Marshmallows. You normally don’t think of the gooey sugary treat as being something that will bind friends together. But, before I met my husband, I made marshmallows from scratch for the first time and put it on my blog. When we came to Arkansas in view of a call for our church, Gina, the wonderful spunky lady in these photos, came up to me and said, “I think we are going to be friends, you make marshmallows.”
And yes, we are friends, and love to make marshmallows together. Thankful to her and Brad, their story, and the Shoe – all their children that God has blessed them with. For these photos we went to downtown Mabelvale, the booming metropolis, and enjoyed the trees, benches, church, bbq joint, and a set of railroad tracks.
Thank you Gina & Brad for letting me share your life with my readers!
Are you looking at a way to encourage your understanding of old, famous truths of the God of the universe? Are you interested in learning more about the God you serve? Are you wondering what this Christian thing is that people around you are talking about? Are you wondering how the gospel looks when it is plugged into the local church and in the society at large?
Matt Chandler, lead pastor of the Village Church out of Texas, wrote a book called the Explicit Gospel. When I started reading it, I thought it would be ______. It wasn’t. It was somthing totally different.
Chandler looks at the basic tenants of the gospel. If you think you don’t need this book because you read scholars and dead authors, think again. If you think you don’t need this book because you already know everything Chandler is going to say, think again. Just pick it up. Reading what you already know is sometimes a good thing. Chandler hits on main topics that have been in the news or on the mainstream conservative blogs the past few years. He does make you think. This is what his sermons do for you too. As in all things – take everything ANYONE says and put it against the TRUTHS of Scripture. What I do like about the Explicit Gospel is that there is so much Scripture in it!
Chandler ends the book by talking about the dangers of knowing the gospel. You know – knowing the gospel but not really experiencing the God of the Gospel. We, as Christians, can not just know the Gospel and be able to spout it off – we have to dwell in it, take a bath in it, marinate in it – whatever word you want to use to SATURATE yourself in this good news.
Food is such a way to minister to people. Especially the lonely.
The widows. The lonely. The Shut-ins. How do we interact with these people on a regular basis? I have to admit I fail at this miserably – but I desire to get better at it. One way we did this as a family recently is by taking cookies to some widows on Valentine’s Day. I wanted to make some cookies and then deliver them. I knew the boys would bring a smile to their faces (I was right on that account) and cookies are always delicious!
I read some invaluable posts by my friend Brian Croft over at Practical Shepherding. I won’t re-hash them here, but encourage you to go read these:
There are more at his site – just go search widows and you will get many posts to read and implement. Brian and his wife, Cara, have years of experience living this out – not just writing down ideas.
One way that I’m going to be doing this is by writing letters. I’ve asked my husband to get a list of the widows in the church and each week I want to write to one widow, pray for her by name, and if the time allows, visit her with my children and husband. Visiting widows is very out of my comfort zone. Aging is something that is hard and makes us examine our own mortality and the end of our lives. It is also hard to know how long to stay, what to say, how to sit there with them if they aren’t coherent, or if they are really sick. But, Jesus said to go to the sick and minister to the widows. And I also know from years of experience – ministry is not easy. But, still needs to be done.
Buttercream Cookies
Recipe Type: Dessert
Cuisine: Cookie
Author: kd316 adapted by Eat Live Run
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 8
Delicious cake like cookie with buttercream frosting
Ingredients
1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 egg
2/3 stick of unsalted butter
1/3 cup whole milk with 1 tsp white vinegar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/3 tsp kosher salt
Frosting;
1 stick unsalted butter
2 cup sifted powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
milk or heavy cream to your consistency likeness
2 drops red food coloring
Instructions
Combine dry ingredients
Cream wet ingredients.
Spoon onto greased baking sheet to make BIG cookies (should get 8)
Bake at 350 for about 12 minutes or until done.
Let cool
Make buttercream. Pipe unto cookies.
