How should we live?

December 29, 2020

For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ;  who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.    -Titus 2:11-14 (KJV)

God has a way for us to live.

I invite you to read the above scripture text carefully and pay attention to the instructions embedded within it. According to this text, daily living for the Christian means to:

• Deny ungodliness and worldly lusts

• Live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world

• Look for the blessed hope and return of our Savior, Jesus Christ

• Be zealous of good works

The first three commands seem clear-cut, even though these things aren't always easy to practice. Rooting out ungodliness in our lives can be a painful task. 

But the last part, “be zealous of good works", is easier to practice in some ways. It feels positive and productive to do good works. And I have a desire to do good works.  The tricky part for me is that I haven’t always been sure what good works I was supposed to be doing. It has taken awhile for me to discern my vocation.

Work, to me, had always meant having a career in the world and making the most of my talents in that way.

So I went to college and trained as a teacher. Then I got married, bought a house, and had a baby.  I realized that with the addition of a home and family,  my focus was changing.  

The things that really seemed important now were the things I had not trained and prepared for….marriage, family, children, running a household.  I also found myself struggling to balance a career with these now more important things.  

Something was out of whack and this is my journey of how I got it back into whack.  

It’s the story of how I became serious about following God’s will for my life, living it out daily, and how I found my vocation as a wife and mother. This series will share the rule of life I created to keep my life focused on God’s plan for me.

I invite you to read, seek the Lord and be inspired to think about the plan He has laid out for you.

Blessings,

Amy Laurie

But that which ye have already hold fast till I come. And he that overcometh , and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations...and I will give him the morning star.  Revelation 2:25-28

Part One: What will we do, sisters?

 Christmas Day, 2020

Do you ever think about what are you here for? What is the purpose of your life?

Do you have a vision for what your life will be all about?

As a Christian woman you may be wondering what God wants you to do to serve Him.  

I know I have been in that place. I have found myself doing all the things my culture was telling me to do but still feeling scattered and exhausted, and wondering what was the point of all the activity of my life. 

That’s when I started asking God to help me. And reading His word more closely. And taking it more seriously.

The Bible actually has some things to say about what women should do with their lives and that is what this blog is about.

In the letter to Titus, the Apostle Paul lays out priorities for women as being marriage, children, being keepers of the home and cultivating godly feminine character (Titus 2:3-5). 

Some call this Biblical Womanhood, but I think I will call it New Testament womanhood because it is a teaching that is so closely connected to the Good News of Christianity.

In this blog you will learn the roles and responsibilities of Christian women and how to grow in these areas.

We will do the spiritual work of building a mindset that conforms to the will of God. Changing a mindset involves reading scripture, prayer, learning to listen to God, repentance and planning for a new way of life. I’ll also be recommending and taking recommendations from my readers on books, blogs, vlogs and YouTube channels that will be helpful on this journey we are taking together.

We will also have practical aspects of a woman’s family ministry such as planning, setting up personal and household systems, organizing, cooking and meal planning, pregnancy and childcare, homeschooling, relationship dynamics, staying healthy, and finally, the domestic arts such as sewing, gardening, preserving, knitting and crochet.

I hope you will join me on our exciting adventure into domesticity for the love of Christ.

-Amy Laurie

Menu Plan: September 13-19

Menu Plan: September 13-19

When it comes to menu planning, let's embrace and  K.I.S.S. ( Keep It Simple Sweetie!).

We'll begin with the basics:  I'll share with you a simple, reliable meal plan  that I know my family loves, isn't too complicated to prepare and uses easy to obtain ingredients.

I'd be delighted if you used this menu for your own household, but I encourage you to find out the meals your family loves and make your own customized menu plans full of family favorites and tried-and-true meals.

Keep them somewhere handy....they will be invaluable to you during busy seasons or when you are not up to planning anything creative.  

Eventually we will add in some new things but bear with me as we are just going for consistency right now.  The goal is to stay away from eating unhealthy convenience and fast foods in desperation because we "cannot think of anything to cook".  We will always have something to cook because we already have 6 or seven weeks planned out ahead of time.  

Remember when menu planning to check your pantry first, fridge and freezer to see what you have on hand before you add to the stockpile. Let’s use what we already have and save money!

My basic menu planning strategy

Sunday braise:  It could be an easy chuck roast, beef stew or stroganoff, or coq au vin, pork country ribs and beans.  In the summer, I'm more likely to use a slow cooker to keep the kitchen cool.  If it's really hot, we might just pick up deli sandwiches or fried chicken.  Occasionally I'll make a chicken casserole.

