True Religion

No, I'm not talking about jeans.

James 1:27 says (AMP), “External religious worship [religion as it is expressed in outward acts] that is pure and unblemished in the sight of God the Father is this: to visit and help and care for the orphans and widows in their affliction and need, and to keep oneself unspotted and uncontaminated from the world.”

Thanks for making it clear what you care about, Lord.

I’ve heard it said (I’m pretty sure by Oswald Chambers) that adoption and foster care are callings, but orphan care is everyone’s responsibility (at least it’s every Christian’s responsibility). We all know we can give money to ministries with orphanages oversees like Life Impact International (an AWESOME organization that rescues children from sex trafficking) or Zoe Children’s Home  (that does the same thing). But here are some ideas of ways you can help orphans closer to home (thanks to www.faithlinksok.org):

1. Pray for the children in foster care and their families.

2. Collect birthday gifts for the foster children in your community.

3. Have a baby shower to collect baby essentials.

4. Collect luggage for foster children in transition.

5. Create toddler toy boxes.

6. Mentor a foster child.

7. Be an alternate caregiver for a foster family.

8. Contact your local OKDHS foster care specialist about specific needs in your community.

9. Host foster children’s visits with their birth families at your facility.

10. Become a foster parent. Xoxox

11. Cook a meal or a treat for the foster kids living in a group home.

12. If you live in Oklahoma, join the 111 Project

All of this makes me think of the song by Josh Wilson that says, “I don’t wanna live like I don’t care/I don’t want to say another empty prayer/O, I refuse to/Sit around and wait for someone else/To do what God has called me to do myself/O I could choose/Not to move/But I refuse.” Amen!

So, what will YOU do?

Jesus - the PERFECT Lamb

Sin. I’m sure you’ve heard of the stuff. Some people don’t believe it exists…well, they really do (Try punching them in the face; I’m sure they’d think that was wrong; but if you start talking to them about certain behaviors they have, they appear to have no sense of right or wrong. But I digress.)  Sin is the stuff that separates us from God (Isa. 59:2).   See, He is holy (completely perfect, right and pure), and sin cannot live in His presence. The whole story of sin and man’s relation to God is much to great for me to tackle in this little post, but allow me to try to summarize so I can get to the main point.

In the Old Testament, God gave His people a system of coming near to Him that really serves as a wonderful picture for us today.  Because of God’s great justice, He simply could not allow sin to go unpunished.  Because of His love, He decided to come as a man and take that punishment for us. Wow. 

But back to the Old Testament. When the people wanted to come near to God, they were to bring a sacrifice to pay for their sins – usually a lamb. This lamb was to be spotless and perfect, having no defects. The priest would then examine the lamb. Did you get that? He would examine the lamb – NOT the person.

1 Peter 1:1-19 says, “And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.”

Jesus is the LAMB that God provided to pay for our sins. He is the perfect sacrifice, and when we confess Him as our Lord and believe in Him, God is no longer looking at us. He is examining our LAMB and declaring us righteous because of His perfection.

So, I encourage you, as I encourage myself today. STOP looking at yourself and worrying about your faults, and start considering JESUS and all His sacrifice has paid for (mainly right standing with God. Wow; thank you, Lord!).

A Thai Treat

I love to try new things…especially if they involve food.  In my early 20’s, a date introduced me to Thai food, and a new love affair began (not with the guy, rather with the food :) ). For the last decade, I have received great pleasure from experiencing the different flavor combinations and textures that Thai dishes bring to the table.

But someone else always delivered these delicious flavors to my table – never had I attempted to produce them in my home. But stricter food budgets can cause people to take drastic measures. Actually, a stricter food budget was just the fuel for prayers. Prayers that God answered by allowing me to win an online contest. An online contest in which the prize is receiving “Taste of Thai” ingredients for various Thai recipes. So my adventures in Thai cooking began. (Isn’t God amazing to even give us the little desires of our hearts?!) :)

Thus far, I have made this delicious Pad Thai:

And these (which I never would’ve thought to try, but they are very tasty and would make a great party appetizer!  (I used ground beef instead of pork in an attempt to be a bit healthier.)

