Dips and treats for the holidays!

This is not my own recipe, in fact, it is one that I am looking into fixing. You can find these and other recipes at My Daily Moments

Ingredients

8 oz. cream cheese, softened 
1 pound lump crab meat 
1/4 cup cooking sherry 
1/2 tsp. Old Bay seasoning 
1/4 small red onion, fine dice 
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese 
1/2 cup carrots, thin cut 
1 tomato, cored and diced 
2 scallion stems, chopped paprika

Methods/steps

Place softened cream cheese in mixing bowl and whip. Fold in crabmeat, sherry, Old Bay and onion until well-blended. Fold in cheddar cheese. Use tomatoes, carrots, scallions and paprika for garnish. Serve with crackers.

Why Me and NOT Her?

The other day I was greeted with the saying "it's good to see you." Other days I wouldn't respond with "it's good to be seen." However, this particular day I honestly meant it.

Every nine seconds a woman in the US is assaulted or beaten. Around the world one in every three women are beaten, coerced into sex, or abused in her lifetime (www.domesticviolence.com).

My daughter's close friend, Karen, was killed due to domestic violence, but the main protest on the day of her funeral was her military honor.  It was as if the destruction of her life and her children's life was of no matter to some. Yet, I can say it affected me deeply.

For days I was in tears and torment over her death because I am a survivor of domestic violence. I was questioning God with "why did I survive and she didn't?", "why didn't she get away?" "what kind of God are you to allow this to happen?"
My questions then shifted to "What happened that day I was being suffocated with a pillow?" "How did he get off of me? I don't remember, please tell me?"  What was it that snapped inside of me for me to get away when I was told "till death do us part and it's your death?"  "Why did she have to die and not me?"

Deep in my heart I know that God is a sovereign God, but I couldn't see it. I know God's word says "For I know the plans I have for you, not to harm you but to give you a hope and a future."  So what happened to  your plan for her life?" "What about her children's lives?"  It didn't make sense to me at all. I was truly filled with guilt and questions. I began to seek help.  I first spoke to my friend, Terri, who counsel "Grief Share" at First Baptist Church and we discussed my feelings and questions. I remember her telling me that God wasn't finished with me yet. It may have been her time and he was finished with her. Only God knows.
Look at what you've accomplished these past few years because of Him.
I was then on my emotional roller coaster. I was okay for a little while then I was down and crying one moment; and up and smiling the next. This went on for about three days. Then, I was down in the pit again.
My friend, Father John, told me that we all have choices to make. Perhaps she was given many opportunities to leave and she didn't walk through hers. You see God gives us doors of opportunities to walk away and sometimes we choose not to for whatever the reason. God puts people in our lives to help us and walk with us through our stuff, she was not alone. However ultimately it was her choice just as you had to choose.
The light bulb went off again. God wasn't done with me. My choices have landed me on my feet. I have accepted Christ care and control in my life.

I cannot speak on why Karen didn't live another day. I can share how God has saved me physically and spiritually from the destruction of my demise. I can share with you some lives He has changed because of Him through me.  There are days when I am ready to thrown in the towel and God places special people in my path to say "I'm glad you are here for me" or "I needed to see you today."  My tears well up because it is by the grace of God that there goes me. My life is in his hands and no one else's.  I have a relationship with the Creator of the Universe. He was the one that came to my rescue time and time again. He was and is my rock, my fortress, my refuge, and strength. I am alive because he has lived in me since I was fourteen.
I haven't been the best follower of Christ nor did I allow Him turn my life around quickly.  No, it has been a process. Yet, that process has led me to be a better vessel for His working through me.

I didn't have a plan to get away the first time, but I did the second. I went to an advocate for domestic violence and we put a plan together. I was prepared.  People don't plan to fail they fail to plan.
I was ready. The moment came that I had to make a choice and in an instant I made a call and was received with open arms by my friends.  I did exactly what I was told to do and i am alive today because of it.

If you are in a situation that leaves you battered, broken, bruised, and you feel like there is no way out. Take your moment of opportunity to prepare, make a plan, and take that instant to run. Don't stop running until you are in a safe place where you cannot be hurt.  Make a call today and get some help, I did and I am better because of it.

Call the domestic hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) or your local women's shelter for help. Do it now!!
It might not just be your own life you are saving.

Thrown Out Like Trash

Recently, I've had the pleasure of working with a group of people  to look into setting up a homeless shelter here in Palatka. I hear the town's people say "we need one," "there is a need for one," and "you're doing a great thing, I want to be involved."   While this is all encouraging and well received, I have some uncertainty stirring. I know that we will face opposition, it's a given. However, when we really take a look at the opposition, it saddens us.
I recently had a pastor tell me "The reality is that no one really wants homeless people around. They are bad for business, they are bad for your local authorities, they are a public nuisance. Though they are humans, they are a sub-section of our sick society. Most people look at them differently than you and I do. They see them as lazy, unintelligent, alcoholics, thieves, and dirty. And in a lot of cases they are right. But not in every case."
I see some of our everyday homeless neighbors (yes, they are our neighbors) and I know one person who cannot handle an everyday normal life because there are hurts that have not been addressed. He does not want to face them. Does this mean we stop caring for him? Do we throw him away because he is different? 
Sometimes we live in our own bubble and we forget there are others that are different from us. Some are more educated, some less educated, some live differently, and some think differently. It is sad that people look at other people as garbage and something to be thrown away because of their differences.
There are some people who say that our town needs a homeless shelter. This is true, but our shelter is going to need our community. Will you, the community, help us? We will need people, our community, to physically help us to get this home open and stay open.
Or, will our community close their doors when the need arrives? I am just not certain. I have read where our community "has a huge heart." Will that heart show up when the center has a need to be met?
Another comment I've heard is that in Putnam County it is assumed  or expected that everyone is a Christian.  I disagree with this statement. I believe we have many unbelievers just as we have many believers. I can only speak from my personal experience and I don't assume anything. When someone walks in my path, I don't assume they know Jesus. I listen for Jesus to show me where they have a need in their life.

That is the purpose of the River Inn Homeless Shelter.  We are now looking at buildings to be donated or to raise funds to purchase. Those who are believers, we call on you to help by praying for us. We want to make the best choice of location for all of our neighbors.

You will be hearing more about this mission, but for now, please pray for and with us.

~Be encouraged


Should you desire to contact the River Inn Homeless Shelter you may email us at riverinnhs12@gmail.com.

You may also leave a comment here and we will be glad to return your call.

Know Who You Are

 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, ⁵ having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, ⁶ to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.


I am adopted into the family of Jesus Christ. I am a child of God. I am loved.
I have a hope and a future. I am all that God says that I am and I will do what He says to do. I am loved, faithful, kind, gentle, and restored. 

~ Be encouraged ~ Know who you are!