God’s Word About Pets

October 25, 2016October 24, 2016 RefreshHer2 Comments

I recently purchased the little journal pictured here. Why? Because I have always been a cat lover. How about you? Are dogs your best friend?

Dog, cat, hamster, rabbit or horse – whatever your pet is, they can sure get inside our hearts, can’t they?

I’ll never forget the day we had to take our nearly 20 year-old Fluffy to the vet because her life was no longer livable. Arthritis had taken her ability to stand up, and we knew at that moment that her life was at its end.

We loved her. Our girls had grown up with her, and even though she had the typical snooty Persian cat personality, she had endeared herself to all of us.

We kissed her. We cried. We said our goodbyes, and then we buried her in our back yard on the hill. We missed her much in the days to follow, but we had to remind ourselves that she had been treated well, and lived the best kind of life for a cat! Trust me!

I’ve recently seen and heard so many comments about pets that die, that I just had to write a post about dealing with the death of a pet. I can do it because:

I’m a cat LOVER
I’ve had a pet that I loved die – (Several)

I know what it’s like to hurt and cry over their death.

Better than either one of the two reasons above, I also know who Created my pets. He is also my Creator and yours. It’s the God of this universe. He made the animals on Day 6 and we read that in Genesis 1:25

And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

In Genesis 2:7 we read:

And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

You could also read Matthew 16:26 or Mark 8:36.

God gave man something that He did not give the animals – a living soul – a soul that would live forever. Nowhere in the Bible do you read that animals live forever. When an animal dies, its life is over. It isn’t reincarnated as a new pet. Its spirit doesn’t come back to be with you. We have no further contact with a dead animal.

What do we have, then?

We do have the memories, thanks to a God who allows us to remember!
We do have the knowledge that we cared for them and treated them with the best love and care.
We do have a God who cares for the animals.
- Consider Matthew 6:26 – Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them.
  Who, but a loving God would provide for the animals of the wild? He made them, He cares for them, and He feeds them!
We do have a God who cares even more for us!
- Matt. 6:26b – Are ye not much better than they? Christ came to die for people because He loves us even more than the animals.
- God cares when your heart is sorrowful. Take your grief to Him in prayer and allow Him to comfort you. I say this lovingly – there’s no use to pray to your animal or talk to them. We never read in Scripture that they can send us messages or come back as another animal. They’re gone, but God loves you and is there to hear your prayer. I Peter 5:7

God loves you so much, in fact, that He sent Christ to die for you! He gave man dominion over the animals, and He says that we are even better than them. We have more value because we have an eternal soul that will live forever somewhere, and Christ died so that you and I could have a relationship with Him and live in heaven with Him forever.

The Truth of God’s Word is refreshing, isn’t it? It reminds me that pets were God’s creation and idea! How kind!

It also reminds me that God cares when I hurt, but He will comfort. How loving!

I also learn that He sacrificed His Son for me! How gracious!

Let’s keep our focus on eternal things and make people more important than pets, and when our hearts are missing them, let’s remind ourselves of these truths that will comfort us.

Then be looking for another pet to come into your home and give it the cozy spot on your bed, just like your other kitty had…you’ll end up loving him, too. Just give yourself a little time.

Thankful for Truth,

Oh-So Moist Pumpkin Muffins

October 24, 2016October 22, 2016 RefreshHer2 Comments

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Saturday afternoon found me happily not busy after a very busy week. It was a very cool fall day, and I was home alone. My mind went to one of my favorite activities – baking. I needed to have something for Sunday breakfast, and also wanted to send something over to my neighbors. So, I decided to venture out and try a new Pumpkin Muffin recipe! I have my old standby that I still love, but, like anything else, I wanted to try something new!

The recipe I found calls for Coconut oil, which I’ve just started using this year. It doesn’t make the muffin taste like coconut – it just gives a great texture! Don’t be afraid to try it, but if you don’t have any or don’t want to use it, you can use vegetable oil instead. If you’ve ever had a dry muffin, you know you never want to go there. ever.again. But these are Oh-SO MOIST!

My husband came home when these had just cooled. When he’s home, he really watches his sweet/bread intake, but he ate four of the little ones I baked without blinking an eye! That’s when I knew I needed to share this recipe and my tweaks with you!

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Oh-So Moist Pumpkin Muffins
Makes about 18 Regular sized muffins

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon Pumpkin Pie spice
2 eggs
1 15 ounce can pure pumpkin puree
1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Coarse sugar crystals – optional

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Spray muffin pan with cooking spray.
Measure out the flour, sugars, baking soda, salt and spices in a medium bowl and whisk together. Set aside.
In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, pumpkin puree, coconut oil and vanilla extract.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir together. Do not over mix, just stir until all the dry ingredients are mixed in completely.

I use an ice cream scoop to distribute the batter into each muffin cup. They will be nearly full. This will help give your muffins a nice rounded top. Sprinkle with sugar crystals for a nice little crunch on top.
Bake your muffins for 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

pumpkin-4 — I used autumn colored sugar crystals – that’s why there’s green and red dots on top!

I like putting these in the muffin tin, rather than papers because it also made the edges of the muffins a little crispy – which we love.

I hope you’ll try these if you get a little time in the kitchen this week (they don’t take long at all!). Like me, you may be replacing your “standby recipe” with this one!!!

With love from my country kitchen,

baking · birthday · main dish · memories

Friday Favorites -My Old Kentucky Home

October 21, 2016October 20, 2016 RefreshHer2 Comments

Who doesn’t love a marker birthday celebration that includes a destination gathering, a train ride, family time, delicious food and shopping? All that encapsulated last weekend for us! We celebrated my mom’s 80th birthday a few months early, since January is typically icy and cold. What fun we had!

