Living as a Victorious Christian Woman

When I saw these beautiful traffic light peppers packaged all lovely at the grocery store, there was no way I could say no. All I could think about was whacking the tops off, packing them with delicious Tex-Mex filling, and roasting them to melty perfection. So I did. The end. No, that's not the end! I'm going to tell you exactly how I did it so you can have the same Tex-Mex happiness we did. For two meals! Ingredients: 4 traffic light peppers 1lb ground beef 1 cup black beans 1/2 cup tomato sauce 1 cup shredded Chihuahua cheese Tex-Mex seasoning (garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, cumin, salt, pepper) Optional: Salsa Sour cream Greek yogurt 1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 2. Cut the tops off the four peppers, then remove seeds and membranes. 3. Stand peppers up in a small baking dish and bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes to soften. 4. While the peppers bake, brown the ground beef in a skillet with the seasoning mix. Stir in beans and  tomato sauce. Heat through, then ...

Do you still remember the Sunday School and Vacation Bible School lessons you had as a kid? Do you remember walls falling down, giants being knocked over, whales vomiting people up, friends breaking through roofs, and boys in fiery furnaces? We've been studying through the book of Acts with our Sunday school class. They range in age from sixth grade to seniors in high school, so there's quite a span. It's a challenge every week to find just the right mix of Scripture, questions, activities, getting out of our chairs, and listening intently. It's hard to keep brains active without filling them to overflowing. We are blessed that by the time the youth are old enough for our room, their children's class teachers have given them an amazing foundation. For the most part, they know where books of the Bible are, who the main characters are throughout, have some favorite verses memorized, and can tell you some basic timelines and themes. Not every youth group has that prep ...

Praise the Lord that April and Easter are almost here! I've been doing Bible study on the resurrection and hope, and I definitely needed it. The season of life I'm in right now is difficult from every angle, but the clean, beautiful hope of spring and Easter helps change that perspective a little. And what better place to highlight that than in the planner I have open all day? The monthly spread for April, where I keep track of my blog posts, uses all one set of stickers. They're thrown random, confetti-style all over the pages in a mix of colors and shapes. Think of it like cutting them out, throwing them up in the air, and sticking them down wherever they land - how fun is that? This style works great with a large space and small stickers, and even with different images from a variety of sets. Combining multiple sets to make them eye-pleasing is simple if your layout has a solid theme and structure, which in this case was alternating small images across the page. This wou...

When I had my spring cleaning list all ready to go, I was full of hope and confidence. There was a plan on paper and it actually seemed pretty manageable...let's get started! And then I realized there was a task before the first task. Book reclamation. Every room in our house has bookshelves. There are more than 1,000 books on the first floor alone. As I did a quick walk-through of the house, I realized that after many book sales and trips to the thrift store, there were TBR piles everywhere. And I do mean everywhere. And unfortunately, none of the piles contained only one genre. No, I couldn't have separated them as I went. That would be too easy. So now I'm sorting each room, taking other genres to their rooms, and bringing back this room's genre from those rooms.  So now I'm prepping for the spring cleaning. Books are flying everywhere like confetti, then finding their new permanent homes on the shelves they were meant to live on. And I can relax and clean.  Book...

It's been a difficult few weeks at work, but God's been faithful. To celebrate how He's helped me through some serious challenges through music, I created a planner spread of some of my favorite hymn lyrics. The black and white theme goes perfectly with the music notes and beautiful script writing, and it adds an elegant touch to an otherwise stressful week. The washi tape is black crosses on a white background, a design I've had in my collection for ages that I love. It's cut in chunks and alternated across both pages, as are the notes and lyrics. Think of them as clusters of images and words, little vignettes of music spread around the spread. As you look through the pictures of my planner layout, I hope you'll recognize all the great hymns and songs they come from. And, as is the case with wonderful music, I pray the words of God's goodness and faithfulness will stay in your heart all week. Perhaps they'll bless you the way they have blessed me, and w...