Lemon Poppyseed Pancakes - Gluten Free, Sugar Free and Dairy Free

Do you like lemon poppyseed muffins? Do you like pancakes? Does eating gluten, sugar and dairy make you feel crummy? Well then, these pancakes are for you! They are scrumpdidiliumcious and perfect for a Saturday morning brunch!

Ingredients:

-1/2 cup almond flour
-1/2 cup coconut flour
-3 tblsp powder stevia
-1 tblsp baking powder
-1 tsp salt
-1 tbsp poppyseeds
-4 eggs
-1 1/4 cups almond milk
-2 tbsp melted coconut oil
-1 tsp vanilla
-1 tbsp lemon extract (I was out of lemon juice)
-1/2 tbsp lemon zest (I used dry lemon peel)

Even  people without
dietary limitations like them!
A lot. He had 7.

Directions:
Combine the dry ingredients of almond flour, coconut flour, stevia, baking powder, salt and poppy seeds in a bowl. Add eggs, almond milk, coconut oil, vanilla, lemon extract and zest. I let the batter rest for about ten minutes before cooking the pancakes on the skillet. Make sure that your pan is oiled well and give yourself a bit of time to cook these. Careful flipping these guys! Recipe yields approximately 12 pancakes 4 inches in diameter. Serve them up with ghee butter or coconut oil and dust with stevia.

GALATIANS

Devotional times are the blessed dumping grounds of the Most High...and occasionally He just straight up drops an acrostic in your lap for a book of the Bible. Jesus has been blowing my mind and causing joyful tears to flow these days. He's mostly been using Galatians to stir me up, and it's been awesome!

Here is what I shared as a staff team devotional earlier this week:

2 Corinthians 3:6 "He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant--not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life."

Philippians 3:1-3- 1 "Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. 2 Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh. 3 For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh…”

GALATIANS

                 

G – GOSPEL – 1:1-24

àPaul’s Passion for the Person of the Gospel – JESUS – 3-4 -“Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”

àPaul’s Passion for the purity of the Gospel,  6-7- “6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel-- 7 which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.”

àPaul’s Passion for the preaching of the Gospel, 23 -“They only heard the report: "The man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy."

A – ACCEPTED as an apostle (Paul) - 2:1-10

L – LIFE IS NOT IN THE LAW – 2:11-21 – 16a, 19-21 “know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ…For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”

A – ABRAHAM BELIEVED AND WAS BLESSED – 3:1-14 – 6-7 – “6 Consider Abraham: "He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness." 7 Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham.”

T – THROUGH A PROMISE WE INHERIT – 3:15-25 – 18 – “For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on a promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise.”

I – IN CHRIST AND CHILDREN OF PROMISE – 3:26-4:31 – 6-7, 28 – “ 6 Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, ""Abba", Father." 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir…28 Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise.”

A – ABOLITION OF SLAVERY – 5:1-15 – 1, 11, “1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery… 11 Brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished.” àIn the Greek “offense” literally means stumbling block.

N – NO LAW AGAINST THE SPIRIT – 5:16-26 – 16-18, 22-26 – “16 So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 17 For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law…22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.”

àThere is no law against the Spirit, but how prone I am to choosing and creating new laws rather than asking did I bear His fruit today in my life.

à26 – If I’m not living by the Spirit and keeping in step with Him, the fruit of my heart will be prideful conceit, and this will provoke and cause envy in my relationships with others. I may also feel provoked or be envious of others, while trying to build myself in the flesh.

S – SOW TO PLEASE THE SPIRIT – 6:1-18 – 8-9, 15 - “8 The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up…Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation.”

àWhen we are not sowing to please the Spirit, we are sowing to please the flesh. In the case that Paul is most specifically addressing in Galatians, it is one of religious or self-justification, through circumcision. Sowing to please the flesh in this instance, feeds pride and leads us to a self-dependence, which leads us away from Christ.

àSowing to please the Spirit, doesn’t mean we won’t grow weary. We might not see instant results, as we would with circumcision; therefore, we are called persevere with the knowledge that we will reap a harvest if we don’t give up.  

“ The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.” Galatians 6:18

God is faithful. He is true to His Word and is to be trusted.

In His faithfulness, God is honest, promising to do good to His children. God's words are not empty, His very words have power. Once spoken it as though the truth therein is executed. He does not just say He will do, but He does. He has always done this and because of this we can have full confidence in the promises that we find in the Bible. 