Monday: One day of the week is usually leftovers, a hash made with any meat and  veggies which need using up.  Or I might make a quiche or a frittata.

Tuesday/Thursday*: Think simple...usually a meat, a starch and a couple of veggies or a stir-fry

Wednesday: Soups/Homemade breads and/or desserts/ Salads /Sandwiches

Friday: Fish

Saturday:   Comfort dishes ... pasta, pizza, beef stew, minestrone, tortilla soup, enchiladas, burgers, Red beans and rice, pizza

*This is my errand and visiting day so cooking has to be minimal.  I will often pick up a deli chicken with a bagged salad and Italian bread while at the grocery store.

Sooo....What's for dinner this week at my Mountain House?

Sunday:  Easy Chuck Roast / mashed potatoes / green beans / corn bread/ biscuits

Monday: Skillet hash/ relish tray

Tuesday: Grilled pork chops, green beans, lemon rice

Wednesday: Fried chicken tenders and salad / ice cream

Thursday:  Grilled brats and peppers/ relish tray

Friday: Fish tacos /slaw

Saturday: Spaghetti/ salad

Easy peasy!  A week's worth of dinners in the bag!

Country kisses and hugs to you!

And keep a gentle spirit....

~Amy Laurie 

Ma Sue's Famous, Old-Fashioned Fudge Icing (it's the real thing!)

This very old recipe for fudge icing will raise your favorite brownies, sheet or bundt cake to the next level.

It's a bit tricky at first and takes some practice, but please give this recipe a try if you are a chocolate lover.  Pay attention to the timing during boiling and beating and the weather conditions (it will take longer to set up in hot,humid weather).  Also, don't get discouraged if your first attempts don't turn out perfectly.  Making candy (and this is a candy,basically) takes some practice.

Let's give this a try!

First, gather all of the ingredients:

• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup milk 
• 1/2 cup butter (stick)
• 1/2 cup cocoa
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Then, carefully follow the instructions:

In a medium, heavy pot mix the sugar, cocoa, and salt with a wooden spoon or wire whisk.

Gradually stir in milk.

When the mixture begins to boil, add the butter.

Bring to a full, rapid boil that can't be stirred down.

Boil exactly 3 minutes, 45 seconds, stirring constantly.

Finally, add the vanilla extract (add last because the flavor of vanilla is diminished the longer it cooks). 

Then cool no more than 5 minutes.

Remove the pan from the heat and either with a hand-held mixer or a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, beat the fudge. 

Beat (start on low then move to high) exactly 5-10 minutes minutes till creamy.  

As you beat, the icing will gradually lose some of its shininess and thicken on the beaters and the spatula.  

How do you know when it's ready? Watch the way  the icing behaves along the edge of the bowl.  When it starts to stiffen along the edges, and the texture of the icing is  creamy and dull rather than shiny, it's done.

Pour and spread the icing immediately on your cake or brownies.

Top with nuts, if desired, immediately.

Consider this recipe to be marriage insurance.

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Ma Sue's Famous, Old-Fashioned Fudge Icing

First, gather all of the ingredients:

• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup milk 
• 1/2 cup butter (stick)
• 1/2 cup cocoa
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Then, carefully follow the instructions:

Cooking the fudge:

• In a medium, heavy pot mix the sugar, cocoa, and salt with a wooden spoon.
• Gradually stir in milk.
• Add the butter.
• Bring to a full rapid boil that can't be stirred down.
• Boil exactly 3 minutes, 45 seconds, stirring constantly. 
• Add the vanilla extract (add last because the flavor of vanilla is diminished the longer it cooks). 
• Then cool no more than 5 minutes.

Beating the fudge:

• Remove the pan from the heat and either with a hand-held mixer or a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, beat the fudge. 
• Beat (start on low then move to high) exactly 5-10 minutes minutes till creamy.  
• As you beat, the icing will gradually lose some of its shininess and thicken on the beaters and the spatula.  
• How do you know when it's ready? Watch the way  the icing behaves along the edge of the bowl.  When it starts to stiffen along the edges, and the texture of the icing is  creamy and dull rather than shiny, it's done.

Pour and spread the icing immediately on your cake or brownies.

Top with nuts, if desired, immediately.

Thanks for stopping by, y'all!

~Amy Laurie
  

Southern Pan-fried Okra!

