Courage

Encouragement brings life, and yet so many live without having access to this kind of "given courage." I just read this on Beth Moore's blog, and wish I had written it myself. Read on:

"One NE sister wrote me and said their beautiful city only has one Christian radio station and it’s mostly talk radio. Many of you could say the same thing. Numbers of you live in apathetic communities that just don’t give a rat’s tail about church or Christianity. Others live in very intellectual communities that look down on Christians like they’re ignorant and gullible. And yet there you are. Doing the thing. And doing it faithfully. Getting down on your knees at some point every day. Reading the Scriptures. Asking God to help you know Him. Living it out in your homes (is there any harder charge?) and in your work place and communities and finding yourselves wounded and wondering from time-to-time if God knows you’re alive. There is no such thing as serving in obscurity when you belong to Jesus. He is attentive to your labor. He is attentive to your CRY. IT MATTERS.

Sweet Thing, there is no one on Earth God notices more than you. He knows that the atmosphere He’s entrusted to you is not the easiest place on the planet to serve and, yet, day in and day out He sees you doing the thing. He knew you would. That’s why you’re there. He didn’t bother entrusting it to a light-weight. He knows you may go weeks between true soul-encouragements. Thank goodness we have the example of the man after God’s own heart, who, in 1 Samuel 30:6, was surrounded by bitter people who couldn’t see past their own problems to regard how he’d tried to help them. There, we’re told that David encouraged himself in the Lord. Yep, you can do that. When not one single soul bothers to encourage you, you can just go right to the Lord and encourage yourself. How ‘bout that? Speak to your own insides and say, “Why so downcast, oh, my soul? Why so disturbed within me. Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God!” As alone as you may feel, every time you praise Him, some ten-thousand angels jump in the chorus with you and your song becomes a symphony.
Stay faithful, Darling One. STAY FAITHFUL! Every ounce of your effort and every drop of sacrifice are poured like anointing oil on the feet of Jesus."
--Beth Moore, Living Proof Ministries

Encouraging ourselves in the Lord and putting our hope in God--He who is called "faithful" will be so to the end. That's encouragement!

Happy Friday!
Jana

Blueberries, again

I must be on a blueberry kick, so for all of you who like the berry, here's another really yummy recipe for you:

Blueberry Pound Cake
1 8 oz pkg cream cheese
½ cup oil

Mix and add:

1 yellow butter cake mix
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 sm pkg instant vanilla pudding

Fold in 1 large can blueberries drained and rinsed (you can find these by the pie filling) or 1 1/2 cup fresh blueberries.

Pour into greased and floured bundt pan. Bake at 350 for one hour.

Great for dessert or breakfast.

Comfort Food

Make this recipe and enjoy! I got it from my colleague Susan, who tweaks her basic recipe a bit to create something sensational--and very fattening. (See "tweaking" instructions below). I can only justify this recipe because it contains heart-healthy blueberries. :-)

Susan’s Blueberry Crisp

Basic recipe:
3 cups fresh blueberries or 1 pkg (16 ozs) of frozen unsweetened blueberries
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (if you have to use the stuff in the green bottle, leave it out)
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
½ cup all-purpose flour
½ cup quick-cooking oats
1/3 cup butter, softened
¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon salt


Heat oven to 375 (I like mine just a little hotter). Spray baking dish (13x8 or square works fine) with PAM. Arrange blueberries in the dish and sprinkle with lemon juice.

Mix all other ingredients together. Sprinkle on top.

Bake until topping is light brown and blueberries are hot and bubbling, about 30 minutes. Serve warm with ice cream. Also good cold from the refrigerator.

Susan’s Tweaking:
I like to mess around with the recipe, so here are my additions. I like a little more topping than the recipe calls for, and I like more oats, so I usually double the oats and add just a touch more flour. I also add ¼ cup of regular sugar and maybe a skosh more brown sugar. I also like to add a 1/3 cup of pecans; I didn’t have any the other day. Then, after I put about a third of the topping on, I punch holes in it to help it sift down into the blueberries a little. I think that flour/oat mixture helps make good juice.

And here’s the bad part: I melt a cup of butter and spread on top before cooking. If you’re going to sin, sin big I always say.

Funny

I just have to post this.

Luke was just telling me that when twins are born, one is always older than the other. Yes, I agreed, that's right.

Then he said, "Yep, one has to come out of the mama's leg first. Can you imagine if one came out of both legs?"

OK, so maybe I need to clarify a thing or two. But not today. :-)

I love my kids!

Jana

Uncharted

When school starts in the fall every year, my "reading for pleasure" days come to an abrupt halt. I read textbooks, essays, and research papers primarily, with a few monthly magazines thrown in the mix--rarely do I make the time to pick up any of the stacks of books I want--but never seem to have time--to read.

I'm fairly picky about what I read. I'm particularly picky about Christian fiction. Having said that, I want to recommend a book I read this summer by Angela Hunt, titled Uncharted. It follows the lives of 6 characters, who by fate are reunited at the death of a friend and ultimately end up, following a plane crash, on a deserted island. It sounds cheesy; instead, it was reflective, intriguing, unnerving, sobering, and I thought about this book for many weeks to follow.

A few of those thoughts:

1. Life will end. And when it does, your eternity will not be based on what you did but how you honored God's gift of love & His invitation to the Great Banquet.

2. There is a very real danger that we can live two lives: the life that people see, and the life of our inner thoughts. In this book, the "two lives" in the principal characters don't line up. The beautiful, talented girl is vicious, spiteful, angry, and dishonest and the successful man is deceitful, lustful, and selfish.

3. Loving yourself is deadly. Self-focus will keep one from seeing the Truth, even when God sends sign after sign.

4. The description of this character made me catch my breath: "She spent her life yearning for the approval of others, not God. She had longed to be acknowledged as a good person; she had needed to be known as virtuous . . . all the while she neglected the truths that would have made a difference to her soul . . .surely this was a kind of hell" (300).

As a result of reading this book, this was my prayer:
Lord,
Give me another day to praise and honor you.
I love you, but not enough.
Increase my willingness to love and trust.
Help me to crucify this self, who demands so much attention.
Teach me the humility that moves me from thinking poorly of myself to not thinking of myself at all.
Forgive me. Forgive me. Forgive me.
In the name of Jesus.

Jana

Funny

You have to know me to get how really funny this is.

I am in charge of the Bake Sale at Grandparent's Day for Luke's school. That means I have to "drum up business" with the Pre-K through the 6th grade classes, promote the making of baked goods, price the goods, and then sell them.

If ever there was was an ill-fated match between two forces (me + baked goods), this is it.

Just wanted to let you know.

Jana