God's Love for Me

Valentine’s Day showcases what our world thinks about love. Flowers, chocolates, hearts, dinner dates.  These are all feelings. Nice, fuzzy feelings; there’s nothing wrong with them. But they aren’t sustainable. You can’t sustain a marriage on fuzzy feelings. You can’t build a parent/child relationship on fuzzy feelings. And Jesus didn’t save the world on fuzzy feelings.

It wasn’t enough for Him to watch from heaven and tell us that He loved us. We would have heard words we could not believe as we lived and died and went to hell. Words and feelings are not believable as love. Words fall on deaf ears until we see love in action.

1 John 3:16 states, “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.”  “Perceive” means “to know; to understand; to observe.” The only reason we know God loves us is that He acted on it. He sent His Son to die for me. He laid down His life for mine.  1 John 4: 9-10 says, “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”  God sent and Jesus came.

Jesus’ coming to earth shows us His love.  It is only as I understand God’s love for me that I can begin to love others properly. Stop and think about what redemption meant to Jesus. No, really. Stop and think about it. That is love.  I’ve been studying God’s love for me over the past few months and it’s amazing.

The Bible says

Nothing can separate me from God’s love.  Rom. 8:38-39

God takes pleasure in me. Ps. 149:4, 147:11

God holds my hand. Is. 41:13

God delights in me. Ps. 18:19

God loves me with an everlasting love even when I sin. Jer. 31:3

God had a great love for me even when I was a sinner. Eph. 2:4

God’s love is beyond my knowledge. Eph. 3:17-19

That last passage in Ephesians states that I must know God’s love to be “filled with all the fullness of God.”  That’s what I want. I want God to fill me. I want God to be what splashes out on others as they interact (and bump into!) me. 

Tomato Alfredo Penne

Last week, I needed to go to the grocery store and I had some hamburger for dinner. I don't remember what I planned on making but I didn't want to cook or eat it! So I stood in the kitchen and thought, "What can I make?" And in case you haven't noticed, I love pasta! This is what I came up with ingredients that were in the cabinet. And we loved it!! It reheated wonderfully too. 

(Note: you could use a jar of marinara or a can of spaghetti sauce for my three tomato items. I was using up pantry ingredients.)

1 pound hamburger

1 onion, diced

1 tsp. minced garlic

1 tsp. each garlic powder, onion powder, steak seasoning

1/2 tsp. each salt and pepper

1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced

3 oz. tomato paste

small can tomato sauce

1 can diced tomatoes

1 tsp. each oregano and basil

1 cup whipping cream

2 cups spinach, sliced

3/4 pound penne, 

1/2 cup parmesan

1 cup shredded cheese

(That's a long list. Apparently I had a lot of stuff in the cabinet to need to go to the store.)

Cook pasta according to package directions. Brown hamburger (with salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and steak seasoning) with onions and garlic. Drain off excess grease.

Add mushrooms to pan and cook for three minutes.

Drain pasta.

Add tomato pasta, sauce, and tomatoes to pan. I dislike tomato chunks so I blended all of mine together to make it smooth. Stir in oregano and basil.

Stir in whipping cream.

You don't have to slice up your spinach unless you want to. I prefer not to bite into a huge chunk of spinach. (I'm sounding really picky in this post.) Plus it's prettier this way.

Stir in spinach.

Add pasta and parmesan cheese.

Pour mixture into casserole dish and top with cheese. I used a mixture of cheddar and mozzarella because that's what was left in the fridge. Bake at 400 until cheese is browned and sauce is bubbly.

Seriously yummy! Tomato alfredo sauce is better than regular tomato sauce in my opinion. We'll definitely be making this again!

Quotes

Christ has no hands but our hands to do His work today, He has no feet but our feet to lead men in the way, He has no tongue but our tongue to tell men how He died, He has no help but our help to bring them to His side.  --Annie Johnston Flint

We are the only way people have to hear about Christ. Am I doing my part? Who am I telling about Christ? Am I teaching my children about Jesus? Do I live out my calling from the Bible in our home? Today, I'll spend some time checking my heart, checking my life. This life is God's. I want to use it for Him, not waste it for today.

