It seems like yesterday that I hit the “publish” button for the first time on my blog.  But, really it was three years ago!

I can hardly believe, when I look back at all of my posts – and all of the “views” and “subscribers” – what the Lord has done in my heart.  Or for that matter, I can barely fathom what He has lead me to share with everyone – growing us, changing us, redeeming our hearts – for His glory and His good pleasure.

It seems that maybe it is true : sometimes what seems like foolishness, He uses for His own purposes.    wow.

At any rate, for the next couple of days, I’m going to post a few favorites from the blog archives celebrating all that God has taught me here, on my blog –  through my own childhood memories, in my kitchen, with my kids and everything that makes up “daily portion.”

Praise God for the gift of His continuing work in my heart and life.

Melody.

Today is my husband’s birthday.  Michael is thirty something today.  And in honor of his special day, he took the day off from his day job, to begin building out the steps on his workshop.

It was a hot and sweaty job – with lots of measuring twice maybe even three times and then cutting…  But, a lot of progress was made and he is content this evening.

Contentment from hard and successful work = a happy birthday, at least for my husband anyway.

so, I decided to make him a yummy dinner.  His (new) favorite, in fact.

Spicy Sausage Pasta Pie.   It turned out so well this time, that I felt sure you might want to try it too.  We had a little bread and salad with ours, but you can serve it however you’d like!

Here’s the dish:

Ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil
1 lb italian sausage (I used adele’s)
1 cups diced onion
1/2 cup diced green pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 (10 oz) can Ro-Tel tomatoes and green chiles, Mild
1/2 cup heavy cream
8 oz bow tie pasta
1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper, each
2 cups of Pepper Jack cheese, shredded

1. Add olive oil to an oven-safe skillet over medium high heat until just smoking. Add sausage, onions and peppers and cook until lightly browned, about 4 minutes.  Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

2. Add broth, tomatoes, cream, pasta, salt and pepper and stir. Bring to a boil, cover skillet, and reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer until pasta is tender, about 15 minutes.

3. Remove skillet from heat and stir in 1 cup of  cheese. Top with remaining 1 cup of cheese. Broil until cheese is melted, spotty brown, and bubbly.

(This recipe is revised from another recipe on the blog: kevinandamanda.com)

A few months back I took a part-time gig as a worship leader at Brainerd Presbyterian Church.  It is very minimal, I suppose, but it keeps me active and growing musically, spiritually and emotionally.  Providentially, it was offered when I least expected it and I had no idea that I would need it so much.

In short : I love it.

The experience of falling in love with what God has called me to do has been nothing short of life changing.  I play the piano and sing while pointing others to Jesus.  I’m not sure I could find anything to do, short of caring for my family or baking cookies, that I’d love more.

But today, I’ve been grumpy.  I’ll admit that it is my own doing that has brought me to this point.  The source of my irritation?  A little web-site called planning center…  That’s right.

You see, part of my job involves administration – organizing music and band members and singers.  I’m constantly trying to keep track of who’s available which Sunday to lead worship, and what songs we’re doing and five thousand other tiny pieces of praise team information besides.  So, I thought a little organizational assistance might be necessary.

Planning Center Online is used by numerous churches that I’ve been a part of, so I was vaguely familiar with it, as a “viewer.”  However, I had not used it as the administrator.  I began using it several days ago and realized something:  PCO is not my kind of “user friendly” website.  and by “my kind of user friendly” I mean it needs to be simpler than what my preschooler can figure out on the computer.

The thing is, there are “help” buttons and “question” buttons EVERYWHERE on the site.  But, as I began setting up my account, I resisted. “Who, me?  I don’t need help.  I can totally figure this out. ”

It wasn’t until more than two hours later, when I had created nothing more than a big mess, that I decided to cancel everything and start over.  I prepared myself to watch tutorials and  click the help button as much as I could.

I wish that this wasn’t such a clear demonstration of how I live my life.  No instructions needed.  Like the dad on a family road trip who won’t ask for directions when he’s lost, I’m the worst version of myself when I act on my “know-it-all” instincts.

But, there are instructions for my life – wisdom for the best and most effective living.  God’s Word is available for my every day situations, the good, the bad – the complicated and the simple; His instruction is always appropriate for living life.

