Homemade Bread

I had a very fun weekend making homemade bread. It turned out great!! This will definitely become a staple in our house. It is so easy and great tasting.  My kids helped me make it too. It turned into a great learning tool for them.  They learned the importance of measuring and following directions. Plus it showed them how much love and work goes into making dinner. Being a little more frugal in our home saves money which is great! I love Pinterest and have created a board called frugal.  That is where I have pinned all frugal recipes and ideas. Follow me as I try to make small changes in our lifestyle to save!

I finally did it!!!

I finally did it!! I made a batch of homemade laundry detergent.  I am so proud! It was so easy I recommend you at least try it and see if you like it. I was kinda leery at first. Well, I am it and it smelled great!! Okay so I was still not convinced that it would clean good.  I immediately started a load and couldn't wait for the load to finish.  I opened the lid and was impressed. They looked great and smelled great! Now final test. The dryer! I waited for the dryer to finish and I loved the results! Now I am off to make some homemade fabric softener.  I will let you know how that turns out soon!!

A Godly Example

Terrific Thursday

Good morning!! I hope you are having a terrific Thursday! If not you should be because you are alive and breathing. God has blessed you with yet another beautiful day! As I was reading in Ephesians 4:29-32 "29 Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. 32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you." It struck me that how many times a day do I offend or sadden the Holy Spirit? You know I don't think that I have ever really stopped to ponder on that but I did today. I am a saved child of God, bought with a price, and yet I don't stop to think what I just said could have made the Holy Spirit sad. Do our children make us sad with their words? Do siblings or friends? Or maybe the person in line at the grocery store? Yes! Yes! Yes! It happens on a daily basis. Yet when one of these offends us with our words we think on and go over the words time and time again. Trying to figure out why they would have said that. Well, we need to do the same when we speak a word of hurt, ugliness, hatred or anger because when we do we might think oh no one knows I said that or thought that. WRONG!!! The Spirit knows and it just saddened him! Even though the words may not escape out of our mouth it still is hurtful. God doesn't want us to speak or think things that are evil and mean. He only wants us to be filled with things that will spur us on spiritually. Let's not grieve the Holy Spirit! The key to this is prayer!! We can not change things on our own. In James 5:13-15 It says, " 13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven." We need to pray, pray, pray so our tongues speak praise!

Mandisa - Overcomer

Integrity

What is integrity? One definition of integrity is: “the quality or state of being of sound moral principle; uprightness, honesty, and sincerity” What does scripture say about integrity? Proverbs 2:20-21 So you will walk in the way of the good and keep to the paths of the righteous. For the upright will inhabit the land, and those with integrity will remain in it … Job 2:3 And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.” David was a man after God’s own heart. If you were to go back to when David was alive and interviewed the people. What do you think they would say about David? David was a man after God’s own heart because he listened to the calling of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the pressing on our hearts to walk assuredly for God. When we are displaying integrity it is to be displayed in our every day life! Not just on Sunday’s or Wednesday’s. We have to walk out our faith everyday. We have to give up things of this world. We have to let go of our fleshly stuff and take up our cross. Sometimes we have to choose between friends and Christ. Are you living with integrity each and everyday? Or are you just playing the part? Pull off the mask and live for him! Psalm 7:8 The LORD judges the peoples; judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness and according to the integrity that is in me. We will be judged for how we lived our life for Christ. If our lives were played out before the throne of God on a big screen would we be able to stand proudly or would we be hiding in shame? “Integrity is keeping a commitment even after circumstances have changed.” ~ David Jeremiah Do we display integrity in Christ Jesus? Who or what are we living for? It's not enough to just be a good person. Someone 2000 years ago took all our junk and sacrificed his life for it. It's not enough to be good but we need to have the saving power of Jesus Christ living in us! Goodness doesn't get us anywhere but Christ blood gets us more than enough!

What is your favorite Spring time activity?

My favorite Springtime activity is sitting on my back porch and listening to new life spring up. Seeing the grass grow greener and greener each day. I love Spring!! I love the warm days and the longer evenings. My favorite sounds are frogs croaking and birds chirping. Spring represents new life and rebirth. This is a great time of reflection on what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross. When he freely gave his life for us on the cross he took all the sins of this world upon his back. He bled and died to pay the payment for us. Then he was buried in a borrowed tomb. Lain to rest. While he was in the tomb he went to the deepest part of the earth to get the keys to death and he arose to bring us new life! This is why we are able to rejoice in the hope of our future. The hope of heaven. The hope of new life. The hope of Spring! 2 Corinthians 5:17 "This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!"

