Today’s Devotion: “Don’t Forget Who You Are-- James 1:23-25 ‘For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
You have come too far to get off course now. You have seen the hand of God (His power) & you have seen the face of God (His presence). You can’t allow yourself to forget who you are. How can you do that? By not continuing to look into the law of liberty. Freedom comes when we realize what Jesus has done for us. When we know what the word says about something we have something to stand on. Kenneth Hagin said years ago, “Faith begins where the will of God is known”, we have to know who we are in the Lord for faith to be established in our hearts & that knowledge comes from the word. It declares, you are more than a conqueror in Christ Jesus, you’re the head & not the tail, above & not beneath, the righteousness of God in Christ, this is how our faith comes forth so forget anything else you have heard that is contrary to what the word says. The word is the truth, nothing else matters.”
This morning I faced a few challenges—we’ve officially run out of “breakfast proteins”. By which I of course mean peanut butter. (Okay, so this is an exaggeration—we still have oatmeal.) In fact, we’re running low on many of the items we bought specifically for the Fast: AllFruit jam, PB, hummus, flatbread, to name a few. With only 4 days left we don’t necessarily want to “stock up” on things, but all the same…we have to be able to make it through the next four days! We may have to get creative.
Today I also had to do some field work for the first time in a few months, so I was a little concerned about the challenges that would present—mainly, if we didn’t finish up in time, what was I going to eat for lunch? Typically when I have field work, I grab food from whatever restaurant or fast food place is close to my site, or bring a sandwich with me. But sandwiches aren’t really easy on the Fast…especially when you ate your last piece of bread for breakfast, and don’t have a protein (hummus) to spread on them. I threw together some pasta last night and just prayed that we would finish up in time for me to eat back at the office. Thankfully, everything went smoothly and I was back in the office by 2pm, nommin’ down on a late lunch.
Breakfast: ½ piece whole wheat flatbread, 1oz bag of peanuts, 1 cup pineapple, and a few grapes
Lunch: Cilantro-avocado pesto pasta w/sautéed mushrooms & onions
INGREDIENTS: (makes two servings)
Sauce:
- 1 avocado
- ½ bunch cilantro
- 2-4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp onion powder
- Juice of ½ lemon
- Salt & pepper to taste
- 2 servings whole wheat pasta, boiled
- 4 oz portabella mushrooms, sliced
- ¼ onion, diced
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- ½ tsp basil
- Salt & pepper to taste
- 1 tsp olive oil
DIRECTIONS:
Puree the avocado, cilantro, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, & onion powder in a blender or food processor until smooth. Meanwhile, sauté the mushrooms, onions, seasonings, garlic & olive oil together in a large skillet until tender. When the pasta is cooked and mushrooms are tender, combine, toss, and serve!
Dinner: I bought an eggplant last week, so I decided to try to make baba ganoush for the first time. Such a fun word. Always makes me think of Wedding Crashers.
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 eggplant
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp smoked salt (if you have it)
- 1/8 cup tahini (if you have it—you can omit if you don’t)
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1 clove garlic
- dash of chili powder (I used chipotle for the smokiness)
- 1/3 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 Tbsp dried parsley or cilantro, or about 1/4-1/2 cup of fresh
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 375F.
Char the skin of the eggplant over your gas burner, or under the broiler if you don’t have a gas stove (about 5 minutes per side if you’re using the broiler). Then roast the eggplant on a cookie sheet for about 20-30 minutes or until tender (easily pierced with a paring knife.
Remove the skin and place the flesh into a food processor along with the remaining ingredients and pulse until smooth. Drizzle with additional olive oil and garnish with lemon or olives. Serve with pita (if you’re not on the fast), tortilla chips or crackers (if you are).
Since we already had the chips out, we also finished off the last of the veggie chili…like cheeseless nachos!
