For crying out loud..

I was added to a group on Facebook from a friend, for inspiration and uplifting. It's a safe place where people can post their thoughts and revelations, quotes, Bible verses, and positive media videos and articles.

I have been reading through and one that was recently posted, was a video of a Gospel singer on a late night television show. The song that she beautifully belted was about the proof of God in her life and the victory that she has achieved by calling on His name and trusting in his provisions. It is a powerful and joyous song and it was on a major television network. Amazing.. It got me thinking about my relationship with the Lord and where my victories lay.

I took some time out of my day for some guided reflection. I started looking through verses and I was lead to a few that kept referencing "seeking the Lord", "calling out to Him", and "throwing ourselves into His arms".
Why is it so important for us to call out to Him and seek Him in all things? Is He not omnipotent and present, wanting what is best for us? Couldn't he just take care of things so we could just spend our time praising Him?

The short answer: Because we are human.

I related it to my human relationship with my parents. They want what is best for me, try to be as present as they can, drop everything to help when I am in need. They long to hear about my day, to be apart of my life, to still be an anchor for me, and in many cases want to share their activities and thoughts with me, laugh together and feel that special connection.  But, how do I respond to that? Do I praise them for their love and support? Well, I try. I try to call every day. I try to remember to include them in events and plan to get together with him. But I am flawed and I forget  and I let myself get busy.

But the Lord is so much bigger than that and He deserves so much more than my pitiful "tries". A running theme with the verses that I found was that He uses those times that we cry out to Him to show that He is still there, that He is just within earshot all the time. He wants so desperately for us to call out to him and throw ourselves into His arms that it makes His day when we do, and He treasures our tiny hearts. He wants to be our hero, deliverer and Savior, and the best way that we will recognize Him as that, is when we acknowledge His presence and cry out for His peace. In those quiet moments when we feel alone or start to become overwhelmed by this great big world, we talk to Him and His response is an overwhelming peace with the small, still voice of reassurance that simply says "Here I am."

Just as children cry out to their parents in the middle of the night because of nightmare, or you search a crowd for a familiar face and a smile of reassurance, our heart seeks the Lord for that gentle wink and nod. As if to say, "Keep going, you're doing fine. I'm right here when you need me." 

That is why I love my God.. That is where my strength comes from.. 

xoxo,

Katie Beth

Whole30 Breakfast

In starting the Whole 30, I have been trying to deliberate on how I can start the day. The beginning of everything sets the tone for the end. So, I wanted to start out with an easy breakfast that would cover some good sources of protein and be satisfying.

My sweet potato muffin cups seem to be just that!

In my last trip to the grocery store, sweet potatoes were on sale and I happened to picked up some cage-free, organic eggs, and some organic spinach. Some staples of the Whole30 plan.

1/2 large sweet potato (julienne cut)
5 eggs (whisked)
1 cup of baby spinach
Sea Salt

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and if needed, rub the muffin tin with coconut oil to prevent from sticking (my tin didn't stick so that was one less ingredient).

I wanted to try out my new mandolin (clearance find at Williams and Sonoma- score!) so I decided to slice the sweet potato with the julienne blade on the "1" setting so the pieces would be finely sliced. I have seen other posts about bloggers making an "egg in a basket" rendition with sweet potato tots, and I like the concept, but I wanted to make these with the freshest ingredients rather than frozen sweet tater tots and frozen spinach.

Because my sweet potato was on the larger side, I only needed to use 1/2 of it to make 6 breakfast cups. So I sliced it up and arranged the pieces in the muffin tin to create a bit of a hole in the middle.

Next, I cracked the eggs into a bowl. Then I just ripped the fresh spinach into small pieces and added them to the bowl with the eggs. Whisk these together with a couple of pinches of sea salt for taste.

Next, pour the egg, spinach, and salt mixture into the muffin cups over the sweet potato baskets and pop into the oven for 16-18 minutes.

When they are done, pull them out and set aside to cool. You can either eat them warm or store them in the refrigerator and warm them up for each days breakfast. They are great to make ahead of time and then warm up as you are heading out the door to eat in the car on the way to work. They tend to flatten out as they cool, so I end up warming up 2 for my breakfast.