While I see God's faithfulness all about my life and evidences of His daily grace, there are moments when I am tempted to question God's faithfulness. God did You not say this? Then how can You be doing this? In my reading of the gospels the last few weeks, I have seen how this was what the disciples and all who were looking to Jesus as the Christ were doing. They had expectations for the Christ based on the promises from the Scriptures. As they beheld Jesus, they initially perceived all the events that were unfolding in His life and ministry to accomplish certain ends. They saw the promises of God with earthly eyes and in light of their earthly needs. They believed Jesus would do certain things to fulfill these promises in ways they deemed necessary. We have the blessed position of hind sight and it is easy for us to belittle the faith of the early followers. I truly suspect I'd be right there with them, baffled, confused and grieving at the foot of the cross, I doubt my heart would have had a trace of hope. All of my expectations for what Jesus was here to do would seem so empty in the wake of His death.

But the Sunday morning changed everything, for as the women were there at the foot of the tomb, greeted by the messengers of glory who proclaim, "He is not here, He has risen, just as He said" 

It happened, just as He said. There wasn't one bit of what happened that Jesus didn't tell his disciples about, let alone the Prophets and Law foretell of the Messiah's work. We read Jesus's words of the "sign of Jonah," or the Son of Man being lifted up, and we ask ourselves, "how in the world did these disciples not see this coming? And how did they not have hope? Did he not tell them if they only believed they would see the Son of Man coming in all His glory? Or that they would see the temple raised in three days?" They heard the words clear enough to pen them down for all of us to this day. 

Their eyes and hearts were opened, it clicked. They realized it was all just as He said. Jesus was King, but not of an earthly Kingdom. Those early disciples lived in light of their new found citizenship and the course of history has forever been changed by their mark on the world. 

How much of their moments with Christ and with each other would have been different had they believed without expectations on Jesus? What if they had simply taken Christ at His word and believed all that He was promising them? Would they have been less anxious? A little less concerned with their place in the kingdom? More eager to invite the little children to His side? 

It is easy for me to get my eyes on the how God is going to fulfill the promise and busy myself with details, rather than simply choosing to rest secure in His faithfulness. Over dinner with my roommates tonight I was sharing a bit of this, a teeny, teeny bit, this last little thought: I often have expectation on how God will execute His faithfulness in my life and in the lives of those around me. In those moments when I don't think He is doing it right, I'm ridiculously frustrated, discouraged and sometimes down right immature and doubting. But my faithlessness does not, will not and cannot nullify His faithfulness. He is ever faithful, for He cannot deny Himself. He is the Author and Perfecter. He knows where the story is going. He's got all the characters down, the details of the scenery, even the little sparrows are all cared for by our great Creator. That is good, He is faithful, and all will happen just as He says. 

Lord, I believed one of Your promises so many years ago as a little girl. I believed You so loved the world that You gave Your one and only Son that whoever would believe in Him, wouldn't perish, but would have eternal life. At four it was meaningful and real, but so many years later and so many more promises believed, all I can do is praise You because there is nothing in me that is deserving of Your great faithfulness to me. All about me is turning and shadows, apart from You, apart from Your work and Your Spirit in me. Thank You, God, for Your faithful, covenant-making love, and for Jesus being the One Who is just and the justifier of me, and of all who believe. You are faithful, God. There is no shadow of turning in Thee, You change not and Your compassions they fail not. As Thou hast been, You will ever more be. 

Give me eyes to see Your faithfulness in circumstances are painful, give me grace to believe there will be beauty from the ashes, and help me not to guess at how. Fill my heart with wondrous expectancy as I meditate on You, Your Word and Your works! O Lord, keep my heart open to You, for You are faithful and trustworthy. May I walk by faith with and undivided heart before You.

Grandma Lillian

When I was 22 years old, it became abundantly clear that my grandma's health was taking a turn for the worst. In a matter of months the vibrant woman I had always known as my dad's mom and grandma was suddenly slipping away. Thankfully during my senior year of college my weekends were three-four day long ones, which allowed me to make a handful of trips to visit her in Arizona before she passed. 

On one visit around Christmas, my grandma was hospitalized. We visited and I could tell that she was fighting to want to keep on living on earth. It was the first time I ever felt any form of defeat from my grandma's spirit. It wasn't in the words that she said, but there was a subtle sadness in her eyes. She was sick of being in pain. We played Cribbage, grandma's favorite, my dad's favorite and I assume most of the family cherishes it as their favorite now, too. I'm sure she won. I helped her use the bathroom before I had to leave to head back home. I had never felt my grandma's dependency on me in that way.

I remember crying in my car, with the distinct realization that my grandma's sprightly spirit was slipping away. It seemed like a new wave of adulthood swept over me.

