Saturday, January 19, 2019

It's Not the Brownies Fault

Ladies and I started a new journey the first week of this new year. We join together each week to share victories and sometimes defeats reading a 40-day devotional book "Eating with the King".  The objective is to allow God's Holy Spirit to guide and control our eating.  It's not the brownies fault!

The first thing that jumped out at me from the book is "Food is not our foe". Ok. That's right. I can get on-board with that. It's the way I treat food that makes me overweight. I've got this. Me and Jesus are buds and he's gonna help me get skinny! Fast-forward to Day Six entitled "What Kind of Sorry Are We?" Since reading this small yet powerful devotion, I've been like Eeyore.
Yes, this has been me this week!
What toppled my world so dramatically? This simple little sentence from the book. I don't ever remember a time that I would have chosen water over a good ole glass of sweet tea--the sweeter the better, or a classic Coca-Cola. Then the next powerful sentence read...I heard once, a way to recognize if something was an idol in your life was to ask yourself this question. "Can I give it up?" Could I? I don't want to! When I think about food, I always daydream about the drink. I have certain sugary beverages I drink with every meal. Let me paint the picture completely. I WON'T eat the meal without I have my drink of choice! I CANNOT eat a hamburger and fries without a Coke or Diet Coke. Sunday Dinner without tea? I don't think so.

Here's another kicker for me. I rarely ever get thirsty. So this person writing this book is telling me to drink water (which I don't like) and not drink any tea or Coke because I idolize them? The nerve! Turned the page in the book and with one verse of scripture, the Holy Spirit convicted me of my sugary drink idolatry. Oh! Ouch! So painful. So insightful. So annoying. So Sweet Jesus please forgive me.

I've done fairly well since Monday. I'm beginning Day 5 with water as my main drink of choice. I've had one glass of Sweet n Low-laden tea and one glass of sweet tea and zero soft drinks. I passed a Coke truck yesterday and turned my head to avoid the seductive ice cold glass of Coke on the side of the truck with fabulous fizzy bubbles rising from the ice. I tried not to notice the beads of water on the outside of the glass reminding me of a beautiful hot sunny day with a refreshing ice cold Coke! Is there anything better?

Yes. There is something better than Coke! If I find myself dreaming of Coke or tea, conjuring up the flavors in my mind, desiring to go fill a glass with a Coke and a smile, I ask God to inscribe his powerful Word on the tables of my heart so that I may never forget:

Whosoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. John 4:14

Be watered and well 365,
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Monday, December 31, 2018

A Housewife's Perspective for 2019

Happy New Year

Everyone wants something out of a new year. Here's a housewife's perspective for 2019. I wish someone would get to work inventing these things that will make my life easier.

  • A hands-free mop. We have the roomba aka the vacuum cleaner that runs around the room cleaning the floor. We also have an automatic pool cleaner that works in water. Why oh why can't some genius merge those two to invent a hands-free mop?
  • A self-cleaning refrigerator. We have the self-cleaning oven that works with heat. We need the self-cleaning refrigerator that evaporates spills and messes with cold vapor. Someone GET ON IT!
  • An automatic laundry sorter. I don't want to take up my laundry room space with multiple bins for whites and colors. Who could hit the correct bin anyway when tossing one's clothes across the room? I'm sure someone can invent a sensor that screams at you like the chip reader in retail stores when asking to remove your credit or debit card. If you put your colors in the whites, there should be an arm that automatically moves your clothing into the correct place for washing.
  • An automatic dust sucker. I'm thinking someone can invent a device that can be armed to work while no one is home. Set the timer. Go out your door and just like magic, the device would sit in the middle of your home and pull all the dust from all your rooms without sucking the pictures off your walls.
  • A cardboard eater. I love to shop online. I hate to recycle the cardboard boxes. We already have the garbage disposal that lives in your drain to eat your unwanted and leftover food. We need a cardboard eater kinda like a chipper shredder but something less industrial for home use.
There you have it. A happy new year from a housewife's perspective for 2019! Someone can be a millionaire in 2019 if any of these problems are solved with a gadget. Please...cut me in on your earnings for thinking of such great ideas!

Always thinking 365,
Tammy
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Sunday, December 16, 2018

The One Question You Need to Ask Yourself

fireplace

The mantel is decorated. The fire is lit. The Christmas tree lights glow in hurried anticipation of soon-to-open gifts, upcoming festivities, good friends and oh yeah, family. The air is crisper than usual. People seem happier than normal. Christmastime, after all, is the most wonderful time of the year! Christmas is the most beloved holiday in American culture.

The season makes one giddy with memories of Christmases' past. Remembrances of that one great gift you can never forget. The one question you probably ask yourself most is "What can I get (you insert name here) for Christmas?".  Gift-giving is a fun experience but gift-buying is a totally different aspect of Christmas, usually a dreaded one. Although that's probably the most asked question, it is not the one question you need to ask yourself.


