It occurred to me after making my shocking admission on Facebook Live last month that most of you probably didn’t see that video. And, that’s fine with me. Maybe a good thing, actually. If you didn’t make it to that (horrible, tearful) Facebook Live, read ahead, and I’ll explain things. There is more to it now that time has passed, and this post explains the revelations God handed me. God got my attention recently in the area of unforgiveness – with needing to forgive others. (What? Me? Not me!) I had no idea I needed to forgive someone. God revealed that there were unforgivenesses (possibly a made-up word, y’all) about…
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Vegetable Medley Minestrone Soup
You don’t have to be Italian to enjoy minestrone soup. Dani Spies at Clean and Delicious has a wonderful recipe. (Well, lots of wonderful recipes, actually.) As soon as our weather cooled off in October, I could not wait to try this one! The only problem was that I didn’t have the cabbage I needed. So, what did I do? Improvised, of course. I basically cleaned out my stock of all sorts of fresh veggies that needed using. Hence the name “vegetable medley”. And added it all into the pot. You can’t mess up cooked veggies, in my way of thinking (wink). So, be brave. If you’ve got something…
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Even THERE – 3 Steps to Going Deeper with God Again
If I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there Your hand will lead me, and Your right hand will lay hold of me. (Psalm 139:9-10, NASB) For years, it seemed like people used their busyness as a badge of honor. I bristled at the words I’m so busy! and vowed to never include them in a sentence myself. Busyness felt so braggy. We all have busy lives, even those who don’t say so. Nowadays, busyness has almost become a dirty word of sorts. I get it. Much of the time, busyness is of our own doing. From the inability…
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Faithfullness Friday Bible Study in 2020
In our tough seasons, we need to stand on God’s Word. We should continually remind ourselves of God’s faithfulness to His people throughout the Bible. A little back story: The Jubilee Journey Facebook Group women and I read straight through the Bible together in 2015, and the group leaders allowed me to write a summary post for one day’s reading during each week, sometimes two. It was my first time to read through the Bible in the way that we did that year. I’d followed other reading plans but not straight through. I enjoyed it so much that I returned to repeat that reading plan three of the four years…
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Homemade Cream of Mushroom Soup with Gluten-Free and Dairy-Free Options
Can you believe I actually did it? When I told you yesterday that I planned to use the same Cream of Chicken Soup recipe process to make cream of mushroom soup for Thanksgiving prep, finishing it was no problem. I tell ya, this cream soup is very quick to pull together. Do you not need gluten-free and dairy-free ingredients? I included everything I used in making this recipe. If you have no issues with gluten or dairy, simply use your choice of whole grain flour to replace the gluten-free flour. I don’t recommend replacing the coconut milk with regular milk, though. For starters, chop a pint carton of mushroom slices…
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Home-Made Healthful Cream of Chicken Soup
“Better a small serving of vegetables with love than a fattened calf with hatred.” Proverbs 15:17 Gone are the days when my recipe box was filled with casserole recipes requiring canned condensed cream soups. You know the ones. Cream of chicken…cream of mushroom…the two most popular of all. Are you wondering, “Why not use canned cream soups? What’s wrong with that?” As food is medicine for building your temple to be strong, the quality of food we eat is ultra important. Fresh, well-chosen, and without chemicals. Does that sound hard to achieve? It can be, but it doesn’t have to be. Filling your pantry with high quality ingredients is a…
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Healthy Thanksgiving Cheats and Links – Part 2
“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.” (1 Chronicles 16:34) My first post of Healthy Thanksgiving Cheats and Links was getting too long, so I broke things up a bit and made two posts. Today, we’re covering three popular Thanksgiving side dishes you may be interested in having in your recipe arsenal – or rather, a healthier version than your current “oldie but goodie” (wink). Shhhh… I won’t tell. No. 1: The Famous Green Bean Casserole. (Yes, you know the one.) An all-time favorite at my house (and maybe yours, too) is Green Bean Casserole. Leigh Anne at Your Home Based Mom has…
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Healthy Thanksgiving Cheats and Links
