Month: December 2023

Baking can be fun when everything turns out alright, but sometimes I have issues with the consistency of a recipe or it doesn’t get done the way it should.  I blame it on my oven!  For once these pretzel/chocolate/mint treats came out perfect BUT the after effect of cooling off made the chocolate turn slightly white which I think was the air hitting it.  They need time to cool and set before you move them so covering is not an option.  Once I tried hurrying the cooling off process by putting them in the refrigerator to cool and set up, but the same thing happened, and then when I took them out, the pretzel and chocolate didn’t stay together because they didn’t bond properly while they were hot from the oven.  You can find the original recipe here, but I choose to use mini nonpareil candies instead of M&Ms as it gives it a different flavor instead of adding more sweet chocolate to it.

What happens after a conversation or event is dependent on the actions and reactions of those involved.  How we process and respond is the after effect. 

Have you ever quipped to yourself I really didn’t need that… [accident, problem, conversation, or maybe even a gift—since we’re in the Christmas gift-giving season…]?  I’ve caught myself saying that after some incidents, but then a phrase in a song, “Through It All”, comes to my mind.  It is actually written by Andraé Crouch but is mostly known as sung by the Gaithers.

“For if I’d never had a problem
I’d never know God could solve them
I’d never know what faith in God could do…”

written by Andraé Crouch but is mostly known as sung by the Gaithers

When things are going along smoothly and quietly, we think we have peace, and to a degree we do, but it could also be a false peace.  It’s only after a trial or tragedy comes and then ceases that we truly experience the peace of God.

“No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful.
Later on, however, it produces
a harvest of righteousness and peace
for those who have been trained by it.”
Hebrews 12:11

Peace comes after the trial or storm not during it.  So if you’re in the midst of a problem or trying time, don’t expect peace immediately.  Peace can be there, but not if we focus on the bad things that are happening.  Peace comes when we turn our eyes and heart to God rather than the problem.  Just as I switched out the M&Ms for the mini nonpareils, we can switch our focus to experience a different end result which may better suit our palate.

I’ve had my share of car accidents over the years (thankfully none for the last 15-20 years!), and of course when you’re in the midst of an accident with a wrecked car, the emotions and blood pressure initially go through the roof.  Thankfully I’ve never been hurt nor hurt anyone else in any of my accidents.  Did I have peace in the midst of those accidents?  No.  But when I took time to reflect on them, I was always able to take a deep breath and thanked the Lord for watching over me, that it wasn’t worse than it was, and that no one was hurt.  Then the peace flooded in.

God gives us peace when we are His, but it’s not always felt by us immediately.  It sometimes comes as an after effect.  So if you’re not sensing peace in a particular situation or chapter of your life, seek God out and draw close to Him.  The closer you get to Him, the easier it will be to feel His peace permeate your life.  You might have a picture of your special person or pet and looking at it brings you good feelings, but oh how much more the good feelings increase when that person comes in the flesh and sits beside you.  That’s kind of what it’s like with God’s presence.

The after effect of an incident can leave you feeling shook to the core as you relive it in your mind, realizing what happened or what could have happened.  Allow God’s peace to flow through you, calming you and giving you a positive spin on the situation.  Our minds can play tricks on us, especially if we allow them to spin out of control like a car skidding on a patch of ice.  Some of the dreams I have at times can leave a fearful after effect on me until I fully wake up and realize it was just a dream and does not mean what happened in the dream did not really happen nor would it necessarily happen.

What are your after effects like when life throws you a curve ball?  Look to God to fill you with His peace.

 Plants are not exempt from struggling like humans, but they struggle in a different way.  The above pictures are days 1 through 6 of the same individual bloom on my Christmas Cactus as it struggled to open, and then the plant on day 8 for the most part in full bloom with one or two more buds opening every day.  This plant had only produced one or two blooms for the last few years and I was about ready to give up on it.  Then I read on the internet about the lighting they prefer.  Once I moved the plant to a different room with the appropriate amount of natural and filtered light (and minus the artificial light in the evenings), the buds started popping out all over the plant.  I counted over 50 buds at one point and then some more pushed through.  It was a struggle for this plant in its original environment because it wasn’t getting what it needed in terms of light and dark.

