Never Fail Fudge

Shout out to Stephanie Mapes Erasmy for this one:


NEVER FAIL FUDGE

¼ pound butter, melted
1 can evaporated milk
4 ¼ cups white sugar

Boil 9 minutes then remove from heat and add:

18 ozs chocolate chips
1 jar marshmallow cream
1 ½ cups nuts, chopped

Mix well and pour into greased pan. Makes about 5 pounds.

Kelsey's Apple Dessert

My friend Kelsey sent this to me.  I haven't made it yet, but it sounds REALLY good!  Might have to add some of these ingredients to my grocery list for next week...mmmmmmm.

About 8 cups of apples, peeled, cored, sliced (I like Braeburn or Gala but obviously Granny Smith are the typical ones to use in baking)
1 14 oz can of Sweetened Condensed Milk
1.5 - 2 tsp Cinnamon (depending on if you like a lot of cinnamon or not)
1/2 cup cold butter
4 Tbsp cold butter
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 cups Bisquick, separated
2/3 cup Heath crunch bits o'brickle (toffee bits) bits (can be found by the chocolate chips)

Put the apples in a large bowl. Pour the Sweetened Condensed milk over top of them and stir to coat. Sprinkle the cinnamon over top and stir to coat again and set aside. In another bowl, cut 1/2 cup butter into 1 cup of the Bisquick until it's crumbly. Pour this into the apple mixture and then stir to evenly distribute the Bisquick mix. It will be lumpy and gooey. Dump the mix into a 9x13 baking dish.

Place remaining 1 cup Bisquick and 1 cup brown sugar in a bowl and mix well. Cut in 4 Tbsp butter until crumbly. Put this over top of the entire apple mix. Sprinkle the 2/3 cup Heath bits over top of the sugar and Bisquick mix. Bake at 325 for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown. 

It's rich and a little goes a long way. Best served warm with vanilla ice cream. :)

Hummas - Simple and Delicious!

My friend Carol George sent me this recipe a while ago and I love it.  It is a GREAT starting point for all the varying types of hummas you can make.  I made it this morning and will be snacking on it for several days.  

1 can drained garbanzos (save juice)
3-4 cloves sliced garlic
~1/2 c garbanzo juice (I adjust as I'm blending...usually start w/ 1/4 c and keep adding til consistency is right)
1/4 c or so chopped fresh cilantro (not packed down))
1/6 c tahini
1/8 c lemon juice (usually add a little more than that)
1/2-3/4 tsp sea salt
~2 Tbsp olive oil (usually start w/ 1 or 1.5 tbsp and adjust when blending)
~1/2 tsp cumin
Paprika
Parsley
A little cayenne pepper
Other random spices depending on flavoring I want. I added a little of the mrs dash garlic & herb this batch which was really good

I definitely adjust oil and juice amts. Seems some brands of beans need more than others. Hope you enjoy it! 

Honey Ginger Chicken

One of my all time favorite recipes. My friend gave this to me a while ago and we really love it!

2 Tbl Vegetable Oil
2 Tbl Butter or Margarine
1/3 cup of Flour
1/2 tsp Ground Ginger
1/4 tsp Pepper
3 lbs Chicken Drumsticks or Thighs

Sauce:
1/3 cup Honey
1/3 cup Homestyle Chili Sauce (see photo...there's a specific one you want)
1/3 cup Soy Sauce
1/2 tsp Ground Ginger

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Add oil and butter to a 9x13 baking dish and melt in oven while it preheats. Combine flour, ginger and pepper.  Dredge chicken in flour mixture and place skin side down into baking dish.

Bake 30 minutes, then turn chicken over, bake another 15 minutes.

Combine ingredients for the sauce.  Drain the grease from the baking dish and pour sauce over the chicken.  Bake additional 15 minutes basting every 5 minutes.

Serve with rice and use sauce on the rice.

Betty Crocker Snickerdoodles

1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter softened
1/2 cup shortening
2 large eggs
2 3/4 all purpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp.salt
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp.ground cinnamon
( the shortening and cream of tartar really makes these cookies so I wouldn't try to substitute)

1. Heat oven to 400.

2. In large bowl beat 1 1/2 cups sugar, the butter, shortening, and eggs with electric mixer on medium speed or mix with spoon. Stir in flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt.

