Pre-post to an upcoming one on the subject of fear :)

Hello friends! 

That's kind of a long title, isn't it? :) I feel like those people who write a summary of their book or essay etc. as the title of it :) 

I am working on a post on the subject of Fear. It is getting really long, and since this was going to be a sort of 'Rabbit Trail' and could probably be a whole separate post in itself, I thought that sharing it now would save some space on the upcoming one :) 

'Do not fear those that can kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him that can kill both body and soul in hell.' Matthew 10:28 
This verse has given me some trouble, because the root of three of my personal fears--opressive darkness, idiosim that makes people to evil, senseless things, and death of someone I love--are the enemy. The enemy is the root of death; John 8:44 says that he was a 'murderer from the beginning'. The enemy loves death. 
He is also the root of oppressive darkness. While I don't think the Bible directly says that 'Satan is darkness' like it says in 1 John 1:5 that "God is light and there is no darkness in Him," Satan is very often associated with darkness, and since God is Light and can have no darkness, and Satan seems to be the opposite of God, (God is truth, Satan is a liar; God brings life, Satan brings death; God forgives and loves, Satan says, 'Fight back; hurt those that have hurt you'; God says, 'Trust Me,' Satan says, 'Doubt God--can He really mean that?' These are some examples of the contrast between God and Satan), since Satan seems to be the opposite of God, and darkness is the opposite of light, than Satan must be darkness (by darkness, of course, I do not mean the physical darkness that comes with the night--that is God-created and God-given; I mean evil, spiritual darkness). There is a blog post that I read recently that was very encouraging regarding this. You can find it here.

In the verse above, Matt. 10:28, it says that we (those of us that are Christians) should not be afraid of those that can kill our physical bodies, but cannot kill our souls (the spiritual part of us). But we should instead fear the one (Satan) that can kill both our physical bodies and our soul in hell.  This verse seems to tell us to fear him.  But in this instance, I think that God is not saying to be afraid of the enemy physically. I mean to literally, physically be afraid of his presence. I think that in this verse He is warning us to be wary of him. To be on guard against his tactics, lies, the arrows that he tries to throw at us to sway us, to make us doubt God's goodness, honesty, sovereignty, love, wisdom and desire to give us only what is good and best for us. Satan did this in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve, causing them to rebel against God's design and perfect plan, disobey Him and bring sin and the results of sin--death, suffering, separation from God, etc.--into the world. 

 To sum up, my interpretation of this verse is that we are not to fear those who can kill our physical bodies; for Christians, that would be a win win situation. To live is Christ, to die is gain (Phil. 1:21) If men do not kill our physical bodies, we get a chance to live longer on the earth, spread Christ's gospel, live for Him, grow in Him, and all the other blessings of physical life. If men do kill our bodies, we get the joy unspeakable of being with Christ, our Master, our Father and Friend. 
Rather, we should fear Satan--not his physical presence, because we are more than conquerors through Christ who loved us, we have the light of Christ, and in His Light can be no darkness, we have God, the Light, as our refuge, our strength, our fortress and high-tower, who will carry us through and has promised never to leave or forsake us--rather we should 'fear' or beware of the tactics of the enemy to try to persuade us to forsake Christ and serve a master, any master--money, man, fear, addiction, you name it--that will be easy, follow the wide path, but lead to destruction (Matt. 7:13). While as Christians, we do have the power of Christ, and we are robed in His righteousness (Is. 61:10), the enemy is still a 'roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour' (1 Pet. 5:8). And we must beware of him for ourselves and others. 

I hope this post has been a blessing and encouragement to you.

Blessings,
Julia <3

Dinner Week Exception

Hello!

As I said in my last post, with the beginning of the week, the chores rotation changes.  So, last week, it was my brother's turn to make dinner for the family. BUTTT. . . . . . On one of the nights, he wasn't going to be home in time to make it. SOOO. . . . . I was recruited to fill in for him. 
I made Shepherds Pie--an excellent meal and pretty easy to make. 

Shepherds Pie usually goes pretty fast in our family. This time, I'm going to share the recipe. The version we use is GAPS diet and Dairy Free friendly, if you use cauli-tatoes (Cauliflower mashed potatoes) instead of regular ones. 

Shepherd's Pie

Ingredients:

*6 tablespoons of your favorite healthy fat, divided use

*1/2 cup of onion, chopped

*1-1/2 pounds ground beef

*3 cloves of garlic, crushed

*1 teaspoon salt

*1/2 teaspoon pepper

*3 green onions, sliced, optional

*4 cups green beans, 1/2" to 1-1/2" in length (2 cans)

*4 cups diced, stewed tomatoes (2 cans)

*6 potatoes or  *1 head of cauliflower 

If you use potatoes you will also need:

* Milk and or cream

* Butter

* Salt 

* Pepper

If you use cauliflower you will also need:

* Two eggs

Usually if we use cauliflower instead of potatoes, we also use the ingredients listed above for mashed potatoes. If you are dairy free, you can use milk alternatives--almond, hemp, rice, or coconut milks--and Earth Balance dairy-free butter or other butter alternatives. 

