God Speaks through Apples?

Last week, Dan went to the grocery store to pick up some things we needed, including fruit.
I'm pretty picky when I'm picking out fruit...not so much with the shape of it, but the basics...looking for piercing/scrapes of the skin, bruising, worm holes, etc. What he picked out at the store looked pretty good when I was washing it, so I didn't think much about it when I grabbed an apple on our way out the door.
As we headed down the road to take me to work, I took a generous bite of my apple. You can imagine my surprise when the inside was yucky brown! I looked again on the outside, around the stem, on the bottom...Nope! Nothing was there to indicate any kind of problem.
I thought maybe it was just there, an inside bruising, so I took another bite further over.
Nope! Same thing!
It was SO STRANGE!!!



I could have gone ahead and finished the apple, being careful to just eat the good outer portion, but why would I want to do that? It wouldn't satisfy my hunger, and my body wouldn't receive the full nutrition that a full apple could have given me. And besides...it was just GROSS!
And like only HE can do, He shows me that I limit His ability to use me when I concentrate on my mere appearance and don't take care of my inside. He doesn't want to have to work around my parameter, being careful not to hit the rot at the core of my being.
It's not His desire for me to put on the smiling mask when I'm going to one place then taking it off when I'm in the confines of my safe place.
He needs me to deal with hurt, obstacles, anger, fatigue, laziness, loneliness, doubt...whatever it is that gets in the way so that when He wants to use me He doesn't have to wonder if I have enough to give.
Not that He wonders....He knows.
So...YES!
God speaks through apples.
He wants to use me....ALL of me!

Healthy Choices

This is my version of a stuffed bell pepper recipe I saw on Pinterest.

I took a red bell pepper (the colored ones were on sale at Kroger!) and cut out the core. I salvaged some of the "meat" from around the stem and diced it to go in the filling.
The diced pepper was added to a diced tomato, a few spinach leaves, three or four boneless, skinless chicken tenders and simmered in a couple tablespoons of water (which will cook out). Season to taste.
When the chicken was done, I shredded it then added it back to the pan with 1/4 cup brown rice (already cooked).
Once everything was added, it was stuffed into the red pepper and baked at 375 degrees for about 25 minutes.

Yummo!!!

Hello, Bargain!

This was my find at a cute little antique shop in Decatur, TX! (More about this excursion in a future post.)

For a whopping $11.48, I got the sweetest li'l hat, two quilting hoops (one round, one oval) for an art project, a jar full of old buttons, and four bags of various lace remnants.

Love my new treasures and can't wait to put them to good use!