Settling, Good, Better & Best

December has been an incredible month and one of the best Christmases ever, aside from those Christmases that was the first Christmas with each of my children.  Last year, I did not get to spend Christmas Day or New Year's Day with either of my children, or at least very much of it.  This year, I got all of Christmas Day and Christmas Eve, the week leading up to it and some after.  It was truly wonderful for me.

On the topic of settiling in our lives for not even what's good for us, or for Good, Better, or Best, what do you choose?  We'd all like to think we are going for what is BEST in our lives, but our lives will often tell us whether that is true or not.

Have we allowed God to give us the very best in our lives?

Personally, I have not, especially in the area of finances and men.  Not that I am old, but I have more than a few years under my belt, a string of broken relationships, and not much to show for it financially -- though, a lot of hard work and efforts have been put into both of these.

In a group that I belong to, our teacher periodically brings up are we willing to just settle for Good or Better, or do we want God's BEST for our lives?  She is mainly talking about men, but it really applies to everything in our lives. 

Why do we settle for less than Good, or just Good or Better?  Is it because we don't think we deserve to have the BEST?  or we really don't realize there is BEST out there and that God does want to give us that BEST.  Maybe to take to BEST is too much work?  Maybe it means surrendering, being humbled or us choosing to humble ourselves?  Surrendering means to submit.  Submit to whom?  In this case, it's God.

When we settle for less than God's BEST for our lives, we are forfeiting some truly awesome blessings.

A quick story of God providing the very best for me that my digital camera that I had had for years and used it to bless many people with died, after limping along for over a year.  Prayer and the laying of hands no longer would resurrect my beloved historian.  Instead, I placed before the Lord the dilemma to equip me with another camera, a newer camera.  With the Lord, it is never a dilmenna.

The Lord provided all the money very quickly, but because my own children needed warm clothes, I put aside my own desires and needs to provide for my kids.  That's a no brainer for me and for most parents.  After nearly 2 dozen bids on particular camera and losing every single bid, even one I lost in the last 4 seconds (got sniped) and lost by a couple dollars, it took quite awhile for me to realize that that wasn't the camera God wanted for me.  It was a BETTER camera - fairly new (last year's model), used. 

In fact, I was willing to settle for the same exact camera if someone was willing to sell their's for under $25.  That was GOOD.  I was unwilling to settle for less than GOOD, however, because I knew the Lord wanted me to have a camera.  Though the camera is a huge part of my life and I use it to share with my church, family, friends, school, etc., it was not an idol. 

But, God's plan for me was to get the BEST camera, which was this year's model and NEW.  That was more money than my original plan to pay for BETTER.  So, I prayed and God supplied all the rest of the money PLUS some more. 

We have to watch for signs from the Lord.  As the Lord pushed Paul up towards Macedonia from Asia Minor to preach the Gospel, it wasn't bad that Paul wanted to share the Gospel with those in Asia Minor, but He wanted Paul in Macedonia, finally preaching to the Philippians.  This is where the book of Philippians came from when Paul was in jail in Philippi.  Many of Caesar's household, the jailers, got saved through this, but the book of Philippians has some incredible insights for the foundation of Christian living.  This has helped Christians for generations now.  In fact, nearly 2 milliniums.

Often what we want is not necessarily bad, but it's not God's BEST.  I think God uses different people to help show us what He wants us to do, and we are to watch out for those things in our lives so He can direct us to the right places, people, circumstances.  God's timing is always best.

I was truly and still am so excited and thankful for my new camera that He so generously provided through a number of people, and one in particular.  It was a whole series of miracles coming together.  What seemed like frustration was me actually in the wrong area & direction, just a bit skewed.  Often we are just slightly off, but that slightly being off in the long-run turns into some huge deviation.

There were quite a few things to note about the camera thing:
1.  Focus was on God to provide the money however He chose to
2.  Surrendering to God's timing (I wanted the camera by Thankgiving, but I didn't get it until 2 weeks later).
3.  Surrendering to not getting a camera and knowing God will give it when He wants - timing, again.
4.  Being grateful for each step of the process.
5.  Taking action to know His will.  I would not have known He did not want a particular camera until I began bidding.
6.  Being content with what I had -- that was just my 1.6 MP cell camera phone and using that to still glorify God.
7.  Not grumbling or complaining, but looking at the bright side.

Now, one may say this is just regarding a camera, but couldn't it be with regards to men, the stock market, trading?  God doesn't give us a destiny and thn say, "Psyche!!!  Just kidding!"  He fully equips us, gives us directions to take along the journey.

Unlike men whom I've been romantically involved with, this has never turned out well.  Gonna need God to really hold my hand here.  As for finances, I totally need God here, too.  Though, there are some things I did do well.  However, apart from Him, I can do nothing. 

God provided so many miracles for my camera.  The financial & men things are way bigger.  Way more miracles needed. 

But It Tastes Good

Does everything that taste good good for you?  Absolutely not.  I'm currently watching this show that I've never watched on Hulu that is doing some breakfast cooking.

This woman (Paula & her son, Bobby Dean who are both from the south) is taking fatty regular bacon and coating it with brown sugar & chili powder.  These are bacon slices.