As of today (this day of publishing), we have two weeks and one day until Thanksgiving. Are you preparing your recipes? Are you feeling the squeeze? I hope what I share will help you get it all together with health options you may be seeking. Last year, I was determined to have Thanksgiving dinner for my immediate family, with at least as close as possible to our usual Thanksgiving dishes. The challenging part was making the recipes in a way that I could eat most everything – and taste like normal to everyone else. Gluten-free and dairy-free and sugar-free. Yes, it’s a thing. No diet plan fits perfectly. Not keto,…
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Casting Your Cares
What do you do when all you hear is no after no from God? Have you been there? We can get weary in any season of life when we get continual answers of no. And, in a tough season, you think the solution (for which you plead through prayer) would be the perfect ending. The happy ending of a Hallmark™ movie. And . . . by the way, God, how about now? Please? Since waiting in expectation of God working things out according to your plan is unrealistic (He IS God, after all), why not cast your cares onto Him and no longer worry about those problems that seem to…
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Healthy Halloween Entertaining
Fourteen years ago, little did we know our future Fall seasons would be so different than what we knew and loved in our old neighborhood in Marietta, Georgia. Before moving to what I call The Land of Making Do, Halloween was a huge neighborhood deal. Not in a creepy way, but in a family fun way. How sad we were when we realized, after moving to the country, miles away from our then-new-to-us small town, we would have NO little goblins visiting, bag-in-hand for candy additions. None. Ever. Again. Zilcho. Wah! Hubs and I visited our two adulting, boomerang kids over the weekend for their housewarming party at our son’s…
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Tune Your Ears, Why?
Oh, friends, as I sit here catching up on my reading and Bible studying after a trip detour to Baton Rouge this past week, I want to share with you a snippet of confirmation I’m getting from scripture about God’s faithfulness. When in a hard season, we need to open our ears. He awakens my ear to listen like those being instructed. The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious; I did not turn back. (Isaiah 50:4-5) To elaborate on my trip last week, here’s a little background. I spent about ten wonderful days with my parents (who spoiled me rotten!) while hubs was out of…
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A Season(ed) EMBRACER
Fall is my favorite season, but there are many things in every seasons that I enjoy. What is your favorite season of the year? Do you normally embrace that season, your favorite, regardless of the storm in your personal life? There are a bazillion seasons of life we can either embrace or relinquish, reject, or denounce. I don’t know of a more difficult area to embrace than a tough season of life. When something is horridly painful, how can we embrace it as if it were a good thing of which to hold tightly? Not to be sacrilegious by changing God’s Word, but temporarily substitute the word trees with the…
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Spaghetti Zucchini Boats
I hope you are enjoying some cooler weather this week, as we are – finally! October is one of my favorite months. Crops have been harvested, and the fields surrounding our house are a clean slate, so to speak. Harvest time is so fun with all the new choices of pumpkins and gourds. Such fun shapes and colors. I’ve been a little zucchini crazy lately. It is more plentiful at my local grocer these days, so that prompts me to have it as a regular. After reading the 12 Health and Nutrition Benefits of Zucchini, how can we not include it in healthy eating as a regular? Dani Spies at…
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God Names Us As The Thing Before He Equips Us For And Transforms Us Into That Thing
Does God tickle you in the way He works sometimes? I swanee (clearly a southern term, y’all), how I enjoy His sense of humor! When God places a certain verse in front of you time and time again, all in different settings, from separate sources, within the time frame of only a couple of days, whether in a tough season or a triumphant one, sometimes I want to say, OK, God. I got it! 🙂 I’ve been reviewing Annie Downs’ book, 100 Days to Brave, a second time and read this verse again recently regarding Gideon. The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, ‘The Lord…
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As a Christian, Why Can I Not Handle This Better?
In the hardest season of my entire life (our prodigal season), I was a total mess. In that test of faith, I failed. If I could go back to that time, of course I would handle it differently now – on this side of God’s beautifully-crafted miracle. Hindsight gives us 20/20 vision. Right? While I struggled to not cry through each day for months and months, I wondered, I’m a Christian. Why can I not handle this better? Have you ever thought this same thing? If not, possibly you can at least relate. Of course we are hurting during tough seasons like that, but I learned a lot from my…
