Fancied Freedom

Through recent Bible study and prayer, God has led me to take a break from blogging. While I enjoy sharing news and views through this blog, God has shown me that right now my time needs to be focused on other priorities such as caring for my ever-so-crazy 2-year-old toddler and maintaining our home.

As a work-at-home mom, life gets frazzled and there are truly not enough hours in the day to get everything done (as I write, a pile of laundry that I washed on Tuesday, dried on Wednesday and unloaded on Thursday still remains in the basket waiting to be folded. Thankfully, they are only towels.) Needless to say, some things must go for the sake of sanity.

So, I say farewell until another season of life allows me more time to contribute to the wonderful world of blogging. During my hiatus, I do plan to remain involved by perusing the blogs I’ve frequented and possibly commenting every now and then. Thank you for all the comments and readership. It is greatly appreciated!

“Be faithful until death and I will give you the crown of life,” Jesus in Revelation 2:10

This is one my tried-and-true favorites. It’s very simple and a good kids’ treat because they can help make it.

Fruit Pizza

One tube refrigerated sugar cookie dough (or your favorite recipe)

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup powered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

chopped fruit including strawberries, kiwi and pineapple

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Roll out the sugar cookie dough onto a floured cookie sheet into a circle about 1/2 inch thick, or roll out into a circular disposable foil pan (similar to a pizza pan.) Bake in oven for about 7-8 minutes (it should be soft). Let cool on cooling rack. While cooling, mix cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla together with an electric mixer for about 1-2 minutes until mixture is spreadable. Spread on top of cookie pizza and top with cut fruit.

Option: You can make smaller individual pizzas by using a circle or any other shape cookie cutter to cut to the rolled-out dough. Place those cut outs on the cookie sheet and bake for 7 minutes and then follow the recipe accordingly.

This is a great treat for the holidays!

After reading this Biblical Mandate by pro-life group Abort73 urging Christians to do something about abortion, I was so encouraged to do all I can to defend the defenseless and be a voice for the voiceless. The message stems from James 1:27 which says

Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

Please take time to read through the entire page but I’ll leave you with a few excerpts:

There are some in the church who are so focused on being “unstained from the world” that they isolate themselves almost completely from the suffering of those around them. They read the Word, they pray, but they stay far away from the ugly and messy needs of the downtrodden (like orphans, widows and unborn children). There are others in the church whose commitment to meeting social needs is unwavering, and they hit the streets: caring for the homeless, feeding the hungry, protesting at the abortion mill, but having (perhaps) too little concern for personal holiness, and very little regard for the absolute centrality of the gospel. Devotion to God has been replaced with devotion to cause.

James tells us it should not be so. Visit widows and orphans and keep yourself unstained from the world. We must not become so “spiritual” in our Christian life that we forget about meeting physical needs, and we must not become so “worldly” in meeting those needs that we lose sight of God’s ultimate design. Or, to say it in specifically “pro-life” terms, we must not become so “spiritual” in our Christian life that we write off the daily slaughter of 4,000 innocent human beings as a political issue (beyond our jurisdiction), and we must not become so “worldly” in intervening for them that we lose sight of the bigger picture (reconciling people to Christ through holiness and love). This balance is the essence of pure and undefiled religion.

Joy is a fruit of the Holy Spirit (see Galatians 5:22-23) and therefore it should be something that Christians pray for. We pray for patience and peace all the time (at least I do, as a mother of a toddler) but I rarely find myself praying for joy. Actually, almost never.

But, joy is something that God promises to give us as we allow the Holy Spirit to guide our life. As we submit to Christ and allow Him to live through us through the Holy Spirit, joy will be evident. Sometimes, this is not easy to do because of our circumstances but we can always pray for it and allow God to work in us what we can’t do on our own.

I’m not sure why joy has sprung up recently - I guess because I see too many Christians (myself included) not joyful even though the God of the World, the Creator of all things, has come to dwell in them through His Spirit. We have forgiveness, we have unconditional love, we have acceptance from God because of what Christ has done for us. Because of this, we will have eternal life. So, why aren’t we joyful?

I believe the acronym for JOY that I ran across several years ago while reading a commentary on Philippians can help. I had forgotten it until I read an article about former model Kathy Ireland (I had no idea she was a Christian!) and she mentioned that this acronym for JOY immediately helps her put her priorities in place. JOY = JESUS first, OTHERS second and YOU last.

