Month: April 2021

Soften The Heart: Devotional #4

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“So he answered and said, “ ‘ You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself .’ “

Luke 10:27

If you study and pay attention you will begin to recognize how we are all interwoven creating life itself. We lean on one another without realizing, we depend on more than we believe or even know, all of us representing a small piece that make up a grand infinite masterpiece.

We are one. When you love someone, some thing, you are loving not just that something but yourself. Made up of the same universe. All in this life and unknown together. God is all around you, in every thing that you see, touch, smell, hear, taste, God is in you, God is in us.

Everything is deserving of love and every thing needs love. We must accept and appreciate the cycles and have faith in all that is. Have faith that no matter what, love will always grow through the mud the same way a lotus does. Love will grow through the suffering and the obstacles.

Choose love today, and every day.

Soften The Heart: Devotional #3

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“Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy or sell, and make a profit”;

whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.”

James 4:13-14

Life is precious like a gem and fragile like porcelain. It is so easy to get caught up in the web of this fast paced world and forget that we are not promised tomorrow. That our futures are not guaranteed. What we have is the present. What we have is a gift. And this is something we need to constantly remind ourselves. But many of us have difficulty living in the present moment. We become anchored to our past or become too caught up on a future that we know nothing of. I believe we may remain hopeful of our futures and I believe our past continues to teach us; the same way re- reading a favorite book in different stages of your life changes your perspective. However we must also accept that many things in life are out of our control. Coming to terms with this reality, that our lives are faster than a blink of an eye when you’re looking at the bigger picture feels incredibly surreal. But maybe going through this earthly life is the only way to know God. That this life is a grace of its own to know Gods love and sovereignty.

Let every day of your life be filled with passion, purpose, forgiveness, grace, mercy, and love. Be grateful for each day. Hug and hold your loved ones close and thank God for this opportunity and chance to experience love.

Cream Cheese Frosting

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Cream Cheese Frosting

This amount of frosting is good for 24 cupcakes or a 9×13 size cake. There may be a little extra just to eat! Yum!

What You Need:

1 8oz pack of cream cheese (softened)

1/2 cup (1stick) of unsalted butter (softened)

2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar

1/4 teaspoon of salt

A small squeeze of a lemon (optional)

Steps:

1. Combine all ingredients into a medium sized mixing bowl except for the lemon. Mix well until smooth and creamy.

2. Now take the lemon and squeeze just a little bit of lemon juice to give the frosting a sweet tangy taste. Mix well. Taste, and add more if needed.

3. Spread on cupcakes, muffins, breads, whatever your little heart desires.

Note: store any left over frosting in the fridge. Frosting is good for 3-5 days.

If it’s looking like this picture below the cream cheese or butter may not have been softened enough. No worries though! Just let the frosting sit out for a bit. Then mix again with an electric mixture.

A little lumpy, I knew the butter wasn’t soft enough!

I let it sit out and then we re-mixed it. Smooth and creamy, just what we wanted!

Enjoy my precious gems!

Simple Breakfast Tacos

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Simple Breakfast Tacos

What You Need:

6 eggs

1 1/2 tablespoons of milk (eye it)

6 pieces of chopped up ham or turkey lunch meat

1/4 or 1/2 diced jalapeño (depending on your heat level)

1/4 of a purple onion diced (more or less)

A spoonful of jarred minced garlic

2 times around the pan of olive oil (about 2 tablespoons)

1 large avocado sliced

A couple of dashes of your favorite hot sauce

Salt, pepper, and oregano

Steps:

1. Whisk together your eggs, milk, and season with salt, pepper and a little bit of oregano.

2. Coat your pan with the olive oil and add the garlic. Then add your jalapeño, onion, and turkey or ham. Sauté until soft and a little brown. (You can also raise the heat to give it a little crisp)

3. Add egg mixture to veggies and meat and let the magic happen. Scramble as you would with basic scrambled eggs.

4. Serve on heated corn tortillas with sliced avocado, topped with hot sauce.

Delish!

A visual of how much I used of onion, jalapeño, and meat.
6 eggs, milk, salt and pepper
Heated tortillas on the pan
Hot sauce is a must!

Enjoy! Happy breakfast, brunch, lunch, or dinner!

Soften The Heart: Devotional #2

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“And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance”

Romans 5:3

Let’s define some of these words first to grasp a better idea of what this scripture may mean. A tribulation is a cause of great suffering or trouble. Perseverance is defined as “continued effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties, failure, or opposition.”

Back to the scripture, our pain brings out the will to not give up. It pushes us, it makes us stronger. It continues to say that our troubles are what give us hope and shape our character.

When hard things happen we must have faith. It’s the love in our hearts that persevere. May this scripture encourage you to dig deep into your pain and to find out what it has taught you. What has it made you realize? What has it made you wonder? Pray about it. Ponder it. Sometimes we have to go through a dark forest in order to see a beautiful sunrise. And when we see that sunrise we give hope to those who are still in the forest.

Believe that you will come out on top, no matter what life has and will continue to throw at you…..God is with you, always. You just have to look around.

Soften The Heart: Devotional #1

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“And if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know.”

1 Corinthians 8:2

Life is mysterious. And sometimes, we don’t like that it’s a mystery. It feels like sometimes we are all walking on egg shells in life, looking over our shoulders just waiting for something to jump out. Who wants to live like that? Always afraid. Not that everyone is entirely afraid but uncertainty can make a person anxious and stressed. The unknown can be terrifying.

However, we aren’t suppose to have all the answers and even if we did, then what? We would become bored and not appreciate this incredible gift of life. Gratitude would seize to exist. If something is predictable then it doesn’t hold our attention, we lose focus because we already know what’s going to happen. Think of a TV show that you’ve watched over and over again. You already know what’s going to happen so now you aren’t watching intently. It becomes background noise while you do something else. It becomes comfort and less exciting than when you first watched the series.

I believe God wants us to enjoy life which is why so much is left unknown. He wants to keep us excited and involved. Life doesn’t come with a seatbelt, it keeps us constantly at the edge of our seats. And God knows that us not knowing everything is how it needs to be and how it should be. One day it all may be revealed but until then, embrace the mystery and the majesty of the almighty.