The Desperate Heart

My sister told me about a series of pod casts on the heart. I haven't had a chance to listen to them all yet, but I did listen to the first one and thought it was excellent! The Desperate Heart

This is based on 1 Samuel: Chapters 1 and 2.

Chapter 1:

Hannah has a desperate heart. She desperately wants a son, but God has made her womb barren. She decides to pray to the Lord and says that if He will give her a son, she will give him back to the Lord, all the days of his life. The Lord hears her prayer and gives her a son. Hannah then follows through with her promise and gives her son back to the Lord so that he can serve Him all the days of his life.

Chapter 2: vs. 1-10

Hannah sings a song of praise to the Lord for who He is and what He has done for her.

Now that you have the background of the chapters, lets see what all this means. 

In chapter 1, Hannah is very desperate. She understands this and turns to the Lord with her problem.

* These two steps are important. We first must recognize when we have a desperate heart and then turn to God with our problem. (no matter how big or small you think it may be)

*  The times that we are so desperate, so weak, and have no where to go, that's when he shows up in power.

* The great thing about the God we serve, he can bring GREAT things out of nothing AND there are no limits to what our God can do.

During Hannah's prayer, she made a sacrifice for JOY.  If she could have a son, then she would give him back to the Lord.

In verse 18, Hannah leaves a different person after saying her prayer. "So the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad."

* She left a different person just because her prayer was offered to the Lord. This shows that her desperate heart is becoming a dependent heart. (Dependent on God).

Having dependence on God means understanding that ALL of our things belong to HIM. (Children, marriage, money, job, etc.)

* All of our decisions belong to the Lord also.  (Marriage, finances, social life, entertainment, etc.)

*  To be totally dependent on the Lord doesn't just mean going to church, reading your bible or tithing. It means with everything you do, you are dependent on the Lord. With your time, conversations, money, energy and ambitions.

In Chapter 2, after Hannah's son Samuel is born, she says a prayer of praise to the Lord.

* Hannah understands that a desperate heart is only satisfied by knowing the Lord. ( This prayer is of praise!- She knows the Lord)

* She also understands who God is and what he has done for her.

* Hannah also prophetically spoke about the future and the king the Lord would give His people. ( Hannah gave her son to a God who would one day know what it was like to give his son, Jesus, to the world.)

Hannah's heart through these two chapters went from a desperate heart to a dependent heart to a delighted heart.

Desperate heart ---- Dependent heart ---- Delighted heart 

 

In what areas of your life do you need to start being fully dependent on God?

Dumpster Desk Makeover

Remember this desk I found next to a dumpster a couple of weeks ago?

Well with a couple coats of white paint, some fabric from Wal-Mart, and a whole lot of love, this is what it turned into!

I saw the idea to use fabric as drawer pulls here. They are much cuter and way cheaper than your typical drawer pull!

Weekend Trip to Grafton, IL

This past weekend my husband and I took a much needed romantic vacation to Grafton, IL. It's a cute little town about 3 hours from were we live. It's right where the Illinois and Mississippi rivers meet. Here are some pictures from our trip!

The Grafton Inn: We stayed in the upper right suite. It's right in the middle of town. We were able to walk everywhere except to the water park.

Our first night there we ate at the Loading Dock. It's a restaurant right on the river and they had a live band playing out on the deck.

We then walked down by the river and looked at the lighthouse!

Then we went and got some yummy ice cream at the Whole Scoop.

Saturday morning we got up and had some donuts from the town bakery. 

We then headed to some antique stores in town and the flea market! 

Here are my flea market finds! 

Next was the water park! Raging Rivers was a lot of fun and you could see the river from the park!

* Picture from ragingrivers.com

Saturday night we went and ate at the Big Kahuna. It was also right on the river and next to the marina.We had their delicious thin crust pizza!

 

Then we walked by the river & lighthouse one last time.

It was an awesome trip and we can't wait to go back!

Something's Cooking Sunday #6

Welcome to another week of Something's Cooking Sunday! To see past menu plans look HERE.

