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A Peek Inside the Parsonage

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This week is Bible Conference at Bob Jones University, and I’m excited that we got to go spend yesterday there.  This school is not perfect, of course, but it has been greatly used to prepare young people to serve God in whatever capacity He has for them.

When I was in high school, I had the privilege of visiting BJU for their Thanksgiving festivities.  What I saw and heard in the classrooms, the chapel, and from the students, truly impacted my heart.  I loved it.  However, I had my own plans – I was going to a “Christian” nursing school near home.  I’d had that all in place for years!  It was a great plan, too, or so I thought!

After visiting BJU, I came home and made my official first visit to the nursing school where I’d hoped to attend.  I stayed on campus for a weekend and was aghast at what I experienced.  Showing me the Prayer room at the end of the dormitory hall, my roommates assured me that, “No one ever uses this room!”  While I was listening to a professor give a lecture, my ears stung as he punctuated his sentences with profanity.  I’ll never forget getting into my car and crying all the way home.  If there was ever a “shut door” this was certainly one!  There was no doubt in my heart that this was not the school the Lord wanted me to attend.  Visiting this place after going to BJU, I had something to compare it to, and this was surely lacking!

I won’t go into the details, but the Lord did open up the door for me to go to Bob Jones University in His perfect timing.  It was a blessing, beyond my understanding to sit under the instruction of truly godly men and women.  It was there that the Lord continued to open my heart to all that He had for me in the future.  “In all thy ways, acknowledge Him and He shall direct your steps.” Proverbs 3:6

I see now how important it was to visit the school I was hoping to attend.  If you have a young person preparing for college, take them and let them stay on campus to get a taste of what it would be like to be a student.  Pray for the Lord to direct them and open their eyes to His will.  It’s a first important step in launching out on their own. 

With love,

Christian Life
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Today is the first day of Spring!  We’ve had a lovely entry with temperatures unseasonably warm for the last couple of weeks.  I love it!  What word would you say is associated with Spring?  Fever?  True.  But how about Cleaning?  Spring and cleaning just go hand in hand. 

Once the sun is popping its warm rays into our windows, it reveals the dust that has accumulated during the winter months.  The wood stove, furnace or fireplace has special ways of causing many layers of dust to make their abode on every piece of furniture – as well as behind it, above it, and  below it, revealed in form of cobwebs and dust bunnies! 

It’s easy to let dust build up during the winter, considering that

  1. We tend to sleep more in the winter.
  2. It’s dark for more hours and the sun is often hidden, keeping us from really seeing the dust.
  3. We tend to be a bit lazier in the winter months!

I wonder if our soul is in need of a spring cleaning? 

  1. Are you “sleeping” to the work of the Spirit of God in your life?  By that I mean, are there things you know you should be doing, but you are pushing them aside instead of obeying?  Devotions, prayer, church attendance, for example.  
  2. Is darkness closing in on you due to accepting things that you used to say “no” to?  Things like television shows that are filled with sinful lifestyles and ungodly language?  
  3. Are you being lazy and wasting away time on the television or the Internet (Facebook or Pinterest)?  These can be time wasters, if we’re not careful.  

Proverbs 19:8 says that an idle soul shall suffer hunger.  The one who is idle is going to be wanting when trials come.  When hardships touch their life, they will have nothing in their heart from which to draw because of their idleness.  “Dust” has covered their soul and they are heavy laden with the dirt. 

We all need rest. We all need time to be leisure, but we must be careful that it doesn’t come to the point that our soul suffers from it.  If you’re seeing some “dust” rejoice that the Spirit of God is revealing it!  Then, with His strength, get rid of it.  You’ll feel clean, and will be ready to move into a new season of usefulness for the Lord!

Happy Spring (cleaning),

breakfast · Marriage

Go to the Extra Trouble

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Who hasn’t tasted a Pop Tart at some time in their life?  It’s a breakfast staple for many college students (bless their hearts!).  My husband remembers during his college days, he would put his Pop Tart on top of his study lamp while he was in the shower, and then come back 10 minutes later to his “hot breakfast!”

