"Food Fridays" and Cookie Cutter Pancakes

Snowman!

My kids are always after me to make them pancakes that are shaped like certain things. Around Christmas, after doing my usual "Mickey Mouse" or bear and even managing a heart for my daughter a few times, I had the idea of using my large Wilton cookie cutters to make the shaped pancakes.  This worked like a charm.  At Christmas time, we had gingerbread man pancakes and this morning we enjoyed snowmen.  This is the cookie cutter I used for my snowmen: 

Wilton Snowman Comfort Grip Stainless Steel Cookie Cutter

These cookie cutters work great for this!  We also have this same brand of gingerbread man cutter and I will eventually add some other shapes to my collection.  The size is a little larger than a standard cookie cutter, which works out well for a pancake mold.  You could try other cookie cutters as well, but make sure they are metal as you wouldn't want to melt a plastic one in your pan!  So, I'll share my homemade pancake recipe and then give you the step-by-step instructions for making your own shaped pancakes.

Homemade Cookie Cutter Pancakes

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk
2 beaten eggs
4 tablespoons oil (olive or coconut)

Other items needed: shortening (I use Spectrum Organic Shortening -- 24 oz) and decorations for your pancakes (icing and chocolate chips)

Directions:

1. This is very important!  Start heating your pan so it can warm up while you make the pancake batter.  The first batch won't turn out well if your pan isn't hot enough.  So, put a spoon of shortening in the pan and set your burner to medium-low.  I like to cook mine in my enamel-coated skillet.
2. Mix all dry ingredients in a medium bowl.
3. Beat eggs together in a small bowl and then add in milk and oil.
4. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the liquid ingredients.
5. Mix well!
6. Grease the inside edges of the metal cookie cutter.  Don't be stingy with the shortening!  Your pancake will stick if you don't have enough.  Now you're ready to start cooking!
7. Lay the greased cookie cutter in the middle of the pan.
8. Scoop up some batter and pour it into the cookie cutter, making sure it spreads to all edges.
9. Allow the pancake to cook until small bubbles start to form on the top.
10. Using a potholder, gently lift the cookie cutter from the pancake.  If you used enough shortening, it should come right off.
11. Flip your pancake and allow it to finish cooking.  
12. Trim any edges off that spread out after you flip it.  
13. Decorate, add pure maple syrup and enjoy!

This recipe makes plenty of pancakes for our family of 5 to have for breakfast alone.  It gives the small children 2 each and 4 each for my husband and I.

The Necessity of Reevaluation in Your Spiritual Life

In the introductory post for this series, I talked about why reevaluation is necessary.  Now I'd like to specifically look at certain areas of life in which this is especially valuable and we'll start off with our spiritual lives, as well as those of our family.

In my own life, I personally find it easy to get overwhelmed with the many demands of life and then my time spent with God ends up on the back burner.  After a short while, I really start to notice a difference in my life and it's time to take another look at what I am doing to maintain and grow my relationship with God.  There are several things that I find key to maintaining growth in my spiritual life: prayer, time in the Word and service to others.  These things can be maintained by sheer will, but without the motivating factor of love they can be worthless and become very difficult to maintain long term.  In I Corinthians 13:1-3, Paul writes:

"If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.  If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.  And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing." (NASB, emphasis mine)

The driving force behind all these actions that give us growth spiritually should be love.  And why?  I John 4:19 tells us:

"We love, because He first loved us."  

All these actions are a demonstration of our love toward our God who first loved us.  All of these areas should be applied in our spiritual leadership of our children, as well, and our encouragement of them as they grow and develop their own personal relationships with God.  Let's look more closely at these three key areas.

1. Prayer

We're told in I Thessalonians 5:16-18:

"Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." (emphasis mine)

You know, sometimes we talk about seeking the will of God, and that's great; but, I love it when we have verses like this one where it's so clear!  Why should we pray?  Well, the number one reason to me is because God commands us to and the other major reason is that it is our means of communication with our Heavenly Father.  We should want to and we desperately need to pray.

Consider the description in the New Testament of the church as the bride of Christ.  How does a bride feel about her groom?  She loves him so much that she wants to be with him all the time.  When she gets exciting news, he is the one she wants to tell!  When she needs advice, she wants to talk to him about it.  When she feels like having coffee and a chat, she seeks him out.  He is her beloved and her love for him motivates her to spend all the time she can with him!  This is how we should be with God.     Prayer is our avenue of communication with him.  Think about what happens to that bride's relationship with her groom if she doesn't invest time talking with him.  Their relationship deteriorates, possibly even to the point of divorce.  She does all of her communicating with other people and suddenly the bride and groom may even feel as if they don't even know each other any more.  Get the picture?  This communication with God is vital to our relationship with Him!

2. Time in the Word

In II Timothy 3:14-17, Paul writes to Timothy:

"You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.  All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work." (emphasis mine)

Spending time in God's Word is necessary for our growth as Christians.  This is God's means of communicating with us.  Think about how important it is for the bride to get to know her beloved.  Reading His Word is how we get to know God.  It's like one big letter just for us, telling us everything about Him that we need to know and how He wants us to live.  We should want to spend time reading it because it teaches us more about Him.  We want to know how He wants us to live, because we desire to please Him.  Again, it is all motivated by our love!

