I'm Back!

Hi friends.

(happy sigh)

It's good to be back.

In my last post, (back in the dead of winter) I said something about how I was making life decisions and how God is good. I think now would be a good time to explain.

Since the last time I wrote a post about my life, I was invited again to join 1:11 Ministries on a Christmas tour, performing an old ballet redone, called The Christmas Chest. It was a lot of fun, we worked hard, (both at McDonalds part-time and in the studio) and turned out a really great performance.

Back in 2016, we performed a Christmas ballet called Incarnation, and after that production, I was beyond inspired. My dreams were reawakened and reimagined, I couldn't wait to keep training, so I could keep dancing for the rest of my life.

This time, I wrestled with a lot of different feelings. There was a lot going on, (it's not a simple explanation) so I'll just say that I asked myself and God a lot of questions, and by the end of December, I had decided that I felt called to take a break.

I haven't danced since December 23rd.

I don't know if I will be called back to it, I'm certainly open to that possibility. I still love dancing, it still inspires me, and I think God communicates through it in a way He doesn't through anything else. But for now, I am learning to hear from God in different ways.

At the moment, I am spending my time working at McDonalds, studying for my GED, teaching Sunday school, and trying to sit still at the feet of Jesus.

The other day I was reminded of the old hymn, "Oh, what peace we often forfeit, Oh, what needless pain we bear. All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer."

That's my life motto right now.

I hope this post doesn't carry a sad undertone. I am really, really excited these days. I see God working in my life, and I couldn't ask for much more. I find GREAT comfort in the fact that God is God, and I am not.

Friend. Keep trusting in Jesus. That's about all I have to say at this point. Maybe next time I'll have something more profound to say...or maybe that's the most profound thing I've ever said.

Character Building Bread (Not With Pictures, Because There's No Such Thing as Instagram in Character Development)

Hello friends! If you're anything like me, you'll understand the feeling of euphoria when you wake up to the smell of freshly baked banana bread, wafting through the house.

There's nothing quite like warm, moist banana bread, especially with chocolate chips, because you and I both know, chocolate makes everything better.

Because I love to bake, and I love Chocolate Chip Banana Bread, and I love blogging, I thought I would share my recipe with you all, so you can enjoy the same treat I am going to in about 40 minutes. (Yay!)

Here's what you'll need.

-All purpose flour
-Baking soda
-Baking powder
-Salt
-Sugar
-1 egg
-Milk
-Unsalted Butter softened
-3 Mashed bananas
-Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips

To start off, take your 5 bananas, (this particular recipe calls for 3, so let's do 5 so that you can't quite double the recipe, you just have to test your math skills.) and mash them.

Next, combine all of your dry ingredients in a bowl, and go shopping. The original recipe tells you to leave the sugar out so you can combine it with the butter later, but those rules are really only guidelines to make things easier, so you don't really need to follow them. Do things the hard way, it's good for you.

When you get back from shopping and you have a very limited time to whip this all together before you have to leave for the evening, it's time to soften the butter. The recipe says unsalted, but are you about to allow a recipe to control your life? No. Just use salted.

Microwaves are no good, DO NOT USE THE MICROWAVE. Instead, use the toaster oven, which will soften the outside of the butter very quickly causing it to run all over, but leave the centre just has firm as before. This is good because it not only strengthens your ability to handle stress under a time crunch, it also improves your arm muscles. If you break a couple utensils in the process, don't worry about it. It's part of life.

While waiting for the butter in the toaster oven, lightly whisk the eggs in a bowl. This doesn't really matter, because in a moment you are going to beat them to death trying to get the butter to mix, but you should try to stick to some rules, so stick to that one.

If your butter WILL NOT mix, feel free to stick it back into the toaster oven, but make sure you watch it like a hawk so the egg doesn't cook overtop of the butter.

When that comes out, you can now add your dry ingredients! Yay, we're getting somewhere!

Feel free to forget about the milk. Again, it builds both character and muscle trying to beat your super thick doughy batter into submission, so use this chance to better yourself. You will need to add it at some point though, and when you do, you may as well toss the spoon aside because only your bare hands will be able to conquer the mass that sits before you. Zero all of your attention on it at this point, flour, egg, and butter on every surface of your kitchen don't matter that much, and you are running out of time.

Spoon the nearly solid batter with little butter chunks throughout into two silicone pans, and put them in the oven at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

And finally, pray. Character building is all about pushing yourself to your limits, and submitting to the fact that only God can strengthen your spirit and make your banana bread edible.

In the end, it should look like this, and no one will be any the wiser. Except you, because wisdom is one of those things that comes with good character.

Let me know how this recipe worked for you!

If you have any negative feedback, feel free to email pleasekeepittoyourself@buildscharacter.com