An Unending Supply of Strength

Hello everyone! 

I have been so busy over the past week with seeing family, finishing up my physiology class, and other things which conflicted with me being able to post on here. I had planned to post two more times last week, but that never happened. I am planning on posting more this week, though since I will officially be done with my summer class this Thursday! I am way too excited about that. :)

I want to talk a little bit about the source of eternal strength that comes from the Lord. I'm sure you can relate to running back and forth each week to work or school or to pick people up and how much that can affect your energy levels. The past couple of weeks have been very busy for me and I kept finding myself feeling really tired physically. I needed way more than 8 hours of sleep; I needed energy and strength that would last much longer than what sleep could offer me. I realized that I needed to be looking to Jesus more in the area of strength for my daily life. I needed to trust God and not rely on my feelings.

This opened up to me such a revelation yesterday in my devotional time with the Lord. I was reading Psalm 23 which I usually read daily since it is one of my favorite Psalms and one verse particularly stuck out to me more than it ever has before. Verses 1-3 say,"The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not lack. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still and restful waters. He refreshes and restores my life." Verse 3 is the one I focused on, but the whole passage reflects God's rest in our lives. In this passage we see that the Lord causes us to lie down and rest and He daily restores us. To me, this sounds amazing. I can trust Jesus to restore me physically, mentally, and emotionally each and every day. This restoration brings energy that nothing else can bring. This goes far beyond sleep, energy drinks, running, etc. and taps into an unending supply of strength which only the Lord can provide. 

After reading Psalm 23 the Lord told me to confess something over myself whenever I feel that my energy is getting low. He said to say this: "My strength comes from the joy that is within me from the Father." To add onto what I was just talking about, Nehemiah 8:10 is also another great scripture about the strength and energy the Lord provides. It says, "...for the joy of the Lord is your strength." I love this verse because it proves that the joy that God gives us can also be a source of strength for our natural bodies. Another great verse that goes along with this is Psalm 73:26 which says,"My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the Rock and firm Strength of my heart and my Portion forever." Our earthly bodies will fail in giving us strength, but the Lord is a Rock. That means He is stable and we can stand on Him everyday and rely on His unending, abounding strength to show up in our lives. 

One last verse I wanted to share today comes from Isaiah 40:30-31 which says,"Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall feebly stumble and fall exhausted; But those who wait for the Lord shall change and renew their strength and power." When we wait on the Lord, He renews us beyond any natural remedy and He changes us day by day in His strength. Start relying on God as your power source and you will see amazing changes in your everyday life!

Photo Source: danielleburkleo.com

I hope you all were encouraged by this as much as I was. Have a great week everyone and thanks for reading! 

True Love

Happy Monday everyone!

I'm a little late on this post because of all the studying I've been doing for my Physiology class so please forgive me. However, I wanted to post a little something special about the man in my life. Matthew and I celebrated one year of our relationship together July 11th. It was so special. He surprised me first by taking me to downtown Chicago and then we went to Navy Pier. I love Navy Pier because it is full of so many different restaurants and vendors to look at and, of course, the huge Ferris Wheel! Next we took a mid-day cruise in Lake Michigan which was super fun. The water was beautiful and the sunshine made everything so perfect. After the cruise, we went to the Art Institute on Michigan Avenue and looked at all the interesting exhibits. I ended up getting home pretty late, but it was totally worth it. Matthew planned an amazing date for our one year anniversary and I was definitely surprised. I loved getting to spend the whole day with my love! 

Matthew is my best friend and I am so continually blessed to be with a man like him. His love for God is what makes our relationship work because it is our common ground to stand on. With God's love as our foundation our relationship will continue to grow. Here are some photos from the past year of our growing relationship. 

This is a photo from the Spirit Cruise. As you can see, the city of Chicago is beautiful. Every season brings out something more unique about it. 

What's funny about this picture is that we didn't really mean to match. Matthew's shirt was actually red but appeared pink in these photos my sister took of us.

This photo completely describes our relationship! We are such a goofy couple. 

Us matching in ORU shirts! This was another random matching day. 

My sister took this photo of us over spring break when we went downtown to the Ritz Carlton with some friends. 

This was from our trip downtown with my family around Christmas time taken in the Water Tower by the beautiful trees. 

Making our first gingerbread house which turned out looking pretty good despite the huge mess we made. 

This photo and the next two were taken last summer at the start of our relationship. Matthew's cousin, Alicia, took them and she is so talented. This was such a fun day! 

It has been such a blessed year and I just wanted to take the time to mention this amazing man. I love you Matthew! 

I hope you enjoyed reading this today! This week I will be busy preparing for a test on Thursday so I am not sure how often I will be able to post. I am still planning on talking about something that's been on my heart this week and possibly a recipe Friday, however, so definitely stop by to check those out! Have a great day everybody!