A couple of months later I  had just arrived in Phoenix for the weekend, when I got a phone call from my dad that grandma had had a serious stroke. My parents were on their way from Blythe. I was with my aunt on my mom's side when I got the news, and knew it was not too far from the end. My Aunt Anne knew how dear Grandma Lillian was to me. As I started to tear up over dinner she explained to my preteen cousins why I was so upset. She began to rattle off the wonderful qualities my grandmother had, she had tasted it in her own interactions with her, but more so saw the sheer blessing of a mother-in-law Lillian had been to her beloved sister (my mom).

The next morning I drove to the hospital across town. I am pretty sure that all of the her six kids and their spouses had made it to Phoenix over the night (maybe one was missing). They decided to start hospice care. I walked back to her room with my parents and some other family members. They had told me she wouldn't be able to speak and she only had limited use of her left side. I took her left hand and told her, "Hi grandma, I was already in Arizona when I heard you had a stroke." My words seemed to comfort her as she stared and focused on my eyes. "I love you so much." She squeezed my hand with so much strength, and after a couple of minutes I had to let go. I didn't want to cry over her, I wanted to leave her smiling.

Two weekends later at her memorial service, I remember standing up and sharing, "I'm about to graduate college, and while I don't know what my future holds or exactly what I will do. I know I want to be like my grandma Lillian. I want to love Jesus and people the way she did." 

My grandma had such a wonderful blend of gentle meekness and witty spunk. She remembered you and took interest in you, and the things you were interested in. She was so patient. She didn't mind a mess from grand children frosting Christmas cookies. But I really think grandma was generous. Generous with what she had, yes, but how much more generous with who she was. I am ever grateful to the gracious God Who loved her first and put His loving Spirit in her! What a blessing she was, and what a blessing her legacy still is. 

Tonight I saw some saving bond notes that she started giving us for Christmas when were older; the last one I received was from Christmas of 2008. It made me remember her and I began to miss her. What a blessing to know that this is not the end! Grandma Lillian is absent from the body, but she is present with the Lord! And to quote Sara Groves, "And from what I know of Him that must be very good."

home

"There's no place like home, there's no place like home." I honestly think if Dorothy was less emotionally dependent on her little dog Toto, we could have been bosom friends. Oh well, but how I do love home, as there really is no place like it!

Today, I left home. (Or the house that my parents have lived in for the last sixteen years in the humble town of Blythe, California.) I am so blessed to have a home I like, not because of its physical presence, but because of the feelings of warmth it brings. Thinking of my home and my family make me feel safe, valued, free and loved. Home is much more deeply routed in the sense of security, significance and acceptance that a person desires, than the physical place.

The first time that I moved away from home was as a freshmen in college. I was so pathetically homesick. It probably had something to do with the fact that I wasn't prepared for everyone evacuating the dorms on the weekends. Commuter schools, for the win! However, in my homesickness, God met me in a deeper way. I had grown a ton in my identity in Christ in high school and while I was preaching truth to myself daily, I had yet to consistently stick in the routine of intentionally getting time in the Word with Jesus everyday.

That all changed as a freshmen in college. My daily time with Jesus was the only time that I felt at home. Early in the fall semester I came to John 14:23, "Jesus replied, 'Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.'" What a promise! I was sold. I was going to obey God by spending time with Him, and He was going to love me, come to me and make His home with me. And God has done exactly that during these last 8 years!

So this morning as I drove through the desert, I was blissfully at peace. God is going before me in the move to Davis, He has been with me all along the way, and because of His Presence I will always be at home.

Lord, thank You for Your faithfulness in making Your home with me, for continually meeting me and encouraging my heart in the ups and downs of life. I am reminded of Moses' words, "If Your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here." You go with us, even as the rains cover the desert. You are good.

Obedience

Obedience is a word we often shy away from using. To many it conjures up severe resistance and people throw out "legalism" as though to feign away from simply doing what is right.

Lately God has been making a point, my job is to obey Him.

I was on a cruise to Alaska during the middle of July. It was a Christian cruise with lots of old people, old people who love Dr. Charles Stanley. Dr. Stanley's life motto is "Obey God and leave the consequences to Him."  For the follower of Christ this is essential, it is the fruit of a true lover of God. While Dr. Stanley mentioned it a few times, it wasn't really until I got home from the cruise that my time in the Word began to bring it to life a bit more.