As any born-again believer knows, this acronym is Biblical. God in Deuteronomy tells us to put Him first, Christ tells us in Matthew to seek first His Kingdom. Paul in his letters to the Philippians and Galatians tells believers to consider others before ourselves. And what does this lead to? TRUE JOY.

Does this mean we allow people to take advantage of us and run all over us? No, we still set up healthy boundaries that allow us to put God first (for example, if we say yes to every volunteer and service activity, there will hardly be time to put God first and we can stressed and strained. Not to mention grouchy and unjoyful.)

Try it for yourself - see how things change on a daily basis by just focusing on this simple thought. Jesus, Others, You. I promise you’ll see that God will meet all of your needs in the time that He’s given you if you simply trust His plan.

I have my mother-in-law to thank for this recipe, which is a tasty one from Mexico. I think it is almost my husband’s favorite meal and I really enjoy it, too. It’s not difficult to make but does take a little time - I usually make it on a Sunday when I have more time to spend in the kitchen and my son can hang out with his Da-Da.

Mole Chicken with Mexican Rice

1 jar of Dona Maria mole sauce (found in the Latin American/ethnic food aisles)

8-10 chicken legs

1 Tbsp. vegetable oil

1 cup uncooked white long-grain rice (not Minute Rice)

3 cups water

1/3 cup plain tomato sauce (like Hunt’s)

1/2 cup canned corn kernels

1 tsp. chicken bouillon granules

Corn tortillas, if desired

First, boil a large pot of water (about 12 cups of water). Once water comes to a boil, carefully placed thawed chicken legs into pot. Cook for about 30 minutes at high to medium heat until chicken is cooked through. Once chicken is in the pot, begin making the rice. Pour the vegetable oil in a large pan and spread it around the pan. Heat the vegetable oil on high heat and then add the uncooked rice. Brown/fry the rice stirring constantly for about 5 minutes until the rice is slightly golden. Add the water, tomato sauce, corn and chicken bouillon to the rice and stir together. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer and cover. Simmer rice for 15-20 minutes. Once rice is tender, remove pan from heat and let rice sit for 5 minutes.

After rice is done, the chicken should be close to complete. Remove the chicken from the pot using tongs and place on a separate dish. Lower the heat to simmer. Pour about 2 cups of the water from the pot into a large liquid measuring cup. Open the mole sauce and scrape all of it from the jar into the large pot. Add 1 cup of the hot water into the mole sauce and stir constantly, breaking up the junks of the sauce. If the sauce is too think, add the 1/2 cup of water. Stir until all of the sauce mixture is dissolved. The sauce should be slightly think but easy to stir. If you prefer the sauce to be a bit thinner, add the rest of the water. Place the chicken legs back into the mole sauce and let sit in the pot at simmer for about 5 minutes.

Serve the chicken with the rice and heat up corn tortillas to serve with the chicken. The tortillas can be used to hold the chicken legs while you eat or you can put pieces of the chicken into the tortilla to make tacos. It can be a bit messy, but is very good.

So, I’m enjoying a quick but somewhat relaxing lunch today in between my writing and motherly duties (as my son naps) and am reading a copy of a Q&A article with Mars Hill pastor Rob Bell. Published in the January/February issue of Relevant magazine, the story’s subhead states that Bell “tells it like it is.” And he most certainly did, when it comes to diapers, at least.

As the young “emergent pastor” details what his church members are doing to protect the environment, he identifies a group of moms that are “exploring environmentally friendly diapers.” Why would they do that? Bell explains that “diapers are an assault on the earth.” Being a first-time mom with a toddler who probably now goes through 8-10 diapers daily, I’ve never considered myself as one who was assaulting the earth but I believe my eyes have been opened. I also guess now is not a good time to mention how many diapers my son went through when he was a newborn (did I say he was eating every two to three hours)???

I suppose I could try cloth diapers. Any moms out there gone this route? It would save me about $20 per week (which I could then use to buy more food or pay for gas, which is also polluting the earth.) I wonder what kind of environmentally-friendly diapers Bell’s underground group will come up with - maybe recyclable diapers! And how much of my arm and leg will they require?