Insturctions:

1. Begin steaming the head of cauliflower or boiling the potatoes, whichever one you are using. Each will take about 20 minutes.

If using cauliflower: steam until fork tender. Be sure to steam the cauliflower well above the level of the water. This is very important as you do not want the cauliflower to be waterlogged. 

If using potatoes: boil until soft and skins are peeling slightly.

2.  Melt 2 Tablespoons fat in a skillet.

3. Add in onion and saute for 2-3 minutes.

4. Add in ground beef and crushed garlic.

5. Add in green onions. Cook the ground beef until it is completely done and minced into small pieces.

6. Add salt and pepper.

7. If there is excess fat, drain and reserve for later use.  

8. While ground beef is cooking, cook green beans until tender.

9. If using cauliflower: When done, remove cauliflower from the pan and allow to cool for about 5 minutes.

10. While still hot, place in a food processor.

11. Add in four tablespoons of fat--you may use the fat leftover from the hamburger, or other healthy fat--or butter. If using other dairy-related products, also add milk and/or cream, and process until smooth. 

12. Add in two eggs, pepper and salt to taste, and blend thoroughly.

9. If using potatoes: When done, place potatoes in food processor. 

10. Add in butter, milk and/or cream to taste and process until smooth.

11.  Add in salt and pepper to taste and blend thoroughly.

13. Preheat oven to 350*F. 

14. Liberally grease a 9x12 casserole dish.

15. If using cauliflower: Remove one cup of the blended cauliflower and egg mixture, beat the last egg and mix into 1 cup of cauliflower

16. Spread the above one cup of cauliflower or half of the mashed potatoes on the bottom of the casserole dish. Ladle on the hamburger, layer on the diced tomatoes and green beans. Finally drop blobs of the cauliflower and egg mixture or remaining half of the mashed potatoes on top and spread around carefully until the top is completely covered. 

17. Bake for 30 minutes. 

Enjoy!


Sorry that this is kind of a long and confusing recipe. I hope is wasn't TOO much so :) It really is very easy to make and not nearly half as hard as the length of the recipe implies :)

Happy Valentine's Day! I hope you had a great one, and may you always remember the love that Christ has for you and His bride. <3 

Blessings,
Julia <3

Dinner week part 2

Hello again!

I hope you've had a spectacular day so far :D

And now it's time for the second post of dinner week.
Thursday night, I made one pot Chicken Alfredo and pasta with broccoli on top. It was really good!

Friday night, I made Chili, with carrots, chips and salsa on the side. 

Since only half the family was home on Friday to eat this meal, we had the leftovers Saturday night, and Sunday we had snack food--chips, salsa, homemade re-fried beans, celery, apples, cheese, crackers and cheese dip--you get the idea. I didn't get any pictures of it. 

So that completes Dinner Week! It is (obviously) a new week, and the chores rotation has changed. Now it's Dishes week for me, and I'm sure you wouldn't be interested in pictures of that :) So, until next month, Dinner Week is signing off.

Does your family do a chores rotation? 

"This I recall to mind, therefore I have hope: it is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great it Thy faithfulness."~Lamentations 3:21-23

Blessings,
Julia <3

Dinner Week!

Hello folks!

The four oldest of us six kids switch off making dinner for a week at a time. I thought that maybe when it's my week to make dinner for the family, I should post pictures about what I made each night. Guess what? It's my dinner week! 

Warning: I'm not a very good photographer, and our camera doesn't take very good pictures inside the house. Therefore, the pics probably won't be all that great :) 

Monday night I made Taco Salad. It was scrumptious, but I didn't take any pictures. To bad, so sad :) :)

Yesterday, Tuesday I made a dish called Mongolian Beef. It was the first time we've ever made it and it turned out great! It was super easy, too--always a plus :) We also had spinach salad topped with Craisins, feta cheese (I love feta cheese on salad), sunflower seeds and mandarin oranges.

In these pictures the meat looks like kidney beans. It's not. It really is meat. And the lighter looking chunks look like potatoes. They're not. They are pineapple.

Tonight, Wednesday, I made pancakes with strawberries and bananas on top. We use a very easy pancake recipe that is an awesome go-to on nights when it's late or you don't know what to make. (That was not one of these nights; pancakes just sounded really good to most of us :))

Please let me know in the comments if you think this idea is a good one (Or if it's a boring one or anything else), and if you would like me to post recipes along with the meal posts, too. 

Do you make dinner for your family often? If so, what kind of things do you like to make?

Stay tuned for more posts to come! I have been working on writing a post this week, but it's kind of hard to write. So it's taken a little while. And I have other post-ideas popping up in my brain, too.  I hope you enjoyed this one!

"Oh taste and see that the LORD is good: Blessed is the man that trusts in Him."~Psalm 34:8

Have a wonderful rest of your week! :) :)

Julia :)