Teaching What Is Good

The sweetness of God

Kate — Tue, 21 May 2013 05:02:47 +0000

My husband and I have the opportunity to pray regularly with some dear, dear friends. Sometimes our time together is very powerful and the Spirit is heavy upon us in the room. Sometimes we are very tired, barely staying awake until we start to pray and the Spirit stirs us up and we leave rejuvenated. Sometimes the Spirit whispers to our minds and we pray as we feel led. Sometimes we pray through the scriptures.

Tonight was a little different for me. It was not a powerful time. It was not a time of great moving of the Spirit among us. It was not a time of being invigorated.

(Image courtesy of David Castillo/FreeDigitalPhotos.net)

Tonight was sweet.

I tried to explain it to my husband. It was like being held in the arms of the Father and having a cool gentle breeze from Him kiss me on the cheek. It was sweet. The sweetness of God filling my soul with His gentleness, goodness and light.

How have YOU experienced the sweetness of God lately?

Last week there were many wonderful blog posts shared in the link-up. Please be sure and come back to read them throughout the week. You gals bless my socks off week after week with your great posts! Thank you for joining in this little community here. I love getting to know you all through your writing.

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Blogs I might be linking to:
Menu Planning Monday, On The Menu Monday, Erin Branscoms, Mommy Mondays, Marital Oneness, The Better Mom, Multitudes on Monday, Hear it On Sunday, Sharing His Bounty, What Joy Is Mine, Playdates at the Well, Domestically Divine Tuesdays, Time Warp Wife, Funky Planet Frequent Flier Club, Encourage One Another, Walking Redeemed, A Wise Woman Builds Her House, The Welcoming House, Legacy Leaver Thursday, What’s Up Wednesday, Thought Provoking Thursday, Hearts 4 Home, Thankful Thursday, Thankful Thursdays, Thankful, Thankful Thursday Brown-eyed Bell(e), Big Family Fridays, Faith Filled Fridays, Feasting In Fellowship Friday, Fellowship Friday, Homemaking Link-up Week-end, A Little R&R, Pieces of Amy, Homeschool Mother’s Journal

The post The sweetness of God appeared first on Teaching What Is Good.

Menu Planning Monday

Kate — Mon, 20 May 2013 05:01:02 +0000

This is what I feel about the next 8 weeks. “And so it begins.” A very busy time for a gal whose life is generally quiet and always the same. But, you eat the elephant one bite at a time and I’m working on the coming bridal shower of my daughter with our church family. Low key, 2 dear sweet friends are helping and we are just wanting to celebrate together as Hannah moves off permanently from her church family on to her new life with Jacob.

Here is my menu for the week. Very easy (many things are already in my freezer) and very quick. Granted, it is slightly boring, but I can use a bit of boring right about now!

Download my FREE Menu Planner to help you in your own meal planning. Breakfasts offer fruit, lunches have raw veggies and suppers have cooked veggies or salad.

Purchase my e-book
“Cut It Out! How I Feed My Family of 10 for $500 a Month Without Coupons“.

The post Menu Planning Monday appeared first on Teaching What Is Good.

A wedding coming soon

Kate — Tue, 14 May 2013 05:01:20 +0000

These past few weeks have been busy for me but the next 2 months will be even more so. My 5th child is graduating from homeschool and my eldest daughter is getting married. *sigh* I am excited for them both but there also comes a mixed bag of emotions.

As my daughter prepares to be mistress of her own home with her future husband it has made me mindful of something that I’ve always wanted to do for my children: prepare a cookbook of the special recipes I’ve used over the years.

Now, I’m not a great cook. But we do have special foods that the children love and recipes that they favor. So I’m going to pull together a short book (there are not that many) of my recipes. For my children I’m going to print it out and put in a binder with sheet protectors. But I will also make it available here as a free download. It’s one piece of HOME that my children can take with them when they leave.

