power of prayer, yes please

Even the most minute answered prayers make me smile. God must be a humorous one, after all He instilled it in us and we are modeled after Him. For me, prayer can be like a phone call to my mom, all the spur of the moment thoughts included.  Naturally, the bible tells us to pray without ceasing. I try and probably get a little too close at times. Then Ecclesiastes 5:2 pops in with “don't be hasty in bringing matters before God. After all, God is in heaven, and you are here on earth. So let your words be few” (NIV). It seems to be a tug of war between the two for me. Thankfully, God takes me as I am, words and all.

Last night, dinner inspiration was at a low but I needed something, so I started flipping through the cookbook from my latest library adventure; I am trying to broaden my cooking skills and dress up our usual dinner menu. Two weeks ago Nugget had eggplants on sale and without really knowing if I liked them or how to cook them, the first eggplant entered my kitchen. Thank you Google for the awesome eggplant parmesan recipe. As it turns out, I do like eggplant but I digress.

As I turned the pages of the book, I said a little prayer for God to direct me to a recipe Ricardo would enjoy. I stumbled upon grilled cheese Panini style, an old favorite of ours and it was decided. Of course, grilled bell peppers and chipotle mayonnaise would be added, as well. Immediately after I decided this, the phone rang and Ricardo told me we should have grilled cheese for dinner. It made me laugh.

I LOVE how God works. I know this is not some miraculous healing or life changing occurrence but it is God hearing little ol me and answering my little prayers. He does have an awesome track record for doing so. There really is nothing like the little things in life that make me smile. Thank you God for being so faithful.

Hungry Much?

My library card has been getting a great work out the past few months from books on baking and cooking to bilingual books for my little one to these awesome devotionals and more. Yay public library! A few weeks ago Fasting: Spiritual Freedom Beyond Our Appetite by Lynne M. Baab caught my eye from its shelf space and it made its way home with me in my book bag.

“You are blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God” – Matthew 5:6, The Message

I am not a huge fan of The Message bible translation, more of an NIV gal myself, but this seems pretty fitting for the overall tone of the book, which is probably why Baab strategically placed it on the back cover. It has been an interesting read and covered a few topics that I first found out of place in a book about fasting, such as eating disorders and dieting. Thankfully, eating disorders has never been an issue for me but I know people that it has been.

When I think of fasting, part of me reverts back to my upbringing as a Mormon where we fasted most Sunday breakfasts because that was what you were suppose to do. I never knew of a purpose like closeness to God through it or a relationship for that matter until I became a Christian. I know fasting can be from anything – your morning lattes to music to your favorite TV show, whatever works for you. My brain always goes straight to food.

No one likes to be hungry but there is an unexplainable freedom in fasting that overcomes hunger. Yes, we do need food but “man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD” (Deuteronomy 8:3 NIV).  

Baab scatters people’s reasons for fasting throughout the pages from a college student to a seventy year old retired teacher. There are a lot of views and interesting aspects I never thought of. Turning the pages of people’s stories and bible verses, I found myself disheartened at how far from God I get and how easy our culture makes it. I absolutely agree with Baab’s statement “our addiction to filling space and our discomfort with truth make the discipline of fasting challenging.” My conviction: more space filled with GOD less of everything else.

Happy January!

I cannot believe it is nearly the end of January. This year has launched with a running start and the last ended the same. I finished reading the bible in 88 days. The coolest, most invigorating thing I did all year besides giving birth of course. God has continued to surprise and bless me in more ways than I can fathom.

Between all of my little projects and taking care of my now seven month old and life, it has been nearly impossible to update. This Christmas I managed to find time to do nearly all of the homemade gifts that my little heart desired. Yay! So I thought I would post some of the awesome items I found from some amazing blogs, mostly via Tipnut (one of my favorites), and some I made up that I gifted and shared this Christmas.

Starting from the left:

-Head bands to entice the girls in my Awana group to come prepared with verses ready
-Of course some for my little one
-Yummy almond cookies with chocolate drizzle for my married's bible study group
-Cupcakes celebrating jesus’ birthday for the Awana girls with toppers designed by yours truly
-A tea wreath inspired by Kojo Designs
-Cloth napkins with mitered corners, thank you to Heather Bailey for the easy tutorial!
-Candle covers and a felt bouquet made with flowers from the Purl Bee's  template for her beautiful wreath
-Cupcake carrier patterned by yours truely out of paper bags

I conjured up a bunch of other items – a Christmas dress for the little one, mustache mugs for the gentlemen in my family thanks to The Tortoise and the Hare, and reusable sandwich bags and more. There is nothing like a homemade gift to give.

Now that the holidays have settled, I am finally getting things situated around the house. The little one is getting pretty mobile these days. Baby proofing is almost complete but I am sure there will be more to go as she moves about.

Here is to a new year and new blessings to unfold.

the art of a challege

It is hard to believe it is already August. Awana came to a close mid May. I gave birth to our first in June and have been working on mastering the art of motherhood since. It has been an amazing experience and I am so thankful for her every day. God has been too good to me.

I have found it all too easy to get caught up in the day to day – bath time, feeding, cleaning, sleeping – to do my daily devotionals, which has been convicting. Then I was contacted by Christy of Skinned Knees to do a giveaway for His Love Endures Forever on her blog. Of course, I visited her site, which was very inspiring, and proceeded to find her involvement with MomsToolBox and their Bible in 90 Days challenge. I have been wanting to read the bible all the way through – I have read all of the New Testiment and most of the Old but not completely, 100% of it. Unfortunately, they have already started and are over 20 days in to it but there is no reason I cannot give it a whirl on my own. So this is my Bible in 90 Days challenge. I always love a good challenge and seeing as God is involved, well this should be my best one yet. Tomorrow marks day one.

God, please change me and reveal to me your wisdom in my life.

heaven bound

Shortly after I was saved, I was shown a video in the college group I attended by Penn of Penn and Teller, a renowned atheist. He tells of how a Christian gave him a bible and wanted to talk to him about Jesus after one of his shows. He goes on to say he is an atheist but how much would someone (a Christian) have to hate someone to not tell them about Jesus and eternal life if that is what they believe in the depths of their souls.

This thought been tossing in my head over the past week as I have been reading Heaven is for real by Todd Burpo, an account of his four year old son’s visit to heaven while he in surgery. Yes, the bible talks about heaven in revelations and many other parts but something about reading the innocent words of a child makes it seem that much more real to me. Maybe it is because I am getting ready to have my first.

Burpo’s son is so concerned about the eternal status of a man his father, a pastor, does a funeral for - whom he never met. That is how I pray God will transform me. I know I am saved but what about the person sitting next to me in the break room at work or the lady in line behind me at the grocery store.

I am not an evangelist by any means, although I have a heart for missions and missionaries but this has made me open my eyes even wider. I have close friends and family who are not saved. I know that I cannot single handedly convert them; that is God’s job as it says in John 15:16 "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit--fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name." I do have a voice and a relationship with God for Him to use me in their lives.

This life is so minute compared to eternity. After all, we are in this world but not of it.

Hallelujah.