Comfort.

My church just started a sermon series on 2 Corinthians and a few weeks ago, we looked into the first chapter.  These few verses hit me - hard:

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God." 1:3-4

In November, it will be two years since my brother passed away and I am constantly thinking my own suffering.  But, very rarely do I think of using it for anything or for anyone else.  Losing Alex has changed me so much, but I cannot let the story end there.  Darkness should not be the only thing that comes out his loss.  This passage shows me that it is my responsibility to comfort others in any pain or suffering.  But, it's not a religious responsibility; it is response.  I know hurt and pain and loss and I feel it every single day BUT I have the Father of compassion and God of all comfort.  I feel that everyday too.  If there has been any constant in these last two years, it is that God is good and God is in control.  That is my comfort.  And I need to share that.

We live in such a fallen, broken world.  There is pain and suffering all around us.  And we have all felt it.  Let's go out there and show the world the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.  

Seek God, be a blessing.  

Carrots.

Two things:

1. This is not a food blog.  Because that would be comical.  I know little to nothing about food and how to prepare it and what not.  But, I made a resolution to try to figure some of it out.  And that is what I'm doing.

2.  This is not a photo blog.  Let's be real, I have my little Sony Cyber-shot and there are limitations to the greatness I can capture.  I'll leave the real photo-blogging up to the professionals (or the wannabe professionals). 

Back to the point of this post, tonight Beth and I made carrot muffins!

They are fantastic :)

I bought some carrots last week at the Mill City Farmer's Market and wanted to use them up.  So, I found a recipe and some time in my schedule to do some baking.  The reason I'm extra happy about this little creation is because a) I normally can't/don't do this kind of thing and b) we changed the recipe, added some stuff and took out others.  

So, these little guys are full of carroty-appley-cinnamony-pineappley goodness.  And covered with an oatmeal and cinnamon crumble.  

Happy weekend to you!  

[Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.] 

Isaiah 26:4

Apples.

A few weeks ago, some friends and I went to an apple orchard! 

Apparently this is something that every elementary student does at some point for a field trip or what not...well, this experience was lost on me.  I blame it on my North Dakota upbringing...where I don't think apple orchards are terribly common.  BUT, now I can say that I have gone :)  

We picked some fantastic apples, which turned into incredible apple crisp.

We also saw goats.

And we took some cute pictures.

Time.

In my personal study, I recently looked at Luke 12:35-40 , which speaks of a parable that Jesus told explaining that the Son of Man will come at a time that we do not expect.  The study asked, "What keeps you most distracted from awaiting Christ's return?"  To be honest, this question initially made me angry.  Because it hurt so much and convicted my heart.  The reality of it all is that I feel like everything is keeping me distracted from the return of Christ.  

It led me to realize that it is a time issue, dependent upon how I have been using it.  Right now, I feel so overwhelmed, like my time belongs to everyone and everything but myself.  

But the problem isn't that my time doesn't belong to me, the problem is that it isn't all belonging to God.  My time is not my own, but it is God's.  I am a steward.  I have been given this life, this body, this mind to seek and serve the One True God.  To follow hard after Him.  To let His will be done.  To do work for the Kingdom.  

My eyes are fixed heavenward for the return of my Savior and I anxiously await the day that I will see Him face to face.  And while I wait, I pray that I am so consumed in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit that I am completely distracted from everything preventing me from fellowship with my God.