As I was finishing up Genesis, I was struck by Joseph's obedience to do what was right, even when it did not benefit him, particularly with Potiphar's wife. Joseph went to prison because he refused to sleep with another man's wife and in her bitterness and rejection she lied about it. While Joseph clearly had God's favor in the prison and ultimately it allowed him to be made second only to Pharaoh when he was brought out, I'm sure it wasn't a fun place to be. He wanted out, telling the chief cup-bearer to remember him. And Joseph is a Christ-type, we see him show compassion and forgiveness to his brothers, we see God use him to save many lives. Joseph trusted God enough to obey Him and many lives were saved.

As I have been hitting the funding trail pretty hard the last three weeks, as one of my most beloved friends is suffering deeply, and I'm on this medical detox/diet (which is petty, but I have the least amount of physical energy I have ever had), obeying without getting the desired consequences seems really, really hard. I honestly don't want to obey if things don't change, but I cry out to God and He gives me the grace to obey.

I remember Jesus, and I think of Him on the cross. God's only Son, innocent, but punished to death all the same, accused, beaten, nailed to a tree, in full weakness and agony bleeding, and abandoned. In that moment Jesus was in full obedience to the Father.

So often we focus on the cross, and rightly so, but in our lives when we focus on our own crosses or trials, we can lose sight of Jesus's resurrection power. Maybe it is the impending nature of our problems or our sinful self-absorption that weigh us down so, but once through the trial life is always a bit richer for those who walk with Jesus through it. He is true to His Word, He strengthens us and helps us, He upholds us with His righteous right hand. Jesus obeyed the Father and went to the cross, in righteousness He conquered death and on the third day He rose again. Because of Jesus's obedience to endure the cross, our sins have been atoned for once for all, and now in Him we have the promise of the resurrection. Jesus in perfect submission obeyed His Father and many lives were saved.

...

Tonight there is another choice before me. To obey or not to obey? My dad asked me to do something that I don't want to do because of my selfishness and pride. I know my dad thinks I'm the more mature person in the matter, and so he's calling me to be the Spirit filled, new creation that I am. Why would I want to blast this person with my grievances anyways? Self-righteous pride is all I can come up with...ugh. And if I don't blast this person? If I let him continually blast me and impose himself and his ways, and choose to obey God's commands to love, what could the fruit of that be? Could it be the saving of many lives? Could the good news of Jesus reach other people by my choosing to love this person (whom I already love and am just frequently annoyed by)?

...

I'm reading a book for my training called "Training for Trainers: A Discipleship Re-revolution," T4T for short, and it shares some of the Kingdom principles that have been helping the gospel spread in really exciting ways around the world. One of the things it highlighted was that maturity for the Christian is not based on how much you know, but rather how much you obey. In America, we often focus on how much we know rather than having a fully yielded heart to obey God.

...

Psalm 32:8-10:

"I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
    I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.
9 Do not be like the horse or the mule,
    which have no understanding
but must be controlled by bit and bridle
    or they will not come to you.
10 Many are the woes of the wicked,
    but the Lord’s unfailing love
    surrounds the one who trusts in him."

Lord, thank You for your all sufficient grace, and your complete work on the cross. You are counseling me with Your loving eye upon me. You have me right where You want me this summer as You break me of my own ways. I trust You, Lord, for You are good. I repent of my disobedience, of wanting to justify my actions, of wanting certain comforts more than wanting to love others. I come to You. Thank You for giving me the strength each day to do Your work. Thank You for my dad's loving eye on me, too. Thank You that my parent's living room for my bedroom during this two month stay as it has made me ever so excited to move to Davis. Thank You for all You do and provide. Help me to be more like You, Jesus.

Boxes of His Faithfulness

At times it can be fairly overwhelming to see God's faithfulness in your life.

This summer I am in the middle of a move. The first leg of that move is completed my apartment was successfully boxed away (a few weeks ago now). As I packed up my belongings, I was amazed.

When I moved to Arizona two years earlier, the only things I really brought with me were a desk, a couch, books, clothing and some linens. In the time that I lived there, God really blessed me with people giving me furniture, especially from different family members. And then it seemed like dishes and all the things I could use in a kitchen were also added to the mix along the way.

As I began to pack away these possessions, I was reminded at the timely provision of the different items. Where they came from, how they blessed my heart and allowed me to bless other people from the apartment. I remember finally feeling settled in February, and it was about a week later when I was unexpectedly asked to move for my training with The Navs. But as I packed away these boxes with a bit of sadness to leave this sweet place, God so gently reminded me of His faithfulness. So even in the monotony of taping, packing and taping more boxes, I just kept telling myself, "this is a box of His faithfulness."

Then a few weeks later I was reading through Genesis and 21:1 stood out to me. It says, "Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what He had promised."

