Hi Im Rango, Oh you too?!

So I was somewhat watching the movie Rango while creating in the kitchen. (Making some Banana ice cream... YUM!)

And I got thinking...

WOW!! I am so much like Rango in that I mess everything up/don't know what I am doing a lot of the time.  :)

Rango messes everything up, yet everyone thinks he is a hero. He is this pathetic little gecko/lizard thing who miraculously escapes from being a hawks snack, convinces a town that he is a hero, and beats the bad guys up. BUT he didn't do anything. Quiet honestly he made matters worse but it still worked out perfectly.

This reminds me so much of Jesus using us Rango's out there.

He knows we are far from perfect and prone to mess it all up. He knows we are only human... Psalm 103: 14 says, "For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust."  Don't be offended that we are dust. Think about it... we aren't as invincible as we think we are. And the Lord knows that. He gives us His protection, His guidance, His wisdom, and so much more through the Holy Spirit. I love that He knows that I am this way... because He is here to help me. He doesnt leave us in our weakness... He actually personally came down to save us and has left us with the Holy Spirit. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." He took our shame, our sin, our failures upon Himself so that we can be righteous before God... We are covered by Jesus. All we have to do is believe and confess that Jesus is Lord. That He died and rose again for our sins. He gives us the strength to step up and be on the front line of the battle ground, like Rango. We cannot do this on our own and that is why we have the Holy Spirit. In John 16, Jesus talks about the Holy Spirit. Verse 13 says, "however, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; ..." And in Acts 1 also talks about being filled with the Holy Spirit.

Thank goodness we don't have to be perfect and that He doesn't call us to be perfect. In fact, He doesn't use perfect people... there is no one who is perfect but Him.

So, in spite of our un-perfect selves, Jesus still uses us and the work gets accomplished. He doesn't even need to use us but He chooses to use us.

Its like when I let my preschoolers help me make their beds for nap time... they really don't help that much but I let them. I am completely capable of making the beds but enjoy having a helper.

It is nothing we have done or can do, because like Rango... we don't have the slightest idea of what to do so we go along with what ever is happening. Haha, like my sweet preschooler who after the beds were all set up, moved all the blankets around to places they did not belong. She was trying to be helpful. Such a precious little one! Anyways, I was still able to correct the error and guide the child in where the blankets needed to be. Everything worked out great. This is what Jesus does for us. When we mess up big time, He can fix it with out a problem and He teaches us in a loving way.

Poor Rango didn't have Jesus to look to and know that everything was going to work out because God is in control. But we have that assurance and that communication with Jesus. If we put our confidence and trust in Jesus, He is going to work it all out for His glory. I didn't watch the whole movie or anything so I don't know how it turns out. But I know how us "Rango Jesus followers" turn out... VICTORIOUSLY. Because Christ is living in us doing the work. No matter how bad of a situation we get ourselves in, Christ is still able to use us and turn things around for good. Trust Him, He will turn it around for good. We just have to be available and loyal to Him.

Don't be afraid to step out and be bold. To stand up against the current. When we allow God to work in us, we may feel like we are messing up and don't have what it takes to be where we are currently standing... But God is able to work with what ever we have. He won't make us look like a fool when we stand up for Him. Rango may have looked like a fool to us who are watching the movie, but to the towns people he was a fearless hero. Let God be the fearless mighty hero in you and GIVE HIM THE GLORY!   
Remember He knows you aren't perfect and isn't asking you to be... He just wants you to be loyal to Him :)

"For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him"  -2 Chronicles 16: 9

Bible Verses for those hard times

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“For your Maker is your husband. The Lord of hosts is His name; and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; He is called the God of the whole earth.” – Isaiah 54:5

"The Lord will perfect that which concerns me; Your mercy, O Lord, endures forever; Do not forsake the works of Your hands." -Psalm 138:8

"The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold." - Psalm 18:2

"My soul, wait silently for God alone, for my expectation is from Him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; He is my defense; I shall not be moved. In God is my salvation and my glory; The rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God. Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us." - Psalm 62:5-8

"He has made everything beautiful in its time..." -Ecclesiastes 3:11

"Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us." -Psalm 62:8

"What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will after this." -John 13:7

"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways," says the Lord. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts." -Isaiah 55: 8,9

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God" - 2 Corinthians 1:3,4

"Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead. I press towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Jesus Christ." -Philippians 3:13,14

