Redeemed. Restored. Remade.

As I celebrated my 30th birthday, God took me on a journey back through my twenties and just how much of a blessing it is to be in this new season of my life!


And it started with being...




REDEEMED:

God redeemed so much of the mess I made out of my twenties. Satan knew I had a tremendous calling on my life to minister to so many and so he stopped at nothing to destroy it. From numerous affairs, eating disorders, bitterness, depression, anxiety and anger. Much of my twenties were spent as the prodigal child. Running from the God who loved me and finding pleasure in my own selfish desires. But God never gave up on me, He ALWAYS knew where to find me and pursued me with an everlasting love and heard my cry and pulled me up out of that slimy pit and gave my feet a firm place to stand!



Now that I was out of the pit it was time to be...


RESTORED:

And praise His name I am out and the pit is no longer my home! But the gunk from the pit, still covered me from head to toe and it was going to take some time to remove it, just as it takes months even years to restore an old car to its original state, so was the same with me. And so I began the long process of Restoration:

· 1.) Make a strategy of how to do it and how to start. Always have a plan before you start. * God had a strategy alright! HIS WORD and He wooed me back into His love letter and showed me His AMAZING plan for my life!


2. Start with the engine. Try to remove most parts and replace them with little parts. Keep as many parts of the engine as possible. Devote a day or two of cleaning the engine.
* God started with my engine..My heart, He began to remove what didn't need to be there anymore( the rust of bitterness and anger and the dents of loneliness, depression, anxiety) and even though the sanding and hammering was painful at times it was worth it as He began to replace those defects with Himself(Love,Joy,Peace,Long suffering,Kindness,Goodness,Faithfulness,Gentleness,Self-control)

Until I was….


REMADE:

3.Give style to your car. Get inside, clean it out, try a new radio, steering wheel, and maybe even clutch or transmission if you need.

· God gave me a radio alright! He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. He has remade me and my life in SO many ways I don’t even know where to begin! Am I perfect? Hardly! But the one who IS perfect dwells inside me and that gives me a promise until the day when I will be completely REMADE into the image of Christ. And until then, my life will forever be dedicated to the lover of my soul and the amazing calling He has placed on my life so that many will see and fear the LORD and put their trust in him!

Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus Philippians 3:13–14

And with that I say HELLO 30s!! Its gonna one AWESOME ride with the Lord!!

"Portable Brain"

If you are like me then your life is a collection of crazy blessed chaos and its hard to find time to "think" let alone process those thoughts! And I kept getting lost in doing what needed to be done, that when God would speak to my heart about an idea for homeschooling, emails, ministry, writing etc. I would make sure to make a mental note to remember to get to it and then realize a few days later that I had forgot what I was suppose to do! Uggh! Anyone else??...


I also began to realize that the closer I get to 30( which is only 12 days, 288 hours, 17280 minutes and 1036800 seconds away) But hey who's counting?!;-) That my brain just isn't retaining info like it used to..Gotta love aging!;-)






I was going to bed with my mind racing with thoughts, ideas, plans, etc and finding it hard to fall asleep!...Oh how I needed a "dumping" place for all these thoughts!







And this is when my "Portable Brain" was invented...









* Sketch Book: Of course I decorated the cover! Because well my portable brain has to reflect the real one, and the real one surely isn't boring!...I gotta AMEN to that from the hubby! hehe;-)


* Tabs: Which so far are labeled with the different categories Homeschooling, Adoption, Writing, Ministries)


* Post it Notes: When the Lord brings a thought, idea etc to my mind, I can write it down on a post it note, so I won't forget!




Ahhhhhhhhhh, Its in the little things that true blessings are found!! And I swear I heard a THANK YOU from my "real" brain..hehe!;-)

Marathon in the Kitchen;-)

I completed my first marathon today! It wasn't your typical running marathon though( even though the way my feet and back ache it sure feels like it ha!)





I completed my first KITCHEN MARATHON...

And the Menu includes:

Breakfast:

* Chocolate Chip Pancakes

* French Toast Sticks

* Apple Coffee Cake

* Cinamon Raisin Muffins

* Chocolate Pumpkin Bread

* Oatmeal Bake

Lunch:

* Pizza Snackers

* Italian Chicken Strips

* Make-Ahead Sandwiches

* Italian Chicken Roll-Ups

* Cheesey Crisps

*Pizza Meat Loaf Cups

Dinner:

* Double Meatloaf

* Turkey Meatball Soup

* Southwestern Casserole

* Slow-Cooked Chunky Chili

* Veggie Lasagna

* Breaded Chicken Patties

* Sloppy Joes

Oh and can't forget the Oatmeal Cookies!:-)


And it only took me 8 hours to complete it all!;-)

I wanted to make 2 weeks worth of food( breakfasts, lunches and dinners) first, because I knew that is about all my freezer could hold!;-)


I found a awesome cookbook called Taste of Home Freezer Pleasers:

And it is AWESOME because almost all of the recipes are double! So I was cranking out two meals per recipe! THATS how I got finished in 8 hours;-) AND I had a few recipes going at the same time..It was pure craziness but SOOOO WORTH IT!!!:-)