Good morning Y'all. I hope and pray where ever Y'all are on the planet that you are happy, healthy, loved, and full of JOY!!! This is the season "Joy to the World" as the Christmas hymn says. And I pray that everyone who sees this message has an abundance of JOY in their heart this morning. I must admit, that when I have joy in my heart, knowing a friend and neighbor is suffering, it kinda puts a damper on mine. I realize it shouldn't. Because joy comes from having a relationship with Jesus Christ. That joy is on the inside and is not affected but any outward circumstances. So, just now as I am writing to y'all, I realize that it is my happiness that is affected by pain and sorrow, not my joy. I'll not go back and correct myself, but leave this in for y'all to read also. It will help someone distinguish between happiness and joy. Happiness is outward circumstances, that make us happy and is more temporary. Joy is, like I said earlier, based on our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, and that is on the inside, and hopefully will flow to the outside. But outside circumstances doesn't cause us to lose our joy. So there is a huge difference between happiness and joy.
This past week was a hard week for my husband and I. 4 years ago, on Dec.11th, I lost the best friend and sister in Christ I ever had. The evil beast, known as cancer, stole her from us way too soon. Not a day goes by that I don't think of her in some way. Now, on Dec. 14th, I lost another sweet friend and sister in Christ to the same evil beast!!! She had been sick since sometime around July and while on vacation, the DR called and told her it was cancer. She had some tests run just before heading out on vacation. Upon getting home from vacation and one dr appt after another, they finally got her started on the chemo regimen best suited for her. That started sometime in September. Every 3 weeks she had this cocktail that made her so sick. Sometime the last of Nov they done another scan to see how she was taking the treatment and one part of her cancer was growing and they changed her cocktail to fight only that one cancer. One treatment in and she was really weak and she fell in the house and her husband called the ambulance they sent her on to the hospital where her drs were. We seen her that night before they got her on the ambulance and she wanted to hold my hand and I didn't want to let her go. This was on a Thursday night. On Friday I already had things I needed to do, so I kept on my schedule. Saturday morning, we went to see my friend and she was so thrilled to see us and I didn't want to leave, but we had to. She told us they were doing to do some more tests. For some reason they didn't do the tests they had told her they were going to do. On Wed, I got a text message from her husband that they were sending her to hospice. She got there that day. She updated her facebook page that she was in hospice and it didn't look good. On Thurs we already had plans to go see my Momma and we stuck with that plan, but Fri morning we got up and went to see her in the hospice of this hospital. I was taken aback at how quickly she had gone down!!! I know she knew me, but she couldn't talk. She tried to hold my hand, but bless her, she couldn't. But we still touched and she knew I love her. I told her that I loved her and she mouthed the words to me. I cried and cried and so did my husband. I prayed for the Lord to take her quickly. I told her Momma, that if time allowed, we would be back. She stepped in to Glory at 1:20 pm on Saturday afternoon with her husband holding her hand. He is dealing with a sadness that I pray that my husband or I never have to deal with. But common sense says one of us will, unless Jesus comes or we are taken at the same time in an accident. God was merciful in the fact that she didn't linger for days and weeks like some have. While I am filled with an overwhelming sadness and grief, I am thrilled her suffering is over and she is in Glory right now exploring her new home for eternity. My prayer right now, is that she will meet up with my other friend and that they have a wonderful time in heaven together.
We never know when that one little ache that we have is something or not. We can never tell when we need to go to the dr or not. We don't want to go overboard with every ache and pain, but on the other hand, we don't want to ignore something that doesn't go away, or is intermittent pain. Sometimes we don't have the insurance or the money to make an appt for everything. This has taught me and is teaching me not to let stuff go. I realize when it's my time to take my flight, no amount of dr care can keep me here. But God gave us pretty intelligent bodies and if we listen to them, we can take care of them better than we do.
