Heavenly Hugs and Kisses

They call me Bonnie the Bag Lady because I always carry a bag of "surprises" whenever I speak to a women's group. So read on to see what I pulled out of my bag Monday night for our women's meeting.

We all need to feel affirmed and loved which makes February a perfect month for "Heavenly Hugs and Kisses." To tempt the women's spiritual taste buds, I found a list of affirmations - "What God's Word says I am" and "What His Word says I have" designed to remind the women of God's love.

After typing out the list with a 14 point Times font, double spaced, I cut the affirmations into strips. Each strip was hot glued to a Hershey Kiss along with a small ribbon bow and then rolled into a spiral. An empty heart shaped box, decorated with ribbon flowers, lace and bows held the decorated kisses.

For the devotional time, I had each woman pick a kiss from the box. In turn, each one read the scriptural affirmation and gave a personal testimony of how God had loved and affirmed them.

What a great time of sharing we had as the ladies opened up and told stories about their lives. I reminded them that witnessing is just as easy as sharing their stories of how God has affirmed them. He has brought good things out of the difficult times in our lives, giving us the experience to minister to others, especially if we are able to see His hand of love and affirmation in those circumstances.

Here is the list of scriptures I used. I'm not sure who put this list together so if anyone recognizes it, please be sure to let me know so I can give proper credit!

What God says I am – I am!

I am a new creation, created in Christ Jesus. II Corinthians 5:17

I am the righteousness of God in Christ II Corinthians 5:21

I am healed by the stripes of Jesus I Peter 2:24

I am more than a conqueror through Him that loves me. Romans 8:37

I am strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Ephesians 6:10

I am rich through Jesus II Corinthians 8:9

I am complete in Him Colossians 2:10

I am His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works. Ephesians 2:10

I am a daughter and heir of God Galatians 4:7

I am redeemed from the curse of the law Galatians 3:13

I am walking in the blessings of Abraham Galatians 3:14

I am like a tree planted by the rivers of water, I bring forth fruit in my season. My leaf shall not whither and whatsoever I do shall prosper. Psalm 1:3

I an as bold as a lion Proverbs 28:

I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ Romans 1:16

I am of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord. Isaiah 11:3

I am strong in faith giving glory to God. Romans 4:21

I am a world overcomer I John 5:4,5

I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God Galatians 2:20

What God says I have – I have!

I have the faith of god residing in me, Matthew 11:20

I have boldness and access with confidence before God Ephesians 3:12

I have the peace of God that passes all understanding Philippians 4:7

I have redemption through the blood of Jesus Colossians 1:14

I have joy unspeakable and full of glory I Peter 1:8

I have God’s love I John 4:16

I have victory that overcomes the world I John 5:4

I have the mind of Christ Philippians 2:5

I have all my needs supplied according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus Philippians 4:19

I have godly wisdom and understanding Ephesians 1:17,18

I have been given the spirit of power, of love and of a sound mind – not the spirit of fear II Timothy 1:7

I have the right to come boldly before the throne of grace to obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need Hebrews 4:16

I have Christ in me, the hope of glory Colossians 1:27

I have the tongue of the learned so that I should know how to speak a word to him that is weary. Isaiah 50:4

I have the joy of the Lord which is my strength Nehemiah 8:10

When Ruby Prayed...God Listened

This week's quote is:

"Momma prayed, momma cried, momma laid awake at night.
She would fight my battles while I slept away
Cause momma knew life is hard
without somebody on your side
I don't know how, but there is power in the way,
The way my momma prayed."

words and music by Jeremiah Olson of 40milesNorth

Her name was Ruby. I first met her at the altar as a teenager. I was a Christian, but struggling with life issues including abuse and desperately desiring to grow closer to the Lord. Ruby, a grandmotherly figure, came and knelt beside me, laying hands on my head and praying for me.

She had no children of her own, but she became my surrogate mother, my prayer warrior, mentor and spiritual advisor. She was always there for me if I needed to talk or if I needed a shoulder to cry on. And Ruby always had a verse for me from God's word to help me along. If anyone prayed for me in the way Jeremiah Olson sings about, it was Ruby.

