Want to be refreshed today?  Take this Advice from a tree.  =)

I’d like to give credit to the author, but I don’t know who wrote this.  It’s good stuff, though!

See you in church Sunday!
Be refreshed,

Rahab leaned in as her friend cupped her hand around her mouth and said in hushed tones –

“Have you heard the news?  The Israelites have finally been freed from their slavery in Egypt.  Hundreds of thousands of them left…in the middle of the night!  They say that when they got to the Red Sea, their leader, Moses, lifted up His rod and the water parted, and those people crossed on dry land!  But when the Egyptians tried to go after them the waters crashed down on them, and not one soldier was left alive!  I heard it was their God that cause all those plagues to happen beforehand, and that He was the One that made it possible for them to cross the sea safely.  I wonder if they’ll try to come here to Jericho?  I’m afraid of what will happen to us if they do!”  Rahab sat back, wide eyed and disbelieving at first, but then nodded as she remembered other things she had heard about the Israelite’s God. 

Then one day Rahab heard a rap at her door and was greeted by two men who were looking for lodging.  It didn’t take long for her to realize that these men were not only strangers, but Israelite men, looking for a safe haven where they might stay.  She was in awe of these people, and their God, and it was without hesitation that she ushered them inside, away from the onlookers on the street.  She was risking her life to hide these men on the roof, under the flax that was piled high on top of them.  They were safe from the spears of the men who had heard of them coming to Rahab’s door; safe from an untimely death.

After the men of Jericho had followed Rahab’s faulty information and went looking for the spies elsewhere, Rahab rushed to the rooftop to warn God’s men.  Joshua 2:9-11 says, She said unto the men,

I know that the LORD hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you. For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites, that were on the other side Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed. And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you: for the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.

Because of what Rahab had heard, she put her faith in the one true God!  The news that had travelled to her ears melted her heart for the Lord!  What power a testimony of God’s work can have on others!

What have others heard about your life recently?  Could they say,  “Wow, I heard what God did for you!”? Would your testimony of God’s work turn their heart to belief?  We can’t take the credit for anything that happens to us!  Feeling better after being sick, provision of a financial need, the return of a wandering sinner, securing something you’ve needed, an unsuspected blessing…these are all from God’s hand and we must give Him the credit, and we must tell others about it!

God has recently (last week) answered two prayer requests that have been heavy burdens on my heart.  He alone is the One worthy of praise!  I did nothing to cause it to happen!  I can tell you, dear friend, that God hears you when you pray!  That’s my testimony today!

What have others heard about God from you?  Don’t be ashamed to share it!

With love,

It’s amazing how a simple ingredient has the ability to refresh.  Add a scarf to a plain black dress, and instantly an outfit is improved.  Add a little greenery on a book shelf and it looks finished.

The same is true in foods.  Sometimes sprucing up a plain ingredient can really add pizazz to a meal.  The ingredient I’m thinking about today is Paula Deen’s favorite staple.  Yep, it’s butter.  Though I try to keep a handle on the amount I use, so I don’t end up with handles around me, it is a really great additive to plain foods.  But I’m not talking about just plain butter…

The Chop House Restaurant serves a small pork chop with some kind of herbed butter on top.  It is soooo good, and it takes a very simple piece of meat to the next level.  Recently while looking through my herb cookbook, I found a recipe for Rosemary Butter and had to give it a try.  I browned up pork chops and popped a little spoon of my seasoned butter on it and I was in heaven!  The recipe also suggests using it on fresh vegetables or broiled or grilled chicken.  I had a little extra and popped some inside my baked potato.  Oh, yes.  It was yummy!

Here’s the recipe.  It makes lots, but you could cut the recipe in half or fourths, which is what I did.

Rosemary Butter

Try this on baked or boiled chicken, boiled new potatoes or fresh garden vegetables

1 C butter, softened
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 T chopped fresh rosemary, or 2 tsp dried
1 T chopped fresh parsley
2 tsp grated lemon peel
Salt and pepper


Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl. Makes 1 cup.


Try an herbed butter to a plain food and see what it does.  You’ll be licking your fingers!

See you in church!

Be refreshed,

It never happened before and it hasn’t happened since, but boy did I enjoy it while I could! There was a short period of time that I had a maid!  You didn’t know pastor’s made that kind of money, did you?  Well, trust me, at the time that I had this luxury it was not due to a cushy bank account!  I had just given birth to our youngest daughter and had my hands very full.  I was homeschooling my second grader, nursing a baby who took 15 minute naps, trying to keep the housework up, do the mounds of laundry (which included cloth diapers!) and cook meals for my family of four.  Needless to say, I was exhausted.  Some of you are in the midst of all that and more and you understand and feel my pain. 

I have a mother who is very compassionate, and when she realized all that was going on in my world, she insisted on paying for me to have a maid to come in and take care of me and our home for two weeks.  Wasn’t that nice of her?!  (It goes way beyond nice, but those are the terms our family uses for a sweet gesture!)  It was my responsibility to “hire” someone.  I felt like Lucy did when she was interviewing Mrs. Porter!  I’d heard that a woman that was in our church had been a professional maid, so I took her at her word and hired her to come to my home. 

It turns out she’d been a professional cleaner – not a maid, and there is a difference.  She sure did make my house shine! However, when my mom called and asked me what she fixed me for lunch, I had to fess up that cooking was not on my maid’s list.  So, I had a maid, yet still fixed my own lunches. But hey, I felt very blessed to be a young wife, and new mommy having a personal maid come and clean my little parsonage!

Was there ever a time when you got treated with something really special?

From my parsonage window,

 
P.S.  In answer to the question I posed yesterday, I’d choose the roast beef I fixed myself.  I’d end up eating it while standing at the kitchen counter anyway.  I’d nibble while working on the bank statement or next week’s menu, like I often do when I’m home alone.    I think for most of us, it’s easier to serve than to be served.

Less than ninety-eight cents!  That’s all it cost me to freshen up two of my favorite pictures!  (Sorry for posting this, Whitney and Alli!)  I bought a can of spray paint, removed the gold frames, let ’em have it with the black paint can, and popped them back in place.

For my next victim project, I went to the front porch and removed the gold-ish numbers from beside the front door and painted them too.  So much better! It’s Ahhhh-mazing what a little paint can do!


Before



After!





I remembered to take the “before” picture after I’d removed the 2 and the 0! But you get the idea.



• Lamp base
• Chair
• Vase
• Mirror frame
• Wooden crate
• Bird cage
• Shelf
• Candle holders
• Napkin rings

Happy painting!!!!

It was a chore, but I did manage to make myself purchase a splurge at the grocery store.  Truth be told, my husband picked this out for me.  He knows me so well!  I’m going to tuck it away and save it to look at during an upcoming trip.  Can’t wait!

See you in church Sunday!

Be refreshed,