Living as a Victorious Christian Woman

Think of your very favorite person in the whole wide world. How much time do you spend with that person? How often do you talk, spend time together and enjoy each other’s company? What would happen to that relationship if you didn’t spend any time together after you met? What would you miss out on if you very rarely, if ever, spoke? This relationship is the picture Jesus gives us with His description of Himself as the vine and us as the branches. We read in John 15:5-6 that when we are firmly and securely attached to Jesus, we can thrive and flourish and bear much fruit. Those branches who don’t stay firmly attached wither and are burned for kindling. But the verse that comes next can be our guide for the new year, giving us direction so we can thrive and flourish regardless of what the next 12 months bring. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. John 15:7 If ye abide in me : if you stay determined to live a life d...

So many people are just plain ready to put 2020 behind them, but there have been so many great memories made this year despite the troubles and adversities we faced. It was such a blessing to spend quality time with Danny, which can be hard to come by some weeks. He is truly my best friend and the love of my life. Physically, I did a lot of things I never thought I could do. Even with asthma and fibromyalgia, I was able to reach several monthly walking goals through the 99 Walks community, and I even completed my first virtual 5K! Now I can’t wait to set some new goals for 2021. And here are my walking buddies. Quarantine has translated to way more puppy cuddles while I work and the chance to get outside with them between projects. (Let’s pretend like they spent more time I outside walking than they did sleeping on the couch, just to make them feel better, ok?) One of our local parks erupted in sunflowers this summer, creating this sunny backdrop for the community to come enjoy. Pearso...

I often wonder how long after Christmas other families wait to take down their decorations. Is it the day after the celebrations are over? A week later? After the New Year? Sometimes I see outdoor decorations hanging around until the summer - or they never come down at all! Whatever time you choose to trade out your Christmas decorations for winter, or a warmer season, make sure you don’t pack your Christmas spirit away in that box, too. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them. Luke 2:17-20 The shepherds had just had the experience of a lifetime: angel conversations, multitude of heavenly host, a meeting with the newborn King and seeing the sm...

I have been waiting ALL YEAR for this layout! Literally. I found these adorable nativity stickers in an after-Christmas sale last December, and I knew I wanted to use them for my Christmas week planner layout. So they’ve been sitting in the stack, just waiting for this special moment. This story is all I want to think about this week. Yes, there are places to go, people to see and things to do in another busy week. But none of the busyness should be overshadowing the arrival of our Lord and Savior. Yes, I’ll have lists to make. Yes, I’ll have a few hours of work. But yes, I’ll be reading the story of the Lord’s birth again. My prayer for all of us this week is that the peace of the Christmas story will reign in our hearts. The hustle and bustle of preparations can’t be more important than our worship. Have an amazing week, my friends. Take a deep breath and celebrate Christmas each and every day.

If you’re like me, you’re still doing some last-minute baking. There are so many ways you can create cute and yummy cakes and cookies for your holiday goodies. Here are a few ideas: * Powdered sugar cures everything! Those dark brownies you’ve made will be absolutely beautiful under a dusting of that sweet, white powdered sugar. * After you’ve frosted your cookies, sprinkle them with crushed peppermint candies. * Use larger sprinkles to outline your cake or cookies. A thin line of frosting will hold them in place. * A drizzle of caramel will turn everything up a notch.  * Half-dip your favorite cookies in melted chocolate and cover them in sprinkles.  * Chocolate and nuts are the perfect combination - crush up pecans and walnuts to use as toppings. * Combine sweet and salty to crush both cravings! * Add some sprinkles or crushed peppermints to your cookie batter before you bake it. * No frosting? Mix together powdered sugar, a splash of milk and a tablespoon of vanilla. Ta da ...

It’s been so difficult to get in the holiday spirit this year. Illness and quarantine.  Changes and discouragement. Separation and safety. Hot tempers and negativity. Sharp words and dull minds. How different these are compared to the words we’re traditionally thinking about this time of year. Glory and honor. Savior and Messiah. Stars and light. Comfort and peace. Good tidings and great joy. Christmas may be different this year as we celebrate in new and different ways, but Spirit behind it should never change. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people ... Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. Luke 2:10, 14 The circumstances around us may change every time the wind blows, but the great joy and peace from heaven is exactly the same today as it’s always been. That’s the Spirit in our Christmas celebration, reminding us that the reason for the season is still Jesus Christ a...

