Recipes, Rants, and Raves

I think that is the title of a friend’s blog – or maybe her “tag line” – so technical. Sorry if it is!

So first up – recipes. My mom has asked for two recipes and I just do not know what to tell her…because, well, quite frankly I do what I want. As is my motto most of the time. I know it shouldn’t be, but anyways… here are two “recipes” for you:

Crockpot tortilla soup

Throw in a crockpot on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours:

The following cans of things:

-          Tomato sauce

-          Crushed tomatoes - 2

-          Diced tomatoes with green chilis

-          Enchilada sauce – 2

-          Corn - 2

Chop and/or sprinkle the following

-          Onion

-          Garlic

-          Taco seasoning – 1 packet

-          Red pepper flakes – uh make sure the container has the thing with the holes in it or you will be fishing out red pepper flakes like I was!!! Then adding milk, vinegar, and baking soda to calm down the HEAT!!!

-          Chili powder

-          Cumin

Throw in some frozen boneless, skinless, chicken breasts and a little bit of chicken broth and let it cook! (Shred the chicken with a fork when it’s done) so tasty and feeds a million people! (Not a million)

Next on the recipe list – stuffed bell peppers

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

Half a can of corn

Small onion chopped

Garlic – generous amount

Colby Jack or Chedder cheese – same as above

Little bit of water

I would guess I added the following…

2 teaspoons each of chili powder, paprika, and cumin

A shake of red pepper flakes (or less)

2 bell peppers for stuffing (I used green, but would use red next time)

Sauté onion and garlic in medium saucepan

Meanwhile add beans, corn, water, spices, flakes, and a few pinches of cheese

Add all that to the onion and garlic

Let simmer for 15 minutes

While that simmers put the bell peppers (after you cut them and cleaned out the insides) in the oven to cook at 400 degrees. I left mine in about 10 mins so they could have been in there for 15 minutes

Remove bell peppers and add the mixture to the insides, top with cheese and broil for 2-3 mins

All done.

Rant time….

I have nothing to rant about. Except I hate how clumsy I am. No need to call myself out – but the less accidents, the better…. As long as I’m not wrecking my car, we are good. Oh and this whole getting sick when eating certain things. Better not be gallstones or my grandma and mom will be saying “told you so”.

Oh – and people who are ignorant. Someone tried to say the Kony 2012 thing was a hoax. Get real. No one is asking for your money. Getting the word out is more than enough. I think its funny this person posts pictures of TOMS they have purchased. Those things AIN’T cheap. I love my TOMS and my niece will love her two pair too! We all choose to tithe and give back in different ways, to different organizations, and different ministries. So that brings me to my next point….

Rave time…

Kony 2012 – make the invisible, visible.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc&feature=youtube_gdata_player

EAT GOOD FOOD, SPREAD THE GOOD WORD

Such a baby!

My mom sends me stuff relatively often that leaves me rather choked up. I am such a baby. But it's good stuff, nonetheless! This is from a Proverbs 31 devotional she sent me this morning...

“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” Hebrews 11:6 (NIV)
 
Well, darn it all! I don't deserve a reward...at all! I believe in Him and have faith in Him but I'm not the most earnest seeker. And then, to top it all off, I fall more than short of the faith line. I was upset because there are things I want to let go of, that I've desperately TRIED to let go of, that I would much rather not ever worry about...but I know that I haven't given over full control of the situation.

It's those situations where if "x" would happen I would be happier, or if "y" were  a for sure thing then things would be awesome, etc. I am so afraid that He will keep telling me "no", over and over and over. I don't even think I'm afraid of being told "no" as much as I am afraid of having to accept it, get over it, be okay with it never happening. Here is a snippet of the devotional (full link is at the bottom):

"We can envision ourself with this thing, this person, this opportunity. And all things are better. So, why doesn’t God give us this longing of our heart?

Because He wants us to willingly release it to Him.

Ouch.

Not the answer we want. Why would God let the aching desire linger and not make things happen? He could. He’s certainly able. But when He doesn’t it seems unfair. Not good. Confusing.

It’s easy to get down when we’re constantly let down."

That scares the living day lights out of me!!! That's why I was acting a fool and tearing up earlier. It's most definitely NOT what I wanted to hear. I'm big on that, wanting to hear certain things, and that's never a good idea.

The lady writing the devotional is trying to sell me on the idea that if I were to just "let go and let God" that I would be rewarded. But I just CANNOT imagine letting go of some of my biggest hopes and dreams - especially when there are so many in my life who keep trying to encourage me ( and some who reprimand me and incessantly point out my mistakes). I want to believe that I have DESIRES in my heart for a REASON. I want to believe my friends and family when they say "your time will come".

All I can do is pray for God to change my heart's unmet longings. I don't think I will ever be okay with accepting "no" as the final answer unless my heart can rest easy with peace and understanding. Call me stubborn...

