We all have an Esther that lives within us

Why is the book of Esther so important for every Christian  to read?  There are theologians who believe this book should be omitted from the Bible as it has no mention of God, prayer, fasting or celebration of the Jewish feasts. Martin Luther has said this book should be thrown into the Elbe River. 

Yet there are so many reasons.  First and foremost, God’s mighty hand is all over this book even though His name is never mentioned.  It is part of the rich history of the Jewish people and the faithfulness of God to preserve His chosen people and to fulfill His promise of sending the Messiah.  It is one of the last books written in chronological order before God went silent for four hundred years and the birth of our Savior. And the book of Esther is an example to us as to how to live through adversity and find the courage to make a stand for our faith and to see that God always provides a way.

Every person has an Esther that lives within him or her.  At some point in our lives we have been judged because of our faith, appearance, how sexually appealing we are or for our political stance.  We may have been overlooked for jobs or promotions because of our gender or ethnicity.  We have had to face difficult situations at work, in our homes and communities that have made us want to cower and give up. And yet, we are still writing our stories. 

For some of us we have had to find the courage that we did not know we had as we had to take stand to protect our faith, families, children, jobs or communities. As each day passes we are seeing more of a threat posed to our faith. Do you have the courage to stand for what you believe?

Life is not easy and each of us will face many challenges in our lifetime.  The more we grow in faith the more battles we will face as the enemy is watching and wants to squelch our love for Jesus.  Each one of us has to learn to trust God and know that He is present in our lives and that although He may appear silent in our lives, He is actively working behind the scenes to help us get through the challenges we face.

As we look at Esther’s story we see that her life was one of many challenges and rewards but she was on a need to know basis with God. As a young girl, had she known that she would be taken away from Mordecai and had to endure twelve months of beauty treatments and lessons on how to live a life of a women in the king’s harem she may have tried to hide or run away.  Had she have been told she would be chosen queen and one day would have to risk her life, stand up to the king and fight for the lives of her fellow Jews the pressure may have been so immense that she would have refused to cooperate with the eunuchs or gone insane with worry. As we will see God put things in place way before she was even born. He had a plan but He only revealed to her what she needed to know to go from one life milestone to the next without overwhelming her or causing her to spend her life in a constant state of worry. 

God is doing the same thing for you.  He has a master plan for your life but He is letting you take baby steps to get to where He wants to lead you. He is placing people in your life to help you along the way, challenging you so that you get stronger and opening doors that others have shut. You have a choice as how you live your life. Do you stand for the truth and make a stand or do sit back and allow life to pass you by?

Perhaps you were called for such a time as this.

Why is the Eagle Associated with God?

Have you ever taken the time to admire the beauty and majesty of the eagle?  This beautiful bird is our national symbol. They chose the eagle because he represents freedom and loyalty.  He is powerful, determined and majestic as well as independent. They are survivors. An eagle has a long life span and commands respect. An eagle is very protective of its young. An eagle finds its mate and stays monogamous until its death. Both the mother and father are attentive parents, they stand guard over them, never leaving their side. Initially, they feed their young, shredding the food, as the babies grow the parents teach them survival skills.  The parents leave the eaglets alone for short periods of time and let them try and find their own food.  They make a comfortable nest for their young and nurture them. When the young eaglets are ready to fly, the parents make the nest uncomfortable for them.  They encourage them to fly, first helping them strengthen their wings and then disrupting their environment do the eagle has to leave the nest. The mother does not leave the eaglets side.  When it first learns to fly the mother will stay near and when it tires she swoops under it, allowing the baby to sit on her back. The mother then returns the baby to the nest. Eventually, the baby becomes independent, and the parents give the baby its freedom.

The Native American Indians highly revere the eagle. They see the eagle as appointed by the Creator to be the leader of all birds. He flies higher and has better eyesight than any of the other birds. As the eagle flies in the sky, the Indians believe he has a special connection to God and giving him a different perspective than all the other birds. He can be a messenger to God taking their people’s prayers to the Creator. The eagle signifies honesty, courage, strength, truth, wisdom, majesty power and freedom. The Indians believe the wings of the eagle are representative of men and women being dependent on each other. Each one having strengths and abilities that compliment each other and make them dependent on one another.

