Sabbath Seeking and Finding

.

(graphic from holy experience)

As morning guilds the skies

My heart awakening cries,

"May Jesus Christ be praised"...

As morning opens a new day and sleep slips away, I awake with my sweet daughter's hand holding mine. During the night, she tenderly placed her hand in mine. With my eyes still closed, my day begins with a smile, full of gratitude for this simple reminder of the greatest blessings of life bestowed upon me by my loving Saviour. As I slip quietly from my bed, hoping not to disturb my sleepy child, my first impulse is to respond to His loving gift with a gift of my own: My Sabbath celebration of His every day blessings. A thank you note stretching over time, starting with number one and journeying to number one thousand. (Click here to read about the 1000 Gift List.)

171.

Awakening to my daughter's hand

tenderly holding mine

172.

Our Friday breakfast tradition:

Yummy and nutritious home made banana-strawberry smoothies!

(My recipe is below)

173.

A beautiful time in the Word,

of openness and sharing,

and of lingering, heart-felt prayer

with a dear sister in the Lord

174.

Five, count 'em, five

bags of hand-me-down clothes,

given by two friends,

including specific things we needed

175.

Witnessing my mother continue to be healed

of her severe depression,

little baby steps at a time,

each one bringing great joy

176.

The opportunity to work out at a ladies-only gym.

I won third place for losing the most pounds and inches there in 2008.

Onward to a more healthy me...

Yippee!

177.

Witnessing the truly changed life

of a friend who had been an alcoholic his whole life

who accepted Jesus Christ recently.

What a blessing! What an amazing God we serve!

178.

(papers are covering children's names)

Being taught how to love others as Jesus says to

by my six year old

when I read his teacher's note

that he had volunteered to take his classmate's punishment

so that this boy would not have to go to the principal's office.

He did this, even though this child had stolen a toy of his

from his backpack weeks earlier

and has not returned it.

The teacher accepted and explained to the class

how this is like what Jesus did for us.

The Gospel seeds were sown,

spread by tiny hands.

For such is the Kingdom of God.

179.

Steadfast peace and assurance from the Holy Spirit

as our family continues to experience His unexpected provisions,

all the more appreciated since my husband's lay off months ago,

still without a job with an income to meet our needs.

I am not losing my mind and that

is nothing short of a miracle from Him!

180.

The blessing of fellowship via email

with a sister in Christ

who also has the privilege

of being the mother of a special needs child...

Community across cyberspace

Smoothie Recipe:

4 servings

1 c. organic low fat vanilla yogurt

1 c. 2% organic milk (If I'm not making it for kids, I use skim milk)

1 c. ice cubes

1 t. vanilla extract

3 shakes of a box of powdered skim milk (to boost the calcium content)

2.5 T. brown sugar (otherwise the kids won't drink it!)

2 bananas (This is why we do it on Friday... a great use of those very ripe bananas towards the end of the week! Plus, did you know that you can freeze bananas? Just peel & wrap tightly in plastic wrap. They don't turn brown in the freezer. Frozen bananas are GREAT in smoothies!)

a small handful of frozen strawberry slices (or fresh when in season)

Blend the above in a blender. That's it! Serve with a whole grain item, like whole wheat English muffins, whole grain cinnamon toast, etc. so that your body absorbs the sugars more slowly and you can avoid a sugar high/crash.

Since we have a larger than average family, I make it in two blenders, doubling the recipe. And I actually put all the non-frozen ingredients in the two blender carafes the night before and refrigerate. I also set out the blender "bottoms" along with our cups and set the table for breakfast, so all I have to do in the morning is pop the carafes into the blender, add a thing or two, and zap! Done in seconds! What peace and joy is brought to my morning by doing what I can the night before.  :)

I have to mention, too, that I love my blenders! One of them belonged to my husband when we married and the proof is its fading 1970's almond color! It goes great with my 1960's avacado green blender that was passed on to me by my mother. It actually has a glass carafe, which I was blessed to replace at the thrift store for $2 because the original was cracked. We are so vintage cool at my house! LOL  Actually, I love using used items rather than buying new. It is a small, yet meaningful way to reject consumerism, seek contentment, and lessen our use of creation's resources. I'd prefer to leave it as God made it, as much as is possible.

.