Paint Colors

Hey friends,
If you know me that well, you know that I don't sit still for very long and I am always into a project. My most recent project is redecorating my room.
For me the most important decision in redecorating ones room is the choice of color.
The color is the single decision that changes everything in the room. It changes the amount of light that is in a room. It changes the way the floors look. It changes what other elements you will use in the room. The color can even trick your eyes into thinking there is more space in the room. I LOVE color!
My friend and I were standing in front of the paint counter at Home Depot one day and were overwhelmed with all the different colors. Just check out some of the names of colors:
Riding Hood
Sunlit Topaz
Arcadian Blue
Refreshing Mint
Cool Dip
Smoke Grey
Fuchsia Berry
Tink Pink
Misty Glen
Violet Hush
Sassafras Tea
Seaside Village
Don't those names just make you want to run to the store and grab a can of Cool Dip and slap it on your walls. If a color can create a mood, maybe even the name of the color can create a mood.
After much debate (with myself), I decided on a beautiful pale sky blue called Bounty for my new room redo. After putting it on the walls, I decided that it is my new favorite color. I have always loved blue colors, but this one is peaceful and creates an environment of rest. The perfect color for a bedroom, right?
As I was painting with my dad, I was thinking about the name of the color. Bounty. Is there a teachable moment in the name of the color that I was painting my walls? God spoke to my heart, that yes, He wanted to show me something through the color of my walls. Bounty is something that is given freely and in abundance. In turn, God's love is given to us freely and in abundance. There it is...Simple and easy. God love's is our bounty.
From now on, everytime I look at my walls, I will remember that Bounty is a gift from God and that fills my heart with peace and joy.
I can't wait to post some pictures of my progess on my room redo. They will be coming soon. Until next time, be blessed!

Others

Welcome to a new day!
To borrow from a popular movie, "with great power comes great resposibility". Likewise, with great knowledge comes great responsibility. I have been blessed to have many people pouring knowledge into my life. Even recently, I have been able to sit under great teaching on a regular basis. It is a personal blessing to have knowledge of the love of God. It never does anyone else any good unless I take on the responsibility that comes with that knowledge. For example, just recently I was listening to a precious sister talk about the horrors of abortion and the responsibility that I have as a Christian. I could have just walked away with the knowledge that she shared. Or I could allow that knowledge to press me forward into my responsibilty and ultimately a response on my part.
I'll just be honest, a response requires action and most of us don't like action that takes us out of our comfort zone. But get this, that is what God is calling us to. He is calling out Christians who are willing to step out in faith and trust Him for results. It may be out of our comfort zone, but it is what is required. Take a listen to this song by Israel Houghton and allow it to help your heart turn toward the responsibilty that is ours.

May the Lord make His face to shine upon you! Until next time...

Getting Hit By A Refrigerator Door

Hey friends,
So, I can now say that I have been hit by a refrigerator door. Can you have bragging rights for things such as these? I'm not sure, but I know that it's something I will never forget. It will forever be etched on my memory. It wasn't really as bad as it sounds and even now I can chuckle and laugh about it.
So here is the scoop:
I was in my car driving home from a long, hard day at work. I was traveling through the middle of my town, so I wasn't going that fast and I was stopping and starting for red lights. After about the fourth red light, I found myself behind a truck that had a new refrigerator in it. For some reason the doors to the refrigerator were taken off the hinges and were also in the back of the truck. As I followed this truck for a few minutes, my tummy started getting a bit rumbly and I remembered a brownie in my lunch bag.
We were stopped at yet another red light and I reached into my bag for the brownie. I guess in that moment as I was getting the brownie, the light changed and the truck in front of me moved forward.  As the truck moved forward, apparently one of the refrigerator doors came flying off the truck. In an instant, I saw the door. I didn't have time to respond. The door hit my bumper and then I ran over it. Bump! Bump! And then...I thought I had busted a tire. In reality I didn't bust my tire, I was dragging the refrigerator door with my back tire. At this point in my journey, I was not in a good section of town, and I remember just asking the Lord to protect me, because I knew I needed to pull off the road and make sure that I hadn't busted a tire. As I pulled into a parking area, my back tires popped off the door and I realized that everything was really okay. With Mozart playing in the background, I found that my car had passed through the ordeal unscathed. This was just the icing on an already hard day. I had two choices: laugh or cry. I chose to laugh! As I stood in the parking area laughing with Mozart still playing in the background, the driver of the truck came running up the road to check on me. When he found that I was okay and my car was not damaged, he apologized one last time and went on his way.
As I laughed with my family about the new bragging rights that I have, I realized something else about this whole situation. God protected me in a big way. At the exact moment that the door was flying off the truck, I had paused at the light a moment longer to find the brownie in my lunch bag. If I had not paused, that door could have easily flown right into my windshield and it would have hit my side of the car. I don't believe that it was a coincidence that my tummy got rumbly. I don't think it was a coincidence that I still had a brownie in my lunch bag. I know that God is my protection. It says in Psalm 121: 7 and 8: "The LORD will keep you from all harm- he will watch over your life; the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore." God protected me from the refrigerator door and He used a simple brownie to do it. Whoever said that chocolate is a girls best friend, must have known that a brownie would be used to protect me from a potentially bad accident.
This girl knows that she is blessed to know the God who protects (and occasionaly uses chocolate to do it)! This girl knows who has her back and to be honest, I wouldn't want it any other way. God is my protection! All praise to my God and King!!!
Until the next adventure...