My own parents were embarrassed by my faith and my father was terrified I would reveal the hush-hush episodes of childhood abuse. I had been labeled a fanatic by my friends' parents and was forbidden to hang out with my two best Christian friends. I suppose all the adults hoped we would be more like "normal" teens if they could separate us.

When I spoke of my dream to become a missionary, Mom and Dad ignored my comments and downplayed my desires. There was no money for me to go to college, they said, even though my grades were high and my counselors strongly recommended higher education.

But Ruby listened to me. She supported and encouraged me to trust God. She rejoiced with me when my heavenly Father opened the door for me to go to Bible College. She laughed out loud when introduced to my husband who had aspirations of becoming a minister.

Then the neatest thing happened - Ruby became a spiritual friend and mentor to my mom as well. Years after I left home and went into ministry, God used Ruby to pray for and befriend my mother Ruby fanned the spiritual coals smoldering in Mom's heart until they burst into flame.

I thank God for Ruby - though she had no children of her own, she had more spiritual children than most people I know. She prayed, cried and lay awake at night fighting battles while I slept because she knew life was hard. I thank God there was so much power in the way she prayed.

***

This week, Heather is hosting "In 'Other' Words" at her site, Titus 2 Woman. If you'd like to participate along with us, simply blog about the quote on your blog site, then skip on over to Heather's site and leave your blog URL. Check out her thoughts on the quote and visit the other participants as well!
I can't wait to see what everyone writes for this week's In "other" Words...

Global Prayer Warriors

Don't you just love it when God does something completely unexpected to encourage you and lift you up?

This last week left me feeling pretty discouraged. I know about spiritual warfare and realized that the things going on in my life and around me are situations which require fighting some heavy duty spiritual battles, but I felt wounded and small inside the armor, you know?

One of the things I struggle with is asking for help and prayer. Time after time I find myself slipping into that mode of being the pastor's wife and therefore I should be able to pray for myself and handle things on my own. But God never intended it to be that way. He has designed us to be relational beings - to bear each other up and to link our shields together during the spiritual battles.

After receiving some particularly distressing news on Saturday afternoon, I felt discouraged once again. However, just a few moments later, I received an e-mail from an acquaintance halfway around the world in India who dropped me a personal note letting me know he and his family were praying for me.

I immediately felt humbled as I sensed God's spirit there ministering to me. This person was a virtual stranger to me - I had received a few missionary type letters from him telling of his ministry and asking for prayer and support. Yet,as needy as he was, here he was affirming that God had seen my needs and was sending prayer reinforcements to bear me up!

Pretty neat, God!

Boiled Coffee and Brambles

"Mom, when you die, I want your cookbooks."

Cammie, my youngest daughter made that statement to me several years ago and I laughed, thinking it was a strange request. Now I understand her need to inherit my well-used stash of cookbooks. My recipe collection is a chronicle of my life journey. It contains recipes from all the areas of the country where I have lived, from my Mennonite/German heritage and from my ever-widening circle of friends.

I began collecting recipes after I was married, beginning with those from my mother-in-law who taught me how to make a hubby-pleasing assortment of foods, including homemade bread. As the children arrived and grew, they became my helpers. After all, when they were in the kitchen with me I KNEW where they were and what they were up to. Together we made many of the foods on the recipe cards I collected. My recipes became part of their heritage too.

Now I've added my mom and grandmom's recipes to my stash and I'm learning more about their lives. Two of my favorite cookbooks belonged to my grandmother. One is a 1925 pocket size paperback copy of the Watkins Cook Book. My grandmother maintained the Watkins brand of spices and health care products were "the best."

The second cookbook is a1929 hardcover edition of the Modern Priscilla Cookbook, sent out as a gift for those who subscribed to the magazine. What I like about this one is that Grammy used the blank pages at the end of the chapters to collect her own favorites, written in pencil.

