“If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.” John 15:7
I’m sure the web will be exploding with posts about love, being that Valentines day is tomorrow, but when I read this verse, and the verses that follow, I couldn’t help sharing because they are what this site is all about.
I hope, that through your time here, you will find ways to knit your family closer together, and live a joyful, fulfilling, life. That’s why I couldn’t help sharing. If those are things you are after, then this post is for you.
When I first read the whole passage, I couldn’t believe that I had read different pieces of it so many times before, and never put it all together! So the first part is the promise, “If you remain in me, and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.” Jesus promises us, that if we remain in him, and keep his words in us, then whatever we ask him, in his name, will be given to us. That is a profound thing, and a bold statement, but our God is an AWESOME God.
So now we say:
ok, well I know how to keep his word in me, but how in the world do I “remain in him”?
Jesus tells us that to “remain in him, we must follow his commands.” Of course the next thing I thought was, “what are his commands?” He goes on to say though, “My command is THIS: [my own emphasis added] Love each other as I have loved you.” John 15:12 I was excited to find out that it’s something that I have been saying is one of the most, if not THE most important things that Jesus commands us to do: Love each other!
Now that sounds relatively simple, but we need to remember, Jesus doesn’t call us just to love our friends, and he doesn’t call us to love them, except when we are mad at them. He calls us to love each other, at all times and in all things, as he loved us. This means, loving our enemies, loving our neighbor who ran over our cat, loving our homosexual co-worker, loving our middle eastern mail carrier, loving the registred sex offender that lives down the street, loving a cute little blog author who occassionally walks the razors edge (ahem); loving the person that is the most difficult in the world for you to love in addition to all the people that are easy for you to love.
Now, stay with me, and I hope I haven’t offended anyone, I merely wanted to give examples of different types of people to get your wheels turning about who it might be difficult for you to love. Now, before you worry too much over this, realize, Jesus is not telling us to like them. He’s not saying, go be their best friend, go golfing with them every Sunday, join their quilting bee, or mow their lawn. He just wants us to love them, as He loves us.
Let’s think about that. To me, that means, loving them, so much, that if necessary, we would lay down our life to save theirs, because that is how much Jesus loved us.
Friends, it is NOT easy, and will never be easy, but it is necessary. Love eachother…and no, that does not mean you should tell someone…you’re a piece of garbage…but I love you because I have to. If you are finding yourself saying that aloud, I don’t think you are quite there on the “loving them” page.
I’ve said it once, and you will probably hear me say it often…love one another and let God judge. We only have a short time here on Earth. I would rather spend my time enjoying my family, joyful, loving others, and shining the light of Jesus into the world.
“I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” John 15:11
Complete joy, wow; yours for the taking…will you grasp it?
Who loves a giveaway!?! I do! I do! I wanted to give these away as part of my big Blog Launch Party, but that kind of got sidelined when my computer died. I don’t want these codes to go to waste because they expire tomorrow, SOOOO…if you would like a FREE $10 shutterfly code, good for anything on their website, but EXCLUDES shipping and handling charges, and must be used (per the terms on the back of the card) on a min. $10 purchase, all you have to do is comment here with your contact info…OR, preferably, tweet me, @mrshaggie810 telling me you would like the code, and mention #witheagerhands, then i will message you the code. Couldn’t be easier! Don’t miss out…i will be giving until they are gone and there are PLENTY to go around. Limit one per person please. 
This recipe is quick, easy, light and fresh. We all know we should eat fish, but if you’re anything like me, you probably don’t eat enough. This dish is a great, tasty, way to get more in. If you don’t like tuna though, you could sub diced chicken breast and it would be good too.
Makes 2 servings
Ingredients
1 can chunk light or chunk white tuna
1/2 a small zucchini
1/2 a small summer squash
1 small tomato, diced or a small handful of halved grape tomatoes
a small handful of baby carrots or one small carrot
1 cup of uncooked brown minute rice
1/2 a yellow, red, or orange pepper
a few table spoons of lemon juice concentrate or 1 whole lemon for juicing
dried or fresh basil
grapeseed or olive oil for sauteing
Directions
Start your rice according to the directions on the box. Dice your veggies. Swirl your pan once with grapeseed oil (approx 2 tablespoons.) Toss all veggies except for the tomatoes into a large frying pan or wok, and saute/stir fry until tender. Make sure your heat is not too high…you want the vegetables to release some of their natural juices, so that they can be steamed by the juice as it’s heated. Your rice should be done, so remove that from the heat and let it sit while you finish. Toss one can of drained tuna, and your tomatoes, in with the veggies. Mix so that it’s heated through, this will be rather quick, then add your lemon juice, stir to coat, then sprinkle in your basil; if using fresh basil, dice it thoroughly before adding. Fold the mixture so that the basil gets distributed evenly throughout the dish. Fluff your brown rice, then place your veggie mix on top. This dish reheats well for lunch the next day, but make sure to make new rice. Reheating and eating left-over rice can make you sick. Enjoy, and let me know if you try it!