Puppy Chow

Today's recipe is something much simpler than what I posted last week but still super yummy. I came upon it when I was looking at some things on pinterest. So, I want to give credit to Lizzy from the Your Cup of Cake website. She is awesome and bakes so many delicious things so you should definitely check it out! Just go to www.yourcupofcake.com. She has about 13 different puppy chow recipes and I want to try each one of them! The first one that I made today is the Cookies & Cream Puppy Chow.  It is fairly easy to make, as I mentioned before, and will definitely satisfy your sweet tooth. Here is the recipe: 

Cream Puppy Chow

5 cups of rice chex cereal

1 cup white chocolate melts

8 Oreos finely crushed

1/2 cup powdered sugar

Cookies Puppy Chow

5 cups chex cereal

1 cup milk chocolate melts

8 Oreos finely crushed 

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1. For the Cream Puppy Chow: Measure out your chex cereal and place in a large bowl. 

2. Measure out powdered sugar and crushed Oreos and place in a large plastic bag or large tupperware with a lid (You will be shaking the bag/tupperware later)

3. Melt white chocolate and stir till smooth

4. Pour melted chocolate over cereal and stir until coated

5. Transfer chocolate coated cereal into your plastic bag with sugar/cookies. Shake until cereal is thoroughly coated.

6. Dump onto a cookie sheet to cool.

7. Repeat steps 1-7 using the Cookies Puppy Chow ingredients. 

8. Once cooled, mix the Cookies and Cream Puppy Chow together and fold in extra chopped Oreos. 

To be honest, I had a hard time melting the chocolate without burning it since I am very much a novice at this kind of stuff. However, it still turned out pretty good and very much edible. I didn't take a picture because it wasn't as pretty as I wanted it to be but if you go to the website she has a great picture posted. You should definitely try at least one of her Puppy Chow recipes. It was lots of fun! Thanks for reading! 

Beauty in Him

Society today says a lot about what a woman should be. Whenever you go by a magazine rack in a store its pretty obvious to see what is praised and highly sought after in women. This can lead to all kinds of wrong assumptions about what is truly valuable. It also causes wrong self image in the beautiful creation that God called Woman. I have not struggled with this as much as many of my friends and family have, but I know the impact that it can have on the hearts and minds of those women who have a hard time finding their self-image. 

I believe that a woman's self-image should be founded in the one who created her and made her who she is our Creator is God. Psalm 139:13-14 says, "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well." This is a powerful statement. To know that God formed me, wove me, and intricately put me together is precious to me. It speaks volumes to my identity and makes me feel secure. 

In the past, there were many times when I didn't feel beautiful. I really think it started in high school when I would see so many other pretty girls who had boyfriends or had the best figure. I'm not sure why I ever let the enemy lie to me in this way. It was a season of my life where I was insecure in who I was in God. However, this drastically changed when I began to seek God more and pursue more of a relationship with Him. I found out that He always found me a flawless and that I didn't need anyone's approval but His. Song of Solomon 4:7 is a great scripture that reveals God's thoughts towards women. It says, "You are altogether beautiful, my darling; There is no flaw in you."

How can you be insecure when you believe that? The key is in believing that God loves you, He made you in His image, and you are beautiful. No matter what color your hair is, what clothes you wear, what your size is, or if you do or don't wear makeup, God finds you irresistible. When you know that, you are confident enough to live out your ultimate destiny. Proverbs 31 talks a lot about a virtuous woman. This woman is hard to find, but she seeks the Lord and only speaks in love. She walks in wisdom and grace and knows her future is bright. Verse 30 says, "Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised." I love to read this chapter and just meditate on how I can constantly allow the Lord to work in me so I can become more and more a virtuous woman. It is always a reminder to me to always trust Him to make me virtuous because that is where true beauty lies. 

I have one last verse I wanted to share that goes along with this post and has been on my heart a lot this summer. This is a verse that the Lord led me to and He told me it would be my guiding verse for this upcoming school year at ORU. Psalm 46: 5 says, "God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved; God will help her right early at the dawn of the morning."I don't want to be moved by circumstances, situations, or trials; I just want to see Jesus and hold onto Him as my foundation. When a woman is founded in Jesus she is anchored in any season of life and will always find her beauty and self worth in The Father. 

Photo Source: Sewn With Grace Blog

I really hope this ministers to your heart. God has so much in store for the woman who will learn to trust Him. That is where beauty begins. Thanks for reading as always! Have a great day!

Shrimp Linguine

This summer I found a great pasta recipe that I wanted to share on my blog. It is a recipe developed by Ina Garten from the cooking show Barefoot Contessa on Food Network. It is really fresh tasting and light which is perfect for the summer season. It is relatively easy to make and I have been making it about once a week just to perfect my cooking skills. Everyone I have cooked it for has loved it so far so I encourage you to make it sometime for your family! Here are the ingredients:

1 tablespoon salt

Vegetable oil

3/4 pound linguine

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

4 cloves of garlic

1 pound of shrimp (peeled)

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/3 cup chopped parsley leaves

1/2 lemon zest, grated

1/4 cup lemon juice, freshly squeezed

1/4 lemon, thinly sliced

1/8 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes

In a large pan add some vegetable oil and 1 tablespoon of salt with the linguine. Cook for 7 to 10 minutes.