3. Service to Others

A major way that we demonstrate God's love to others is through service and this also helps us to identify with Christ's sacrifice as we lay down our selfishness and give of ourselves.  When speaking of the final judgment, Christ says in Matthew 25:34-40:

"The the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.  For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.'  Then the righteous will answer Him, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give you something to drink?  And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see you sick, or in prison, and come to You?'  The King will answer and say  to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.' (emphasis mine)

Truly, these actions of service draw us closer to God.  They help us identify with the sacrifice that Christ made for us.  Although most of us will not be called to sacrifice to the point of laying down our life, we do need to die to self daily and put others first.  For the motivation behind this one, consider I John 3:16-18:

 "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.  And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.  If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in the person?  Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.  (emphasis mine)

Clearly, our service to others is motivated by our love for God and our desire to show His love to others!  

Application

I'm sure we all see how these things are vital to our growth as Christians, but how do we actually implement them?  It can certainly be hard with all the things in this life that press at us on all sides, vying for our attention.  First of all let's look at some questions to ask in relation to each area to assess how well your efforts for spiritual growth are working right now and then we'll conclude with some ideas to help spur on that growth.

• Assessing Your/Your Family's Prayer Life
• Do you spend time each day in prayer?
• When you receive a great blessing, how quickly do you thank God for it?  
• If you encounter a problem, do you first try to solve it yourself or do you begin by seeking God's intervention and trusting Him to lead you?  
• Do you pray together with your family?
• Do you encourage your children to pray?

• Assessing Your/Your Family's Time in the Word
• Do you spend some time each day in God's Word?
• If you encounter a problem, do you first seek guidance from God's Word?
• Do you make a regular effort to memorize God's Word (Psalm 119:11)?
• Do you spend time teaching God's Word to your children (Deuteronomy 6:6-7)?

• Assessing Your/Your Family's Service to Others
• Do you purposely plan ways for your family to aid others?  
• Do you involve your children in those efforts?
• Do you train your children in service by allowing them to help with activities they are mature enough to handle?
• Do you strive to put others ahead of yourself (Philippians 2:3)?

These things can be difficult to maintain and we have to deliberately carve out time to dedicate to these activities.  Also, we need to constantly ask the Lord for strength as we work on establishing better habits in these areas, because you'd better believe the devil will be working overtime to stop any activity that creates a stronger Christian!  Here are some suggestions in each category of ways to encourage personal growth and growth of your children in these areas.

1. Prayer

Some of the suggestions below can be much more difficult to implement depending on your season of life.  My season currently involves several small children, which can make spending time alone with God rather difficult.  I either have to manage to get up early enough to do it before it's time to start breakfast and everyone else is still sleeping or to get all the children down for a nap at the same time (rarely happens!) or to stay up later after all the kids are in bed.  None of those things happen very often at this point in my life, but I definitely make an effort to spend time with the Lord together with my children and this, I think, is also a great benefit to them.  Here are some suggestions:

• Try to carve out at least a small amount of time each day to spend time in prayer privately (Matthew 6:6).  At my house, this doesn't necessarily happen when everyone is far away from me and I'm completely alone, but I think it can even be managed while you're alone in the kitchen washing the dishes and the children are occupied with daddy or playing somewhere else in the house.
• Pray with your children daily.  We try to do this most evenings together when we have family worship time.  This gives us a chance to see if they have prayer requests that we can bring before the Lord together as a family, as well as model prayer for our children.
• Teach reverent behavior to little ones while others are praying.
• Encourage your children to pray out loud.  Our kids usually take turns praying before the meals while daddy isn't home, and occasionally they pray after daddy thanks God for our dinner meal, as well.
• Talk with your children about things to be thankful for and then praise God together for those things.

2. Time in the Word

Here again it can be difficult for me, as with other young mothers, to spend time with my undivided attention on God's Word.  I don't get a lot of chances to spend a long amount of time just studying unless it occurs during some of the above-mentioned times, which I am grateful for when they do occur!  Also, it seems that there are many other tasks that would be much easier to accomplish when the children are not around which are competing for my free time!  Here, prioritization is called for, and spending some devoted time in God's Word definitely needs to be top priority when I have those opportunities.  I am also working on getting up at an earlier time each day so that I have a regular opportunity to spend personal devotion time each morning, but that is definitely a work in progress!  

• Spend some time each day in God's Word.  There are so many ways to do this.  You can simply pick up a Bible and read a set amount of Scripture or you could listen to preaching.  You could also listen to the Bible read aloud while working on other housework.
• Spend time as a family in God's Word daily.  Even if you don't get some time alone in God's Word, pick up a Bible and read a selection with your children or, if they are old enough, have them do some or all of the reading of the passage.  We try to read a chapter together each evening during our family worship time.  Then we have opportunity to talk about it with the children as well.
• Make a conscious effort to memorize God's Word.  We have a memory box that we work on most school days.  There is a great and simple Scripture memory system found here.  This is what we use and it's worked well for us.  I also post verses I'm working on around the house in places I tend to be for longer periods of time, like beside the kitchen sink or on a mirror.
• Teach!  This is a great motivator for me, and even planning posts on this blog has been a spiritual boost as it requires study and application of God's Word.

