The other day I felt the unction to bake oatmeal bars. Half of the recipe was with Solo brand apricot filling. I had a jar of Amish made strawberry rhubarb jam. Oh my gosh you would expect some sort of tartness in the jam from rhubarb and it was pretty sweet tasting. So, I like to improvise and doctor up recipes if need be. My solution was to take frozen blueberries and place on top of the jam for them to bake into the jam filling section and they did nicely. Why do I bake? I really do not know why maybe out of boredom and to get the creativity flowing inside of me. I know, there is usually someone Holy Spirit wants me to bless via my baking.
I had this idea drop inside of me in a brief moment. It was highlighted to me by Holy Spirit that the 3 women I tend to bake and bless with the bakery are all 3 widows. I never really correlated that before that moment. I wonder why I am called to reach out to the widows. I know we are called to reach out our hearts/hands to the widows & orphans, so I guess that is why I reside where I currently reside. To bless the widows. This is a bit unique ... I am not a big pizza fan per say, unless it was the fabulous slice or two of pizza I had while in Rome in the 1990's when I was there for a few days after my stay in Medjugorje during the Bosnian war time. I still am owed a trip to Israel because that very trip my father sent me on was supposed to be to Israel, but it got changed and I was now going go Medjugorje. I wrote about that several times before via my blog. So, I found out one of my neighbors likes pizza and I am now on a sort of quest to see which local pizza places are any good. I will order a small sized cheese pizza and we both taste test to see if we like it or not. Isn't that a bit odd, I find it to be, but I do it. See, this is not really about me and it is for some reason fulfilling the blessing in another's life. Do you know how this all came about I had a pizza dough yeast packet, and I tried out the recipe on the package and shared it with this neighbor. She liked it and said how she likes pizza, and my son was coming for a visit, so I said let's find good pizza places local and rate them. I ask for no money from this widow I just find a pizza place, order it and then share the pizza. I really do not know why pizza is the main item but for whatever reason it seems to be. I have found that most places put way too much cheese as the topping on the cheese pizza and have learned to ask for less cheese than they normally place on the pizza. Some crusts are flimsy and other crusts are crispy and that is a personal preference. One place puts oregano (yuck yuck it does not agree with me) sprinkling on top of their pizzas.
So, the other day I ordered from a place that is in another neighboring town because the gals at Ollie's Bargain Outlet suggested this pizza place. I ordered the white pizza, garlic paste with mozzarella cheese and dollops of a ricotta cheese mixture, that pizza had a crispy type of crust. I went outside of the box for that pizza, not just plain cheese pizza. If you know me at all you would know I really am not a pizza type of gal.
I have a friend that used to come and visit me when I worked at a family-owned frozen yogurt/frozen custard establishment in Dunwoody, GA. I moved and she also moved but we keep in touch still. She has been a widow since 3 years ago and now resides in an independent living/assisted living residence. We share Christian beliefs, prayer and our testimonies too. I spoke with her last evening. You know she has on one of her bureaus in the room a picture of her husband from his graduation and a picture of the two of them on their wedding day. How sweet is that. She shared a beautiful testimony with me last night. She prayed for I think it was a grandchild to have a healthy baby boy to be born one day. I believe she spoke a prophetic word that was brought forth. She shared how this baby was born and her granddaughter brought the prayed for prayer in person for her to hold this healthy baby boy in her arms, her great grandson. Yes, God answers prays spoken forth. Isn't that beautiful.
Hey ministers out there, may I suggest that there comes a time in your life to set ministry aside and it is not all about you and what you still want to do but put your family upfront and personal before you. That is what you will be judged most about when standing before God Almighty one day. Not how many places you ministered to, how many trips made with intercessors, followers of your ministry. Oh no, how you spent time with your precious family. Did you take them on family trips together or was it more important to take ministry trips with strangers in some cases it may be. Be cautious to listening to the voices speaking that are surrounding you today. Some of those voices may very well be voices speaking so that persons wishes/agenda is being fulfilled through them pushing you in directions to fulfill. You know women can be very conniving and sly when getting their own personal agendas fulfilled at the expense of another. Those very same voices just may be the ones that have been stealing/pilfering from the ministry in disguise. Men are so gullible; they really are and fall for it every time. I wonder why that is.
Another thought ... are these female voices encouraging you to do more with your family or pulling you away from your family. Please consider these things more serious because the little grandchildren are growing up with each passing day and you are missing out on precious time with them. Take the family on a big family vacation and forgo one of those grand ministry trips/visions. There will always be someone to replace the ones stealing from you, but you have to first recognize it is going on. Then action needs to take place and once that is done the ministry will be in better balance again. There's nothing more pathetic then when a ministry begs for finance money. The ministry needs to live within their means and not spend what is not there ahead of the money being there. Once again, I feel led to repeat this MEN ARE SO GULLIBLE. Stop it and use wisdom not the wagging tongues around you getting their desires met thru you. How gullible can you really be.
Where did all of that spring forth from? It was the 1-year anniversary of my mother going home to be with Jesus yesterday, 1/13/2024. The other day I woke from a dream in which I was in water mid-calf deep searching for pearls. Someone was teaching me how to pull out of the water good pearls, it was like I was sorting them out and somehow, they would stick to the side wall as I was finding them to then explore them inside once opened up. Holy Spirit was showing me how I am learning to be more selective with the pearls of wisdom He gives to me to not cast these pearls before swine. Very interesting, very interesting.
A few weeks ago, I began to notice lake level waters were going down and I kept thinking oh my gosh we are really in some type of drought. I shared that thought with a local old timer and they shared with me it is known as the winter pool. I probably looked with a perplexed look, and they then explained. They pull back somehow the water in the local lakes for the winter months then releases it back when boating season is around again. How silly of me to think we were in drought when all along this is what they do this time of the year. Where water is plentiful for months you will now see what it looks like when the water is pulled back. Very Interesting, very interesting. I wonder if others notice details like I do and wonder too.
Well, on 1/15/2024 we received bunches of snow. So glad I still have my Ohio snow shovel and warm gear to wear because I wanted to see if I still remember how to shovel snow. I went out and shoveled the front walk & driveway. Well, later in the day what I shoveled is now covered over. Am I going to shovel some more, probably not. I just wanted to see if I still remembered how to shovel snow. Yes, I still do remember. Hey, were you ambitious enough today to go out and shovel snow. I am just saying. I also made homemade chicken noodle soup today using my pressure cooker. Was a great day to enjoy warm soup. I also made sure there was bird seed for the birds both in the front & backyard for them to enjoy. Saw lots of male & female cardinals enjoying the bird seed in the midst of the snow falling.
No comments:
Post a Comment