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. . .

30 Days of Me: an Overview

I started doing this Challenge a few years ago and NEVER finished it. I thought that since I'm revamping my blogs into one blog I would try it again. Maybe this time I'll get through the entire challenge. (these may not happen every day)

Day 01- A recent picture of you and 15 interesting facts about yourself

Day 02- The meaning behind your Blog name

Day 03- A picture of you and your friends

Day 04- A habit that you wish you didn't have

Day 05- A picture of somewhere you've been

Day 06- Favorite super hero and why

Day 07- A picture of someone/something that has the biggest impact on you

Day 08- Short term goals for this month and why

Day 09- Something you’re proud of in the past few days

Day 10- Songs you listen to when you are Happy, Sad, Bored, Hyped, Mad

Day 11- Another picture of you and your friends

Day 12- How you found out about Blogger and why you made one

Day 13- A letter to someone who has hurt you recently

Day 14- A picture of you and your family

Day 15- Put your iPod on shuffle: First 10 songs that play

Day 16- Another picture of yourself

Day 17- Someone you would want to switch lives with for one day and why

Day 18- Plans/dreams/goals you have

Day 19- Nicknames you have; why do you have them

Day 20- Someone you see yourself marrying/being with in the future

Day 21- A picture of something that makes you happy

Day 22- What makes you different from everyone else

Day 23- Something you crave for a lot

Day 24- A letter to your parents

Day 25- What I would find in your bag

Day 26- What you think about your friends

Day 27- Why are you doing this 30 day challenge

Day 28- A picture of you last year and now, how have you changed since then?

Day 29- In this past month, what have you learned

Day 30- Your favorite song.

This is going to be fun. :O)

Welcome

Welcome to Learning to be ADP. This blog is actually a combination of three blogs I was doing. I sat down and realized that Who is ADP, A Journey to ONE-derland and Becoming the Father's Daughter were all about the same thing-- me discovering who I am and becoming the best woman I can. Several of the post you will see (at least at first) will be post that I am moving over here from one of the other blogs and eventually the other blogs will shut down.

See you soon!