Original S'mores 5-Layer Bars

My mom came to stay with me in River Falls last night and, as always, we had to dream up a new culinary creation! Based on this recipe, my mom and I designed a version that epitomizes the glorious camping tradition we love: s'mores!
We're still working on the official name, but we decided to share the recipe with you all to try! Of course, in true nature of my mom, I was asked to leave out what we did to make it absolute perfection (so she can still claim to make the best ones of course!) but we're giving you enough to at least recreate the bars yourself :)

Ingredients:

1 packet Betty Crocker fudge brownie mix                                    
1 pakcet Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix
9 Nature Valley granola thins, dark chocolate
1 bag (14) snack size Reese's peanut butter cups
1/2 stick butter, softened
2 TBSP water
1/3 C oil
1/2 bag Mini Marshmallows

Materials:
8x8 cake pan
mixing bowl
wire wisk
measuring cups and spoons
Oven, preheated to 350 degrees F

Steps:
1. Lay out granola thins on the bottom of the ungreased cake pan with the chocolate side facing up
2. Mix sugar cookie dough as directed on package for drop cookies
3. Press cookie dough into pan on top of granola thins. We recommend wetting your fingers so it doesn't stick to your hands. The granola thins move around a bit, so you'll need to kind of hold them in place while you spread out the cookie dough.
4. Place peanut butter cups side-by-side on top of cookie dough. You may want to use Reese's miniautres instead, or cut the last one in half to squeeze it into the gaps.
5. Mix brownie mix as directed on package
6. Pour and spread brownie mix over peanut butter cups and level the top.
7. Bake for about 40 minutes or until brownie starts to have slightly dry edges and a crips top. If it doesn't bake completely, that's ok - makes the chocolate even gooier like a s'more!
8. Immediately pour marshmallows over the top and place back in the oven to brown the marshmallows (takes just a few minutes and may work easier if you switch the oven to the broiler setting).
9. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Enjoy when still warm!

Memory Joggers

Well, as most of you know, I am spending my summer working in the University Center here at UW-River Falls. With this job comes A LOT of down time and that means I have to find things do to do keep me busy. The thing is, I don't like busy work. In fact, I hate it! So, to cure my boredom and be productive at a relatively unproductive job, I decided to continue a project I had started last Christmas: filling my house with the Word of God!

This is something I started as a way of helping a friend find encouragement in the scriptures, and it has proven to be an incredible thing for me as well. Most of the verses I have are on peace because most often I find myself worried, stressed, or anxious. I know this is one of my weaknesses and a way that often leads my heart and mind away from God at the times when I need Him the most.

My friend and I started making these cards (see photos below) from verses that we found encouraging during our quiet times. Most of them are nice and short so they are a quick read when we see them. I have mine posted all over my house: on my bedroom door, next to the lightswitches, on the mirror, etc. so I literally see them everywhere I go. It is impossible for me to see them without it at least snapping my memory, and after awhile you can recite them in your head without even looking at them!

When I picked back up with making new verse cards last week, I felt very driven to do mine a little differently this time. God reminded me of the power I felt it hearing an English speaker recite memory verses in Spanish while I was on my spring break mission trip to Colorado Springs in March. So this time around I wrote the verses in English on one side and in Spanish on the other. For now I have the English side posted around my house, but after I have the verses memorized in English, I will flip them over and begin memorizing them in Spanish too.

There is something very powerful in scripture memory - just like Joshua 1:8 tells us,  "Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful." Since starting my scripture memory I am finding myself keeping it on my lips all the time and hearing it first in my heart at times that I used to hear the anxious thoughts first. What a blessing it is to be immersed in the Word of God all the time!

Isaiah 26:3 is posted on my bedroom door. This verse has been my mainstay for the past year and is the first verse I memorized in Spanish.



New Favorite

Lean On Who?

