Sweet Mouthful

I made this dessert yesterday and had a lot of fun trying something new!  It is called Boccone Dolce - Sweet Mouthful.  Layers of meringue, chocolate, whipped cream and strawberries!  Very interesting!!

God's Heart

God's heart is for His people
God's heart is for the lost
God's heart is for the poor

This is another remnant of something God stirred in my heart at AOYC.  One of the things that struck me is that God can so completely have a heart for these areas in concert - not losing focus of the others.  I can't do that.  The area that was really impressed on me was the poor.  There is passage after passage in the Bible of God's heart for the poor and oppressed - if I want to follow Him I cannot disregard this.  But how do I make this a focus in my life - in a real tangible way?  And how do I not lose sight of serving the church, loving my brothers and sisters, reaching out to friends who do not know the Lord?  It is overwhelming to me.  But I want God's heart to become my heart.  And It is just clear to me that I cannot choose one of these areas and disregard the others.

One of the speakers at Convention talked about ideas for incorporating an awareness of poverty and oppression in the world into your life.  Ideas like researching the brands of food or clothing you purchase and boycotting those who do not treat their workers properly, being content with a simple life, living with a consciousness of cultural excess and choosing to not partake of it, contributing regularly to the local food bank, sponsor another child, lend on Kiva, buy things second hand....  My mind has been coming back to these thoughts for the past month and I still do not feel sure of where I am to take action.  Something I want to keep thinking and praying about for sure.

Missed Notes

This morning moments after I got out of the shower, I saw my husband driving away, leaving for work.  He didn't say goodbye.  I moved on with my morning and went off to work myself, but all day it kept bothering me.  Was he ok?  Did something happen that upset him?  Something I did?  All day long these thoughts kept bugging me and my mind kept creating reasons why things may not be right between us today.

I got home from work, and on the kitchen table is a note from him - Hey Hun, off to work!  Have a great day! -  I was in the shower and he wrote a goodbye note so I would know he was gone and that he wished me a good day.  I missed his note.  I missed it and paid all day for it with my pestering thoughts.  And in an instant everything was fine again - though nothing had ever been wrong.  My husband wasn't upset at me - he loves me, thought about me throughout the day, and was looking forward to seeing me at the end of the day.  And yet because I missed that note, I missed out on abiding in his love throughout my day.

How often do we miss God's love notes to us?  How often do we miss the Spirits nudge, or choose not to read a few verses from His Word?  And how do we pay for it all day?  If you feel unsure of how things are between you and God, if you feel maybe He's upset at you, or maybe He just doesn't care - maybe it is possible that He has left you a love note and and you didn't see it.  Maybe He has left something in your path to let you know He cares about you, and you've missed it.

New Mercies Every Morning

This morning I am thankful for...

The sound of light rain hitting the trees outside and the low rumble of thunder in the distance
The sweet man that lays beside me each night and the moments we reach for each other in our half-sleep waking up
The combination of subtly sweet mini-wheats and cold milk
Mornings at home when I get to sit around in my jogging pants and take the day as it comes
The availability of God's Spirit right here with me when my heart needs to figure something out