GREAT! Now I’m crying as I think about them leaving!!

What are the special legacies you want to leave for your children?

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Blogs I might be linking to:
Menu Planning Monday, On The Menu Monday, Erin Branscoms, Mommy Mondays, Marital Oneness, The Better Mom, Multitudes on Monday, Hear it On Sunday, Sharing His Bounty, What Joy Is Mine, Playdates at the Well, Domestically Divine Tuesdays, Time Warp Wife, Funky Planet Frequent Flier Club, Encourage One Another, A Wise Woman Builds Her House, The Welcoming House, Legacy Leaver Thursday, What’s Up Wednesday, Thought Provoking Thursday, Hearts 4 Home, Thankful Thursday, Thankful Thursdays, Thankful, Thankful Thursday Brown-eyed Bell(e), Big Family Fridays, Faith Filled Fridays, Feasting In Fellowship Friday, Fellowship Friday, Homemaking Link-up Week-end, A Little R&R, Pieces of Amy, Homeschool Mother’s Journal

The post A wedding coming soon appeared first on Teaching What Is Good.

Abram: a flawed man of faith

Kate — Mon, 13 May 2013 15:31:54 +0000

(image courtesy of Wikimedia Creative Commons)

We know that Abraham was a man of faith. He was a man that God loved and gave the promise of the covenant. He was a man given a land and told that all the families of the earth would be blessed because of him.

This is some promise!

But we also see fear as a part of his life. He was a mixed bag of fear and faith, courage and cowering, trepidation and triumph. We see him as a very REAL human, someone with whom we can identify in the midst our own struggles and failings.

I’ve been reading through the scriptures chronologically. I have read through the bible many times in my life but I’ve always wanted to do it in the chronology in which it happened. So I’m doing it now.

As I was reading today about Abram’s (his name hadn’t been changed yet) call from Ur, I was struck again by his fear of man in regards to his wife. Sarai was a very beautiful woman. To the point that Abram was convinced (and rightly so) that others would want her for their wives. As they enter Egypt, he had Sarai say she was his sister and not his wife. His thinking is that this way, he would be treated well and not be killed in order to get a husband out of the way.

Here is a man who has ALREADY been told by God that his descendants would become a great nation but still he was afraid that he would be killed. Did he forget God’s promise? Did he think God so impotent that He couldn’t protect him? Did he think so little of his wife and HER protection that he’d allow her to fall into the hands of those who didn’t trust the Lord God?

But just a short time later, we see him swiftly going out to do battle against kings who had taken Lot captive.

WHAT???

He goes to battle for a nephew who wasn’t supposed to be there in the first place yet allows his wife to be taken into the Pharaoh’s house as a wife to save his skin? This is a man of contradictions!

To be perfectly honest here, I’ve always wanted to slap Abraham!!

But in all of this, God is the One who is faithful.

He was the One who protected Sarai when her husband only thought of himself.
He was the One who protected Lot through all the garbage of Sodom’s sin.
He was the One who fulfilled His promise to Abraham, even when Abraham was faithless.
He was the One who brought reproof on kingdoms for taking Sarai as the king’s wife (more than once).

What does this tell me? Abraham/Abram was flawed. Just like ME! But also, that in all his failings, God saw his heart and his faith, as weak as it might be, and by his faith he was counted righteous. God gives us greater faith but calls us to surrender our lives to Him. He meets us where we are at in our walk of faith – but always calls us further. As the book says, “further up and further in.”

How is YOUR walk of faith today? I confess that many days I feel more like the flawed Abraham than the faith-filled Abraham. But I KNOW that God is working in my puny life for His glory and MY transformation. What a joy to be on this journey of faith with the Lord God Most High!

The post Abram: a flawed man of faith appeared first on Teaching What Is Good.

