As a follow-up to my last post, I've had a couple of days to ponder & here's what I've come up with...I will wait as long as it takes for God to bring the perfect person into my life :)
Although I've seen the movie Fireproof numerous times, I caught the last half of it last night and it couldn't have been at a more perfect moment. This song from the movie has given me much courage & for that, I am thankful!
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Engaging Ideals
At this very moment, my brain is desperately trying to process the information it just received. For years, I've had friends that were still single; however, during the last 8 months, the last 4 single women I knew have all gotten engaged...in fact, 3 of them were engaged within the last week & 2 were engaged within the last 2 days!
This knowledge is simply shocking to me; while I know that this is the natural circle of life, the fact that I am the very last single girl I know is quite surreal. This reality compells me to rexamine my life. Although I am quite happy that my friends have found that someone to be their best friend & grow old with...I am also torn by feelings of sadness and jealousy (if I'm being quite honest).
I was recently reminded of I Corinthians 7 - this chapter speaks about the differences in being married & unmarried in regards to the things of God. Paul makes some major plus points for staying unmarried as he was; he even says "But those who marry will face many troubles in this life, and I want to spare you this." On this point, I definitely agree; every couple I know has unresolved troubles that they deal with on a daily basis.
In addition, Paul also says this:
32 I would like you to be free from concern. An unmarried man is concerned about the Lord’s affairs—how he can please the Lord.
33 But a married man is concerned about the affairs of this world—how he can please his wife
34 and his interests are divided. An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord’s affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world—how she can please her husband.
35 I am saying this for your own good, not to restrict you, but that you may live in a right way in undivided devotion to the Lord.
To me, this is the major part of the chapter that stands out. I have always been free to do whatever I feel the Lord is asking me to do whenever He asks me to do it. Whether that direction is to go visit a friend, pray at any time of the day, make a gift for someone, bless someone with money or a purchasd gift - all of these things I can do freely without having to give an explanation to anyone. If I were to meet someone & get married, would this change? God & His leadings would no longer be my only concern...not quite sure how I feel about that.
For most of my life, I have longed to be married...probably due to the loss of my father - who, in my opinion, was a spectacular husband to my mother. The thought of never having what I have looked forward to for over 20 years is a sobering thought; and one that I think I will leave for another day.
As I read back over the words I've written, I almost feel bad about being ungrateful for the wonderful life that I have now. God has been so good to me & blessed me with so many wonderful things and friendships. Moreover, He has allowed me to be a blessing to those around me...I would not change that for the world. For as long as I can remember, my goal in life was simply to help others in whatever capacity was needed; I just want to help. I always thought that the ultimate fulfillment of that longing to help would be to get married - since the woman was given as a help-mate to man, but perhaps that is not my calling.
As hard as it is to admit, I would rather give up that ideal than give up my usefulness to God. While I know this may not be an either-or issue, these are the things I think about. I resolve to continue walking in His footsteps wherever they may lead.
This knowledge is simply shocking to me; while I know that this is the natural circle of life, the fact that I am the very last single girl I know is quite surreal. This reality compells me to rexamine my life. Although I am quite happy that my friends have found that someone to be their best friend & grow old with...I am also torn by feelings of sadness and jealousy (if I'm being quite honest).
I was recently reminded of I Corinthians 7 - this chapter speaks about the differences in being married & unmarried in regards to the things of God. Paul makes some major plus points for staying unmarried as he was; he even says "But those who marry will face many troubles in this life, and I want to spare you this." On this point, I definitely agree; every couple I know has unresolved troubles that they deal with on a daily basis.
In addition, Paul also says this:
32 I would like you to be free from concern. An unmarried man is concerned about the Lord’s affairs—how he can please the Lord.
33 But a married man is concerned about the affairs of this world—how he can please his wife
34 and his interests are divided. An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord’s affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world—how she can please her husband.
35 I am saying this for your own good, not to restrict you, but that you may live in a right way in undivided devotion to the Lord.
To me, this is the major part of the chapter that stands out. I have always been free to do whatever I feel the Lord is asking me to do whenever He asks me to do it. Whether that direction is to go visit a friend, pray at any time of the day, make a gift for someone, bless someone with money or a purchasd gift - all of these things I can do freely without having to give an explanation to anyone. If I were to meet someone & get married, would this change? God & His leadings would no longer be my only concern...not quite sure how I feel about that.
For most of my life, I have longed to be married...probably due to the loss of my father - who, in my opinion, was a spectacular husband to my mother. The thought of never having what I have looked forward to for over 20 years is a sobering thought; and one that I think I will leave for another day.
As I read back over the words I've written, I almost feel bad about being ungrateful for the wonderful life that I have now. God has been so good to me & blessed me with so many wonderful things and friendships. Moreover, He has allowed me to be a blessing to those around me...I would not change that for the world. For as long as I can remember, my goal in life was simply to help others in whatever capacity was needed; I just want to help. I always thought that the ultimate fulfillment of that longing to help would be to get married - since the woman was given as a help-mate to man, but perhaps that is not my calling.