As I moved to Arizona, God gave me promises to pray for myself and for others. I have had the joy of seeing His grace and his faithfulness as He has done what He said! I can't help but think of Sarah and the way that she laughed at God's promise to her, in her old age and still barren, but God in His grace is faithful, even when we feel like He has promised us and asked us to trust Him for the impossible.

Genesis 23:1 tells us Sarah lived to be 127 years old. That's old! I'm only 26 at present and can't imagine all of the ways Sarah saw God's faithfulness in annuals of her life!!

So as my earthly possessions are boxed in storage until September, all labeled and categorized, I can't help but think of my life in the same way. I have so many boxes of God's faithfulness stored away in my heart! Boxes labeled "His tangible provision," boxes of "His abiding Presence," "His direction and guidance," "His discipline and rebuke," "His abundant grace and forgiveness." Boxes of "answered prayers," "opportunities to serve Him and help others know Him," and the boxes just keep piling up!

I praise you, Jesus, for the lavish love that you pour out on us, for we are the sons and daughters of God! Lord, what joy it is to pause and remember all the ways You have led me and to know Your great faithfulness to me! May I be quick to declare You faithful! Quick to remind myself of the ways You have provided! You didn't spare your own Son, but God, You gave Him up for us all! How will You not graciously give us all things?! I rest in this truth. I thank You for providing a ransom for me! I am secure in Your grip.

4th of July - Blythe

I stood in line for the free Popsicle with my sister-in-law and we both had the odd feeling of being in our home town and knowing so few names of the people we faintly recognized. I guess that's what time away will do. 

As the program started my patriotic heart swelled and I began to get a bit misty eyed. A sweet six year old sung "You're a Grand Ol' Flag" in honor of her dad, who is currently deployed. Then the names and ages of the 19 firefighters who died in Prescott earlier this week were read, while the melody of "Amazing Grace" played. After a moment of silence and the national anthem, the show was to begin. And before a single firework went off I was thankful, thankful to be in Blythe, thankful for the small town warmth.

The fireworks began. Michael whispered from behind, "Don't you think there will be fireworks in heaven?" "No, we won't need them. We totally underestimate the glory of Jesus." "You're right." And as  the array of fireworks glittering through the night sky and the blanketing booms of the exploding color bombs continued, I was so excited - caught with the hope of the new heaven and earth bursting forth some day, the power of Jesus's resurrection fully unleashed!

As Frank Sinatra serenaded us with "God Bless America" my heart was led to prayer. 

Lord, would you return us to our former glory? To be a great sending nation? To see your gospel go to the ends of the earth? A nation's glory truly comes from declaring and demonstrating God's glory. 
O that we would wake from our slumber and walk in the light! 

I carry my sweet, tired, semi-scared, nephew back to the jeep. He grips so tightly to me. And in the back seat on the way home he holds my hand from his car seat, as leftover fireworks boom overhead. What a wonderful place to be! What a feeling to be looked to as a place of refuge by someone so meek and timid, and to confidently assure them of their true safety.

We celebrate freedom on the fourth of July, freedom from unjust oppression. I think of Jesus who came in the flesh, lived perfectly though tempted in every way, who died in my place to set me free from the power of sin and death. I rejoice! 

Thank You, Jesus! May I be strengthened for the work ahead! May I help others know You and the freedom that the truth of Your gospel brings! Lord, we are ever desperate for You! Lord, so many are fools and say from their hearts, "there is no God," but we know it is not so. You are God, You reign even now! And we ask for You to turn hearts to seek You! Lord, strengthen Your bride for the task You've commissioned her to do, and wake her to walk in Your light! How beautiful You are, Lord! 

Your way is holy

Tonight a dear friend had a beautiful, healthy, baby girl. Cause enough to rejoice is a new, precious, little life. But today I have to think of the details, the details of this pregnancy, of this mama, her family and the road they've been on these last months.

This fall brought news that my friend and her husband were once again expecting. However, with Thanksgiving weekend came the news that she had breast cancer. The days that followed included a mastectomy and chemo therapy. And four weeks ago Sunday my friend's four year old nephew, Jaden, suffered a traumatic brain injury. His mama, too, is expecting and late into her third trimester.