This time of year I'm always gathering a  mess of okra from my little kitchen garden and this is one of my favorite ways to cook it. I hope you will give it a try as a special treat for your family.  It's okay if you don't have enough okra to fill a black cast iron skillet;  substitute some cubed squash, zucchini or green tomatoes. Yum! And don't forget to place the fried okra on a paper towel on a plate to blot any extra oil and then salt and pepper generously.

You will want to eat this like popcorn but I beg you to use some moderation. ..it packs 121 calories for a 1/2 cup serving and also counts as a serving of carbohydrates.

I serve this Southern classic with home-grown tomatoes, corn, biscuits,and country ham.

Ingredients:

• 1 to 1 1/2 pounds okra, caps cut off and sliced
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup plain cornmeal (may sub. self-rising)
• 3/4 tsp. seasoning salt (may sub. salt and pepper)
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup milk (or buttermilk)
• Vegetable oil (may sub. half olive oil)

Instructions:

• In a pie plate or paper lunch bag, mix together flour, cornmeal , salt and pepper.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together egg and milk.
• Place okra in egg mixture and coat well.
• Transfer to pie plate or paper bag and coat with flour.
• Pour about 1/4 inch vegetable oil in a large cast iron skillet or Dutch oven. Heat oil until about 375 degrees.
• Place a single layer of okra in the oil. Cook until golden brown on bottom and use a spoon to flip over. Try to flip over a few at a time or it will take a long time to work your way through all of them and a few pieces may burn by the time you get to them.
• Once golden brown on both sides, use a slotted spoon to remove okra to a plate lined with paper towels. Sprinkle okra with some salt as soon as you remove it from the oil.
• Add more oil to the pan and fry remaining okra. Serve warm.
  
  
  

  Enjoy!

  
  

  And thanks for stopping by!

  
  

  ~Amy Laurie 

  
  
  

Marriage, A Foretaste of Heaven

The love of a husband and a wife is the force that holds society together. ~ St. John Chrysostom 

Can you define marriage?

It's a task that in the secular, modern West is becoming ever trickier.  For years, everyone agreed that marriage was the union of a man and a woman for life. Enter no-fault divorce laws, and marriage became a union between two people as long as that union suited the couple (and many began writing their own vows) and lasting as long as convenienced them.    In 2015, the Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage was legal in every U.S. state.  In 2023, we are beginning to see some recognition for polyamorous relationships (polyamory is the practice of engaging in multiple sexual relationships, with the consent of all the people involved) and such arrangements as "living apart together", spouses living in separate households. 

So clearly, we are not all on the same page when it comes to what marriage is.

Fortunately for Christians,  the Bible has plenty to say about marriage and how marriages ought to be structured and work.

According to the word of God, marriage is the union between a man and a woman and it turns out that it was God's idea from the very beginning   But to understand the purpose and definition of this unique relationship, we have to take a look at the purpose and definition of man and woman, getting to the very heart of philosophy .  What are we here for and what are we supposed to be doing?  The book of Genesis in the Bible answers these questions.

Man, in the Beginning

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1

The Creation of Adam, Michaelangelo Buanorroti

It turns out that marriage was God's idea.  Moses, inspired by the Holy Spirit, gives an account in the book of Genesis right at the beginning of the Torah.  Here he tells how the Lord God made the universe, the earth and everything in it, including man, in six days, called it all very good, and then rested on the seventh day.  

Adam, the first man, was literally "formed" from the dust of the earth on the sixth day, the same day as all the land-creeping mammals.  However, Adam was given his own identity and authority separate from the beasts and vegetation.  Unlike the animals, Adam was made after the image and likeness of God:

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness."  And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.... And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.  Genesis 1:26-28     

In a real sense, Adam was given his own realm and a mandate to replenish it, order it, and take dominion over it.

In another passage, God literally gives man his own garden, to work and to keep.

The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. Gen. 2:15

 So again we see the idea of taking possession of, authority over, ordering, governing, and making productive the earth. 

God also gives Adam a command:  he must not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  In this we see that Adam has authority, but he is also subject to God;  he is sovereign but not a tyrant. He must reign under the reign of God:

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Gen.2:15-17  

The extent of Adam's rule depended on his obedience to the Lord God.  He is not to rule for his own selfish desires but to glorify God and fulfill His purposes in Creation.  But it turns out that Adam did eventually disobey God's clear instructions by eating from the forbidden tree and in so doing brought on himself a great obstacle to dominion: rebellion, sin and, ultimately, death.

Man defined:  He is made in the image of God, God-like, but made from the earth and so animal-like, too.

