CATCHING UP - TOO MUCH HAS HAPPENED

Good afternoon -- my how things can change in three weeks.  I nearly could not find where I could write my post! Blogger has made such a change - I did not know how to navigate through all of the info.    I absolutely did not intend to wait 3 weeks to write again -- just so much has happened - including, but certainly not limited to --- I found myself in the ER at 4 am on Sunday - the 15th - with a case of Bronchitis that had me where I could not breath.  Am much better now!!
I've wanted to write so many times - but sometimes the subject would have been so emotional and sad I just could not do it.  On Monday - while I was very sick - I attended the funeral of the little baby I had written about - she was 15 days old, had been held 95% of her life - looked like her dad and Mom - and was so loved.  It will be years before we really realize what all she accomplished in her 9 months, 15 days.  She taught young adults how to step out and make a difference in the lives of their friends who were hurting, she taught us old people how to really care enough to share some of our struggles.  What an amazing little angel she was and like our preacher said: "Just think - she is in Heaven before all of us - already experiencing the beauty, the joy and the wholeness of God."

On Friday night we had a ladies event at church -- over 100 ladies attended and the evening was charmed.  We have the absolutely sweetest, loving, forgiving, caring, and obedient women I will ever have the priviledge to know.  How uplifting and joyful it is to have women that lwove you, are not jealous of what you do - but encourage you and support you.  That is what I have found at Shiloh - my how God blessed us when he forced us to make the most wonderful change.  I thank God now for the people who forced this change upon us!   God is so blessed and so so good to us!!!

Today I was priviledged to attend the "Call Her Blessed" event benefiting Christian Homes and Services.  Anita Renfroe spoke and entertained.  She was delightful, funny, and intuitive.  What a joy to have experienced this event. 
Yes - I have also been cooking some!   Yesterday I sent some of my easy, simple, and delicious recipes to one of our young ladies.  I am going to post them now -- some of them have been on this blog before - but it has been a  while - so here goes:

CHICKEN TACO

                  Jon Carole Gilbreath

1 Jar Hot Sauce      4 Chicken breasts

Tortillas (corn or flour)   Shredded cheese

Place chicken breasts in crock-pot and pour hot

sauce over chicken.

Cook on high one hour and then turn to low and

continue to cook about 5 hours.  Take chicken out and shred with fork.
Put back in juice until ready to make tacos.  Heat tortillas, add a large spoon of chicken, sprinkle with cheese – AND ENJOY.

Note:  You can use rotisserie chicken by placing
3 cups chicken into a saucepan, adding hot sauce
and simmering  about 30 minutes.

CHICKEN TAQUITO CASSEROLE

Jon Carole Gilbreath
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1 Box Chicken Taquitos (about 15 to 20)
1 Can Hatch Green Enchilada Sauce

2 Cups Mexican Cheese (or cheddar)

1 Small Can Hatch Green Chiles

Spray 9 X 13” casserole dish and layer with Taquitos (takes about 15). Top with half of the cheese and pour Hatch Green Enchilada sauce over Taquitos.  Top with green chiles and remaining cheese.  Bake for about 40 minutes until it is hot and bubbly.

(Everyone thinks it is chicken enchiladas and brags on it!)

EASY CHEESE TORTELLINI BAKE

1 Bag of the frozen double cheese tortellini’s and place in casserole dish that has been lightly sprayed.   Pour 1 jar of spaghetti or marinara sauce over it.  Top with 1-1/2 cups cheese and bake at 350 degrees, until hot and bubbly.   (You can also use the meat stuffed ones!) 

how easy is this!)

EASY CHICKEN POT PIE

2 cups (or one package) Frozen mixed vegetables

(May substitute 2 large cans of Mixed Vegetables)

2 Cups cooked chicken breasts diced or cut in to bite size piece
1 Can Cream of Chicken Soup

½ Cup milk or half and half

Dash of minced garlic and dried onion

Add a slight dash of any other seasoning such as fox point

1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper or generous dash of red/black pepper

2 Pillsbury or Food Club (which I like better) pie crusts (in the box where you just unroll)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Unroll one pie crust and press into pie plate (with new roller I gave you)

Pour chicken and vegetable mixture into it.

Top with remaining crust.  Cut slits into the top and rub with butter or brush with egg wash.  (1 egg beat really well with 2 Tablespoons water.)

Bake about 30 minutes until bubbly and well browned. 

Heats well too!!

