True Friendship

Right now during family devotions each evening Dad is taking us through Kevin Swanson's Proverbs Bible study series.  This evenings reading was really good!  Thought I would share it here so that others can benefit from it as well.  I've emphasized a few of the sections that seemed particularly profound.

Proverbs 27:5-6

"Open rebuke is better than secret love.  Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful."

Friendships are not true friendships until they have been through the wild rapids of conflict, honest confrontation, forgiveness, and restoration.  This is a necessary process in forming a friendship, in the true sense of the word.  Rebuking or correcting somebody is not easy, especially if you hope to retain a friendship in the end.  But true lasting friendships will probably not form unless there is a little wounding here and there.  When this happens, be very careful that you do not allow your pride to resist the wounding.  If your heart resists and you begin to grow bitter, you will fail the test and lose another friend.  But if you receive the wound, embrace your friend, and allow the relationship to be repaired, you will have a better friendship for it.  These are the kinds of friendships that will stand in good stead through the many storms of life that are sure to come.
Love is willing to take a risk for a friend, but would it risk losing the friendship?  Herein lies the real test of friendship.  True love is more interested in the well-being of the friend than the friendship itself!  This "secret love" referred to in verse five is a love that appreciates the other, but is unwilling to do anything strenuous for the best interests of the other.  Even worse than secret love, however, are the "kisses of an enemy."  Judas serves as the infamous example of this.  It is easy to create shallow friendships and to give twenty hugs on a Sunday morning at church, but would we be willing to give our lives for these people (John 15:13; 1 John 3:16)?  Today, many professing believers will shake hands or hug a brother, but they leave the brother in the lurch over every tiny doctrinal disagreement or conflict.  These are not true friendships.
We live in a sinful world, and it is difficult for one sinful person to live with another sinful person.  But if we care about each other enough to point out each other's sins, and if we are humble enough to confess our sins to one another, we will live fruitful lives in this sin-cursed world.
- Kevin Swanson, The Book of Proverbs God's Book of Wisdom, Book III: Proverbs 24-31, Part 258 ~ TRUE FRIENDS AND GRATEFUL HEARTS
~Brittany

 ~Brittany

How to Make Irresistable Crescent Rolls

Making crescent rolls is not as difficult as it sounds, actually it can be quite fun and even easy!  From mixing the dough to rolling them out to pulling them out of the oven and giving them the finishing touches, I'm going to show you step by step how easy it can be to present irresistibly delicious crescent rolls.
As a quick note, we make our crescent rolls 100% whole wheat.  You do not have to make them whole wheat; you could do part wheat and part white or even do all white.  But I must say, our rolls are a favorite at family gatherings by relatives that do not enjoy whole wheat whatsoever.  I've never heard anyone complain about these rolls being wheat instead of white.  So even if your crew doesn't care for 100% whole wheat, you may want to just try it and see what everyone thinks.  But don't let this stop you from making crescent rolls!  If you have a favorite roll recipe that you would rather use, then you can use it instead of ours.
Okay, on to making these yummy rolls!

Step 1: Prepare the Dough

 

Make your favorite roll recipe or you can use our recipe below.

Fantastic Whole Wheat Rolls

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups warm water (110°F)
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/2 cup dry powdered milk
• 2 Tbsp. yeast
• 1/4 cup vital gluten
• 6-8 cups whole wheat flour (or as needed)
• 2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 cup olive oil

Directions:
Combine warm water, honey, powdered milk and yeast in large mixing bowl and allow to sponge for 15 minutes.  Add eggs and half the flour.  Stir until thoroughly mixed; will resemble cake batter.  Let rest until bubbly, about 30 minutes. Add salt, oil, vital wheat gluten and remaining flour.  Knead for 6-10 minutes or until gluten is developed or dough is soft and pliable.

Step 2: Divide and Roll out the Dough

 

Note: The following dividing instructions are only applicable if using the above recipe.  If you are using a different recipe, then you'll have to figure out how many sections to divide the dough into to accommodate your recipe. 

 

Divide dough into six portions.

Take one portion of dough and roll into an approximate 9-inch circle.

Brush generously with melted butter.

Cut the circle into 8 triangles.

Roll each triangle up, starting at the wide end...

...finishing by tucking the pointed end under.

Place crescent rolls on baking sheets or stones.  Repeat the same process for the other five portions of dough.  Cover rolls with a tea towel and allow to rise until doubled in size.