Shortly after her nephew's injury, my friend shared:

"Our family has dealt with a lot this past year. I believe that dealing with the breast cancer has enabled us to better deal with Jaden's horrible accident. I think of it like a mountain climber with a heavy load. The breast cancer helped us to build our muscles, so that when a heavier burden was placed upon our shoulders (Jaden's accident) our knees of faith did not buckle. Psalm 77 has been my heart:

'I yell out to my God, I yell with all my might, I yell at the top of my lungs. He listens. . . . I found myself in trouble and went looking for my Lord; my life was an open wound that wouldn't heal. When friends said, "Everything will turn out all right," I didn't believe a word they said. . . Once again I"ll go over what God has done, lay out on the table the ancient wonders; I'll ponder all the things you've accomplished, and give a long, loving looks at your acts. O God! Your way is holy!' (The Message)"

I am so deeply humbled as I get text messages about Jaden and follow the posts and pictures on facebook. I am so thankful for the deepening faith my friends' have as they walk these roads, for the way that they find joy in Christ and the small victories He gives, even with great uncertainty ahead, because their eyes are on Jesus. 

He is the Author and Perfecter of our faith! We fix our eyes on Him! 

Lord, thank You for the ways that we can see and know Your faithfulness. Thank You for being ever faithful and loving in all You do. Lord, Your way is holy!! Lord, You work all things for the good of those who love You and are called according to Your purposes. You are achieving in us an eternal glory that will far outweigh our troubles. May we ever fix our eyes on what is unseen, and on You. Thank You for this sweet baby girl, may the legacy of faith that is so obvious in her family be strong in her heart all her days! May many praise You for the faithfulness that You have shown and will continue to show these beloved ones. May their weeping be ever turned to joy, may they go from strength to strength til each appears before You in Zion. Continue Your work of healing and restore Jaden to himself. Lord, heal his brain and allow him to gain back the simple life functions he had already mastered. I ask specifically that you would allow Him to swallow on command and with ease soon. Strengthen His parents for the days ahead.

And Lord, thank You for this gift on a day like today where the brokenness in the world hits us in our gut. Lord, I look to You. God of all compassion, I wait for You.

"Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning, great is Your faithfulness! I say to myself, 'The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for Him.'" - Lamentations 3:21-24

I would not choose the circumstances that force me to lean into You, Lord, but I would choose knowing You in this way. So thank You for authoring the details of my days and making it so my heart will boast in You alone. You are my Rock, my refuge. You are my good and gracious Father. You are my Help, my Maker. I rest, surrendered to Your care.

DIY Valentine's Shirts

I love Valentine's Day! (I may have even rambled on about it last year on Arizona's centennial.) I love love. I love celebrating! I love hearts. (They make me happy because they're symmetrical!)

This year, a friend and I wanted to do something sweet for our friends, so we decided to make them Valentine's shirts. And figured we might as well make ourselves some in the process, too.

In order to do this project yourself, you'll need:
-2 t-shirts per set (we used V-necks)
-Acrylic paint (We used hot pink, red, fuschia, pink, silver and gold.)
-Paint brush
-One plastic straw for each color used
-2 pieces of cardboard or poster board
-Drop cloth or plastic table cloth

In order to prepare your area, lay out the drop cloth. This project gets a bit messy so you may even consider doing it outside.

First, take one shirt and fold it along the v-neckline. Go along the bottom hemline of the shirt and fold it flush. Then place on piece of cardboard between the two shirt layers. (When the shirt is folded one sleeve should be in the center. See picture above, if you're confused.) Fold the same shirt in a similar fashion, but fold the v-neck so that it is facing the opposite direction. This way when the friends, or Valentine's, wearing the shirts stand next to each other, they will form a complete heart. ("Awwww!")

Super fun!!!

We used a paint brush and hot pink paint to make the base heart on each shirt. We then used the straws to splatter the other colors on the heart. If you just dip the straw into the paint and blow, there will be a pit of paint splattered. If you use a bit of suction on the straw in the paint, you will obviously splatter more paint, but it may get gloppy fast! Be careful and experiment to get the desired effect! And have fun! You're painting with a straw.

Your shirts are ready to wear!

Allow the shirts a night to dry before removing the cardboard. This will prevent the paint from bleeding through.

Happy Heart Day! 

Wisdom from my father:

"It is hard to fight when there are chocolate chip cookies in our midst."

Today

1. I woke up an hour and a half before my alarm went off...had extra time for important things.
2. I saw a dear friend from college!!! She intentionally booked her ticket home with a layover in PHX just so she could see me for a bit! Makes me cry. We got to catch up and it blows me away at how easy some friendships are.
3. Had my last one-on-one of my first semester at ASU.
4. Spent time on funding!
5. I visited my grandma and wrapped packages for her. We talked for a good while and she told me how my grandpa prayed for us all when we were in the womb. He prayed that our hearts would pant for God as the deer pant for water. (What an awesome thing it will be to one day understand the mysteries of God and prayers!)
6. Figured out how to make sweet and condensed almond milk for some delectable dairy-free and gluten-free coconut macaroons! OMG. (Praising God, don't worry!)
7. I baked with my cousin and his lovely wife across town. Oh man, I love my family. They are a great couple and it is humbling to see their faith in the midst of a hard year.
8. It rained. My car is clean!

