Is the Doctor In?

So the end of the week is upon us, and as the deep waters have been stirring in me I'm finally feeling some connection between the dots.  (See I promised you it would come eventually, didn't I?  Brace yourself though because this may a little heavier than normal)

Earlier this week a scripture was dropped into my heart from Luke 5:31-32, in which Jesus is having a meal with some tax collectors and other guests which the supposed religious leaders did not approve of.  In response to their complaints about Jesus' choice of dinner companions, Jesus reply's with the following:

31 Jesus answered them, “It is the sick who need a doctor, not those in good health. 32 My purpose is to invite sinners to turn from their sins, not to spend my time with those who think themselves already good enough.” (Luke 5:31-32, Living Bible)

At the time that God reminded me of that scripture it was such a breath of fresh air to remember that God does not expect me to have it all together before I come to Him; in fact, what He's really saying is that He came for those who are sinners and are aware of their sin-sick condition.  The only real "prerequisite" to coming to Jesus is to have the humility of heart to admit that we don't have it all together; how else could we be expected to call upon someone else than if we recognize our inability to change ourselves?

Keep that in your back pocket and fast forward to later on in the week.  My week was going great, but it seemed that everywhere I looked there was nothing but negative news being published, spoken of and witnessed.  Most of it seemed to be in regards to children being neglected, treated as commodities, or lacking the love of the parents who should be closest to them.  My heart was so heavy for the ugly reminder of the brokenness surrounding me on a daily basis.

However I found that as the week progressed my heaviness of heart began to gradually cross a fine line from brokenness into judgement and anger at the thought of how people could be so selfish towards the most innocent among us.  My thoughts began to become very critical and slowly, without even realizing, I began to be blanketed in that ugly blanket of self-righteousness of which Jesus called the Pharisees out on.  It seemed I had all but forgotten the scripture that had earlier seemed to ring so true to me.

I'm so thankful though to say that God awakened me from the bitterness forming in my heart and reminded me of truth.  And here it is; yes the world can be a very ugly place, and yes, it can be very easy in our hearts to become angry and judgmental, and even feel justified in our anger towards the lack of morals, love, and justice we see on a daily basis, thinking that "I would never do that", but let us not forget, that Jesus never placed expectations on those who don't follow Him, to behave in a Godly manner, and neither should we.  When we do this we reduce ourselves to nothing more than bossy naysayers and we do nothing to represent the welcoming love of God that desires to embrace and heal those broken, messy lives in a way that they never could do on their own.

The other thing that God so gently reminded me of, was that my heart can be just as ugly as those behaviors that shock and break me.  Oh it may not appear as some huge tumorous type growth that everyone can see and is appalled by, but it's there, my God, yes, it's there.  It's there every time I choose my own selfish desire over the needs of those closest to me, it's there every time I choose to hold onto my wrong attitude instead of releasing it to God, it's there with every judgmental glance, every bitter thought, and every time I am so wrapped up in my own problems that I don't even stop to notice those hurting around me who may just need a hug or a "hello".  Yes, that ugliness is there; it is that part of me that is not yet surrendered to God, that lies in hiding convincing me that I must somehow be better than those around me because my behavior (on the surface) is better than theirs.

There is good news though.  It is simple, it is refreshing, and it is freeing.  It is this; that Jesus came not for the healthy, but for the sick.  Jesus didn't come for those who think they have it all together, He came for those who know they don't.  Jesus came to take away all of this broken, ugly, sin-sick mess within us, to pay the price that we deserved to pay on a hideous, despised cross, and to exchange it for His wholeness, healing, and beauty.  He did it a long time ago, and He still does it today.

I want to leave you with this quote from a book I was reading by Stasi Eldredge.  She states,

"We do not have to remain captive any longer.  Yes, God uses our stories to shape us.  He works all things for the good of those who love him, even the horrible things.  The holy work of God deep in our hearts as we have suffered and struggled and wept and longed to overcome is stunning beyond measure.  You may not see the goodness yet, but you will.  You will.  It comes when we see our lives through God's eyes."  (taken from "Becoming Myself" by Stasi Eldredge) 

 Let's remember this, not only for ourselves, but for those around us as well.  God can take even the ugliest mess and turn it into something stunning.