God has created us to be social creatures, each one of us having different traits, likes, and dislikes that make us unique so that we all have something to contribute to the body of Christ. He has placed us where He has so that we can function by our design - to build relationships with others and with Him to bring glory to His kingdom. I thank God every day for the friends He has allowed me to have during my time on earth, and quite honestly, I don't know what I would do without them. But I have also come to a realization that I think God has tried to show me more than once before. I realized I've started relying more on the companionship of my friends than on my relationship with God.

Yep, there ya go. Plain and simple, right? You would think that would be something that is pretty obvious when it's happening. But in reality, you get into the flow of your every day schedule with the set times that you're doing your set activities; and in my world, a lot of my set activities have to do with time spent with friends. In looking at my schedule during any given week, I probably spend on average 10 hours a day with my friends. 10 hours! That's over half my day, not including the time I'm sleeping, in class, or at work. When this finally hit me, I realized there was a big part of my life (at least about 10 hours a day) that was devoid of time spent with God. I began to see all the areas where I was counting on my friends to eat lunch with me, walk to class with me, text me all day long, do homework together, and spend our free time together. While it's good that we can have friends to have fun with, confide in, and find joy in relationships with, God did not intend for that to be all there is.

God's intention for friendships was to be a human extension of our relationship with Him, not a replacement for time spent with Him with the excuse that if they're Christian friends it's almost like spending time with God while we're with them. No. That's not how it works. Sorry if that bursts your bubble. God is so jealous of our hearts that it tears Him apart when He sees us counting on our friends more than we look to Him. It's such an easy thing to do because our friends are right here standing next to us, watching the things happen in our lives in such a tangible way. What we often forget is that God, too, is standing right next to us already knowing what's going to happen and what needs to be done to take care of it.

Friends are going to come and go. They're going to be on your side one day, and against you the next. They may answer your text messages for awhile, but there will come a time when they are going to get caught up in the craziness of their own lives that they won't be as available to you. God never leaves, He's walking with us always. He is always on our side and is fighting constantly for our lives. Every little prayer we send His way gets a reply, no matter what time of day it is or how many He's receiving at once.

I'm not saying we shouldn't have friends. Rather, we should have a relationship with God so strong that our friends are just an added bonus.

Doing the UNpopular Thing

In the past few weeks I thought I was facing conflict and opposition simply because I was creating it without knowing; but as time went on and I couldn't find answers to what I was doing to cause it, God started to show me something I haven't really had to experience too much of yet.

In Paul's epistles (Romans - 2 Timothy) a common theme is that being a Christian is going to cause you to be up against a lot of opposition. By committing to your faith in Christ, you are committing to serving Him despite it being the unpopular thing to do. This was something that was taught to me during my years at MCA, but it was never really something I had to truly embrace until I left my little "MCA Bubble" and ventured into the world of a public university.

I'm not saying that everyone at UW-River Falls is against Christianity. And I'm not saying that the Christians I've grown to know almost like family are any less of Christians than the ones that I grew up around at MCA. What I am saying is that there is a lot more opposition and inconsistency with so many different backgrounds all coming together. As I've come to discover the parts of my faith that are unshakeable, I'm beginning to realize that the way I intend to live my life out for Christ is not going to be the way that others see fit. I understand the truth that God convicts us all of different things, and there are certain struggles that are harder for some to overcome than others. But I also understand that the Word of God is unfallible truth and was breathed into existence by an unchanging, sovereign God.

These past few days I have had a constant craving to be in conversation with God constantly, something that is not so easy when you're in classes or at work all day long. But I am also beginning to understand the way God sees us and how His heart breaks for those who don't long to be with Him forever, no matter the consequences. That feeling, that understanding, makes the time that I long to be with Him a result of the intense desire I have for all the people I know to have a relationship with God the way I do. My heart has literally been breaking for those people, especially the ones I'm close to; and even though it's a whole lot more fun to be well-liked and to have friends, I believe with all my heart that being disliked, alone, and maybe even hated can sometimes be the best thing for us, our faith, and eventually the eternal lives that others are going to experience.