3. Service to Others

This one is a little easier to me as we have ample opportunity every day in our homes to model service to our family.  It takes a little more effort to plan service to others outside our homes though.  This is still very simple to do, even from home, and you can easily involve even very young children.

• Be sure you are serving your own family cheerfully (II Corinthians 9:6-8)!
• Let your children help you think of people that you can serve together.
• Have your children draw pictures to put in cards of encouragement to others or have them write their own note if they are capable of doing so.  
• Let your children help you pick out canned goods and other non-perishable items in the grocery store to take to your church pantry or other place that provides food for people in need.
• Sponsor a child as a family.
• Pray for the missionaries your local congregation and/or your family support.
• Encourage your children to serve those in your own family.
• Let your children help you prepare and deliver meals to those who are sick or in need.

There are so many ways that we can improve each of these areas in our lives!  I'd love to hear ideas that have worked well for you or your family in your spiritual walk!  Please leave a comment and share so others may benefit from your experiences.  God bless us all as we strive to grow more like Christ and closer to Him!

The Necessity of Reevaluation - Introduction

Reevaluation - determining again the significance, worth or condition of something by careful appraisal and study 

In my last post, I talked about being mindful of the types of seeds we are sowing in our lives and, more specifically, in the lives of our children.  An important part of this process is reevaluating things to make sure they are working well or creating the results you were looking for.  This is how you can be certain that what you think you are planting is growing the way you expected it to!    The main reason for reevaluation is that we are all different and certain things that work well for one person may not work out so well for others.  The exception to this is God's commands, which are obviously good for everyone, but even the implementation of some of these may look different in the lives of different people.  It is important to realize that advice and recommendations of others will usually have to be tailored to your own family and situation in order to work best for you.

For instance, someone may recommend a certain discipline tactic because it worked wonders for their child.  Maybe they used the reward of television time to incentivize their children to do their chores around the house.  You might have tried it out in your home, but your child didn't care about watching television and only wanted time to read their favorite books.  Therefore, the disciplinary action of not allowing any television time in response to the chores not being done did absolutely nothing to encourage your child to do better next time on his chores.  This would obviously call for a reevaluation of things in that area.

Sometimes it can take awhile for things to build up before you realize a situation or current plan requires reevaluation.  I think having a regularly planned time for reevaluation is a great aid in avoiding "crisis situations" where things have gotten so out of hand that it takes a lot of effort to get things back on track.  In this series, I'll be looking at reevaluation in relation to several different areas:

1. Spiritual Life
2. Household Management
3. Homeschooling
4. Family Life

I hope these posts help you look at these areas in your life and see how things need to be tweaked to work well in your specific family, so that you reap eternal life for yourself and your children as they grow.  We want the seeds we are sowing in each of these areas to be things that are pleasing to God and result in a good harvest!  Remember Galatians 6:7-9:

"Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.  For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.  Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary." (NASB)

Check back tomorrow for more about reevaluation in yours and your family's spiritual lives.  Also, please leave a comment with each post if you have found it encouraging or you have specific ideas that have worked well for you which could be shared with others!  I'd love to hear from you!

What Are You Sowing?

My "Mystery" Bulbs

Do you know what kind of seeds you're sowing in your life?  Do you know what kind of seeds you're sowing in the lives of your children?  I hope so!  We need to be ever mindful of this as we go about our daily lives.

When I planted the bulbs in the picture above, I didn't know what they were.  They were leftovers of my sister's that had been left at my parents house and I decided to rescue them.  It has been fun to watch them grow, guessing at what they were and then finally finding out as they were close to blooming (you'll see at the end of the post).  However, the seeds that we plant in our children's lives don't need to be "surprise" seeds.  We don't want to scatter here and there and just wait and see how it happens to turn out.  We need to be intentional!  The Bible tells us in Galatians 6:7-10:

"Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.  Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.  So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of faith." (NASB, emphasis mine)

 God tells us that whatever we sow, we will reap the results.  This can be applied to our own personal lives, certainly, but today I'd like to apply it to our guidance and teaching of our children.  What are you sowing in your children's lives?  Here are some examples:

Seeds of discontent or seeds of contentment?  

Are you careful what you say in front of your children?  Do you complain about circumstances in your life or are you happy to be where you are and have what you have?  Consider Philippians 4:11b:

"for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am."

 How about Philippians 2:14-16?

"Do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world," (emphasis mine)

I'm sure we can all agree that we want to be lights for Christ to our children.  I personally have this verse hanging above my kitchen sink right now to encourage me to do all tasks, even the most mundane and monotonous, such as washing up the dishes each day, without complaining.  This one is definitely on my personal memory list right now.  

