Gracie

Little Gracie arrived yesterday. Cute as a button. 😀

At what cost, will you pay for failure?

 

Why are known hells preferable to strange heavens; miserable jobs, run by bosses who don’t understand? Miserable relationships, being cruel, callous and uncaring to each other, living with hatred in our hearts? Because it’s familiar and it’s easier to stay with the familiar, than it is to change. Life is tough and it’s scary. It’s scary taking a chance. It’s scary acting on your intuition and starting something new. 

People are immobilized by fear and new beginnings leave us feeling trepidation and dread. For those who are letting fear stop them from taking action, to you I say; Feel the fear and do it anyway! You’ll never know whay you're capable of, if you don’t push past the fear and take that chance at success. Even if you don’t succeed, at least you’ll know you gave it your best shot and that’s way better than living with regret for the rest of your life. 

Weigh up the cost of failure, should the worst happen and decide if it’s worth it to you. Decide if you could live with what the worst in life can throw at you. And if you can live with it, then go for gold and don’t look back!

Breakfast Toastie

 

                             Serves 2.

         Approx. 15 minutes cooking time.

Ingredients;

Crusty bread, toasted

2 cups grated pumpkin

1 cup loosely packed baby spinach 

Bunch sage

½ tsp minced garlic

20 grams parmesan cheese grated

Handful walnuts

Olive oil

1 tbls butter

2 tbls Greek yogurt, non fat

Salt and pepper to taste

Chopped oregano to garnish

Method;

Dressing; Blend sage, walnuts, garlic, parmesan and a drizzle of olive oil. Mixture needs to be runny, but not too runny.

Garnish; Mix yogurt with salt, pepper and another drizzle of olive oil. Chop oregano and leave to one side. 

Pop bread in toaster and cook. 

Melt the butter with a little olive oil, in fry pan. Into this, add the grated pumpkin and fry until soft, then add the blended sage mix dressing and the baby spinach. Fry until spinach has wilted.

Place pumpkin mix onto cooked toast and dollop with yogurt garnish, adding oregano to top off the garnish.

Kangaroo Mince Lettuce Cups

 

Ingredients;

1 Onion chopped

Good pinch of sugar

500 grams kangaroo mince

Small pinch of salt and pepper 

(the soy and oyster sauces will add a 

more salty flavour, so keep the salt

to a minimum and taste towards the end)

2 tbls Olive oil

1 tsp Minced garlic

Grated nob of ginger

1 small red chili (2 if you like it hot and spicy) 

1/2 cup mushrooms

1 tbls soy sauce

2 tbls oyster sauce

3 chopped shallots

1 tbls mixed garden herbs

Lettuce leaves

Greek yogurt

2 chopped avocados

2 chopped tomatoes

1 peeled and seeded chopped cucumber

Method;

Cook the onion, in the oil, add garlic, sugar and toss through. 

Add chopped mushrooms.

Add ginger, chili and garden herbs.

Mix in mince and break down any lumps add salt and pepper.

Add soy and oyster sauce and mix well. 

Serve in lettuce cups, top with yogurt, tomatoes, cucumber, avocado and shallots.

Bubble and Squeak

 

With poached egg and avocado

For this recipe, you can make your own bubble and squeak, from leftovers. In this particular recipe though, I used a shop bought bubble and squeak patty. 

Fry the bubble and squeak patty, with cherry tomatoes. Whilst they are cooking, poach your egg, to the consistency you like. 

And while the egg is poaching, mash an avocado, with a squirt of lemon juice, in a bowl.

Once the patty and tomatoes are cooked, place the patty on a plate, serve the tomatoes on the side and top the patty with mashed avo, then place the egg on top of that. 

Add salt and pepper and garnish with chives, or parsley. 

Just before serving, slit open the egg, so the gooey yolk oozes out and over the other ingredients. 

Satan is Real. Part 2.

                           

                        

During the end times, there will be false apostles, masquerading as apostles of God. The difference is so subtle you won’t pick it up, if you don’t know the word and you will be deceived. Whole congregations can be deceived, when the false prophet turns up and the bible tells us; they’re amongst us. 

Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light and his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Satan and his servants come in and undermine the word of God and cause confusion to the people of the congregation, who don’t know the word of God well and then we wonder why the church splits, or fails.

Satan cleverly and subtly gets in to people’s life. Who hasn’t been to a fortune teller, palm reader, or participated in Ouija boards? Who hasn’t read their daily star sign in the magazines on occasion, just to see if it works?

Even horror movies, such as The Exorcist, Amityville Horror, It and Poltergeist, just to name a few. These are all areas, where we open our mind to the evils of the world. We are drawn to evil. It’s intriguing and appealing. Even the subtilty of the white witch, where you think it’s ok, because you do no harm. It’s still witchcraft and sorcery. Don’t be deceived into thinking it’s harmless.