I have seen a lot of ideas for spicing up the flavor and mixing in. Some suggestions are adding diced ham, bits of bacon or mild sausage, a dash of hot sauce, chives on top, drizzle with balsamic vinegar, or add some diced bell peppers.

Have a happy and healthy breakfast!

xoxo,
Katie Beth

In low tides, friends will be by your side

I know I haven't blogged in a long while, and in fact this post I wrote out and saved over a year ago but never published. I have felt pretty overwhelmed with joy lately, as I feel that writing this blog is truly a relief and release for me. I don't want it to always be a rant of frustrations, and conversely I don't want it to always nothing but happy, happy, happy. There needs to be a delicate balance, just like everything in life. So I will start with this post (a mix of both), and my goal this year will be to continue writing. I feel there will be some times coming up where I will need it and maybe you might too dear readers....

Last year, I was hit with some pretty heavy drama that left me feeling angry, hurt, and frustrated. I felt that there was no one I could talk to initially because everyone that I turn to in times of trouble are too close to the situation. So all I could do was turn to the person who is always there to listen, my Lord. I started praying and I was overcome with the urge to write my last blog post. It wasn't thought out, or planned, or pre-written- it just flowed. After publishing it, I felt a rush of peace that was completely fulfilling and I felt that in that moment I had a clear answer of what I was to do.

That day, I came home from work and I told the Viking everything that happened. Just as I suspected, like the sweet, protective husband that he is, he jumped to my defense, ruffled my feathers again, and fed my initial reaction of anger. I meditated on that emotion and I found that I despised that feeling and I knew that it was wrong. I already had been given my answer, why even consider changing my mind? My human nature is such that, I need affirmation and to convince myself that I am doing the right thing. So I again discussed it further with the Viking, sought his opinion on what I was being prompted to do, and was left with an unsettled feeling that it wasn't right. Not that the Viking's advice wasn't good, and it could have very easily worked in another situation, but it wasn't right for that one. In expressing my feelings of frustration to him, he suggested that I seek council in a friend of mine and see what her thoughts are on the subject. It was an inviting idea and one that I had toyed with, but I was hesitant in doing so. I am a very private person when it comes to affairs of my family and it is has become very hard for me to open up to others for fear of what they may think. But I needed to resolve this uneasy, desperate feeling of peace, so I bit the bullet and called her to meet for coffee.

Coffee is my comfort. It reminds me of waking up early on a cool morning, wrapped in a blanket and either reading a book or looking out over a serene view. Some of my most favorite conversations and mornings involve coffee, and it brings me to a better version of myself. My friend (we'll call her Joy) loves coffee too, and we even were first introduced over coffee. So it just made since to meet at Starbucks and have a heart to heart. She was more than willing, basically dropped everything- getting a babysitter and all- and wanted to meet that night.

As we held our warm cups of comfort, I spilled everything to her, and told her the anxiety I was feeling for it all. To my astonishment, she didn't get mad, she didn't butt in with comments, she didn't judge me for my feelings; she just let me talk and smiled. When I was finished, she shared with me that the same thing happened in her family and that it had affected relationships to the point that part of her family had never even met her youngest daughter (she was 10). She shared that it took a death in the family to bring everyone together and forced them to talk. The Lord's hand was held over that meeting, because they realized that it was such a silly thing to have such animosity and hate, and they decided that the love and memories they had were so much more important. They have slowly, within the past months, been working at rebuilding those torn and tattered relationships and are now looking forward to a family reunion over the summer.

It was a reminder to me that, in the midst of it all, the Lord is at work. We have to seek his wisdom and direction, and when he tells us to wait, we need to do just that. He gave me a peace about the whole thing and even directed me to someone who would know exactly what I was going through, and even is coming out the other side. If it takes 10 years for my family to made whole again over this issue, it will be worth it, but I have learned that I cannot let my emotional and flawed human perspective makes things worse.

Have hope dear ones, and let it anchor you to what you know to be true. Cling to those relationships that you build, and don't be afraid to reach out. After all, we're all in this together!

xoxo,
Katie Beth