God's Valentine

My Sweet Baby Valentine Last Year.....Aw.

This is one of my favorite pics from Valentine's Day - it's a year old, but it was one of those magical and very rare mommy moments when a project shared with a then 2 year old worked out as well as I'd imagined and was received as well as I'd hoped.  I love this baby girl....she is precious to me.  As I thought about Valentine's Day this year, I wanted to share something that's been bouncing around in my heart.

I’m sure that you’ve heard about agape love, it’s often thrown around in church as a reminder to love unconditionally.  We are told that God loves us that way and so we should love one another that way – and that’s pretty much right.  Until you have to make decisions in real relationships where unconditional love becomes very hazy, or until you find yourself frustrated at God because you feel very conditionally loved by Him because of loss or lack.  What then?

Let me share something I’ve learned about the way God loves.  In studying the word Agape (which is the Greek word for love in the New Testament) I dug up this amazing part of the definition.  Here it is from my favorite Word Study Dictionary……[Warning, we are about to wade into smarty-pants territory, feel free to fast forward to the underlined part at the end, but I promise it’s worth it!]

“Agape:  Meaning benevolent love.  Its benevolence, however, is not shown by doing what the person loved desires but what the one who loves deems as needed by the one loved.  He [God] gave not what man wanted, but what man needed as God perceived his need, namely His son who brought forgiveness to man. God’s love for man is His doing what He thinks best for man and not what man desires.  It is God’s willful direction toward man. “

Spiros Zodhiates, The Complete Word Study Dictionary New Testament, p. 878.

There are some terrifying parts of this definition but some very comforting parts too.  The “me” that doesn’t like to be bossed chafes a bit that God doesn’t do what I desire – but we don’t like her very much.  The “me” that wants to follow Him and trust Him walking by faith is comforted by the fact that God loves me enough to do what’s best for me no matter what.  This means He is doing what is best for me always:

·        Even when what I desire is wrong and I don’t know it.

·        Even when I’m angry and throwing a temper tantrum.

·        Even when I’m bargaining with Him in a misunderstood attempt to manipulate.

·        Even when others I’ve trusted have hurt me or abandoned me.

·        Even when the plans I thought He’s led me into are not successful and I’m confused.

·        Even when life is weird and painful and I feel lost from His will.

·        Even when…….(you fill in your own personal doubts and insecurities). 

One other thing I learned about love.  The only difference between the way God loves us and the way we love (in our own efforts) is the “direction of the will”.  In other words, when God loves me with Agape love (and He always does) it is because He has chosen to.  He turns His intention toward me and pours His love into my life with an all-knowing delight for my best, not my ease.  We love based on what comes easily to us - whoever is easy to befriend or be contented with.  God loves with a protective, never-be-swayed, lavish, abundant, patient and enduring love.  “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” 1 John 3:1 The exclamation points are all Him – that’s the “direction of His will”.  He lavishes His love upon you and me because He wants to, because He has chosen to love us and we are His children and He can’t even begin to help Himself. 

In case no one has told you today, hear it from God –

Happy Valentine’s Day, You are loved!

Buttermilk Obsession

I am newly obsessed with Buttermilk.....let's just add that to the list of things I never thought I would write on my blog.  Weird.  We've had 4 snow days this week (Yay!) and flooding at church (Boo!) which has led me to a weird place of bored hyperactivity.  I really wanted to be at church with the cleaner-uppers but couldn't, so I got busy at home.

This tree is right outside our dining room window - beautiful!

I heart Snow Days

Right before this storm came, I bought a half gallon of buttermilk.  The date ran out on the second day of our snow in, but I hadn't yet used it!  Now, you must understand buttermilk has never really been my friend.  I avoid it for the most part and skip over recipes requiring it with an aloof eye roll.  But a couple of weeks ago I was so hungry for my Pappy's Pancakes that I bought buttermilk and made them for the first time in years and decided it's worth it to buy a little carton once in a while.....just for pancakes.  So back to my "about to go bad" buttermilk.  When added to my tense need to DO something I began searching for something to make with this stinky stuff and found some new yummies.  I made my Pappy's Pancakes, some buttermilk syrup (recipe here), a buttermilk pound cake, and pineapple sherbet (recipe here) - all with a half gallon of icky buttermilk! 

The pound cake wasn't really anything to write home (or on a blog) about, but the others were pretty wonderful.  Here are some pictures and the pancake recipe.

Pappy's Pancakes with Bananas and Buttermilk Syrup

Buttermilk Syrup

Pappy's Buttermilk Pancakes
(I remember standing next to him while he made these on an electric griddle - probably right in the middle of my Grandmother's way.  He would make them barely done for me....)
In a medium mixing bowl stir together:
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
Measure and pour 2 cups of buttermilk (our new hero) into the dry ingredients, beat 2 eggs gently in the buttermilky measuring cup and pour it in over the buttermilk, then add in 1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil.