In the end, Jesus looks back at all of us and says his sacrifice has been justified (Is 53:10-11). As a follower of Christ, it is my choice to give of myself as a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1-2) so that His name may live on and become the stronghold for all of God's glorious creation. When I look back, I want to be able to see that God's name has been glorified above all else and be praised as being faithful to what God called me to do rather than going along with what the world says is popular.

Burden of Love

I have always been so grateful for everything my mom ever was and did for our family. I have been so impressed with how she would sacrifice everything she wanted or needed to make sure everyone else, even outside the family, had what they desired. I have always hoped that I would eventually be the same kind of mom mine has been.

The past few days I have become even more thankful for all my mom did because God is giving me the grace to understand and experience what it feels like to have a sort of "motherly" burden for those I love. A lot of people hear that and say, "Oh, so you're that overbearing friend who always makes sure people are following the rules and put a damper on the fun." No. That was never how my mom was, and that's not how I am either.

Look at it from the perspective of a parent for a second. God, as our Heavenly Father, loves us so extremely much that He does literally everything He can to be sure that we are more than taken care of. Because He loves us this way, we never have to feel like we don't have enough; but He also, then, wants us to be able to experience what is best for us, even if in the process there's a little pain or hardship along the way.

That is the sort of burden He is allowing me to experience for certain people in my life right now. I love them so much and just want everything in their lives to be perfect, according to God's will. He wants us to live abundantly (with way more than enough love, joy, peace, money, food, etc.). As a part of this desire to see people living to their utmost, God is beginning to remind me what it is like to have a burden of prayer for others again - something I haven't experienced really since my days at MCA. Every moment of the day I want to just be in His presence and praying for these people that I know haven't experienced Him to the extent that they could. It's called intercession, where your spirit literally cries out to God for that of another person whom you deeply love. I am seriously craving this constantly right now, and I thank God that He is allowing me to be that person for these friends and classmates of mine.

While I know that I can only do so much in helping them make the right choices and keep themselves healthy in mind, body, and spirit, I know that the Lord can do mighty things when even one or two people have just a small amount of faith. In the same way, then, I am believing and excited to see what God does through this new experience He is allowing me to have. While it's a slow and painful process, and I often wish I could just make people listen and do what God says is best, I know that's not how God intends it to be and I just have to wait on His timing to perfect what is broken or stained.

A Living Sacrifice

Many Christians are familiar with Romans 12:1-2 where Paul talks about letting your life be a living sacrifice for the glory of God. It is one of those ideas that is commonly talked about when pastors discuss the need for us to choose pure actions. But lately I've been looking at another side of sacrificial living that Paul brings up in Philippians 2:12-18. In my Bible this section is titled "Lights in the World" which then begs the question: Is there more to sacrificial living than just to live a pure life the way God intends?

My answer is yes. This kind of hit me with one of those "mindblown" effects. Verse 13 talks about how God works in us to cause us to gain His will and do His work. But right after that is another very familiar verse, often taught on but not within the context that it is found. It reads: v14-16: Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine like lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.

I realized, then, that Paul continues to talk about how he is poured out for the work that the Spirit of God has called him to do (v 17). I can honestly say that I have given God liberty to use me as He will, but that doesn't come easy. In fact, that might just be the hardest part of my life. Every day I am faced with questions, implications, defeat, and even persecution due to my obedience to reach the people God has placed in my life. Even in that, though, I find impeccable, inconceivable joy. Why? Because God has given me a mission, one that only I can do, and has said that because I have agreed to do His work, I will be poured out. That is a guarantee. When working for the Lord, our spirits and even our physical bodies can get taxed and worn down; but when we look back at verse 14, God reminds us that it is our choice to do His will. Therefore, we should not be complaining or asking why He put us in the task He has chosen for us. Instead, when we start to feel like we have nothing left, we are to cling to the Word of God as our only source of strength and direction. Only then can we truly say that we did God's work the way He desired and the labor and weakness was not in vain.