I’m going to highlight a dish I’ve already shared for three reasons:

1. We got home late last night! =)
2. It’s a great 30 minute (or less!) meal.
3. This dish is so good, it’s worthy of being repeated!

We always buy fresh local shrimp when we go to the beach so we can have this Barbecue Shrimp.  The shrimp we buy are huge  (kind of an oxymoron, isn’t it?)  =)  There’s nothing “barbecued” about it – at least not for a southern barbecue point of view. So I’ve renamed it, “Cherry Grove Shrimp” because that’s where we stay, and that’s where I fix this great meal! I found the recipe at Cooking Light.

All that sauce in the bottom of the bowl is soaked up with toasted French Bread you serve with it.  Mmmm!

Cherry Grove Shrimp

1/2 cup fat-free Caesar dressing

1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce

2 tablespoons butter or stick margarine

1 tablespoon dried oregano

1 tablespoon paprika

1 tablespoon dried rosemary

1 tablespoon dried thyme

1 1/2 teaspoons black pepper

1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce

5 bay leaves

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 pounds large shrimp

1/3 cup dry white wine (I used chicken broth)

10 (1-ounce) slices French bread baguette

10 lemon wedges

Preparation

Combine the first 11 ingredients in a large nonstick skillet; bring to a boil. Add shrimp, and cook 7 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add wine, and cook 1 minute or until shrimp are done. Serve with bread and lemon wedges. 

Oh, I want to go back for more shrimp! (I miss the ocean, too!)  It was a great time.  We’ve come home rested and refreshed!

What was cooking in your kitchen this week?

From my parsonage kitchen,

Here’s the finished pie…

So, what do you think?  Did you learn anything or get inspired?  I pray so!

Thanks for taking time to stop in!

 

So, it ends up that I really did have what I needed for my Lemon bars.  No need to fret. 

That reminds me that whenever the Lord calls us to do something for Him, we will have everything we need!  Of course I’m not talking about sugar and flour, but abilities.  When we’re ready to quit and run for it because we’re sure we’re clean out of that ability or gift, when need to stop and remember that when the Lord calls, He equips.  There are so many examples of this in Scripture – from Moses to Paul.  Your spiritual pantry will have everything you need to do what He has led you to do – teach a class, give a testimony, share the Gospel or lead a group of stubborn people!  Don’t quit!  Watch how the Lord will provide everything you need – even without Google!

How have you seen the Lord equip you when you didn’t think you had what was necessary to do a difficult task?

With love,

Since we’re not in the parsonage this week, I thought I’d give you a peek today at a little of our vacation. 

For the most part, while on family vacation, we go away to lay low, play it easy and rest.  That doesn’t necessarily mean sleeping in, however.  When I’m at the ocean, I’m usually up early because I love to walk the beach in the early morning.  Here’s what I saw yesterday around 7:00 am:

Those clouds cleared away before I got back to our condo and it was absolutely beautiful the rest of the day!  We rested and read here for most of the day – right beside the Lazy River.  It is appropriately named! 

I finished my book, Lost December, while I was sitting here.    I have to tell you, the story was good.  It shared the events of a young man who had it all, but foolishly spent up his inheritance by bad choices and wrong associations.  He and his friends were looking for the meaning of life, but never found it.  As I read the book, I kept waiting for someone to give this young man and his friends the Gospel, and was so disappointed that that never happened!  It had a fairy tale kind of ending, but the young man never learned the meaning of life, that God sent His Son, Jesus Christ to die for His sins to give him a relationship with the Lord, and also a home in heaven.  How sad that the opportunity was missed.  But wait…

This was a reminder to me of how many times I have had people around me that needed to hear the Gospel, yet I didn’t take the opportunity to share it with them.  A believer who was watching from a distance would shake their head and say, “what a shame that she didn’t share the truth.”  So, thank you, Richard Evans, for a great story that taught me a needed lesson.

How do you approach people with the good news of the Gospel?

Enjoying our vacation outside the parsonage windows,

Denise

Did you ever wonder why we need a break from our busyness, even from ministry?  I read this verse last weekend in my Bible reading – Isaiah 58:11 And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. 

What is the necessity of having a rest?  Because we all experience times of drought; of dryness. This verse in Isaiah reminds me that it isn’t a question if we might have a drought, but that the Lord will guide us and satisfy us when we do experience one. 

In a real drought there is a lack of water.  The Word of God is Living Water.  On this time away, it is crucial that I take in healthy doses of the Bible.  Vacation is not a time to refrain from our daily intake of the Word, but to enjoy the opportunities to take in greater doses of it. 

Even if you don’t have the opportunity to go on a vacation, if you’re feeling spiritually dry, don’t neglect the one Source that you need the most – the Word of God.  Take a Saturday or Sunday afternoon and get alone with the Lord and allow Him to “water your garden and make your springs to fail not.”

Spiritual Droughts come, but they don’t have to stay.  Get refreshed once again with an intake of God’s Word.

Something else I am doing this week, is reading some great books.  I just started a book by Richard Paul Evans, (author of The Christmas Box), entitled Lost December  It’s a story of a prodigal son, and is so riveting I can hardly put it down.  I’m half way through it, and I can’t wait to get back to it! The reminder to be grateful for the smallest blessings, and also the need to share the Gospel with poor, desperate people are two thoughts that have stirred my heart already.   

Thanking God for the fresh waters in my spring,