♥ Crystal

Glaze & Fluff

So tonight is one of those popcorn-filled-Princess Diaries 2-wish I had bought that other pink color of nail polish for now- kind of nights.  You know the kind; the kids are all tucked in, the husband is out, and you have a few precious moments of relaxation all to yourself.  And then the dilemma begins; how can I squeeze out every last ounce of available time so as to accomplish all of my extra-curricular events in these next two hours, plus possibly get to bed early?  Well, I suppose you could say that tonight, in a way, I'm doing a bit of everything....the nail polish is out (can't decide a color though and time is ticking...does anyone else spend way too much time making this decision...as though it will alter the course of mankind if I pick grey over pink???), ahem....the movie has begun, and here I find myself with the movie on pause whilst I blog on paper (of all things!) to later post via typing if it becomes more interesting than the movie, (as you can see I get distracted by shiny things...movie is still on pause) oh, and the snack is being consumed by the handfuls.

Which brings me to the topic of this blog...my snack.  So with our new clean eating lifestyle, my Tuesday snack and relax time has been modified for the better.  And I must say that I have a brand spanking new favorite glaze for just about everything from carrots to popcorn.  Here it is; and I apologize because I have no idea what the measurements are, however, the good news is that if you go by the rule-of-thumb "to taste" it will turn out swimmingly since your taste buds will be doing the measuring.

Makes-Everything-Yummy Glaze

• About a "dollop" or two of Butter (the real stuff...none of this man-made margarine stuff)
• About a 5 second squeeze of Honey (this should go without being said, but this applies if it is from a squeezable honey jar...otherwise..."to taste") ;)
• A shake of cinnamon (as much or more than what you would put in a chai latte...or other cinnamon-related food/drink. Helpful now?) ;)
• Melt these ingredients together and drizzle over desired entree (in my case - popcorn)
• Bon Appetite!

PS: If you're not so concerned about clean eating a small touch of brown sugar in the mix will make it less glazy and more molassesey (and no, I'm not sure if that's even a word...leaning towards a big fat "no" though)...think caramel corn...I didn't do that tonight, but on special ocassions, it's a nice little treat.

There it is! The nailpolish that was never applied & the popcorn with glaze
 that I forgot to capture until it was too late...see the proof is in the pudding...it's good stuff. ;)

Anyways, if you'll now excuse me, I have some catching up to do with a certain Princess Mia and a lovely little place called Genovia (and yes, I know it's cheesy...but frankly...I don't care!) ;)

There she is, the lovely Julie Andrews, aka Queen Clarisse Renaldi
(and me sporting my lovely blue snuggie. ha ha)

Oh, and just in case you're feeling a bit ripped off tonight with the lack of depth to my blog, stay tuned because the deep waters are being turned and all will be revealed in time (and no - no major earthshattering news - just some musings) :)  For now though, just enjoy some "glaze", because every now and then we all need a little bit of glaze and fluffy popcorn in our life.

♥ Crystal

The Control Illusion

Have you ever had this brooding suspicion that things are about to get shaken up a little in your life just when you think everything's going pretty smooth?  Well, I'm feeling that way now.  I'll fill you in.

So this afternoon as I was almost finished preparing my lesson for our Wednesday night Youth Class on "Losing Control" I was reminded of a discussion that I was involved in about that very thing on Sunday morning.  I thought, "hey that's cool; guess God wants to talk to our youth about control too...we're all on the same page", but didn't give it much thought beyond that.  Fast forward to me sending the notes out to the other teachers on our team and finding out that the lesson I had spent an hour preparing for was indeed, the lesson for next week (when I'm not taking a turn teaching) rather than for tonight.  Nicely done Crystal.  I then proceeded to huff and puff in frustration over the perceived waste of time spent on a lesson that I would not be able to present tonight, and of course, mull over all of the other productive things that I could have been doing in that time.  It wasn't until after I had to recall the notes that I had sent out, that I realized that I had just experienced a practical lesson in "Losing Control".  Now, I'll admit, this was due to my carelessness, however the point stands, that after doing my best to take all of the right steps to prepare, in the end, I still had no control over the results.  I'm sure God was having a good laugh at me at that point as an hour later I had a Facebook notice in my inbox that a friend had posted a picture with the saying, "You can't control everything. Your hair was put on your hair to remind you of that!"  I thought, "seriously God, was that really necessary?"  Anyways, after having a little laugh about the whole afternoon, I'm now left thinking that this whole thing was more-so to remind me about control rather than those around me.