Seeds of laziness or seeds of diligence?

This one can be difficult.  My children are all 5 and under, so a lot of tasks are much easier (not to mention faster), for me to do myself, instead of having one of the children do it.  It takes more time invested now to teach my children how to properly complete a chore and train them to regularly do it, but what will I reap in the future if I take the time now to teach them instead of choosing the "easy road?"  Proverbs 6:6-11 says:

"Go to the ant, O sluggard, observe her ways and be wise, which, having no chief, officer or ruler, prepares her food in the summer and gathers her provision in the harvest.  How long will you lie down, O sluggard?  When will you arise from your sleep?  A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest - your poverty will come in like a vagabond and your need like an armed man."

I definitely don't want my children to end up like that sluggard, so I'm doing my best to teach them diligence now, even though it requires more work on my part than just doing things myself.  

 Seeds of kindness or seeds of unkindness?

Up there in Galatians 6:10, you read "do good to all people, and especially to those of the household of faith."  Well, let's consider this in regard to those in our own households.  I recall hearing an older lady at church talking about making sure you weren't neglecting your children in your service to others.  She had been making food and desserts for other people and her children were asking why she wasn't making cookies for them.  I am grateful for her willingness to share that experience.  We should not neglect service to others, especially others in the church, but in our service to others, we should not neglect to serve the little people God has seen fit to place in our homes during this season of life.  I have to remember this especially, as I tend to easily take on responsibility.  My husband has to remind me of this tendency sometimes and keep me from becoming overwhelmed.  I need to make sure that I am maintaining adequate time to tend to my own family and time to treat them and be kind to them!  Ephesians 4:32 says:

"Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you."

Right now, I like to find opportunities to serve others that I can involve my children in, such as sending notes of encouragement to others and having them draw a picture to include or for my oldest to write a small note of her own.  Finding opportunities like this one serves a dual-purpose: it keeps you together with your children and teaches them to serve others at the same time.  

There are many other "seeds" we could be sowing in our households, but these are just a few I came up with.  The main thing is to constantly evaluate the way we are living our own lives and how that is affecting our children.  Also, we need to be ever mindful of intentionally doing activities or talking about certain things that will sow the right seeds in the lives of our children.  God tells us in Proverbs 22:6:

"Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it."

Let's sow seeds that cause us to reap the eternal benefits of children who serve the Lord!  And always ask the Lord to keep you strong in this quest.  Keep focused on the eternal results and remember Galatians 6:9:

"Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary."

Beautiful hyacinths!

Are You Making the Most of Your Online Purchases?

So, I recently discovered an amazing website, thanks to my aunt.  It's called My Points and the site is www.mypoints.com.  If you make purchases online, you definitely need to check this out, because it will give you points for every purchase you make as long as it is with an affiliated merchant and you click through to their site from the My Points site.  There is no fee to be enrolled in this and it really helps you be a good steward with your money.  Let me tell you specifically how it has benefited our family recently:

We are currently building a large home addition to make room for our growing family.  Yeah!  So, I had to order some things like toilets, flooring etc. and I found some on sale for a great price on Black Friday sales last November.  Well, I ordered these things and got 8 points per dollar credit on my My Points account.  From these points, I was able to get $220 in gift cards to great stores, like T.J. Maxx, Wal-mart, Amazon.com and Cracker Barrel.  All this, by just clicking through to the merchant's site from My Points.  How great is that?  Here are some highlights of how it works:

1. Log into your account at My Points.
2. Click through from their site to the merchant of your choice to do your online shopping.
3. Shop!
4. Points are credited to your account automatically, as long as you entered the merchant's site from your My Points account.
5. When your points are eligible for redemption, go pick out what great gift cards you'd like to get for free!
6. Wait for gift cards to arrive in the mail.  

Step six is where we are right now.  It was disappointing when I chose my gift cards that they did not tell me how long they would take to arrive, but, even if it takes awhile, they are still free money, so I can wait!  

Something that's really great is the selection of merchants from which to choose your gift cards.  Check out this sample list of some of the stores listed right now:

• Kohl's
• Subway
• Applebee's
• Olive Garden/Red Lobster
• T.J. Maxx
• Wal-mart
• Old Navy
• Home Depot
• Lowe's 
• GameStop
• BP gas stations
• Hyatt
• Bath & Body Works

As you can see, there's quite a selection!  You can choose from merchants that carry things you need or stores which might have things you want, but can't usually get on your regular budget since you're getting some "free money" from your regular purchases.

Now, I do have to point out that we did get quite a large amount of gift cards and this isn't going to be your typical experience.  There are two reasons for this: 1) we made a large online purchase and 2) the merchant with whom we purchased had 8 points credit per dollar to your account.  Oh, and here's something else you might want to know.  About how many points does it take to get an average gift card?

• $10 gift card - about 1,600-1,700 points
• $25 gift card - about 3,600-3,800 points
• $50 gift card - about 6,500-7,500 points (points required vary by merchant)

So, if you make purchases online, I totally recommend setting up a My Points account and earning free gift cards from the purchases you regularly make!