While looking at King Arthur’s web site recently, I came across their recipe for Tasty Toaster Tarts – their version of homemade Pop Tarts!  So, while in my experimenting mode, I went to the kitchen and made a batch.  Hello!!!!  These are so good!  I am not a fan of the store-bought version, but I think I could eat these for every meal!  I made the Brown Sugar/Cinnamon recipe.  Are you ready for a look at the result?

Come in a little closer for a peek at the inside filling…


If you’re interested in trying these pastries, go here for the recipe.  Let me tell you this – I used half the amount of butter, and then I doubled the amount of milk.  The dough was still flaky and delicious!  What did my husband think about these?

“These are better than Pop Tarts any day!”

Now, you may be sitting there saying, “Denise, why would you go to all the extra trouble to make something at home that you could just buy in the store?  Why?  Because they turn something that’s “okay” to “fantastic!” 

This reminds me of the effort it takes to turn an “okay” marriage into a “fantastic” one.  It just takes a little more effort.  It means going out of your way to do something each day that will bump up your marriage from the Pop Tart level to the “made-from-scratch” level!  Need some ideas of what to do for your husband?

  • Text him a personal love note – not tacked onto the “buy milk on your way home.”  Make it just a sweet and thoughtful note.
  • Buy him some little something when you go to the grocery store.  Maybe his favorite snack or special treat.
  • Buy a card and leave it for him to find in his car.
  • Call and invite him to join you for a picnic lunch on one of these pretty spring days.
  • Wash his car for him.
  • Make a list of things you can say, “thank you” for:
    • Thank you for working hard to provide for our family
    • Thank you for making me laugh
    • Thank you for your godly leadership of our children
    • Thank you for taking care of yourself to stay healthy
  • Make some of these Toaster Tarts and leave a sweet note beside them!
Go to the extra trouble and make what’s good even better!

With love,
obedience

Dreaded Appointment

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Have you ever had an appointment that loomed in front of you?  Dentist appointments are like that for me.  I don’t mind having my normal routine six-month check-up, but if there’s any work that needs to be done, that date on the calendar looks at me like an angry bull.  I know it’s coming, and I dread it.  I even make references to other dates around that one date.  “That upcoming meeting will be after that appointment.  We go on vacation just before the appointment. On and on it goes until the thing is finally over.

When Christ came to this earth, He came to die for our sins – that was always before Him.  While I know that He did it willingly and because He loved us, I also see in Scripture that the cross was always looming before Him.  He made many references to His death and the suffering as He walked and ministered.  In Mark 14, for example, Mary of Bethany has come and annointed His head with oil and was then rebuked by onlookers for the “waste” of the perfume.  Jesus said in verses 6-8, “Let her alone: why trouble ye her?  she hath wrought a good work on me.  For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good: but me ye have not always.  She hath done what she could: she is come aforehand to annoint my body to the buying.”  This is only one of many times that Christ makes reference to His suffering and death that is to come.  It was always before Him.  He always knew that He would suffer the wrath of God toward our sin as He bore our punishment in our place! 

An amazing thing about this is that He could have said “no.”  He could have retreated, but He didn’t.  He fulfilled God’s plan for our salvation, spite the awfulness, the isolation from His Father, and the pain of the cross.  That date with death was fulfilled (but praise the Lord, so was His resurrection!).

As I’ve pondered this thought in recent days, it makes me shake my head at my own whimpiness.  Our Savior had the cross and all its suffering ahead of Him, yet He kept pressing forward.  He kept on, knowing that this “appointment” with the cross would come.  My pressing forward for Christ brings no suffering.  I can serve Him without risks on my life.  No pain is involved, no persecution, yet I choose my way instead of His.  I serve if it’s convenient, if it’s easy, if I feel like it. 