An eagle’s feather is the highest award an Indian can receive.  When given it, it must be kept in a place of honor, protected, appropriately displayed and revered. The receiver must make sure that anything that can alter his state of mind does not come in contact with this feather.

Isn’t it fitting that the Bible associates God with an eagle? God is our strength.  He is majestic and powerful and very protective.  Our God is loyal, and although we may wander, He never leaves us and always welcomes us back into His arms. God nurtures us and meets all our needs when we are new Christians. We are spoon fed the Word. As we mature, God gives us more freedom. He places obstacles in front of us, causing us to have to fight, grow and become independent.  As we grow, God hovers over us, protecting us and swooping in to keep us from falling. If He never challenged us, we would never learn to venture out on our own. We would never develop our faith or be a witness to others to bring them to Christ. Like the young eaglets, we do not often understand why God makes our nest uncomfortable. We may never completely understand this until we meet Him face to face and stand in awe of all His glory and wonder.

We, like the Indians who revere the eagle, need to respect our God. He is our Creator.  Our God has provided for us, giving us food and shelter. He loves each one of us and has proven His love by giving us His only Son so that we can spend eternity with Him in Heaven.  Our bodies are temples that house the Holy Spirit and connect us to our God. Therefore, we need to care for them. We should not mistreat them.  Our God should have a place of honor in our lives. We should display our loyalty to Him proudly drawing others to Him.

Bible verses referencing eagles: Exodus 19:4,  Deuteronomy 28:49, Deuteronomy 32:9-10, Psalm 91:4, Jeremiah 4:13, Jeremiah 49:22, Obadiah 1:4, Lamentations 1:8, Lamentations 4:19

Life is a journey, we need a GPS to guide us

We all have a moral compass that points us straight to God. When we look at a compass, the points form a cross. When we travel north, we have a straight path to God and Heaven. When we go south, we come in contact with Satan. East or west leads us to people. Going northeast and northwest leads us to Christian fellowship. Going southeast or southwest leads us toward people who are deceptive, troublemakers, or can cause us pain and suffering. Along with this moral compass, God also gave us a GPS system that is operated by God.

We have a choice, just as we do when we drive. We can listen to the directions and get to the destination without any problem, or we can try and navigate on our own. Our attempt to do it by ourselves often leads us on many lengthy detours. It takes up our time, causes added stress and interferes with what we are supposed to be doing. Fortunately for us, our moral GPS system can reroute us, and it does this frequently.

At times, our detours might lead us astray for months or years of our lives. God continues to beep at us telling us He is rerouting us and we continue to ignore it. We get annoyed that the voice keeps telling us to turn around, get back on track. Each moment that passes gets us further lost in sin, fear or desperation. We keep looking for a rest stop, but on these unbeaten paths, there are none. We keep pushing ourselves to try and make it on our own, only to feel lost and alone. The people we encounter on these back roads as we travel southeast or southwest misinform us. Their advice and companionship get us into trouble. Although they may be riding along with us, they scare us, make us feel sad and unworthy of reaching our real destination. These people delight in leading us astray. When going south, Satan fills our head with defeating thoughts and tells us there is no way to get back on track. He loves for us to travel on these back roads because they can be dark and scary. Eventually we grow weary, and finally, when we see no way back to the main highway, we listen to the GPS.

The rerouting may lead us down many bumpy roads and take us a long time to get back on course, but when we continue to heed its directions, we will eventually reach our destination. As we start to travel northeast or northwest, we meet Christians who want to point us in the right direction. They invite us to join their fellowship groups and church. They share the Good News of the Bible with us, and we start building a relationship with God our loving Father.

The road gets a little brighter, and we no longer hear the annoying beeping, but the quiet, gentle voice that keeps telling us our next move. We now see that our life is now heading north and although the road is not entirely free of bumps and sharp turns, there is a sense of peace inside us because we have hope and we know we are on the right track. We begin to see God once again active in our lives. We converse with Him and seek God when we are in need of help.

At this point, we know that although we may have a long journey in front of us, there is an end in sight. Then when we hear those words: your destination is straight ahead of you, we know we will soon be home. We will be free to roam and enjoy the serenity of Heaven. There will be no more pain or suffering. Beauty will surround us, and we will stand in awe of God and all His glory. We will no longer have to deal with people who are corrupt or misleading. We will be rid of Satan forever. The journey with all of its bumps and detours will have been well worth the effort we exerted to get back on the right track. When we hear God say those glorious words “well done good and faithful servant” we will know we can turn off the engine and rest in God’s arms for eternity. The journey complete, we will be glad we listened to the GPS.

