Thankful for November blooms and for x, y, z.

It's November, and this rose still has blossoms going.  I have to walk around the corner of my house to see it, but it's worth it!

Lingering signs of fruitfulness in late autumn have always thrilled me.  Hopeful, unexpected miracles of beauty minister to a world heading for winter.

Winter and deserts have this in common: it is rare to find growing, living things in winter, and in deserts.

One of God's specialties is making fruit grow from barren ground.

The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad;
    the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus;
it shall blossom abundantly
    and rejoice with joy and singing.
~Isaiah 35:1-2a (ESV)

Some barren ground near me lies parched.  I long to see the Spirit of God poured out like water on this ground, bringing forth the fruit of repentance, restoration and joy.

This is the business of the Lord.  The Lord took Aaron's walking stick, a dead branch completely cut off from root or water source:

. . . and behold, the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted and put forth buds and produced blossoms, and it bore ripe almonds.
~from Numbers 17:8 (ESV)

God makes life flourish from lifeless places, wherever He chooses, by mercy and grace.

And you were dead 
in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked . . .
But God,
being rich in mercy,
because of the great love
with which He loved us,
even when we were dead in our trespasses
made us alive in Christ --
by grace you have been saved!
~from Ephesians 2:1,2,4,5 (ESV- emphasis mine)

Xerophilous.  Xerophilous things thrive in a dry, inhospitable environment.  God can come, and produce the fruit of His Spirit from our formerly dry and barren hearts.  He not only can, He does.

That is X. 

Y is for yearning, the yearning of the Lord to gather His people under His wings and protect them, keep them, heal them, enlighten them, save them.

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people . . .  
This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
~1 Timothy 2:1,3,4 (ESV)

Z is for the zeal of the Lord, which will see that His purposes will be accomplished.

O Lord, your hand is lifted up,
    but they do not see it.
Let them see your zeal for your people, and be ashamed.
    Let the fire for your adversaries consume them.
~Isaiah 26:11 (ESV)

God has zeal for His people, and He will trample down the evil that rages against them.  He will save His children with mighty acts of judgment and an outstretched arm.   He will bring us home to His Kingdom to live forever in glory.

X, Y, Z.   Xerophilous (Xerophilousness?).  Yearning.  Zeal.

I am thankful that my God makes life spring up out of barren places, and that He has both the inclination and the ability to accomplish this miracle. 

I am thankful for beautiful rose blossoms blooming amidst the dry, crumbling leaves in my yard. 

Thankful for delicious, healthy chocolate smoothies!

I've developed this chocolate smoothie that I drink nearly every day now.

It is so good, I just cannot even wrap my mind around the fact that it doesn't have any unhealthy ingredients.  In fact, it is so good, I prefer this over a fast-food chocolate shake, based on flavor alone.

Besides that, it only has four ingredients, and they are four easy ingredients, common and cheap.

On top of that, it helps me, now that I have no kids at home, when I am having trouble using up the milk and bananas.  Milk and bananas were a problem for awhile there, when it was basically just me eating them (Shawn doesn't drink milk or eat bananas).  But!  No more!  Now I make all my extra milk and bananas into delicious, nutritious chocolate smoothies.

Here are our four ingredients:

(1)  A frozen banana.

This is the right way to freeze a banana.  Peel it, cut it into chunks, and freeze it in its own, individual zip-lock bag.

The bigger your banana, the thicker and more ice-creamy your smoothie will be.

Use ripe bananas.  You know how the whole bunch of bananas is ripe on the same day?  Freeze them a day or two after that, no more, and you will have a wonderful result.  The way my banana bunches go, I usually end up freezing about five bananas on the day they are ready.  If they are small bananas, I might split the fifth banana into four pieces and add one piece to each of the other four banana bags.

Place your frozen banana in your blender.

(2)  A cup of milk.

Personally, I like whole milk.  I am not gaining weight on whole milk.  In fact, my doctor was displeased the last time I was in, because I'd been losing weight, and she threatened to change my lupus meds.  So, I use a cup of whole milk.  However, I'm sure 2% would be absolutely fine.  Skim would probably even work.  I have also made this smoothie with almond milk for my daughter Lu, who is lactose intolerant.  I think unsweetened vanilla almond milk works the best, if you're aiming for a non-dairy treat.