3. Shape dough into 1 1/4 inch balls. In small bowl mix 1/4 cup sugar and the cinnamon. Roll balls in cinnamon-sugar mixture. On ungreased cookie sheet place balls 2 inch apart.

4. Bake 8 to 10 min or until set. Immediately remove from cookie sheet to wire rack (I use wax paper)




Comment from my aunt Cathie: 
"If you don't have cream of tartar (like me, lol) you can substitute 2 teaspoons of baking powder in place of the baking soda & cream of tartar. (Baking powder is actually a combination of baking soda, cornstarch & cream of tartar."

Chicken and Green Chile Enchiladas

I haven't tried these yet, but I'm adding them to my meal plan for January (we had turkey enchiladas last night...gotta spread out the love)




Chicken and Green Chile Enchiladas 
(courtesy of Sarah Irwin)

Serving size about 10

1 - 8oz container of cream cheese, cut into cubes
1 - 4.5 oz can of diced green chiles
2 - 10 oz cans of green enchilada sauce ( I usually use less so the enchiladas are crispy)
1 lb  cooked chicken cut up
10 tortillas 
3/4 cup of shredded cheese

1. Preheat oven to 400. Lightly grease glass pan 13x9 works well.

2. Cook chicken throughly.

3. In a pan mix cream cheese, diced green chilies until cream cheese is melted. Stir in cooked chicken. ( I usually add a little green enchilada sauce and cheese as well to add more flavor)

4. Spoon mixture into tortillas, a large spoonful for each. Roll up tortilla and place seem down in glass pan. Pour enchilada sauce over tortillas. Sprinkle cheese on the top.

5. Cook for about 20 min or until cheese is melted.

Ribs ala Roney

Ribs ala Roney

My good friend Jill Roney made these ribs for us when Aliyah was born...oh man were they good! Really some of the best sauce I have ever had! I convinced her to share the recipe and turns out they are really easy to make too. In this recipe they are baked in the oven, but I bet they would be GREAT in a crock pot too!

Country style spare ribs

1 cup catsup

1 cup water

2 tsp salt

2 Tbl worcestershire

1/4 cup vingar

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 Tbl ground mustard

1 tsp paprika

Brown the ribs in a skillet and place in a baking dish. Combine all the other ingredients into a sauce and pour over the top of the ribs.  You can increase the ingredients for the sauce to accommodate the amount of ribs you are cooking.

Bake at 350 for 1 ½ hours.

Recipes

In an attempt to stay within my monthly grocery budget...and maybe even SAVE some money in that department...I've decided to start getting organized by typing up my favorite recipes. I figured adding them to my blog might be a great way no only to keep them organized, but to share them with my friends.


One of the advantages of posting them on my blog is that I can use the links to the blog on my meal planning calendar on Google Calendar.  Super helpful when it comes time to pull up those recipes.  Wanna know how to create a meal plan on Google Calendar yourself?  Check out this link:  Feels Like Home blog  think I found it by doing a Google search, but it was a GREAT idea and I've totally decided to do the same.

So feel free to try out the recipes and post your comments...and maybe even send a few new ones my way. :)

So here is my master list of recipes that we pull from for our weekly/bi-weekly meal plan.  Not all of these items will be links to other recipes...most are just a list for my own benefit.  :)


BREAKFAST
French Toast
Eggs and Toast
Overnight Baked Oatmeal
Pancakes (make a big batch and freeze)


MAIN DISH - CHICKEN
Honey Ginger Chicken
Fried Chicken
Chicken Parmigiana
Creamy Chicken Enchiladas (Kevin and Amanda)

Creamy Chicken Enchiladas (BHG)

Chicken and Green Chili Enchiladas
Chick-Fil-A Chicken Bites
Fajitas
Bacon Cheeseburger Chicken
Chicken and Rice Cassarole
BBQ Chicken
Jambalaya
Southwestern Chicken Corn Chowder

MAIN DISH - BEEF
Steak, Steak, Steak
Tacos with Homemade Flour Tortillas
Hamburgers/Hot Dogs
Sweet and Sour Meatballs
Meatloaf - still searching for the perfect recipe
Hamburger Strogonoff with Rice
Beef Enchiladas
Beef Strogonoff
Taco Pie