Today, my dear friend, Lauran returns from 8 months away in Chile. It is also her mom's birthday!

And last, but very present on my heart, a dear friend started chemo today.
O Lord, grant her and her family strength. Protect the little babe inside her. We ask for Your healing hand to be upon her. Cover her with Your love, may she sing in the shelter of Your wings.

God has ears, attentive ones!

A year and a half ago or so, a friend and I spent the weekend together babysitting four siblings. It was quite the weekend, and the youngest kiddo was potty training. I was instructed by the parents that at about 5 a.m., their baby would cry out from his bed and for help using the potty. No biggie!

Well, come the first early morning with the kids, my friend nudges me awake, saying, "Liss, Liss, wake up." I am a very heavy sleeper, the youngest cries didn't rouse me. I only heard him yelling for his dad after my friend woke me! I rushed to him too late, his pull-up was wet. [FAIL]

Later that weekend I was sitting in Psalm 34. It may be my favorite psalm, but that's like a girl with a sweet tooth picking a favorite dessert! In light of my recent experience, verse 15 especially hit me. It said, "The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are attentive to their cry." My ears were not attentive to early morning cries, but our heavenly Father's ears are ever attentive to the cries of His children. 

Cry out and He will hear! He will deliver you from all your fears.

About ten days ago, I was wondering what God was going to do. I was wondering what He wanted me to do. I came to God with nothing and in sheer exhaustion. As I waited, He brought to mind 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, "But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." 

Psalm 27:13-14 also came to mind, and later that night I was reminded of Gideon trusting God for victory over the Midianites with only 300 soldiers.

I went through the weekend with a good friend and her kiddos, still scratching my head about what God had in store. I knew I was simply supposed to trust Him. I knew I was weak, and that He was strong. I wanted to see His goodness in the land of the living. I waited, in His strength and taking heart by His word. He gently kept my eyes on Him in faith, and He delivered. His ears were attentive to my cries. 

More on how He answered later, but for now, rest in this sweet promise and truth, "The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are attentive to their cry."

Lord, thank You for making me righteous in Christ, for I have no righteousness of my own to claim. Thank You for Your great love and faithfulness, for Your Word and how it sustains us. You are good! You are able! You are alone are Father.

happy

When I lived in Long Beach, I would often sit at the light on Atherton Street (near the Parkside dorms) waiting to do a U-turn to head toward Bellflower Boulevard. During my last year in Long Beach, I frequently found myself at that intersection in a blissful state thinking about how thankful I was to be me and to be exactly where God had me.

Today, I had the same thought waiting to turn left in Tempe. (I am an ambiturner, for the record.) And I didn't realize it until today, but it had been such a long while since I felt that way. There were about five different things in my head today that all signified the same thing, I'm really happy again. (I'm normally happy.) Now this year was actually a great year. I have loved being 25 and am gonna milk my last month of it. I had an overall smooth transition to life in Arizona and Jesus was faithful every step of the way, but I guess I had a since of not being settled. This evening I sat in on the end of our S.A.L.T. (Servant and Leader Team) meeting and I realized I had come up for breath. I sighed with relief, the season of "surviving" is over. I survived, now I can thrive as I trust in Him.

I am at home again, and probably not so much is situated in the place, as much as it is in the activities, my role and relationships. I love college students. I do! I love helping women find their identity in Christ. I love making disciples. I love planting, sowing, and watering seeds and helping other people to do it, too! I love freshmen and making them feel loved. And my identity is even further rooted in my sweet Jesus. I am blown away by His love and faithfulness.

Lord, thank You for Your faithfulness and love. I am so undeserving. Thank You for Your faithful guidance and Presence in my life through Your Spirit. I just am blessed to be Your daughter. May I ever declare You faithful! 


"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight." -Proverbs 3:5-6

Here ye, here ye!

Today, October 1, was homemade cookie day. I didn't even know there was such a day until recently, but obviously this was a ridiculous day worthy of celebration.

I decided to make my chocolate chip cookies, but I made a few alterations (one of them was using part oat bran flour). And as the good Lord would have it, I made the best batch of cookies that I have ever made.

I broke off a piece of one of the cookies and as I was tasting it, I was thinking in disbelief, "Is this the best cookie I have ever made?" It was so good, so good that I had to eat the whole cookie. I generally don't eat whole cookies late at night. Well, it was good, and thankfully my brother Luke was nearby to sample one. One bite in, I asked him, "Is this the best cookie I've ever made?" He declared, "This is the best cookie I have ever eaten!" Now Luke is a cookie monster, but I have never seen him savor a cookie, or three cookies, so slowly.

