Mung Beans! Yum Beans!

Spicy Mung Beans with Tomato and Onions
This is one of my favorite foodie blogs. Vegetarian, simple, healthy, and creative. Lisa's Kitchen has tons of recipes that incorporate chickpeas, mung beans, and other legumes that I love. Eating biblically clean foods has forced us to eat more legumes and less meat, just because we can not find local, pastured, and affordable meats. Finding recipes like this one makes me happy! Thank you, Lisa's Kitchen, for once again giving me more creative ideas for the beloved bean!

Thanksgiving Day Menu

I am so excited about Thanksgiving, which has to be my most favorite American holiday. I love the smells, the season, the friends and family and the FOOD! Oh, the food...

I thought I'd post our menu plan for all to see and the links to some of the recipes. I LOVE www.allrecipes.com . It is my go to recipe sight when I am looking for something to make. One of my favorite things about it is the fact that there are photos of the food. I am a visual person, and if I can see the picture of how it is supposed to look, I feel like I can do a better job at preparing it.


Turkey
20 lbs. Brined and roasted by my dear friend over at Declared Unto Him

Mashed potatoes and homemade gravy
The recipe for the gravy will have to wait because I have no idea how much of what I put in. Basically, it's just a bechemel sauce, except you substitute the butter with drippings, and use stock instead of milk. I still use some milk, just to make it creamier.  I add chicken stock to the potatoes to give them more flavor without adding a lot of fat. I'm making my stock today.

Sausage, Apple, and Cranberry Stuffing 
I am assembling this on Wednesday without the liquid so I can just pop it in the oven on Thursday. Just add the stock and melted butter before you cook it. Add a little more liquid if you are cooking it outside of a turkey. *Turkey sausage NOT pork, never pork :~)


Cranberry sauce
Two bags of cranberries
2 c. sugar
1 1/2 c orange juice
a smidge of ginger

Dissolve sugar and OJ in a sauce pan over medium heat. Stir in cranberries and cook until they pop. Refrigerate till cool. Garnish with orange peel if you like...I don't like. Making this Wednesday.

Roasted Russet and Sweet potatoes
Peel both sweets and russets and cube
Toss with olive oil, enough to coat. Salt, pepper, curry powder, a smidge of cinnamon and cardamom, a smidge of coriander, and a tad bit of brown sugar, and toss again. Roast on baking sheet lined with parchment paper @ 425 degrees for about 40-50 minutes. I'm putting these in the oven an hour before the stuffing (2 hours before dinner) and then tossing them in a hot crockpot till everything else is ready to be served. I'll have two racks of these roasting so the cooking time might need to be increased and trays might need to be rotated.

Grandma's Egg Custard Pie
Never done this before...we'll see how it goes. I made a practice custard this week, and it tasted great but was a little watery. Hoping the pies turn out better. I'm making these on Wednesday.

Pumpkin Pie
Your basic, back-of-the-can recipe. Nothing fancy :-) Making Wednesday.

My lovely friends are bringing apple pie, corn, cider and dinner rolls and the TURKEY!

We will be feasting! Then probably fasting...

This is our first Thanksgiving in a new place, away from all of our family. Wyoming is treating us well. I am beginning to meet people, but still miss home terribly. I am really looking forward to hosting this dinner though, and loving people in my most favorite way, and that is to FEED them. :~) 

Wow, do I feel better getting this all out and seeing it on the screen. I have made list upon list, but I finally have it organized and figured out to a T. Now, I just need to locate a few more chairs...

My to do list

Today I get to buy raw honey...I am pleased. 

I will sprout more mung beans, as these have become my most favorite food lately. 

I will sweep the wood floors throughout the house. We must all shed a lot of skin and hair...it's everywhere. 

I will clean my bedroom, which I totally despise doing. I will clean it and organize the closet. An act of dying to self :-)

I will paint the rest of my dining room trim white. Purple just didn't go. I thought purple went with everything...silly me. 

I will drink the kombucha that I brewed...no sense in brewing it if I'm not going to drink it. 

(which reminds me...I need fresh ginger to make ginger kombucha)

I will make the corn pie that I have been meaning to make. Something about making pie crusts...you think it is this huge daunting task, but then you start doing it and remember that it's simple and quick. I forget this often...

I will fix my husbands button hole he has been complaining about. I will learn that a safety pin is not fixing something...it is merely a temporary solution.

I will finish reading Ezekiel. I am afraid of this. It gives me nightmares. I have the worst dreams when I read it before bed. I dreamed about a man living in a pig barn, sitting in a corner filled with cat dung, and he would grab worms from the pit of the dung pile for his food. When he would squeeze them, they were filled with worms. Worms within worms...filth within filth. I dreamed about a small Chinese girl who was being sold to men, and when I arrived to save her, she had been lit on fire. In these dreams I can not do anything to stop the evil that is taking place. I could only comfort the girl and give her hope, but I could not stop the filth from happening. The man in the pig pen...filth within filth...it is the way of the world. No one cares, and I can't stop it. It's disheartening. These dreams have been haunting me all week.

