Last week, my family and I made the trip from Pennsylvania down to South Carolina to see our new nephew. We didn’t leave until after church, so it got really late while we were traveling. We were on all back roads for the last hour or so of our trip, and all we had to go on was the map on our phone.
Driving in the Dark
Have you ever driven late at night to a place you don’t know? You can barely see the roads, and you just hope that if you follow these directions you will make it to your location. It’s all on a hope, a wing, and a prayer. You make it to your destination, and it feels foreign and out of place.
That all changes the next morning when the sun comes out. When the sun lights up the world, everything is good. You made it to your destination, and all is well.
Trusting in the Dark
Our life of faith is a little like that. There are times when everything is dark, and we can’t find our way. We feel lost, alone, and unsure if we’re heading in the right direction. It’s during these times, that we have to trust God. We have to trust, even when we can’t see our way. We keep going, keep trusting, keep spending time with God in our morning time routine. Keep taking it just one day at a time.
If you’re in a time like this right now, don’t lose hope. Even though everything feels difficult right now, it won’t always be this way. Eventually, this time of testing will come to an end. It will feel as if the sun comes out again, and you can see your way clearly. You will look back and see how God guided you every step of the way, even when you couldn’t see it.
I love this time of year. Fall has finally hit here in Pennsylvania, and I am here for it. We are enjoying all things fall–a hay ride, apple cider, apple cider donuts, apple picking, getting pumpkins, apple blasters (shooting apples out of a compressed-air cannon), pumpkin spice lattes, soups, finding trees that are changing color, day trips to local farms, and more.
This past Sunday, we had our ladies’ fall event at church and had a blast. It was such a great time, I thought I’d share it for this week’s post. For our activity we had chicken and rice soup and bread, and then we decorated fall front door mats. I’m so happy with how they turned out. We had so much fun doing them.
It’s an easy craft to do at home if you want a fun fall project to work on. Macey, our ten-year-old painted this rug at home after the event.
Here were a few others we got pics of.
We used acrylic paint from Walmart. I ordered this fall pack of paints. We were really happy with the colors. I also ordered a few bottles of this black paint. The black ended up being the best for painting words. It was much easier to read on the rugs. We ordered the coir rugs from Hobby Lobby on clearance, but it looks like they are no longer available. But you can get these rugs from several places–Amazon, Walmart, Lowes, etc. I got these stencils from Amazon, and we used cheap paint brushes from Walmart.
We did learn that you don’t really “paint” on these rugs. You kind of “blot” the paint because of the coarseness of the rug. And the larger the stencil, the better it works. The smaller stencils just made the paint all blur together.
If you’re looking for a fun fall idea to do at home for yourself or with your kids or even as a ladies’ event like we did, I can guarantee you won’t be disappointed.
More Fall Fun
Another idea is to get together with a group of friends and go on a hay ride together at a local farm. We just did this with our Growth Group and had a blast. We finished off the night with hot dogs and marshmallows roasted over a fire.
Our chili cook off is coming up soon. This activity is one of our favorites. It’s so fun and easy and requires little to no extra work. Everybody that wants to, brings a chili; and everybody tries them and then makes a bowl of their favorite. Everybody, including the kids, gets to write down the number of their favorite and drop it into the box. The winer is the one with the most votes.
Easy Chicken and Rice Crockpot Soup
I don’t really use a recipe for this soup, but this is the basic idea for what I do. You can’t go wrong with however you decide to make it. This makes one full crockpot; mine is 7 quarts.
Ingredients:
Family Pack of Chicken Breasts
Cream Cheese
32 oz. Cheesy Melt (or Velvet)
Two bags shredded carrots
One full pack of celery cut up
3- 32 oz cartons of Chicken Broth
2-3 cups cooked rice (I use brown rice, but you can use any kind)
Directions:
Cut up chicken into large chunks. (You will shred it later when it’s cooked) and put in crock pot.
