None of these thoughts are fully formed yet so forgive the jumble that may come out.
Obedience or the idea of following God..why is it so hard? There are hundreds of areas in scripture that talk about obedience. Why is it so hard for us to listen to his instructions for our life and trust him? I find myself so bull-headedly wanting to follow my own feelings or my own idea for my life. My lack of obedience is in a lot of ways a lack of trust. Many times I know things that I ought to do, which I hate that word, but in this sense I mean ought do because ultimately they are what God knows is best for me, yet I stubbornly refuse to do them. This is usually because I don't want the harder path, or what I think is the harder path, or I don't want to deal with the ramifications of what that action is. But ultimately I am trusting myself more.
I think there will always be this tension between knowing what I am called to and watching myself fail over and over as a result of being fallen. When I realize this tension it is hard to know what to do with it because we hear all the time that life is about me and what I feel. Don't get me wrong, feelings have their place and in many instances I know God works through our feelings. But there are other times I think our feelings are purely selfish and a part of being fallen and I chose to listen to my feelings out of my desire to remain comfortable rather than step out into something I am afraid of.
So how do all these fit together? I think our pastor Dave said it well on Sunday...that we can grow to embrace something by acting on it; the understanding of why grows as we act instead of waiting to feel like it before we act. In these times, feelings will follow as feelings shouldn't be the final authority in my life. I obey not because I must in order to be loved, I obey because I am so deeply loved and known that I trust what I am being called to follow. In these times I remember humbly my unwillingness and pray that God would change my heart and step out in trust into where he is leading. I admit that I need this attitude even in the simple act of sitting down to spend time with him.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Friday, January 27, 2012
Carrot Cashew Dip
Another recipe day. I made this again the other day and just love it so much. And I told a friend about it yesterday so now she can see the recipe too.
This is a WholeFoods.com recipe. I use a lot of their recipes because in general they are easy and good for you and no, you don't have to buy the ingredients there. (http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/2866)
Take 3 peeled carrots and chop. Place in a small pot and cover with water. Boil until the carrots are soft enough to spear with a knife...usually 5 minutes. Then add 3/4-1 cup cashews (I use lightly salted one) and 15 dried apricots that have been quartered. Simmer for 3 or 4 minutes until tender. Then place 1/2 of cooking water and ingredients into food processor and blend until smooth. Let cool in fridge before eating...I like it best with sea salt pita chips. It is a little salty and sweet and delicious even though, I know, it sounds bizarre.
And I got a new food processor for Christmas and it makes the recipe so much easier to make.
(I meant to take pictures when I made it this week but as always I was in a hurry, so you can see the Whole Foods site to see how yummy it looks)
This is a WholeFoods.com recipe. I use a lot of their recipes because in general they are easy and good for you and no, you don't have to buy the ingredients there. (http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/2866)
Take 3 peeled carrots and chop. Place in a small pot and cover with water. Boil until the carrots are soft enough to spear with a knife...usually 5 minutes. Then add 3/4-1 cup cashews (I use lightly salted one) and 15 dried apricots that have been quartered. Simmer for 3 or 4 minutes until tender. Then place 1/2 of cooking water and ingredients into food processor and blend until smooth. Let cool in fridge before eating...I like it best with sea salt pita chips. It is a little salty and sweet and delicious even though, I know, it sounds bizarre.
And I got a new food processor for Christmas and it makes the recipe so much easier to make.
(I meant to take pictures when I made it this week but as always I was in a hurry, so you can see the Whole Foods site to see how yummy it looks)
Saturday, January 21, 2012
The Last 2 Weeks
This has been my go to passage the last few weeks. I have read it most days to hear the truth, to bring peace, to stop my pity party, to rest...
2 Corinthians 4:16
Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our other man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
I will never know the plans of the Lord or the whys behind how he works. I do know his love, his faithfulness, his promise to work all things for my good for his glory. And in those I pray I can rest.
2 Corinthians 4:16
Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our other man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
I will never know the plans of the Lord or the whys behind how he works. I do know his love, his faithfulness, his promise to work all things for my good for his glory. And in those I pray I can rest.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Books
I haven't written about what I have been reading for awhile, but I am glad because I just finished one of the best books I have read in awhile. (And yes, I do check out the large print version of books from the library because you can get them faster...)
It is the true story of Louis Zamperini. Author Laura Hillenbrand starts with his beginnings as a punk kid who turns into a track star and eventually a bombardier in WW II. You learn a lot of this immediately in the book so I am not ruining things too much. His plane goes down and he survives a ridiculous amount of time on a raft drifting in the Pacific to then be taken to a POW camp in Japan. There he endured brutal conditions. It is an amazing story of survival and resilience. Though it is tough to read at times I understand the war in a different way from reading this book. And I just loved Louis.
Now I have these Christmas gifts waiting for me.
Oh and another great read if you want to fit it in before the movie comes out is Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. It is a quirky sweet story of a boy who is searching to discover what lies beneath a key he found that belonged to his deceased father. I read it years ago when it was first written so I don't remember too many details but I am interested to see the movie and what they will do with the story.