Dear Lord, I sacrifice chasing this so I might more fully and with more focus chase You. I release this grip of desire. I praise You for who You are, what only You can bring, and how You will fill whatever gap this release might leave. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Her words, not mine...but important prayer to be said.

The link to the devotional, as promised!

My nails are wet!

Tonight I cleaned up/picked up in order for someone to come actually clean my house tomorrow - makes no sense but when I get home and it smells good and everything is put away, I will be happy!

To avoid the few remaining piles of things to be put away, I decided to paint my nails after taking the puppies out one last time. Now I can't do anything. If I start a movie, I won't fall asleep because I will want to finish it. I can't continue to pick things up and put them away or I will mess up my nails. I could read I suppose. Never thought about that!

Tonight I had some realizations. I have been struggling with something pretty huge and I think I about narrowed down the potential causes. Have you ever heard the phrase "permission to heal"? I heard it tonight. I spoke to someone about my recent relational mishaps and determined that I have never given myself permission to heal - whether it be from the one huge disaster in my life back in 2010, or all the little "oops"'s along the way. It's like spraining your ankle....

You sprain your ankle; it starts to feel better so you go back out to cheer or play or whatever it is you want to do, and then you sprain it again (easier this time) because it never fully healed the first time. It's a terrible thing, sitting on the sidelines. But, if you never let your ankle heal by taking it easy and sitting out a game or two, you will never reach your full potential. Then you start wondering "why" and thinking "I'm not good enough" and all sorts of bad and pessimistic things.

But when we start questioning ourselves, what does that say about the sovereignty of God? We have to, I definitely have to, remember that He is in control, He has an amazing plan in store, and only He knows how the puzzle fits together. When we try and take things into our own hands, we miss out on His will. He can dodge any curveball we throw His way; straying off the path doesn't phase Him. We have to trust that He will take care and provide for us in His timing.

We shouldn't seek a quick fix for our problems. We shouldn't become so self protective that we become self destructive. We should give ourselves permission to heal.

Well, darn it. This only took like 7 minutes to write. I really don't want to repaint my nails! I guess I will read my "Extraordinary Women of the Bible" book :) an excellent recommendation by my good friend AB in CC!

Have an awesome, blessed week. If you're hurting - let yourself heal. Don't go spraining your ankle over and over again yall! God wants you at your best so let Him take care of you.

The 4 P's

Prayer, patience, peace and pessimism

I love my family and friends. Always there when you need them most. Never judging. Always listening. Supporting. Toughening me up (brother-in-law). Telling me things like, “the next person you date you better tell them to ‘take a seat, because we got some SH** to talk about’” haha. I love these people.

This weekend was interesting, to say the least. However, aside from all the not so great and “ah CRAP!” moments there are a few good things that came about…. I am going to Hawaii (hopefully), have leftovers for lunch and dinner for a while, have some cupcakes to enjoy, and have my outlook for life set on optimistic.

Prayer, patience, peace and pessimism – all things I really suck at. But this sums it up:

So basically God wants us to be patient, pray, and He will provide the peace. Maybe the pessimism part doesn’t necessarily apply but – I’ll get there.

Prayer – I don’t want to do it. I don’t have “time”. My way of prayer is, “ah CRAP! I messed up again. Teach me another lesson, God.” Or “ah CRAP! Lord, can you bail me out once more???” or “ah CRAP! Another door shut – where’s the next one?” It’s always been an area of disappointment to me. I never feel like my prayers are heard or understood or effective. I never know what to say or ask for and I sure as heck don’t know how to come up with all the flowery lingo that others can. However, I am finding out that with each “ah CRAP!” moment, prayer before action is so incredibly important. The hard part is, when it involves someone else, God’s voice might become muffled or mistaken. Or, I might have heard perfectly clear but got thrown off track by someone else’s accord. Either way – prayer is important. Being thankful for all the moments outside the “ah CRAP!” moments are also muy importante.

Patience – another thing most of us suck at. Patience for others, for ourselves, for our pets – a lot of the time patience is nonexistent. We are an instant gratification type people. But I want to be better. I pray for patience. Does that count? I’m not so sure it works. I try. I try not to yell at my dogs or stress about being on time or making sure plans go through – by having patience with the puppies and the people in the world. It’s a character flaw maybe but at least I can admit it! Patience is really hard – even when dealing with those I love most. It comes with the type A personality thing. Lucky me! I’m doomed but I choose to see the bright side. At least having an abundance of patience is something I can work at and not just settle for having less of.