There’s nothing more iconic at Christmastime than peppermint. Whether they’re in candy cane form or those beautiful round candies, those red and white stripes just scream the holiday season. Making an entire planner spread from peppermint means it’s going to be a totally sweet week. (See what I did there?) Those stripes and colors make for the perfect layout. The red and green paper are textured for some extra fun, and I mixed flat stickers with puffy 3D stickers as my accents. The “sweets” label is paired with a sweet little heart and matted on coordinating paper.  The second page of the spread is just as cute. I used the scraps of textured page from the first page to make borders and corners for this page. It took some searching, but I found numbers to coordinate, too. In conclusion, this is one of my favorite spreads of the year. What’s your favorite?

This morning I went downtown to take pictures for a work project, while huge white flakes spiraled to the ground. Other than a light dusting a few weeks ago, we’ve been pretty snow-free. I passed a man on Main Street who said, Great weather we’re having. My response was, You’d think it was December in Iowa. And we finally have snow to prove that it’s true! We woke up to a beautiful white blanket, and as of lunchtime, it’s still coming down. Every year, I just want a white Christmas. Nature can do whatever it wants for the rest of the year, as long as I can enjoy my white Christmas. Yes, it’s probably from watching the classic White Christmas movie every single year for as long as I can remember. That final scene when they open the big back doors to show the snowfall is forever ingrained in my brain. So for now, I enjoy every moment of the snow. The best is when the snow clings to the tree branches, making them all glisten in the sunshine. Whether you have snow now too, or you’re warm a...

Sometimes the best part of experimenting in the kitchen is finding a delicious combination you didn’t know existed. That’s what happened when I put together these lovely little sirloin tip appetizers. We had these beautiful sirloin tips in our Butcher Box this month, and I cooked them in the cast iron skillet with Worcestershire sauce. When they were almost cooked through, I added two tablespoons of honey to caramelize on the meat. While the meat was getting all yummy, I fixed half a bag of sweet potato waffle fries in the oven as directed on the bag. It took a couple of extra minutes to get them crispy, though, which is what you want for the base of this appetizer. The delicious glue holding this bite together is spinach artichoke dip, and I found one mixed with Parmesan cheese for a little extra zing. When the other two parts were cooked through, I stacked them together with the dip in between. Serve them immediately so the sweet potato stays warm and crunchy. These amounts will make...

Christmas may look different for your family this year, but we can place all our hope in something that never changes - the word of God. Jesus: the same yesterday, today and forever. When you create your crafts, send your cards and mail your gifts in the days to come, it will be even more of a blessing to tuck a few verses of Scripture in with them. Whether they’re hand-written or designed on the computer, God’s word can change a life in powerful ways. Here are a few verses to start with: For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.  Isaiah 9:6 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.  Matthew 1:21 Behold, a virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with u...

I’m so excited to share my December cooking posts with you this year! Some will be sweet, some will be savory and some will be just plain fun. Hopefully you’ll have as much fun with these recipes as I do. To start things off in sweet style, these Carmel-filled cinnamon sugar cookies are going to rock your world. I’d have to say they’re one of my favorite cookies of all time, and there’s even a secret ingredient! They’re made from two layers of pie crust. (Shh. Don’t tell.)  The soft caramel in the middle and the cinnamon sugar coating makes them absolutely wonderful and completely addictive. Trust me ... stock up on pie crusts. Ingredients: 2 refrigerator pie crusts, room temperature 16 soft caramel candies 1 cup sugar 3 Tbsp cinnamon 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted 1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 2. Unroll pie crusts onto your work surface. Using a small circle cookie cutter or the rim of a drinking glass, cut as many circles as ...

Ok, so this project is so much fun that I want to make another set! It’s the perfect gift for someone special. There are 12 tiny candles, one for each month of the year, decorated with themed washi tape. I mean, seriously! At my planner desk, there is so much washi tape that sometimes it’s hard to find the ones I’m looking for. So finding 12 holiday tapes was super easy, and I was able to find several that were even the perfect size without cutting them down. After wiping off any wax from the outside of the candle’s wrapper, all I did was wrap the washi tape around the outside and trim it so the overlap is in the back. I know, right? So easy. If you have a super skinny tape you want to use, just wrap it around twice and splice together in the back. For a wider tape, wrap it loosely around and then trim it evenly at the bottom. And when you’re done, you have 12 little candles for a year of lighting. Just add a tag that says “Light one candle on the 1st of each month and think of me.” Wh...