So, with Christmas upon us, there are people hurting because the Momma's of their families are no longer with them. I am blessed to still have my Momma. Both of my friends still had their Momma's too. It's just not a natural progression for a Momma to bury a child. The natural plan of life is the other way around. So, please take care of yourselves. I don't know what my 2 friends could have done that would have caused a different outcome. I just pray that the Lord will help me to make better choices in the days to come for my husband and myself to keep our bodies healthy.
If you know someone who is dealing with a painful loss this time of year, pray for them, visit them, take them a meal, pay a bill for them. Do something to let them know they are not alone and that you are a support to them.
Anyway, this is what I wanted to share with y'all. If you are suffering from a loss, or are dealing with a major illness, just know that I am praying for you. I always pray for the readers of blog. No, I don't know who you are, but God does, and He knows the needs that you have. So, I pray for you God to bless you with peace, healing, joy, and for your needs to be met.
Through it all, and this Christmas season, and every day of the year, just know that God loves you and wants to have a right relationship with you and that comes only thru the shed blood of Christ. Unless and until you accept Christ, you can't be in that right relationship with Father God. So, as I write this, I hope you ask yourself if you have accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior and if not, there is no time like the present, and there is no better present to give yourself than to accept the free gift of salvation thru the shed blood of Christ. All you have to do is accept it!!! Please do!!!!
That's all I have for now. Hope to have some fun stuff later on. Until then, I pray that you have a wonderful time leading up to Christmas Day and keep the love of the Lord in every day. God loves you and I do too. be blessed and hugs, patty
Monday, December 16, 2019
Sunday, December 8, 2019
Quinoa, Cuisinart EPC, Instant Pot
Good afternoon beautiful people, where ever Y'all are, I pray you are having a most spectacular day!! I hope you find some time to Praise the Lord for opening your eyes, keeping your heart beating and for keeping your lungs rising in breath!!! Any day we wake up is GOOD day and should be celebrated as such. There are so many things in this life that are designed with one purpose in mind and that is to take our eyes off the Cross and focus on the gas prices, rising food prices, all the hatefulness in politics, all the ungodly junk on tv and so much more. But we must remain strong in the Lord and put our spiritual blinders on and keep focused on the Cross.
This time of the year we focus on the manger and that is a good thing. But as we all know, merchandisers do all they can to take our focus from the Savior in the manger to all the "stuff" that they want us to buy and they turn the birth of Christ into a 3 ring circus. News media do all they can to put our focus on as much worldly sin as possible. Again, I say let us stay focused on Jesus this Christmas and all year through. Jesus takes us into eternity, where as, all the junk that we buy, buy, buy this time of year eventually leads us to the land fill and big credit card debt. Plus, the junk that we listen to from the news media is junk that needs to BE in the landfill!!! So, as we know, life is just a series of choices. Some of those choices have little consequences in the end, because they are small in the grand scheme of things. Some of us have not become tuned in to the guiding of Holy Spirit in our lives. Because, when we listen to Him, He will steer us to what is the most meaningful choice. And much of the time, the meaningful choices are Kingdom related.
So, at the end of the day, we have to examine ourselves and see if we have been Kingdom minded or worldly minded. And no, don't hear me say spending money in bad, because it's not. Spending money you don't have and know you won't have is bad. That is the type of spending that causes debt. The kind of debt that snowballs. If you have never prayed over your finances, now is as good a time as any. Go ahead, stop reading right now, and ask God to help you, if you need help. Only you know whether you do or not, I don't. But I do know that we have needed help and God was the one to help us!!! Most of the time when I go grocery shopping, I have cash in hand and I ask God to help me spend our money wisely, provide good sales and help me make good choices for my husband me to be able to eat healthier. Let me just say, God hears a prayer like that. So, start asking God to bless the cash you have, provide good sales for whatever it is you are looking for, plus not spending more than you have in hand and don't forget to thank Him when He provides, because He will, if you are serious. Anyway, just make good choices with every area of your life and you will prove yourself to be Kingdom minded.