With that being said, I'm taking inventory of the areas in my life where I am in control (or rather I think I am, since we really can't control everything), rather than surrendering those areas to God.  Control is really an illusion; we think that if we can control the events in our life than we will end up with a fairly descent life, free from pain or inconvenience.  (I know we don't really think that way outright...but many times we behave that way)  When really that couldn't be further from the truth.  In reality, the only thing we can control in our lives is the way that we chose to respond to the events that happen.  Sometimes that frustrates me because I think, why wouldn't God choose to let all of the pieces fall nicely into place if we yield to Him.  However God is after something far greater than making our lives comfortable; He wants to make our character strong and able to face anything that life throws our way.  That thought is something to take comfort in when it feels like our world is spinning out of control.  And here's an even greater encouragement; when we place our trust in Christ and surrender to Him, we don't have to face those events, big or small, alone.  To me that makes it all worthwhile, knowing that I can trust an unknown future to an all-knowing and all-loving God.
Till next time friends...take care and lose control! (you know what I mean...hopefully. ;) )

Crystal

Kitchen Confessions

I have a little confession to make.  This may, or may not come as news to you, but here it is: I can't cook.  It's not that I don't have a desire to, or that I'm just being modest.  When I say that I can't cook, it is because I genuinely have no idea what I'm doing in the kitchen..I'm completely dazed and confused in the culinary art.  If you need some tasty baking done - I'm your girl, but ask me to create a simple meal for dinner and I'm lost if it doesn't involve a box of K.D, a sandwich, or anything deemed a "breakfast food".  Take today for example, I spent nearly my entire morning brainstorming what we could eat for lunch, only to be met with the challenge of doing the same thing for dinner. 

By now you're probably wondering how the heck our family has survived this long if I can't cook.  Answer: I am very very blessed to be married to a man who not only can cook, but who loves to cook (we make a good pair really because I love to eat). 

There he is, the in-house chef.
What a stud-muffin.

Normally, my husband Adam does all of the cooking and yes, grocery shopping for our meals, but tonight he was busy and I was in charge.  Now before you start hurling tomatoes at me I'd like to point out that my job is normally the set up/clean up.  Cooking has always been a point of contention for me, and (another confession here), has caused me on more than one occasion to feel like I'm a big flop when it comes to being a stay-at-home mom.  However, I'm trying to keep those thoughts at bay as they do nothing to build me up.

We all have our weak areas and it's important to acknowledge them, but in doing so, not allow them to diminish us.  This is where I constantly have to remind myself that my identity is not based on my strengths, weaknesses, abilities, possessions, or status.  When we look at those things we usually will either have an inflated or deflated view of ourselves, but when we realize that our worth and value have nothing to do with us and everything to do with God and His Nature inside of us everything comes into the correct perspective, and here's the best part...God is then able to turn those weaknesses into strengths because it's no longer our ability working, but His ability working through us.  Isn't that great?!

So, I may not be a master chef yet, and with this new challenge of healthy-eating before me I'm definitely swimming in uncharted territory, but I'm encouraged to know that I don't have to let my weakness diminish me and, who knows, perhaps with God's help, I could turn out to be the next Julia Child, or...I'd even settle for being able to make a meal or two without panicking. ;) 

Oh, and by the way...after all of my pacing back and forth between the cupboard and refrigerator, when I finally stopped to ask God what I should make for dinner...His reply was... "Chicken and rice with some salsa".  Guess I did learn a thing or two from my missions trip this summer (we ate that meal so often a song was created about it.  Still not eating pb&j though). ;)

Chicken & Rice with some salsa

They loved it!

Take care friends!  Until next time...

Crystal

What Does the Fox Really Say?