We rode the Kentucky dinner train in Bardstown, Kentucky. Afterwards we shopped in the adorable downtown. Below you’ll see the whole trip.

All aboard!!!!

The drive from my parent’s home to Bardstown had lots of beauty – a castle, a bridge PAINTED on the side of a building, and of course, the horse farms!

I love my parents dearly, and these pictures show how special they are, and how much they love each other. My mom does NOT look 80, and my dad is so handsome in his blue jeans and jacket! If parents could get the “cutest couple award” they would win in my book!

The food was very good! I had the Kentucky Hot Brown and Kentucky Derby Pie (it seemed like the obvious choice when riding My Old KY Dinner Train!). My husband said he definitely made the right choice with the Pot Roast dinner.

The folks doing the dinner graciously adorned my mom’s Apple Dumpling with a candle so we could sing to her! I love this shot of her blowing out her candle.

My husband and I ate with my sister, Sharee and her husband and enjoyed time to visit as we journeyed down the track and ate lunch. My twin and her husband were at my parent’s table, but we were just across the aisle, so visiting with them was no problem!

This is in downtown Bardstown – a city named one of the South’s best small towns by Southern Living Magazine! One boutique, Shaq and Coco was so much fun to shop in! I found a pair of $125 boots for $25! The whole downtown was quaint and inviting!

When we left Kentucky and headed home, we had all kinds of gorgeous views as you’ll see below. We even saw an outdoor wedding taking place! We had all kinds of fun making our way home – turning up country roads just “to see what’s back there!”

Before we moved to Tennessee nearly 16 years ago, I wanted to move back to Kentucky so badly. The central area is just so beautiful. But I am happy as can be where we are and I still get to go visit often and enjoy all the beauty and southern charm of Kentucky. The best part is that my family lives there, so it will always be “My Old Kentucky Home.”

This weekend is another kind of celebration and we’re gearing up in a big way! I’ll tell you about it next week! In the meantime, tell me what you did last week that was memorable and refreshing to you!

Stay refreshed,

Praise · Speech

How Can I Praise During Trials?

October 19, 2016October 18, 2016 RefreshHer8 Comments

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You bump into a friend you haven’t seen in a long time while your’re out getting groceries and you know the question that is coming your way…

How are you doing?

If you say, “Fine!” you know you’ll be lying, but you just read Scripture that says that everything that has breath should praise the Lord!

You may be wondering:

How can I give praise to God during trials?

Let’s look at Scripture for our answer.

In Psalm 61, David begins with crying and sorrow. Then he points his heart towards His Rock. He doesn’t just dwell on the sorrow, he looks to the One who can help. Then he ends this short psalm with praise to the Lord. He says, “You, oh God heard my vows and have given me a godly heritage! So will I sing praise unto thy name forever that I may daily perform my vow.

By the end of the psalm it almost seems that he’s forgotten his sorrow, and so do his readers! What a great example.

An example from the New Testament is Paul in II Corinthians 12:7-10. He tells about the “messenger from Satan” that was given to buffet him, lest he should be exalted. He was given some physical issue that was troublesome. He prayed three times that God would remove it, but God told Paul that his grace would be sufficient to bear it. Now how does he respond? He doesn’t complain or criticize God. Instead he says,

Most gladly will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest on me.

He points to the sufficiency of his God!

So you and I, when going through hardship, can indeed share the difficulty to someone who asks, but we must quickly then shift the focus off ourselves onto Christ.

I have a special lady in my life who has endured suffering for about six years now. She was so active before her illness took her down! Now she is pretty much confined to home, yet when anyone visits with her, she never dwells on her physical limitations! Instead she pulls out her journal and begins to share all the things God has recently taught her while she’s been still! You cannot be in her presence without knowing that she loves the Lord! There’s no denying she’s suffering, but her focus is on the goodness of her God in the midst of her trouble.

She is like the psalmist who said in Psalm 119:71 –

It is good for me that I have been afflicted that I might learn thy statutes.

He shared that he had an afflictions, but that he’d learned from God’s Word!

So, my friend, here is the question and my answer:

How can I share my burden and still give praise to God?

Share the burden or trial, but then on its heels,

tell what God has done for you during this time,

or how He has ministered to you, provided for you,

or what He has taught you through your trial.

That is giving praise to God!

Follow that example, and you’ll be honest, but also obeying Psalm 150:6!

So…How are you today? I’d love to hear!

Keep praising,

Christian Life · Speech · worry

Praise More!

October 18, 2016October 18, 2016 RefreshHer1 Comment

Recently while my husband was out running, he received a phone call that he had to take. Slowing his pace to a walk, he hit the “answer” button, then proceeded to explain to the caller the reason for his hard breathing. The caller said, “I knew you were running the second you answered; I heard it in your breath!”

As he relayed that story to me, I wondered, “what do people hear when I speak?”

Psalm 150:6 says,

“Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!”

When I pick up the phone and talk to my husband, does he hear praise to the Lord coming from my lips?

When I talk to my children, are they hearing praise?

What does the cashier,

the waitress, or

my neighbor hear when I speak?

Is my breath consistently praising the Lord?

No, not always. Sometimes those I speak to hear criticism, worry, fear or complaint instead. I was convicted.

The God Who created you and me gives us every breath we breathe. Why do we not use that breath to praise Him? I’ve come to this conclusion –

I need to praise more and criticize less.
I must bless the Lord more and complain less.
I have to praise more and worry less.

How would you fill in this blank?

I need to praise more and _______________ less.

Now, turn that phrase into a prayer.

“Lord, thank you for every breath you give me. Help me to praise you more and _______ less!”

What could you praise the Lord for today?

With praise to my God,