Pour your cup of milk over the frozen banana in the blender.

(3)  A rounded soup spoon full of dry cocoa powder.

We are not talking about sweetened, flavored cocoa mix.  No!  Banish the thought!  We are talking about unsweetened baking cocoa.  Use a nice, big generous spoonful.

Gently dump the cocoa powder into the center of the blender.  Try to make sure it is surrounded by milk and banana, and that none of it gets on the sides of the blender to start.  It will blend up nicer this way.

(4)  A rounded soup spoon full of nut butter.

For this, I use the same exact spoon that I just used for the cocoa powder.  If you follow this order of steps, you minimize your dirty dishes, and minimal dirty dishes is always a good thing.

I cannot eat peanuts, so I usually use Sunbutter from sunflower seeds.

You could certainly use peanut butter.  If you're using almond milk instead of cow's milk, you could go with a theme and use almond butter.  It really makes very little difference.  I add this ingredient because when this is my breakfast, the nut butter helps me to get filled up, and it holds me until lunch.

Place the nut butter, like the cocoa, in the center of the blender, away from the sides.

There you have it!

Blend until smooth.  Depending on the cut and angle of your frozen banana pieces, you may need to use a variety of blender powers, and a few blasts with "ice-crush" to get it smooth.  Make sure it is smooth!  There's nothing more disappointing than a chunk of unblended frozen banana in this smoothie (well, that's hyperbole, but chunks are disappointing).

After you have blended it nice and smooth,  pour it into a glass and enjoy!

Isn't that beautiful?  Can you believe there's only banana, milk, cocoa and nut butter in this?  NO SUGAR!  And, I promise, you won't miss it!

Here is one of my chocolate smoothies, approximately 2.23 seconds after I poured it up:

I can drink a smoothie faster than anybody in my family, without even trying to.  That's just how it goes for me.  Fast.  Sigh.

But there's always tomorrow.  These are so good for me, I can have one nearly every day!

Recipe:

Healthy Chocolate Smoothie

1 frozen banana

1 cup milk (or milk substitute)

1 rounded Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder

1 rounded Tbsp. nut butter of choice

Blend in blender until smooth.

Enjoy!

I am thankful 

for healthy foods

that are easy to make 

and use affordable ingredients!

Hooray! 

Thankful that God is worthy of praise

I will extol you, my God and King,
    and bless your name forever and ever.

Every day I will bless you
    and praise your name forever and ever.

Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised,
    and his greatness is unsearchable.

~Psalm 145:1-3 (ESV)

No matter what happens, 
God is holy, almighty and good.

No matter what happens,
God is worthy of praise.

God created the Universe out of nothing.  

God loves the world.

God sent His only begotten Son into the world
to be the atoning sacrifice for all the sins of humanity. 

God tarries now, giving opportunity for the full number of the faithful to come to Him.

God will return to judge the world.

He will punish the wicked. 
He will reward the faithful.
And the faithful will praise His name. 

God is worthy of praise.

This is a great comfort to me.

When things go wrong, when life twists away, awry, painful, God is worthy of my praise.

Sin, pain and disappointment can obfuscate the glory of God, but they can't change the essence of the glory of God.

In the end, sin, pain and disappointment will be cast into the pit, along with the devil, and we will be completely free, forever, to bask in the glory of God. 

One of my favorite Bible passages tells of the end, when God will make all things right:

And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea.  And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.  
~Revelation 20:7-10 (ESV)

Did you read that?  Did you see?  Satan assembles his forces for battle, and they gather, a massive force with numbers like the sand of the sea.  They march up against the beloved city, the people of God, surrounding them with menace.  And what happens?  Fire comes down from heaven and consumes the enemies of God before they fire a single shot.

There isn't even a battle.  God is the victor before the conflict even begins to rage.  And then God throws the devil into the lake of fire where he can never, ever hurt anybody again.

And I heard every creature in heaven 

and on earth and under the earth 

and in the sea, 

and all that is in them, 

saying,

“To him who sits on the throne 

and to the Lamb
be blessing and honor and glory 

and might forever and ever!”

~Revelation 5:13 (ESV)

God is worthy of praise.



 

Thankful. A November series.

I may make it a November Tradition to do Thankful posts.

I have a thing.  I like to accompany my thankful posts with pictures.  Unfortunately, I have not built up a body of photos in advance, but this is a picture that reminds me of many things that put gratitude into my heart.