“For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” –Romans 8:38,39

“For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, do not fear; I will help you.” –Isaiah 41:13

“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord” -1 Corinthians 15:58

“And it shall be, in that day,” Says the Lord, “That you will call Me ‘My Husband’ and no longer call Me ‘My Master’.” –Hosea 2:16

“I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and justice, in loving-kindness and mercy; I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness, and you shall know the Lord.” Hosea 2:19,20

“The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and great in mercy.” –Psalm 145:8

“The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth.” –Psalm 145:18

“Righteousness and justice are the foundations of Your throne; Mercy and truth go before Your face.” –Psalm 89:14

“Rejoice in Hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer.” –Romans 12:12

“The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and strengthen your bones; you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.” –Isaiah 58:11

“However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you,” –John 16: 13,14

“There things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world.” –John 16:33

“For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” – Matthew 6:32,33

“And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” –Philippians 4:7

“For out light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are eternal.” – 2 Corinthians 4:17,18

“A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.” – Proverbs 16:9

Beautiful Things

"He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end." Ecclesiastes 3:11
The Nelson's NKJV study Bible says this about Ecclesiastes 3:11:

"All of God's creation is beautiful. The point is that God makes everything that way in its time. From the divine perspective, there is no ugliness in the events of our lives (3:1-8). Eternity in their hearts refers to a deep-seated, compulsive drive to transcend our mortality by knowing the meaning and destiny of the world. Because we are made in the image of God, we have an inborn inquisitiveness about eternal realities. We can find peace only when we come to now our eternal Creator. Even then, we know God only in part (1 Cor. 13:12). From beginning to end: all we see is the micro-moment of our own existence in the grand span of eternity. Thus the Scriptures call people to live in robust faith during times of trial and pain; in the grand scheme of things; God will make everything beautiful." 
AMEN!

Love this song and the lyrics. :)

Strawberry Cucumber Smoothie

Trust me... it isn't as bad as you think!


So, I was sitting here doing my homework... OK maybe not doing homework but thinking about doing my homework... and my stomach started talking about how delicious a smoothie would be. I know right?! A strawberry smoothie. YUUUMMMMY!!! Well, I have been eating fruit all morning and needed some veggies and got to thinking.

"Fruit smoothie or Veggie smoothie? Defiantly fruit... but I could compromise for a Combo, right? Sure, I guess that will work. Strawberries and Sweet potato? Ew, NO. Sweet potatoes are good but not in a strawberry smoothie... Tomato? eh, NAH. Lettuce? Interesting but NO. 

LIGHT BULB!!!

I know.... STRAWBERRIES AND CUCUMBER! Sounds refreshingly sweet.


The perfect  energy booster to get anyone started on homework... put a little bit of coconut milk in there and you will have your own piece of Hawaii. :) Not as good as going to Hawaii, but good enough to push you through your homework! 

To the kitchen we go! :)

Ingredients: (Serving size: 1)

-5 or 6 frozen organic strawberries
-two thick (about 2-3 inches) slices of organic cucumber
-1/2 cup of coconut milk (more or less depending on the consistency you like)
-or you can do 1/4 coconut milk and 1/4 almond milk. (that's what I did. Its AMAZING!)

*I got so excited and didn't measure anything out... So don't worry about following it exactly.*
 
 Directions:

1. Put everything in the blender
2. Blend it all up
3. Put in your favorite Smoothie cup


Do you have a favorite veggie-fruit combo? Lean towards fruit more than veggies? Or veggies all the way? 

Thought For Today: There is Life in the Desert

Thought for Today:


When I think of a hard core desert, like hard core... not the kind of desert you go to that has a cool lake where you enjoy your summer days wake boarding and summer nights camping under the stars. No, the hard core desert...  It is not a fun place to be. The only living plant: cactus, the earth is covered in dry dirt... LOTS of it! The kind of loose dirt that gets blown up in your face from the "breeze." Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to have dirt in your face with a cold breeze because the cold would actually feel nice but this breeze is not pleasant. It's more like a "fire breeze" that will burn your eye brows off! And no matter how hard you try to sit still with your arms out looking like a lethargic beat down "I cannot move" "where is my ice bath" slurring your word type of person, you are still going to create a pool from your own body sweat. Gross!

Sounds miserable huh? But have you noticed that there is life in this kind of desert? Its not a bad place for some creatures/things. Like lizards or snakes. What about plants, like the cactus for example. It takes a special plant to be able to withhold that intense weather. And it is remarkable how the cactus has water in it! Seems pretty impossible, huh?

