Last weekend was a lovely event – Alli’s wedding shower at our church.  Her sister is going to be her matron of honor, so she helped with some of the planning and orchestrating of this lovely event.  In lieu of a devotional, she wrote to ladies beforehand and asked them for advice that they would want to share with Alli regarding marriage.  There was much wisdom and godly advice written and tucked away inside a notebook, for Alli’s keeping.

The whole project was a secret from me so as to be a surprise.  I loved it.  I was given the encouragement to add my advice to the notebook in the days following the shower.  Wow.  To sit and ponder what brief advice I’d give to a new bride is a little mind boggling.  I can’t write a book; this is to be a page!  Then I thought back to a proverb I had read just last week –

A “good thing?”  That’s what the Scripture says!  That doesn’t mean we’re just an object, but it indicates that how we respond as a wife is to be a good thing to our husband. The way we treat him, love him and speak to him is to be a good thing.  He might even have the response, “Wow!  It’s a good thing the Lord brought her into my life!  Where would I be without her?”

I think it’s essential, too, to see that it doesn’t say, “A wife who turns her husband into a good thing obtains favor of the Lord”!  You and I, as wives, are to focus more on being the best wife, rather than having the best husband.  If I focus on my attitudes, words and actions then I can be a good thing.  If I’m more concerned about how I can bless my husband than how he can be a blessing to me, I’m a good thing!  If I treat him the way I would want to be treated, goodness is the name of my game!

So, Alli, my advice to you is, “Be a good thing” to Andrew.  Focus on being the best wife, rather than having the best husband.  The cool thing about that is, the latter is usually always the result of the former!

May others say of each of us that are married, “You’re his wife?  Wow!  What  a good thing!”

With love,

Some days require a filling, but quick meal.  Can you relate?  Last week was a very busy one with a variety of additional things added to my normal schedule.  I was definitely looking for some help with meal prep!  

A little work ahead of time enables me to have a meal on the table in under 30 minutes.  Last week I roasted two chicken breasts in the oven and then cut the meat off the bones.  I used one for the dish I’m going to share, and the other is snugly tucked into my freezer for later use!  I can use it for pot pie, chicken salad, or soup.  Love that!

I would never have thought that I would enjoy barbecue pizza, but after having this on vacation a couple of years ago, I have definitely changed my mind!  This is soooo good!  Purchasing a can of pizza dough in the refrigerated section of the grocery store makes this a fast recipe to pull together; couple that with chicken you roasted ahead of time and it’s a snap!  These crusts were on sale at our local grocery last week for $1.25 – great deal!

 I found this recipe on Southern Living’s site – we love it!

Chicken Barbecue Pizza
Ingredients

1 small onion, chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 (10-ounce) can refrigerated pizza crust
1/2 cup hickory smoke barbecue sauce
2 (6-ounce) packages grilled boneless, skinless chicken breast strips (or one breast, roasted)
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese with peppers
Garnish: chopped fresh parsley
Hickory smoke barbecue sauce

Preparation
Sauté first 4 ingredients in hot oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat 8 to 10 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Drain well.
Unroll pizza crust; press or pat into a lightly greased 13- x 9-inch pan.
Bake crust at 400° for 12 to 14 minutes. Spread 1/2 cup barbecue sauce evenly over top of pizza crust in pan. Arrange chicken strips evenly over barbecue sauce, top with onion mixture, and sprinkle evenly with cheese.
Bake at 400° for 8 to 10 minutes or until cheese melts. Garnish, if desired. Serve with extra sauce for dipping.

I served the pizza with a tossed salad and it made a great week night meal.

I hope you’ll try this.  Let me know what you think!

With love from my country kitchen,

 Yesterday I had a fresh date…with Lysol lemon cleaner.  =)  Baseboards, walls, and cabinets all got a good wipe down.  Floors were swept and mopped, and the bathrooms cleaned, but later in the day, I looked around and this is what I saw…

Not dirt, just “stuff.”  Things that needed to be picked up and put in their rightful spot.  I took 15 mintues and whizzed around doing just that.