As hard as it is to admit, I would rather give up that ideal than give up my usefulness to God. While I know this may not be an either-or issue, these are the things I think about. I resolve to continue walking in His footsteps wherever they may lead.
Monday, November 08, 2010
Let the Holiday Season begin!
This year, I decided to start the holiday season a little earlier than usual. This is mostly due to the amount of travelling I'll be doing from Thanksgiving through New Years and the fact that our office is moving right before Christmas, which will equal alot of weekend work getting ready for the move.
So today, I decided to put up my lovely little Christmas tree to allow myself more time to enjoy it :)
So today, I decided to put up my lovely little Christmas tree to allow myself more time to enjoy it :)
Monday Motivation
Hooray!!! I'm not sure if it it's the time change, the fact that Fall is finally here or if it's due to my lack of doing anything productive yesterday...but, today has already been majorly motivated! Who knows...maybe it was the coffee I had this morning...even though it was decaf :)
Thankfully, I get to work from home on Mondays, but in addition to working I've cleaned the kitchen, done some laundry, vacuumed the floor and gotten out the Christmas tree & decorations!
I still have alot of other things I want to accomplish today, but I always find that if I can get a thing to two under my belt, the other tasks just seem to finish themselves...hooray for Monday Motivation!!!
Thankfully, I get to work from home on Mondays, but in addition to working I've cleaned the kitchen, done some laundry, vacuumed the floor and gotten out the Christmas tree & decorations!
I still have alot of other things I want to accomplish today, but I always find that if I can get a thing to two under my belt, the other tasks just seem to finish themselves...hooray for Monday Motivation!!!
Sunday, November 07, 2010
Knit. Cook. Smile.
This pretty much sums up my weekend so far...and I'm quite happy about it :)
Knit.
I decided to attempt to make a prayer shawl for a friend, and had been shown this very easy way of adding beads to your knitwork. So, Friday after work, I went on the hunt looking for the perfect beads and the perfect yarn. I found a gorgeous lace weight (very thin) yarn made of a blend of aplaca & silk at my favorite yarn shop - Strings & Strands...both the yarn & the shop are quite lovely :) I found some very pretty silver lined crystal beads at Hobby Lobby, which is one of my most favorite places...the only left to do was get to work! It took me a couple of trys before I was satisfied with the outcome, but here's what I've gotten so far. I'm really excited to see the finished product since this is a project of firsts: first shawl, first time working with lace weight yarn, first time doing bead work.
Cook.
Since I spent all of the day Friday either thinking about, shopping for or practicing knitting, Saturday was my cooking day! I had not been grocery shopping in about 5 weeks so, needless to say, I was out of almost everything. After a trip to my favorite Aldi store and a subsequent visit to Wal-mart, I'm set to make all kinds of freezer goodies for the coming weeks ahead. Check out my spoils!
For quite some time now, I've wanted a Food Saver. I've looked at the different models of the last several years, but being that I have very limited counter space in my apartment, I could never find one that actually be useful to me. Well, yesterday was my lucky (or very blessed) day! While at Wal-mart, I noticed that they had stocked several new Food Saver items...which, of course, made my day! There is a new hand-held Food Saver which is best used for refrigerator items or items that will only be stored in the freezer for a short time - which was exactly what I was looking or. I got all of the items I needed to help me prep my fridge & freezer with quick no cook meals for the holiday season for only $52...hooray!
So, after all of the groceries were put away, I began my cooking extravaganza (sorry, no pics) :( However, here are some of the things I made yesterday:
1 - Fall-Apart Tender Slow-Roast Pork in the slow cooker
2 - Creamy Chicken & Corn soup - basically, cream of chicken soup doctored up with some seasoned salt, pepper, cayenne & corn...yummy stuff!
3 - Best Meatloaf Evah - I have never been a meatloaf fan, but this turned out great; especially since I made them in individually portioned mini-loaves
4 - Cheesy Potatoes - once again, I portioned these out in my mini loaf pan and I substituted cream of chicken for cream of mushroom (I've never liked that stuff!)
5 - Easy Freezy Quesadillas - I made my usual taco/chili concoction for this; they looked sooo yummy!
Smile.
This is the easiest one for me; I'm so blessed that I have a job that I enjoy, hobbies which are fulfilling and a group of family & friends who, even if they're a few hours away, mean the world to me. With all of these blessings in life, how could you not smile?!?!
So, until next time...life is about action verbs...what are yours?
Knit.
