Spilt milk, or in my case spilt pizza dip

OK our small group at church takes turn bringing in appetizers or snacks to small group. It was my turn last night. I made BLT roll ups, and hot pizza dip. However, when I went to take the dip out of the oven to get ready to "get it ready" to transport.....



Yep, I dropped it!  1/2 of the hot dip slipped from dish onto the bottom of my oven. It happens.

We all got a good laugh, ate BLT roll ups and munched on popcorn instead. Life is full of bumps, and  "oh No's!",  hopefully I am learning how to roll with them better.  I really enjoy my life group, and appreciate them rolling with the changes.  But hey, that is the purpose of small groups or as my church calls them Life group, it's to do life together, and sometimes life has some spilt dip, sick kids, hurting families, it's great to be part of a group that gets it.  That loves God and works on loving each other to.

(Does it make anyone else feel better to know someone else's day is sometimes filled with bumps or in my case spilt pizza dip?)  Just keeping it real, hope you are having a good day!

Hot Pizza Dip recipe :
4 to 6ounces of cream cheese (ok the recipe calls for 4, but I love cream cheese so I add 6)
1/4 c sour cream
1/4 c mayonnaise
3/4 cup mozzarella

mix above ingredients pour into bottom of an 9x9 glass cake pan, that has been sprayed.

pour 1 cup pizza sauce on top of the cheese mixture in cake pan,
1/2 c of mozzarella cheese top pizza sauce with cheese
pepperonis - arrange on top as desired

bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.  I serve it with sliced french bread - yum! Great for fall, just be careful not to drop it as you take it out of the oven.
-Amy

Encouragement

Help!  I need some advice.   How do you give encouragement?   In what way do you like to receive encouragement?  What practical ways or impractical even, have you seen or witnessed encouragement being given to other people?

Be it the person needing encouragement is:

*grieving
*elderly and does not get out much
*lonely
*discouraged
*or someone struggling with depression

"An anxious heart weighs a man down, but a kind word cheers him up"  Proverbs 12:25

I appreciate that you would take the time to leave a comment on the subject!  I am really trying to learn about how to be a better at giving others encouragement.  Thank you

Are you kind?

Are you a kind person? If you answer yes, who are you kind to? Are you kind to the hateful? Cranky? Unreasonable? The out of shape? The girl who does not know how to dress? The lady who has whiskers on her chin?

I know it is so much easier to be kind (affectionate, loving, of a sympathetic or helpful nature, gentle in character) to those who are kind themselves, pretty, got their act together individuals who are just having an off day. Or those who are friends & family Or individuals who are nice to me, or someone just like myself.

However Proverbs 14:31 says
"Whoever is kind to the needy honors God"

Webster's dictionary defines needy as: being in want, (marked by affection, attention, or emotion support). Interestingly enough it did not necessarily indicate needy as a physical need.

No other qualifications are required. Just that they are to be needy & our response to them is to be kind.

Wow, what a challenge! I know I'm guilty of reacting towards people in the manner they treat me, or I try to avoid those individual's who are just needy who drain me. However, the bible tells me to stop and rethink my interactions with those same people! I am to view my interactions with them from a different view point.

From the viewpoint of the Lord who loves all his children. By stopping what I am doing, by taking a moment or a few minutes to be kind to them, right where they are at, even in their crankiness, unreasonableness, unorganized, maybe fit throwing, or their rushing from place to place, or in their sorrow, maybe even in their confinement. I am to see past all that and see them as God sees them and recognize their neediness.

Lord, I pray that you would open my eyes to the people I encounter who are needy. Let me not get hung up by outward appearances or the public facade they may try to present, let me really see the needs that they have. Lord please let me honor you by slowing down and being kind to those in need.
I pray my post today would impact everyone who reads my blog today. And Thank you Lord, for the rain today!


-Amy

The book "Unnamed" review

I picked up this book a few weeks ago called "Unnamed" by author/pastor Chris Travis. I was unfamiliar with him but the book sounded interesting.
Wow! This book is so good, it's balm to any wounded soul! If you have, or have ever felt or struggled with discouragement, feeling overlooked, unnoticed well this is the book/bible study for you!

However be warned, this book will challenge you. Also I think I may have to get a new highlighter, I have marked up almost the entire book! I can not wait to read what ever this author writes next!
Amy

Prayer

Please join me in praying for Christians in Pakistan! I read this story this morning and realized how scared Christian living there must be feeling right now!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-19311098#TWEET200211

Let's lift up our brothers and sisters in Christ in prayer!

-Amy

Do I have my lips on

"Do i have my lips on?" Oh, I could not even begin to tell you how many times my mom, and myself have asked that question of each other. I laugh & think about how strange my husband face looked (then boyfriend) the first time I asked him that question! Of course, he thought where else would your lips be? I had to "explain" that I was really asking about my lipstick. "Is my lipstick still in my lips?"