Almost literally, I’ve known this my whole life – but sometimes it is easy to act a completely different way and ignore the knowledge and wisdom in God’s Word.  It isn’t purposeful, but just a part of my human nature to act apart from His will.  Truthfully, I’ve had several situations recently where I’ve had a hard time looking for His wisdom, too consumed with my own desires and my own solutions.

The good news, (and with Jesus there is always good news,) is that His Word is alive, and always applies to every adventure, every decision, every “which way now?” question.  I just need to read and appropriate it to my life.

I love these words from Proverbs 2:

1 My son, if you receive my words,
And treasure my commands within you,
² So that you incline your ear to wisdom,
And apply your heart to understanding;
³ Yes, if you cry out for discernment,
And lift up your voice for understanding,
⁴ If you seek her as silver,
And search for her as for hidden treasures;
⁵ Then you will understand the fear of the Lord,
And find the knowledge of God.
⁶ For the Lord gives wisdom;
From His mouth come knowledge and understanding;
⁷ He stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
He is a shield to those who walk uprightly;
⁸ He guards the paths of justice,
And preserves the way of His saints.
⁹ Then you will understand righteousness and justice,
Equity and every good path.

So, tomorrow I begin again – with fresh zeal, seeking the Lord’s wisdom first, looking for His paths to follow, humbly asking for His help in every decision.  Seeking Him first, He promises to give the blessing of understanding.

While I’m working, I may click a few “help” buttons on Planning Center too…

I’m not dancing.  No, I’m in the kitchen – okay, I might be chopping in rhythm to some music, but I don’t know how to Salsa.  I’ve been making Fabulously Fresh Salsa – and it is TO. DIE. FOR. Fresh veggies from my father in law’s garden sealed the deal on just how yummy it is. And truthfully, I’m not even chopping that much – mostly cutting the veggies into chunks to fit them into the food processor…

So, I’ll cut to the chase.  You need this in your life and I’m giving you the recipe.  You can vary the ingredients, add things to your taste, but in the end this will make your summer.  It’s a fresh chip-full of salsa that you can not resist.  Okay? good.  You’ll love it!

Here it is:

This recipe is sort of ingredients entwined with instructions…

*Red Onions 0.5 onion course chop. 1-1.5 onion finely chopped
*Lime Juice – 0.75 cups (or to taste)
*Salt – 1.5 tbsp (then more to taste, if needed)
*Garlic powder – 1 tbsp (or more to taste)
*Sugar – 1 tbsp (usually not needed in summer as tomatoes are sweeter)
*Tomato paste – most of a 12 oz can
*Cilantro – finely chopped, add to taste (usually 0.5 bunch)
*Roma Tomatoes – 3-3.5 lb quartered and then diced in a food chopper (I squished out a lot of the seeds)
*2 poblano peppers (for mild salsa) or  jalapeño peppers (for medium).
*2 green bell peppers and one red bell pepper – *  Lightly coat all of the peppers in oil and roast in oven. Peel off blistered skin and remove seeds (remove membranes too if you want very mild). Finely chop peppers, then put in paper towel and squeeze out most of the liquid.

Mix all of the ingredients together in a huge bowl, pull up a chair, open a big bag of chips and DIG IN!  keep refrigerated while you’re not eating.  🙂

The End.  Happy Salsa Wednesday.

The thing is, I’ve been pouting, throwing a “me party” as it were.  Because nothing seems to be going my way.

hmph.

Too much honesty, for you this morning?  my apologies.  I’m trying to get over my “me” addiction.

Long ago my GG used to quote this poem to me, when I was mid pity party. It goes like this:

Nobody likes me,
Everybody hates me,
Guess I’ll go eat worms,

Long, thin, slimy ones,
Short, fat, juicy ones,
Itsy, bitsy, fuzzy wuzzy worms.

Down goes the first one, 
Down goes the second one,
Oh how they wiggle and squirm.

Up comes the first one,
Up comes the second one,
Oh how they wiggle and squirm.

I can almost feel one coming up now. ick.

The really really gross truth is, life is disgusting when it is all focused on self.  If all I manage to digest is me, me, me – the stuff that comes back out is just sickening.  putrid, rotten, sinful me.  And nobody wants to be around all that unpleasantness.  Believe me, I know first hand.