Man's purpose: Man is given sovereignty over the earth, subject to the Creator God.  He is given a mandate from God to be fruitful and multiply and to fill the earth, to bring it to order, to govern it, as well as to work the garden and keep it (Genesis 1:26-28, 2: 15-17).

Woman, in the Beginning

"Adam and Eve", Gustav Klimpt

After creating the world and everything in it in six days, and saying that it is all very good, the Lord God turned to the man and saw that something was not good. Man was alone.  Adam had named and classified all of the animals and was surrounded by the animals, yet none of them were "fit" or suitable to be the kind of helper he needed to fulfill his mandate from God. 

But the Lord God had a solution and He set about building a woman:  

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”  Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. Gen. 2:18-20 

 Instead of forming the woman out of the dust of the earth, as were the animals and Adam, too, God built her from a part of Adam's side: 

So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh.  And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, 'This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh;  she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man."Gen. 2:21-23

 When Adam was presented with his new companion he identified their relationship:  she was taken out of his own body, and so he willingly accepted her as part of himself: This is something taken out of me!  He recognized their oneness.  This giving of himself, literally, to create a bride is a foreshadowing of the future Messiah giving of himself to bring about the Church, His bride.  John Calvin explains the parallels:

He [Adam] lost, therefore, one of his ribs; but, instead of it, a far richer reward was granted him, since he obtained a faithful associate of life; for he now saw himself, who had before been imperfect, rendered complete in his wife.  And in this we see a true resemblance of our union with the Son of God; for he became weak that he might have members of his body endued with strength. Source. 

Adam recognized that this new creation, the woman, was like him, but different.  And as if to memorialize the origin of this amazing creature, Adam, gave his wife his own name:  "Ishah", or woman, wife, female, is a feminine variation of "Ish", or man.  She belongs to him in the most intimate way, and because of this, he also belongs to her.  Like Adam, who exists to glorify God, Eve exists to help her husband in his task and in so doing gives herself to him and to God. Together they glorify God in their self-giving. 

Woman defined:  She is taken from the man, made after the image of God, but different from man.

Eve's purpose:  She is made to  be Adam's "help meet" and companion. (Genesis 2: 18-20)

Marriage, in the Beginning:  one man, one woman, one flesh, one mission

Former GI Ernest Kreiling and his bride overlooking valley where he fought during WWII. April 1947 (Tony Linck)

Adam has his companion and is given instructions on this new and unique relationship with his bride:

Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. Gen. 2:15

The Holy Spirit describes here the bond between a man and his wife as the strongest on earth, stronger even than the natural bond between parent and child. The command to "leave" father and mother and "hold fast" and becoming "one flesh" also illustrates that the man and his wife are to form a new social unit, their own household,  separate from their parents' households.  Their oneness will be extended as they fill the house with children, each child representing his parents' union, one person literally created from two.

Christ referred back to this passage in Genesis when the Jews asked Him about divorce, "Is it permissible to divorce a wife for any cause?"  Jesus answered by going back to the beginning and used the original marriage as his template:

"Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, 'Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'?  So they are no longer two but one flesh.  What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate." Matt. 19:4-6 *

Christ went on to say that divorce had been permitted by Moses because of the "hardness" of their hearts.  But in the beginning, divorce was not part of the plan: 

Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.  And I say to you:  whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.   Matt. 19:3-9

Definition of marriage:
Marriage is a permanent bond between one man and one woman that enables them to fulfill man's creation mandate and glorify God.  

Purpose of marriage:
Man and woman are joined together in order provide one another companionship, to bring forth children, establish households, govern and steward the earth.  

And since God authored marriage, it makes sense that we are to look to him for the principles of marriage, which we will be discussing in future posts.

"The Kiss", Gustav Klimpt

 

Marriage in its original design is a blessing to both men and women. If we study the order given by our Creator and Christ and, by the power of the Holy Spirit, walk in love with one another, we will enjoy sweet harmony and friendship in our marriages.  The husband looks up to his Maker in reverence and the woman is a faithful and suitable helper to him.  Together they build peaceful and productive families, homes, churches and communities that bring flourishing to the earth and glorify God. 

“As love grows in you, beauty grows, too. For love is the beauty of the soul.” 

~St. Augustine of Hippo

* These last few verses illustrate the destructive effects of divorce, as well as polygamy. Both are corruptions of the original design of marriage. The two shall become one and form an unbreakable bond... not the three, four, five or six shall become one.  Polygamy, like divorce, was not the original design.

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Thank you for stopping by!  

May the Lord bless you and make you to be a blessing.

Yours,

Amy Laurie