Posts by Bethany Wilkes
Recognition of God’s Transforming Power
I was studying Acts 5 this week. There are a few different sections of this chapter filled with encouragement and inspiration. But I was especially motivated by studying the last part which talks about the Pharisee Gamaliel. Here is the excerpt from Acts 5:34-39. “But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, who was honored by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered that the men be put outside for a little while. Then he addressed the Sanhedrin: “Men of Israel, consider carefully what you intend to do to these men. Some time ago Theudas appeared, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men rallied to him. He was killed, all his followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing. After him, Judas the Galilean appeared in the days of the census and led a band of people in revolt. He too was killed, and all his followers were scattered. Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.”
So first let’s talk about what he says to the people. “For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.” I don’t think this statement needs much explanation. It is pretty straightforward. But it is also pretty bold. Gamaliel was 100% sure that anything apart from God would fail. And not only was it apart from God, it was fighting God. And the …
Read MoreBlonde Brownies
I love to bake. Growing up, we always had baked goods ready for guests and parties. Besides the famous “Weisser Cookies”, blonde brownies were the other favorite from the renowned Baby Bear Stew Cookbook. (Baby Bear Stew will be sold here soon). But for now, we will let you in on a Baby Bear Stew specialty. So here is another one of the family favorites.
Blonde Brownies
Ingredients:
2/3 cup melted margarine
2 1/4 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
2 3/4 cup flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup chopped nuts (optional
1 1/2 cup chocolate chips
Directions:
1. Grease a 9×13 pan and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Melt the butter
3. Mix the melted butter with the brown sugar
4. Add the eggs
5. Sift dry ingredients and add. Stir until well blended
6. Add the chocolate chips and nuts.
7. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Cut into squares like brownies.
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Fun Summer Activities With Kids or Without Kids
It is summer time! Time to get outside and enjoy the sun or stay inside and be creative! Don’t get stuck in front of the TV with all your extra time. Get busy! Here’s a reference list of some fun things you can do with your kids, or without kids if you want to have some good natured fun!
Outdoor Activities:
- Sidewalk Chalk: Draw Pictures. Make a Map. Play Hopscotch. Make Chalk dress up dolls
- Slip n Slide
- Fun-noodles
- Water balloons: Have a water balloon fight or host a contest
- Run through Sprinklers
- Ice Cream Man: Make this a special treat
- Find a local farm to go berry picking
- Lemonade Stand: Help your kids make some money
- Picnic at the park
- Pick flowers
- Wash Cars: Have some fun while being productive
- Catch Fireflies
- Camp in the backyard
Indoor Activities:
- Make homemade popsicles: use your popsicle maker, or if you don’t have one use dixie cups and popsicle sticks
- Homemade ice cream: try making a new flavor of ice cream
- Cookies: Have a cookie making contest
- Go to a library
- Visit a fire station
- Make Jewlery: friendship bracelets, beads, lanyards
- Puppet Show
- Take an art class
- Have a tea party
- Have a dance party
- Read a new book
- Legos
- Write a story
- Tie-dye
- Scavenger Hunt
Make a structure for your days. But also let your kids pick. Letting them pick will give some ownership of what they do each day. Also make a jar with popsicle sticks that has ideas of what to do when bored. So if they ever say they are bored, they can have some go to ideas and you don’t always have to think of something on the spot. But also help them realize they are not bored, they just need to use their imagination and create …
Read MoreWatermelon Season!
There are numerous ways to cut a watermelon. But after buying an enormous amount of watermelon the past few years (it has become a new obsession) I have found a way to slice pieces effectively and efficiently. So I wanted to pass on this new wisdom.
First, a few tips on picking a watermelon. You want to find one that looks fairly symmetrical with one yellow spot. When you pick the watermelon up, it should feel heavy. If you knock on it, it should make a hollow sound. Depending on when you are going to eat the watermelon, look to see if there are some brown markings on the outside. If there are brown scratch like marks, that means the sugar is set and it is ready to eat. If you want to wait for a few days, try to find one without scratches.