Lipstick is the one makeup I really would do not want to go anywhere, without!! If a tornado warning is issued for my county in Oklahoma, I brush my hair, my teeth & put on some lipstick or lipgloss. Heaven forbid my house blow away & I get interviewed on the evening news without my lips!!!

Do you understand my concern? My obsession? Is there one type of make up you would never ever want to be seen in public without?

Proverbs 16:21b reads "pleasant words promote instruction."

Which made me think, " Am I as concerned about the pleasantness of the words I am saying as I am about how my lips look?"

If I am honest the answer is not always. How crazy is that! I want my lips to be "pretty" but I am not as concerned about the words that I am speaking to friends & family that they are, well "pretty".

I am praying that God will use my obsession(um some may call it that). With my lipstick/lipgloss and remind me to use it as a nudge to check the pleasantness of my words.

How have your words been lately? Is there a time of day you need to check your words more often, like I check my lipstick after I eat?
Well this post had been food for thought.

Hope you all have a great Friday!!
-Amy

Ode to small town livin: Glenpool, OK

I have a blank canvas, and I was scouring Pinterest to come up with a new project to work on. I saw this cute subway art on Tulsa, Ok which Glenpool is a small town to the south of Tulsa.



As cute as I thought the subway art was, I got the giggles thinking what our small towns subway art might look like.



Our town is small, so we don't necessarily have "areas". We have a few stores, that made me giggle, but it also made me start thinking what did make my small town special?



Our town is unique, it was started out as a oilfield/make shift town. It has grown but it is still classified as small town.



(*note: not actual road sign)


I think it's not the areas of a small town that makes it special, but the people of the small town and how we come together and interact and where we interact. So if that's the case here is what my subway art of my small town would look like:


We have Warrior pride (our school's mascot), we have hometown parades, the town almost closes down for Friday night football games, we still have a local paper, a local marquees that brags about our kids, local churches, and our hometown carnival/fair called Black Gold days.






I have lived in this town for 16 years and have fallen in love with it's ways. Now don't get me wrong not everything is perfect in a small town. There are a few sayings I have found true:

"There are about the same percentages of amusing, gifted, humorous, boring, stingy, and malicious people in every social drawer"
-Emily Whaley, South Carolina

So true we have our mix of funny, kind hearted, sweet, upstanding, cranky and angry people here in Glenpool just like I'm sure you have wherever you live, no matter what size your town is!


The second is:
"In a small town, if you don't know what your doing someone else does"

Funny but true. Here in a small town, you just have to pick up the phone and call 2-3 people to find out a background check on little suzy's family that had asked your child over for a play date.

The third, is:

"Everyone dies famous in a small town"

That is so true! I realized the other day that I have not attended a funeral in my small town. No one I know has passed away. However, when there is a funeral in town. I hear stories funny ones, sad ones, praising ones all about the person who has died. What a tribute to the person who has passed.

Also, I just love hearing;

"How's your momma?"

I love that living in a small town, people really know people and their people!

In such a busy, world that is growing more global every year. It is nice to still live in a small town!

If you don't have the privilege to live in one, you might want to take a drive one weekend, grab a drink (a lot of small towns have Sonic's) and look around. If you don't enjoy it, it will at least make you appreciate your hometown.

Y'all all have a good day & come back now!

The gift of seeing others

How many times, do we rush out of our house to run errands, and encounter lots of people as we rush from place to place trying to complete our "To do list". Only to get back home and not remembering much about the day. Needless to say, no real personal exchange happened with any of the people we encountered. I know I have had days like that!

Especially now days with personal electronic devices that allows me to multi task as I wait in lines, in a waiting room. However, I want to propose sometimes we are so distracted by these devices that we don't hear God's gentle nudging at our hearts when we encounter someone in need. We miss the opportunity to be his hands, his mouth, his eyes to a person in need.

In our busyness we fail to see the needs of others! We need to slow down.
How about if we make time to be more aware of those God has placed in our path. Make attempt to make eye contact, give the gift of a smile or hello and really, really see the person we are encountering. I think we may see that God is calling us to minister to those our path crosses, not necessarily in giving our testimony, but by blessing others with his love, his kindness, his patience and gentleness. This could make such a difference in that persons life, as well as preparing the soil for the planting of seeds that God wants to place in their life.

Who knows, in noticing others and blessing others someone just might see you and bless you.

Lord, I pray that my schedule would be open to your "To do list" today, not just mine. Let me be your ears, your mouth, your hands to another person today. Let me bless others by really seeing them! -Amen

I hope you all have a good Monday!


-Amy