Did you know that our God is strong enough to withstand the deserts/trials in our life. That He is flowing with life and truth. The water supply that we need. Why do I always seem to forget this! Why do we let ourselves drag along like a pathetic beat down type of person? When we know there is a God who can give us the water we need?!
We must run to Jesus, our source of life... our water. He will quench our thirst so that we will never thirst again.

Jesus says:
"but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life." -John 4:14

"The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and strengthen your bones; You shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail."-Isaiah 58:11

I can recall a lot of times when I know the desert is something I cannot survive... This is when we run with all our might to Jesus. Whether your desert is being in a dry season with the Lord or a trial that is too much for you to handle, keep running to your water source. Keep running to Jesus, even if you have to push yourself. I know this is what I need to be doing more!

Coconut Ice cream (no ice cream maker needed!)

Coconut Ice cream made simple: 3 ingredients! Makes 1 serving.

You need: 1. one gallon size zip lock baggie and one sandwich size zip lock baggie. 2. Ice. 3. Rock salt (I used regular salt as well, but rock salt is preferred)

Ingredients:
1. 1/2 cup Coconut Milk
2. 1 1/2- 3 TABLEspoon Zylitol (or your choice of sweetener)
3. 1/4 TEAspoon Vanilla extract

Not for ice cream but your bigger zip lock baggie
4. 6 TABLEspoons of rock salt
5. Ice 

*emphasis on the TABLE/TEA... sometimes I don't pay attention to the quantity and mess it all up! Not good! *

Breaking it down.

-1/2 cup of coconut milk... the kind in the can. You can buy the lite coconut milk or the regular one.  Which ever you prefer. But the original one is better since it makes the ice cream creamier! I get organic. Try to get organic when ever you are shopping for food.

-1 1/2 to 3 TBS of Zylitol. (A natural plant based sugar). If you need it sweeter go for 2 or even 3 TBS but you can get buy with just 1 TBS (you can try using stevia, agave nector, or another sweetener of your choice... I have not tried these. So don't point the finger at me for the outcome! And let me know how you like it with the substitute :) )

- Vanilla extract. You can get one that says gluten free on the bottle or normal vanilla extract.


Instructions:

1. pour coconut milk, zylitol (or your sweetener of choice), vanilla extract into the sandwich size zip lock baggie. Seal tight.

2. Fill you gallon size zip lock baggie 1/2 way with ice and 6 TABLEspoons of rock salt.

3. Place your smaller zip lock baggie, the one with your ice cream mix, into the bigger zip lock baggie with the ice/rock salt. And seal the gallon size zip lock baggie

4. Shake away until the liquid ice cream starts to harden into an ice cream substance. Shake for about 3-5 minutes.

5. Open up the bigger zip lock baggie and take out the smaller baggie

5. Open the smaller baggie with your ice cream in it and eat away!!! Enjoy it in the baggie or scoop it into your favorite ice cream cup!

If you want a different flavor, add any ingredients you love! I am currently working on some awesome flavors... Like this pumpkin spice one that is soon to be shared with you all!


What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?

There is POWER in praying scripture

The Lord has me in a place in my life right now where I am just able to sit at His feet. I love it as there is so much free time to seek Him, but it's a challenge because its so easy to get distracted! When I fight that distraction off, the Lord has been so faithful to speak to me each time we spend some good quality time together.

He has been teaching me so much in the past few days.

With out realizing it I thought that God only  spoke to us every once in a while. That is so not true. He speaks to us ALL THE TIME. But are we listening? Are we taking the time to be with Him? Not just rush through our morning devotions or rush through reading what we need to, to reach the goal of reading the Bible in a year. Are we really soaking His word up? Writing down what the scripture means to us and how to apply it... waiting and listening for Him to speak to us through the love letter (Bible) that He wrote to each one of us?

The Lord softened my heart so I could see that I was not doing these things. I didn't realize that I had made my devotion time with him a check list on my schedule, and that I was putting my time with Him on auto-pilot.

I wasn't fully soaking in His word but rushing through it... kind of like a really hyper puppy who can not sit still and is all over the place... because that's what happens when we are asked to sit still. Sometimes this even happens when I think that I tired the dog out by taking a long walk. Then BAM! It happens...you know when your dog, OUT OF THE BLUE, starts running laps around the house and no matter what you do you cannot stop him? Ya!!!

