Saturday, September 26, 2009

My Life Verse

Well, y'all did pretty good on the most recent poll - "What's my life verse?". But, there is only one right answer. My life verse is 2Timothy 1:7 "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." Wow, that's powerful. Just sit down and think about every little phrase in there....... Ü My back-up life verse (haha, if you wanna call it that) is Ephesians 6:10-12. All the verses listed are on my blog and they have made tremendous impacts in my life. I think the greatest thing about Bible verses is that when you actually apply them to your life, then you see how much they really mean... how true they are. And you can see how serious and powerful God's Word is. Because it's alive! There's no word like it - no letter - no reading... no other book. I haven't read the whole Bible yet, so for now, that's my life verse. Just wanted to share that with y'all, in hopes that you'll find the promises... and power of the Lord through it.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Fun Stuff!

Well tonight when my brother and I, two other people from the youth group, and our youth pastor and his wife went out visiting our friends (which we never got to really do because we got lost twice and then another person wasn't even home) we got to talking about my trip I'm going on this weekend. They tried to get me convicted about not being there on Sunday (like they called me "a heathen child" and "an unfaithful wretch", "you sinner!".... but they were just kidding.... they're great. I love 'em!). Anyway, it did not convict me - just made me feel so loved and important (*snickers*)! They said "Ya know how you can't walk without your little toe? Well, you are like that toe - without you the church is disfunctional. We cannot operate without you. Even though you're little, you're a very vital part of the church." So I'm a very little person, yet so important! haha... They wanted to make me feel bad for leaving, and I kind of do feel bad.... I'm gonna miss ALL of them on Sunday!!!! We had fun tonight. They took my brother and I, and one of our friends to the donut shop...... yummmmmm.....

Actually, my friend and I had a show-down about Tech and Texas (the wretched Longhorns who are too bull-headed... haha... for their own good)! She tried the oldest attack in the book "You don't like Longhorns!? You're a sinner - you need to get right!" So I was classy and in such a sparkling way, replied, "Well, you know..... wisdom is justified of her children." Oh yeah - gotcha girl! (Check out Matthew 11:19 and you'll totally understand what I meant by this). Oh, I'm so proud of myself, I got her on that!

So, God bless all of you guys, (and gals), please pray for my trip with my missionary friend, that God will keep us safe. Ü Til next week!!!!

I'll be Gone This Weekend!

Where am I going? Somewhere far, far away......

No, just to Kansas. I'm going with my missionary friend on her excursions of deputation before she leaves for a wonderful place - the Ukraine! She has a ministry with the kids there at an orphanage..... oh how I WISH I could go too! So I'll be gone with her this Saturday through Monday. Please pray for our safety! I'm kind of nervous because I don't know what the church is like. Some churches are so warm and inviting, welcoming you right into the family (that's my church!) but some are cold and lifeless - God help us (if that's the kind of church we go to on Sunday!). But through it all she and I will have soooooooooooooooo much fun. She's an awesome girl and I'm crazy. Together we're both unstoppable and part-controllable...... don't worry, we'll behave. Maybe I'll have some pics to put up when I get back. I don't think I've ever been to Kansas before......

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Ten Thousands of People!



"...Many there be which say of my soul, There is no help for him in God. Selah. But thou, O LORD, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head. I cried unto the LORD with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill. Selah. I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the LORD sustained me. I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, that have set themselves against me round about...Salvation belongeth unto the LORD: thy blessing is upon thy people. Selah." Psalm 3:2-8

















Dandelion Eater

So, last time I did a post on herbs, it was about ginger. I am so ashamed that I haven't done any more since then!!! 53 posts so far, and only 2 have been about herbs! I mean, here I am claiming to be very interested in herbs and I hardly ever talk about them. I think it's soooooooooooooo important that we use the natural (100% natural) resources that God gave us from day 1 to keep ourselves healthy. Our bodies are the Lord's temple, and I personally am passionate about feeding and nurturing this temple with things that come straight from the hand of God. So, without further ado.................