So, what did I do this morning?  I finally canned the pity party and looked at my favorite book.  Ephesians.  Do you know what the beginning of chapter 5 says?  Here it is:

from Ephesians 5:  Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. ² And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.

All of this nastiness comes to an end, when I imitate Him, living sacrificially, my life as an offering to Him.  Then, when I am no longer engrossed in my own self-love, when I’m completely focused on Him and consuming Him, what I emanate is Him. I become the sweet-smelling, refreshing aroma of Christ’s love to those around me.

Okay, I’ll admit it is hard.  But, I’m tired of smelling like me.

Shrieks of terror, that’s what pierced my ears from the other side of the park.  There was no doubt in my mind. Without laying eyes on him, I knew it was my sweet boy, Isaac.  I’m the mama.  I just know these things.

And I recognized that scream.  He had seen a carpenter bee.

I made my way over to him on the swings as quickly as I could, in order to keep from frightening all of the children at the park.  I stayed there with him, and pushed him on the swing for a few moments.    He desperately wanted to leave the park, but I had no intention of letting his fear win the battle.

The funny thing is, really, there is absolutely no reason to be afraid of a carpenter bee.

After witnessing the event, my sweet friend, who had been there at the park walking with me, made a suggestion to help with Isaac’s fear.  Why not role play?  Pretend we see the bees at the park and then act out how we want to respond.  I thought that seemed like an excellent idea.

Today Isaac and I acted out the “bees at the park” scenario.  It went fairly well, and I think Isaac even thought it was fun.  At the end of our role playing I said,  “Isaac, please remember, Jesus doesn’t want us to be afraid of bees.  He promises He is with us and we can trust Him; there is no reason to be fearful.”

And then we learned a verse as our “no fear” mantra.   We chanted it a bunch, over and over again.

Psalm 56:3  Whenever I am afraid,   I will trust in You.

When we were finished, I continued to think. The whole thing stung just a bit.  I’ve wanted to run away screaming from a few things in my own life.   Why?  Because I’ve forgotten.  Regardless of what happens, whether we’re talking large carpenter bees or sickness or hardship:  When I am fearful, I can trust Him.

And because I remain the forgetful one, who desperately wants to believe, I need this mantra just as much as my sweet boy does.   Believing He is trustworthy and speaking the scripture out loud completely disables the fear.

Remembering Who He is reminds me I have nothing worthy of fearing in the first place.  

A phrase from one of my favorite worship songs ministered to my heart in a fresh way today:

No guilt in life, no fear in death, this is the power of Christ in me.
From life’s first cry, to final breath, Jesus commands my destiny.
No power of hell no scheme of man can ever pluck me from His hand
Til He returns or calls me home, here in the power of Christ I stand.

Okay, I realize your concern.  You’re wondering, “Who are you and what have you done with Melody?”  And the truth is, you have every right to these questions.  After all, I can’t recall ever posting a healthy recipe on here.  Not intentionally. Typically, I post food that I like, or that is super-duper yummy, and I haven’t taken too much into account towards what may or may not be healthy.

Well, I’ve decided that probably needs to change a bit.  Now, don’t worry – I’ll still bake fabulous things and when they turn out divine, I will be sure to make sure and let you know – and induce drooling and all of that good stuff.

But, today is not one of those days to drool over baked goods.

Today, I would like you to salivate over spinach.  Fresh spinach, frozen strawberries, banana, vanilla yogurt – all blended together into a smoothie.  A few moments ago my mouth was treated to this very combination – and it was like a party for my tastebuds.

Now, I’ll grant you, it does not look like a milk shake. (I put mine in my pretty Thirty-One tervis cup to help it look lovely.) It is frothy, but it is brownish, pinkish, green.  However.   It. Is. Fabulous.  (notice: the cup in the picture is almost empty, proof of deliciousness, for sure!)  I realize that I may be late to the smoothie party.  But, I don’t care! This is a wonderful treat: de-lish at any time of day! If you haven’t tried one before, you need to try this.  soon.

C’mon! Its good for you!

Banana Berry Spinach Smoothie

Ingredients

1 cup of frozen strawberries, 1/2 cup of vanilla yogurt, 1 1/2 bananas and 1 cup of fresh spinach leaves.