Mix very gently just until the dry ingredients are nice and wettish.  I let my pancake batter sit while I fry the bacon and make the Buttermilk Syrup - which you will want and which can cool a bit while you make pancakes.  When you are ready spoon batter onto a hot griddle.  Let it cook for a few minutes.  It will bubble up a little bit, but not like thinner batters - so don't wait for bubbles to come up and pop.  Flip and let cook on the other side.  Do these pancakes very last so that they are hot and wonderful.  If you have an adorable little granddaughter, let her stand right next to you and serve hers a little goopy like she likes it with butter, rolled up like a fat tortilla.

I would love to hear what new things you've discovered on your Snow Days!


P.S. Tomorrow Carly and I are going to go all "Little House on the Prairie" and pour our hot buttermilk syrup in the snow - pretty sure it's gonna taste like the best caramel ever.

Faith Walk

I’m married to a preacher, who sometimes meddles in my life when he preaches.  It’s not personal, mind you – he meddles with everyone.  He recently started preaching a series on Faith based on Hebrews 11 – a passage I loved until he started this meddlesome sermon series – which is vexing.  [Obviously I’m suffering from Snow Day number 3 – using words like meddlesome and vexing].  And I still adore this passage, I can’t help myself – all my heroes are here.

One of the illustrations he used to kick off the subject of faith was the lyrics to a Wham song…..sing along with me….”You gotta have faith, faith, faith…..”  He recollects even as a teenager hearing the song and asking the question, “faith in what?”  His point being that faith always has to have an object.  I remember listening to this cassette in my bedroom hoping my mom wouldn’t realize I’d borrowed it from Krissy Pigee who lived next door – true.  I’m pretty sure that my only reaction to Wham was something along the lines of “Wow, that guy has cool hair” or “I wonder how he keeps his facial hair exactly that length all the time – does he ever shave it smooth?”  But I digress – faith can be hard.  As I’ve grown up I have questioned faith.  As a young newlywed trying to understand the waiting for and then loss of a baby, a friend suggested to me gently that my faith wasn’t strong enough since God gives us what we believe Him for (there are a hundred things wrong with that statement beyond ending with a preposition - perhaps sometime I’ll blog on that subject).  This little thought along with the questions that naturally come with trials sent me into a bit of a tailspin for awhile.  God grew me right up and out of such erroneous thinking.  I learned to discover and trust God’s character and His unwavering determination for my growth and His glory.  He is not wavered by my temper tantrums or confusion any more than He’s wavered by the plans of our Enemy to sabotage His work in my life.

My struggles with faith now tend to be more along the lines of fear of following Him into the unknown. It’s not that I don’t trust Him, it’s that I still cannot fathom that He would use me.  And yes, I do recognize the absurdity in that sentence – both parts.  But honestly, that’s where I often find myself.  Asking Him again, “I know You are trustworthy in the lives of my kids and in my ministry, but why did you choose me to raise them, teach them, counsel them, lead them again? Just wondering, need a little reminder….maybe you don’t see how inadequate I am?”  It’s just a bunch of insecurity which I detest and cling to.  Stupid, I know.

So I’ve been digging my feet in on some things God’s calling me to do and then BAM, a sermon SERIES on Faith.  Some of the points of the first sermon?  Glad you asked - because as vexing as they have been, these sermons are unbelievably amazing.  You can find some more here courtesy of Todd Fisher.

·         Faith is based on what God has said, not what I know.

·         Faith always has to have an object.

·         Faith means the Future trumps the Present.

·         Faith means the Spiritual trumps the Physical.

·         Faith means the Calling trumps the Comfort Zone.

And yes it’s only gotten better from there……..truth is an odd uncomfortable security sometimes.

The first and the last points just made me so excited and cranky, hopeful and terrified.  I must get out of defining myself and my calling by what I know – my weaknesses and the expectations of others.  Why would I find comfort in my weakness and the expectations of others when my Creator and the God of all things calls me His (Isaiah 43:1), Equipped (Hebrews 13:20-21), and Pleasing (2 Corinthians 2:15)?  Talk about absurd – look these verses up, they belong to us.   

“Whatever God has promised gets stamped with the Yes of Jesus. In him, this is what we preach and pray, the great Amen, God's Yes and our Yes together, gloriously evident. God affirms us, making us a sure thing in Christ, putting his Yes within us. By his Spirit he has stamped us with his eternal pledge—a sure beginning of what he is destined to complete.” 

2 Corinthians 1:20-22 MSG

And Amen to that.

These pics are from my birthday surprise, my friends' giddy efforts to encourage me to keep Walking by Faith.  Love them!