Do you have a pressure cooker?  What do you like to cook with it?  Has this helped you be less fearful to pull yours out of the cabinet and put it to use?  What will you try?

From my parsonage windows,

Yesterday was a day for remembering.  It was a happy remembrance – of God’s grace, His perfect plan for my life, and for His Word that is always sufficient.  It was a day of remembering 25 years ago when our daughter Ashley was delivered still-born.  Wow.  Twenty-five years.

I told someone recently that I’m still learning things from that trial.  Now that it’s been so many years, I can see a little clearer why the Lord may have allowed that to happen.  That isn’t always necessary, but sometimes, in His grace, God allows us to understand the purpose. 

This trial taught me some really valuable spiritual lessons – things like:

• God’s Word will always be my best comfort. 
• It is always sufficient for every need of my life.
• God loves me and will never forsake me – even when He allows difficult personal situations to happen to me and my family.
• Trials are good for me, for they propel me towards God.
• Though I am moved in trials, God never is; therefore He can be my Strong Tower.
• My heart will heal with God’s help, and I will not always carry the grief I feel during the trial.
• God wants to use my trials to bring glory to Himself.

Personally I learned some important truths:

• My husband really loves me.  He used this trial to draw us together, rather than apart, as it does many couples.
• Many times the best thing to do to comfort a person who is grieving is to say nothing, but only show love and weep with them in their grief.
• Time does heal the wound of sorrow, but the memory sweetens and remains.

My husband and I don’t make a big issue each year of the memory of our loss, but we share it together in a special way that continues to knit our hearts to one another and the Lord.  Yesterday, I was so blessed to be pampered by him in order to remember Ashley and make it a special day.  He took me to lunch at a fun place, then he delivered me to the spa at Carnegie Hotel where he’d made an appointment for me to have a manicure.  How thoughtful is that?!

Austin Springs spa is a really special place.  They took me to the Relaxation Area to wait for my appointment.  It was dim, quiet, and yes, relaxing.

A blessing from this visit was that I shared with the manicurist why my husband had sent me there.  I had the opportunity to talk with her about God’s grace and the joy of heaven.  Again, another opportunity to serve, due to the trial!

Post manicure pose with a long-stemmed white rose (given by the spa when I left), and, of course, still slightly wet nails.

I’m thankful I’ll see Ashley some day!  But until then, my heart will go on singing.  Until then, with joy I’ll carry on…

What trial in your life has taught you the most about your God?

With love,

Sometimes plans have to be changed.  That’s why it’s good to have a pantry that’s filled with items  like cream soups and rice that will help in a pinch.  I switched my Sunday menu to allow for a couple more people.  I bought a package of chicken breasts on sale and a bag of carrots (also marked down!), but I had all the other ingredients to make Countryside Chicken Bake.  I’ve shared the recipe before, but never a picture of the dish.  I like to know what it’s going to look like, don’t you?  So here’s the finished dish…

This is one of those comfort food kind of casseroles with chicken, rice, carrots and cream of mushroom soup.  The gravy base  has sour cream and milk added to it.  The rice and “gravy” part really flavors the chicken nicely. 

What’s not to like about French Bread?  It’s good so many different ways.  Our Ingles store often has it buy one get one free, which makes a loaf less than a dollar!  Yesterday’s bread was simply French Bread with a cheesy topping added to the already great loaf of bread!  I found this in my 1988 Southern Living cookbook.  Everyone really liked it, and it was oh, so, simple!

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 325°.
2. To prepare crust, lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and 1/4 cup sugar in a food processor; pulse 2 times or until combined. Add butter; pulse 10 times or until mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in pecans. Firmly press mixture into bottom of a 13 x 9–inch baking pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 325° for 20 minutes or until crust is lightly browned. Cool completely.
3. To prepare filling, place 1 cup sugar and cream cheeses in a medium bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until fluffy. Fold in half of whipped topping. Spread cream cheese mixture on cooled crust. Cover loosely; refrigerate 1 hour.
4. Combine milk and pudding mix in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed for 2 minutes. Cover and refrigerate 1 hour or until pudding is set. Spread the pudding mixture over cream cheese layer. Spread remaining half of thawed whipped topping over pudding layer. Cover and chill for 30 minutes. Sprinkle with cocoa, if desired. Cut into 15 pieces

I love Sunday dinner at home!  After all the hard work on Saturday (and it is hard work, but worth it!), it’s great to come home after church to a delicous meal and great fellowship. 

Did you cook at home this Sunday?  What did you preapre?

From my parsonage kitchen,

P. S. On Wednesday’s Peek Inside the Parsonage, I will be posting a video I made on using a Pressure Cooker.  Be sure to check it out!

These are called “Raspberry Strippers” simply because they are baked in long logs and then cut into strips.  The recipe comes from my Cooking Light site that I love!  You can, of course, use any flavor of jam that you like.  I made Apricot and they were yummy!

They are drizzled with a confectionery sugar glaze after coming out of the oven, then they’re sliced and left to cool ten minutes (if you can wait that long!)

Photo from Cooking Light’s site

Ingredients

Preparation

These have moved to the front of my “Favorite” list!  Make up a batch and grab a cup of coffee or a glass of milk!   What a way to end the week! 

What is your favorite cookie?

Be refreshed,

I wake up feeling good.  No headaches lurking, no knee pain or other twangs here or there that are common to a woman reaching her mid-50’s.  It’s a beautiful day – even unseasonably cool for late June.  I have plans to walk with my husband before anything else today – partly because we just want to take advantage of the temperature, and partly to get out there before our road gets too busy.

Shoes are laced and we head out the door and I have this uneasiness about me.  I can’t put my finger on it.  We walk silently and then my husband looks at me and asks if I’m okay.  If I’m quiet, he gets suspicious (kind of sad, really!).  In answer to his question, I answer, “I’m good.”  He senses my uneasiness, I realize.  We have a great walk – well, he jogs most of the way while I walk briskly and review my memory verses.

When we arrive home, the coffee is waiting for us, steamy and strong.  I pour a cup and head back to my quiet place.  Caffeine in one hand, Bible in my lap, I begin to read my daily reading.  Today I’m in Leviticus 11.  I’m pitying the poor folk that were under all these laws, and then I come to verses 44 and 45.

For I am the Lord your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. For I am the Lord that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.

It was at that moment that the Holy Spirit put His finger on my “uneasiness” I had felt earlier.  The truer name for it is my Old Sin Nature.  That nature was tired and grumpy.  No, it was sinful!  Any time I am not acting, responding, or speaking in a holy manner (without sin), I am letting my old sin nature take over.  I am anything but holy!

It’s easy to get into a routine of being saved; doing all the things Christians do, and forget about living a holy life.  We can be good enough, but we’re not holy.  We can do nice things, but we’re not holy.  We can avoid saying sinful words, but we’re not holy. 

I find my self now asking questions like, “Is this a holy response? Was that a holy answer?  Is my motive holy?”  We must think of Christ when we say “holy.”  “Am I imitating Him in each of these areas?”  If not, then I am not holy.

One Day we will no longer fight our sinful flesh (hallelujah!), but until then, it would do us all well to ask the Spirit of God to make a careful inspection and reveal to us whether we’re being holy, or allowing our sin nature to preside instead!  It is a battle we can win, with God’s help!

With love,