Dandelion. You probably know it as a pesky weed that grows ALL AROUND YOUR HOUSE (outside of course - haha). I think the flower is really pretty, but some mothers don't agree - especially when their two year old runs into the kitchen with a big smile and a handful of them. What those mothers don't know, is that while their toddler tottles back outside to pick some more, and they (loving mothers that they are) secretly throw the weedies away, they are actually throwing away tea, coffee, salad toppings - and the roots? - yummy stuff there. Actually, my Mom's herb book says that you can peel the roots (yes, dandelion roots!), slice them, and cook them in a pan, all smothered in butter, then serve them seasoned with salt and paprika...... I might try it with cayenne pepper and parsley. Anyway, I thought it sounded good. The roots can also be used to make coffee.....somehow!


The flowers can be plucked off the stem and put in a salad - *edible flowers*! And while you're at it, go ahead and throw some leaves in there with the lettuce - or just do an all-out dandelion salad! A lemon-dill dressing or Greek dressing would be great - it would bring out the yummy flavors of dandelion. Yes, there are some bad flavors - actually mostly bad. haha!




Let's try this salad: be a little daring and use dandelion leaves in place of lettuce, and layer your salad with feta cheese (or any other cheese), sliced purple onion, chunks of tomato, and purple grapes. Then do this 3-2-1 Dressing. It has 3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar, 1 tablespoon honey, and then add a minced garlic clove, about 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and then blend this all together. Pour your dressing on and top your salad with a few dandelion flowers. OK, at least ONE of y'all better do this!
You can boil the roots or the leaves and make a tea - just a plain dandelion tea! The tea (I will be honest) is very, very bitter, so you would of course only want to use it for medicinal purposes. Add a sweetener like Stevia or agave nectar, and it's bearable.
Now for the medicinal examples.........
The tea helps your liver to be stable. Got liver problems? Dandelion will help tremendously with that - just be tough and get over the taste. It is known as one of the best liver cleansers. The coffee, I'm pretty sure, is only for pleasure with healthiness involved (though I don't know who drinks coffee for pleasure - blah!). If you do drink coffee because you like it, you're probably gonna like dandelion coffee, too, is my guess. The leaves are good for the liver, also. If you're really crazy and want to be really daring, blend up some dandelion leaves in a fruit smoothie some time! It's pretty good! Next, dandelion is also one of the best blood purifiers. Low blood pressure, high blood pressure, "bad blood" (wow, that's a little 17th century), dandelion has got ya covered. It has in it all the nutritive salts for the blood, so all the deficiencies in blood salts that cause anemia are taken away! It's also good for your spleen, pancreas, good for treating kidney stones (which my youth pastor has right now, please pray for him), gall stones, indigestion, diabetes, even Alzheimer's disease!!!!! It's rich in many nutrients, vitamins and minerals. Calcium is one of the main minerals. When used externally, it helps skin diseases such as eczema, acne, age spots.... What you do is crush the fresh leaves, boil them for 10 minutes, strain and apply. You could probably even add that to a face scrub -I don't know, just some thoughts. If you take the stem, squeeze all of the milky juice out of it, and then apply that to a wart every day, about 3X a day, it will be gone very soon (less than a week), depending on how big the wart is. So you can drink to your health, eat to your health, and apply to your health! There are sooooooo many different things you can do with dandelion and none of these remedies are designed to fail! But I would suggest, that if you're really interested, you should try to teach yourself. I won't stop sharing herb stuff with y'all, but there is so much, I can't fit it all into my blog. We people of America would be so much more able and healthy if we gave herbs a chance. In other countries, herbs is all the medicine they have over there! No side-effects, no counter-reactions (unless you're allergic!) But most likely not. So next time you're about to mow the lawn, pick your dandelion first. Enjoy!
*If you are on any medication, always talk to your doctor before using herbs- the medication and herbs may interact in a negative way.