Eating Healthy is Easy When You Have A Plan. (Recipes and pictures included)

Eating healthy is not so hard when you take the time to prepare your food. Some people think healthy eating is too time-consuming. Initially, it takes more time until you develop a repertoire of recipes and find the healthy foods you enjoy. Preparing your food does not have to take all of your time if you have all the essential ingredients (herbs, spices, and basic ingredients) on hand. Once you have restocked your cabinets with these essentials, the cost is also significantly decreased. I find I spend no more eating healthy than I did when I at processed foods and had an unhealthy diet.

Taking one day a week to prepare your food can save you prep and cleanup time as well as give you a variety of food throughout the week. Many of the recipes use the same vegetables, and they can all be chopped at the same time. Instead of having to prepare a lunch or eat fast food, you have a variety from which you can choose.  After a hard day at work, you can come home and pop some food in the oven to reheat and have a delicious meal in minutes.

Today I spent three hours cooking, and now I not only have enough food to eat all week, but I had a great Sunday family dinner with my children. The food is delicious, and I have a variety that I can mix and match. I have stored the food in small Pyrex dishes so that I can grab them. Some of the recipes can have a few extra ingredients added to them for added variety. For those of you who are new to eating healthy or need some new ideas, I have included my menu for this week with the recipes.

Chuck Roast

100% Grass-fed roast

Garlic, cayenne pepper, onions, pepper, chopped onions, organic carrots and organic potatoes. Add water to the bottom of glass baking dish.

Bake at 350 until cooked to your preference.

Stir Fry

Chop a variety of vegetables and herbs. The vegetables I used eggplant, yellow squash, carrots, onions, green, red and orange peppers, green beans, broccoli, peas and Non-GMO corn. The herbs and spices were garlic, turmeric, black pepper, cayenne pepper, basil,

Melt 2 tablespoons coconut oil in a pan and add the vegetables and cook until vegetables begin to soften. Serve over brown rice and can add liquid amino or coconut aminos instead of soy sauce.

Brown rice

Cucumber salad

2 cucumbers thinly sliced, onions, 1 jalapeño pepper, Chopped Cilantro, juice of 1 lime, 3 tablespoons olive oil, ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper, garlic powder, black pepper, and Himalayan salt to taste. Mix all ingredients in a bowl.

Green beanssteamed until tender. Add freshly grated parmesan, 2 cloves minced garlic, Himalayan salt and pepper to taste.

Breaded eggplant

Eggplant, 3 eggs, almond meal or flour, black pepper, garlic powder, himylayan salt, cayenne pepper, oregano, basil

Slice the eggplant. Add the herbs and spices to the almond meal. Dip the eggplant in beaten eggs, then cover with almond meal. Heat coconut oil in frying pan and then cook the eggplant until golden brown.

Asparagus salad with cherry tomatoes and Dijon mustard dressing

1 pound asparagus, trimmed and cut in pieces, ¼ cup red onion chopped, 1 ripe avocado cubed, ½ cup feta cheese, 1 cup basil leaves chopped, ¼ cup olive oil, juice from 1 lemon, 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard, salt, and pepper to taste.

Mix all ingredients except asparagus. Add asparagus to boiling water for 2 minutes and then rinse in cold water.

Then add asparagus to the salad.

Sweet potato brownies

3 sweet potatoes poked with a fork and then baked until soft about 30 minutes. Then peel and mash, add 6 eggs, 6 tablespoons coconut flour, 5 tablespoons cacao powder, ½ cup coconut oil, ¾ cup maple syrup, 1 teaspoon vanilla, ½ teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon cinnamon.  Mix all ingredient and place in 10x13pan coated with coconut oil and bake 350* for 35 minutes or until knife comes out clean.

Blueberries and sliced strawberriesGreat for breakfast or dessert. Can add bananas and grass-fed plain Greek yogurt. I also like to add cacao nibs, goji berries, sunflower, ground flax, and pumpkin seeds.

Watermelon and Cantaloupe cut up for snacking.

Blog Post Title Four

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.

Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. The beauty of your story is that it’s going to continue to evolve and your site can evolve with it. Your goal should be to make it feel right for right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does.