MAIN DISH - PORK
Slow Cooker BBQ Pulled Pork
BBQ Pork Chops
Pork Ribs
Ribs ala Roney


MAIN DISH - OTHER
Grilled Tilapia with Mango Salsa (mango salsa optional)
Selma's AMAZING Lasagna
Fried Rice
Spaghetti

SIDE DISHES
Summer Rice Pilaf


SNACKS
No Bake Energy Bites


SAUCES
Honey Mustard Dressing/Dip
Hummus





DESSERTS
Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cake

BATCH COOKING
Lisa's Spaghetti Sauce
Pioneer Woman Spaghetti Sauce

Facebook and Breast Cancer Awareness

Last week my friend Selena Seymour lost her long and arduous battle with breast cancer. She was a single mom who left behind a precious 5 year old boy. After standing with her in prayer and believing for healing, my heart was broken when she finally passed away. I cried and prayed fervently for that beautiful little boy, grieving as I thought about the fact that he now must grow up without her.

I remember being moved as she shared in a note on her FB page a couple years ago about what it was like going through treatment while being a single mom:

"My son does not know of the days I would walk straight into walls and doors out of pure exhaustion of raising a colicky newborn while debilitated by cancer treatments. He will never know how much pain I endured from him grabbing onto my port under the skin of my chest or how painful it was to try and hold him with the severe radiation burns that ran from my neck, shoulder and down my breast and back. He’ll never know how I held my breath as tears rolled down my face from the agony of trying to change diapers after my surgeries. He’ll never know how I held his sleeping body in my arms and sobbed silently in the night as visions of my death and his life without me infected my brain.

Everyday I hold it together because I want my son to one day understand that cancer or not I have a beautiful life to live."

I cried and cried as I read her post that day...now my heart breaks for Joaquin and for her family. It was a LONG battle and she was a very brave woman!

So when I first got the message in my inbox that I should post where I prefer to leave my purse as my Facebook status in order to promote Breast Cancer Awareness...I immediately deleted it. I honestly didn't really read beyond the part that said to post it like this: "I like it on the counter." I remember last year when everyone started posting their bra color and instantaneously had a flood of emotions.

• Emotions about the ridiculous claim that posting such a thing is somehow going to promote Breast Cancer Awareness.
  
• Emotions about the inappropriateness of such a statement when all it does is cause others in your friends list to imagine you "on the counter"...
  
• Emotions about how difficult it is for men and boys who have, as Job said in Job 31:1,“I made a covenant with my eyes not to look with lust at a young woman" to succeed when they are inundated with inappropriate images, words, expressions, emails, TV commercials, inappropriately dressed girls and women, etc.

Anyway, I guess you could say I got a little angry...and before it got out of control I decided to walk away from my computer and focus on something else (of course that was after I posted a nasty little comment on a friends post...sorry Katie...and after I called the branch manager at my local bank to complain about the ENORMOUS amount of cleavage the teller had the other day…geez!)

Today I read a blog post by my friend Tishra Beeson. She was much more articulate than I could or would be in my state of annoyance and disgust… So, I’m posting a copy of her blog post here. I hope it makes you think about it before you post where you "like it":

http://beesonbeat.blogspot.com/

Breast Cancer Awareness and Facebook Status Misuse

I love Facebook. If you took a survey of my top visited websites during the day, Facebook might be number two or three. I love the idea of Facebook as a social mass marketing tool, and especially as a mechanism for health promotion. Unfortunately it has been grossly under-researched and under-utilized as a health messaging utility. One thing I do know is that the recent facebook campaigns for breast cancer awareness have left many of us a confused and a little irritated this year.


MSNBC describes the phenomenon:


“ ‘I like it on the floor.’ ‘I like it on the kitchen counter.’ ‘I like it on the coffee table.’… Ladies are updating their statuses to let all their friends know where they like to put their handbags (obviously) when they get home, which (obviously) is intended to promote breast cancer awareness … It's kind of like when last year's ‘what color is your bra’ status updates went viral, in which Facebook's females posted just ‘black’ or ‘pink,’ intending to raise breast cancer awareness. This year, an e-mail is circulating around Facebook inboxes asking women to update their status with " where we put our handbag the moment we get home(i). "


While I still can’t understand the connection between handbags and breast cancer, here are a few more reasons why this Facebook message is senseless and simply inappropriate.


