Giving Thanks

 

Happy Monday morning to you, my friends!  

And what a glorious morning it is!  

The temperature is 35 degrees F., and the sun is shining brightly.

I want to take this opportunity to thank each of you who faithfully visit this space to keep up with our happenings. 

I truly appreciate each of you.

I've been under the weather for a bit and needed to take time away to catch up on things that I had to let go when I wasn't up to par.

Now Thanksgiving is this week and then less than a month later, we are able to celebrate the birth of our precious Saviour at Christmas.

In order to enjoy and accomplish some things before that time arrives, I need to take a blogging break until the first of the year.

Thank you for understanding.

I wish each of you a very blessed Thanksgiving 

and Christmas.

Be Encouraged

 

A Place for Weakness - a book review

 

A Place for Weakness by Michael Horton has been a blessing to me as I have read the biblical worldview of suffering.  It had been previously published under the name of Too Good to Be True.

The book begins by recalling when his father was diagnosed with a benign brain tumor at the age of 78, after he and his wife had cared for their parents in their home and then for 15 other people in their residential care home.  The author goes through how hard it was to watch his dad struggle and then on to his joy as he entered his last days on earth because of knowing that he would soon be in the presence of Jesus.

Just two months after the death of Michael's father, his mother suffered a massive stroke while Michael was driving her home from her sister's funeral.  He tells of how his parents had moved to be close to him and his wife to help with their children and now his dad had died, and his mother was partially paralyzed and disabled.

He also shares about the struggle his wife went through with depression after recovering from several especially difficult miscarriages.

How did he deal with it all?  I believe this quote will give some insight.

"Only when we learn to despair of ourselves, to suffer our own nakedness in God's holy presence, to renounce our righteousness and listen only to God's Word, are we enabled to recognize God as our Savior rather than our just judge and holy enemy."

And again, here,

"God is truly to be found in the weak things of the world."

Another quote that I found to be a favorite of mine is...

"Donning someone else's armor, we are standing in someone else's strength.  The testimony that prevails in this battle is not about us and what we have done or how we have improved, but a witness to God and what He has done in Christ.  Pointing away from ourselves to Christ, is the only sure defense when Satan accuses us in God's courtroom."

And yet another...

"Sound doctrine is not, as many seem to assume today, a distraction from the real life of Christian discipleship, but preparation for it."

The last quote that I will share is...

"Like the belt of truth and breastplate of righteousness, the gospel is not about us but about someone else: Christ and His proclamation, 'It is finished.' "

Chapter 10 is the final chapter in this book of 194 pages and the entire chapter deals with the subject of death...the fact that death isn't part of life, but rather death is a result of the fallen world (in other words, sin), and for those who are in Christ, it is the gateway to life.

I would highly recommend this book whether you are dealing with suffering or not at the present time.  I found it to be scripturally sound and appreciated the emphasis on sound doctrine.

Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have become aware of how sensitive I've become to gluten recently and about two months ago I started going gluten free.  It makes for a bit more of a challenge when it comes to cooking and especially baking, but there are plenty of recipes online to help us along.

This recipe was actually given to me by my oldest granddaughter.  But I wanted to share it here with you so you could give it a try because they really are tasty.

1 cup super-chunky peanut butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Mix first five ingredients in medium sized bowl.  Mix in chocolate chips.  Using moistened hands, form generous 1 Tablespoon dough for each cookie into a ball.  Arrange on two ungreased cookie sheets, spacing two inches apart.

Bake cookies until puffed, golden on bottom and still soft to touch in center, about 12 minutes.  Cool on sheets five minutes and then transfer to racks; cool completely.

Turnips...Are you a fan?

 Strongheart recently came to the house in search of a quarter.  When I asked him what he was going to do with it, he said he wanted to use it as a point of reference for the size of the turnip that he'd just dug.

Here you see the top view of the turnip with the quarter on the upper left side of it.

(Isn't the green top lovely?  I love the design!)

Here is the view from the front with the quarter in front of it.

This was without a doubt the largest of the turnips that he grew this year.

He's been enjoying some of the smaller ones. 

 

They give me heartburn, so I don't partake, but he took this HUGE one to church to give to a friend on Sunday.  People were amazed at its size.