The next recipe has mashed yukon potatoes, minced garlic, grated cheddar cheese, crumbled bacon, chopped green onions, whished egg, salt & pepper, a lot of butter, sour cream, panko breading to hold the mixture together and you coat the cake after you make it in this panko breading.  This is called a Smashed Potato Cakes that is pan fried in oil until golden brown.  These are then topped with sour cream.  Doesn't that sound delicious?   

Fluffy Egg White Omelet:  6 egg whites, chopped onion, salt, pepper, water, frozen spinach, chopped tomoro, olive oil, gorganzola cheese.  This dish is the least bad of all that dishes.

This whole breakfast looks really good.  However, I'd like to pick apart this deliciously looking and probablyt asting meal.

The bacon is already fattening enough.  You should've seen the fat on the bacon.  This is not a good kind of fat to consume.  On top of that, brown sugar is highly processed and it's a sugar.  Our bodies really don't need THAT much sugar.  Most people can do well on 30 g of sugar or less a day.  For those highly, highly active, I suppose you can go up a little.  The amount of sugar this woman put was gross as EACH slice of bacon was completely coated in the brown sugar & chili mixture.

Peaches & Cream Muffins:  2 cups self rising flour, 1/4 cup sugar, 1 cup (or 2) sour cream, 15 oz canned drained peaches cut into smaller pieces of peaches, 1 teaspon vanilla extract, 2 sticks melted butter all mixed (peaches last).  Drop into muffin pans.  350° F for 30-35 min.

A lot of these recipes sound so delicious and I'm feeling so hungry.  However, when these ingredients, many of them, too frequently and too much, this is really not a good thing and can lead to all sorts of bad things happening to our bodies.  There are alternatives.  Gluten, loads of fat, and sugar are all so bad for you.  They all contribute to make our bodies more diseased and susceptible to getting sick.

White flour that is used can be replaced with rice, tapioca and other types of flours that are gluten free.  The sugars can be replaced with organic sugars, maple syrup or agave nectar.  I personally don't think you need to coat bacon in sugar, but you could sprinkle chili powder on them, maybe a little maple syrup.  Use a turkey bacon that has no nitrites in it.  Regular sour cream can be replaced with low fat Greek yogurt and the gorgonzola can be replaced with a fat free feta cheese. 

Instead of frying the potato cakes, you can lightly spray with olive oil and bake.  However, you can replace the Yukon potatoes with either sweet potatoes, purple potatoes, or better yet to not be starchy, you can use cauliflower.  Instead of using regular cheddar cheese, you can use a raw cheddar cheese, which is less processed.  For more flavor, you can use spices.  Instead of the panko breading, you could toast sprouted grain bread and crushed these instead of using the panko breading.

Thus, we've taken some very unhealthy recipes and made them less fattening, replaced gluten with non-gluten things, reduced the sugar and using healthier natural sugars.  Just these little things can significantly reduce the calories in these meals while keeping a lot of good flavor. 

How does this apply to the spiritual side of our lives?

There are many things that look great in life - the foods, the life, the attitudes, the mindsets, but they all are lies and not good for you, inspite of everything looking good.  Sometimes the difference between real Truth and a lie is just a smidgen or a hair.  Similar to these recipes. 

I cannot tell you how bad the impact of sugar has been in my life, to my body, yet it is.  It's caused numerous health problems and if left unchecked and unknown as to what to do, it could lead to an early death or a miserable like having diabetes, heart disease, gum disease, cancers, and a whole list of other things I have no idea about. 

Many people's bodies have troubles processing glutens, yet daily the majority of Americans have this in their diets because anything that has white flour is a gluten.  Combine with unhealthy sugars and fats, this makes this a deadly combination.  Also, many people eat far too many starchy things which are found with cornstarch, potatoes, corn.  Many products have corn in them. 

Why do we feel like crap with energy swings, feelings of lethargy, unclear thinking, moodiness, fatigue, aches & pains? 

Spiritually we make little compromises - it's okay to think this thought.  It's okay to flirt with that married man.  Sleeping with my boyfriend won't hurt anyone.  It's okay to do this or that.  The list goes on and on.  I've been there on some of the things and on many more, but the Bible says that all those roads lead to death and destruction.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions and is broad, smooth and easy.  It's always easier to make the wrong choice than it is to make the right choice.  There is no person alive that can make choices no matter how old doesn't deal with the challenges of making good and right choices.

Some choices seem harmless enough -- just this one time, it won't hurt anyone.  The truth is, that is a lie.  A little over a week ago, a person chose to drive drunk and killed a friend of a woman in one of the groups I belong to.  The friend killed was 22 yrs old.  Two people in the car had to go to the ER.  The other person sort of walked away.  Out of the 4 people in the car that was hit, only 3 lived, but all sustained injuries.  Maybe it was the drunk driver's first time driving under the influence.  I don't know, but this person killed a person.  Her life was taken that very day.

Maybe those drinks tasted so good to the person and that person had a lot of fun.  But, a family and friends mourn the death of this tragedy, right before Thanksgiving.  Those people aren't celebrating for this young woman who died.  And, probably the person that killed this person isn't celebrating either, knowing that he/she killed someone.

What seemed good, turned out to be tragic and fatal. 

It's always good to question and ask what the consequences of our choices are.