1. The message is irrational. Filling your facebook status with the color of your bra or “where you like it” is more provocative than it is promotional, leaving imaginative followers picturing things far beyond disease prevention. By pimping users’ statuses, the attention is inevitably diverted to something that is sexually charged and away from the fight of millions of women who are facing this disease.


2. The message is incomplete. It is intentionally laced with mystery, telling women not to post any comments or explanations in their posts. By doing so, it fails to establish any link between what we are reading and further critical information about breast cancer, treatment, or screening, the crux of the breast cancer awareness movement. According to Healthy People 2010(ii), effective health communication should be accurate, balanced, evidence-based, and reliable. These new suggestive Facebook statuses clearly leave these important concepts out, creating information delays for women who really should be hearing messages about breast cancer awareness.


3. The message is irreverent. Like many of you, I know many strong, beautiful women who have fought with courage against breast cancer. Making a game out of it on Facebook or Twitter without any rhyme, reason, or relevance is an injustice to those women and their families.


4. The message is ineffective. Giving the creators of this fad the benefit of the doubt, I imagine they intended for these racy messages to give breast cancer awareness a “sexy” edge, making it more appealing to Facebook users, and encouraging them to seek out testing/prevention strategies (I am being generous with this assumption). But I really wonder how many women that posted their bra color or their purse location actually conducted a breast self-exam, or talked to their doctor about their risks, or changed their diet, or engaged in any of the early detection strategies promoted during breast cancer awareness month.


5. The message is elitist. According to message that hit Facebook inboxes earlier this week, “it leaves men wondering for days … let’s see how powerful we women really are.” While I have nothing against female empowerment, this sends a totally inappropriate message leaving out a key population: men. The National Cancer Institute cites that nearly 2,000 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year, with nearly 400 deaths associated with male breast cancer. Not to mention the countless husbands, brothers, sons, and male friends of women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer who are completely excluded from this seemingly supportive, yet totally disrespectful Facebook trend.


Health messaging that goes viral is the pipedream of public health researchers (including yours truly), but women who are posting sexual innuendo and hints at the color of the underwear simply aren’t getting the point across that over 200,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year and that “more American women have died of breast cancer in the last 20 years than the number of Americans killed in World War I, World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War combined(iii).” Nor is this new internet stunt connecting women with appropriate and accurate health information on screening and early detection, which we know is the most highly effective strategy to improve survival rates(iv).


I am a firm believer that Breast Cancer Awareness Month is a cause worthy of substantial action, so here are some other things you can really feel good about, regardless of what color your bra is or where you put your purse at the end of the day.

• Take part in the 2010 Komen Race for the Cure 5K series throughout the month of October in a city near you: The event began in Dallas in 1983 and has now grown to almost 120 races around the world.


• Take part in the 12th annual Yoplait "Save Lids to Save Lives" drive, where the yogurt company will donate 10 cents for every pink lid you send by Dec. 31. And this year, they've increased their donation to Susan G. Komen for the Cure to at least $500,000 and up to $1.6 million.


• Upload a photo to the global photo mosaic on 69-seconds.org, and "watch the world go pink."


• Cyclists can sign up for the Ride to Empower from Oct. 21-24 for routes that are up to 100 miles in Springdale, Utah for Breast Cancer Network of Strength's Ride to Empower.


• Many offices throughout the U.S. have pink days where workplaces arrange for everyone to wear pink clothing or accessories to work in October, and raise money by organizing activities at the local level.


• For the second year in a row, the NFL has "A Crucial Catch: Annual Screening Saves Lives" program that helps encourage women over 40 to have an annual mammogram .


• NFL partners, including Nike, Reebok, Adidas, Gatorade and Wilson have produced pink products for Breast Cancer Awareness games so you can purchase lots of pink NFL and non-NFL related merchandise throughout October.


• Talk to your family and friends about early detection and screening. And do a breast self-exam, yourself!