I don't know if you believe that God speaks to us through nature and the everyday things around us or not, but I certainly do, and I believe that He's been speaking through a....fox of all things lately.  So, the question is, "what does the fox say?" ;)

Yes, I know what you're thinking, and to be honest, I thought the exact same thing when I applied my breaks to avoid hitting a rather large fox standing in the middle of the road last Sunday.  In fact, I nearly reversed the car to go ask it, as, instead of running, the fox stood still at the end of a lane way.  I thought it rather strange to see a fox in town, let alone a fox of that size, but it seems as though the fox has moved into the area and has been spotted more than once, by many people.  This is not your typical sneaky fox, but is rather bold and forward, showing himself on sidewalks and parking lots.  This got me to thinking, what is God saying through this fox?  The first thing that came to me was the scripture "Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom." (Song of Solomon 2:15, NIV)

Then this morning in the devotional I was reading the scripture was from Romans 6 about how we are now free from the power of sin's dictates.  The particular passage I was reading was this,

"That means you must not give sin a vote in the way you conduct your lives.  Don't give it the time of day.  Don't even run little errands that are connected with that old way of life.  Throw yourselves wholeheartedly and full-time - remember, you've been raised from the dead! - into God's way of doing things.  Sin can't tell you how to live.  After all, you're not living under that old tyranny any longer.  You're living in the freedom of God." (Romans 6: 12-14, MSG)

 When I read the part about not running little errands connected with that old way of life, I was struck with how many times in a single day I find myself serving Christ as a whole, yet continuing to "run little errands" for that old slave-driving sinful nature.  So many times I find that my whole day can get pulled off track by one little thought that I've dwelt on too long.  These little thought's, (or foxes) are usually lies planted in my mind as small seeds, but by not ripping them up with truth from the Word of God they are given power and grow into something larger that quickly wraps around me like a vine, choking out the life-giving freedom of Christ.

Many times those little lies will list off all of the reasons that I am justified in believing them.  Here's the key to overcoming when this happens,

"I'm using this freedom language because it's easy to picture.  You can readily recall, can't you, how at one time the more you did just what you felt like doing - not caring about others, not caring about God - the worse your life became and the less freedom you had?  And how much different is it now as you live in God's freedom, your lives healed and expansive in holiness?" (Romans 6:19, MSG)

As soon as those lies start listing reasons and justifications, take a moment to remember; remember where those lies took you last time, how they reeled you in like a fish caught on a hook so that you were no longer free to stop believing them on your own accord, but instead were attached and enslaved to their power.  Then remember the freedom you are empowered with in that moment to expose the lie for what it is when you embrace the truth of God's Word.

This is my challenge to myself and to you for the next time those little foxes come knocking at our door.  Let's stop letting those little foxes in before they grow to be the big, bold kind like what I spotted last week.  All of that being said, we now may just have an answer to that question of, "what does the fox say?" :)

Have a fabulous weekend,
Crystal

PS: I know you're going to want to listen to this catchy little number now, (I did myself) so I've saved you the trouble. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jofNR_WkoCE (I apologize in advance for getting it stuck in your head...kind of...haha)

Peanut Butter Surprise

Good evening to all of you fabulous folk!  In honor of it being "Throwback Thursday" as the young 'uns like to call it, today's topic is a little throwback to earlier this week, and at the risk of sounding redundant I may throw in the topic of "change" yet again. ;)  I have faith in you my reader, that you are devoted and committed to my blog and will press on past the redundancy to find the golden nugget hidden somewhere in this mess.

Diets...they really stink, right?  (The appropriate answer here is "yes")  I mean, you can be over the moon in one moment, and come crashing down in a blur of sugar-induced frenzy in the next moment, finding yourself enslaved to a demanding scale and those pants that just seemed to shrink overnight.  It's just not right people!  Why do we do this to ourselves?!  Media...why do you do this to us? (Money....they do it all for the money...and don't even get me started on that topic or we will never get to the point of this one) :)

Okay, refocus.  So, after watching an amazing documentary with my husband last week and feeling very enlightened into the food industry, we decided to change some things in our food choices.  Oddly enough, this was not a New Years resolution and was the furthest thing from our minds at the time...but it's funny how God has a bigger plan and better timing than what we can dream up in our tiny minds.  Anyways, we made a decision to kick the refined sugars to the curb....well....as much as we can...(we can't go completely health nuts or I'll go nuts!!!).  So in an effort to better our health (note I said "health", not "weight") we're going to begin making our bread (got any recipes?), replace processed white sugar with raw sugar, find flour substitutes, omit "glucose-fructose" from our diet as much as possible, drink more water, less concentrated fruit juice (I was already doing the water one...yay me!), and eat/drink more veggies and fruits (smoothie recipes anyone?).  (Wow, that was kind of a boring list to say and I'm sure read....)

