Melanie Britt | embrace.lifes.journey.: June 2010

Seeking Inspiration? | What inspires you most?

Seeking Inspiration?

Q&A

What inspires you most?

My husband and children.

Sipping my coffee in the morning, having a peaceful quiet time to renew, and finally searching through thumbnails of my most recent snapshots.

This motivates and inspires me before my morning blog posts.

How about you?

Devotion | Psalm 73

Choosing God over anything else in the world?

I love Psalm 73.

Uplifting, Encouraging and Motivational.

No doubt about it! God is good—
    good to good people, good to the good-hearted.

But I nearly missed it,
    missed seeing his goodness.

I was looking the other way,
    looking up to the people

At the top,
    envying the wicked who have it made,

Who have nothing to worry about,
    not a care in the whole wide world.


Pretentious with arrogance,
    they wear the latest fashions in violence,

Pampered and overfed,
    decked out in silk bows of silliness.

They jeer, using words to kill;
    they bully their way with words.

They’re full of hot air,
    loudmouths disturbing the peace.

People actually listen to them—can you believe it?
    Like thirsty puppies, they lap up their words.

What’s going on here? Is God out to lunch?
    Nobody’s tending the store.

The wicked get by with everything;
    they have it made, piling up riches.

I’ve been stupid to play by the rules;
    what has it gotten me?

A long run of bad luck, that’s what—
    a slap in the face every time I walk out the door.

If I’d have given in and talked like this,
    I would have betrayed your dear children.

Still, when I tried to figure it out,
    all I got was a splitting headache . . .

Until I entered the sanctuary of God.
    Then I saw the whole picture:

The slippery road you’ve put them on,
    with a final crash in a ditch of delusions.

In the blink of an eye, disaster!
    A blind curve in the dark, and—nightmare!

We wake up and rub our eyes. . . . Nothing.
    There’s nothing to them. And there never was.

When I was beleaguered and bitter,
    totally consumed by envy,

I was totally ignorant, a dumb ox
    in your very presence.

I’m still in your presence,
    but you’ve taken my hand.
You wisely and tenderly lead me,
    and then you bless me.

You’re all I want in heaven!
    You’re all I want on earth!

When my skin sags and my bones get brittle,
    God is rock-firm and faithful.

Look! Those who left you are falling apart!
    Deserters, they’ll never be heard from again.

But I’m in the very presence of God—
    oh, how refreshing it is!

I’ve made Lord God my home.
    God, I’m telling the world what you do!

Digital Scrapbook Page | A Gift of Dance Recital

Raeleen's final performance was last night.

Wow!

What an amazing performance by ALL.

It truly takes talent to pull off such a fabulous show.

Such a blessing to be involved with such a great dance studio.

Raeleen and her friend Hannah recieve a hug from their teacher at the end of the recital.

Thank you teacher Heather for all you do!

scrapbook elements by shabbyprincess

"Mornings like these.."

It's mornings like these that make me happy!

Listening to the birds sing while discovering 'ripe' findings in the garden.

Nothing better than a fresh picked breakfast.

The Gardener's Morning

The robin's song at daybreak

Is a clarion call to me.

Get up and get out in the garden,

For the morning hours flee.

I cannot resist the summons,

What earnest gardener could?

For the golden hours of morning

Get into the gardener's blood.

The magic spell is upon me,

I'm glad that I did not wait;

For life's at its best in the morning,

As you pass through the garden gate.

- Howard Dolf

The Inheritance | Daughter of the King

Try and convince my sweet eight year old Raeleen that she is to young for a Beth Moore bible study!

I suppose this could be my doing...

Ok, I admit it...all of her life... her Mama (that would be me) has been a lover of a good intense bible study!

Being that my very first Beth Moore bible study was Living Beyond Yourself ..the internet study...

and sweet Raeleen was hanging out in her playpen or in my lap as I watched the videos and did my homework. Dial-up no less, so yes, I watched Beth's hands move like she was doing the robot. But nevertheless, I was instantly hooked...and obviously Raeleen must of been too. Eight years and counting. :)

Never underestimate the power of God's Word. Don't think for a minute you and I as parents cannot spiritually influence our baby before their first chocolate birthday cake!