I "snicker doodled" half of the batch by rolling the dough in cinnamon sugar. Luke and I couldn't decide if we liked the plain ones or "snicker doodled" ones better. They were both so good. They were so good that I drove some over to my aunt's house and left them bagged on their doorstep for school tomorrow.

Anyways, hooray for a successful homemade cookie day! Time to write down all of my recipe alterations and keep this one for the years to come. I hope the ladies in Bible study enjoy them tomorrow night.

my Father's hand is gracious to me

A few days ago, I awoke with this phrase in my head: "My Father's hand is gracious to me."  I brushed my teeth and braided my hair, "My Father's hand is gracious to me." Freshly dressed and out the door, "My Father's hand is gracious to me."

And as I sat in the early, misty, Palm Springs morning with my coffee, a dear friend across from me, my journal and Bible, Luke 15 came alive in my soul, specifically the story of the prodigal son.

From the journal:

You see me coming along way off and the love I have known from You bids me come home. Yes, Your measure is generous toward Your children. My Father's hand is gracious to me. And even when I stay home, You say to me, "My child, you are always with me, everything I have is yours." 

O heart, rejoice! There is nothing to fear. My Father's hand is gracious to me. 

Lord, free me from my anxiety...from my busyness, for in it I squander my inheritance, I choose not the riches of my Father's house and presence. I run about frenetically trying to secure something, but I end up so very hungry, desirous of pig slop, when even the ones who are merely Your servants have food in plenty. 

So I come home, and I'm found in Your embrace before I even make it in the door. You were waiting for me and Your eyes saw me while I was still along way off. You run out to me. You grip me, holding me fast. You kiss me for I am Your beloved child. I was lost, but now am found. Before I utter apology or request forgiveness, You have reconciled me to Yourself. And even as I acknowledge my wrong, I am robed afresh with a fine garment to cover me. You put Your signet ring on my finger; I am family and I have Your authority when I act.  My feet, too, are made ready. And You call others to rejoice with You. "Kill the fattened calf! My child who was dead is ALIVE, though she was lost she is found."

This love is great. It is steadfast and full. Thank You.

O Lord, help me to remember in all situations that my Father's hand is gracious to me. Lord, may I hold fast to the fact that You have covenanted with me unilaterally. This is love. This is faithfulness.




And how my heart still rejoices. Oh, to be robed in righteous that is not my own from the law, but is by faith in Christ, sweet righteousness from God! And to have been given the Spirit, so that our hearts may cry out, "Abba," and we may be equipped with heavenly authority to act on our Father's behalf and for His glory.

Yes, our Father's hand is gracious.

O, that many more would come to know the riches of our Father's presence and His gracious hand!

You should like Andrew Bird.

a delightful, tear inducing day

Today was a wonderful day.

I sat next to my baby brother during church.

I had the joy of seeing a dear sister be baptized.

I got to help plan a NavNite! :)

I celebrated my cousin's birthday with him.

I conversed with my dear friend about her upcoming wedding, which apparently I will be singing in!

I also got a pair of jeans for free and prayed with Alicia.

And prayed Isaiah 54:2-3 most of the day.

AND the brother seems to be taking to memorizing Bible verses with me!!!

Teach him your way, O Lord, and he will walk in Your Truth; give him an undivided heart that he may fear Your name. Hallelujah, You are so good. You are faithful! My eyes are on You.

It is good to be small

It is good to be small.

I have always loved knowing the meaning of names. I remember my parents telling me early in life that they had spelled my name with an "i" instead of a "y" because they liked the meaning better (and my mom preferred it in cursive with "Williams," too). "Alissa" is derived from Alice, which is derived from the Greek word for truth. My middle name, Ruth, means compassion, hence the url for this blog. I always liked the meaning of my name and desire to be a woman of truth and compassion. Conversely, as a kid I always thought the meaning of my dad's name was LAME-O. His name is Paul and means small. Who wants to be small? (We're not talking waist size.).

But it is good to be small.

To be small is to have an accurate understanding of who and what one is. I am so very small. Sometimes I feel it more keenly than other times. It is freeing.

I am finite, and He is not. All of the Lord's attributes are infinite and pure. He is not limited by time and space. His workings are beyond us, beyond our comprehension. In light of how small I am and how very great my God is, I am left to rest secure in the knowledge of His goodness and graciousness.

It is good to be small, because we can better see God as He is!