Perseverance

Of all the books in the Bible, the ones I love the most are the letters. Corinthians, Philippians, Ephesians, James. They, among others, are letters meant to send a message of encouragement or warning to the people who would be receiving them.

The book of James begins with a lesson on persevering through trials. Right out of the gate it says "consider it pure joy whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance" (James 1: 2 & 3). You will face trials of many kinds, and through them you will grow. Have you ever asked God to give you more patience? How about more peace, faith, or love? I can't say for sure, but I would guess that when you ask God to fill you with something that you lack (patience, kindness, self-control), He doesn't just pour it right in and fill you up. Chances are, if you ask Him for more patience He is going to put you in situations that test your patience. Probably, if you ask Him to make you more kind He is going to put in your presence someone who is very difficult to tolerate. If you ask Him to strengthen your faith, most likely you will soon find yourself in a situation that will require tremendous faith to get through to the other side. Our initial reaction in these situations is to react negatively and say, "but God, I asked you to give me more, not show me how much I lack!" But, if you take the opportunity to let these situations actually grow and strengthen you in patience, kindness, etc., you will persevere. Your patience will indeed grow, your faith will be strengthened, you will be more kind.

"Consider it pure joy whenever (when, not if) you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance."  (James 1: 2 & 3)

Weekending

Poor sick baby girl

Here is a round-up of the things I have been loving this week:

* Darlene at Time-Warp Wife is doing a three week Bible study on Esther. I love the story of Esther, and was so excited when she announced the study. This has only been the first week, so there is plenty of time to jump in!


 

 *Over at Keeper of the Home there is a great post on waiting on God. I am sure most all of us have been in a place where we were waiting on God to move in our lives in some way or another. Check our her post to find some encouragement.

* Sheila from To Love, Honor, and Vacuum has just finished up a great series called 29 Days to Great Sex leading up the the release to her new book titled The Good Girl's Guide to Great Sex. If you are married and are interested in improving your sex life (whether your sex life is suffering in any way or not), check out her series. If you click on the 29 Days link, scroll down just a bit and you will see the whole list of posts.

Enjoy your weekend!

From my kitchen

Sick 2 year old on my lap during all of her awake hours for the past 3 days = a quick "From my kitchen" Friday post. I hope you don't mind :)

German Pancake with Strawberries

Food on the brain

It seems like since my success at finally having a working meal plan began, I have been making lots of yummy new recipes. This has resulted in there being more pictures of food on my camera's memory card than there are of my kids. As I have mentioned before, we love Mexican food. So, I was delighted with the result of a new salsa recipe that I came across. I changed it up quite a bit because I didn't have fresh tomatoes and I didn't want to use any hot peppers because I knew my kids would be eating it. It came together very nicely.

 Halve one red and one orange bell pepper, chunk up a small onion or halve a large one, and add 7 or 8 garlic cloves. Roast until blackened.

Pulse in food processor just until chopped up, not until pureed. 

Measure out one cup of fresh cilantro and then chop it up. 

Pour can of tomatoes into a bowl, add your chopped up pepper mixture, and mix until well combined. Add cilantro, salt, and cider vinegar. Mix together and it will look something like this. And yes, I put that whole bite in my mouth. 

 It went well with taco salad made with bulgar burger, and it was the first to disappear on my kids' plates.

 
  Fresh Salsa
1 28oz can crushed tomatoes
1 orange and 1 red bell pepper
1 small onion
7 to 8 garlic cloves
Bunch of fresh cilantro
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp cider vinegar

1. Slice up the peppers and onion and place them on a sprayed cookie sheet. Add whole garlic cloves. Roast in a 450 degree oven, stirring frequently, for 15 to 20 minutes or until blackened.
2. Put roasted vegetables in a food processor and pulse until chopped up, not until pureed.
3. Add chopped veggies to the tomatoes in a medium sized bowl and mix well.
4. Measure out 1 cup of cilantro leaves and then chop them up.
5. Add cilantro, salt, and cider vinegar to salsa and mix well.