So, want to hear something funny? I’ve been avoiding posting here because I wanted to wait until everything was “perfect.” I’ve been reminded thought that IT WILL NEVER BE PERFECT, and that’s OK! Sure, I still want to do some big “Blog Debut” posts and giveaways and such. I will, but I’m going to go right ahead and post here in the meantime. Life doesn’t always go according to schedule, and that’s ok.
So, I’m relatively new to the blogging scene. I’ve had a sort of vent and post whatever whenever blog for a few years now, but this year the Lord really laid it on my heart to get serious about it.
As part of that, I remembered my best friend, and cousin, Christin of Joyful Mothering , had gone to a blogging conference last year that she couldn’t say enough good things about! I happened to stop by her blog, as i do often, and saw the button that said she was attending this year! I was SO excited! I thought, what a perfect way for me to learn, grow, and connect as a blogger! I asked Christin what I needed to do to get a ticket, which was simple enough, but our finances took a surprise hit and I was not able to get a ticket.
I thought maybe it was meant to be, but I just couldn’t help feeling like I was supposed to be there. I prayed about it a TON for confirmation that I was supposed to be there, and for the financial means to make it happen. Thanks to God, my wonderful husband and some AWESOME women, I was able to get a ticket after all!
So, even though I’m rooming with my cousin, who I’ve been having slumber parties with since we were young kids, I still thought it would be fun to share.
1. When I get tired, or nervous, or excited, or inspired, I talk A TON…and rather quickly also. I also tend to jump from one topic to another seemingly random topic when in reality I know exactly how I thought of it, it would just take more explaining than I’d like to do. Feel free to tell me to take a break for a few minutes, or dial it down a few notches.
2. I have to crack what seems like every bone in my body before I can fall asleep. I don’t know why, it’s just a habit I formed a long time ago, and now, I can’t relax if I don’t. Sorry if you don’t like the sound of a back cracking.
3. I’m (not so) secretly hoping that it won’t be too difficult to make a p.j. run to the lobby to get some coffee first thing in the morning, because I’m used to having it within about 20 minutes of waking up as part of my morning routine.
4. Even though I enjoy t.v., unless the Lions, or Tigers (but not Bears, Oh My!) are playing, I would be PERFECTLY content with leaving the television off the entire weekend and just listening to worship music, reading, knitting, or playing on the computer during any of our down time over the weekend.
5. If I laugh and seem more awkward than normal, it’s because I’m nervous, but don’t worry, it will pass I’m sure!
6. I might be over dressed compared to some, but I really enjoy looking put together (even if it is in my own quirky way), but I usually don’t have the time try, so I am going to capitalize on the opportunity! But don’t worry, I still don’t take too long to get ready.
7. I am a night shower kind of person. My hair just looks better when I style it once it’s been slept on, other wise I tend to slightly resemble a mushroom.
8. I am happy to let you snuggle my baby as much as you’d like to help ease your homesickness for yours (or just because you want some baby snuggles!)
9. I can’t wait to stay up gabbing with you over our notes from the sessions we take! I also can’t wait to pick your brain, and learn any tips or information that I need to know to make my blog great. I’m sure we’ll chat about homeschooling, and a gazillion other things too!
10. I enjoy taking in God’s canvas of natural beauty as well. I’m REALLY looking forward to the train ride in, and I’ll be perfectly happy to just be able to sit next to you and share a glimpse of God’s glory.
Thanks for stopping by and reading! To learn more about other Relevant Roomies, hop on over to Brooke’s blog and don’t forget to add your twitter name to your post so that we can all connect!
Find me on twitter: @mrshaggie810
Thank you so much for visiting today! I am still in the “construction” phase right now, but check back soon for the official launch date, and much more!
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