I will pray more. Pray for that faceless, nameless Chinese girl. I know she represents multitudes of little girls and women all over the world that have been sold into the sex trade industry. They are broken and lost and without hope. I will pray that someone comes along to give them hope.

I will stop being so critical, of myself and others. Satan wants to kill and destroy. Destroy relationships, and I won't have any part of it, any more. I am called to love and we are called to have unity with one another. I will  recognize criticism when it rears its ugly head, and I will rebuke it and I will NOT walk in it any longer. 

And I will make bread. It's a simple task that yields so much fruit. My family feels loved when I bake bread. So,  I will knead my dough and pray. I will wait patiently for it to rise. I will knead it again and pray. I will shape it and form it and cover it softly with cloth. I will wait for it to rise again. Then, I will place it in warmth and watch it take it's true form. Then we will break bread together. 

 I know theres a sermon in there someplace...

You Shall Make for Yourselves Tassels

Tzitzit

Numbers 15:37-41 

 ³⁷ YHVH also spoke to Moses, saying,
 ³⁸"Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them that they shall make for themselves tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and that they shall put on the tassel of each corner a cord of blue.
 ³⁹"It shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of YHVH, so as to do them and not follow after your own heart and your own eyes, after which you played the harlot,
 ⁴⁰so that you may remember to do all My commandments and be holy to your Elohim.
 ⁴¹"I am YHVH your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt to be your Elohim; I am YHVH your Elohim."

Deuteronomy 22:12

¹²"You shall make yourself tassels on the four corners of your garment with which you cover yourself.




While walking this pathway of obedience to YHVH, some things have been easier to obey than others. Not eating pork was a no brainer...pig=ick=don't eat it. Sure, I can do that. The food laws were the first things we started obeying, but in the beginning it did test us. We would just pick the sausage off pizza, or push the pork aside in soup, etc. I wouldn't even think about doing those things now, but we did do it at one time. Next came Sabbath, but even that tested our obedience. It seemed like every Sabbath, something would come up. We would just "have" to go to the store. Or I would compromise on my "no electronics" rule. Eventually we came into a place where  honoring the Sabbath made us feel set apart. It effected so much of our spiritual lives. We can say we are set apart, but what is there that is different about us? How can you tell that we are the children of Israel? How can you tell that we belong to YHVH? Each Sabbath we feel it. We see it in each other. It is truly a sign between YHVH and us, that we are His people. But we had to come into a place of obedience in order to get the blessing from it.


Well, tzitzit have been a place of disobedience for me. In turn I have caused my husband and children to be disobedient as well. I've been asked to make tzitzit, asked to wear them by my husband, and my children have asked if they could wear them. I made my husband a set, since he was the one convicted about wearing them, but I would not wear them myself. Why? I don't know. Maybe it was the fact that I didn't understand the point. Maybe it was because I didn't want to look weird or have to give an account to others as to why I wore these strange looking fringes and what they meant and what it was I truly believed in. Maybe I am just rebellious and stiff necked. I think all of those things are true about why I find myself in a constant state of disobedience. Most of all, I am rebellious and I need an answer as to "why" I need to do what I'm being told to do, before I actually do it.


I tell my children a story about a boy and his father who were fishing down by the river. The father forgot something in the truck, and had to run back up the hill to fetch it. The father told the son to stay put, don't go near the river, and that he would be right back. The son waited patiently, moving slowly up the hill in anticipation of the father's return. When the father rounded the hill and started down the path, he froze, with a terrified look on his face. He told the son calmly to NOT move, not even an inch, and that he would be right back. The father left, and returned with his shot gun. The son was obedient and had not moved at all. He stayed put even when the father raised his gun and shot the poisonous snake that was poised behind the child, ready to strike the child. Had the child moved, he would have been bitten, and he would have died.


That child's immediate obedience was the key to his life being saved. Had he questioned the father's command to stop, don't move, and stay there, and actually looked around to see why the father was giving the command, he would have died. It was through his obedience that he was kept safe.


I am not like that boy, but oh how I wish I were. I question everything, which at times is a good thing, but not when it comes to our Heavenly Father's commandments. He knows what is best for us. He knows exactly what we need. Like a weekly sabbath in order to stay healthy, refreshed, and always focused on what is important. But do we need to know the reason behind a command before we obey it? We do not. Our immediate obedience is required. THAT is faith. Obeying the father even when we don't understand why.


So, last night I made my entire family tzitzits. Today I will wear them, and each day after. I understand that they are there so I do not forget to obey the commands of my Father, but I shouldn't need to know that in order to just do what He says.


 "Wear the tzitzit, Monica"..."Yes, Father".

How Long is Forever? A repost.