Are You Attracted to Trash?

My eleven month old is very interested in the trash can right now!  He loves to go over to it and open the lid and even pull things out if the trash is full and I don't catch him soon enough (thankfully that hasn't happened often!).  As you can see, our trash can is very shiny and nice looking on the outside (for a trash can that is).  Our little guy likes that and he enjoys opening and closing the lid, but he doesn't realize that what seems like harmless fun could make him sick or hurt him in other ways.  He's not mature enough to know that and it is my responsibility as a parent to teach him about things like this and to prevent him from accessing those potentially harmful things while he is still so young. 

I'd liken this to immature Christians who may be interested in some things that could be very harmful to them spiritually and they just don't realize it.  God has given us His word as a standard and guide and He also requires us to teach and lead other Christians.  In Titus 2:3, Paul tells older women to teach the younger:

"Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good," (NASB, emphasis mine)

 In what we call "The Great Commission" found in Matthew 28:19-20, Jesus instructs us to make disciples and teach them:

"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." (emphasis mine)

And we can easily conclude that God expects us to teach others as we mature from the admonishment the Hebrews' author gives his recipients in Hebrews 5:12-14:

"For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food.  For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant.  But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil." (emphasis mine)

We can also glean from this passage that those who are mature are able to differentiate between what is good and what is evil.  Those who are mature should be able to discern evil even when it comes "wrapped up in a pretty package," kind of like that trash can up there.

So, how do we discern what is good from what is evil then?  Well, we certainly can't trust our "hearts" on this one or most any other matter actually.  A pet peeve of mine is how so many of the secular kids' movies and "feel-good" type shows like to use the phrase, "Follow your heart," or something else along those lines.  It sounds great, doesn't it?  It's the kind of saying that could give you warm, fuzzy feelings all over, but there's a major problem here.  Check out Jeremiah 17:9:

"The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?" 

Or, how about Proverbs 28:26?

"He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, but he who walks wisely will be delivered." 

Yikes!  Those verses make that pleasant-sounding, little snippet of advice from all those kids' movies sound pretty scary!  Alright, so if our hearts aren't going to help us out on this one, where do we get this ability to tell good from evil?  Well, we have been given the Word of God and in I Timothy 3:16-17, Paul writes:

"All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work." (emphasis mine)

Is it a "good work" to be able to discern right from wrong and to teach others to do so as well?  You bet it is!  God's Word provides us with guidelines, principles and commands that help us know what is good and what is evil.  And once we can discern good from evil, we need to be very careful to keep the evil out and watch out for deceptive appearances.  Hebrews 5:14 also said that it takes "practice" to get to this point, which means it is going to require study and continually looking to God's Word for guidance.

An example that comes to mind is a movie preview that may not have any sinful behavior in it.  You think it looks interesting, so you decide to see the movie, but discover while watching it that there were scenes or language you were not expecting.  In this instance, it would have been easy to look up Christian reviews of the movie before you watched it, which would have told you exactly what offensive material was in the movie.  This is so helpful in making a wise decision.  Based on the review, you can decide from your study of God's Word whether or not you think it would be beneficial  for you to view this film or allow your children to watch it.

We need to be especially careful of what we read, what we watch and who we listen to, as all these things will influence us...for good or for bad.  Let's try to always choose the good!  And let's take responsibility as older Christians and parents to help teach and train our children and other young Christians to be able to discern between the good and the evil as well in this world!

Here are a couple of links that provide good movie reviews:

http://www.christiananswers.net/spotlight/home.html

http://www.dove.org/default1.asp

And, by the way, I did wash baby's hands as soon as I finished snapping the picture above!  :)

²⁶ 

"Food Fridays" and Yeast-Free Pizza Crust

Some of you who saw last week's "Food Friday" post may be wondering why I am talking about pizza crust and perhaps if we eat pizza for breakfast.  Well, we do not eat pizza for breakfast, but this has been kind of an unusual week.  I have missed posting, because I came down with the flu on Tuesday afternoon and am now recovering.  Consequently, I have also not been cooking breakfast this week, so I don't have any new breakfast recipes to share.  So, I'll share my yeast-free pizza crust recipe in hopes that it may to be helpful to someone else with an allergy or attempting to avoid yeast for some reason.

We have a recently discovered yeast allergy in our house.  My daughter and myself are both allergic to it, so we try to avoid it in all dishes we eat as a family.  My husband still has regular bread for sandwiches, but the rest of us eat sandwich "roll-ups" using flour tortilla shells.  This actually works quite well.  It's good with peanut butter and jelly and also with mayonnaise, meat and cheese.  We had found good substitutes for most things, such as our "sandwiches," but something that we missed most of all when we discovered we could not eat yeast was pizza.  We love pizza!  At first I thought we could eat yeast occasionally and not have a problem, but that was not the case as trying to have regular pizza every now and then caused symptom flare-up.  Then, I discovered that Pillsbury made a pizza dough crust found near their cinnamon rolls and biscuits in the grocery store, however, I wasn't crazy about that option because of the additives and preservatives that are found in such a processed food.  So, I decided to experiment.  I worked out something that is very similar to my biscuit recipe.  It makes quite a good pizza crust and we love it!  Best of all, it is totally yeast-free!