It’s not even December yet and I’m on the verge of being overwhelmed. That’s not fair, is it? Between working from home, taking care of the house, praying for my husband like crazy, planning December activities for the youth group and practicing Christmas hymns, I’m pretty scared to even make a list of everything I’d like to get done.  Honestly, I just want to bake cookies, drink cappuccino and read books. Period. Call me when it’s all over. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6 More than 500 years before the birth of Jesus Christ, Isaiah knew what was important. He spoke of the birth of the Messianic King as certainly as if it had already happened. The Child was already born, the Son already given and the Prince of Peace already here. That name which is above all names is His character, His Spirit....

Oh my goodness. The day after tomorrow is the first day of December. Despite all the craziness of the year, it has absolutely flown by. It’s hard to believe that I’m doing Christmas decorating this weekend and getting a month of Sunday school and youth group lessons done for our teens. This full-month spread is where I plan out my blog posts, so it will be filled up very, very quickly. There’s much to do and just enough time to do it in. Now we’re at the beginning of Advent, preparing our hearts for the birth of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. For this week’s layout, I couldn’t choose between these two phrases: All is calm and bright, and Wise men still seek him. So I used both! The long banner sticker is cut into four pieces and used to divide up the journal blocks. The plaid is absolutely adorable, so I used coordinating bits and pieces in those same colors. This will be another week of working from home, which means I have to be even more scheduled and well-planned out than norma...

Advent begins tomorrow, a sign we are starting the most wonderful time of the year! We need so much Christmas this year, and now is the perfect time to focus on celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior. When Jesus Christ is at the center of our holiday season, everything else fades away. Traditionally, Advent begins four Sundays before Christmas. The Advent wreath has four candles: hope, peace, joy and love. One is lit each week, accompanied by Scriptures and hymns on that candle’s theme. You can also make or buy your own Advent calendar. Instead of four Sundays, the calendar usually has 25 openings to begin on December 1. The anticipation of Christmas builds as you get closer day by day. In the past, I’ve done something different each year for my Advent calendar. Last year, it was an adorable stacked set of poinsettia boxes . In 2015, I gifted myself with a stack of wrapped books and opened one each day. A couple of years ago I read Ann Voskamp’s book The Greatest Gift, and used h...

If your refrigerator looks like ours, you’re beyond blessed to have leftovers from yesterday’s Thanksgiving meal. Or plannedovers, as the case may be. Most dishes are even better the second day, so we are now in prime meal planning time.  But let’s not just pile stuff on a plate and call that good. Let’s try some different ways to make leftovers a little more fun. * Make the ultimate Dagwood sandwich with leftover rolls or thick slices of bread. Make sure to include some cranberry sauce because that’s the secret to yummy. * Create a 7-layer casserole to take advantage of more leftovers at a time. Layer them in a 13x9-inch baking dish and bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes or until heated through. * Practice portion control by making that 7- layer casserole in individual dishes. Large ramekins or even French onion soup bowls are the perfect size and are oven-safe.  * If you still have tubes of refrigerator rolls or biscuits in the fridge, press one into each cup of a muffin tin...

Gracious Heavenly Father,  Thank You for this new day that You have given us. Thank You for salvation and forgiveness and looking beyond our faults to see our needs. Thank you for the gift of prayer, of personal communication from our hearts to Yours. Thank You for the loved ones who are with us today and those who are celebrating far away. Thank You for a lifetime of blessings that we don’t deserve, but You delight is giving us. Thank You for Your endless grace and mercy that You show us every single day. Thank You for the provision that fills our tables today because everything we have comes from You. Thank You for the blessings of being home, wherever that may be today. Thank You for Your presence, guidance and encouragement during this holiday and throughout the year. Thank You for the hedge of protection You have around us, keeping us safe to celebrate this day together and with You. Thank You for allowing us into Your throne room today, Lord, to bring our thanks to You person...