Hooray for French Toast!

HAPPY JULY!!!

I’m sharing with you all one of my favorite things to eat.  Panettone! It’s a sweet round loaf of bread.  It comes in two flavors: Chocolate Chip and Golden Raisins.  I enjoy both of them but the chocolate it my favorite.  I usually just slice myself a piece and enjoy it with some butter while I sip coffee.  I had an “aha” as Oprah likes to call them the other day.  As I was enjoying my snack I thought it would be great to use for French toast!...Here I was thinking…"oh yeah...great idea…I bet no one’s thought of that..."until I saw this…

Hahaha!...ok, so apparently I’m not the only person this idea has dawned on, because it was printed on the box…anyways.  I didn’t follow the recipe because it was only two people eating and I wasn’t going to be eating six slices of French toast. That would be a crazy food coma! I might follow the recipe one day…for now I’ll just wing it old school. J

Anyways...Supposedly the tale behind this yummy treat goes like this…

A young Italian man named Ughetto Atellani, who was madly in love with a lady named Algisi who owned a bakery. Business was not going so well for the her as there was a competing bakery nearby. Christmas was near, but customers continued to flock the other shop. So Ughetto decided to use the last bit of money he had to buy butter, sugar, eggs and raisins, kneaded them all together with flour and out came the Panettone…translation: “large bread”. It was a hit! Oh, what motivation! The long line in front of the shop was proof that the fate of Algisi changed and, needless to say, the couple married and lived happily ever after!

Whether that is how it really came to be, no one knows…(but it sure is a feel good story!). Panettone has always been for Italians, a symbol of Christmas and the unity it brings when celebrating the birth of Baby Jesus! So, here’s to Christmas in July! Enjoy!  :)

 

Waiting on God

Happy Thursday! Enjoy!

I came across this video while I was looking for some song of the band Tenth Avenue North (Their lead singer is on the right). The gentleman speaking to the left is Brenton Brown. He uses an analogy that I thought was a pretty ingenious way of looking at how we wait on God. Let’s just say…God and the DMV may have more in common than we realize...haha. ;)

“This vision is for a future time. It describes the end, and it will be fulfilled. If it seems slow in coming, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed.” - Habakkuk 2:3

Random Musings

Happy Friday!!!

I've always been fascinated by words.  I've been collecting quotes for as long as I could remember.  It's just one of those quirks that God made me with. I love words. I was even in the scrabble club in high school!...ha! Yeah...it's true. But, seriously I wanted to share several random quotes I came across this week from different places. Some funny, some not. Some from twitter, other's from preachings, online, even some from my professor!...lol.  They're in no particular order.  Enjoy!

"Look within and be depressed.  Look without and be distressed.  Look to Jesus and be at rest" - Corrie Ten Boom

"Sometimes God seems distant until He shows up in some little detail that only He and you would know, proving He was always near" - Bobbie Houston

"Only in a math problem can you buy 60 cantaloupes and no one asks what the hell is wrong with you" - Shultz

"We make a living by what we get.  We make a life by what we give" -  Winston Church Hill

"Religion is boring.  Life with God is an adventure" - Michael W. Smith

"Be careful of your thoughts, because your thoughts can lead to words.  Be careful of your words, because your words can lead to actions.  Be careful of your actions, because your actions can lead to habits.  Be careful with your habits, because they can lead to what is your character.  And be careful to what is your character, because it will lead to your destiny." -  Pastor Jack Graham 

A humorous saying from my professor while speaking on the obesity epidemic in America..."God said 'our body is a temple', yet we have them filled up with Krispy Kreme" - Dr. Kilpatrick

Devo Day EIGHT...My Reflections...

February 9, 2011
There are a few things that I’ve learned through all of this….
1.The Lord’s timing is not our timing. His ways are not our ways. His thoughts are REALLY NOT OUR THOUGHTS! (Jeremiah)


It’s not about the perfect fast, or the our “right timing”, but about the bigger picture. God has a plan for us and we cannot fathom it all. It’s just too great and too much for us to handle. Max lucado described it perfectly in this quote “Our hearts are like a Dixie cup and God is Niagra Falls”..God is just bigger and greater than we can literally handle….wow.


2. The Lord is calling His people to step up to the plate and really live those “balls to the wall” radical lives for Jesus. I saw how many distractions I was allowing to hinder me and how things that I once thought I “needed” were just distractions. That’s the enemy’s game…to keep us busy with the things that do not matter in the light of eternity….why does he do that?...because he is a hater. Remember this: Misery loves company.


3.God wants us to develop Character. Character that can go against the norm of this world and be a TRUE REBEL and go against the grain of this world…to be the change the world needs…like Jesus was.


4.He wants us to develop our faith. He wants us to know that “We have not because we ask not”…we need to remember that we serve the almighty himself and he CAN do ANYTHING better than we can ever hope or ask (Ephesians 3:20)…and all we need is to just believe and ask and declare in faith and not be deterred by thoughts of “ but what if God says no..” I say.. think about this…what if He says yes?...crazy! haha and remember that while living our lives for Christ we WILL be tested and attacked and that through all of that we need to develop that faith that is needed to withstand trials (Psalm 40)


5.And my personal favorite…I was reminded again of how powerful the tool of prayer is…That is they greatest offense tool the Lord has given us….We need to tap that power that God has given us, be diligent with it and we will see how powerful and CRAZY GOOD and SICK NASTY it really is.


At the end of the day all that matters is your heart…and how bad you want what God has for you. My brother so beautifully said in his reflections…(I’m paraphrasing) “This fast is the sort of thing that changes us. We cannot stay the same..we don’t wanna stay the same." It’s these experiences that the Lord uses to make beautiful things out of us…all for His glory. People should be able to look at us and say “how did you do that?!..or how did you succeed in that?!...you’re not good enough, your not qualified enough” and we should be able to say “you’re right I’m not good enough!! I don’t know enough!! But I got caught up in the grace of God and it has taken me further than what I ever imagined!”
So, my prayer is that we mediate on and be filled with the things in (Philippians 4:1-9) and not only that but that we continue to grow and change and be molded by Him, so that with each passing day we are more and more in His Likeness…until the day He says “Well done my child…enter in and rest”


So, until the next one…
I couldn’t have said it better myself…In the words of Paul to the Philippians: “I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue His work until it is finally finished…” (Philippians 1:6)


Be blessed y’all. Let’s do this! XOXO

Devo Day SEVEN

February 8, 2011
Buenos dias mis hermanos...hope your morning has been a good one. Mine has been particularly peaceful...eventhough I got more traffic than normal...got to work late,I'm swamped at work and Im being pulled in a million directions. Even with all that going on around me all I wanna do is sing and praise God. I woke up this moring with my favorite worship song blasting in my head...(How He loves us the Kim Walker version)I wasn't really sure why but I'm sure now...(I couldnt stop singing it)it was a reminder from God to me that I will pass to you as well. "We are His portion and He is our prize...drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes..if His grace is an ocean we're all sinking" let yourself be completely engulfed in the presence of the Lord always and He will carry you through anything till the end.(Mathew 28:20) because He loves us.."Oh how He loves us!" So I encourage you to keep your eyes on your prize Jesus and you will see how the worlds glory and anything it can offer to you will be dim in comparison to His glory and what He has for us when we cross that finish line. (Galatians 6:9) Lose yourself in Him. (Mathew 10:39). Be blessed y'all. Xoxo