest rangers have placed small trees and plantings with hopes of restoring the color, blooms and life that had once been flourishing.
In our spiritual life, we must also have a time of planting. We need times of digging our roots deep down so that we will not faint when the heat of life, trials and hardships come.
In her book, A Woman After God’s Own Heart, Elizabeth George tells about a time of planting Fig trees. Thirteen were planted, and twelve did well, but one withered up and died. When her husband went out with a shovel to dig up the dead plant, he found that He didn’t need the shovel. The plant died because it had no roots, so it came easily out of the ground. That plant portrays an important spiritual truth – for us to have a heart of faith, we must be devoted to nurturing a root system deep in God’s Word! What’s going on in the root system becomes known to everyone! If the plant is flourishing, it’s because the roots are deep and strong. If the root dies, it’s because the roots are weak. So it is for us!
If you and I are going to be women devoted to God, we must have a root system anchored deep in Christ.
John 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
Our life must be hidden in Christ.
What will that look like?
Roots are tucked away (unseen). We must spend time unseen by others, and seen only by God. Elizabeth explained that an iceberg is hidden under that water where 6/7 of the ice is hidden from view. Even though a sailor can only see 1/7, the iceberg was something to be in awe of because of the part that was hidden away! When you and I are in the public eye, they should be witnessing strength that comes out of our time that is out of sight from others – the time we spend alone with God.
“The greater proportion of your day and life spent hidden in quiet, in reflection, in prayer, in scheduling, in preparation, the greater will be the effectiveness, the impact, the power, of the part of our life that shows.” Ray and Anne Ortland
The impact of your ministry to people will be in direct proportion to the time you spend away from people with God. That will only happen by making wise choices. “We must say no not only to things which are wrong and sinful, but to things pleasant, profitable and good which would hinder and clog our grand duties and our chief work.”
How do we know what to say no to? It comes from that time in prayer as we give ourselves to God and ask Him to direct our paths – Prov 3:6
Henry Drommond said, “Talent develops itself in solitude.” Let’s think about a talent like piano playing. When my girls were students, they didn’t learn by going around to all the recitals and hammering out their pieces. It came from hours of practice alone on the piano bench. If we’re going to learn the gift of prayer, of Bible study, memorization, or meditating on Scripture, it will only happen in solitude. Those roots are growing while no one else sees.
Roots are for taking in. Elizabeth says that when we take in God’s Word, there’s an exchange that takes place.
Weariness is replaced by strength Weakness is replaced by power Burdens is replaced by freedom Frustrations is replaced by peace Turmoil is replaced by calm
What do you need to give to the Lord in time alone with Him so He can give you His great exchange in its place? Your roots need to take in His Word in order to receive it.
Roots are for tanking up – Roots are a reservoir – Jeremiah 17:7-8 The person who trusts in the Lord shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river. If we are tanking up on the life-giving water of God’s Word, we will…
Not be afraid of the heat. The reservoir we have stored up from the Word of God will sustain us through the fiery trials
Bear fruit faithfully. Even when our situation is rough, we won’t wither up and die because we have the reservoir of God’s Word deep in our heart that will sustain us. Psalm 84:7, 11
At times when perhaps we can’t even reach for our Bible, the well of water of God’s Word will feed us and sustain us during those difficult days.
D. Roots are for toughness – Without a network of roots, a plant will become top-heavy because it has no support. Without a root system of God’s Word in our spiritual life, we will fall over and need to be supported when hard things come.
Elizabeth shared about how shipbuilders select a tree located on the top of a high hill as a potential and future mast for their ships. They cut away all of the surrounding trees from that chosen tree. They take away the trees that would shield it from the harsh forceful winds. As time passes, the winds would blow fiercely on that tree and it grows stronger and stronger until it was finally strong enough to be the foremost mast on the ship. When we have a strong roots system, we will gain the strength we need to stand against the trials of our life.
Yes, but how?
Develop the habit of drawing near to God. Recognize that without this time, you are powerless!
Design a personal time for drawing near to God –
When?
Where?
What aids?
Dream of being a woman after God’s Own heart Write down the growth you’d like to accomplish in one year –
Read through the Bible, Read 12 books Memorize 12 verses – chapters Be mentored for 12 months Mentor a younger woman Attend a Bible study
How old will you be in 10 years? What do you want to be like at that age? Write it down. Pray about becoming that woman for God’s glory.
What kind of plant will you be in a year? In ten years? What kind of root system will you have? It’s your decision. Make today count.
It was then that I remembered this fantastic Lemon Pudding Cake! This is baked in a water bath and it allows a soft sponge cake to go to the bottom and a luscious pudding layer to go to the top, creating a heavenly dessert!
My favorite way to make this is in small ramekins., but you can bake it in one large dish. After it cools 10 minutes, you invert it onto a platter or dessert plate. I like it served warm, but you could do it ahead and serve it refrigerated.
Lemon Pudding Cake
1/3 Cup Butter, softened 1 cup sugar, divided 2 eggs, separated 2 Tbs. lemon juice 1 Tbs. grated lemon rind 1/3 cup flour 1 cup milk Cream butter and 3/4 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Blend in egg yolks, lemon juice and rind. Add flour; mix well. Stir in milk. Beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually add remaining sugar, beating until stiff peaks form. Fold into batter; pour into 8 6 oz. custard cups. Set custard cups in baking pan; pour in boiling water to 1/2-inch depth. Bake at 350 degrees, 35-40 minutes. Remove from water; cool 10 minutes. Invert on dessert dishes. Makes 8 servings. To make in a 1-quart casserole dish – Prepare recipe as directed. Pour batter into dish. Place into a pan larger than your dish and pour 1/2 inch boiling water into large pan. Bake 40-45 minutes. Cool 20 minutes. Invert onto serving plate.
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