My Refrigerator Runneth Over....

Life is beautiful.

God is merciful.

My cup is overflowing with love and good things.

Being raised in a God-fearing, Bible believing community greatly impressed upon me the importance of sacrificing my own desires for God's desires, loving even the unlovable, and dying to self daily. But so many believers seem to be miserably mean people with all their priorities mixed up! (Certainly not all, there are many truly loving and inspiring believers.) These dying to self teachings are not meant to be shoved down each other's throats, they are meant to bring us joy! I admit to speaking up a time or two in defense of the fatherless ("Learn to do good; Seek justice, Relieve the oppressed, Defend the fatherless, Plead for the widow." Isaiah 1:17), and sometimes I can get upset about lies and injustice, but mostly I think that actions speak louder than words for those that have ears to hear and eyes to see. And as I am learning more and more to tune out the discouragement from believers that have their priorities mixed up I am finding that my personal priorities are becoming more and more clear and joyful. My calling is calling me and it is exciting! The unlovable are certainly meant to be loved, but we do not need to focus all our energy on the ones that are dreadful, tempting as it may be to want to oil the perpetually squeaky wheel. I am taking my cues from a certain person that ignores everything I say that she doesn't like, (of course it has completely ruined whatever love was ever felt from her,) but ignoring the ones that confuse us is a concept with some merit. Compassion is a noble reason to reach out to do more than we think we are capable of doing, but sometimes even compassion can be manipulated and abused. I guess the point is to take care of the negative stuff when you have to and certainly never turn a blind eye or a deaf ear to the plight of the needy, but when it comes to meditating and habitual thinking... "whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things." Philippians 4:8

So... for today... I have filed the things I cannot seem to help in the help less, pray more category and I am excited about cheese! Our refrigerator is literally overflowing with the summer's bounty of high quality goat's milk and in my experience it does not freeze well. We can only drink so much, we do share with several other families, but we could share with a lot more at this time of year. So our cats and dog have been enjoying it often and even still we have surplus! This is all a learning experience, but I just read that we can make stuffed manicotti to freeze! That is something that I occasionally buy frozen to bake and the idea of stocking up on it is highly appealing! I am so excited about this! I am laughing at myself at the hilarious domesticity of being excited about freezing manicotti stuffed with homemade goat's milk ricotta... and then I realize how many shows are dedicated to the enjoyment of food, and I realize that each batch of goat cheese is worth $16.00 or more... and I know that this is cool, and not just housewifey cool.
Learning the secrets of turning hay/straw into cheese/gold :-) Loving it!

"Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart." Psalms 37:4

He knows my heart, my motivations, my desires. He has always been faithful, and I am excited to watch Him work in my life. Surely goodness and mercy have followed me all the days of my life... hard times have come and lies have discouraged, but I "know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose."
Romans 8:28 This verse has always proven true in my life.