Finding Quiet Time with GOD

Our lives are so full of distractions. From the moment we get up until the moment we fall asleep there are so many distractions. For me, from the moment my alarm goes off I am distracted by my phone,the news, kids at work so many things grab my attention that I forget my one on one time with God.

One of my absolutely favorite devotional songs is called The Greatest Friend. I have no idea who the author is but the lyrics are incredibly powerful.

Oh Lord I thought the day would never come

when I could lay my burdens down and walk with You

But each morning as  I greet the rising sun

the fondest of my dreams has all come true.

Chorus:

And the Greatest Friend you'll ever find is on a lonely mountain

The highest high you'll ever reach is when you kneel to pray.

The Brightest Light you'll ever see is when you close your eyes.

Oh Lord, You are my First Love

at  last I realize.

Oh Lord I need a mountain to climb on

Just a quiet place to go and know You're there

Oh Lord I need to spend some time with You

Jesus spent the night with You in prayer.

Wow. This song pops into my mind often. especially when it's been a while for me to have my quiet time. I know that I have to make a conscience decision to make quiet time with God a priority. 

Seasoned with Salt

I've been attending a Bible Study for the past several weeks and last night, things kind of exploded. Satan was working extremely hard on those of us in that room-- what a way to know you are doing something right. With things getting a little heated, tempers showed up for the first time. Maybe it's because we've gotten to know each other and we are getting comfortable, but a big part of it is Satan working incredibly hard to sow seeds of doubt and discord among those of us in the study.

When things got a little dicey, I opened my Bible to the book of Colossians and came across chapter 4:5-6.
It reads "Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer each person." I think we as humans have trouble remembering to season our words with salt.

Think about salt for a minute. Salt has many, many uses. We use salt in cooking-- both in creating dishes and by adding it after the dish is prepared. Salt can also be used to help keep us safe. When it snows (not that it does here in South Florida) people go out and salt the sidewalks and the roads. You could use rock salt to make homemade ice cream and a pinch of salt in cookie dough can make the batter a little sweeter. Salt is an important seasoning.

Look at some other uses of salt in the Bible.

Matthew 5:13 "You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet."

Mark 9:50 "Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another."

Luke 14:34-35 " Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

Wow. Luke 14:34-35 "It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile." Think about that for a second. Salt that has lost its flavor is not suitable for the manure pile.

Now let's apply that to our speech. Colossians 4:5-6 tells us to be careful when speaking with unbelievers (the outsiders). We are to walk with wisdom and speak graciously, seasoning our words with salt. We need to be careful with what we say and especially how we say it. So many times a message is lost because the tone of voice or the body language we use can be considered "hostile." We need to be careful. Words that are not seasoned properly can be the catalyst of someone never coming to the Lord. That is a frightening thought. The words we say, the way we say them can cost a person their soul. So please, please be careful with your words. Remember to keep them Seasoned with Salt.

Learning to be the Woman God Wants to Me to be: a Study in Definitions

It is absolutely amazing how what we believe a word means can be exactly incorrect when you look it up in a dictionary. Sometimes, it even depends on which dictionary you are using to look up words—there are slight differences depending on who published the dictionary. Then when you add in Bible study tools, definitions may change a tad as well.

Take the word “quiet” for example. To most people quiet means to not talk, to be silent. To the dictionary app on my iPhone, quiet means “with little or no activity or no agitation; of the sun characterized by a low level of surface phenomena like sunspots.

To the New Oxford American Dictionary: “(of a person) tranquil and reserved by nature; not brash or forceful;”

The definition one of the Bible apps on my phone gave the word quiet was a little different and so much more powerful. "Restrained in speech, manner, etc; Peaceful, peaceable; not showy or obtrusive; tranquil."

What I want to do with this study is go through some of the qualities that a woman of God should possess and define them. I know what I think the word means, but I'm going to look them up in dictionaries study them against a concordance and see the meanings behind them. I'm excited for this study.

Here is a list of words I'm planning to work with. (More may be added later)

Meek

Modest

Self-Control

Godliness

Dignity

Sober-minded

Faithful(ly)

Purity

Hospitable/Hospitality

Respect(ful)

Chaste Conversation

Gentle and Quiet Spirit

Obedient

Strength

Kind(ness)

Pray(erful)

Friend(ly)

Love

Sincerity

Forgiving

Honorable Conduct

Humble/Humilty

Virtuous

Shamefacedness

Reverent

Integrity

Trustworthy

Willing to work

Provides for the house

Enterprising

Prepared


Worthy of being praised

Fears the Lord

Wise

Words seasoned with Salt

Women in Genesis 1 and 2

The Creation of the world and all it contains is something we all are familiar with. We know that it took 6 days for our Creator to make this amazing planet and everything it contains.  

We read through the chapter and finally on verse 27 there is a brief mention of a woman(ish)

Genesis  1:27 

"So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him;
    male and female He created them."

At this point we just know God created a male and a female. We have to wait until Genesis 2:18 to find out more. .. we find out the we as women are created to be a helpmate for our husbands. (Yes, I realize that as an unmarried woman I don't quite understand all this entails, but this does lay the foundation for my existence). 

