The Word of God is my favorite Book.  Oh, how I love it.  My Bible is a treasure to me.  Its worn, marked up pages and loose binding are all precious, and I wouldn’t take  a million dollars for it. I mean it.

Now, let me tell you about my second favorite book.  It’s my prayer Journal.  I began using this almost ten years ago.  It has been to the “hospital” many times.  I’ve had to make new pages and add paper reinforcers.  I’ve had to remove pages to make room for more requests, more answers to prayer, and more notes from my morning Bible reading.

When I look at its pages and see the check marks, which reveal an answer to prayer, my heart leaps with gratitude and joy at my wonderful God.  It’s a reminder to me that God answers prayer!  It keeps me coming back day after day, moment by moment to cry out to the Lord for the burdens and needs in my life and the lives of others I know.

Corrie Ten Boom referred to prayer as our steering wheel.  I’ve likened my prayer journal to a car.  Without the car, the steering wheel wouldn’t have direction or a place to go! Of course you can pray without a journal, but in my experience, before I began a serious prayer journal, I prayed, but I really didn’t have a prayer life. A life is the period of existence, activity, or effectiveness of something inanimate, and without the direction of my journal, my prayer life really wasn’t that effective.

Using the imagery of a car, let me explain how a prayer journal can help your prayer life.

It’s great to have a glove box (pocket) at the front in order to hold verses of Scripture that you can pray.

The radio being on, (you singing a song of praise) is a great way to start your time alone with God.

Every car needs a clean windshield (heart), and it’s helpful to have windshield cleaning fluid (a time of confession of sin) ready to do the job necessary to have a clean heart..

It’s time to start the engine (petitioning) when you specifically ask God for the requests before you.  Have a seat for everyone (a different page for each family member).  List their needs for each day of the week.

What a blessing it is to look in your rear view mirror (at the past) and see how God has answered your prayers!  Be sure to make a check mark beside that request and write how God took care of that request.  It will increase your faith and cause you to pray more fervently in the future!

If you have a trunk (back pocket) in your binder, put your prayer bulletin there, missionary prayer cards, or other tools that will help you pray more specifically.

Park the car (sit still and alone) while you pray.  Don’t let the engine idle (don’t have distractions around you).  Be all there so you can pray and then listen to God.

Rosalind Goforth, missionary to China in the late 1800’s wrote a book, How I Know God Answers Prayer.  She had to have a method of recording His answers in order to write a book like this.  Could you write a whole book of how God has been at work while you’ve prayed?  It will only happen as you record it, otherwise you will forget.

I challenge you to get a journal of some model (kind) started.  See how it will change your prayer life!

Do you use a journal when you pray?  What’s keeping you from starting one?

With love,

A Peek Into My Life This Week

These were her inspiration.

 I love making my own cards because then it says exactly what is in my heart!

Another day this week, I took time to update my chalkboard.

It’s so much fun to change it each season!

And isn’t this verse soooo true?!  God is so good to each of us!

What blessings are flowing out of your cup today?  You’re one of mine!  Thanks for stopping by to read!

Have a cup of something hot and yummy and count your blessings!

With love from my country porch,

When Pork Loins went on sale for $1.99 a pound at Kroger recently, I snagged one to put in my freezer for Sunday dinner and company!  There are several great things about serving a Pork Loin on Sunday after church – 

Pork Tenderloin with Dijon Cranberry Sauce
Ingredients

Pork:
1/2 cup Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 (1-pound) pork tenderloins, trimmed
1 tablespoon olive oil
Sauce:
1 1/2 cups whole-berry cranberry sauce
2 teaspoons chopped fresh tarragon
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Preparation

To prepare pork, combine first 3 ingredients in a large zip-top plastic bag. Add pork; seal and marinate in refrigerator 8 hours, turning bag occasionally.

Preheat oven to 400°. (I did it at 350)

Remove pork from bag, discarding marinade.

Heat oil in a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add pork; cook 4 minutes, browning on all sides. Place pan in oven; ( I covered it with foil) cook at 400° (350)  until thermometer registers 155°. Remove from heat; let stand 5 minutes. Cut pork into 1/4-inch slices; keep warm.