Toss in your blender – and blend away until its smooth!

YUM!

Now, go try something a little healthy!  You’ll be glad you did!

That’s what he said to me, sitting there on the couch at church.  He could not remember.  Last week he had a good time at his class at church.  And he came out all smiles, loved it, couldn’t wait to go back.

Isaac, my sweet boy, who is six, but seems like he was born just yesterday, has been struggling with a bit of anxiety.  He just doesn’t want to cross that threshold and go into his class some weeks.

Why? The answer has been eluding us as parents.  Regardless, on the weeks of struggle, he can not seem to recall the glorious moments from the week before, those times where he was triumphant and enjoyed the same class.

There’s one thing I do know, that I realized as we left church tonight.

I tend to be just like my dear boy.  I’m just as forgetful.  Recently, I’ve found myself in a few struggles of my own, where I need to rely on my Heavenly Father from week to week.  And in typical, human fashion, not unlike the Israelites who never could remember the victories the Lord had given them,  I find myself calling out to Him, “I CAN’T REMEMBER!”

Did He help me last week, with this same fear?  Did He give me strength and ability to accomplish tasks for which I feel terribly inadequate?  Did He keep me in the palm of His hand, secure in the knowledge of His calling on my life?

Yes.  Yes.  Yes.

And still, when I find myself staring down the next challenge, my heart and mind are wiped clear of all memory, and I find myself unable to recall the victories.  Pure terror streaks through my soul and I beg for Him to relieve me of the struggle.

Oh me, with so little faith!

But, He tenderly declines.  Instead He reminds me, since I’ve forgotten.  He was there.  He was my strength, my full portion, my deliverer, my stop-gap measure.  He was all that I needed – and then some.  Everything that I need, He is.  All that He is, I need.  Those are promises from His word that I can rely on…  every day.  Without exception.

Heavenly Father, Help me to remember I can do all things in and thru You.  Let me live with this knowledge, as an example to all those around me who are forgetful too.  And please, give me the wisdom to help my sweet boy understand this too.  amen.

On the day after Lent began, also known as Valentine’s Day this year, I went for a run.  It was a beautiful day – bright blue sky, a balmy 58 degrees, with a light breeze.  And most importantly, my kids were agreeable to it.

I got them settled on the swings, and I hit the”go” button on the running app on my phone.

Happy Valentine’s Day to me.  Seriously.  It was quite satisfying to feel my feet hitting pavement again, listening to my tunes.  There’s nothing quite as invigorating.  But.  The road back to “running” status after three months of not running was a little harder than I had anticipated.

As I rounded the track, closing in on the two mile mark, I felt the desire to well, quit.  I didn’t want to, but I felt myself questioning my ability.  “Can you really keep going?”

I almost answered no.

But at that moment my weakness collided with my ambition…  my very favorite song on the running playlist started, my stride stretched out, my body pushed forward, and I could still smile and almost sing along.  well, almost. I could keep going.

and I did. – because all I needed to do was set aside my doubt, and then I became free to press on.

Even as it was happening, I remembered.

I remembered moments from the evening before, at the beginning of Lent.  I had read these words, and it sunk in again, for possibly the hundredth time.  maybe deeper than last time.  One can only hope…

from Ephesians 3:

 For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,^[c] 15 from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, ¹⁶ that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, ¹⁷ that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, ¹⁸ may be able to comprehend with all the saints what isthe width and length and depth and height— ¹⁹ to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

You see for me, Lent is not a passage way of self-denial, which often is the focus for many.  Instead it is a significant time for remembering God’s love.  It is a space for illumination, so that the sins I’ve become blind to are identified and stripped away. This is the gateway to His presence, where I begin to see just how important He is, and how unimportant some things are ; how much I need Him, and not much else.

When I hear those verses, some of my very favorites, I’m urged forward; I’m compelled to set aside the useless weights I’ve been lugging around. Just as Scripture says, His love becomes more obvious to me: wider, deeper, longer, higher…  and my stride as a believer stretches out.  I can go the distance.

How perfect to have this Valentine’s Date today!  Its a marker here during Lent, and it is a new season in my heart of repentance, forgiveness and refreshing.

Thank you Heavenly Father for meeting me and my iphone at the park today.  I am truly invigorated and renewed.