Hashtag SC13

As I sit here reflecting on what I learned at Secret Church 13, I realize that there is too much to say in one short blog post. Oh, dear reader, I wish I could share with you all that I learned on Good Friday night. But, I will share with you three points that impacted me the most.


1) We still have a mission to complete. 

"And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come." 

– Matthew 24:14

"God alone knows the definition of terms [here]. I cannot precisely define who all the nations are, but I do not need to know. I know only one thing: Christ has not yet returned; therefore, the task is not yet done. When it is done, Christ will come. Our responsibility is not to insist on defining the terms; our responsibility is to complete the task. So long as Christ does not return, our work is undone. Let us get busy and complete our mission." 

–– George Ladd

Don't spend time predicting the end of the world when you can make it happen. The mission is not yet done, Christian. Tell the world that Christ has come, died, and is now living so that they might have eternal life. 

2) We must care for our bodies while on earth.  

Even though we will have new bodies in heaven, that does not mean we neglect the care of our bodies while on earth. David talked about how we care for our bodies to honor God. He also mentioned that "we must not idolize the care of our bodies." 

Yes, we need to care for our bodies, but, at the same time, we should not obsess over it. Trust me, if you obsess over healthy eating/exercise, it is the same as if you don't. 

"Do you not know that your body is a the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, who you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought with a price. Therefore honor God with your body."
–– 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

3) We must not think lightly of the truths from God's Word.  

"Think lightly of hell, and you will think lightly of the cross. Think little of the sufferings of lost souls, and you will soon think little of the Savior who delivers you from them." 

–– Charles Spurgeon 

"How we view heaven is how we ultimately view God." 

–– David Platt. 

"If we are going to be excited about anything, shouldn't be our spiritual lives? Is there anything more inspiring, more exciting, more lovable and desirable in Heaven or on Earth than the Gospel of Jesus Christ? We should be utterly humbled that we are not more emotionally affected than we are." 

–– Jonathan Edwards

All in all, I really enjoyed this Secret Church and look forward to next years! If you would like to listen or are curious about Secret Church you can go here. 

On that note, I hope y'all had a wonderful Easter! 

In Which I Bake Cookies {Paleo Approved}

Since starting the Paleo diet a few weeks ago, I've had to become more creative when preparing my food. I found this recipe for grain chocolate chip cookies {via Pinterest}and decided to give it a try. No lie, my family took turns baking them three times in three days.

I did adjust the recipe a tad...

*I used coconut milk instead of almond. 

*I also used regular Ghirardelli baking chocolate. 

*And I doubled the whole recipe to make more than just 12 cookies. 

They turned out DIVINE.  

Or as divine as grain free cookies can be... 

I'll let you decide. 

This and That.

I'm *this* close to Spring Break, just a few more assignments and I'm FREE for a week {and maybe a little more}. Well, free as someone who has 90 Graduation announcements to address. Yeah. 

Anyway, this week I bit the bullet and bought a book I thought I would never buy.... 

....in order to write my gruesome and tiresome paper. 

While I was looking for something to clear my mind after two full days of writing, this popped up in my Netflix app on my phone. 

Really? That is a Father-Daughter TV Show? 

{Side Note: I'm writing a letter to ABC Family asking them to prolong the Jane by Design Series. Everyone needs a friend like Billy. And a job like Jane's.}

Meanwhile, I discovered that someone else likes my favorite TV show... 

You can tell we're just a *little* bit obsessed. 

;)  

Although I would love to carry on about Baby Daddy the rest of my life, I must return to my schoolwork. Otherwise, there will be no such thing as Spring Break in my book.

Happy St. {Sierra} Day!

Teepact Back to DC 2011 

I remember when I first met Sierra. I sat down to eat dinner with her and her brother, Westin, the third night of Back to DC and struck up a casual conversation. Little did I know what kind of friend I had just made.

Let's just be honest here, I thought she was a little strange when she told people that she had never used a microwave. I stared from across the kitchen thinking, "Are you serious? That girl is crazy." 

Well, she is sorta crazy in a Jesus kind of way. Over the next year and a half, I would watch how the LORD work in her life in numerous ways. She has a heart to see people not only believe that life begins at conception, but that people would come know the Author of ALL life, Jesus. 

Sierra, thank you for your wonderful example of what it means to follow Christ. You have blessed me with your friendship and I am forever grateful. 

I hope you have a fabulous birthday! 

{P.S. Check out her blog here!}

Wanted: Husband Who Can Cook

Since Monday I've been on the Paleo diet, (in order to rid myself of the toxins in my body), which means I have to cook. Like actually cook my meals and not just grab something from the pantry/fridge.

For those of you that don't know me, I hate to cook. I would rather wash several hundreds loads of laundry and organize all the junk drawers in the house before I would cook a meal. Even a simple meal like an omelet.

I'm pathetic, I know.

For lunch on Thursday, I decided I wanted eggs and maybe something else to go along with it. I debated whether or not I should have a veggie or a cheese & bacon omelet. I settled on just cheese and began preparing to make the delectable dish.

But, there was a catch.

I had never learned how to make an omelet. Like ever. I had seen my dad and brother cook one several times and never bothered to ask how to make one.

So, I quickly googled "how to make an omelet" which led me to watching a YouTube video. I discovered I wasn't the only one who didn't know how to make one...

  

All I can say is Thank God for YouTube. After all, without it, I wouldn't have made my perfect, first omelet. {I totally forgot to take a picture of it because I was so hungry.}

I would tell you that was my only culinary adventure this week. But, alas, it wasn't.

The night before my brother had requested Tilapia for supper along with a vegetable stir fry and a sweet potato. Prior to leaving for church, my mom prepared the stir fry and then gave me instructions on how to cook the fish and the sweet potatoes.

Since the fish was frozen, I had to thaw it by running water over it. I realized the Tilapia was probably thawed enough when little bits of fish started breaking off the filets.

I then carefully placed the fish on the pan and seasoned it.

My mom had left me instructions on how to bake the fish and how to know if it is done. So, I slid the fish into the oven and let it bake for 10 minutes. My mom had said it might take a little longer because the fish had been frozen.

Well, after 10 minutes, I opened the oven to check and see if it flaked.

Umm. Wait a minute.

"What type of flaking should it look like?"

"What part of the fish is supposed to flake?"

"What is flaking anyway?"

As I stood there in the kitchen all these questions started running through my head. I quickly googled the answer to my questions.

Jason preceded to come downstairs and I asked him to help me with my dilemma. I should note that I put the fish back into the oven until I found out what I was supposed to do. {I mean, I would rather have overdone fish than food poisoning, right?}


I let Jason inspect the Tilapia thoroughly which meant he wanted to know the temperature that cooked fish is supposed to be at. Back to google it was...

After five minutes, I check on the fish again. Still unsure of the situation I texted my mom and the following conversation ensued.

{Again, I forgot to take a decent picture of the cooked fish but, you'll just have to take my word for it.}


In conclusion, after these two incidents within 24 hours, I have moved "husband who can cook" from my want to my need column. Because, clearly, we're going to go hungry all our married life if he doesn't know how to cook properly.