 

Step 3: Bake and Complete with Finishing Touches

 

Once crescent rolls have nearly double in size, preheat your oven to 350°F.  When crescent rolls have fully risen and the oven is preheated, place rolls in oven and bake for approximately 10 minutes.  You DO NOT want to over bake these!  They are done as soon as they no longer feel doughy towards the middle.

When done, remove from oven and immediately brush with melted butter.

Once cool enough to remove from baking sheet, place in either a bag for eating later or in a bread basket to compliment your evening meal.

Whala!  It's really as easy as that!   See, you don't need to let the name scare you away from making these because you think it would be too difficult for you to make.   Anyone can make crescent rolls!
Have fun baking!  I hope you enjoy these easy, yet irresistibly delicious crescent rolls!

 ~Breanna

~Brittany

Holiness to the Lord

As I finished reading the book of Exodus this morning, this verse stood out to me, and the following commentary also stood out as significant.  May we each endeavor to live our lives in righteousness and holiness for the glory of our Lord!
~Brittany

“And they made the plate of the holy crown of pure gold, and wrote upon it a writing, like to the engravings of a signet, HOLINESS TO THE LORD.”  - Exodus 39:30

 And (lastly) he crowned himself with holiness to the Lord, consecrating his whole undertaking to the honour of his Father's holiness: now consider how great this man is.  True believers are spiritual priests. The clean linen with which all their clothes of service must be made is the righteousness of saints (Rev_19:8), and Holiness to the Lord must be so written upon their foreheads that all who converse with them may see, and say, that they bear the image of God's holiness, and are devoted to the praise of it.

- Matthew Henry’s Commentary

"Many believers fail to understand that repentance is not only the essential first step to salvation, but also a great catalyst of true joy."

~Paul Washer~

~Brittany

Emotional Purity- Guard your heart

I listened to this message yesterday morning and WOW!!! it was so worth it! James Jennings brings out some very biblical principles in regard to emotional purity for singles and married people and then gives practical application of how to live this out in a very balanced, but God-honoring way. So worth taking the time to listen to! I was very blessed and also challenged by it.

~Breanna

CLICK HERE

Bill Nye and Ken Ham Debate ~Well worth watching!

Last night our family had the privilege of watching Mr. Bill Nye and Mr. Ken Ham debate through live streaming.  For those of you that weren't able to view it or didn't know about it, you can watch it on youtube.  I don't know how long they will have it available on youtube, but if you get a chance, it's well worth taking the opportunity to view it while you can! Mr. Ham did an excellent job of being humble and yet biblically straight forward and unapologetically Christian.   We also appreciated Mr. Ham taking the opportunity to present the gospel in the clear way that he did. 

~Breanna

~ Joy ~

 "For the joy of the Lord is your strength."

~ Nehemiah  8:10b ~

"The joy which has the Lord for its object, and comes from him, is the cause of renewing spiritual strength, so as to run and not be weary, walk and not faint, in the ways of God."

~ John Gill's Commentary ~

~Brittany

Kindness

Having the "law of kindness" on my lips is something the Lord has really been convicting me to work on lately, so when I read this is very much spoke to me.  I hope that maybe it will be an encouragement to some of you as well.

"Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer."  - Psalm 19:14

~Brittany

Kindness is a virtue. It doesn’t come easy to us unless we exercise that area of our life. It’s more than simply a desire to do good to others, it’s the behavior itself.

Kindness doesn’t sit around analyzing a situation to determine whether this person is right or that person is wrong. Kindness is a charitable gift–it reaches out to those in need.

Whether it’s easy or not, we are commanded in scripture to put on kindness. We’re commanded to be compassionate people because that’s Who our Savior is.

It’s all about looking up. Looking to Christ for our example and looking to Him for our reward.

Initiation is the core of kindness. Jesus reached out to this world while we were in darkness and sin. He didn’t sit around waiting for mankind to be perfect–He made the first move.

As difficult as it might be at times, we have the ability to choose our attitude at any time for the good. When someone gets under our skin, we can be impatient and vindictive or we can exercise the virtue of kindness.

It’s especially important to remember this when we don’t feel like it because that’s when it becomes sacrifice.

~ Darlene Schacht

“Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;  Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.  And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.  And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.”  - Colossians 3:12-15