French Toast Casserole
One of the first traditions my husband and I began during Christmas is hosting breakfast for family and friends. Being that Christmas is my favorite holiday and breakfast is my favorite meal, it's a win-win for yours truly :) Over the years, we have had different options for the carb portion of the meal such as pancakes and Belgian waffles, but my all-time favorite is french toast casserole. It's so delicious, it's like having dessert for breakfast :) Enjoy! https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/baked-french-toast-casserole-with-maple-syrup-recipe2-1914896 ~Joyce
What are You Walking Towards?
Encouraging thoughts from our friend, Renee Thomas. Driving home from a recent trip to Houston, my family and I turned on the radio. Although we were tuned to the right station, we could only hear static. But as we continued to drive and got closer to the source of the signal, the station became clearer and clearer. Soon we were listening to and enjoying our favorite songs! When we started our trip, we were traveling away from the radio station. The farther away we got, the more static we heard. The music began to fade and was soon replaced with only
This Little Light
Recently, a Christian musician has gained mainstream notoriety. She has even been featured on a couple of popular talk-shows where she also had the opportunity to sing. The songs she chose were from her most recent album and were encouraging and uplifting. She sang about the Savior. And people criticized her. Christian people. Why did she go on that talk show? Doesn’t she know what kind of person the host is? Her fellow believers were concerned that she was falling to prey to the lures of the world. She wasn’t the first one to deal with this...Peter encountered the
Blessings in an Unexpected Season (Part 4)
I hope you have found encouragement from this series which highlighted the blessings that my family experienced in an unexpected season. In this conclusion, I wanted to share that for me, fear attempted to settle in when faced with the reality that we had lost the only income to support our family of five. Shame and guilt also tried to move into my mind. What would we tell others? Had the time come for me to return to the workforce? I had been familiar with the weight of carrying such negative thoughts in the past and doing so in isolation. Unfortunately,
Thanking God for Straight Irons…
Hot showers, a warm cup of tea, fuzzy socks and straight irons....there is always something to be thankful for. Last Thanksgiving, I went over the A,B,C’s of gratitude. It’s a simple but fun exercise I learned from Max Lucado’s book, “Before Amen.” In fact, it was so much fun, I thought to do it again! From A through Z, give thanks!! It may seem cheesy at first but once you get started, a momentum builds and you can’t stop thanking God for things you never knew you were thankful for!! After you’re done, compare lists and see what everyone else
So Much To Be Thankful For
My husband and I always enjoy hanging out with our nephews. When we have the opportunity to take them out, they are always very grateful. When they were younger especially, the thank you was a bit more drawn out. They would proceed to list everything from our visit that they were thankful for. “Thanks for picking us up!” “Thanks for lunch.” “Thanks for taking us bowling/go-karts/whatever we did.” “Thanks for letting us eat more junk food today than we usually do .” (Oops, maybe I should have kept that last one to myself.) But you get the point. It turned
Blessings in an Unexpected Season (Part 3)
This month I have been recounting blessings that God has helped me to see when the season of layoff did not appear to be one we would be thankful for. When we were growing up, parents did not have conversations with children about the challenges they were facing. After all, a parent just wants to protect their children rather than concerning them with matters that their young minds cannot quite comprehend. My husband and I found ourselves in a position I have written about before: do we imitate all that we’ve ever known or do we do things a bit
Blessings in an Unexpected Season (Part 2)
Last week I began a series to highlight the blessings in the unexpected season my family recently experienced. I remember when sharing the news about my husband’s layoff with a dear friend, her response was to embrace me and pray with me. The words that stood out the most to me were: “Help Joyce to be who Shibu needs her to be.” The truth is that I thought of myself as a loving and supportive wife. Yet these words penetrated me to the core. I found the most powerful place for me to be was on my knees in prayer.
Mixed Signals
We were a family of six growing up, so a station wagon made sense. To Dad, though, having TWO station wagons made even more sense. I can still picture the back door of the blue wagon, plastered with what seemed like a hundred bumper stickers. Dad was the pastor of our church, so it served as a ministry tool. “NO Jesus, NO Peace; KNOW Jesus, KNOW peace!” We made use of those cars, enjoying long road trips and making hundreds of memories along the way. One particular time, my sisters and I were in the back of the car,
I Voted
I voted. And so did a lot of other people. At this point, the results of the election are still uncertain but here's what we do know… Psalms 9:7 But the Lord will remain and sit enthroned forever; He has prepared and established His throne for judgment. 8 And He will judge the world in righteousness; He will execute judgment for the nations with fairness (equity). 9 The Lord also will be a refuge and a stronghold for the oppressed, A refuge in times of trouble; 10 And those who know Your name [who have experienced Your precious mercy] will put their confident trust in