• Donate to organizations like Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, the American Cancer Society, or the National Breast Cancer Foundation (v).

*Disclaimer – This is not intended to single-out or berate any individual or group. It is merely meant to raise discussion on the importance of breast cancer awareness and the concerns of a less-than-effective health messaging trend currently on the rise.

i. Dahl, M. (2010). How effective are sexy breast cancer awareness stunts, anyways?http://msnbc.com/
ii. Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. Healthy People 2010. Health Communication.
iii. Breast Cancer Action. (2008). Statistics and General Facts.http://bcaction.org/index.php?page=statistics-and-general-facts
iv. American Cancer Society. (2010) Breast Cancer: Early Detection.http://www.cancer.org/Cancer/BreastCancer/MoreInformation/BreastCancerEarlyDetection/breast-cancer-early-detection-importance-of-finding-early
v. Adapted from FoxNY October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. October 4, 2010.http://myfoxny.com/

Gifts vs. Fruit

"But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same[b] Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills."
1 Corinthians 12:7-11

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law." Galatians 5:22

I was reading my friend Lori Green's blog and she was talking about Romans 12...us being many members but one body and that we are to LET the people with gifts function in their gifts! It was really good and made me think about the Gifts of the Spirit and the Fruit of the Spirit and how they work with one another.

I believe that the Gifts of the Spirit listed in 1 Corinthians 12 are meant to be balanced out by the Fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22. Like an old school measuring scale, the NINE Gifts are listed on one side and the NINE Fruit on the other....thereby balancing each other.




The thing that makes it difficult is that you don't have to do anything to receive a GIFT, but the FRUIT (character) needed to use that gift properly takes time to grow. GIFTS ARE GIVEN, BUT FRUIT GROWS. That means that the Lord gives gifts to immature and broken people and allows us time to develop the character we need to balance them out and use them in the most effective manner.

So, the question is, does an immature believer whom God has given GIFTS to have the room to use those gifts, even if they make mistakes? Do we allow them to minister to us, even if they aren't perfect? Do we reject the GIFT of God to us because of the way it comes wrapped?

It is easy to do that. I challenge you to be open to the GIFT that God may have for you through an immature, crinkled, package....We're all just cracked pots anyway, right?

Spirit of Adoption

I was talking with a friend from Kansas City recently about the ministry they founded called The Zoe Foundation as well as Hannah's Dream their adoption agency. Amazing people...REALLY!

It got me curious about adoption here in Washington State and wondered about some of your experiences. Have you adopted a child in Washington State? What was the process like for you? Did you use a private agency, the foster to adopt program through DSHS, an adoption consultant? What was your experience like?

Tell me about it...fill me in. I'm anxious to hear your story!

Waiting for Lightning

So, yes, it's been over six months since my last post...I think it's safe to say that I have been just a little bit distracted by a very cute little face.

It has been great fun to watch Aliyah grow and learn...learn how to use her hands; learn how to grasp things (and stick them in her mouth); learn how to make various sounds. But my favorite is how she has learned to hear my voice say her name and recognize it. I remember the first time I said her name and she searched the room until she found me, rewarding me with a HUGE smile. Oh how my heart melted! Although my voice was known to her in the womb, she had to learn to respond to it when I called her name.

When I first got saved I had to learn to recognize God's voice. His voice was always there, and it was familiar to me, but I did not know how to tell it apart from other voices and things I heard and felt. I remember clearly when that all changed.

I became a Christian the summer before my freshman year in High School. That year I was asked to go to the prom with a friend who was a junior. I knew that I had to ask my parents first if I could even go. I did and instead of giving me an answer, my dad said, "Beth, why don't you pray about it and ask the Lord if it's ok for you to go to the prom? Do that and then we will talk about it." I took him seriously and did just that...I prayed. "God, um...can i go to the prom?" (I know, it's not elaborate and there really isn't much else to say in this case.)

After three days of waiting for an answer I started to get frustrated. I was hearing answers (yes you can go; no don't; there's nothing wrong with going; etc). I couldn't tell if what I was hearing was God, the devil, or just my own heart speaking. Finally, in exasperation I prayed a simple prayer, "Ok God, if you don't want me to go to the prom, then I want a BIG thunderstorm."