I decided to attempt to make a prayer shawl for a friend, and had been shown this very easy way of adding beads to your knitwork. So, Friday after work, I went on the hunt looking for the perfect beads and the perfect yarn. I found a gorgeous lace weight (very thin) yarn made of a blend of aplaca & silk at my favorite yarn shop - Strings & Strands...both the yarn & the shop are quite lovely :) I found some very pretty silver lined crystal beads at Hobby Lobby, which is one of my most favorite places...the only left to do was get to work! It took me a couple of trys before I was satisfied with the outcome, but here's what I've gotten so far. I'm really excited to see the finished product since this is a project of firsts: first shawl, first time working with lace weight yarn, first time doing bead work.
Cook.
Since I spent all of the day Friday either thinking about, shopping for or practicing knitting, Saturday was my cooking day! I had not been grocery shopping in about 5 weeks so, needless to say, I was out of almost everything. After a trip to my favorite Aldi store and a subsequent visit to Wal-mart, I'm set to make all kinds of freezer goodies for the coming weeks ahead. Check out my spoils!
For quite some time now, I've wanted a Food Saver. I've looked at the different models of the last several years, but being that I have very limited counter space in my apartment, I could never find one that actually be useful to me. Well, yesterday was my lucky (or very blessed) day! While at Wal-mart, I noticed that they had stocked several new Food Saver items...which, of course, made my day! There is a new hand-held Food Saver which is best used for refrigerator items or items that will only be stored in the freezer for a short time - which was exactly what I was looking or. I got all of the items I needed to help me prep my fridge & freezer with quick no cook meals for the holiday season for only $52...hooray!
So, after all of the groceries were put away, I began my cooking extravaganza (sorry, no pics) :( However, here are some of the things I made yesterday:
1 - Fall-Apart Tender Slow-Roast Pork in the slow cooker
2 - Creamy Chicken & Corn soup - basically, cream of chicken soup doctored up with some seasoned salt, pepper, cayenne & corn...yummy stuff!
3 - Best Meatloaf Evah - I have never been a meatloaf fan, but this turned out great; especially since I made them in individually portioned mini-loaves
4 - Cheesy Potatoes - once again, I portioned these out in my mini loaf pan and I substituted cream of chicken for cream of mushroom (I've never liked that stuff!)
5 - Easy Freezy Quesadillas - I made my usual taco/chili concoction for this; they looked sooo yummy!
Smile.
This is the easiest one for me; I'm so blessed that I have a job that I enjoy, hobbies which are fulfilling and a group of family & friends who, even if they're a few hours away, mean the world to me. With all of these blessings in life, how could you not smile?!?!
So, until next time...life is about action verbs...what are yours?
Wednesday, November 03, 2010
A Big Steaming Bowl of Comfort
While I am quite aware that "comfort food" has almost as many meanings as there are people who enjoy it, this is my ultimate comfort meal: herbed tomato soup w/a grilled cheese sandwich :)
While this may sound like a simple meal (and in fact, it is), it's taken me a while to perfect both elements, so when eaten together, they are pure comfort bliss.
Element #1 = 1 can Campbell's Tomato soup; 1 can milk; salt, pepper, tons of Italian herb, dash of cayenne pepper
Element #2 = the perfect grilled cheese sandwich: 2 pieces of bread, shredded cheese, butter
The result is a most intoxicating blend of comfort & extreme yumminess!
Wishing you a yummy comfort food moment of your own :)
While this may sound like a simple meal (and in fact, it is), it's taken me a while to perfect both elements, so when eaten together, they are pure comfort bliss.
Element #1 = 1 can Campbell's Tomato soup; 1 can milk; salt, pepper, tons of Italian herb, dash of cayenne pepper
Element #2 = the perfect grilled cheese sandwich: 2 pieces of bread, shredded cheese, butter
The result is a most intoxicating blend of comfort & extreme yumminess!
Wishing you a yummy comfort food moment of your own :)
Monday, November 01, 2010
Banana-rama-ding-dong!
A good friend tipped me off to a wonderful recipe for Applesauce Bread, so today I decided to make my own spin on said recipe.
My recipe is for Banana Nut Muffins!
1.5 cups whole all purpose flour
1/2 cup honey
1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. kosher salt
1.5 t. pumpkin pie spice
2 smashed bananas
2 eggs
1/4 cup butter, melted
1.2 cup chopped pecans
Mix dry ingredients; add all wet ingredients & stir well. Pour into lined muffin pan (yield 12). Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Let me just tell you...super yummy stuff here! I think this is now my go-to banana bread recipe :)
My recipe is for Banana Nut Muffins!
1.5 cups whole all purpose flour
1/2 cup honey
1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. kosher salt
1.5 t. pumpkin pie spice
2 smashed bananas
2 eggs
1/4 cup butter, melted
1.2 cup chopped pecans
Mix dry ingredients; add all wet ingredients & stir well. Pour into lined muffin pan (yield 12). Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Let me just tell you...super yummy stuff here! I think this is now my go-to banana bread recipe :)
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