Sometimes your house can be clean, but have areas of clutter that can keep the nice clean home from shining through!  Why not snap a picture from your phone of your kitchen counters, your desk or the sink?  For some reason, seeing it in a picture magnifies the clutter!  Then take 15 minutes and put things away.  Clean that pile of mail off the counter, empty the dish drainer and straighten up your desktop.  I try to do that each night before I go to bed.  When you can get up in the morning to a house that is not only clean, but also mess-free, you’ll be less tempted to pull the covers back over your head!  Freshen up your home and you’ll refresh yourself!

Be refreshed,

I meet you at church or see you going to another church, and I assume you are there because you know God and love Him.  

I strike up a conversation with you on the airplane and when I ask you who Jesus is to you, you say, “The Savior.”  I assume His is your Savior and that you have trusted Him for salvation.

You come to me to talk to me about a weighty issue going on in your life.  Because I know you’re saved, I assume that you have been in the Word of God and are seeking His wisdom about what you’re facing.

You live in the south ~ in the Bible belt, and I assume you’ve heard the Gospel.

You attended a ladies’ conference where I was and I assumed you’re a pro-life supporter, and in favor of one man, one woman marriage.

Do you tend to agree with all these assumptions?  I think if we’re honest, we tend to lean towards these beliefs.  Yet there’s something very wrong with making this hypothesis – probably, more than not, they are not true!  The more people I talk with and bump into, the more I realize that: just because someone is in church doesn’t mean they are believers, anyone can answer that Jesus is a Savior without Him being theirs, Christians are not always in the Word,  our country is biblically illiterate, and pro-abortionists and gay life supporters are unafraid to mingle in a crowd different than their own.

Therefore, we need to ask deeper, harder questions.  I think we want to believe that the stranger believes everything we do and, we’re so relieved we won’t have to witness to the folks I just described, that we never push further.  It needs to be done lovingly, but we really do need to go deeper.  If we really care, we need to gently ask,

The church attender – “What is the best thing you’ve heard at a church service where you attend?”  If a person is saved, they will share something about the Gospel that saved them!

The fellow-plane passenger – Is He your Savior?  Tell me when you trusted Him.

The counselled – What have you read recently from Scripture that has helped and/or guided you in this?

The conference attendee – Where do you get your standards for your personal life?

It’s from these questions that we can take the person to The Word of God.  What we think doesn’t matter – we need to have the Bible as our authority.  

The next time you chat with someone, make sure you’re asking questions so you can know if they know your Savior.  The second question you ask them could open up the opportunity to lead them to Him!  But it will only happen if you don’t make an assumption.  Ask, don’t assume!

Now, let me ask you a question:  it would be easy to assume that because you’re here reading my blog, that you know Christ as your Savior, but are you 100% sure that you’re on your way to heaven?  On what are you basing that?  If it’s your good works, or anything you have done, then you have fallen short.  Romans 3:23  Has there ever been a time when you received what Christ did on the cross as payment for your sins?  All you have to do is call on Him to save you!  I trust that you will do that today so you can have assurance of a home in heaven and enjoy a relationship with Jesus Christ beginning today!

With love,

As I’ve stopped to think about what has been going on in our country home as of late the word that comes to mind is counting.  Yes, counting.  We’re counting the days until the wedding, we’re counting  wedding guests and cookies (a wedding ingredient).  We’re counting costs and numbers of yards of ribbon, streamers, flowers, out of town guests and beds needed.  There’s lots of counting that goes on when you’re planning a wedding!

Counting, calculating and planning are ingredients necessary for most any kind of planning.  You count the hours the meat needs to cook, and what time you should put it in the oven so it will be ready.  You count silverware for the table setting for dinner, the number of children in your child’s class who will need a birthday cupcake, or the number of dollars you can spend when you go to the grocery store.

But then there’s a whole different kind of counting – that not of numbering, but simply stopping to weigh the outcome of the decision you’re getting ready to make.  It, too, is crucial in planning.  When you’re not sure which way to go, you can be pulled between two decisions, not sure which way is best.  I learned some years ago a method to help in this kind of counting; I hope this will help you in the decision you need to make in days ahead.

Join me in counting – then we’ll all be prepared to do what is before us!

From my country porch,