So, don’t be afraid to: try new things, ask God for little desires, and cook different dishes; you may be surprised at the pleasure you can find. :)

Jesus Loves Me; This I Know

Jesus loves me, this I know…or do I?  I’m in my thirties, and after growing up in church AND attending a Christian school AND going on to Bible College, you’d think that fact would be one that I’ve got down pat. After all, I’ve read about it, heard about it, and sung about it for years. And, yes, I have known it as a fact, and even believed it to a degree, for as long as I can remember.

Yet somehow, lately, it’s like I’m really coming to know it--truly starting to believe it deep within my heart.  (Right now I’m wishing that our English language had about five different words for “know” or “believe” like the Greek languages does.) 

Perhaps the difference is that I’m taking time to think about it and learning to accept it as a reality for me--personally. Or perhaps the difference is that the older I get, the more I realize the utter ugliness of my natural selfishness in contrast to His lovely selflessness. Whatever the case, the fact is that Jesus loves me. He loves you. Not only loves us, but loves us in the same way that God the Father loves Him (John 15:9)—completely, tenderly, eternally. Wow.

I owe this “deeper” revelation of Jesus’ love for me individually in large part to this book by Andrew Murray (It’s a life-changing read if you’ll really take the time to ponder it’s truths.).  Allow me to share one of my favorite excerpts:

“As we think of the love of the Father to the Son, we see in the Son everything so infinitely worthy of that love. When we think of Christ's love to us, there is nothing but sin and unworthiness to meet the eye. And the question comes: How can that love within the bosom of the divine life and its perfections be compared to the love that rests on sinners? Can it indeed be the same love? Blessed be God, we know it is so. The nature of love is always one, however different the objects. Christ knows of no other law of love but that with which His Father loved Him. Our wretchedness only serves to call out more distinctly the beauty of love, such as could not be seen even in heaven. With the tenderest compassion He bows to our weakness, with patience inconceivable He bears with our slowness, with the gentlest loving-kindness He meets our fears and our follies. It is the love of the Father to the Son, beautified, glorified, in its condescension, in its exquisite adaptation to our needs.”

Take a few moments now ponder Jesus’ love for YOU. Accept it as the reality that it is. Unconditional. Unchanging. All-encompassing.  Pure.

Father God, I pray for every person who reads these words. I pray that they would know and believe the love that You and Jesus have for them. I pray it would penetrate their souls and change their lives. Thank You that You love us. Please help us know more every day what this means and how to love you back. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Carpe Diem!

Greetings!  My name is Heather, and I blog. At least I just started to blog. I’m not sure when I become an official “blogger.” Anyway, I’ve admired bloggers for a long time – their ability to write so fluently and post magazine-quality photos. I visit foodies’ sites with their fantastic pictures of original dishes and am amazed at their creativity (in cooking, writing, photography, etc.).  I watch Julie & Julia and revel in the idea of following in Julie’s footsteps – having a challenge and rising to meet it.

But really, it is my husband who inspired me to commence with SpinachSmoothie – even coined its name…well, actually that is another story for another post. See, I pitched him my business idea of making healthy muffins and bars to sell at our local farmers’ market & coffee shops in order to raise funds to fight sex trafficking.  He responded with, “Why don’t you just start with a blog.”  I’m not sure what the correlation is between the two, except that after we talked, it became evident that the root desire behind my baking business idea was to help people while doing something that I at least find a bit pleasurable. It’s a basic human longing, isn’t it? To enjoy life while making a difference for good?

Normally, I would’ve considered the idea for weeks--pondering, praying, preparing—in hopes of venturing on into perfection while avoiding embarrassment and mistakes (and I might add, a bit of work too :) ). But I don’t want to live like that anymore – allowing fear of failure or growing pains – to keep me from pursuing an opportunity that could enrich the lives of others and even my own. After all, isn’t one of our favorite quotes (at least if you’re a Dead Poets’ Society fan), “Carpe Diem!”—Seize the Day!

And so begins SpinachSmoothie, a blog that I suppose will be an expression of musings on the things that I love, namely: Truth, Love, Health, Food, and the USA. An odd mixture, I know. But these are the things I am passionate about, so I shall try to encourage you with the things I’ve learned. I hope to somehow enrich your life – even if that means just entertaining you for 10 minutes, helping you find joy in simple things, or providing an opportunity to laugh with me at my own mis-haps…I’m sure there will be plenty of those. 

So, why don’t you join me in your own way.  Today, step out of your comfort zone and do something to help make someone else’s life better. You may just find some happiness along the way.