Here are our meal plans for the next two weeks:

June 24th - June 30th

Sunday: Leftovers

Monday: Bringing Italian Beef & Blackberry Cobbler to Home Team

Tuesday: Honey-Lime Tilapia; Green Beans; Cheddar Bay Biscuits

Wednesday: Sloppy Joes

Thursday: Shake N Bake Chicken; Green Beans; Cresent Rolls

Friday: Grilled Pork Chops; Mac & Cheese; Corn Bread

Saturday: Homemade Pizza


July 1st - July 7th

Sunday: Grilled Lemon Tilapia; Peas; Cresent Rolls

Monday: Steamed Chicken, Green Beans & Rice

Tuesday: Beef Enchiladas

Wednesday: Eating out

Thursday: Quesadillas

Friday: Rehearsal Dinner (Congrats Traci & Aaron!)

Saturday: Wedding (Congrats Traci & Aaron!)

Glazed Lemon Chicken & Rice

I've been finding some really yummy recipes on Pillsbury.com. This week I found one for Lemon Glazed Chicken and Rice.

The only change I made was using a green pepper instead of an orange pepper and didn't add the onion. I didn't have either at home.

However, this still turned out so delicious!! 

  

INGREDIENTS

1/3 cup water

1tablespoon fresh lemon juice

2teaspoons cornstarch

2tablespoons honey

1teaspoon grated lemon peel

1cup uncooked instant white rice

1cup water

1teaspoon olive or vegetable oil

1/2lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces

1/2teaspoon salt

3green onions, cut into 1-inch pieces

1small orange bell pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces

 

DIRECTIONS

1. In 2-cup measuring cup, stir 1/3 cup water, the lemon juice, cornstarch, honey and lemon peel until cornstarch is dissolved; set aside.  

2. Cook rice in 1 cup water as directed on package; keep warm.  

3. Meanwhile, in 10-inch nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add chicken; sprinkle with salt. Cook 2 to 3 minutes, stirring frequently, until chicken is brown. Stir in onions and bell pepper. Cook 2 to 4 minutes, stirring frequently, until chicken is no longer pink in center. Reduce heat to low.  

4. Stir lemon juice mixture in measuring cup. Pour into skillet; stir to coat chicken mixture. Cook until slightly thickened. Serve chicken mixture over rice.

Blackberry Jam

Proverbs 31:15- She get up while it is still night; she provides food for her family.

Lately we have been getting a lot of fresh fruit from our family! My parents have given us strawberries and peaches. See here how to freeze Strawberries and Peaches.

The other day Derrick's grandma gave us a box of blackberries she had picked from her neighbors yard. Derrick and I decided we would try making and canning blackberry jam!


1. Wash 2 cups blackberries & remove any stems. Crush the blackberries using a potato masher.

2. Boil jars and lids.

3. Boil 2 cups of sugar & 2 cups of crushed blackberries. Boil until it starts to thicken & use a meat thermometer to make sure it's at 220 degrees.

4. When it's reached the correct temperature, scrap of any foam and remove pan from heat.

5. Using a funnel, fill the canning jars, leaving 1/4 inch space at the top.

6. Wipe off any excess jam from around the top of the jar.

7. Place the lid & ring on the jar.

8. Boil jars for 5 minutes.

9. Let cool.

 10. Serve on toast or anything else you like.

My next thing I'm going to try is blackberry cobbler! I've never made it before so feel free to give any suggestions or recipes you have! :)

Excercise Yourself Toward Godliness

1 Timothy 4:7 "..exercise yourself toward godliness"

One of my friends and I have been walking twice a week! I enjoy walking  because it makes me healthier, but it also gives us some great girl time!

Not only is it good for us to exercise to improve our physical and mental health, but we should also walk to improve our spiritual health as well..our walk with Jesus.

My walk with Jesus has really improved over the past few months. I am in a Verge group  (A group of three girls from my church that read a section of the bible every week and then get together to discuss what we are learning and to just talk about life). This group has been great for me because it holds me accountable to read my Bible and also allows me to reflect on what God is teaching me through my reading and ask questions about things I might have.