I am reposting this because it is so important and I don't want it to go unnoticed in the archives. :-)

Forever, always, everlasting, eternal...These are the words that I see when I read scripture referring to Yahweh's commandments and His ordinances, which used to confuse me when I believed that the law was done away with. However, I emptied my cup that was full of other people's doctrine and I then started delving into scripture and praying that God would reveal the truth to me. I had received the love of truth and God made good on His promises to give to those that asked. My eyes were opened and for the first time I saw the truth. I see the veil being lifted all over the world and things, that at one time caused confusion, are now beginning to make sense. I only hope that I can show some of that truth with this blog and that people take the time to seek the truth out for themselves. Not in another man's teachings, but in the Word of God and through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Therefore you shall love the Lord your God, and keep His charge, His statutes, His judgments, and His commandments ALWAYS. ~Deuteronomy 11:1

Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is Yahweh, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy FOR A THOUSAND GENERATIONS  with those who love Him and keep His commandments. ~Deuteronomy 7:9

Regarding the Feasts of God-

You shall eat neither parched bread no parched grain nor fresh grain until the same day that you have brought an offering to your God; it shall be a statute forever thrioughout your generations in all your dwellings. (Firstfruits) ~ Leviticus 23:14

You shall keep it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year. It shall be a statute FOREVER in your generations. You shall celebrate it in the seventh month. (Tabernacles) ~Leviticus 23:41

Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear me and ALWAYS keep all of My commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children FOREVER.~ Deuteronomy 5:29

Observe and obey all these words which I command you, that it may go well with you and your children FOREVER, when you do what is good and right in the sight of Yahweh your Elohim.~Deuteronomy 12:28

The secret things belong to Yahweh our Elohim, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children FOREVER, that we may do all the words of this law. ~ Deuteronomy 29:29

It is an interesting fact, that the LAST verses in the LAST book of the Old Testament, before the blank page that separates the Old from the New, are this:

Malachi 4:4-6~

REMEMBER THE LAW OF MOSES, my servant, which I commanded him in Horeb for ALL ISRAEL, with the statutes and judgments. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.

This is right before the "new" covenant starts, in which the "law" has supposedly been done away with. Why would the last words of God's spokesman, Malachi, be "REMEMBER the law of Moses", if it was just going to be done away with on the very next page?

The new covenant is spoken about prophetically in Jeremiah 31:33- "But this is the covenant that I will make with the HOUSE OF ISRAEL after those days, says the Lord: I will put MY LAW in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God and they shall be My people."

Ezekiel also points to this new covenant in 36:27- "I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep my judgments and do them"

So, God promises to give us His Spirit, and that Spirit will guide us into walking in His statutes and doing His commandments.

The Old Testament ends with God telling his people to REMEMBER HIS COMMANDMENTS.

Then Yahshua comes and does away with the law...NO!

"Do NOT think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, TILL HEAVEN AND EARTH PASS AWAY, one jot or one tittle will by NO MEANS PASS FROM THE LAW UNTIL ALL IS FULFILLED." Matthew 5:17-18

Have heaven and earth passed away? NO! Then ALL is not yet fulfilled, and the law remains.

If the word of God is true, and the word says the commandments are everlasting, and Yahshua says that the law has NOT been destroyed, and that it will remain until ALL is fulfilled, WHY do we insist upon saying it was done away with?

More from Yahshua: "Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition?" ~Matthew 15:3

Yahshua quoting Isaiah: "These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men" ~Matthew 15:8-9

Yahshua again answering a question about how to have eternal life: "Why do you call me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. BUT if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments." ~Matthew 19:17

And finally in Revelation, which is prophecy that has yet to come: "And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and the testimony of Yahshua the Messiah."~Revelation 12:17

And again in Revelation 14:12~ "Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Yahshua."

In the end the dragon is going to make war with the people that keep the commandments of God and the testimony of Yahshua. If you have one without the other, he is not concerned with you.

This is yet to come! The commandments are eternal! God is pleased with those that keep them. So much so that He calls them saints in the end.

The Covenant terms for Israel have never changed. That's what God's word says. He says they are everlasting, forever, always, throughout all our generations. The prophesy about the new covenant says that the terms remain the same...you want to be my people? Walk in my ways. In the end times, those that keep the commandments are called saints.

Could the word be wrong? Is it not truth? Are we walking in truth?

He seeks those that worship in spirit and in truth and truth is an absolute. God is a God of absolutes. When everything else in this world relies on feelings, emotions, and subjective experiences, we can trust that the word is absolute. God is absolute. Love is absolute. Truth is absolute.

Thank you, Father for your absolute wisdom and your unfailing love. Have mercy where mercy is due, and give grace as well. Love us like you did ancient Israel, who were stiff-necked and stubborn, yet you did not destroy them. Teach us your ways and lead us into life everlasting. Open our eyes that we may see, and give us ears to hear. Teach us to love the way You intended us to; Love for our fellow humans and Love for You. Father, you are the same yesterday, today and forever. I thank you that you are the one constant I can always rely on. Thank you for your Spirit that will guide us into your ways and teach us all that we need to know. Keep us in your loving, forgiving, arms during trying times, and teach us to not forget you when times are easy. Father, may we bless you in our actions, words,and thoughts. May we be ever mindful of how we are blessing you, instead of always wanting to be blessed. Keep us humble enough to admit our sins when we first commit them, and humble enough to always return to you quickly, never lingering in condemnation. Uphold my steps in Your paths, that I may not slip. Thank you, Father.