“…Our struggle to experience more peace
is really a struggle to know God more intimately.”

Ann Spangler in Becoming a Woman at Peace

I read that statement in my morning devotions in this book and thought how true it is!  The more we experience God intimately involved in our loves and give Him our love, devotion, obedience, and trust, the more at peace we will be.  So in reverse, if we are struggling for more peace in our lives, we need to give [more of] ourselves to God and endeavor to know Him more fully and personally.

Knowing the lighting my Christmas Cactus needed was a necessary part of its environment and growth.  We need to inspect our environment to see if it is good for us as Christians or if we need to make a change.  Some people think they can continue to indulge in certain practices or go to questionable places and it won’t affect them.  Nothing is farther from the truth.  Where we go and what we do is absolutely essential to the Christian life.  We need places of peace, encouragement, nurturing, and growth if we want to experience the Christian life in its fullest.  If the places you go and the things you participate in do not reflect that, it will be hard to maintain a personal relationship with the Lord…just like it was hard for my cactus to produce buds when it was getting too much of the wrong type of light.

Proper nutrition is also an important part of growth.  I think we all like our snack foods and drinks, but we can’t live on them.  We have to eat the good stuff like vegetables, meat, and fruits, too.  We can have our snacks, but our body begs us to limit them so it can survive.  If you don’t give a plant enough water, it’s going to shrivel up and die.  If you want it to bloom, you need to give it the proper nutrients it needs by fertilizing the soil.  But nutrition isn’t just about what we feed our physical bodies.  Nutrition also involves what we feed our minds.  I don’t exclusively read the Bible.  I read other books and articles.  But we need to review those books and articles for appropriate content that does not contain things that will draw us away from the Lord.

Timing is essential to plants as well as humans.  Certain plants like a cactus or Poinsettia need more hours of darkness, sometimes beyond the natural light and dark of day.  Originally I had my cactus in the living room where it had additional hours of artificial light in the evenings until I went to bed.  When I moved the cactus to a room that I don’t use in the evening, its leaves and buds improved because it needed more darkness and less artificial light.  There’s two things I’m learning from that.  The first is that sometimes we need more down time to rest or reflect on the day.  The other is that sometimes things that we think are good, like artificial light, may not be the best for us.  Make sure to get plenty of The Light, not substitute light.

Are you struggling in your Christian walk today?  Check your environment (where you hang out), your eating habits (how much of the Word you’re consuming), and your timing (Is your day too cluttered or inhibited to hear His voice?).  If you don’t have as much peace as you’d like, if you’re struggling, how well do you know God?  He wants us to come to Him with all our concerns, everything that’s going on in our lives.  He is our safe place, our strength, our hiding place at all times, but especially in times of trouble because in times of trouble, we can go to Him in full assurance that He will not leave us—no struggling there!

“God is our refuge and strength,
always ready to help in times of trouble.
So we will not fear when earthquakes come
and the mountains crumble into the sea.”
Psalm 46:1-2, NLT

 Many years ago I heard and read about the 12 voices of Christmas from different sources.  When I pulled out this Christmas decoration my Mom made many years ago, it reminded me of the voices of Christmas.  There are 12 different people/groups of people who saw and heard the miraculous things surrounding Jesus’ birth and they tell “in their own words” what they saw and heard.  The one I like the best is this audio version by Back to the Bible Broadcast where each of the voices tell about themselves and their perspective of the Christmas story.  You can find all 12 free at this YouTube link for your listening pleasure.  They range from 7 to 12 minutes each.  If you prefer reading about them, you can purchase a paperback book version.

I thought about writing a devotional for each day in Advent, but that’s not going to happen this year—maybe next year if the Lord doesn’t return before then.  Besides, I know many people are too busy to read blogs at this time of year.  So instead of writing, I thought I’d just share these 12 voices with you that you can listen to all at once, one a day, or two a week from now until Christmas.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I did and still do.  They aren’t very long so it would be good for family devotions and give you a springboard for discussion after you listen (or read) about each voice.  In the image below is a glimpse of the 12 voices and what each person expresses with their voice.  It gave me a better perspective of what each person might have been thinking and feeling as the events of the birth of our Savior became a reality.  I pray it will bless you as you listen or read.