Deuteronomy mentions the detestable things of God and what practicing these things will result in. God is a God of love, but he’s also a God of wrath and He will bring His judgements on His people, whether they believe it or not. 

Satan has a way of making things look good, or at least look not so bad; through music, movies, books, through the internet especially, where evil seems to flourish. Be mindful of what you look at and listen to. Ask yourself; would Jesus be caught reading this book, watching this movie, listening to this song? 

You don’t need your loved one, who has passed away, to speak to God for you either. You don’t need to speak to the dead. God doesn’t want you seeking the dead. He wants you to turn and seek Him.

Satan makes it sound so harmless, but it’s all against God, even just a little bit is enough to displease God and bring joy to Satan. All this might sound old fashioned and fuddy-duddy, but the bible hasn’t changed its tune for thousands of years. 

Satan likes nothing better than to cause us to think we can be like God and there’s many works on the internet, which push that agenda.

We think with positive thinking, we can have, do and be all that we want and we can, to a point, because we’re on this earth to overcome; overcome monetary issues, relationship issues, health issues, addictions and much more, however, don’t fall for teachings that say we can be like God. It’s because Satan tried to be like God that he was cast out of heaven. 

The Great I Am, is the same yesterday, today and forever. You are not God! You cannot be God! 

When you start with the gospel and fall away, because you think you don’t need it and you think you can become God, this is a warning to you; Don’t be fooled by beautiful packaging. 

The Pharisee’s had the greatest intentions, but they’d been led astray. They thought they were a pure people. Over time though, they became self-righteous. They changed laws. Laws Moses had written. Laws that were given to Moses, by God. But they missed it. They missed Jesus, because they couldn’t get passed their own pride and therefor didn’t see the Son of God, when He was right there, with them. 

The strong man guards his house, but when someone stronger comes along, they take his stuff. Satan is the strong man, stronger than you and he proclaims his power, but you have been given all power, all authority, through Jesus Christ. If you have all authority, then Satan has none.

Satan is the strong man, particularly if you’re not following the biblical truths. Satan is very subtle. Satan can even can come across as neutral. Jesus says if you are not with me, you’re against me. There’s no neutrality, or middle ground. You’re either for Jesus, or you’re not. If you’re not with Jesus, you are against Him. 

Do you think Jesus was telling the truth? Ask yourself; Was Jesus a liar? The Pharisees tried to accuse Jesus of wrongdoing. They could not find anything in Jesus, to accuse Jesus, because Jesus is all Truth.

Fill yourself with what is right and good and you’ll have no need for all the junk. Keep good food in your store house. If you eat junk, you’ll end up sick and it’s the same with mental junk. You need to put good things into your mind and stop with all the junk and your life will be peaceful and full of joy. 

The only way to resist the devil, is to be filled with the word of God.

If you have a lot of junk in your life, going to church one morning a week, isn’t enough. Satan is getting to you, particularly if you’re still sitting on the fence. And you’ll continue to have junk in your life, until you ask Jesus into your life, until you spend time with Jesus, getting to know Jesus and learning to understand the ways of Jesus.

If you’re already a Christian, get into the word of God daily. Don’t think church one morning a week, is enough. Like food, which you eat three and four times a day, you need spiritual nourishment continually throughout your day, not just for two hours on a Sunday morning. 

And it’s not all doom and gloom either. If there is a satanic element in the world, there is also the opposite, because for every opposite there is an equal. Up, down, in, out, rain, sun, black, white, dark, light. There is an angelic element, just as there is a satanic element. 

Angels are mentioned in the bible, more times than speaking in tongues and throwing out the fleece. Angels come to our aid, when we call on them. Angels are entertained by us, when at times, we don’t even know it. The opposite side of the coin, is the better side, depending on which side you look at.

We get to chose the direction of our path, even when bad things happen. Do we become bitter, when bad things happen, or better? The choice is yours. 

As it says in Proverbs 9:10; The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Choose wisely.

Satan is Real. Part 1.

                          

                                 

Most people, Christians included, live as if Satan isn't real and that's what Satan wants us to believe. What if you’re wrong? What if, Satan is real? I believe Satan is real and once you get down to it and I mean really study it, you will too, for it’s all in the bible. If you don’t believe the bible, you probably don’t believe in Satan. Just because you don’t believe it, doesn’t make it not so. 

The bible tells us to recognise there is an enemy and yet we go about our business, not thinking, or realizing the enemy is with us all the time, seeking us out like a roaring lion, wanting to kill, steal and destroy. 

The subtleties of Satan are never ending and Satan would love nothing greater than to cause you to leave your faith. Don’t be deceived. Things will arise that try to keep you from God and Satan is the instigator of this. God sometimes even allows Satan to work in our lives; hence the biblical story of Job.