Menu Planning Monday

Kate — Mon, 13 May 2013 05:33:31 +0000

Well, I am sure hoping that my week is a quiet one! The last several weeks have been hectic for me, and not always with fun. We are back to school this week, our company is gone, our basement is almost put back together BETTER than before and now I begin preparations for planning a graduation party, a shower and eventually help with a wedding. Wait… in 4 seconds of writing my quiet week has flown the coop!! And I’m SO NOT an organized, creative person! *sigh*

Anyway, as I looked at my URL for this post, I am writing my 107th Menu Planning Monday post! Now, in the beginning I didn’t always post my menus, but this is more than 2 years of menu posting. Neat. This week is pretty boring (and inexpensive) but it is also a week of training my daughters to take over the grocery shopping. Not that they’ll actually take it over (but I wouldn’t complain if they did), I just want to make sure that they are fully trained to do it on their own.

Download my FREE Menu Planner to help you in your own meal planning. Breakfasts offer fruit, lunches have raw veggies and suppers have cooked veggies or salad.

Purchase my e-book
“Cut It Out! How I Feed My Family of 10 for $500 a Month Without Coupons“.

The post Menu Planning Monday appeared first on Teaching What Is Good.

Organizing spices

Kate — Tue, 07 May 2013 05:01:01 +0000

I love to bake. I love trying new recipes. I’m not so thrilled about cleaning, but I do love to be in the kitchen providing fun new things for my family to eat.

BUT I really struggle with the disorder that comes with many spices in my cabinet. I am a very short person (under 5 foot tall) and can only reach the front of my upper cabinets. So when I have many different spices tossed into a cabinet I often end up buying duplicates simply because I cannot find the ones I already have.

I’ve looked into various ways of organizing:

in drawer storage
attached to cabinet doors
spinning/rotating countertop do-hickies

None of these would work for me because of my very limited cabinet/drawer/countertop space or because of my height (or lack thereof). But FINALLY I found something that works for me!!

We don’t have cable and I have never seen a home shopping channel, but in my internet search, I found something on QVC that I really love.

3 drawers with 2 rows per drawer and labels to easily find the spice you need

drawer pulls out and drops down to reveal spices

all 3 drawers pull out and drop down, holding many different size containers with 2 rows per drawer

Now, this spice organizer does take up most of the cabinet so it can no longer hold my larger items I use every day. Since it was never easy for me to reach them anyway, I took the tiered rack I had previously purchased (in the hopes that it would help) and put that on my counter next to my stove.

my everyday cooking/baking items right next to my stove

Now it is MUCH easier for me to keep organized and reach all of my spices and items for cooking or baking. I’m a very happy camper. Now, if only things would STAY this well ordered!

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Blogs I might be linking to:
Menu Planning Monday, On The Menu Monday, Erin Branscoms, Mommy Mondays, Marital Oneness, The Better Mom, Multitudes on Monday, Hear it On Sunday, Sharing His Bounty, What Joy Is Mine, Playdates at the Well, Domestically Divine Tuesdays, Time Warp Wife, Funky Planet Frequent Flier Club, Encourage One Another, A Wise Woman Builds Her House, The Welcoming House, Legacy Leaver Thursday, What’s Up Wednesday, Thought Provoking Thursday, Hearts 4 Home, Thankful Thursday, Thankful Thursdays, Thankful, Thankful Thursday Brown-eyed Bell(e), Big Family Fridays, Faith Filled Fridays, Feasting In Fellowship Friday, Fellowship Friday, Homemaking Link-up Week-end, A Little R&R, Pieces of Amy, Homeschool Mother’s Journal

The post Organizing spices appeared first on Teaching What Is Good.

Menu Planning Monday

Kate — Mon, 06 May 2013 05:01:07 +0000

Well, what a week this has been and so much to share! A few weeks ago we had a basement flood (and were ill prepared, so it took us a few days to pump it all out). Then this last week we had a sewage back-up in the basement. What a learning experience!! But now I know what to do. And our sewer line is clean as a whistle, so we should be good for a while.