Now, to cut the watermelon.
1. Cut the watermelon in half.
2. Depending on how much of the watermelon you want to cut, you can cut one half and saran wrap the other. Stick the saran wrapped half in the refrigerator.
3. Cut the half into thirds. You can see the lines on the watermelon where it is best to cut.
4. If you want to cut slices, take the third and cut it in half, then cut into slices pieces with rind.
5. If you want to cut it into small pieces without the rind, take each third and cut separately. Cut along the rind as you see in the picture below.
6. Turn it to the side, cut at the bottom of the fruit on each side.
7. Then cut along the third as show below. 
8. Cut the opposite direction.
9. Then slice through the middle of the cuts to …
Abba Father
Father’s Day is coming up in a few days! Obviously many of us will spend the day celebrating our dads, but I also can’t help but think about my Heavenly Father.
Your Heavenly Father cherishes you as his child. You are a child of the King. Actually, he absolutely adores you. He chose you. He loves you with an unconditional and everlasting love. Think about that. Take it all in. Let it resonate in your heart and soul. You are loved, cherished, treasured, and chosen by the Savior. What an amazing privilege.
But the question I ask myself is, Do I really live believing this? Do I really let it all sink in? I think if I really let myself realize the intensity of God’s love, I might live a little more confidently in who Christ is in me. Too often it is an afterthought or a forced thing. But I want it to be a natural overflow. Your Abba Father wants to do life with you. He wants you, He loves you, and He has a purpose for you. I need to spend time getting to know the character of my God. Just like any relationship, it takes time and investment. So the more I can just be with God, the more I will know him. It isn’t a formula or a certain number of times to pray or a certain chapter in the Bible. It is relationship. It is knowing a Father. And it is living in child like faith and humility of the God we serve. So the more I get to know Christ, the more I will know His love, and the more His love will flow out of me.
So this Father’s Day I want to find some ways I can celebrate and thank my …
Read MorePeace in the Storm
Alot of things have been going on in life lately. I haven’t been directly experiencing anything too crazy… except for normal life, which in a sense, always has its fair share of chaos. But I have been witnessing many storms happening to people very close to me. And because of the way I am wired up, I feel very deeply for the circumstance, the pain, the fear, the doubt, whatever emotion is joining that experience. I want to help, I want to be there for the people, I want to lend a helping hand. But in these certain situations, the distance is a little too far to stop by and drop in to help. So it leaves me feeling a little helpless. Which in reality, it is not my fault if I cannot be there to chip in. It is a blessing to love to serve and love to help out, but I can’t take that to a whole other level of obligation. If I believe God’s power is as mighty and powerful as God’s word and the truth I believe says it is, I have to believe in that power in situations where I feel helpless also. Ultimately I have nothing to give in and of my own power. My own strength, my own love for people, and my own servants heart belongs to the Lord. So out of a position of gratitude, honor, and praise to the Lord I can sometimes be of help to people. But I forget sometimes the best thing I can do is pray. Pray for them, pray with them, pray about them… Prayer is powerful.
So if God is the perfect peace in the storms of the Bible, he can also be the perfect peace in my life and the lives of those …
Read MoreOrganize your Brain
Do you sometimes feel like this??? Our brains are flooded with thoughts, ideas, emotions, stress, tasks, details, and responsibilities. Most of the time we feel like we are on overload. Brain overload is a real thing. And I think I suffer from this disease. I am realizing I need to figure out how to energize my brains to help it function, but also how to relax my brain. If my brain is constantly firing on all cylinders, trying to do five million things at once, I will not be able to function at maximum capacity. And I cannot continue to try to live this way. So here are some tips I have been thinking through and trying to incorporate into my own life.