PORK CHOPS AND APPLES

                        Jon Carole Gilbreath

 

Good to use thin, inexpensive pork chops

4  thin (can do more or less) pork chops

Salt and pepper

1 large Apple – cored and sliced into round slices

1-1/2 tablespoons cooking oil (Canola or Olive oil)

3 tablespoons brown sugar

½ cup water

Wash pork chops, blot dry, and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Heat the oil to

hot and add the chops – slightly brown on both sides.   Place the sliced apple

on top of the pork chops, sprinkle with brown sugar and pour water over the top.

Lower heat under pan, cook for about 20 to 25 minutes until apple and pork chops

until  tender.      (THIS REALLY IS GOOD!)   Can be served with rice or potatoes.

 

 PASTA SALAD

        Jon Carole Gilbreath

1 Large bag or box of whole grain wheat pasta (much healthier) – You can get the spirals, penne, or shells. Bring to a boil in large boiler (to keep from bubbling out  - pour in about 1 tablespoon of either olive oil or cooking oil.  Cook until just fork tender.   Drain – do not rinse.

1 Bag “Steam Fresh” Mixed Vegetables – either the one with Broccoli, snow peas, water chestnuts, etc., or Asparagus, 2 colors corn, etc.  Cook as directed on bag in microwave.  Drain.

2 Tablespoons olive oil

2 or 3 dashes of balsamic vinegar

Salt & Pepper

Combine the pasta, vegetables, salt and pepper.  Top with olive oil and vinegar – and toss lightly.

I sometimes add walnuts and dash of red pepper flakes.

There you are!!!    On Friday night I spoke and I told Travis - I know I can write better than I can speak -- so just so you know what I said (did not read - just spoke - well, here it is!!!)

SUMMER

Summer – I can imagine you are thinking “she needs to be talking about fall – or perhaps winter – and maybe I should be – but I am still living the life of summer – letting fall pass me by!   So let me tell you what I’ve observed and learned during this journey!  Summer reminds me of the ocean and the beach!  The beauty and serenity of the ocean beating against the rocks – and then again it reminds me of the water furiously rushing in and beating on the rocks and then rushing back out.  I’ve always loved the beach and maybe that is why I cling to “summer of my life,” and not go quietly into fall.

Summer was made by God – as we all were.  Psalms 74:17 says: “It was you who set all the boundaries of the earth, you made both summer and winter.”  There are many references to the heat, the drought, fruits ripening, and gardens growing during the summer time.  Proverbs 10:5 tells us: “He who gathers crops in summer is a wise son, but he who sleeps during harvest is a disgraceful son.” 

 

 I believe there are some analogies between the “Summer Season of our life and the young adult, who has just passed through spring, has either finished college and landed a great job, or has just gotten married and has had her children.  Life has begun – now how do we handle it?   The Season of Summer can reflect the path we walk and the testing of our faith.  Are we obedient to God and His plan?  Do we withstand the heat and dry spells to magnify His walk in our own life.    Just as the fruit trees of summer grow and begin to produce fruit, they eventually need more nourishment from the owner or the fruit becomes small and scarce.  The same thing happens when we stay out in the heat without shade or protection, we become over heated, unable to do our best.  The drought this summer showed us what happens when we don’t get enough rain – things dry up, get hard and parched.  The same is true with us during the summer of our lives.  We will not be able to overcome the hardships we will face without  His presence in our lives?  I believe that along with the thrill of accomplishment, the joy of raising our children, our successes, that summer is also a time that is often filled with stress, anxiety, disappointment, and tragedy.  Just as summer is the longest season, it also takes up more of our life than any other.

 

If we are not careful, we can let our summer years become a time we get so busy we forget to pray.  Many women tend to try to run the world – get the children off to school, hope they will be okay and worry about who they are with, what they are doing, who will they become – all the time – asking ourselves:  “Am I doing enough for them?”  Then some have this really important job that needs their full attention too – and too often we find ourselves wrapped up in the business world, truly without enough time for our family – maybe because there is just so much stress at work or they have always wanted to be more appreciated!   Their attitude is: I want to show my boss what a good citizen I am so I am going to volunteer and get on several non-profit boards – and try to make sure the days don’t co-inside with the other ones.  If asked if they can handle a project at church, they say no – just too busy right now!  Others find themselves saying “Oh, I would love to attend that ladies event, but I have to volunteer at the kid’s prom that night – maybe some other time.”   

