Nov 21, 2010

Fondue Party

So, this weekend I took a little trip back to 1973.

My friend Whitney had a fondue party at her house. It was so much fun! There were about 8 of us and we ate for about 5 hours! If you've never done the fondue thing before, I highly recommend it!

1st Course: One couple brought the cheese and the fixings for the first course. We had really good bread, carrots, apples to dip in the cheese. The cheese recipe was some kind of cheese that I hadn't heard of, beer, onions, and garlic. It was AMAZING.

2nd Course: There were four of us who brought the fixing for the second course. We had squash, cauliflower, mushrooms, chicken, pork tenderloin, beef tips, and shrimp. All marinaded in something yummy and each had dipping sauces with it. It was all just so good. We cooked each of these meats in a coq au vin broth with garlic, vegtable broth, and red wine. It was SO good!

3rd Course: Dessert! Matt and Whitney did the dessert course. They had chocolate dip and then bananas, strawberries, marshmallows, marshmallows rolled in oreo, marshmallows rolled in graham cracker, regular marshmallows, rice crispy treats, and brownies. It was divine!

We all arrived around 6 and got started with the first course. Then the UT game started at 730 so we flipped it on, watched the first half, had the second course, watched the rest of the game, played a little Apples to Apples and then had dessert. It was good to have so much time in between courses because really, we ate so much food! It was wonderful and so good to be together with good friends and laugh and have fun!

Nov 7, 2010

Your Great Name

Lost are saved, find their way
At the sound of Your great name
All condemned feel no shame
At the sound of Your great name
Every fear has no place
At the sound of Your great name
The enemy, he has to leave
At the sound of Your great name

Jesus, worthy is the Lamb
that was slain for us
Son of God and man

You are high and lifted up
And all the world will praise
Your great name

All the weak find their strength
At the sound of Your great name
Hungry souls receive grace
At the sound of Your great name
The fatherless find their place
At the sound of Your great name
The sick are healed, the dead are raised
At the sound of Your great name

Redeemer,My Healer, Lord Almighty
Sustainer,Defender, You are my king

Nov 3, 2010

Post II: Back up from Scripture

Ok, so, more thoughts from last week's post.

(A lot of these thoughts are taken straight out of my Bible study book - Live a Praying Life by Jennifer Kennedy Dean)

- The bad things in this life are just things that happen. Yes, they're terrible and often unfair in more than one way, but they are involved with the will of God.
- God is always working out His will in our lives - it's just usually not in the ways we would imagine. How God does his will is up to Him. I cannot control or tell Him how to accomplish His plan. He will do His will in His way.
- Waiting - while I wait for the next step in my life, there are so many things that I want for myself and have prayed for. Usually, I have a plan of what I want to happen and how I want it to happen. And the "bad things" are not ever in my plan and I think that's part of where my frustration stems from.

Through the study from the last week, I have discovered several encouraging verses that I believe back up my thoughts on God's Will and refresh my faith that God does know what he's doing.

1. Genesis 37 - Exodus 1: The Story of Joseph - God told him that he would bring about great things in his life. Joseph did not know that he would be thrown in a hole, sold by his brothers who hated him, be the servant of the king, be wrongly accused of a crime, and go to jail all before "good" things started happening. After this he became a great rule and spared the country from famine. But I'm sure that he didn't see his life of greatness for the bottom of a pit where his brothers argued over how much they were going to sell him for.

2. Romans 11:33-34: O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out.

3. Jeremiah 29:11: For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future.

These verses remind me that while I may have absolutely no understanding of what God is up to, that He still knows. That He is still in control and that I just need to remind myself, mostly daily, of the plans that He has for me - to give me HOPE and a FUTURE.