Anyway, I have 9 years of experience cooking with my Cuisinart and it was truly a pleasure to use!!! Now, I have the Instant Pot. It hasn't proven itself yet, but it hasn't disproven itself either. But since I have used one about 3 or 4 times weekly for the last 9 years, I have a hard time believing this one will last that long. I hope it proves me wrong. I have enjoyed using it. It has a yogurt feature that I will enjoy using, I think. The things I mainly had used my Cuisinart for was dried beans, meats, soups and the like. Here back I made a fantastic pasta meal in the Cuisinart. A box of noodles, a box of stock, a jar of pasta sauce and about a lb or so of already cooked and drained ground beef on high for 5 or 6 minutes and let it natural release for about 5 minutes. Take the lid off and stir in some melty cheese. That was delicious.
I'm not one for following a recipe like it's written in stone and can't be changed. I make whatever I'm cooking to be my own by adding my preferred ingredients, not what the recipe says. I was going to make a salad for our supper last night and I wanted some Quinoa to put in my salad. Hubby didn't care for it in his and that's ok, more for me!! But I put the rinsed Quinoa, 1 cup of it in the IP and added 1 1/2 cups of liquid. A half cup was emptying out a box of stock from the fridge the other cup was water. I added a couple of cranks of pink Himalayan salt and sprayed the sides of liner with avocado oil. I set it for 1 minute. It takes a few minutes to come to pressure. Then let it natural release for about 10 minutes. Took the lid off and stirred it around and it was perfectly done. I put about 1/4 cup on my salad and it was delicious. Quinoa will be a staple in my fridge from now on. It is a healthy grain and it's good for you. Plus it also tastes good, just remember to rinse it under running water to get the bitter natural coating off it. Use a fine mesh strainer because it is a very tiny grain.
I am trying once again to try to get healthy and I think the addition of Quinoa will help. It is very versatile. If you have a favorite recipe, tried and true, using Quinoa, please share. I would appreciate it. It's really hard to get and stay healthy when you keep having setbacks, I just keep praying that God will continue to push me forward and help me in my endeavor and He never fails me. Praise His name.
hugs and love, patty
This time of the year we focus on the manger and that is a good thing. But as we all know, merchandisers do all they can to take our focus from the Savior in the manger to all the "stuff" that they want us to buy and they turn the birth of Christ into a 3 ring circus. News media do all they can to put our focus on as much worldly sin as possible. Again, I say let us stay focused on Jesus this Christmas and all year through. Jesus takes us into eternity, where as, all the junk that we buy, buy, buy this time of year eventually leads us to the land fill and big credit card debt. Plus, the junk that we listen to from the news media is junk that needs to BE in the landfill!!! So, as we know, life is just a series of choices. Some of those choices have little consequences in the end, because they are small in the grand scheme of things. Some of us have not become tuned in to the guiding of Holy Spirit in our lives. Because, when we listen to Him, He will steer us to what is the most meaningful choice. And much of the time, the meaningful choices are Kingdom related.
So, at the end of the day, we have to examine ourselves and see if we have been Kingdom minded or worldly minded. And no, don't hear me say spending money in bad, because it's not. Spending money you don't have and know you won't have is bad. That is the type of spending that causes debt. The kind of debt that snowballs. If you have never prayed over your finances, now is as good a time as any. Go ahead, stop reading right now, and ask God to help you, if you need help. Only you know whether you do or not, I don't. But I do know that we have needed help and God was the one to help us!!! Most of the time when I go grocery shopping, I have cash in hand and I ask God to help me spend our money wisely, provide good sales and help me make good choices for my husband me to be able to eat healthier. Let me just say, God hears a prayer like that. So, start asking God to bless the cash you have, provide good sales for whatever it is you are looking for, plus not spending more than you have in hand and don't forget to thank Him when He provides, because He will, if you are serious. Anyway, just make good choices with every area of your life and you will prove yourself to be Kingdom minded.