I am thankful for a sweet husband who cares for me with my lupus.  He makes me tea, and he takes me for walks, and he often unloads the dishwasher.  He helps me stick pain patches on my back, and he helps me hunt for the pain-killers when I hurt too much to dig through cupboards.  He never gives me a hard time if he gets home from work and there is not a nice dinner, because I ran out of energy before I started cooking.  He just cracks a joke and offers to take me to Culver's for a gluten-free burger.

I am thankful for the big, maroon scarf I was wearing, because it keeps my neck nice and warm, less apt to ache.  I'm thankful for the reading glasses atop my head, not only because they help me see to read, but also because they were there, atop my head, and not lost!

I am thankful for my warm, homey kitchen where we spend quality time together, sometimes just Shawn and me, but on this particular occasion we were with these cutie patooties:

They came out to celebrate their 24th and 23rd birthdays, respectively, and to share gluten-free chocolate cake with us, and to grace us with their mad photography skills and even to take a picture back across the table, which is why there actually exists a picture of Shawn and me together at the top of this post.  Obviously, I am incredibly thankful for these two.

And so, you see, there is plenty to be thankful for.  I am trying to restrain myself and not spew an undue amount of thanks in the very first shot.

I am thankful.

What I learned in October -- It's about hope.

I had an epiphany the other day. 

Here it is:

It isn't about self-esteem.  It's about hope.

People get all fixated on self-esteem.  "We have to improve our self-esteem!" they cry out.  "We have to teach ourselves how to feel good about ourselves!"

Sometimes there are good and true reasons why people don't feel good about themselves.  Sometimes people have done bad things that they ought to be ashamed of, and sorry for.  Sometimes people have made poor choices that resulted in unpleasant consequences and landed them in unfortunate situations.  Sometimes people feel guilty because they should feel guilty, because they have done wrong.

When people feel guilty because they have done wrong, they don't need self-esteem.  They need repentance and forgiveness.

Focusing on self-esteem is not going to fix this sort of problem.

If you take a person who has made a series of terrible choices and ended up in a miserable position, and you say, "Don't worry!  You are a good person!  Believe in yourself!  Be proud!" -- well, you aren't likely to get anywhere, because you are merely trying to sell a delusion.  Even if the person buys the delusion--which he might--it won't help him, because it is a delusion.

People don't need self-esteem, because self-esteem is about personal pride, and personal pride is never a good thing.  (The world does not need more pride.  The world needs more humility.)

People need hope.  People need to be able to hope that they can change, that they can be forgiven, that they can learn, grow and do better next time.  People need to be able to hope that there is redemption available, even for them.

People need hope, and the best, the truest hope comes from God.  God will always love you, always forgive you and always welcome you back with open arms.  God will put His Spirit into you and change you from the inside out.  God will purify you from your past and make you into a new person.  God will make beautiful Spirit-fruit flow from your life: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control.  God will give you a purpose to fulfill, and He will equip you to fulfill it.

This is hope.  This is what people need.  They need to hear, "There is hope for you, no matter how badly you have messed things up.  Jesus died so that you can be forgiven.  He loves you and He wants to heal you from your past.  He can create beauty from the ashes of your life.  Hope in Jesus, and you will not be disappointed!"

We need to stop looking at ourselves, trying to puff ourselves up with self-esteem.

We need to look to Jesus and hope, for He is the Savior of the world, the God of love who gave His own perfect life to pay the penalty for the sins of humanity, so humanity could one day dwell forever in Paradise with Him.

Hope in Jesus is a sure and steadfast anchor for our souls.

This is what we need.

This is what it's about.

Hope.

Spiritual warfare, part 2

Here we are on the eve of Halloween, talking about spiritual warfare.

I'd call that appropriate.  I didn't plan it this way, either.  It is noteworthy when things work out beautifully just because they do, and not because you worked hard to finagle a result.  Spontaneous good results reassure me that God is attentive.

We've talked about the Belt of Truth, the Breastplate of Righteousness and Feet Fitted with the Gospel of Peace.  We've seen how the Lord girds us up with the Truth, covers us with the righteousness of Christ, and prepares us to run victoriously with a message of good news.

Today we will look at the Helmet of Salvation, the Shield of Faith and the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God.