To prepare sauce, combine cranberry sauce and remaining ingredients in a small saucepan; cook over medium heat 5 minutes or until thoroughly heated, stirring occasionally. Serve sauce with pork.

The Cranberry Sauce was wonderful with the meat!

The pan juices looked like chocolate and tasted even better when I made a gravy using it!  Yummy!

Let me give yo another tip I learned from my sweet friend, Sue.  Warm your platters and bowls before putting the food into them.  It will keep the food warm longer.  I recently learned that my microwave has a plate warming setting!  I just put the dishes in there for a couple minutes and it’s perfectly warm to receive the hot food!

Does your microwave have a plate warmer?  Mine was on the “Reheat” setting.  I hit “reheat” then 6.  Voila!  

With love from my country kitchen,

If you keep your ears open for long, you’ll hear someone say how expensive groceries are getting. Why?  Because it’s true!  So, we have to shop smart.  Even if you’re not a coupon-er, you can do yourself a favor and help your grocery bill by shopping and stocking up during the sale cycles.

(Most) All foods go on sale at different times during the year.  Right now, with the holiday approaching, baking items ~ pie fillings, evaporated and sweetened condensed milk, chocolate chips, cake mixes, sugars, and the like will be on sale.  Also, holiday food items like turkey, ham, dressing mixes, whipped toppings, and canned vegetables will be marked down to draw in holiday cooks.  Canned soups – a cold weather food, are also marked down right now.

Soooo, freshen up your pantry AND your pocket book by stocking up, if you’re able.  I went to Kroger yesterday and spent a couple weeks worth of my grocery budget to fill my pantry FULL!  I won’t have to shop again, except for perishables, for a very long time.  We eat soups for lunch a lot.  Campbell’s chunky soups were $1.  That’s a really cheap lunch!  Pillsbury Cake mixes were $.50!  Green Giant vegetables, Campbell’s creams soups and canned tomatoes were also fifty cents. I use Whole Berry Cranberry sauce for a vinaigrette dressing.  It’s expensive in February, but it’s marked down in November!   I saved a total of $89 by buying during the sale cycle!

While I was at it,  I reorganized my pantry so I can find everything easily.  This is a part of the homeyness we talked about yesterday.

I love these little chalkboard signs. They help me to keep things organized in my pantry.

Knowing that the pantry is full and ready for a cold snap or a snowy weekend when you’re snowed in, will bring no worries for your household!  Hmmm, sounds like Proverbs 31, doesn’t it?  It’s not about hoarding, but be prepared and stocking up so you can wisely use the funds the Lord provides.  Even if you can’t fill your pantry, just buy a can or two extra so you’ll save on next week’s groceries.

So freshen up your Friday by knowing that what you need to cook with is ready in your cupboards.  You will have saved money and time…and just think of all the good meals you’ll get to share with others!

Be refreshed,

The year was 1978 and I was a freshman in college.  Being a Kentucky resident, my new college in South Carolina put too many miles between me and home.  Oh, the homesickness that would flood over me during that first semester!  As Christmas neared, I could hardly wait to put my feet inside the door of our house!

I traveled home with a car full of college students, the rest of whom were headed farther north, but were happy to drop me off on their way.  I’ll never forget driving up the long gravel drive to our country home situated on five acres.  Would the car never stop so I could get out?!  It finally did, and when I stepped inside the door of my home, my travel companions on my heels, I was greeted with the warmth of that place and the reasons I had missed being here.  Oh, yes, the temperature was toasty inside, but the warmth didn’t come from the fireplace or thermostat – it came from the atmosphere my mom had created.  Twinkly lights, fragrances of food – warm hot chocolate and treats were awaiting us.  I could have cried right there on the spot (maybe I did!), and the very memory of it today brings tears to my eyes.  That kind of warmth is never matched anywhere else but…home.

Who creates that kind of atmosphere and how do they accomplish it?  I believe God gave that responsibility to us, as women.  There may be some men who have that kind of touch, but primarily I believe God put it in our nurturing nature to make home a nesting place of warmth and invitation.

                                                                                                                               ~ Ellie Rodriguez