I am thrilled that my actions have inspired a

tabbed bible carrying,

passage underlining,

morning devotional reading,

index card writing,

and perhaps even a......

Future LPM Siesta Scripture Memory Team spiral index card carrier!

I have been blessed with a smart, talented little girl to teach and train up how to be not only a Mighty Woman of God some day, but now right now at a young age, I firmly believe with everything I am that instilling biblical values in our young ones heart is critical for the time we live.

Timothy recieved a beautiful inheritance of love for God..

"That precious memory triggers another: your honest faith—and what a rich faith it is, handed down from your grandmother Lois to your mother Eunice, and now to you! And the special gift of ministry you received when I laid hands on you and prayed—keep that ablaze! God doesn't want us to be shy with his gifts, but bold and loving and sensible." 2 Timothy 1:5-7 MSG

Did you know?.. That is the same inheritance we are to leave our children?

I believe.. When our children see a consistent devotion to God,

they are encouraged to follow.

Proverbs 22:6

"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."

~Precious Princess of the King~

Garden Fresh Strawberries and a Sunshine Strawberry Cake

Garden Fresh Strawberries! Are you kidding me?

These strawberries are absolutely amazing.

Yes, I suppose I'm bragging a bit here, but really, they turned out so sweet this year.

Yummy. I made a fresh strawberry cake the other day and was asked to share the recipe on my blog.

~BUT~

I apologize for not posting a snapshot of the cake.

I completely forgot until the cake was sliced and almost gone!

I will make it again soon and try to do a better job of remembering.

But here is the recipe anyway... :)

Enjoy!

Sunshine Strawberry Cake

2 1/2 cups flour

1 2/3 cups sugar

3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup milk

2/3 cup crisco

----------------------------------

3 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup fresh strawberries

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

Add 3/4 cup milk and crisco.

Beat 2-3 minutes until smooth.

Add eggs, 1/2 cup milk, vanilla and strawberries.

Beat 2-3 minutes more.

Makes 2- 9" round or 1- 13x9

Bake at 300 degrees for 1 hour.

Frosting:

1/4 cup crisco

1/2 cup fresh strawberries

1/3 cup milk

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

3 1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

In a saucepan on low heat, melt crisco.

Remove from heat and stir in milk, vanilla, powered sugar and salt.

Pour in mixing bowl and add strawberries.

Beat until smooth and creamy.

Add an extra teaspoon of milk if needed.

Spread generously on cake and chill.

The Inheritance | Beth Moore | Introduction

Girls, it's time for The Inheritance study!

I am so excited to go through this study again.

For my NCCTK girls, we have already completed this study and I was in the midst of doing Breaking Free here on the blog so wasn't able to put the Inheritance on the blog as well.

BUT now this is our summer study at CTK and would love for you all to join with me as I get going on The Inheritance journey once again. This is indeed one powerful study....

mouth opening, tear jerking, eye widening study.....reminding each of us that we have

a beautiful inheritance and not only a heavenly inheritance but an earthly inheritance as well.

I mean, once I realized that I'm not only living for a heavenly reward which is my inheritance, but also that I have been given an earthly inheritance...ground under my feet and what in the world am I doing with it to glorify Him?

~I tell ya this study will make a woman place her feet out of her bed in the morning running!~

Ok, so the details....

Every week I will post the discussion questions from the video as well as ....

yep, you guessed it, notecard verses. Living Proof has created a cute notepad if anyone is interested in purchasing it you can do so by clicking on the Living Proof link above. It is the notepad- I will be using as a background to house my weekly notecard verses.

If you are joining this study here on the blog or missed a week at the church...

you can find all nine downloads in MP3 format HERE.

At the end of the study I compile a little binder ring full of all the notecard verses for the girls at church, but if you are joining me here on the blog only and would like a set, please leave a comment at the end of the study and I would love to send you a set. :)

Happy to walk along side you,

~Melanie

A Gift of Dance Float at the Farmers Day Parade

Morning and what a constructive morning it has been.

Had a very creative quiet time this morning.

Here is one of the digitial layouts I came up with ...

I took many cute up close snapshots of Raeleen and did some really cute layouts of those and some with her friends. But for now, I wanted to share the entire float photo and I purposely added the shot of Raeleens hand waving rather than one of the closeups. I thought it stood out and was the perfect touch to add to the float photo.