Do you see what can so easily happen?  We can get our priorities all mixed up – and the time we most need God, we forget all about him.  I know statistics may show that many young “Springs” leave their roots and never return – I think the “Summer’s” do too.  Why? Perhaps because of peer pressure, trying to get ahead of the neighbors, perhaps, worries about finances, college for kids, fascination with success – and perhaps not taking the time for what should be most important. I believe it is perhaps during our life lived in the Summer season of it - is when we need God in our lives the most.    How do we make our relationship with God our number one priority?   What is important to each of us?  We usually consider  whatever is the most urgent to be the most important – whether it is needing to use the bathroom, or it might be a movie or TV show we’ve been wanting to see.  It might be a trip to take or a special event like a ballgame we want to attend.  It might be something we want to buy.  The priority might be a relationship, a job, a project.  It might be an illness, a tragedy or a difficult ordeal.    In Mark 1: 35-39 – we see Jesus’ priority was to pray and then preach.    Prayer should also be our priority.  Prayer is the kind of priority that lies at the root of all the others – at the root of life itself.  It’s a lot like eating, if we rarely eat, our physical health will suffer.  We’ll be weak and sick.  IT will affect our ability to carry on the activities of life.  In a similar way, if we rarely pray, our spiritual life will lack vitality.  We will approach the challenges and successes of life on our own, as though we are not totally dependent on God for even life itself.

Without prayer, we begin to take credit for the good things in our lives, chalking them up to our skill, knowledge, wisdom and hard work.  We begin to forget that all our skill, knowledge, wisdom and hard work are gifts of God.  He gave us the mind, body and circumstances of life that enabled us to have and develop those attributes.

On the other hand, without prayer, we fall into fear, anxious worry and even despair.  We become unaware of God’s love for us, unsure that He stands with us in our problems.  We feel afraid, alone, doubtful, and scared of what life keeps heaping onto us.

So quickly, how can we develop a better prayer life?

Hard to find time:  It is fine to watch a TV show that we really wanted to see, how about turning off the TV when it is some senseless show we are just watching to kill time before bed time! Turn it off – pray!

We make priorities out of things we care about.  It isn’t that we don’t care about prayer; it’s just that since God doesn’t cry when we don’t get dinner on the table or send out a repo man if we don’t pay for the car, washing machine, etc. we tend to put prayer farther down the priority list.

 

What if we start to look as prayer as a time that refreshes and rejuvenates us?   It relaxes the mind and body to release to God our worries, our anger, our fear, and anxiety.  It is a better antidote to frustration than nibbling on donuts or chocolate bars.  It fills our need for intimacy better than affairs or pornography.  It is a far better way to handle anger than exploding at our spouses or children.  It lasts, alternatives don’t.

Prayer is Therapy, not Duty.  It is easy to view prayer as a duty or obligation.  When we do that, prayer becomes hard, something to put off, a burden and pressure all by itself.  What a tragedy.  Spending time with God is great therapy.

And finally, Prayer is not a substitute for action:  We learn that Jesus hiked early in the morning to a solitary place for prayer.  When it is time for action, it’s time for action.  When your child or spouse needs attention, it is not the time to go off and pray.  When you need to repair a faucet, or make a call, or prepare a meal, it is not the time to disappear into your closet for an hour.  We can and should be able to pray any time, any place, while we go about our business.    The point is, seeing prayer as a priority will make all of your other priorities more manageable and less stressful.  Let prayer time be a time to relax, let God’s love bathe and salve your frayed nerves, your taunt emotions, and your exhausted and frightened heart.  Let prayer be your time to rest in God, to let Him renew your strength, brighten your hope, sharpen your faith.

So let’s try these four things and see if we can’t stay focused on what should really be our priority:

 

1.Stay faithful to God – pray and take time to stay connected to our church. Make him No. 1 and our family close behind.

2.Participate in church activities such as tonight – put it on your calendar – and say “sorry to other invitations or events!”

3.Find someone and make it your special project to encourage them, surprise then with little thoughtful deeds, cards, gifts, and always pray for them.

4.Stay in touch with friends – and always be open to new friends.

 Kristen Eastland posted this on Facebook and I want to close with her quote because it sums up what I think our attitude during life lived  the Summer Season of our life should reflect:  “Every experience God gives us, every person He puts in our lives, is the perfect preparation for the future only He can see!”  

Thank you!

Please have a wonderful Wednesday - try helping someone else -- it is amazing how it makes you feel!  Don't really do it selfishly - but after it is done - feel the reward!   Oh - check out Anita Renfroe on UTube!!!!