Yeast-Free Pizza Crust

Ingredients

2 cups all purpose flour

2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup milk

1/2 cup shortening (I recommend Spectrum Organic Shortening -- 24 oz .)

1. Grease a 9"x13" pan with shortening and pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees F.
2. Mix all dry ingredients together in a bowl.  Make a well in the center.
3. Pour in milk and add shortening and then mix together.  (I use my hand, but you could also use a spoon).  
4. Put dough in the greased pan and spread it out, pushing it up a bit on the sides to leave a crust edge.
5. Bake for 8 minutes.
6. Remove from oven and top with your favorite sauce, cheese, and toppings.
7. Bake for 8 minutes longer.
8. Enjoy!

Let me know how it works out for you!

Rapadura Sugar

I wanted to share some information about the type of sugar you will see included in many of my recipes.  It is called Rapadura Sugar and it is much better for you than traditionally bleached and refined table sugar.  Here is a description of it straight out of Sally Fallon's Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats:

"Rapadura is the commercial name for dehydrated cane sugar juice, which the people of India have used for thousands of years.  It is rich in minerals, particularly silica.  Rapadura has a wonderful flavor and closely mimics sugar in chemical properties.  It gives the best results for cookies and cakes but be careful not to overdo - in large amounts Rapadura can upset the body chemistry just as much as sugar."

You can purchase a sugar which contains the entirety of this cane sugar juice, including beneficial vitamins and minerals which are not found in bleached, refined table sugar.  This Rapadura Organic Whole Sugar is available at Amazon.com through this link. I have looked for it at local health food stores, but was not able to find it at any near us. Here's a picture of the nutrition facts from the back of a bag:

As you can see, a teaspoon of this sugar contains 11% of your daily value of iron and 2% of your daily value of vitamin c.  I love that!  This still needs to be used in moderation of course, but it is wonderful that you get some valuable nutrition from it!

Want to see what it looks like?  Here's my storage container I use to hold Rapadura Sugar in my own kitchen:

This sugar can be used in equal amounts to replace any table sugar or brown sugar called for in a recipe.  It imparts a flavor rather like molasses, but it fits very well with many recipes, especially oatmeal raisin cookies!  I personally order mine on the subscribe-and-save option at Amazon as that gives you a better deal per bag.  We don't use a lot of sugar, so I can space my orders out quite a bit.  Try it out and see what you think!

"Food Fridays" and a Peach Pecan Oven Pancake

Ready to eat!

We are currently trying to move our family diet to more whole foods and fewer processed items.  I have done well with this for quite some time for our lunch and dinner meals, but cereal was a regular in our house.  We had it for breakfast almost every morning except Saturdays.  I am glad to say though that I have now made it just over a week without serving cereal for breakfast.

Why are we doing this?  Well, I realize that all boxed cereals are not created equal (some have much less sugar than others for instance), but by using whole ingredients and preparing the foods myself instead of using store-bought mixes and other packaged items, I am avoiding preservatives and adding other nutrients that are not found in processed foods in general.  This is especially the case with the type of sugar we use in our household, although I still try to use it sparingly. Click here to learn more about Rapadura sugar.

In light of our quest to have a home-cooked breakfast each morning, I would like to announce "Food Fridays" on my blog.  I will post recipes here for different breakfast options that we have enjoyed at our house and occasionally throw in a different sort of recipe.  I'm trying to have a good variety in our home-cooked breakfasts, so I'll be trying out different recipes in addition to our oatmeal or sausage and eggs that we'll be eating several times a week.  To kick-off "Food Fridays," I'd like to share the recipe for the item you see above:

Peach Pecan Oven Pancake

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons butter, melted

2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar or rapadura sugar

1 tablespoons maple syrup (pure)

1 lb frozen peach slices, thawed, or fresh slices which are drained

2 to 3 tablespoons pecan pieces

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon rapadura sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

Makes 6 servings

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Place the 2 tablespoons of butter into a 9-inch pie pan and put this in the oven to melt as the oven heats.  
2. While butter is melting, mix together the flour, salt, 1 tablespoon of rapadura sugar and 2 teaspoons of baking powder.  
3. When butter is melted, remove pan from oven and swirl the butter around the edges and sides of the pan so it is all coated.  (This will keep your oven pancake from sticking while baking.)  Sprinkle the 2 tablespoons of brown sugar or rapadura sugar (this is what we use) over the butter and pour on the tablespoon of maple syrup.  Put a single layer of peach slices on top of this mixture in a decorative circle.  Sprinkle these with the pecan pieces.
4. Whisk together the eggs, milk and vanilla.  Add the flour mixture and stir till just combined.  Pour the batter over the peaches.  Bake this for 18-25 minutes till lightly browned and firm to the touch. (Bake-time will mostly depend on the state of your peaches prior to cooking.  I used frozen peaches and had to cook mine for about 25 minutes due to the extra moisture on the bottom.)
5. Remove from oven and let cool for 1 minute.  Run a knife around the outer edge and invert the pancake onto a serving plate.  Serve immediately with additional maple syrup, if desired.