Ok I have to tell a quick story because its just too funny... I babysit for a family and they have a little dog. Well I remember when I first started watching them and their dog started doing this. He started off small by just running around in circles in the room I was in, then started running from one room to the other. It freaked me out so bad! You do not want to get in their way, they might bit you! So my brain kicked into action.... stop the dog! Shut the kids safety gate thing...

Ya, that! Anyways I shut it! "Phew, safety! He is in that room over there and I am in this room."
So I thought!
To my surprise, the dog still ended up where I was. AHHHH! So scary, who is this dog?! Little did I know that a door existed over by the kitchen... it was like the dog had its own track field. I ran to that door when he was on the side I was not on and shut it. OK safety at last. It was so scary... Don't worry I made it out alive bite free and all!

Anyways, the doggy craziness is kind of how my brain feels when I go down to try and have my devotion time with the Lord. But Jesus doesn't slam the kiddy gate on me... or the door. He can actually calm me down, so that's good. :)


 All that to say I am thankful that the Lord gets me out of my mind craze. For convicting me to SLOW DOWN, to really soak in His word. He wants and desires to speak to us.


This morning I was praying for a friend of mine and the Lord brought to remembrance my stack of 3x5 cards that  are filled with Bible verses. He also brought to remembrance a prayer letter that I received from a family when I was going through my surgery in 2011. It was such a powerful prayer... not because of the words this lady wrote, but because the whole prayer was scripture... it was ALL scripture. Not her words, but the Word of God. There is power in the Word of God and there is power in prayer... so does that mean its a super power house when we combine the two? I think so :)
So I picked up the stack of 3x5 cards and started to pray them for my sweet friend.

This great idea is totally from the Lord :) Sometimes I don't know what or how to pray and can not even think of words to say, especially when praying with others out loud... maybe prayer fright? stage fright, prayer fright... you know. But I am so glad that the Lord revealed this to me as you cannot go wrong when you pray scripture!

Ready for our challenge of the week?

Praying scripture with your pre-written out 3x5 scripture cards!

Steps:

1a. Set a time in your day where you can research scripture for specific things like trusting in the Lord, ones that talk of His power, His love, His healing, and so on. (I'll list some you can look up below)

1b. You can research by: 1. Flipping through your Bible and looking at the stuff you highlighted/underlined, 2. When you are in your devotions and a verse sticks out to you 3. Even get on the computer and google... an example would be "Gods faithfulness Bible verses" BUT BUT BUT if you do this DO NOT READ THE SCRIPTURE OFF YOUR COMPUTER.... grab your Bible and look it up in your Bible... why? Because the Bible says to test all things (1 Thessalonians 5:21) :) Don't want to accidentally copy a scripture that has been twisted around. Double check!!!

2. As you are researching, write down each individual Bible verse on a separate 3x5 card.

3. Now you are prepared to pray scripture and have easy access to multiple Bible verses in your beautiful stack of 3x5 cards. :)

When ever you read your Bible... maybe keep a stack of blank 3x5 cards handy so when a Bible verse sticks out to you, you can write it down and add it to the stack!

Some that might be helpful in your research: Deuteronomy 30:20, Philippians 2:14-16,
Romans 12:12, Psalms 100:4, Philippians 4:7,  John 13:7, Psalm 62:8, Isaiah 41:13. Hope these help get you started! 


Do you ever not know what to pray? What is something that the Lord has been showing you in your devotion times?


God Bless!!!

You are Not Invited Negative Nancy!

 

Really, Negative Nancy can't come.

At all.

No I'm not being mean... its not a real person. That’s would be rude! ;) We all know this Nancy. BAD BAD negative Nancy! (N.N. for short).Need a refresher of who she is?

That’s the ONE… see the negative signs? That's N.N... the nagging voice in our head that pushes us on that train of “why me?/ no one loves me/my life is over/ I’m not good enough” all the way down to the other side of town.

                                         "Welcome, you have made it to BitterVille."

                                                            OH NOOO!!!!!

Hurry! Get off the train before it starts going to BitterVille!! Don’t get trapped. 

(Pause for a side  note... I think I worked at the preschool too long. Their 3-5yr old minds are rubbing off on me. Gatta love it!)

Anyways...When we don’t get off, it gets dangerous. We start exploring in the train (of our brain). Down the dark row we go to Negative Nancy’s party… the next train cart over. Not the kind of party you want to attend. A self-pity “woe is me” party. Yea, she throws those kinds of parties in our brains and gets us to listen to her “two-cents” about the depressing soap opera story of our lives. And I better stop because look what I just did! I blamed Nancy for starting my own pity party.