It is the true story of Louis Zamperini. Author Laura Hillenbrand starts with his beginnings as a punk kid who turns into a track star and eventually a bombardier in WW II. You learn a lot of this immediately in the book so I am not ruining things too much. His plane goes down and he survives a ridiculous amount of time on a raft drifting in the Pacific to then be taken to a POW camp in Japan. There he endured brutal conditions. It is an amazing story of survival and resilience. Though it is tough to read at times I understand the war in a different way from reading this book. And I just loved Louis.
Now I have these Christmas gifts waiting for me.
Oh and another great read if you want to fit it in before the movie comes out is Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. It is a quirky sweet story of a boy who is searching to discover what lies beneath a key he found that belonged to his deceased father. I read it years ago when it was first written so I don't remember too many details but I am interested to see the movie and what they will do with the story.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Family
Thought I would put a few pictures from our family Christmas together. As always it was filled with good food, lots of games, Columbos, walks, and good family hang time.
The family tree, still filled with childhood ornaments
John brought us presents back from Nepal and other fun exotic lands
I gave John his favorite card from the deck we used on our Summer trip. He was thrilled...
As always, we missed Jenne
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Breakfast Quinoa
As I eat an essentially vegan diet I am always on the look out for good sources of protein and other things I miss out on by not eating meat. Quinoa is one I discovered awhile back...can't remember who told me about it, maybe my friend Marci at work, but it is a good staple. It is a grain but it is high in complete protein as well as manganese, phosphate, folate, magneisum, and iron. I usually eat it for dinner like I would eat rice or I add veggies and balsamic vinaigrette to it, but lately I have been trying out some breakfast quinoa recipies.
This is the best I have found so far...I adapted it a bit from a Martha Stewart recipe. It almost tastes like Kenyan porridge!
This should make about 4 servings:
2 cups almond milk
1 cup quinoa
3 T light brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
fresh or frozen fruit of choice (berries are good)
Bring the milk to a boil and then add the quinoa. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer until almost all of the milk is absorbed. Then add the cinnamon and sugar and cover and let simmer until the milk is absorbed. Add the fruit for long enough for it to get warm. Yummy and delicious on a cold morning.
This is the best I have found so far...I adapted it a bit from a Martha Stewart recipe. It almost tastes like Kenyan porridge!
This should make about 4 servings:
2 cups almond milk
1 cup quinoa
3 T light brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
fresh or frozen fruit of choice (berries are good)
Bring the milk to a boil and then add the quinoa. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer until almost all of the milk is absorbed. Then add the cinnamon and sugar and cover and let simmer until the milk is absorbed. Add the fruit for long enough for it to get warm. Yummy and delicious on a cold morning.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
The Old Couch
We have finally said goodbye to the old couch. In it's memory I figured I would pull out the pictures from when we gave it a makeover.
When we moved into our place over here we needed a couch and Randy and Renee gave us their old one that I think they had found on the curb and re-upholstered.
This was it's original skin. So one day Danielle (who had newly acquired a staple gun for Valentines' Day) and I took off the old and put on some new...it was just a slipcover that we took apart to fit the couch.
In my typical fashion I thought the project would only take a few hours. Thankfully my friends knew better and stuck with it for it's entire process. We came out with this. And it has served us well. It was starting to get really creaky and the legs were bowing so it will get tuned up and have a new home with a new family who is new to the US.
When we moved into our place over here we needed a couch and Randy and Renee gave us their old one that I think they had found on the curb and re-upholstered.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Raise your Ebeneezer
Been reading some in 1 Samuel lately...
But I will instruct you in the good and right way. Only fear the Lord and serve Him in truth with all your heart, for consider what great things he has done for you. 1 Samuel 12:23-24
Samuel took a stone and set it between Mitzpah and Shen and named it Ebeneezer saying "Thus far the Lord has helped us." 1 Samuel 7:12
I was going to post this several weeks ago but then got a little slack on the blog. And honestly I needed this post to happen now because I needed a reminder of how I had walked through this time of remembrance with joy in the midst of some current ungratefulness.
About a month ago I realized how some small events (or seemingly small at the time) had led to a lot of other things happening that have led to this fullness of community and life here for me. Then as I was reading in Samuel I was reminded of the importance of this process of looking back and remembering what God has done. Seems fitting now with the New Year.
But somewhere over the course of the last few weeks I have forgotten about an Ebeneezer stone and instead focused on what I see as negatives in my life right now. So I am thankful for a reminder to remember and to hopefully turn my grumbling into joy.
But I will instruct you in the good and right way. Only fear the Lord and serve Him in truth with all your heart, for consider what great things he has done for you. 1 Samuel 12:23-24
Samuel took a stone and set it between Mitzpah and Shen and named it Ebeneezer saying "Thus far the Lord has helped us." 1 Samuel 7:12
I was going to post this several weeks ago but then got a little slack on the blog. And honestly I needed this post to happen now because I needed a reminder of how I had walked through this time of remembrance with joy in the midst of some current ungratefulness.
About a month ago I realized how some small events (or seemingly small at the time) had led to a lot of other things happening that have led to this fullness of community and life here for me. Then as I was reading in Samuel I was reminded of the importance of this process of looking back and remembering what God has done. Seems fitting now with the New Year.
But somewhere over the course of the last few weeks I have forgotten about an Ebeneezer stone and instead focused on what I see as negatives in my life right now. So I am thankful for a reminder to remember and to hopefully turn my grumbling into joy.
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