At first, I admit, I was just reading to get it done and not really learning anything. I realized however, this defeated the whole purpose of the group and was really not building my walk with God.

1. I started praying each time before I read that God would help me stay focused and would reveal what he wanted me to learn through my reading.

2. I started journaling scriptures I found important or beneficial to me and what I was learning through those scriptures.

3. I prayed at the end of my reading that I would take what I had learned and really apply it to my life.

These three tings have really made me appreciate the Bible and how helpful it is for everyday life. It also has made me realize that in order to make my relationship with Derrick better, I have to spend quality time with him. Therefore, the only way to make my relationship or walk with Jesus better is spending time with Him and reading His word.

 1 Timothy 4:8 "For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things."

How is your walk with Jesus?  Are you MAKING the time to read His word and have a relationship with Him?

Little Bench Makeover

While yardsaling this past weekend I stumbled across this little foot stool/ bench. 

For $2.00 I couldn't pass it up! 

I decided to head over to the thrift shop in Carbondale to see if they had any fabric I could recover that ugly cushion with. I found some aqua colored fabric for $1.00!

I added a couple coats of white paint and got a really cute bench for a total cost of $3.00!!

 

 I got the mason jar and antique books at a yard sale for 25 cents each.  

 It's probably one of my new favorite pieces I have done! :)

Trash Treasures

I've been finding a lot of trash treasures on the side of the road lately! I have found the best time to look and find something is on Sunday evenings..after people have had a yard sale over the weekend.

Here are some things I found the past two weeks! 
 

Obviously some of these items need a little love, but I'm excited to makeover some FREE stuff! :) 


Proverbs 31:17-  She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks.

Something's Cooking Sunday - #5

Proverbs 31:15- She gets up while it is still night; she provides food for her family.

Welcome to another week of Something's Cooking Sunday! To see past menu plans look HERE.  Since I plan my meals two weeks at a time, here are the meal plans for the next two weeks: 

** I found most of my recipes fro this week from Pillsbury.com!

June 10th- June 16th

Sunday: Pepperoni Pizza Wraps

Monday: Home Team (To find out more about Home Teams and our church look HERE)

Tuesday: Grilled Chicken BLT

Wednesday: Tacos

Thursday: Zucchini & Hamburger Casserole

Friday: Out of Town

Saturday:Glazed Lemon Chicken & Rice

June 17th- June 23rd

Sunday: Father's Day- Leftovers

Monday: Pancakes; Bacon

Tuesday: Hamburgers and French Fries

Wednesday: Breaded Lemon Tilapia; Green Beans; Cheddar Bay Biscuits

Thursday: Chili Mac (This site has many other homemade Hamburger Helper Meals as well)

Friday: Vacation

Saturday:Vacation

Dishwasher Magnets

Proverbs 31:30: Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.

Awhile back I had made a dishwasher magnet from an old CD. I simply glued some scrap booking paper to the CD, added some stickers and ribbon, and a magnet to the back.

Well, Ellie decided to chew it up one day, so I was looking online for another fun way to make one. I found THIS scrabble tile dishwasher magnet on Etsy!

I hot glued all of the letters together and then added a magnet on the back.

I LOVE the way it turned out!

LOTS Of Mason Jars..

While yardsaling I saw these two huge baskets full of mason jars. I wanted a couple so asked how much they were. The lady said I could have them ALL for $2! Seriously?! What a deal!

We got them home and counted them up. We ended up having 25! That came out to 8 cents a piece! I haven't decided what I'm going to do with all of them yet. Here are some ideas though that I have used other mason jars for:

A soap dispenser. I saved a pump from a Dial foam soap dispenser. Derrick drilled a hole in the lid the right size and I used hot glue to hold the pump in place. Simple as that!

A "frog lid". I saw this idea on Etsy and thought it was so neat! We had some wire left over from our fence. I used wire cutters to cut it the right size and used hot glue to hold it in place.

I love this because it easily allows you to make a beautiful arrangement of flowers look just the way you want.