Bookends.

The two bookends of salvation.  Justification.  Being made right with God.   Jesus does all the work, it is effortless on our part.

Glorification.  Being given a new body and a heavenly home.  God does it all, because of Christ Jesus, again, effortless on our part.

In the middle of justification and glorification is sanctification and sanctification is NOT effortless, it is a ton of work.  That's why most people like to focus on justification and glorification, "Receive Jesus and go to heaven" and they miss all the stuff in the middle which is... your life.  Your life of sanctification where you repent of sin, you LEARN, you GROW, you CHANGE, and that takes great effort.   It's exhausting.

"The closer I get to Jesus the more I realize how messed up I am."  That is sanctification.  You get closer to Jesus, look at him, look at yourself and realize..." there is much work to be done here."    So you work with Jesus to become more like Him."

From Joy in Exhaustion by Mark Driscoll.  Brought home some truths I have been trying to put my finger on for some time.  Good stuff.  He does not underemphasize that it is still God at work in us to will and be able to do what pleases Him, but He doesn't DO all this work, He empowers us to do the work.  In a different sermon he compared it to tandem cycling on a unicycle.  :)  God moves one pedal, we move the other.  When we are both moving in unison, we will get somewhere.  Really helped me get a clear picture about these three core doctrines of the Christian faith.

As the new year approaches I am looking foward with great anticipation to discovering my "word" for 2010.  Are any of you pondering yours?

Christmas Graham Fudge

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup butter or margarine
2 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 1/2 cups almonds or pecans, chopped
14 oz sweetened condensed milk
1 tspn vanilla

melt chocolate chips and butter together until smooth.  In large bowl combine graham crumbs and nuts.  Stir in sweetened condensed milk and vanilla until crumbs are moistened, then stir in chocolate mixture.  Spoon into greased 9x13 baking pan.  Let stand at room temp for 2 hours before cutting into squares.

I'm Alive! And Kicking!

Okay, so I've turned into one of "those" bloggers.  Those non-blogging-bloggers.  Eek.  I have contemplated shutting down, just because (the perfectionist in me says) I'm not blogging with any regularity, partially on purpose, but the other half of me (the non perfectionist half) says, "aw, what the heck, just leave it there and use it when you want to."  Cool.  I'm cool with that.  I think I am mellowing out as I age, and that is a real. good. thing.

Had a few rough days there, November can sometimes arrive accompanied by sneak panic attacks warning me that depression could just be looming behind any given door, waiting to catch me unawares.  I think it has to do with the short days, less time outside, less sunlight and fresh air.  Accompanying a dear friend through some struggles that she is facing, and fearing for her as I watch her teeter on the edge of her own depression brought me to a bit of a shaky place myself.  I started keeping a journal for her, with words of encouragement, hope and experience, and it has been therapeutic for me as well as I remember the faithfulness of God to carry me through the dark times and prove Himself true and able. 

I just realized I didn't post an update after going for my ultrasound on the 29th of October but happily, thankfully, that pesky placenta has moved into its proper position and I am good to go.  The lab tech was not able to get a good enough view of the area in question to tell us the sex of the baby, so we're going to get a surprise.  Got a girl's name all picked out from start to finish but drawing blanks on the boys (gee, we've already used up 7 boys names, it starts to get tough!). 

'Tis the season, once again, and while I know my American friends are gearing up for Thanksgiving this week, we are already steeped in preparations for advent.  Oh, how I love this season.  Any season really, it is so good to contemplate the gifts He gives in each season of life.

So although you might not see me much right here, you will probably catch a glimpse of me a litle more often over here as I don my apron and make merry in the kitchen with my girls.  Today it's easy breezy graham fudge.  Oh yeah.  Second batch this year.  Eek.

Sweetened Condensed Milk DIY

1 can evaporated milk
1 1/4 cup sugar

dissolve sugar in milk, cool, voila. Saves paying that extra buck they charge you at the grocery store.

alternatively, if you don't even have evaporated milk on hand (which I often don't, it's not a staple around here and I tend to only replace staples) you can simmer 2 cups milk until reduced to 60% and then add sugar. Even cheaper!

It's Christmas Baking Season around here. I will put up my easy breezy graham fudge recipe later today after it cools and I can snap some pics.