Unclean Lips

"Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts." Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs. He touched my mouth with it and said, "Behold this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven." Isaiah 6:5-7 In James 3:8-11 I emphasized "With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men," that was a profound statement made by the Lord. How often are we praising God on Sunday's but as soon as we walk out of the sanctuary we are expressing negative thoughts and attitudes? Jonathan Edwards quotes "Many pray with their lips for that for which their hearts have no desire." I love this quote! It speaks such volume of truth!! The things we pray for and the things we really desire don't always line up. We ask God to heal a sick friend but do we really believe that he will or can do it. We say oh yes! I know he can but do we 100% have the faith and the desire to see that happen? Alot of times we just speak because it is what we know not what we actually desire to be true. Priscilla Shrier says "The praises of God cannot fit in a mouth that is already filled with other things." How true! Is our mouth filled with negativity, ugliness, hurtful words or tones, etc? It's kinda like the tongue scrapers you get from the dentist. After you brush your teeth and you use the scrapper to go across your tongue you would think your mouth is clean but no! You get lots of gunk off your tongue. (okay I know gross example!!) We cannot truly praise and glorify God when our mouth is full of other stuff. James 3:5-6 Says our tongue is a small part of our body but it has the capability to destroy so much! It starts a small fire of gossip, hate, and deceit. By the time it is all over with it has taken down a forest. It only takes one small negative or hurtful thing to change everything. Our flesh longs for negativity and not praises because the flesh is of the world! We were not made for this world. We are made to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ so others can come to know the saving grace of him. If we want to change how we are we have to make a conscience decision to live for Christ in every aspect. The Greek word for Restless is akataschetos which means unsettled, undisciplined, and unable to be restrained. This is what our fleshly tongue is and longs for but we Jesus Christ it doesn't have to be this way! No human being can tame a tongue. It speaks evil and lives for the flesh. We praise the Lord for his blessings. Then the next minute we tear down our fellow brother/sister. God doesn't want it to be this way. He wants us to be there for our fellow Christian. We have to stand against so much opposition in the world and so many persections. Why do we want to persecute each other? Within churches this has become an epidemic! We are praising and singing on Sunday morning with the best of them. Meanwhile, we walk out the door and we are bashing or speaking negatively. When we do this we KILL the Spirit and Blessing that God just gave us. The words he just spoke to us in the pew! Okay I am just going to call it out now! When we do this it is not of God! I know! I just stepped on toes but I stepped on mine also! I am preaching to myself not just to you. Does my life line up with these verses?? Do I praise God and yet curse men?? Do I encourage one person and choose to tear down another?? We need to hold each other accountable!! We need to put a stop to the negative stinking thinking. We need to focus on lifting up! For every negative word, thought, or spoken word replace it with scripture. Isaiah 6:5-7 and James 3:8-11. Dear Lord, I ask you to help me clean out my mouth! I want to praise you and glorify you in all I say. Help me to be the light in the darkness. I know I can't be that light when my mouth is full of gunk. I ask that you help clean out my mouth and plant the seeds of your word instead. I ask for forgiveness. Please help me to not get stuck in the flesh and in the worldly way things are done. Thank you so much for giving me a testimony and being able to use it for your honor and glory. I pray for my friends reading this. I pray that we will hold each other accountable and encourage each sister in Christ! We ask it all in your name! Amen Love ya! Sistachick

The More I Seek You - Kari Jobe

Life Happens Fast

4 "LORD, remind me how brief my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered, and that my life is fleeing away. 5 My life is no longer than the width of my hand. An entire lifetime is just a moment to you; human existence is but a breath." Interlude 6 We are merely moving shadows, and all our busy rushing ends in nothing. We heap up wealth for someone else to spend. 7 And so, Lord, where do I put my hope? My only hope is in you. 8 Rescue me from my rebellion, for even fools mock me when I rebel. 9 I am silent before you; I won't say a word. For my punishment is from you. 10 Please, don't punish me anymore! I am exhausted by the blows from your hand. 11 When you discipline people for their sins, their lives can be crushed like the life of a moth. Human existence is as frail as breath. Interlude 12 Hear my prayer, O LORD! Listen to my cries for help! Don't ignore my tears. For I am your guest -- a traveler passing through, as my ancestors were before me. 13 Spare me so I can smile again before I am gone and exist no more. Psalms 39:4-13 Time is passing quickly! Wow. It has been a busy 6 months for us. We have become full time youth pastors and now have a 3 month old baby. God has quickly shown us that things are not in our time or our will. He has written the page to each day of our lives. If we would just stop our planning and figuring then our lives might not be so complicated. We need to stop and just trust God for his plan. When we follow him it causes us less heartache and strife. Following God and his plan is a faith action. When we allow him to work in our daily lives our faith increases and our plans decrease. Time on earth is brief as it says in Psalms 39. Our days are numbered so we should slow down and count our blessings each day. Be thankful for the time you have and use the time for spreading the love of Jesus.