Satan is always trying to disarm us, to make us discouraged, timid and ineffective for the Kingdom of God.

1 Peter 5:8 (NLT)
Stay alert!   Watch out for your great enemy, the devil.  He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.

A very real threat exists, but we do not need to be afraid, because God is our hope, our shield and defender.  He protects us, and He equips us.

2 Corinthians 10:3-4 (ESV)
For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh.  For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.

Do you see that?  God equips us to tap into His divine power and join Him in destroying strongholds! 

Do you have a battle in your life today?  Is there a place where the enemy is poking at you, taunting you, tripping you up and wearing you down?  There's nothing the enemy can throw at you that's too strategic for God to defend against.

Isaiah 54:17 (NLT)
But in that coming day
    no weapon turned against you will succeed.
You will silence every voice
    raised up to accuse you.
These benefits are enjoyed by the servants of the Lord;
    their vindication will come from me.
    I, the Lord, have spoken! 

God is infinitely greater than any power that tries to rage against Him.  This great and mighty God cares for us, His people, His children.  He clothes us in His own righteousness and shelters us with His wings.

He gives us a Helmet of Salvation to cover our heads.  The head is of utmost significance.  People wear bicycle helmets and football helmets and even batters' helmets in baseball, because we know that above all things, the head must be protected. 

How does God protect our heads?  With salvation.  Salvation.  He steers us away from the road to hell, rescuing us with His mighty arm, and puts us on a path to everlasting life.  This is salvation.

Colossians 1:13-14 puts it this way --
For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins. (NLT)

We are rescued, saved from the kingdom of darkness, and transferred into the Kingdom of Jesus.  This is our great salvation.  We have been purchased by the blood of Christ.  We are His.  Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ: not danger, trouble, persecution, hunger, or poverty; not death, life, angels, demons, not the future, the present, the past, or the power of hell (see Romans 8:35-39).  We have salvation from Jesus Christ.  Look at what Jesus says about it:

John 10:27-30 (NLT)
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.  I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else.  No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand.  The Father and I are one.

This is the spiritual helmet that protects our spiritual head.  If you're feeling under attack, say it.  Say it outloud!  "I have been saved by the blood of Jesus.  I belong to Jesus.  Jesus, I am Yours, and You are more powerful than anyone!"

Then, He gives us a Shield of Faith.  Faith is the gift of God (see Ephesians 2:8).  We don't whomp up a load of faith out of our own strength.  God somehow grants us faith, and this is a great mystery, but the bottom line is this: since God granted the faith, it is faith from God, divine faith.  It is strong, and it is powerful.  This is actually the message of the book of Job.  God gave Job faith, and then God allowed Job's faith to be tested, because God knew that the faith He had bestowed would not fail. God wanted to prove and display the strength of the faith He bestows on His children.

That same faith is our shield.  It extinguishes the fiery darts that the evil one throws at us.  It doesn't stop our enemy from attacking, but it stands in the gap between us and our enemy.  Demonic arrows hit the shield of faith, bounce back, and fall on the ground without harming us.  Faith is believing that God is real; God loves us; God has wonderful rewards for all who believe.  Faith is being convinced that the promises of God are true and glorious, while the lies of the devil lead to death.  Faith is an invincible shield against attacks of evil.

Psalm 3:3 (NLT)
But you, O Lord, are a shield around me;
    you are my glory, the one who holds my head high. 

God gives us a great arsenal of good, protective equipment.  He thoroughly equips all whom He calls.  He gives us faith, which results in salvation, which includes being clothed and covered with the righteousness of Christ.  He is real, and He reveals truth about His reality to us, which also builds our faith and holds us together.  He fills our hearts with joy about the good news of the gospel, and with wonderful hope as we look forward to the future He promises us.

God also gives us one offensive weapon:  The Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God.  The more we read our Bibles, the more we internalize the great truths about Jesus.  The more we memorize, the more we remember in a crisis. Then we can stand against the enemy's schemes.  It is the Word of God that makes us solid on the Truth, and thus we have come full circle.

I could not possibly discuss all the wonders of the Word of God here, now.  All I can say is, read your Bible.  Read Mark.  Read Philippians.  Read Colossians and Genesis.  Read Luke and Acts.  Read the Psalms and the Proverbs.  Read parts of the Bible, and then read all of the Bible.  Read and pray that God will give you a deep love for His Word, and an ability to understand and apply it.