But this coming week will be a real joy – the New Life Drama team will be here, and that means BETHANY IS COMING HOME!!! Granted, she’ll only be here for 4 days, but I will GLADLY take it!!

This also means, feeding 5 extra adults for those 4 days. I’ve chosen meals that will allow me to use from what we have so I don’t have to purchase too much extra. But I also want to add favorites for Bethany while she’s home. What a balancing act!

I have also been blessed to join a new Farm Share! And we got our first batch of produce yesterday. For the 2nd of May I was very pleased with my bounty.

white radishes, scallions, large bag of spinach, lettuce

Download my FREE Menu Planner to help you in your own meal planning. Breakfasts offer fruit, lunches have raw veggies and suppers have cooked veggies or salad.

Purchase my e-book
“Cut It Out! How I Feed My Family of 10 for $500 a Month Without Coupons“.

Blogs I might be linking to:
Menu Planning Monday, On The Menu Monday, Erin Branscoms, Mommy Mondays, Marital Oneness, The Better Mom, Multitudes on Monday, Hear it On Sunday, Sharing His Bounty, What Joy Is Mine, Playdates at the Well, Domestically Divine Tuesdays, Time Warp Wife, Funky Planet Frequent Flier Club, Encourage One Another, A Wise Woman Builds Her House, The Welcoming House, Legacy Leaver Thursday, What’s Up Wednesday, Thought Provoking Thursday, Hearts 4 Home, Thankful Thursday, Thankful Thursdays, Thankful, Thankful Thursday Brown-eyed Bell(e), Big Family Fridays, Faith Filled Fridays, Feasting In Fellowship Friday, Fellowship Friday, Homemaking Link-up Week-end, A Little R&R, Pieces of Amy, Homeschool Mother’s Journal

The post Menu Planning Monday appeared first on Teaching What Is Good.

Standing on the Promises!

Kate — Wed, 01 May 2013 05:01:37 +0000

(image courtesy of graur razvan ionut/FreeDigitalPhotos.net)

I’ve been meditating on prayer these past 11 years (I know, I’m a slow thinker!) and how we so often pray weak, faithless and lifeless prayers. I see 2 different trends in prayer in the church today.

those who think everything they say has to happen, as if words were a magic formula that controls God
those who tack, “if it be Thy will” at the end of every prayer almost as an excuse not to fully believe God can or will work

Unfortunately, I think that both of these views are wrong – although they each have elements of truth mixed in with the falsehood.

Today I’d like to talk just for a bit about the second trend. I was hearing the old hymn “Standing on the Promises” going round and round through my head today. And then I thought:

Do we really? Do we REALLY stand on the promises of God? Does that guide and direct our prayers?

So, I looked up the words to that old song.

Standing on the promises of Christ my King,
Through eternal ages let His praises ring,
Glory in the highest, I will shout and sing,
Standing on the promises of God.

Refrain:
Standing, standing,
Standing on the promises of God my Savior;
Standing, standing,
I’m standing on the promises of God.

Standing on the promises that cannot fail,
When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail,
By the living Word of God I shall prevail,
Standing on the promises of God.

Standing on the promises I now can see
Perfect, present cleansing in the blood for me;
Standing in the liberty where Christ makes free,
Standing on the promises of God.

Standing on the promises of Christ the Lord,
Bound to Him eternally by love’s strong cord,
Overcoming daily with the Spirit’s sword,
Standing on the promises of God.

Standing on the promises I cannot fall,
List’ning every moment to the Spirit’s call,
Resting in my Savior as my all in all,
Standing on the promises of God.

These are pretty powerful words! And I got to pondering about them. In order to stand on His promises, we have to KNOW what they are. We cannot just make them up ourselves. We need to know His Word. We need to have it filling our hearts and minds and spirits. We need to have it wash over us with cleansing power and newness of life. Without that, we are just living a powerless life of hoping rather than faith.

