my blessed life

Award-winning writer Philip Yancey's latest book, Vanishing Grace , is my first non-fiction read of the new year.  And, wow.  What a read. His subtitle was what drew me in, wanting to find out more about this book: what ever happened to the Good News? In this book, Yancey explores why the Christian Church stirs up such negative feelings these days.  That's a question that I've often wondered myself and I was very interested to see what his research revealed. In reading this book I have certainly been convicted.  Not necessarily because I have personally done things that "turn non-believers off from the Gospel", but because I am guilty by association with others who also claim my same beliefs and who have been very offensive at times. I don't like that evangelical Christians are mostly known for that they are "against" rather than what they are "for".  It frustrates me that American Christians especially will get all up in a

It's a new year and it's time to get back into the swing of routine with my weekly dinner plans. Ahhh. I love getting back into routine after the craziness of the holidays and I'm keeping things fairly simple around here this week.   Here's what's cooking this week: Monday:  Baked Potato Bar with Salad Tuesday:   Chicken & Dumplings Wednesday:   Tostadas Thursday:   Beef & Noodles Friday:   {date night} Saturday:   Snacks/Leftovers This post is linked to Menu Plan Monday at I'm an Organizing Junkie.

Happy New Year to you!! I hope you have a wonderful first day of the first month of this fresh slate we're blessed with each year. While any time is a good time to read the Bible, January 1st is an obvious choice to begin to read the Bible through in a year.  And a great way to do that is by using the You Version app on your smart phone, tablet, or computer! I used this reading plan for the first time last year and loved it!  I could pick up my phone anywhere and have my reading plan at my fingertips.  And as a person who loves to see progress on my 'to do' lists, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the little graph each day showing me my reading progress for the year:) Another benefit to this app is that you can choose different styles of reading plans.  Last year I chose the chronological plan and absolutely loved it.  It was so interesting to see exactly where all of those prophets fit into the timeline of the Old Testament!  You can also choose different translation