How to keep your brain at full productivity:
1. Find some time to let your brain rest
2. Find ways you like to recharge (Read, listen to music, pray, exercise, spend time with people)
3. De-clutter your life
4. Turn off your phone
5. Pay attention to when you are able to be most productive
6. Find your routines.
7. Record things so you remember them. Record what works for you. What doesn’t work for you. Record the process of how you got from here to there.
8. Focus on blessings. Think about what you are thankful for.
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Ground Turkey Sloppy Joes
I love ground turkey… but some people think it gets boring. So I have been challenging myself to find new recipes and try them out to switch it up and spice it up! Here’s one I actually really liked.
Ground Turkey Sloppy Joes
- 1 large yellow onion, chopped (about 1½ cups)
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 cup spinach finely chopped
- 1 cup chopped bell pepper (red, yellow, or orange)
- 1 (20-ounce) container lean ground turkey (93/7) (such as Jennie-O)
- 4 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 (14.5-ounce) can fire roasted crusted tomatoes
- 1 large zucchini, grated
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar works
- 1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flake
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
Topping
- 1 cup shredded reduced fat sharp cheddar cheese
- 8 whole wheat hamburger buns, split
- BBQ sauce if needed
- In a large non-stick skillet, heat olive oil on medium high heat.
- Add in onion, spinach, peppers, and garlic. Saute until onion is just softened, about 4 minutes.
- Crumble in turkey. Cook until ground turkey turns light brown
- Add tomato paste and stir around. Make sure it spreads throughout
- Next, stir in crushed tomatoes, grated zucchini, vinegar, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, red pepper, salt, and pepper.
- Bring to a low boil; cover and reduce heat- simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Spoon ¾ cup turkey mixture onto each bun half; top with 2 tablespoons cheese.
- Enjoy open-faced or top with the other half of the bun.
Remembering Memories
One Line A Day. Can I carve out a few minutes of my night before I go to bed to write down a line about my day? I received this really awesome present from a friend for Christmas. Now some of you may look at this and think it is crazy, but for me, I love it! A way to track my memories within my crazy life and my spaghetti brain. (Yes, I have a spaghetti brain that everything runs together and connects together like a big bowl of spaghetti… I will have to post more about this disease later). Anyways, it has been a really cool way for me to reflect just a little bit each day. And I love looking back on what has already happened on this year. So just imagine what it will be like when I look back on a few years.
Here is what it looks like on the inside.
Everyone can use something like this. Whether you are a mom, a student, a businesswoman, a blogger, or anyone for that matter, this can be a cool tool to keep your memories and daily thoughts all in one place, over a time span of 5 years! So you don’t like to journal and you barely have time to sit down and eat a meal, you might want to give this a try. Find a way to incorporate the reflection into your day and the impact could be irreplaceable.
You can buy them here:
Urban outfitters
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Real Simple even promotes this journal! Real Simple Article
How do you track your memories?
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Risking It All
Does the title of this post make you squirm a little bit? It does for me. Not necessarily in a disagreeable way, but in a way that it gets me thinking. A few questions keep coming up. Am I willing to risk it all, or am I willing to risk just enough to still be comfortable? What am I willing to risk today, and what am I trying to hold on to? What is the difference between a big risk and a small risk? And what does it look like for me to risk everything?
Risk… it is the exposure to the chance of injury or loss; a hazard or dangerous chance, being in jepoardy, the unknown, a threat, uncertainty, and just pure possibility. People do not like the unknown. We like being in control and knowing what is going on and what will happen. Uncertainty can bring fear, instability, anticipation, and speculation. We would rather stay secure and safe in our own little world than take a step beyond our comfort zone. Risk doesn’t mean safe. It doesn’t always mean bad, but it doesn’t mean safe.
But that is exactly where we are supposed to be as followers of Christ. Risking it all. Laying our life down so we can live for our Savior. Risk makes me think of a quote from the Chronicles of Narnia.
“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver; “don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.” So just like Aslan, our lives as believers is not safe, but it is good. Risking a life for Christ is not safe, but it is great, it is abundant, and it is worth it. So yes, it is unknown but it …