I don’t know about you, but I DO NOT want to live a life of spiritual impotence.

I want my prayers to have power in the heavenly places. I want the Spirit to infuse my prayer with His mind and His purpose. I want to pray in submission to His will, not just tack a token quote at the end of my prayers. I want to enter into the presence of the Holy Father when I pray.

I want to stand on the promises of God!

Blogs I might be linking to:
Menu Planning Monday, On The Menu Monday, Erin Branscoms, Marital Oneness, The Better Mom, Multitudes on Monday, Hear it On Sunday, Sharing His Bounty, What Joy Is Mine, Playdates at the Well, Domestically Divine Tuesdays, Time Warp Wife, Funky Planet Frequent Flier Club, Encourage One Another, The Welcoming House, Legacy Leaver Thursday, What’s Up Wednesday, Thought Provoking Thursday, Hearts 4 Home, Thankful Thursday, Thankful Thursdays, Thankful, Thankful Thursday Brown-eyed Bell(e), Big Family Fridays, Faith Filled Fridays, Feasting In Fellowship Friday, Fellowship Friday, Homemaking Link-up Week-end, A Little R&R, Pieces of Amy, Homeschool Mother’s Journal

The post Standing on the Promises! appeared first on Teaching What Is Good.

Link-up time!

Kate — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 05:01:33 +0000

(Image courtesy of cooldesign/FreeDigitalPhotos.net)

Welcome to my Tuesday link-up Women Helping Women. Feel free to link any post(s) you have written that will be a help or encouragement to other women. They can be about:

family
marriage
friendship
parenting
homemaking
recipes
DIY anything
faith
humor

Whatever you can think of that would be a blessing to another gal.

After you link your post, please continue with the encouragement by visiting at least 2 others blog posts and leaving a comment of blessing there. We ALL love mail – whether it is a letter in the mail box, an e-mail or a comment on our blogs. So, spread the blessings around and leave those comments! If you don’t have time to write, then share the post on your Facebook or Twitter feed to encourage them with expanding their readership.

Blogs I might be linking to:
Menu Planning Monday, On The Menu Monday, Erin Branscoms, Marital Oneness, The Better Mom, Multitudes on Monday, Hear it On Sunday, Sharing His Bounty, What Joy Is Mine, Playdates at the Well, Domestically Divine Tuesdays, Time Warp Wife, Funky Planet Frequent Flier Club, Encourage One Another, The Welcoming House, Legacy Leaver Thursday, What's Up Wednesday, Thought Provoking Thursday, Hearts 4 Home, Thankful Thursday, Thankful Thursdays, Thankful, Thankful Thursday Brown-eyed Bell(e), Big Family Fridays, Faith Filled Fridays, Feasting In Fellowship Friday, Fellowship Friday, Homemaking Link-up Week-end, A Little R&R, Pieces of Amy, Homeschool Mother's Journal

The post Link-up time! appeared first on Teaching What Is Good.

Menu Planning Monday

Kate — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 05:01:32 +0000

Well, this past week was my birthday. And while the wrinkles on my body are not what I long for, I DO love growing older with the Lord AND with my husband. And ALL of my children are wonderful! So I’m delighted in this journey the Lord has me on.

So another week of menus! Nothing new this week, we are still working through what is in our basement to see what needs to be tossed and what can be kept from our recent flooding. I had spent all week organizing and pricing all of my homeschool material for a local used book sale. But, as ALWAYS happens with sales I do, I sold very little. I’m looking for other avenues to sell my seriously used, but very inexpensive, materials. Ideas?

Download my FREE menu planner page and please check out my e-book listed at the bottom of this post. Breakfasts have fruit, lunches have raw veggies and suppers have cooked veggies or salads.

Purchase my e-book
“Cut It Out! How I Feed My Family of 10 for $500 a Month Without Coupons“.

The post Menu Planning Monday appeared first on Teaching What Is Good.

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