Living as a Victorious Christian Woman

Everyone's heard of Taco Tuesday, but when was the last time you made it a full-on event? You probably have many of the ingredients below in your pantry and refrigerator right now! Here's your challenge: raid your kitchen tonight and make some one-of-a-kind, out-of-this-world tacos. Go beyond your favorite meats and toppings and try something completely different. Are there any intriguing  choices on this list that peak your curiosity? Bases: Hard shells Baked shell bowls Soft flour wraps Soft corn wraps Gluten-free wraps Tortilla Chips Small bags of chips for walking tacos Lettuce wraps Meat/Meat Substitutes Shredded beef Ground beef Shredded pork Shredded chicken Carne asada Shredded fish Pico de Gallo Shrimp Shredded turkey Steak strips Black beans Refried beans Lentils Tofu Toppings: Lettuce Other greens Tomatoes Onions Mild tomato salsa Hot tomato salsa Mango salsa Guacamole Sour cream Cilantro Black olives Chickpeas Pico de Gallo Hot sauce Various types of Shredded cheese...

Bible study never looks the same for me two days in a row. One day I'll start reading Scripture and not get past the first verse because the Spirit starts talking to my soul. (That happened this weekend reading Exodus 32. That whole chapter just spoke to my heart, and I'll share that thought with you soon.) Other days I just read and read and read and soak it all in like sunshine. Last week I was reading Exodus 19 and came upon the phrase "peculiar treasure." In the KJV, peculiar is obsolete English, so I looked it up in the concordance. Strong explained that it's the word for a jewel or something special, not weird and odd. Good, I thought, because I'd much rather be a jewel than odd. For a little more clarification, I went to my Matthew Henry commentary on the chapter. If you've never read Henry before, prepare yourself. He is very detailed, very descriptive, and often very wordy. He is by far my favorite commentator, though - he and I understand each ot...

I don't know about you, but seriousness has been hanging in the air recently. Like, so much so that you can feel it. I've been reading some serious books. I'm doing serious work at the office. The dramatic weather has been very serious. Tensions are high, keeping everyone in a serious frame of mind. Then I saw this dancing man at the car wash yesterday. And I smiled. That was all I really needed - something to smile about.  So on this Sunday, we're not going to tackle a serious subject. I'm going to share some smiles with you instead. Please take them with you into the week, keep them with you for the serious times, and share them freely as you see they're necessary. * If you're having a bad day, just remember that the airport in Salzburg, Austria, has a counter for people who flew to Austria instead of Australia. * Have you heard of the new music group called cellophane? They mostly wrap. * Did you know if you hold a squirrel up to your ear, you can hear wh...

Danny and I have been taking our youth group through a lesson series on Church Words and What They Really Mean. There are so many words and phrases that Christians throw around without knowing their context, and we're spending several weeks talking about them. So far this month we've gone through Good News, Messiah,  This Sunday's phrase was born again, and I have to admit that I needed this lesson myself. We have always told the teens that we study these lessons for ourselves, and they just get to join in on what we've learned and how we're applying it to our own lives. It always makes them raise their eyebrows at us a little, and I love that. After explaining that born again is the synonym for salvation and reviewing that ultra-important concept, we focused in on John 3:6:  That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. I have been incredibly focused on the physical for the past year. I've lost 30 pounds thanks to int...

Not everywhere in the country has snow right now. Some of us have had next to none of the white stuff this winter, making for a cold, brown time of year. Not great for the mental health, if you catch my drift. But not a snow drift. We definitely don't have any of those. Winter depression, especially when it's not white outside, can be difficult to combat. You can try all the self-talk, cold-weather walks, and funny movies you want, but there's only one solution for the Christian woman struggling this winter.  Get back to the basics and dive deep into Scripture. Whether you want to or not. And I say that for a reason. When we're looking for a solution, we want that magical formula, the trick we never thought of, or a word of inspiration from a famous influencer. There has to be something new, better, brighter, more special to try.  But there's not. There's one solution. Whether you like it or not, your Bible holds everything you need to fight the battle you'r...

This winter has been incredibly cold, but we've not seen very much snow at all. (Hopefully I didn't just jinx it...) The little bit that we've had is almost gone now, but because of the cold temperatures, the ponds in our backyard are completely frozen.  They're solid enough that our variety of wildlife has been using them for shortcuts across the property. Some are tiny and adorable, and some are large enough that we can see them from the deck. Right now on the property we have about a dozen deer, including four bucks at last count, so many of our tracks are hoof prints. When the grass was covered with snow, there were deer tracks absolutely everywhere, and it was fun to see where all they had been. We also have acres full of squirrels, a couple of bobcats came through a few weeks ago, and the beavers have been out in force. The neighbors have all the otters, there are plenty of rabbits, and we've seen a handful of turkeys recently. All of them have left some prett...