Psalm 119:103-104 (ESV)
How sweet are your words to my taste,
    sweeter than honey to my mouth!
Through your precepts I get understanding;
    therefore I hate every false way. 
 

Spiritual warfare

Spiritual warfare is not my favorite thing to think about.  The term puts me in mind of a certain type of person, praying a certain type of way, addressing the devil personally and binding him in the name of Jesus.

I pray to God and God alone.  If anybody is going to bind the forces of evil, it is God, not me.  I'll ask Him to do that, in the name of Jesus, even, but the Lord is my protector, my shield and my deliverer.

The Lord Himself will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.
~Exodus 14:14 (ESV)

The battle is the Lord's.
~from 1 Samuel 17:47 (ESV)

Yet, I understand that there are times when we have to put our armor on and stand against the enemy.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
~Ephesians 6:12 (ESV)

We are supposed to put on the full armor of God so we will be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 

I am a Big Chicken, so I don't like to think about girding myself up to go out to battle.  There are times, however, when the battle arrives on one's doorstep, and one is forced to respond, and one must take inventory of the armor that God has provided.  (The rest of this post will be based on Ephesians 6:10-18.)

First, God's word tells us to fasten on the Belt of Truth.  I used to think that this meant we must always tell the truth, and even the slightest slip in this area would render us casualties of the evil one. While we must certainly tell the truth, and be truthful, I don't think that's exactly what "Belt of Truth" alludes to.  The devil is a liar and the father of lies.  Fastening the Belt of Truth around us means that we hold ourselves together with the Truth:  There is a God.  He created the Universe.  He loves us.  He is holy, faithful and good.  Nothing is impossible for God.  This is the kind of truth we need: the truth that exposes the devil's lies.  When the devil tells us we are hopeless, we remember the truth that even when we were dead in sin, God made us alive in Christ.  When the devil tells us that our sins are too terrible to escape, we remember the truth that as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.  When the devil tells us that even God can't fix this big problem, we remember the truth that with God, all things are possible.  This is the Belt of Truth.  It holds us together.

If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
~from John 8:31-32 (ESV) 

Then, God's word tells us to put on the Breastplate of Righteousness.  Again, I used to assume that this meant I must live a faultless life if I hoped to stand under the Lord's protection.  As I grow closer and closer to Christ, I should find myself sinning less and less, but again, this is not the point of "The Breastplate of Righteousness."  I have no righteousness of my own.  My righteousness is imputed to me through the atoning death of Jesus.  He took on my sin when He died on the cross, so that I could be clothed in His righteousness.  I am righteous in Christ, even on days when my failures pile up and discourage me.  I stand with the Breastplate of Righteousness protecting my vital organs because Christ has claimed me as His own.  There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, and when I wear the Breastplate of Righteousness, I am most certainly in Christ Jesus.  I belong to Jesus.  I am Jesus' treasured possession, and He has clothed me in His righteousness.

I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness.
~from Isaiah 61:10 (ESV)

After the Belt of Truth and the Breastplate of Righteousness, we are told to put our feet into shoes that put on the readiness of the gospel of peace.  Again, in my past, this term put me into a state of guilt.  I wasn't sharing the gospel enough times with enough people; I would never be fit to run in these shoes of spiritual warfare.  Of course we should share the gospel, just as we should tell the truth and be righteous.  But again, I think that is not the main point here.

When you get a new pair of really good running shoes, you put them on and they feel great; it makes you just want to head out on a running trail.  The gospel of peace, likewise, should make us feel really good, joyous, ready to go.  The gospel of peace tells us that we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (see Romans 5:1).  This is great news!  In the battle of good against evil, Jesus has already conquered sin at the cross.  Because of His sacrifice, we are forgiven and can have peace with God, and even fellowship.  The Holy Spirit of God dwells in us now, and at the end of time, we will dwell in the presence of God forever, with never ending peace and joy.  This truth gives us strength, hope and fleetness of foot to run the race set before us.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus.
~from Hebrews 12:1-2 (ESV) 

How interesting that the armor of God stems from the Truth about Christ and what He has done for us.

Next time I will address the Shield of Faith, the Helmet of Salvation and the Sword of the Spirit, but this is long enough.