Arguments and friction in the home, is Satan’s ability to get right into your safe sanctuary and any kingdom divided, cannot stand. Your home is your kingdom, your domain. And it spreads. It starts with you and your significant other yelling and this might go on for years, then you’ll notice your children yelling. 

The children yell at each other first and then at you and your significant other and from there it spreads to other family members and friends and eventually the cycle repeats, as your children become parents. A house divided is not going to stand.

Remember, it didn’t start out this way. You and your partner got together because you loved each other. You overlooked each other’s faults and yet now, you can no longer overlook. Harsh words are spoken, anger comes to the for and the house is divided. 

Christians are especially vulnerable, because Satan wants to block everything you do, that might cause you to feel secure in God. He’ll try all the harder, if he thinks he can bring you to the point of not attending church.

Jesus preached repentance, for the kingdom of God is at hand. If you and your partner pray and get serious about your faith, the rift can be healed. And don’t think it was by your hand. You prayed. God answered.  

The bible also talks about demon possession. Does this happen today…yes it can. If you spend time with God every day, it’s less likely for you to become demon possessed.  You don’t just become demon possessed; you’re owned by God so a Christian can’t be demon possessed, unless he/she opens the door to it, in some way. 

You have to allow and invite Satan into your life. This can be done through Ouija boards and tarot cards. Even if this was done in your past. Even if this was done through your history and family line. If this has been an entry point for the devil to gain a foothold, you need to repent of it and ask forgiveness from God. 

Normal every day people who have nothing to do with Satan, or God, don’t often get demon possessed. Satan isn’t worried about them, he’s worried about you, the Christian. He wants to stop you from your progression, into God’s army. 

Satan wants to be lord of the earth and he knows you can stop him, by your faith. He doesn’t want to see that happen. So it’s doubly important for him to sway your beliefs, anyway he can.

It’s also when you dabble into other wrong things, Satan can enter into your life. Pornography, drugs, alcohol addiction, theft, lying. These are all entry points for Satan to bring you down and cause your faith to fracture. 

Satan’s cunning. He pretends to be a lamb, all the while being the wolf. Deceit is his thing. Right from the beginning, in Genesis, he used deceit to trick Adam and Eve and his methods haven’t changed much over the years.

You need to know your bible. It’s easy to become prey to false teaching. The bible is the best way to learn about God. When you read it for yourself, God opens up scripture to you and you learn there’s layers to be peeled back. This is why we meditate on the word.

When we meditate on the word, we don’t empty our mind, as that allows room for something else to enter. When we meditate on the word, we pick a scripture and play it over and over and God illuminates the meaning further for us. 

You can have revelation on one passage today and read that same passage another day and get a further and deeper revelation. Yes, if you’re busy, by all means you can watch you tube, while you cook dinner, or listen to a message while you get in some exercise and gain insight through it, but there’s really nothing like the bible for opening up God’s word.  

What you put into your mind grows. Grow good thoughts; good thoughts towards yourself, and towards others. Dark thoughts crush you, mentally. Replaying music of harm and death, seeps into your soul. Songs of joy, enlighten the mind and that’s what we should be working towards. 

Don’t give Satan a foothold into your life, through your senses, of seeing and hearing. Don’t think it’s all harmless fun, because it isn’t. In the long run, it really isn’t. And the "long run” is the approach we should take to life, because we’re here for 80, or so years and those years go by quite fast. 

"Special Cecil"

I wanted to make the front garden, as attractive as the back. I decided to add some plastic flowers around the pond. It’s either too hot there, or too cold and I can’t seem to get plants to grow. 

Lizzie isn’t keen. When she saw the plastic plants, she patted me on the head and promptly told me I’m a special Cecil, which reminded me of our “Special Cecil,” when the girls were little and it made me laugh.

The memories came flooding in, of always trying to keep Cecil from Soxx, lest she rip him apart and pull the stuffin’ out. Many’s the time I ordered Soxx; “Drop it,” in a scolding voice, as she would try to sneak past with Cecil between her pearly whites.

We never quite knew if Cecil was a baby platypus, or an ugly duckling. Poor Cecil, he was very special in his own way. 

Perhaps he changed into a beautiful swan and flew off, because Cecil eventually disappeared. I expected Soxx had finally snatched Cecil from his prime position on the girl’s beds and alas, he is no more.

Being remined of our “Special Cecil,” I mentioned it to Olivia, who promptly said; “Cecil’s here. He moved in with Kristelle and she has him in her room." Olivia took a photo and sent it to me. 

So, Cecil lives to fight another day and although he’s about 27 years old now, we all still love him, tired and scruffy though he is these days.  

Life is full of memories, some good, some not so good. Deposit great memories, for memories are the withdrawals you make in your mind, later in life when the pace slows and you have time on your hands.