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Here is a simple cookie recipe that you can use as you minister to widows in your church. A plate of cookies is always good. If for some reason they can’t eat them, they most likely have caretakers and they will enjoy them!
How do you care for the widows in your church or community? Enjoy the cookies!
Here is where she gets into the main point of her book – our position in Christ is one of the most IMPORTANT truths we have to believe as Christians. If we don’t believe this – than our hope is not in the Gospel.
1. God bought us back from our bondage to sin (pg 138) He created us to be in a relationship with Him. Yes we chose and freely choose every day to seek and find comfort in sin rather than seeking Christ. I’ve been focusing on freedom in my life in Christ lately. That focus has led me to think about slavery. Why would a slave, who was freed, return to a harsh master? When there is a joyous Master waiting, why would that slave willingly return to Bondage. Is it because of fear of failure, is it to only stick with what you’ve known. Oh, but the joys of the Father are so much better than the narrow slave relationship and the shackles on your wrist.
2. Every sin that we have ever or will ever commit has already been paid for, not because of our good works or resolution to do better but because we were in Christ when he died in payment for our sin. (pg 139). No matter what sin we ever commit – if we trust and hope and ground ourselves in Christ and his finished work on the cross – that sin is paid for. It doesn’t make it any less heinous of a sin – or less hurtful to God – but it is paid for. Jesus Paid it All – is true – ALL! All is a great term. It is a comforting word. Let’s believe it! Don’t live in shame and don’t keep sinning.
3. I think this statement needs to be preached to every single woman in all of our lives: churched, unchurched, saved, lost, etc. Read this: Believe it. Preach it. Allow the hope to sink in! “We now stand before God alive, not dead, cleansed, not vile, whole, not shattered, and welcomed, not sent away. We stand in complete righteousness and holiness no longer dead in our trespasses but completely and eternally alive in him.” (pg 140) How can we lead ourselves and the ladies we minister to to believe this and walk in this truth?
4. We have been given Christ’s perfect record of always having obeyed, and second, we have been given a new heart, a heart like his, one that desires to obey out of love. (pg 143). If we tell ourselves or tell others that we obey out of law – than we are leading them astray. The only thing the law does, or legalism, is to prove that we are sinners. We will fail. And mostly likely we will live in that failure and continue the cycle of trying and failing, trying and failing.
This is a pivotal chapter in how we counsel our own souls and how we counsel other women. We can’t let them believe the lies that the enemy tells them – that they have to be perfect – that we have to be perfect. We will never measure up. But – we have and serve and love and our loved by one who measured up perfectly. Let’s always tell our women that truth!
My husband and I are definitely foodies. We spend quite a bit for a family our size on groceries each month. So, I’m going to try to scale it back by 1/3. Yikes. But, this cut in budget isn’t so we can do more – but so that we can get out of down quicker so that we can GIVE more. So, I’ll be looking for yummy, foodie, but cheap recipes. I need to also use my coupons and use up what is in our pantry, too.
So, here we go.
Monday: since I’ll be making potato soup for a crowd this coming weekend, I’m trying another recipe – this time one of Tidy Mom’s to see if I want to use this one. Poor husband, we are going to be eating potato soup for a while! This soup will be being made for our leftovers and lunches this week. Because on Monday night we are going the soft grand opening of the Main Cheese here in West Little Rock. This is another opportunity through the Arksansas Women Bloggers – excited. How wonderful can great grilled cheese be on a cold night!
Tuesday: Salad with leftover Lemon Chicken by Shutterbean.
Wednesday: Sausage Ragu with Spaghetti Squash
Thursday: Cheap, Mexican breakfast food – brinner we call it in America. I have most of the ingredients of this already!
Friday: Missions dinner at church
Saturday: I will have just spent all day in the kitchen, so I’m hoping for eating out with a coupon!
Sunday: these pancakes and scrambled eggs. I’m really not an earl gray fan, but I figure there is no harm in trying these – and there isn’t much that syrup and butter can’t fix!
Breakfast will be oats because I have them already.
