If You Can't Take The Heat...Well, You Know.

This last few weeks have been very interesting. We have sensed the Holy Spirit trying to tell us something, or do something, or...something. RedDaddy and I have felt unsettled in our spirits. Which of course, caused us to be unsettled elsewhere.

I won't bore you with the details, but many areas of our lives came under question. Not the least of which, was our ministry. I'm sure you have never heard that from us before. Anyway...

Sunday mornings he and I are part of a leadership team that prays with our pastor before service. This week I couldn't go, so RedDaddy went alone. Pastor had a guest there who shared some things pertaining to leadership, ministry leadership in particular.

He talked about gold being refined. Before you think you've heard this before, stay with me. He shared about the heat, the dross being skimmed off, yes. But then, it got very close to home.

He said that after the impurities are removed, there is a further refinement that must take place if the gold is to be BEST quality. You see, there are other precious metals in gold ore; metals like zinc, copper, lead, and silver. These other metals are good, useful, precious even, but they are not Pure Gold. Each of them have a use, many uses, but not the same use as gold.

What this man of God shared was that most Christian leaders give up on the refining process before the other "precious" materials are removed. They make it through the super heating, and through the removal of impurities, but when the Goldsmith begins to remove the good additives to make them truly pure, they throw in the towel.

It affected RedDaddy and I profoundly! We decided right then and there to allow God to remove anything and everything from our lives...from our home, from our family, from our marriage, from our ministry, from our jobs, from our heats, from where ever...that was not the BEST.   

We have been making life changing decisions left and right! This is a thrilling time for us. A time of stripping away the fluff and getting down to what's REAL! Oh, Hallelujah!!

I was reminded of the way in which the goldsmith determines when the gold is truly pure...it reflects HIS FACE!

I'm Curious if This Works.

Check out this link and let me know if you can read my SparkPeople post without logging in...Kay?

Desperate Measures.

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Take, Take, Take it ALL!

In our last home my big, garden tub was everyone's choice for a bath. We always bathed the youngest two together in that tub for convenience sake. Of course, bubble were required for both them and me!!

One day I was heading for a much deserved soak, and was filling the tub. Scarlet (4) popped in my bedroom to tattletale on someone ask a question. She stopped talking and stared into my bathroom.

"Mommy, are you going to take a bubble bath?"

"Yes, Honey, I am."

"Are you going to use MY bubbles?"

"Well, I was going to, yes. Is that alright?"

"Um. Yes. You can use my bubble bath, but I really don't want you to play with my toys."

Of course, I held the laughter just until the door closed!

I got in that hot, bubbly tub and thought about what she had said. It occured to me that I have said that very thing to my Parent often.

How many times have I told My Father, "Yes, you can use my this, but I really don't want you to play with my that."

Have you ever said, "You can have my time, but I really don't want you to play with my money." Or, "You can have my Sunday morning, but I really don't want you to play with my Tuesday afternoon." Or, "You can have my job, but I really don't want you to play with my marriage."

Just say it with me: Ouch! Hallelujah!

Today, I'm inviting Him to play with ALL my toys...every last one! Why don't you join me?

I Don't Know What Happened.

Really. I don't. I was checking email, updating my Nutrition page on SparkPeople, and WHAM! The next thing I know I'm crying.

In fact, this post is being typed through tears. 

This is what landed me smack-dab in the middle of the Ugly Cry: 
Southern Fried Pies The Best Recipe

No, it's not because I should NEVER EVER eat anything remotely resembling these as long as I live. It is because I HAVE EATEN dozens of these gastronomical wonders! I thought they were lost to me forever...until this morning.

See, my Grandmother made chocolate fried pies for me often. Once, I even made them with her. But, alas, I was only nine or ten years old at the time and had no idea how important the recipe would be to me twenty-eight fifteen years later.

After Grandmother ran off with Jesus, the whole family began a search for her recipes. Being a true Southern woman, she had precious few recipes. Fried Pies NOT being one of them!

I'm not surprised; this was the lady who made all her own church dresses, and skirt and jacket suits, herself...without patterns. She used to shop at Goodwill for dresses or blouses that had just the right collar or sleeve, and then take the thing apart to use as a pattern for that particular dress element.

She once laughed at me when I asked her to buy me a pattern for a skirt I wanted to make.

"Let me see that pattern. Well that's just a basic A-line with a little kick-pleat in the back. You just need a front and a back, a waist-band, and a zipper."

"Well, how do I know how much fabric to buy?"

"As small as you are [yes, she actually used the word small to refer to ME] you can get a front and a back out of the width, so all you need to buy is the length."

"Okay, but how much fabric do I need to buy?"

This went on for some minutes before she just decided to make me the skirt that very afternoon.

She baked, cooked, sewed, and quilted all the same way. Radar, I guess. I'm finding I have inherited that; I haven't fully developed it yet, however. Which is why I haven't been able to duplicate the Fried Pies.

My dad, his brother, my cousins have all been on the same quest to answer the question "How the heck did she make those?!"

This recipe is it. I just know it. I don't even have to try it out. I read it and was immediately standing in her 1957 kitchen, right in the corner up against the lazy susan. She was telling me to "just mix up a little pie crust", and then "just make a little paste out of the cocoa" , and finally "we'll just fry him up in the skillet".  Oh, I was there! She was there! I could smell it!

And the tears are back. I miss her so much. When I was a kid I never imagined I'd feel this way; I never thought about Grandmother and Grandaddy not being just a phone call away. But now they are, and I miss them terribly. I think of them most every day, but usually it's a happy memory or a habit I learned from one of them that makes me smile. I often think how very much they would have enjoyed my kids. Only my oldest two had the opportunity to know them (I'm not even sure they remember).

But today I am grieving. All because in my search for a low-fat muffin recipe I "happened" on a treasure!

Yes, I am sheding sad tears, but also happy tears for I KNOW I will see them both soon...and in the mean time, we're gonna "fry up a little chocolate pie"!

Your Stunned Silence is Very Reassuring!

So, no takers on SparkPeople?  Alllllrighty then...

Moving on:

I'm thinking about resurrecting Tea Time Tuesday. What do you think? Was that something ya'll liked or was it just for me? Either way I may go for it.  Now that the weather is cooling here I'm craving tea. Of course, scones are hard to do low cal ;)

I have been trying my hand at low-fat baking. I'm pretty sure I'm related to Paula Deen, given our shared love of "buttah", so this has been quite a stretch for me. Applesauce has become my new best friend. Now I'm working on a substitute for butter ON my muffins, biscuits, etc.

Anyone have a low-fat option they like?

I'm torn between using the artificial sweeteners and fat substitutes, and using the real deal in moderation. Apparenly, it's that moderation thing that I tend to have trouble with.

We had a funny the other night. I asked a family member if she had any sweetener for RedDaddy's iced tea. She said, "I do, but you know it's poison, right?"  I replied, "Well, I don't want him to go before me, so I'd better have some poison, too."  I don't think she appreciated my attempt at humor...oh well.

What's your take on the subject? Are you in the low-fat-low-cal-at-any-cost camp, or the natural-even-if-it-means-a few-extra-pounds camp?