The Point of No Return
by Shannon Parish

She stood poised on the edge of the pool, leaning forward over the water, hands straight back, knees bent.  The wild grin on her face betrayed the excited anticipation she was feeling at the thought of leaping into Daddy’s waiting arms.  There was no concern about drowning – she knew her Dad would catch her.  Bouncing up and down she worked up her nerves and took her flying leap.  Dad roared with laughter at the appearance of her spindly arms and legs flying wildly.  But with great pride and joy he noted her  courage and reached up to catch the apple of his eye…

 What excitement!  What trust!  What FUN!  How soon we forget the exhilaration of abandoning ourselves in trust to our loving Heavenly Father.  Just like the little girl above, our loving Father stands in the near distance – our future distance – waiting for us to take that first flying leap, abandoning ourselves to His waiting arms and provision.  How else would we learn to swim, or even experience the joy of swimming if we didn’t get wet?  I imagine that if our little girl had sat down on the edge of the pool and meditated on all the things that COULD go wrong – she would have frightened herself enough to never try.  Instead, though, she pictured in her mind the end results of her leap of faith.  She didn’t have time to worry about what could have happened, it was more fun to experience what DID happen!

 Could her Dad have taught her how to swim if she had stayed safely on the pool side?  Of course not!  He could have taught her theory.  He could even have taught her a few strokes.  But the strokes and the theory would not have made sense until she felt the water resisting her efforts and the results of that struggle in learning how to swim and float on the water.

 Taking a leap of faith towards our goals, dreams and desires is no different.  You can read all the books you want, listen to all the speakers you want, and have all the friends in the world encourage you to write that book, paint that picture, walk to that microphone, or sing that song….but the theory will never do.  You have to experience it.  And the only way to experience the rush of excitement that comes with possessing your desires, is to take a flying leap.  Go ahead – what are you waiting for?

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Josh 1:7
Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go.

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YOU CANNOT POSSESS WHAT YOU WILL NOT GRAB A HOLD OF.
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James 2:18

 Show me your faith without your works, 
and I will show you my faith by my works.

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I've tried several new recipes this week that I thought would be great.  They were OK, but not special, and I don't like to pass that kind on...  You can come up with your own mediocre recipes!

 So, I relied on my recipe loop to give me something special to share with you.

 Mexican Spaghetti

 1 lb spaghetti, broken up
3 bell peppers (I used two cans of whole Ortega chili's) sliced into strips
3 cups Monterey Jack cheese, grated
1 15 oz can corn
2 cups sour cream  
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 cup onion
4 tablespoons chicken stock
3 tablespoons butter
Garnish (parsley, green onions, bell pepper) (grated Cheddar cheese)

(Martha added 1 lb ground meat, browned.) (You could also use chicken)  (I also added pepper, salt and oregano as I browned the meat)

 Boil spaghetti with 1 clove crushed garlic and about 1 tablespoon chicken stock.  Drain.  In large frying pan brown meat in butter and add everything except the cheese and sour cream.  When spaghetti and meat mixture are ready, mix together and add cheese and sour cream.  Garnish with something green (I used green onion) and some shredded cheese (I used cheddar for more color)   Serve hot.   

 Let me know if you try it, and also if YOU have a special recipe to share.    --Dot

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BNDLight writes:

 Saw a cute billboard on a church sign down from our house.  God always answers "knee mail", ha, ha!!

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Joy in The Kitchen Volume 4 Issue 27