In a large frying pan melt the butter and olive oil over medium-low heat. Add the garlic and saute for 1 minute. Add the shrimp, 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt, pepper, and saute till the shrimp is pink (this should take about 5 minutes). Remove from the heat and add the parsley, lemon juice, lemon zest, lemon slices, and red pepper flakes. Toss and combine sauce.

Drain pasta and add sauce immediately. Toss to thoroughly combine. 

***To create a thicker sauce, let the garlic become caramelized so the butter and oil becomes thicker and cook it over the medium heat longer***

Some things I have found that make this recipe go faster is to mince the garlic earlier in the day and also to cut the parsley early. Also, make sure your shrimp are thoroughly washed and their tails are off before you start. That makes things go much quicker while you're cooking. I typically add less salt than the recipe calls for and even less butter/oil at times to make it a little less loaded with sodium. When I'm in a rush, I don't add the parsley or slices of lemon. This is a very delicious pasta recipe and all the credit goes to Ina Garten and her fabulous cooking. 

Here is a picture of what my shrimp linguine looks like after it is completely finished!

 

I hope everyone is having a blessed weekend! Enjoy the outdoors if you can and spend some time with your family :) 

Freedom: Access to the Throne

Hello everyone! I'm back :) Last week I had the privilege to attend the Southwest Believers Convention in Fort Worth, Texas. It is a convention run by the ministry of Kenneth Copeland, a great man of God, and many great ministers of the Gospel speak at it each year. My family and I have been attending for many years now and every year I receive such insight and knowledge of the Word. It is a power-packed week to say the least! I apologize for not posting last week. I was busy attending 3 services a day and really soaking it all in so I could come home fully refreshed. For anyone reading this, I believe you will really receive from what the Lord has given me for this week.

I felt led by the Lord last week to post about something a little different today. I heard so much last week about the grace of God and how it empowers us to live in full fellowship with God. This goes beyond a relationship into constant communication with Him each day. This is definitely something every human being longs for, whether they know it or not. To have a fellowship with our Creator is to have full access to Him at all times. How do we know this is for us? Well, Hebrews 4:16 says, "Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need". The key word there is boldly. We are able to come to God knowing He doesn't judge us, He loves us, and He wants to help us. To me that means freedom. We can be open with Him and seek His face every single day and He will never change His response towards us. There is no barrier between us and the Father. He is welcoming us to Him with open arms wanting to hear what's on our hearts.

2 Corinthians 3:17 says, "Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." Wherever God is, there is liberty, freedom, and life. True life springs forth from the freedom He has so graciously given us. I'm sure you have been around certain people who you can't express yourself in front of. Maybe you feel like they would think wrongly of you or judge your words. That makes you quiet in front of them and unable to have a relationship with them as a result of no communication. However, children of God should never feel this way in front of the Lord. He is calling us to Him constantly. Hearing the voice of God is freeing to your entire being- Spirit, Soul, and Body. That's why God also calls us to cast our cares on Him as 1 Peter 5:7 says. This frees us from whatever could hold us down or keep us back from all He has for us.

I truly hope that this speaks to you as much as it spoke to me. God wants so much more of us than what some people are giving Him because they are unaware of how much He cares about them and wants their attention. The more we look at Jesus the freer we become. He has set us free and we need to believe that.

I also wanted to share a few photos of some of the things I came across in Texas last week. It is a completely different way of life there, but I love it so much. Downtown Fort Worth is definitely worth traveling to if you ever get the chance. There is so much to do so I would recommend it to anyone who is seeking something new.

This first photo is of the John F. Kennedy Memorial statue which was right outside the Fort Worth Convention Center. This was really interesting to look at since I love history and it was the week of the Fourth of July as well. There were several quotes of JFK's around the memorial which were really inspiring to read. 

The Fort Worth Water Gardens are another great thing to see in the downtown area. It's basically just pools of water and each one has a different architectural or unique thing about it. It is perfect for a hot day in Texas. 

This is a picture of a star made entirely out of cowboy hats. I thought this was really awesome and definitely depicts Texas well. It reflects the star on their flag and their western culture. This was in the convention center as well. 

We had the chance to go shopping in the area and there were so many unique shops. One of them was Leddy's Ranch at Sundance. There are branches of these shops all over Texas and this one is in downtown Fort Worth. I had never seen anything like what I saw in this store. Everything was so country. This is a picture of just a few of the cowboy boots they had displayed. There were so many designs and colors to choose from. They also had a lot of antique silver pieces that would look great inside a ranch. 

All week we kept passing by this cute little place called The Cupcakery. I kept wanting to go in and just look at the cupcakes. I absolutely love cupcakes so whenever I pass by a cupcake bakery I have to go in. We finally went in on Friday and I fell in love. They had so many great flavors from strawberry shortcake to birthday cake. I tried a raspberry cupcake with cream cheese frosting. It was delicious and it had cute little edible sparkles on the top. If you're ever in Fort Worth, Texas you should visit The Cupcakery. It will fully satisfy your sweet tooth!

My week was very eventful and these are only a few of the things I got to do in the lovely state of Texas while listening to the Word all week. I hope you all had as great a week as I did and that you are enjoying this week as well! I will be posting a great shrimp linguine recipe this week that you'll definitely want to come back and read about. Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!