Peace – being at ease. I think this goes hand in hand with patience. Knowing that no matter what happens I am going to be provided for, that’s peace – and a dollop of optimism. To me, peace is knowing that after making a prayerful decision, that it’s the right one. Having confidence in hearing the word of God clearly. There have been 1 million or more times I’ve made a decision where I didn’t have peace about the outcome…and did it anyway – some were decisions made on a whim, some were decisions I didn’t pray about, some were decisions I made simply because it was what I wanted to do - like living with someone for a time (look how that ended!), like moving to Dallas (look how that ended!), like starting arguments with people for the sake of arguing, or something relatively insignificant like not wearing my seatbelt or texting and driving.

Prayerful decision making = peace

What a concept!!!

What a sigh of relief!

Prayerful decision making = peace

If only there was an “all other things being equal” type economic formulae to go with it…but there’s not. So it can become a bit convoluted. Again with the type A personality thing…darn it! We can’t keep things simple, unfortunately.

And now this remains – pessimism. When asking google to define the term, google returns the following: “Pessimism – a tendency to see the worst aspect of things or believe that the worst will happen; a lack of hope or confidence in the future.” I said earlier that I suck at prayer, patience, peace and pessimism. Being slightly on the side of hypochondriac does not warrant the label, “pessimist”. I don’t have a choice but to be optimistic. I don’t think you should give yourself a choice. If I constantly thought the world was all doom and gloom and ALL my mistakes were sending me straight to 1. Hell, 2. The poor house, and 3. Jail – I would be a miserable little person. Pessimism gets into your pores and turns you cold. My good friend CW made an awesome point tonight, “if you think you can’t or think you can, you’re right.” Meaning, if you’re constantly EXPECTING the worst thing to happen – it’s going to. However, if you expect the best – you will generally receive better results. The choice is yours – (I think someone said this after morning announcements all throughout grade school!)

I don’t really know what my point is except maybe this – make prayerful decisions by waiting patiently for an answer, be optimistic about the potential results, and God will give you peace in your heart like you’ve never known before.

Slippery Soapbox - sorry....

Have you ever met someone that seemed so amazing in the beginning but soon became someone you weren’t 100% sure of? Did your first impression of them instantly place them above all other things?

Why do people do that? Why do we give off an image of ourselves that is so incredibly false that we wind up paying for it later? Someone always gets hurt in these situations. Would you not agree that it’s best to be yourself up front?

I’m not just talking about in dating relationships – even simply friendships. What a great feeling to know that you can go to your friend or boyfriend or girlfriend without any make up on, or with tears streaming down your face, or dressed in a completely absurd way, or smelling like you rolled in pig poo – and they wouldn’t care one bit? I saw a “pin” on pinterest that read…

How gross. We are a materialistic society – trust me, I GET THAT and am not one to speak – but how misrepresented can we be? We portray ourselves as people we really aren’t and for what??? FOR WHAT REASON?!?! So certain people will love us? Accept us? Look – I like nice things. So sue me. I buy them for myself. I buy them because they are a representation of my hard work – for me. I don’t do it to prove anything. And I’ve been judged so many times for what I have that it’s dumb. So this goes both ways people.

It’s ok to want nice things. And it’s ok to want nothing! But is it ok to go out and portray yourself as someone you aren’t?

I guarantee you, God loves you more than anyone on this earth ever will. And you know what - I have to remind myself of that DAILY. Am I ashamed? No. Do my family and friends love me? Yes. Even people I’ve hurt love me. I can mess up over and over and over again but to most it’s just a “Jess” thing.

There are people who wear their heart on their sleeve, people who keep everything inside, people who only talk to their dearest friends because they’ve been hurt so many times, and people who tell everyone everything because they just don’t give a rip. There are people who say they are introverts but are extroverts, who say they are servants but who demand to be served, who say they are flexible and easy going but don’t know what compromise means, who say they are Christians but don’t walk the walk or even try, who say they want to spend time with you but make no time, who want a relationship to work but don’t want to put in the time. How about some balance? Or at least some dang consistency.

I’ve told people – a lot of people – everything. And I’ve told most nothing. God is my biggest confidante. He knows things before they even freaking happen so, there is no escaping Him. We all sin, we all hurt, we all long for more, we all need companionship and most of all we all need love.

I have written about LOVE SO MUCH that it’s starting to make me ill. Unconditional love. It’s really not that hard of a concept to understand, people.

What the heck is everyone so afraid of??? If someone doesn’t like you, who cares?! God does. If someone doesn’t like the way you dress, who cares?!? As long as you’re clothed in the armor of Christ and adorn yourself in modesty and grace, it doesn’t matter if Joe Blow or Suzie Q approve!

What’s the other saying? Something along the lines of “Be yourself because everyone else is taken” – so true!

And another….

And another….

Above all else, please remember this – you were made in the likeness of God. So live like He would live. Walk as Jesus walked. It’s ok to pray to be a certain way or ask for a certain character trait. Shoot, all through college I asked for wisdom and understanding and not for life issues – for accounting problems! I have to ask for patience on a DAILY basis because, believe it or not, I can be rather uptight about things. Look here….

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.  Psalm 139:14-16