Is this really following Christ? No.  For He said, “Deny yourself.  Take up your cross.”  You know what?  The times that I really do that, there is no dread in it!  There is only joy, because the things that are accomplished are what only God can do. Is this why the Scripture says, “Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the Throne of God”? (Hebrews 12:2)

What happens when I keep the appointment with denying myself?  What is the result when I serve when I don’t necessarily feel like it?  What happens when I do His will and not mine?  His name is glorified, and I am becoming more like my Savior.  Little by little.  No, there’s no dread in that!

Are you denying yourself consistently, or only being obedient when it’s easy?  Consider the dread of the cross that Christ took for you…then follow His example.

With love,

breakfast

What’s Cookin’ in the Parsonage?

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If your breakfast has become not such a “meal of champions,” let me give you a recipe to really help perk up your morning!  Meet my favorite granola …

This is a recipe from a bed and breakfast my husband and I stayed in.  It is the best!  It’s not hard and crunchy like some.  It’s good with milk and fruit as pictured above,or as a topping on yogurt.

I always make a half recipe because it makes a lot.  This is a half-gallon jar.

Homemade Granola

2 pounds old-fashioned oats (though quick works too), about 10 cups
1 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 chopped almonds
1/4 cup honey
1 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 cups sugar
1 cup water
1/4 cup butter
milk or half and half as an accompaniment
Preheat oven to 250 degrees. 
In a large mixing bowl, combine oats, raisins, walnuts, almonds, honey, salt, and cinnamon and mix well.  In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, bring sugar and water to a boil and boil for 1 minute. Add butter to saucepan in small pieces and whisk until smooth.  Pour mixture over oats and stir until mixed.  Transfer to 2 lightly sprayed or oiled 9×13 baking dishes.  Bake for 25 minutes.  Stir around the edges.  Turn off oven and leave granola in oven for 11/2 hours.  It should be dry and chunky.  Serve with milk or half and half.
Now here’s a new recipe I tried this weekend…
This is Spicy Chicken-corn Chowder from Better Homes and Gardens Magazine.  However, I didn’t make it spicy.  I also used 2 pieces of bacon instead of 8, and 2% milk instead of whipping cream and it was still delicious and much less fattening!  I served this with popovers and a salad for a great supper meal.

Spicy Chicken-Corn Chowder
Ingredients
8 slices bacon, chopped
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut in bite-size pieces
1 1/2 cups chopped red sweet pepper
1 cup chopped sweet onion
1 – 2 jalapeno peppers, finely chopped (I used less than half of one)
4 cloves garlic, minced

1/3cup all-purpose flour

6 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth

2 large Yukon gold potatoes, chopped

2 cups fresh sweet corn kernels

1 1/2 cups whipping cream

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper I only used a pinch

2 bay leaves

Directions

1. In a 5- to 6-quart Dutch oven cook bacon until crisp. Remove with spoon; set aside. Reserve 1 tablespoon drippings in pan.

2. Add chicken to pan. Sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon each salt and black pepper. Stir over medium-high heat until chicken is no longer pink; remove. (I roasted the chicken in the oven instead of cooking it in the bacon fat) Add sweet pepper and onion to pan. Cook and stir until tender. Add jalapenos and garlic; cook and stir 3 minutes. Stir in flour. Cook and stir 1 minute. Add broth and potatoes. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Cook, uncovered, 10 minutes or just until potatoes are tender; stirring occasionally. Stir in chicken, corn, cream, cayenne, and bay leaves. Simmer, uncovered, 15 minutes; stir occasionally. Discard bay leaves. Top with jalapeno slices, if desired. Makes 8 servings.

I love a salad with fruit and lettuce more than vegetables.  It’s become a real favorite way to have a salad.  I got fresh pineapple at Kroger for $1.99 last week!  Strawberries were only $1.50, so I added those to our Romaine lettuce, and topped it with a Mango dressing a sweet friend gave me.  Yummo!!!
You could add Blue Cheese or Feta, and nuts if you’d like.

I’ve found some great recipes on Pinterest that I’m anxious to try.  You’ll find the recipes here soon! 

I love hearing about the successes or failures with your new recipes!  What have you been stirring up in your kitchen this week?

From my parsonage kitchen,