Dashing Dish

“Fear not; you will no longer live in shame. Don’t be afraid; there is no more disgrace for you. You will no longer remember the shame of your youth and the sorrows of widowhood.”~ Isaiah 54:4

I love this verse. It is so personal to me, because I spent so many years living in shame for how I treated my body….Which I now see was nothing more than the enemy trying to keep me in bondage to my past. Whether it was a recent binge he tried to bring me back to…or even something I did weeks, months or even years ago- he would constantly try to accuse me of something!

It wasn’t until I learned that one of satan’s names is actually ‘accuser’ (Revelation 12:10), that I realized what was actually taking place when I felt such horrible feelings of guilt and shame. God showed me that when I would allow these feelings to overwhelm me, I essentially ended up pondering and meditating on my sins. Whenever I would do this, I would find myself in such shame that I wouldn’t even want to spend time with Him. Looking back now, I realize that was EXACTLY what satan wanted!

So much of what the enemy tries to do is keep us hung-up on past mistakes, flaws, or setbacks. If the enemy can keep us in shame then he can keep us focused ourself, instead of what Jesus did for us, and finding out who we are IN Him.. If satan can get us caught up in our shameful ways, than he will fulfill his ultimate plan which is to keep us as feeling as far away from the Lord as possible!

The Dashing 30 Day Devotional was something that was on my heart to write for a long time. It all began one day when I was taking a walk, listening to a Christian book on my iPod. I began to think about how God had used books, sermon series, study guides, and devotionals so many times throughout my life to get me rooted in the truth in certain areas.

Suddenly, and idea came to me…I should write out a 30 day devotional using the truths that God has shown me over the years. As I sat down to write, I suddenly became flooded with a desire to go through my journal entries. These were the very truths that have set me free over the years when God was leading to me to a place of freedom in the area of my weight, my eating habits, and most importantly, my complete surrender to Him. As He began to reveal His higher purpose for me during this time in my life, I began to relinquish control, along with my fears, doubts, and anxieties about my weight.

I believe the Lord had me write the 30 day devotional as a way to bring revelation of His love, His freedom, and His victory that He has provided for each one of His daughters in the area of weight and true beauty!

So, if you haven’t already done so…Be sure to download your copy of the Dashing Dish 30 Day Devotional and get started today!

Good Morning! As some of you may already know, Sunday was my 27th birthday! It was a beautiful day…and truly a celebration of such a wonderful year…So I thought I’d share pictures from the weekend with all of you!

My husband, sister, and I started off the celebrations on Saturday by going to plum market where we found Zevia and Artic Zero! Zevia is a soda sweetened with stevia, and Arctic Zero is an amazing protein packed ice cream that has only 150 calories per pint! Both can only be found at specialty stores, so these really were special birthday treats!

If you’ve ever seen the Food Network show “Throwdown”, then you are familiar with the judging process that takes place between two winning recipes!

I had so many awesome entries for my Protein Shake contest, that I simply couldn’t pick a winner on my own.  So, in order to pick a winner, I decided to do a “Dashing Dish Protein Shake Throwdown”… That way, I had three un-biased judges doing the judging!

Watch the video below to see the judging process take place, and see the winner of the contest, and proud new owner of the Professional Ninja Blender! Be sure to check out the Recipe for the Winning Shake Here! Thank you so much to all who entered!

 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” ~Galatians 5:22-23

My husband and I are currently doing Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University, which is an awesome Christian based ‘financial makeover’, that is designed to help you budget your money wisely, pay off debt, and save. His approach is opposite of this world’s system in a lot of ways as far as finances go. In fact, his mantra is, “Live today like no one else, so one day you can live like no one else.” Essentially the program teaches you how to apply spiritual truths relating to money, in addition to practical knowledge and self-control.

Starting this program has sparked a lot of conversation with my husband about how taking care of our finances relates so much to how we take care of the bodies God has entrusted to us.

This past week, God has brought a lot of really neat opportunities my way, so I thought I’d fill you guys in on the latest happenings!

First, I participated in an event called “Girls on the Run”, which is an awesome 5K run in Michigan. The objective of Girls on the Run is to educate and empower girls at an early age in order to prevent the display of at-risk activities in the future. At risk activities include substance/alcohol use, eating disorders, early onset of sexual activity, sedentary lifestyle, depression, suicide attempts and confrontations with the juvenile justice system. How awesome is that!?! I just knew I had to partner up with them!

A few weekends ago was A BIG EVENT~ It was my best friends wedding!!! Ashley has been my best friends literally since I was born…Our mom’s were best friends, and were pregnant together, and therefore when Ashley and I were born, we did everything together as well!

Ashley moved away when we were about 7 years old to Virginia, but we never let the distance pull us apart, and we have remained the best of friends through the years!

Needless to say, I was THRILLED and blessed when I heard she was getting married, and she asked me to stand up on her special day! To make it even more special, my whole family made the trip out to watch my best friend get married! It was such a wonderful and special time to share with a lifelong friend, and to top it all off, her new husband Justin was so very sweet and wonderful, and it was obvious that God put them together!

In honor of Dashing Dish’s Two Year Anniversary, I am holding a Official Dashing Dish Protein Shake Recipe Contest!  As you all know, I love my protein shakes! I’ve spent a lot of time making all kinds of variations of them and would love to hear your ideas for shake recipes! So, I thought, why not hold a recipe contest?

It’s hard to believe that it’s already been two years since I launched Dashing Dish! You guys have truly made this site what it is today! I’m so thankful for you guys and which is why I want you to be involved in some DD recipe creations, and give away one of my favorite blenders of all time!

Hey everyone! Just wanted to clarify the payment for the membership, and what it’s all about, because there seems to be a lot of confusion…

From day one I have been offering the DD membership for pay what you can afford, or for FREE if you can’t afford to pay anything! (Most people are seeming to miss this…My husband and I agreed that God told us to offer it for a donation basis of pay what you want to support DD, or for free if you could not pay).

As most of you may know, I left my full time nursing job to minister to women in this area, because I truly feel that it is what God called me to do. If Dashing Dish has ministered to you (through recipes, devotionals, etc.) , I would ask that you would prayerfully consider supporting the work behind Dashing Dish.

“Don’t Let You’re Hearts be Troubled, Trust in God & Trust Also In Me.” ~ John 14:1

We see in this scripture that Jesus was telling His disciples that He was going away, yet He was instructing them to not let their hearts be troubled, but rather to trust Him. Notice He told them NOT TO LET THEIR HEARTS BE TROUBLED.

This shows us that we have the choice to let our hearts be troubled. If we decide that we are going to truly trust Jesus, then we have to do so…Period. When troubling thoughts or situations are all around us, we must listen to Jesus’s instructions, and make the decision to stop those troubling thoughts in their tracks! You may be thinking that it’s simply impossible to have peace, because your situation is so devastating. I’ve certainly had times like this, and then God painted a picture for me in His Word that made it much easier to ‘shake off’ that discouragement that was trying to come against me.