Menu Plan Monday for March 17

Another Monday! And Easter coming up this weekend! As usual, my plan for this week includes some repeat meals that didn't get used last week.

MONDAY: Pizza, Pasta Veggie Salad

TUESDAY: Forgotten Jambalaya (leftover from Sunday), Rice, Zucchini/Summer Squash blend

WEDNESDAY: Mindless Meatball Minestrone, Wheat Italian Bread

THURSDAY: Alfredo Veggie Lasagna, Wheat Italian Bread

FRIDAY: Meatball Minestrone (leftover from Wednesday), Focaccia Bread

SATURDAY: Tortilla Enchilada Soup, Cornbread

SUNDAY: Spiral-sliced Ham, Make-Ahead Mashed Potatoes, Brown Sugar Carrots, Buttered Sugar Snaps/Green peas, Molded Coleslaw Eggs, Dessert (to be determined)

Sunday will also be our Sunrise Breakfast at church. I'm planning to bring a hash brown casserole and a pan of cheese danish-type squares.

If you would like to see menus which others have shared, head over to I'm an Organizing Junkie and check out the links. Usually well over 100 people share links to their weekly menus. You'll find some great ideas and often recipes too.

Bookends

Back in fall of 2006, I was blessed to attend a Woman After God's Own Heart seminar with Elizabeth George. This was the second time I have been blessed to hear Elizabeth in person. Recently, I've been going through a folder of devotional thoughts and Bible study notes I've saved over the years. Among those items, I found the leaflet on which I'd taken the notes for this seminar. On the back, I wrote down something Elizabeth said which encouraged me then, but encouraged me even more when I read it this time. It was in reference to Romans 11:33:

"O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!"

And this is what I wrote down: "The wisdom and the knowledge of God can serve as the bookends, the pillars, between which we can file all the unexplainable things in our lives."

What a blessing to think about! Picture a set of bookends. One bookend is labeled "The wisdom of God." The other bookend is labeled "The knowledge of God." And in between the two bookends, we may file everything in our lives that we don't understand. Because God does understand them! They are things that He, our all-wise, all-knowing God has allowed for our good and for His glory.

I hope that this simple thought will encourage others today as it encouraged me. Is there something unexplainable in your life today? File it between the bookends of God's wisdom and knowledge!

Still on God's Path...

I want to share just a few more insights I've gained from Finding God's Path Through Your Trials, by Elizabeth George. These are from my study of chapter 8, "Standing with the Giants of Faith" which contains much of an emphasis on Hebrews 11, often thought of as God's "hall of faith". At the end of the chapter, my assignment was to reflect on my own faith and ask myself a few questions.

First, how do I tend to view God's promises? I wrote: I view them as promises that God will keep. I can look to His promises in the absolute certainty that they will be true in my life. I can rest in His promises because He is fully able to perform what He has promised (Romans 4:21).

Second, how do I tend to view God? I wrote: He is all-knowing and all-powerful as well as being "the only wise God" (1 Timothy 1:17). He is sovereign. He knows the end from the beginning and is working all things after the counsel of His own will. There is nothing too hard for Him. He is "too loving to be unkind and too wise to make a mistake."

Third, how do I tend to respond to waiting? I wrote: I tend to have a more difficult time with waiting. I can and will do it -- it's not that I want to take matters into my own hands -- but I may feel nervous and shaky until things are resolved.

So as I thought about this, I was reminded of a couple of wonderful verses that will help me in this last area. Maybe they will encourage someone else, too.

"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." (2 Timothy 1:7)

"In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid what man can do unto me." (Psalm 56:11)

"The LORD is my light and my salvation: whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?" (Psalm 27:1)

Show & Tell Friday for March 14

Well, better late than never. I'm going to attempt to put up a short post for Show & Tell Friday. I still have a few items to share from different walls in my home. These are from the master bedroom.


This painting was given to us as a wedding gift. We were acquainted with a lovely elderly couple in the church we were attending at the time. The husband had a hobby of making picture frames from old barn boards, and he showed us a number of paintings he had framed and had us choose one. We chose this one depicting the shore of a pond because it reminded us of the view from the cottage where we had spent our honeymoon.