Season with garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper
Add two bags of shredded carrots to crock pot
Add entire bag of chopped celery
Salt and pepper the veggies
Add about two cartons of chicken broth
Cook on High for four hours
Shred chicken
Warm up the cream cheese if it’s not room temperature and add to crock pot
Add cheesy melt (start with half the box and add to taste)
Stir in cream cheese and cheezy melt until fully melted
Stir in rice
Add more broth if it gets too thick
Serve with bread and crackers
Another Easy Meal Idea
You could also make this copy cat Panera tomato soup and make a bunch of grilled cheese sandwiches. We did that with our Growth Group this past Tuesday night, and it was a hit. It’s an inexpensive meal to serve lots of people. (Our group is thirty-plus people.) I made one large crock pot of this soup, and we bought bread and cheese slices from Aldi and took our griddle to be able to crank a bunch out. We did somewhere North of forty grilled cheeses for our group, and everybody loved it. It’s really great if you have lots of kids, like we do in our group.
Fall is such a great time to gather with friends and family and church family. I hope this post gives you some ideas to get started and do something fun to celebrate the season.
Have you ever felt like life was spiraling out of control? Everything feels like it’s too much–your emotions, your workload, your family, your finances. You’ve kept all the plates spinning, but now they’re crashing to the floor one after another. You feel like maybe God has forgotten you
It’s a scary place to be. It’s hard to see what’s right side up and what’s down. Everything is out of control. When times like this come, it is crucial that we go back to the basics. The more everything spins out of control, the more we have to find our grounding in God and in His Word.
If you find yourself in a time like this, there are a few fundamental truths to come back to to help realign ourselves with God and be able to get a handle on life again.
God Sees Me
No matter what you are going through, remember this: God sees you. He sees exactly what you are going through. We see an example of this in the Old Testament. Hagar runs away from Sarah and Abraham into the desert with just her son and the clothes on her back. She’s isolated, afraid, and alone. And yet, God comes to her. After this encounter with God, she calls him by another name. She calls Him “the God Who sees me.”
Thereafter, Hagar used another name to refer to the Lord, who had spoken to her. She said, “You are the God who sees me.” She also said, “Have I truly seen the One who sees me?”So that well was named Beer-lahai-roi (which means “well of the Living One who sees me”). It can still be found between Kadesh and Bered.
Genesis 16:13,14 NLT
When it feels like life is spiraling out of control, remember this first truth. God sees you.
God Hasn’t Forgotten Me
The next truth to remember to find our grounding again is that God hasn’t forgotten you. In the midst of the chaos, the heartbreak, the confusion, it is so crucial to find our grounding in the fact that God hasn’t forgotten you or left you alone to deal with these problems on your own. Even now, He walks beside you; and He wants to carry your load for you.
Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.
I Peter 5L7 NLT
All the burdens you’re carrying, surrender them to God. You can’t do anything to change your circumstances anyway. God is so much better at carrying our burdens then we are, so give them to Him and stop worrying about them.
God loves Me
It’s such a simple truth. God loves me. How would your life change today if you remember that God loves you. He loves you just the way you are–not for what you can do for Him, not because of your accomplishments. He loves you simply because you are His child. I love this verse from Psalms.
I will be glad and rejoice in your unfailing love, for you have seen my troubles, and you care about the anguish of my soul.
Psalm 31:7
We don’t love our kids any more or less based on their performance or how well they succeed in life. We love them because they are ours. How much greater is God’s love for us than our love for our children. If we would live with this truth in mind, we would be able to get rid of the shame that dogs us daily.
Time for a Reset
Sometimes, we just need a hard reset. If life is out of control, and you can’t handle the stress, take time to reset and remember these three truths. God sees you. He hasn’t forgotten you. He loves you.
Let those thoughts ease the anxiety and pressure in your chest, so you can take a full breath. If we get ahold of these truths, we will be able to sleep in peace at night.