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Ok, so recently, my old electric pressure cooker went to the landfill, kinda like I was talking about earlier. hahaha But, it was a very good purchase when I made it, 9 years ago. It was a Cuisinart Electric Pressure Cooker (google it, you won't be disappointed) and I have to tell you, I was grieved to the core when it quit working. It had been on it's way out for almost a year, but it had still been limping along, until about a week ago. I was in the middle of supper and it just STOPPED dead in it's tracks!! I worked with for about an hour and it wouldn't do anything!!! My husband heard me in the kitchen upset about about it and came and said lets go get another one. They are not carried in the local stores around here. I ordered the first one I had, but I knew I couldn't get one delivered in time to finish supper!! hahaha So, I took his advice and we went to Walmart, my least favorite place in town and picked up an Instant Pot, and no, they are NOT Insta Pots, they are Instant Pots. If anyone is too lazy to go ahead and the "NT" on to the insta, they shouldn't even be allowed in the kitchen. Just sayin'!!! That is a pet peeve of mine. It is what it is. hahahaha Anyway, I have 9 years of experience cooking with my Cuisinart and it was truly a pleasure to use!!! Now, I have the Instant Pot. It hasn't proven itself yet, but it hasn't disproven itself either. But since I have used one about 3 or 4 times weekly for the last 9 years, I have a hard time believing this one will last that long. I hope it proves me wrong. I have enjoyed using it. It has a yogurt feature that I will enjoy using, I think. The things I mainly had used my Cuisinart for was dried beans, meats, soups and the like. Here back I made a fantastic pasta meal in the Cuisinart. A box of noodles, a box of stock, a jar of pasta sauce and about a lb or so of already cooked and drained ground beef on high for 5 or 6 minutes and let it natural release for about 5 minutes. Take the lid off and stir in some melty cheese. That was delicious.
I'm not one for following a recipe like it's written in stone and can't be changed. I make whatever I'm cooking to be my own by adding my preferred ingredients, not what the recipe says. I was going to make a salad for our supper last night and I wanted some Quinoa to put in my salad. Hubby didn't care for it in his and that's ok, more for me!! But I put the rinsed Quinoa, 1 cup of it in the IP and added 1 1/2 cups of liquid. A half cup was emptying out a box of stock from the fridge the other cup was water. I added a couple of cranks of pink Himalayan salt and sprayed the sides of liner with avocado oil. I set it for 1 minute. It takes a few minutes to come to pressure. Then let it natural release for about 10 minutes. Took the lid off and stirred it around and it was perfectly done. I put about 1/4 cup on my salad and it was delicious. Quinoa will be a staple in my fridge from now on. It is a healthy grain and it's good for you. Plus it also tastes good, just remember to rinse it under running water to get the bitter natural coating off it. Use a fine mesh strainer because it is a very tiny grain.
I am trying once again to try to get healthy and I think the addition of Quinoa will help. It is very versatile. If you have a favorite recipe, tried and true, using Quinoa, please share. I would appreciate it. It's really hard to get and stay healthy when you keep having setbacks, I just keep praying that God will continue to push me forward and help me in my endeavor and He never fails me. Praise His name.
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I have a few changes coming for me in the new year, hopefully that will help me get more healthy. Just some things need to change in my life and I am ready to make those changes. It will be difficult and different for me for sure. I will share at some point in time what all I am doing to make the needed changes. Right now, it's just in the decision stage but my husband is totally in agreement that some things need to change for me and the first of those changes will take place shortly. Oh, it's nothing big or all that, just something I need to do for me, so it will free up time and mental energy to do some serious Kingdom work. That's why I'm excited. I will share at some point, but for now, just me putting it in writing helps me with the idea of moving forward.
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That's it for now. I hope you enjoyed your short visit here and will come back often. If you have any Quinoa recipes that are tried and true, do share. I hope you find more ways in your life to be kingdom minded. I hope you focus more on the manger and less on the mongers. I hope the next few days of 2019 are better than you could have expected or hoped them to be. I hope you know that God loves you enough to provide a way for you to be in right relationship with Him thru the manger. I hope if you haven't asked Christ to be your Lord and Savior, that you will today. Be blessed today and every day in the Holy name of Jesus Christ. Always remember that God loves you and so do I.hugs and love, patty
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