 Imagine my excitement when I found this gorgeous kids' book on Benjamin Franklin at our last community book sale. It's a 1952 story by Enid LaMonte Meadowcroft with the best illustrations by Edward A. Wilson. I fell in love immediately! Unfortunately, it also smelled like someone's smoky basement. It was a challenge just to flip through the pages, let's put it that way. There was no way I was letting that stop me, though! After a little research, I learned that after you let the book air out, preferably outside for a few days, you can put dryer sheets between every few pages and seal it in a plastic container. I put my box together on September 2, and I pulled it out on December 14. I couldn't believe the difference - having an odor absorber in there pulled out all the stench and left behind a clean-laundered smell. Then all I had to do was wash out the plastic container, and it was ready to use again, too. Now my sweet little book has its own place in my Revolutio...

For the past couple of weeks and for probably a few more, everyone has been talking about all the newness of the new year. This is that moment when you can stop all the old stuff, start all the new stuff, and hit the reset button on life in general. On a side note - it has been months since I redid our church bulletin board, and I loved every minute of it. I even got Danny's help, which made it even more fun! It's super shiny, and the noisemakers actually work, so we'll have to figure out a game for the teens with them when it comes down in February. While everyone's planning out what to change and what to do better now that 2025 is here, it's so important that we look at the one person who is never going to change in any way, shape or form - our Lord. We can talk all we want to about human nature and heart conditions and determining to do better this time around the sun, but we have to remember that we serve a God who has never and will never change. Lord, you have...

Every single time our youth group reads a Bible verse with the word "all" in it, we ask them the same question... What does ALL mean? Normally we don't let them define the word with the word, but this is the exception. ALL means ALL. Every one. All of it. Every last unth. All. But does all really mean all in our own hearts and in our own lives? We'll give it our all until it gets difficult, or we have to sacrifice something special, or there's something better or more important to be doing. Then all doesn't really mean all at all. But if we're sold out, completely surrendered to Christ for everything in our lives, then all means absolutely everything.  Can you put that definition surrendering all into the well-known hymn, and does the Holy Spirit speak to your heart? All to Jesus I surrender, All to Him I freely give; I will ever love and trust Him, In His presence daily live. Refrain: I surrender all, I surrender all; All to Thee, my blessed Savior, I sur...

It's been strange to go back to a three-dog house after losing Callie this summer. These six months have been an adjustment, but everyone is doing great and enjoying a not-so-cold winter.  Molly, our Great Dane-German Shepherd, turned 11 in November. She has the joint issues that come with being an older, bigger dog, and she's moving a little slower like the rest of us. Her favorite things int he entire world are treats, dinner time, and cuddles. Her least favorite things are rain, lightning, flashing lights, and not getting enough treats.  Diesel has done so well without his sister, and I'll admit I was incredibly concerned about him at first. He had a seizure a couple of days after she died, and we thought we were losing him, too. He's always been a velcro dog, but now I don't get to go anywhere without him, ever. He's seven now, which doesn't seem possible because he's still my tiny boy dog. Parker is our little old man, and he's turning 13. The v...

The response to my email was short and sweet. And filled with passive aggressive blame. I reached out with a question, and now suddenly I was in the wrong.  It's not the first time this has happened. This is an amazing person with lots of great qualities, an opinion I share frequently with other people, but communication is not one of them. Their intelligence, passion, and expertise are quickly overshadowed by a sharp tongue and lack of patience that turn into overblown situations. Do you know how hard it was to not stay in the flesh and respond in kind? Of course you do. I'm sure you've had similar conversations, both digitally and in person. An eye for an eye and pain for pain just because you can - it's so easy and would feel so good momentarily. Other people do it and get away with it. What I wanted to do was sit down at my computer and fire back word for word and hurt for hurt. I can still feel the heat in my face when I think about those words. Someone's got t...

It's been so long since I've actually felt like cooking. Oh, we're not starving and there have been meals on the table, but I've not felt that joy in the kitchen for quite some time. As I've been processing everything that's happened over the past year, though, that healing is drawing me back to the things I love. Instead of just deleting the recipes that show up in my email inbox like I normally would, last week I opened one of them. This lovely (and simple) ravioli bake was in there, and I couldn't resist.  I'd much rather have ground sausage than ground beef any day, so that sealed the deal. And we loved it! The recipe below is just how I fixed it. Next time I would use a thicker pasta sauce so it would be heartier, and I'd like a meat-filled ravioli to make it a little more substantial. After you try it, let me know what you loved and if you'd make any other substitutions. Ingredients: 1 1/2lb bulk Italian sausage 2 Tbsp minced garlic 2 24oz ...

I'm ready to breathe. It's been that kind of year. After I wash and dry my face at night, I've caught myself letting out the biggest sigh ever. Then I realize I probably haven't breathed deeply all day. Or I'll hold my breath because I'm stressed or in a rush or so busy that I just forget to inhale. And exhale. And repeat. Breathing has always been an issue for me, physically anyway. I've suffered from exercise-induced asthma all my life, and sometimes just walking is a challenge depending on the day. I remember not being able to walk all the laps around the school in elementary gym class, and sitting on the bleachers being glared at by other high school kids who had to run the track, but I couldn't. Breathing was more important, but it was hard to struggle and be different. So when I got the email quiz for this year's Dayspring word of 2025, imagine what it did to my heart when it came up with Breathe! If you've never taken their quiz, go to www...