To move a mountain

In the book of Mark in the Bible, we read about an account where Jesus was hungry. Just like you and me, he got hungry. He went to a fig tree that was in leaf to see if it had any fruit for him to eat. When he got to it, he saw that there was no fruit. Then he said to the tree, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again." His disciples heard him say this. The next day they passed by that very same fig tree. Let me show you what the Bible says happened next.

Mark 11: 20-24 "In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. Peter remembered and said to Jesus, 'Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!'
 'Have faith in God,' Jesus answered. 'I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.'"

Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it. Now, let me just say that I don't think this is saying to go and ask to win the lottery and you will win it. I think that when we are really praying, really seeking God's will for our lives, really asking for God to lead us, He will honor our prayers. Even when it seems like we are asking Him to move a mountain. There was a time in my life where I was truly asking God to "move a mountain." My marriage was falling apart, crumbling at the very core, and I was crying out to God to fix it. My prayers were, "Lord, change hearts, change situations, change me, change him, put us back together." At the time, it seemed very unlikely that this would happen. There was a huge mountain in the way. I prayed knowing, truly believing, that it was not in God's will for my marriage to fall apart. I prayed knowing that He could fix it. I prayed these things even though I had no idea HOW or WHEN he would do them. And He did. In His time. In His way.

If you are facing a mountain in your life, I encourage you to take your eyes off the mountain and plant them firmly on God. Believe that He will carry you, believe that He can help you even if you don't know how. Believe that He will take care of it, will take care of you. He will!

Ground beef substitute

My kids are picky meat eaters, and pretty much always have been. They really have never liked any ground up meat, and the only way this affects me is when it comes to recipes for ground beef. Most of the time I either quit making something or find another way around it (adding chunks of chicken rather than shredded chicken, etc).  However, we really like Mexican dishes, and Italian dishes with meat sauce, so I was happy to find a substitute for ground beef that my kids are cool with! It is made with bulgar wheat, which I have never used before making this. I found it in the health food section of our local grocery store. If you can't find it, I'm sure you could inquire about getting it in stock. My Libby will tell you that she doesn't like beef and instead eats bulgar wheat. I also like the idea of have a "meatless" meal without really realizing it. 

 First you pour your bulgar wheat in a pot.

 Then you chop up your onion and garlic (I always use more garlic than what is called for)

 Add onion and garlic with the rest of the sauce ingredients (tomato juice, water, pecans, molasses, and taco seasoning) in a blender.

I don't prefer to use store bought taco seasoning, because I try to stay away from pre-packaged stuff when I can, so I found a recipe for making my own, which I love. 

Blend it all up until it's smooth...

and add it to the bulgar.

Cook it for 15 minutes, and then let it sit for an hour, and it has a consistency very similar to ground seasoned beef. The first time I made this, my husband saw it in fridge and thought it was beef. It also freezes well. This is great for many things! I made it into homemade spaghetti sauce for dinner last night. I used half the batch and put the rest in the fridge to make taco "meat" for taco salads tonight.

Bulgar Burger (recipe from Healthy Choices cookbook)

2 C bulgar wheat

1 C water
1 C tomato juice
1/2 med. onion, cut into pieces
1 garlic clove
1 C pecans
2 Tbsp molasses
2 Tbsp taco seasoning

Place bulgar in kettle. Blend all other ingredients in blender until smooth. Stir blended ingredients tino bulgar in kettle. Cook over medium heat for 15 min, stirring frequently. Let set for 1 hour with lid on. Use immediately, or can also be frozen.

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Never Once

We have been so busy the last week, filled with many games of basketball (both Scott and Libby, our little athlete), a trip to a sort-of local Amish bulk foods store to stock up on my baking goods, getting to experience another amazing home birth with my best friend, and, of course, lots of homeschooling. Also, I haven't taken any pictures (except at my friend's home birth, sweet sweet Baby Sylvia :)), so I don't have much to share.

What I will share, though, is my current favorite song. It is Never Once, by Matt Redman, and it is really resonating with me right now. Take a quick listen. It will rock your world!

Happy weekend!