My girls and I have spent all morning sitting on the porch or looking out the window at the rain!!! It is such a glorious sight for a very thirsty hill country! It has been fun watching the wonder in the girls eyes...caitlin keeps saying, "water??". So funny!
I had an amazing experience this morning. My weekly Bible study has been reading "Celebrating Discipline" by Richard Foster. Our chapter we studied this week was on meditation. I think when some people think about meditation they think about eastern religions and maybe even are a little weirded out by meditation. But, as Richard Foster describes it, Christian mediation is about being filled. It is about seeking time to let the Lord fill us. I think the entire discipline of meditation is pretty foreign to western society. The thought of sitting in silence, hearts open, minds quiet seeking to be filled by the Lord seems like a waste of time. BUT, i decided to try it. This morning I got up 30 minutes earlier than usual. Made my coffee. Then I sat on my couch closed my eyes and meditated. I started off just in my heart asking the Lord to quiet my soul and speak to me, to give me the desire to just be with him. Then, I picked a phrase to think upon to help get my soul quiet. Today it was, "I am my beloved's and He is mine." So i just kind of kept repeating that to myself. One of the ways Foster encourages meditating is to have your palms up as if you are ready to receive something. If something comes into your mind-like a concern, a fleeting thought, a worry, anything, turn you palms over and identify that thought. My first thought was about breakfast, so I turned my palms down and said, "Lord, I give you my desire for food." and then I turned my palms over to release that. It was amazing because as soon as I prayed that, I was reminded of the scripture where my "mantra" had come from- I am my beloveds and He is mine...part of that Scripture is "He brought me to his banqueting table". I just was reminded that we are called to FEAST on the Lord and HIS goodness. It was such a loving reminder of what it means to delight in the Lord. I just kind of sat in His presence for maybe 15 minutes. But it was so amazing. I can't believe how great my first experience back doing this was for me. I used to do things like this often in college, but am glad to have a taste of it again.
I also wanted to share a recipe for an amazing cobbler I made this week. It is a weight watchers recipe that is so easy and sooo good! Here it is:
Berry cobbler
1 cup fresh blue berries
1 cup fresh raspberries
1 cup fresh black berries
1 cup fresh cut strawberries
3/4 cup flour (i used whole wheat flour)
3/4 cup brown sugar (you can use the splenda blend)
1/2 stick of butter (I'm sure you can use other things, but i just used the butter...)
mix all the berries together in a baking dish sprayed with butter flavored Pam.
mix together flour and sugar and then remove 3 table spoons of that mixture and sprinkle in berry mixture and mix together.
Combine butter with remaining flour mixture and mix thoroughly. Then spread over berry mixture in baking dish. Bake in oven at 350 for 45 minutes. then to get the crust crispy, broil for 1-2 minutes (really watch it!). Let cool. great with light vanilla bean ice cream or fat free cool whip. Cut into 8 pieces, each piece is 4 points plus!!!
I also made a healthy dinner that Andrew LOVED!
I made an Asian marinade with Hoisin sauce, low sodium soy sauce, siracha sauce, garlic salt and pepper. I marinated chicken breasts in that for an hour and then poured it all into a baking dish a baked it for an hour at 350. It was sooo good. I also marinated some fresh green beans in the same mixture and then sauteed them with a tiny bit of olive oil. So awesome. And then I made a healthy amazing rice. I boiled brown rice then I toasted 1/4 cup of unsweetened coconut and sauteed some bell pepper and then combined it all to make yummy rice. Andrew has LOVED this meal (minus the green beans...but I have loved those!).
Anyway, that is all I have for now!
Seeking to feast on the things of the Lord today!
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