Coffee Cake

Happy Today!

I have decided that everyone needs a good go-to coffee cake recipe. I think I may have found the one that I like. You can bake it without any additions, or you can add blueberries (which are currently in season). With this recipe your imagination can run wild with fun additions.

Simple to make. And easy to clean up, because you only use two bowls.

Oh, so yummy...I almost didn't get a picture of the finished product. It came out of the oven and watch out...it was almost eaten up in 10 minutes.

Easy Bisquick Coffee Cake

Cinnamon Streusel

1/3 cup Bisquick mix

1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons firm butter or margarine

Coffee Cake
2 cups Bisquick mix
2/3 cup milk
2 tablespoons sugar
1 egg

Heat oven to 375°F. Grease 9-inch round pan. In small bowl, stir streusel ingredients until crumbly; set aside. In medium bowl, mix coffee cake ingredients until blended. Spread in pan. Sprinkle with streusel. Bake 18 to 22 minutes or until golden brown.

Enjoy! Until next time...

Our God

Hey Friends,
Sometimes I come upon a song that just makes me want to shout and praise the Lord. This is one of those songs. At times when I am singing it, I realize that I am pumping my fist in the air like I am at a football game. Isn't that how our praise is suppose to be? Like our team just won the ballgame and we just can't contain our excitment? Enjoy pumping your fist to this song by Israel Houghton:

Until next time...

The Hawk

Hey my friends,

I went to a local lake the other day and was enjoying a beautiful sunny day with my Jesus. The sun was reflecting off the lake. There was laughter of children playing in the water. There were fishermen out on the lake. The birds were chirping and singing. It was a beautiful day!

I settled into a spot on the docks near a couple that was fishing. I throw my feet over the docks and enjoyed the cool water on my feet. I started to read, but was quickly interupted by a fight in the air. All I heard was this little bird chirping and "fussing". I looked up into the sky and saw a little bird diving and trying to attack a big hawk. I laughed at the futility of the situation. That little bird, for whatever reason, was very upset with the big hawk. However, in an instant the hawk could have flown away leaving the little bird in his dust. After watching for seven minutes as the hawk soared and the little bird dived and fussed, the hawk soared up into the sky and left the little bird behind. I can only imagine that the little bird was still very frustrated.

As I sat in the calm quiet thinking about what I had just seen, I was reminded of several conversations that I have recently had about prayer and God. One conversation went something like this: "I just know that God gets tired of me coming and asking Him for the same things." Another conversation went like this: "I feel like God doesn't want to hear my prayers, because He already knows what I want and need." Even the other day, I heard a lady say, "I know I'm His daughter, but I feel like He gets weary of my requests."

I feel like we think of ourselves like the bird that was pestering the hawk. We sometimes think that we are bothering God with our prayers and requests.

Let me declare to your heart today, that He loves for His children to talk to Him. He loves for us to bring our requests to Him. He doesn't sit in a throne room, in pomp and splendor, simply enduring our prayers. He values our prayers. He values them because He values the relationship He has with you!

One last thought, just in case you don't believe me. Here are His words for you:

"The LORD is near unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth. He will fulfill the desire of them that fear him: he also will hear their cry, and will save them. The LORD preserves all them that love him: but all the wicked will he destroy." -Psalm 145:18-20 (KJV)

On this journey I find it hard to believe this truth sometimes. However, I do believe that my Father loves to hear from me as much, if not more, than I enjoy talking to Him. Believe this truth of your loving Father. Be blessed until next time...



Broken

Hey friends,
This music video really needs no introduction. Just take a few moments and listen.

My prayer is that you may know Jesus Christ in a very real and personal way. If you can feel Him tugging at your heart, then say yes. Say yes to one who longs to love you in a very real way! Say yes to the only One who can take what is broken and make it beautiful.

Frosty...not the snowman :)

Hey,

During the summer there is nothing better than a nice cool dessert. Our dessert of choice on those really hot days is homemade frosties. My family went to a friends house a few years ago and they served us these frosties. I knew the minute I tasted them, I had to have the recipe.

So, grab your icecream churn and give them a try...I promise you won't regret it :)

Homemade Frosty Recipe
1 can sweetened condensed milk
A half gallon of chocolate milk
1 Large Cool Whip (no substitutes)

Mix all ingredients together in a very large bowl. Pour the frosty mixture into your icecream churn. Churn for about 15 minutes or until the mixture reaches a frosty consistancy. (On really hot days, it takes our frosties almost an hour to get to the correct consistancy, so just keep an eye on it.)
Enjoy! Until next time...