However, my first question upon reading this piece was how many diapers has Rob Bell changed? How many of those diapers have been cloth or some other “friendly” type? Did he also wash those cloth diapers? I am not trying to “judge,” but just asking a few questions. Who knows - maybe he could provide me with some tips on how to handle the toxic “assault” to my nose from handling my son’s ever-so-sweet No. 2 diapers. I’m probably being selfish - after all the earth’s needs come before mine, even though it has somehow managed to survive plenty of other “assaults.”

But, what I think stuck out even more to me than the diaper discussion, was how Bell mentioned several times in his Q&A how conservatives and critics have nothing better to do than to “take shots at other Christians” without realizing he was doing the very same thing by declaring “religious people” who question Bell’s theology (and for good reason, I might add) as ones who are fearful and lack faith. Is that not taking shots at other Christians? Where’s the love?!?!

I believe that Christians are commanded to do what they can to help those in need, wisely use the resources given to us and most importantly share the life-saving message of Jesus Christ with those who don’t know Him. But if I’m stressing over how my son’s 70 diapers per week are going to harm the earth rather than speaking up for the unborn babies who are being killed and the hundreds of people living hopeless lives without Christ, I think something is truly wrong. Don’t you think?

My church and family are preparing to go through several changes - most of which are uncertainties. Some decisions have been made and we don’t know how they’ll turn out. Other decisions have not been made and we don’t know they will turn out.

For many people, this situation leaves the door open for an exciting new adventure most likely accompanied by fear and worry. As I pondered the journey ahead, I began to wonder why we fear the future.

We’re afraid of what could happen and what might happen. We fear the results, the outcome and the consequences. We worry about where we will end up, if we’ll be provided for and most importantly, whether we can actually face the situation.

But, then I thought, what if we did actually know what was going to happen? Wouldn’t that actually cause more fear? I mean, if we knew what life would be like in 10 years, we would see where we were, the results and outcome, and what if we didn’t like it? For the next 10 years, our level of fear and worry would increase as we eagerly waited for that time to come. I know that if someone told me I only had one month to live, I’d be counting down the days on the calendar rather than joyfully living out those days.

Or perhaps we would do all we could to try to change that specific situation? To make adjustments in our life to ensure that outcome would never actually pan out. We could just deny it, say it wasn’t true and live as if it weren’t. But, we were the ones who wanted to know what the future holds after all, weren’t we?

For the Christian, those who trust Jesus Christ as Savior, there is good reason as to why God holds our future in His hands without our knowledge of the outcome. It is based purely on faith and trust. Do we have faith to believe that God is in control and working things out for His specific purpose? Do we trust that His ultimate plan is good no matter what trials we may face?

With this faith and trust in a Sovereign God, is there really room for fear? If God promises to grant us with the strength and grace to approach each new situation as it comes, is there really room to fear the outcome? If we rely on our Creator, who has time in His hands and is actually beyond time, what room is there to fear that our situation will not turn out according to His purpose and for His glory?

There is no room for fear. There is no reason to be afraid of the future. There is really no need to worry. If we are following God and His will, fear is not part of our future. It seems to me the more we fear and worry about being able to handle the future, the less we rely on God and the more we rely on ourselves. And that is a form of pride - stating that God is not sufficient and powerful enough to handle whatever HE throws at us so WE need to take care of it. The plan He has set out for us will be perfect. As David says in Psalm 40: 4-5, 8:

How blessed is the man who has made the LORD his trust, and has not turned to the proud, nor to those who lapse into falsehood. Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders which You have done, and Your thoughts toward us; There is none to compare with You if I would declare and speak of them, they would be too numerous to count. I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your Law is within my heart.

God is so good to hold true to His Word and promises - I could seriously list hundreds of Scriptures about His faithfulness to us and how that has been applied to my own life. I believe I have quoted the following verse in another blog post but am so determined to write it upon my heart and hope you will too:

The steps of a man are established by the LORD, and He delights in his way. When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong because the LORD is the One who holds his hand. Psalm 37:23-24

Do you believe in a “no-God?” Are you following a “no-God?” If you don’t believe in Jesus Christ and claim Him as your Savior but say you believe in God, you’re believing a “no-God.”

John Piper says this in his book, don’t waste your life:

God without Christ is no God. A no-God cannot save or satisfy the soul. Following a no-God - whatever his name or whatever his religion - will be a wasted life. God-in-Christ is the only true God and the only path to joy.

There is no eternal life without Christ. God makes this clear in His Word in John 17:3:

This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.