This lace wall hanging was purchased by dear friends of ours when they visited Lancaster County, PA. They knew this Bible verse -- "This is the day which the LORD hath made: we will rejoice and be glad in it" (Psalm 118:24) -- is one of my favorites. The colors go perfectly in our bedroom.

This adorable Holly Pond Hill card was sent to me by one of our daughters. I love the way it depicts the mother and daughter rabbits having tea together and sharing such a good time. It reminds me of time that my daughter and I spent together at a very special tearoom when I visited her in South Carolina.


And last, here is one of my few attempts at quilting. I made this sunflower mini quilt from directions in an old issue of Country Woman magazine. The sunflower's center is made from an assortment of buttons in different tones of brown.


To see what others have shared for Show & Tell this week, go visit visit There is No Place Like Home

and check out the links. It’s so much fun to see what others have to share!

Still on God's Path...

Here is another prayer I wrote as I've been studying Finding God's Path Through Your Trials, by Elizabeth George. I wrote this prayer in light of things I learned through the study of chapter 5, titled "Looking for Blessings".

"Lord,

"I praise You that You have a purpose in my trials -- such a good purpose that I can count the trials as joy. Lord, it is hard. I want to take shortcuts through the trials or avoid the hardest parts of them, but I know that then Your good purposes will not be fully accomplished.

"So I pray, Lord, that You will help me to develop greater staying power so that I may have the blessing of knowing that You are with me in every trial and that You will strengthen me for every aspect of each one. I praise You that You will bring me through my trials a stronger, more stable believer if only I will trust You through them. Please help me not to give up, but to fully rely on You through each trial and to trust You and You alone for the outcome.

"I love You, Lord. In Jesus' Name, Amen."

I have no idea where this finds my readers today. I do know that the Bible tells us we will go through a variety of trials and testings in this life, and that God has a good purpose in them -- such a good purpose that we can count our trials as joy even when they don't look or feel joyful. And so I imagine that someone reading this today may be facing a trial or a testing. I hope that this simple prayer may encourage someone else as it has me.

God's Path...

A couple of weeks ago I started working my way through a wonderful Bible study by Elizabeth George, Finding God's Path Through Your Trials. I had read through the book when I first obtained it, some months ago. But actually doing the study is so much better than simply reading the book.

As Christians, we know that trials are a fact of life. We all have them, and we all have a variety of them. God's Word says that we will have trials in this life. But the Bible also tells us that we can count these trials as joy! I encourage you to get this book and do the study. It has been a huge blessing to me already, and I'm only about halfway through it.

God has been impressing on me that I should share some of the things He is teaching me, with others. One thing that I've done, as part of the study, is write out some prayers to God concerning His purpose for trials and His presence with me in them. I thought I would begin today by sharing one of the prayers of my heart.

"Dear Heavenly Father,

"I am so thankful for Your lovingkindness, mercy, and grace. I am thankful for Your sovereignty, for Your omniscience and omnipotence. I thank and praise You that You have a good plan for my life and that You will work all things together for good. Help me, Lord, to accept my trials as part of Your good plan, and to be joyful even when life is not joyful, for Your sake. Help me grow to the point of utmost usefulness to You and others. Thank You, Lord, for the good work You have begun in my life and the work You continue to do... even through trials. I love You, Lord.

"In Jesus' Name, Amen."

My prayer today is that God might use this simple prayer of my heart to encourage someone else. Lord willing, I'll post something small and simple every day that I am learning through this study.

Menu Plan Monday for March 3

Monday again! It's another chilly winter day, and we got lots more snow over the weekend, so again this week I have lots of comfort foods on my menus. As usual, my plan for this week includes some repeat meals that didn't get used last week.

MONDAY: Macaroni & Cheese, Mixed Vegetables, Coleslaw

TUESDAY: Meatless Moussaka, Romaine Salad, Wheat Italian Bread

WEDNESDAY: Seafood Chowder, Focaccia Bread

THURSDAY: Meat Loaf, Scalloped Potatoes, Herbed Beans & Carrots

FRIDAY: Corn Chowder, Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

SATURDAY: Rosemary Chicken with White Beans, Cornbread

SUNDAY: Forgotten Jambalaya, Cornbread

If you would like to see menus which others have shared, head over to I'm an Organizing Junkie and check out the links. Usually well over 100 people share links to their weekly menus. You'll find some great ideas and often recipes too.