These recipes really give insight to life in America in the early 20th century. Though I never tried it, I got a good chuckle out of the recipe for Boiled Coffee and wanted to share it here as quoted from the Modern Priscilla Cookbook p. 15:

Boiled Coffee

Boiling is probably the method of coffee making in commonest use. it is the most economical in coffee, but it produces the least delicacy of flavor and develops the largest amount of tannic acid. For it use coffee coarsely ground. Allow a level tablespoon of coffee for each cup to be served and one extra for the pot. An egg, if the budget allows it, is also called for. If a whole egg cannot be spared, shells of the eggs, used in routine cookery, carefully washed before breaking, will do nearly as well.

Mix the coffee well with the slightly beaten egg, or with the shells, and add one cup of cold water. Stir all together and let stand until the rest of the water is being heated. As soon as it comes to a jumping boil, pour it over the mixture in the coffee pot and let it boil not longer than three minutes.

Stuff the spout with paper toweling or a bit of immaculate cheesecloth while the boiling goes on, unless you have the sort of coffee-pot in which the closing of the spout is provided for in the pot itself.

The egg clears the coffee, but two tablespoons of cold water added just before the coffee goes to the table will complete the process.

***

Well, now that we've got our boiled coffee, how about we kick back and relax with some brambles (a sort of hand pie I think) to go with it?

Brambles (page 260)

1 cup raisins
1/2 cup dates
1/2 cup nuts
1/2 cup sugar
4 Tablespoons lemon juice
Pastry

Chop fruit and nuts, add sugar, and lemon juice. Roll pastry thin and cut in squares. Put a tablespoon or more of the mixture on a square. Wet the edges and fold over to form a triangle. Prick holes with a fork in upper sides. Bake in a hot oven.

Time in oven, 20 minutes. Temperature 400 degrees. Servings, 10.

Chocolate covered strawberries?

Happy Valentine's Day!

I love chocolate! As a fondue with fresh fruit it's even better. But don't try to eat these beauties - they're made from polymer clay.

Several years ago when I worked in a garden/flower shop, my co worker wanted to make a Valentine display. A wrought iron garden table and chair graced the large showroom window, surrounded by spring plants and artificial arrangements. A lace tablecloth, candles and china tea cups completed the romantic display.

But not to be outdone, I molded these faux strawberries and coated them with "chocolate" for an added touch.

Polymer clay works great to create "food" accents for any kind of display. Chocolate chip cookies are easy - use a small ball of clay and roll it to 1/4 inch thickness. Add small chocolate chip shaped pieces of dark brown polymer clay for the chips.

These make a great project for the kids too. My grandkids love making gingerbread men. We rolled out a balls of gold polymer clay and used cookie cutters cut the shape. They decorated their creations with white polymer clay icing, red bow ties and black/brown raisins. By placing a small hole in the top of each "cookie" they were able to hang them on their tree or give them as gifts to friends and neighbors.

Playing with clay isn't just for kids anymore... Big kids like it too!

Snow Days

This is the view from our deck to the church. We have about 6 inches of snow with a crust of ice on top.

Play Ball? Not for another few months yet!

The wind has taken down lots of big branches
from our big oak trees in the front yard.

Picture This...

"It's Bo-ring!" I hear it all the time from my Children's Church and Wednesday evening kid's classes. So to prevent boredom, I'm constantly on the lookout for new ideas to incorporate int my teaching.

This week, my daughter, a homeschool mom, shared an idea she used with my grandkids to reinforce their reading. She taught them to play a "pictionary" type game with words and phrases they have learned. Apparently Jack and Eve had so much fun playing, they didn't even want to stop to watch TV or to go to bed.

Thanks, Lis! You got my creative juices flowing. Since we are learning the 10 commandments on Wednesday evenings, I purchased some dry erase markers and arranged to have a dry erase board in the classroom. Then I typed each commandment on a slip of paper (you can duplicate them if you have more than 10 children).

Each child chose a slip of paper when it was his turn and had to illustrate the commandment on the board without saying anything. The other children sat on the floor around the board and were able to guess which of the 10 commandments was being illustrated on the board.

Though we still have six weeks to go on our 10 commandment unit, , the game is a good way to familiarize the children with all of the commandments in preparation for each lesson. They love playing games and really enjoyed this week's lesson!