And what did Christ do to give us eternal life, joy and satisfaction? Piper further explains:

To bring us to this highest and most durable of all pleasures, God made his son, Jesus Christ, a bloody spectacle of blameless suffering and death. This is what it cost to rescue us from a wasted life. The eternal Son of God “did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing.” He took “the form of a servant” and was born “in the likeness of men…He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:6-8).

Do you know the eternal Son of God?

This is a super simple, delightfully delicious cake that can be brought to any dinner party, potluck or picnic (not necessarily a wedding, although I’m not sure how it got that name.)

Mexican Wedding Cake (with cream cheese frosting below)
2 cups flour

2 tsp. baking soda

20 oz. can crushed pineapple with juice

1/2 cup chopped pecans

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 13×9 baking pan. Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and stir well. Pour into baking pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes (watch the time if using a glass baking pan since these tend to bake faster and darker.)

For the frosting: combine 8 oz. of softened cream cheese, 1 box (16 oz.) powdered sugar, 1/2 cup softened butter and 1 tsp. vanilla extract in a medium bowl using an electric mixer until creamy. Fold in 1/2 cup pecans (if desired). Spread onto cooled cake.

Do you often find yourself wondering how your small, menial tasks make any sort of significant difference to God? How can your very-ordinary-everyday-often-the-same-sometimes-boring tasks bring glory to a God who created the universe, placed each star in the sky and did all this just by speaking? How do our small acts of obedience, from laundry and dishes to oil changes and number crunching, day in and day out glorify our risen Christ?

I often wonder if John the Baptist felt this way. Called to be only a voice in the desert, the son of Zacharias and Elizabeth paved the way for Jesus to be revealed to the Jewish people as the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One. This was John’s sole purpose as recorded in Luke 1:76-77:

And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare His ways; to give His people the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins.

He is aptly named for his work in admonishing the Jewish people to repent and be baptized, therefore baptizing them with water. John the Baptist preached the Gospel with such power and authority that the Bible says people wondered in astonishment as to whether he was really the Christ, their Savior. However, John was quick to correct them:

John answered and said to them all, “As for me, I baptize you with water; but One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the thong of His sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in His hand to thoroughly clear His threshing floor and to gather the wheat into His barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” Luke 3:16-17

John knew his place and his purpose. He was determined to fulfill the work that God had set out for him. However unfit John believed he was to remove Jesus’ sandals, Our Heavenly Father allowed the prophet to baptize Christ which was the starting point of Jesus’ ministry. Despite this awesome honor, John did not consider his work extraordinary or allow the number of people baptized to become a matter of pride. He continued preaching and baptizing, fulfilling God’s will. He even explained to his own disciples that it was necessary for more people to go to Christ to be baptized than to himself, saying:

“You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent ahead of Him.’ He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of mine has been made full. He must increase, but I must decrease.” John 3:28-30

John knew his time in the limelight was nothing more than a foreshadowing of what Christ would do for us all. John’s work was quite important but at times may have seemed ordinary in light of who Christ is and what Christ would do for all people - bring salvation to many. John prepared the way for the One who would rescue those sinners who believe in Him from eternal separation from God.

The people were amazed by John but were even more astonished by Jesus and His words, works and wonders. And this actually pleased John so much that he says his joy was made full. No resentment, no pettiness, no wondering why he’s not being praised for the work he did before Christ got on the scene. John quietly and joyfully accepts what God has planned since the beginning of time:

“He must increase but I must decrease.”

What season of life do you find yourself in, where God has placed you? What are you doing today that seems ordinary, that seems to be so mundane you can hardly stand it? What are you doing today that is going unnoticed and unappreciated by others around you, that maybe had some purpose at one time but is no longer the focal point? What are you doing that others may be receiving praise for? What are you doing today that is bringing glory to Christ but is unseen by many around you, or perhaps unknown by others?

The ordinary-everyday-things you do for Christ will be rewarded in due time if you do not grow weary and lose heart. The work you do, no matter how small, has a significant place in God’s plan because He has ordained it. But the greatest purpose is to glorify Christ. To show that Christ is Lord of your life, that He reigns supreme in your day-to-day busyness, that you serve a great God. Rather than seeking accolades for yourself and what you do, let Christ shine. Instead of placing yourself on the pedestal, allow Christ to be lifted high.

In everything you do, seek to allow Jesus Christ to increase so you can decrease.