If we keep reading in Genesis 2, one of my favorite verses in the Bible comes into play. I recently had an epiphany of sorts when reading Genesis 2:22,

          "And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man." 

When I read this verse for the umpteenth time, I finally saw a parallel to wedding today. In my mind I saw God walking Eve down an aisle to her future husband. I saw Eve in the daughter role and God not just as her Heavenly Father, but as her Daddy walking his precious daughter to the man who would end up taking care of her for the rest of her life. And what a POWERFUL image to be in my head. Basically Genesis 2:22 is the first wedding in the world. The following verses (Genesis 2:23-24) are about the relationship Adam and his wife (still unnamed in the text) are to have. Once we marry, we Leave our parents and CLEAVE to our husbands. (Cleave meaning to Cling to and to hold fast). 

Looking at Genesis 2 this time I have a better appreciation for the relationship God established between a husband and a wife. As a kid reading the beginnings of Genesis, I was always more interested in the animals and the stars. The creation of the marriage relationship was not important. Now that I'm getting older and thinking more and more about marriage and a family, this chapter has become significantly more important. In my opinion, the creation of marriage is one of His most important creations. As many people have told me in my life "marriage is finding the person who helps you get to heaven and will meet you there." And with the foundation of the world, God set up the perfect relationship-- a husband and a wife.

Foodie Friday! Mini Stuffed Peppers

My friend Elisabeth at Life, Love and the Pursuit of . . . made a version of stuffed peppers that made me want to make some of my own. You can find Elisabeth's version with cream cheese, shrimp and bacon here. Now since I'm allergic to shrimp and didn't want to use cream cheese I made my own version. My version of Mini Stuffed Peppers were AMAZING!

To make my version of Mini Stuffed Peppers you will need:

• Mini Sweet Peppers
• Bacon (optional, I made some with and some without the bacon
• White Rice 
• Ground beef
• Smoked paprika
• Salt and Pepper
• Onion

I decided to lightly toast the rice before adding liquid so I put 1 cup rice in a medium size pot and toasted the rice for a couple of minutes. I then added 2 cups water to the rice, turned the heat down and put the lid on the pot to allow the rice to continue cooking.

While the rice was cooking, I went ahead and chopped the onions and prepared the ground beef. I probably used 3/4 of a pound of ground beef to make the peppers. I also cleaned out the peppers. I wasn't sure how I wanted the peppers to look so for some of the peppers, I cut them lengthwise, others I just chopped off the caps. I used a spoon to remove the seeds and ribs of each tiny pepper.

Once the rice was finished, I threw the ground beef and onion into a skillet and seasoned with salt, pepper and Smoked paprika. (Smoked Paprika may very well be my new favorite seasoning I use it with almost EVERY meat.)

After the ground beef was fully cooked, I combined the rice and beef to make the filling for each pepper. I added a liberal amount of filling to each pepper and wrapped a few of them in bacon. I placed the peppers on a baking sheet with a wire rack (so the heat could go all the way around the pepper) and placed them in a 425 degree oven for about 8 minutes. The bacon was cooked and the peppers were soft.

These things came out and were absolutely amazing. I was asked to make more almost immediately. This is definitely a dish I will make again. 

Opening up to hypnosis

   Working where I do has certain benefits including hypnosis.Until this point in my life I've been skeptical of hypnosis. I didn't think it would work. But I'm seeing results in people I work with. This one man, J, went to go see a hypnotist to help with his smoking habit-- after seeing the hypnotist, he quit smoking and hasn't felt the desire to smoke. If it can help someone stop smoking, maybe it can help me with my weight. So I've decided to be open to the idea and make an appointment. I'll let you know what happens. Hopefully the hypnosis will work and I'll finally be on the way to my weight-loss goals.

Talk to you soon!

Amberdenise

"You Brought Me the Wrong Baby"

The first words I ever "heard" from my Aunt Frog were "You brought me the wrong baby!" Probably not the best words a infant should hear from a relative, even if she couldn't understand what that meant. In June 1982, my aunt came to visit my mother and me in the hospital. I'm not sure exactly how old I was at the time but I was probably a few days old. Mom had gone through the trauma of a cesarean and a stroke so she wasn't really coherent when her little sister came to visit.

When Aunt Frog asked to see the Puckett baby, she was not expecting me. When the nurse brought me out to her she looked at me and said, “You brought me the wrong baby. I’m here for the black baby.” Apparently at the time I was born, there were NO black babies at St. Mary’s Medical Center. My aunt had automatically assumed that since my father was black, I would be also. However, the paleness of my mother was a little bit stronger than the dark hues of my father.

"You brought me the wrong baby!" Even though it was many years after Aunt Frog uttered those words and even though I know I didn't understand them when she said them, that's how I have felt off and on my whole life. I've always been "trapped" between two worlds and not really sure how to get them to mesh together. I could be one way with my dad's family, but another with my mom's. As a kid it was really confusing for me. It still is.

I always felt like the "wrong" person. I didn't feel like I could be myself. I wanted to fit in and being biracial really wasn't the way to go back in the 80's and 90's. It wasn't until recently that I have started to feel like both sides of me are being to merge into WHO I am.

More to come. . .