Blaming solves nothing! The Lord is good to teach us these lessons over and over again. Crazy how quickly we forget them! When I blame my circumstances or blame a person I just become an even more depressed, sad and sometimes angry/bitter Katie. No one likes to be around that! The Lord does not desire that for us either.  Just as a father would never wish for his child to sit in a pool of sadness, our Heavenly Father doesn’t want that for us either. This is one of many reasons why we need to write down Bible verses to keep with us at all times. We so easily forget how blessed we are. That God knows what He is doing. Who are we to say He doesn’t know what’s up, He is God!

Scripture says “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever thing are just, what ever things are pure, what ever things are lovely, what ever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy- meditate on these things” (Philippians 4:8).  And this scripture is just one of many on how to fight off the negative Nancy within us. 

And oh boy, Sometimes negative Nancy can come on strong! For example, I will be thinking thoughts about how no one loves me or thought about not being good enough and bla bla bla… So I pull out my handy dandy 3x5 card. Read it. Think... and sometimes I have to think REALLY REALLY hard… Nope, nothing.  I cannot think of anything. Ya, no true, lovely, goodness going on. "Nothing is going so lovely in my life… its all so ugly. Nothing is true because it’s all a lie! One BIG POOPY LIE!”

 HALT!

 TURN THE HEAVY DUTY BREAKS ON!!!!!!!!!!!

Ya, Nancy can get that bad. Maybe you have experienced this too? If not that’s ok, might be better if only one of us get this way. ;)

Anyways, what the Lord has shown me to do was to put other verses on the back of the Philippians 4:8 card. Things that ARE true, that ARE good, and ARE lovely. This way, I have no excuse to get all "turbo N.N." on myself. Here are some examples of other verses on the back of my card… John 3:16- for God so loves the world… He loves me! Ecclesiastes 3:11.., He has made everything beautiful in its time… His timing is perfect. A few verses are written out and others are just scripture references so I am forced to get in the Word and to look the verses up. Now I don’t have an excuse to say I cannot think of anything because I already have them written down!  It actually works too. I do it all the time, today even. The Lord is so faithful to get us out of that negative thinking. But we have to be willing and prepared to fight it off. DON’T FORGET… it is soooooo important to get into the Word and to battle it out. The word is living and breathing. It is sharper than any two edged sword.

YESSSS, we are on the battlefield my friends!

                                                            YAHH-YAHH!!

(As the Scheibel’s would say… if you get to know any of us, you will get very familiar with this phrase! So if I don't scare you off, Welcome!)

 OK, HERE IS THE CHALLEGE... 

DRUM ROLL PLEASE. Quietly in your head wont work... make some noiseeeeee. 

TA-DA

 Step 1:Open up your Bible to Philippians 4:8,

Step 2: write the verse on 3 separate 3x5 cards.

Step 3: On the backside of the cards, list a few verses that direct your thinking in the way Phil. 4:8 states. Examples:  Psalms 139:14-16 which talks about being fearfully and wonderfully made, Psalms 139: 17,18 talks about God’s thoughts towards us, 1 Corinthians 6:11 talks about Jesus’ blood washing us. Make a whole list!

 

Step 4:Once you have done that on all your cards, place your cards where you will see them often. Stick one to your mirror where you brush your teeth, keep one on you at all times (pocket, purse), and put the other in your car. When the negative thoughts come up, pull out your card. If your thoughts do not line up with what Philippians 4:8 says or if you cant think of anything, flip over to the back of your card and chew on those scriptures.

If you have a different way of doing it, go for it. JUST REMEMBER... The most important this is that we go to the Word of God. The Word of God is living, powerful and is sharper than any two-edge sword. (Hebrews 4:12)

Lets not get defeated because God has given us a way of escape in all temptations. We need to be looking for that door. He will not let us be tempted beyond what we can handle. (1 Corinthians 10:13)

Below, list some verses that bring our thoughts to what the scriptures say is true.

 Oh! Another one I like is this one... “You were brought at a price; do not become slaves of men.”-1 Corinthians 7:23

Sometimes it takes me a long time to kick negative Nancy out… what about you? What do you do when Negative Nancy pushes you onto the train and throws you a pity-party? What are some TRUTH verses that get you back on track?