100% Natural Peanut Butter,
or what I've more accurately dubbed it, "Peanut Slop"

So after being stranded in the house this week for three days straight after a huge blizzard, it was getting to be slim pickings in the house for food, and being consistent with our new healthy eating plan I elected to have a berry/peanut butter smoothie for breakfast.  I'm not sure if any of you have ever had 100% Natural/Peanut Peanut Butter, but if you are a newbie, like myself, please take note that it is NOT, I repeat, NOT, the same consistency of regular smooth, sweet, (I've got to stop, I'm drooling) peanut butter.  After grabbing the jar and opening it up rather hastily, and obviously on an angle that the Peanut Butter was not fond of, I found myself cleaning up this lovely little mess pictured here.

I wasn't even aware that this was possible!  Why?? Why didn't anyone tell me about this?! (Actually, now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure my husband may have mentioned something.)  It was in that moment that I thought, "this is going to be much more difficult than I thought."  (This is also further proof that I am a time bomb in the kitchen and should never be left alone to prepare a meal...Ever)  I am proud to tell you all though that I pressed through my setback and ended up with a rather tasty and filling smoothie after all was said and done.

Peanut Slop Fruit Smoothie = Win!

What is the point of all of this you may ask?  Well first of all, and slightly selfishly, I'll admit; to keep me committed to our new eating choices knowing that I am accountable to all five of you readers if I ever give up and quit.  Secondly, and here's the redundant part, to say that change is inevitable, but when we stop changing, we stop growing.  And lastly, our health comes from the inside out, based on what we put in to our bodies, much like our beauty comes from the inside out based on what we put into our heart.  You may feel like a mess right now, or like you are failing miserably, whether it's regarding your health, your beauty, or another struggle altogether; but please know this, just because you failed once or even one hundred times you are not a failure.  You only fail when you fail to try, or better than try, cry out to God for His help.  To see real change we must change from the inside out, and the only One that can truly bring lasting change is Jesus because He is the only One who will never give up on us and Who can see us as a finished product.  He sees us from the inside out and turns our messes into something beautiful, even the peanut slop kind of messes. ;) Check out this song and lyrics, which is really like a prayer:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rj6_TVmMWY
Lyrics: http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Something-Beautiful-lyrics-Jars-Of-Clay/EFEFDD71FD7D0DA448256BF3002FDCE2

Take care friends.  You are a beautiful work of art fashioned by a loving Father, and the best is yet to come when you let Him in.

♥ Crystal

Something Old, Something New

Hell-o-o-o-o-o  (Shout out to Mrs. Doubtfire here) there all of you wonderful world wide web people!  It's such an honor to have you all joining me for this my first-ever-in-the-history-of-my-short-life blog.  In case we've never met, I've included a little picture here so that you don't feel like a stranger. 

Hee hee, just kidding, that's actually my crazy younger brother posing as Gumby.  Below is the real me with my lovely family.

Awww, aren't we cute?  Seriously though, Adam is quite the looker; it's no wonder Warren and Quinn are such cuties. ;)  

Anyways, the point I was wanting to make on here is that we're never too old to try something new.  (Ahh, and you were thinking this was a wedding blog...misleading? Perhaps, but it's too late now, you're here. I win, ha ha!)  

Take this blog for example, it's something that has been nothing more than a fleeting thought over the past year, yet as we enter this new year, I find myself taking on this crazy venture.  And as if this is not a big enough change for me, I'm also turning my love of creating into a small business (It's on Facebook people, if that isn't legit, I don't know what is...check it: https://www.facebook.com/somethingbeautifuldesigns ).  

Have there been challenges? Yes. Have there been doubts? Heck there's been Doubts and Fires (yes, I went there).  Have I given up?!  No...well not yet...this is only my first blog though. ;) Kidding (I hope). Can I do it on my own? Absolutely not.  This is where my hope in Jesus reminds me that I can do no great thing on my own, but I can do all things through Him who gives me strength.

So as you look back on the old, whether it be the closing of 2013, the decisions you've made in the past, the unfulfilled dreams and desires, or the sip of old milk that just slipped past your tonsils, remember this quote,

"There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind.” ~ C.S. Lewis

So with that being said, let's make a decision today and every moment of this year to choose faith in Christ over fear, hope in who He says we are over despair, and His Perfect Love over bitterness.  

Happy 2014!  May you be blessed with the grace of God this year to do all that He's called you to do.