 Additional notes: 

I found that after about 18 minutes, my pancake was already adequately browned on top as in the picture below, so I covered it with foil to prevent over-browning while it continued to cook.  The inside was not yet done at this point due to the moisture from the frozen peaches.

This recipe says it serves 6, but it only served 4 in our family (Mom, Dad and 2 littles - the baby didn't eat any).  This was all we ate for breakfast, so if you were serving it in combination with other items it would serve more people.  Enjoy!  

In the World, But Not of It...Social Media - Part Two

The main thing to remember in regard to our activities on Facebook or any other social media outlet is that we are the aroma of Christ to the world.  Let's live out II Corinthians 2:14-15:

"But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.  For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing;"

We want to put forth a "sweet aroma" to God as we behave in a manner pleasing to him.  In Part One, I covered our connections to others on Facebook and what reflection that might have on our Lord's reputation in the world.  Now I would like to discuss some ways we should guard our individual behavior.  What ways should we specifically guard our behavior here?  I think there are several areas we should look at: harnessing the tongue, guarding your heart and redeeming the time.

Harnessing the Tongue

We are told in James 3:8-12:

"But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison.  With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing.  My brethren, these things ought not to be this way.  Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water?  Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives, or a vine produce figs?  Nor can salt water produce fresh." (NASB)

The key to remember here is that we are told that "no one" can tame the tongue, but as Christians, we have supernatural power to tame the tongue through the Holy Spirit Who now lives in us as baptized believers.  We cannot do this on our own, but God can work through us to do this by His Spirit.

The internet is a dangerous place for words.  It seems so much easier to type certain things on a computer screen than to say them in person and this outlet can perhaps contribute to lack of discretion on our part.  Here are some further verses to consider in regard to our speech, be it virtual or real.

"But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth.  Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices."  Colossians 3:8-9 (emphasis mine)

"Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person."                                                                                Colossians 4:6 (emphasis mine)

"Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear."                                                                                                                         Ephesians 4:29 (emphasis mine) 

"But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment.  For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned."                                                                                                                    Matthew 12:36-37

"A gentle answer turns away wrath, but harsh word stirs up anger."                                Proverbs 15:1   

Before you type anything on the internet, be it a message, post or comment, consider it by these guidelines:

1. Is it something you would say in person?
2. If it is about someone else, would you say it to that person?
3. Is it true?
4. Is it edifying?  This is for the purpose of building someone up.  Note here that a loving rebuke is also for the purpose of building someone up in Christ.
5. Is it kind?
6. How will it come across?  Sometimes, people read more into things than is there when they read something on a screen based on their perception of you and the relationship.  Would it be better to say this in person to make sure it is clearly understood?

I think if you consider your words before they are "sent" or "posted" online, it will help make sure that your behavior is reflecting Christ to the world!

Guarding Your Heart

In Proverbs 4, during the father's instruction to his sons, he points out the importance of this practice.  Consider Proverbs 4:23:

"Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it." (NIV)

"For there is no good tree which produces bad fruit, nor, on the other hand, a bad tree which produces good fruit.  For each tree is known by its own fruit.  For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they pick grapes from a briar bush.  The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart."                                                       Luke 6:43-45 (NASB)

With what are you filling your heart?  Are the things you are consuming on Facebook and the internet in general filling your heart with "good treasure?"  Are the images you are seeing and the words you are reading bringing you closer to God or drawing you further away? We should also consider I Corinthians 15:33 in regards to whom we keep as close friends, be it on Facebook or in real life:

"Do not be deceived: 'Bad company corrupts good morals.' "

The things with which you fill your heart will directly influence your behavior and the words that come out of your mouth.  Take care that these are things which are pleasing to God.  If something arises that is not pleasing to God, turn away and do not dwell on it.  Don't store it up in your heart!

Something that my husband and I made a decision to do to guard our hearts in our relationship with each other is that we do not carry on text conversations with or "friend" members of the opposite sex, outside of close family members, on social media outlets.  This is just a precaution we take to protect our relationship with each other as husband and wife.  I'm definitely not saying that everyone has to do this, but I'm just throwing it out there as something that we do.  As I was saying in the section above regarding harnessing the tongue, it is easy to feel more at ease with saying things, etc. while on the internet in the virtual realm and this tendency could easily lead into inappropriate relationships or temptations in regard to members of the opposite sex.  Additionally, I do not want to give my husband any reason to have concern about my faithfulness to him.  

Redeeming the Time

Paul talks in Ephesians 5:15-16 about the necessity of using your time wisely:

"Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil."  