Friday Favorites

Our church supports a missions team to Peru. Several of the families have been to our church and I recently started reading the blog of one of the families. I have never met this couple but I love this post. Everyone should read this. This is the attitude each of us should all have about the life God has called us too. I know I felt challenged and convicted. 

On a lighter note....

Micah and I made tortillas on Wednesday. He had so much fun. But beware if you give a two year old a rolling pin! 

And flour is very interesting! 

I made these homemade cheese crackers. They are yummy and they took about twenty minutes from measuring the cheese to pulling them out of the oven. Yes, Pinterest is seriously amazing. 

The hair is long enough for a ponytail! Hurray! Although I'm rethinking growing it out because Baby Kevin is a hair puller. Micah never did that. And let's pretend that the light is my halo...not just bad positioning for a picture. 

We bought this water bottle for Micah to use for a few days after his sippy cup broke. Our Wal-Mart has a poor selection so we ordered more online. When they got here, I took over this one. I used it for the first time yesterday and I love it! It holds 28 ounces and I drank three and half bottles of water! Go, me! 

Christmas: The Beginning of a Love Story

My husband and I began dating when I was 16.  And by dating I mean talking at school. We lingered in the hallways discussing our ball teams and summer plans.  We discussed our homework before school started. We joked around with friends while rushing to get to our locker and back to class.  I don’t have many specific memories of our early “dating” because it was just part of normal. Love stories can have quiet but significant beginnings.

A manger in a barn was an everday occurrence. So were women giving birth.  The start of the greatest love story in the history of the world was quiet. Only some shepherds were told that God had come to earth.  It was also significant. What great love called Jesus to leave heaven where He was adored and glorified as the Son of God! That same great love captured the Father’s heart. He loved me so much that He sent His Beloved from His presence for thirty-three years. Jesus came to suffer. He came to know temptation, to be persecuted and made fun of, to cause grief to those who loved Him. He came knowing the purpose. He came to die.

Photo Courtesy of Dan/Freedigitalphotos.net

The climax of the story is the cross. It’s powerful and life-changing. People take notice of an innocent man dying to save the world, not from some other enemy but from themselves. He came to save us from our own sin. To stand in our place and take our punishment.  Often we can feel pity for someone suffering at the hands of another, but rarely do we have sympathy for those suffering by their own actions. We think it serves them right or that they must be stupid.  Jesus loved us so much that He would come to take the punishment we brought upon ourselves.

We see God's love through His actions. 1 John 3:16 says, "Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." We can understand God's love because we see it lived out. It wasn't words or warm fuzzy feelings. It was actions that put our good above His.

This month we are celebrating the start of the ultimate love story. This love has transformed my heart and my life. May that love work through me to reach out to others.

If I Had Twitter...

There are some days I wish I had Twitter because I have a lot to say. So if I had Twitter, here's what today would have looked like. 

-All the cleaning's done and last load of laundry is washing before 9:30!
-The weather is gorgeous! Can I keep it forever?
-Glad I can tell my problems to Jesus and He won't tell anybody else!
-Micah patted himself on the back when I said "good job." This kid cracks me up!
-The road crew is here grading the driveway. #NewAddressWithoutMoving
-Playing with Micah on the porch reminds me of our wonderful summer and makes me miss being pregnant. Yes, weird, I know.
-Love Psalms. So comforting.
-New post-nap/pre-dinner routine is working well! Much more efficient and productive!
-Feeling super skinny this weekend! Whoot for post-baby skinniness! Probably thanks to consistent exercise.....and the Dr. Pepper I've not been drinking.
-Found the drain stop in my makeup bag. Life is more interesting with children.
-Baby Kevin falling asleep as I carry him to bed? Consistency paying off!

A little recap of my day for you. And I've been playing with a new app on my iPad. I like these cool collages of my family! 

AND.... Baby Kevin was three months old yesterday!  How is that even possible? It makes me sad. But he's so fun. If you smile at him, he will smile back at you. Every. Single. Time. Love it!

Quotes

There is only one relationship that matters, and that is your personal relationship to a personal Redeemer and Lord. Let everything else go, but maintain that at all costs, and God will fulfill His purpose through your life. One individual life may be of priceless value to God's purpose and yours may be that life.   Oswald Chambers

What else do I need to say?