There are so many legitimate questions to ask at Christmas:
  • Should I buy that beautiful expensive wrapping paper?
  • Wonder if I'll get a Christmas bonus at work?
  • What date should I mail Christmas cards?
  • How much should I spend on Christmas gifts?
  • Will I cook for the pot luck or pick up something at the store?
  • Where do I find a knock-out outfit for the office party?
  • How will I take care of everything on time?
So many questions! But, these are still not the one question you need to ask yourself. So what is it?

When Jesus came into the coast of Phillipi, he asked his disciples, Who do men say that I am? The disciples told him some people say he is John the Baptist or Elias or Jeremias or another prophet. Then Jesus said, "WHO DO YOU SAY THAT I AM?" The one question you need to ask yourself is who do you say Jesus is?


Simon Peter answered Jesus saying "Thou art the Christ! The Son of the Living God!" Is Jesus your Christ? Do you call him your Savior? Is he the Prince of Peace in your life? Is he your Counselor? Is he ordinary to you or extraordinary? If you don't get all your holiday season questions answered or maybe even skip one, please don't miss the one most important question that effects you forever. The one question you need to ask yourself effects your eternity, not just one month out of the year.  This Christmas, please take a moment and concentrate on the one question you need to ask yourself...


What can you get me for Christmas this year? Answer the one question you need to ask yourself! Tell me in a comment who you say Jesus is!

Jesus is Lord 365,
Tammy




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Tuesday, December 11, 2018

I Don't Measure Up

measure up

The world wants me to be an average height, say five feet six inches tall. People may immediately react to that statement with "That's not true!". But, it is. If you live in my four feet eleven inch world, you'd find I always have to hem my pants (one reason I love shorts). Cabinets are a "standard" height which means I usually can't reach past the bottom shelf. I can't drive vehicles without power seats because the "regular" seat won't adjust so I can reach the pedals. I barely make the height limits at Disney World. I don't measure up.

I've spent my lifetime being less than, shorter than, feeling inadequate in a lot of ways. In America, if you're a woman, shoes ARE the most important part of your wardrobe. No, they're not an addition to or a compliment thereof, they are the MOST IMPORTANT ARTICLE of clothing a woman wears. The high heel has an interesting history dating back to the 1500's when Persian soldiers first wore heels to help their feet stay in their saddle stirrups during war. High heels were invented for men. The high heel waved and waned until the pin-ups girls of the 1950's. Around that time, the stiletto heel was invented concreting the relationship between women, sexuality and appearance. Today, cultural value dictates high heels are the "norm" for women in professional settings. Ironically, I was born in 1963 smack dab in the height (pun intended) of the high heel craze. I can't wear high heels. I don't measure up.

After a recent encounter of falling short of people's standards, my damaged ego appealed to God for an answer. Why don't I measure up? He showed me this comparison.

The world measures us by:
1. Appearance - Are you attractive and desirable?
2. Transportation - What kind of car do you drive?
3. Shelter - Do you live in a big house?
4. Occupation - Do you have a big job or big title?
5. Possessions - How much stuff do you own?

The world measures Jesus in the same ways. Here are the his results according to the Bible:
1.  Appearance - Jesus is not physically attractive.  Isaiah 53:2 states For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. 
2. Transportation - Jesus drove a donkey (could have been a Dodge colt, maybe).  John 12:14-15  And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat thereon; as it is written, Fear not, daughter of Sion: behold, thy King cometh, sitting on an ass's colt. Jesus drove a donkey.
3. Shelter - Jesus was born in a stable. Luke 2:7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
4. Occupation - Jesus was a carpenter. Mark 6:3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him.
5. Possessions - Jesus had no need of material possessions. Matthew 19:21-23 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions. Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.

God revived my heart with this age-old fact, according to many,
Jesus doesn't measure up.

don't fit in

The moral of this story is compare yourself to Jesus, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. If you measure up by his standards, all is well. I'm pumped there's not a mention of "high heels" in the Bible and obviously Jesus loves short people. He went out of his way to visit a wee little man named Zacchaeus. 

Measured 365,
Tammy


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Thursday, November 29, 2018

Family Dinner Night


I started a thing about two years ago now. Every Thursday night is Family Dinner Night (FDN) at my house. There's nine of us including me and my husband, my mom and dad, my two daughters, my son-in-law and my two precious granddaughters. We have a blast! I look forward to Thursday every week for a couple of reasons but the top reason is FDN.

I plan and cook the meal all by me little lonesome. For the past few weeks, I've been focusing on soups. The weather is a bit cooler and soup just seems to be a Fall food. Tonight we had lasagna soup. I found the recipe at A Farmgirl's Dabbles.

This is her photo. I always forget to take a picture of new recipes. Well...not always but I did tonight.

Image result for lasagna soup

I used fusilli pasta I got at Kroger. I followed the recipe almost exactly. The soup turned out nicely. Quite delicious and overly satisfying. The guys in my fam really enjoyed it. My husband and son-in-law had seconds. My son-in-law even agreed to take some home for lunch tomorrow. SCORE! Lasagna Soup is a definite "must-try" recipe. Oh and I followed her tips on the recipe also.

Stuffed 365,
Tammy
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