 Each individual person has to consider this in relation to their own life.  Think about what God-given responsibilities you have, such as your job, your family, your home, etc.  Is the time you spend on Facebook, Twitter, e-mail, etc. keeping you from doing these jobs well or taking away from time you should be spending with your family?  Something else to consider is whether or not this time is benefiting you spiritually.  Sometimes it is not merely a question of whether or not something we are doing is good, but whether or not there is something better to be done instead.

I think carefully considering these three areas, harnessing the tongue, guarding your heart and redeeming the time, will go far in making sure we are pleasing to God in our online behavior.  How do you maintain godly behavior online?  Leave me your thoughts below!  Let's all help each other show Christ to the world through our lives, online and in real life!

In the World, But Not of It...Social Media - Part One

How do we minister to others and yet keep Christ's reputation pure to them? 

How do we maintain the proper depiction of Christ to the world through our social media accounts, such as Facebook?  

These are some things I have been contemplating since recently joining Facebook.  The blog outlet doesn't worry me, but all the people one can have as "friends" on Facebook does.  I'm going to look specifically at Facebook, because this is the main social media outlet with which I have direct experience.  When people see us, what do they see?  If we are living as we should, they should see Christ.  The main struggle I am having with this is what reflection any information, ideas or images posted by people with whom I am "friends" will have on my reputation and the reputation of Christ through my claim of Him as Lord of my life.  Since I claim Christ, I should be a reflection of Him to this world.  Obviously we are responsible for the influence anything we post on Facebook will have, but here is where I think we get into some murky waters.  What level of responsibility, if any, do I have for the influence ideas and images posted on my "friends' " pages will have on others with whom I am "friends?"  Let's start by looking at what our purposes could be in interacting with others on Facebook:

1. Influencing others for Christ!
2. Keeping in touch with friends and family.
3. Networking for business purposes.

As Christians, number one up there should be the purpose we keep in mind in all of our interactions.  Now, if we are keeping that as our main goal on Facebook, how will we go about our interactions with others and making new "friends?"  First of all, I think it will be clear to others through our online behavior and posts that we are Christians.  Any post or image will represent Christ to the world, whether for good or for bad.  Ephesians 5:3-11 says: 

"But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints; and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.  For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.  Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.  Therefore do not be partakers with them; for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), trying the learn what is pleasing to the Lord.  Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them" (NASB - emphasis mine)

This passage speaks to guidelines for our own posts and behavior (such as avoiding filthiness and coarse jesting, demonstrating giving thanks, etc.) as well as maintaining Christ's reputation through not partaking in the sin of others.  How do we do this?  If someone looked at your profile, posts and images, would it be clear to them that you are a Christian, that you follow Christ?  Is it clear that you are not a partaker in these "deeds of darkness?"  

Jesus did eat with sinners and spend time with them to influence them in a godly way and we certainly are called to do that in order to teach the gospel and win others to Christ.  However, I think there are some limitations here and some special circumstances that come up in relation to social media interaction.  First off, take a look at I Corinthians 5:9-13:

"I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous or swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world.  But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler - not even to eat with such a one.  For what have I to do with judging outsiders?  Do you not judge those who are within the church?  But those who are outside, God judges.  REMOVE THE WICKED MAN FROM AMONG YOURSELVES." (emphasis mine)

Here, Paul is instructing the Corinthian Christians, and us, not to associate with people who call themselves Christians and are continuing willfully in a sinful lifestyle.  I would think this might also mean not to maintain our "Facebook friendship" with someone calling themselves a "brother" or "sister" who is willfully living contrary to God's ways.  If they have been approached about this matter and continue in sin, it is dangerous for all in the church to maintain fellowship with them.  Paul says in I Corinthians 5:6b:

"Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough?"  (emphasis mine)

The sinful lifestyle of that person will influence others within the church.  This action of not associating with that person may even be what is necessary to drive them to repentance.

Here is an instance in which I personally think we should guard our Facebook friendships in regard to those in the church and those without.  A major difference in your internet relationship with non-Christians, versus your real world relationship with those people is the presence of images and/or videos in that relationship.  If you are attempting to influence or study with a non-Christian person, you do not have to do so while they are immodestly dressed or engaging in immoral activity.  People can post many pictures and videos on the internet though and I do not want to be someone's link to an image or video that may cause them to stumble. In Romans 14:12-13, Paul says:

"So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God.  Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this - not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother's way."  (emphasis mine)

We will all be responsible for our own actions to God, but we are also commanded not to do things that are a stumbling block to our brother or sister in Christ.  I know that someone checking out your "friends' " pages is not an activity that you are directly responsible for, but I personally would rather not have placed the stumbling block of immodest images or videos in front of someone through my linking to my "friends."

It is difficult to know if someone has something on their page that may be a stumbling block or an ungodly influence on others.  The main thing to do is make sure that your page and your posts do not contain anything  such as this and then make judgment calls as you discover things or other situations arise in regard to the pages and activities of your "friends."  Tomorrow I will continue with the conclusion of this topic, discussing more specifically guidelines for our own godly behavior.  Be sure to check it out!  Part Two