Now for those of you who do not live in the Northwest, we get a lot of rain here, but if you don't live in the foothills of the mountains, thunderstorms are rather rare. ESPECIALLY the TEXAS sized one I was asking for! I grew up in the south...tornado alley...so I know what a thunderstorm is supposed to be like and that's what I wanted. One to shake the windows on the house! A couple more days went by and one afternoon while I was in my room doing homework, I heard a familiar sound. It was afar off and I wanted to brush it off as being one of the military exercises we often heard at our home. Then I heard again...louder. Suddenly, the skies parted and there was flash an enormously loud CRACK! The storm had come! I ran out in the dining room where my dad was and with my eyes the size of saucers said, "I am not going to the prom." The storm lasted all of five minutes...no rain...no hail, just thunder and lightning.

I found out later that my dad anguished over letting me ask the Lord about it rather than just giving me the answer he already knew in his heart...that no, I could not go to the prom. He spent HOURS praying and interceding, asking the Lord to teach me His voice. His prayers were answered. From that day on, I have known the Lord's voice when He speaks to me.

A month or so later Steven Curtis Chapman came out with a song called Waiting for Lightning. The lyrics of the chorus are:

Are you waiting for lightning, a sign that it's time for a change

Listening for thunder, while He quietly whispers your name?

I swear that song was written just for me. When I heard it for the first time, my heart lept. Then the Lord spoke to me, "Beth, don't ever ask me for a sign again. My voice will be enough for you." WOW...clear as day. And His voice is enough. Every time I'm tempted to ask for a sign, I hear that song in my head and I am reminded of His voice.

So, what is the Lord telling you? Are you listening for His voice, or are you Waiting for Lightning? His voice is enough...His word is true. He is worthy to be trusted.

Props

When Aliyah was first born we were of the mind that we were going to be a "no pacifier family." We didn't like the idea of our kid running around with it in her mouth and us having to break her of that habit. That lasted all of the car ride home from the hospital when she was screaming in the back seat. We quickly discovered that she had a very strong sucking need...and when she started going for her thumb, we decided that we'd rather break her of the pacifier than try to break her of that. Although the pacifier has been a wonderful thing for her to have during those first few months; we have discovered some pitfalls too; the main one being that if the baby becomes dependent on it to sleep, then every time they wake up and no pacifier, then the parent has to go in and put it back in her mouth. After a couple days of that, I have decided that it's time to break her of her "prop."

This got me thinking about how easy it is for us to fall into the same trap in so many ways. It starts out innocently enough but it doesn't take long for an addiction to form and for us to be dependent on our own "prop." With infants, the first 3-4 months there is a "need" to suckle...it's a natural thing that God placed in them so that they would learn to eat and to soothe themselves. But there comes a point when that need changes to a habit. This is the stage that Aliyah has reached...the need has become a habit because she has not developed a way to soothe herself without using a "prop". As the months have gone by the more and more she seems to want that "prop" in her mouth....it's not just at bed time anymore.

The same thing happens with adults. When something happens and we have a "need" to be soothed in some way so we each find something that works for us (food, alcohol, entertainment, exercise, etc.) At the beginning, when done in moderation, it's really not a problem, but when it changes from a need to a habit, we're in trouble....we've become addicted to a "prop" to get us through. Then we become obese, anorexic, an alcoholic, or we just checkout and disengage with constant distraction.

There is on "prop" that is good for us to have...and He's more than just a "prop". Jesus wants us to find our fulfillment, satisfaction, and comfort in Him. He wants us to bring our burdens to Him so He can take them and make our burden light (Matthew 11:29-30). He wants us to turn our eyes off of our situation and look for His help (Psalm 121:1-3). There will never be a time when it is bad to have Jesus as your "prop", but really, He's more than that....He's our only hope in time of need. He's the one who carried our sorrows, was bruised for our sin (Isaiah 53: 4-5). He is the God that can heal, He is the one who loves us even in our weakest moment.

I am reminded of my NEED for Him and my DESIRE to lean into His Mercies and His Grace. I really do want to be "addicted" to Jesus....YES JESUS...BE MY "PROP". I HAVE NEED OF THEE!