Dashing Dish

I don’t know about you, but I personally need a playlist of really up-beat, motivating songs to keep me motivated while I’m working out.  The only problem is, most of the lyrics in many of the well known hip hop/R&B/pop songs today are anything but clean.

I’m not saying that I’m against listening to any music that isn’t Christian. However, I have found that in my own life, if I put things that glorify God in my heart, that is what tends to come out! So, that being said, I created a playlist of awesome workout songs with a really good beat to keep you motivated and energized while giving glory to Him…What could be better than that!?! Enjoy!!!

Also, this is just a short list of awesome Christian artists that I personally have discovered, but I know there are MANY more out there, so if you have any suggestions, leave a comment, I’d love to hear them! :)

About a year ago I started journaling while reading my bible. I would simply write down whatever came to mind, or whatever I felt God was showing me and/or teaching that day. It didn’t take long before I was able to see a consistent pattern developing in what God was speaking to me, and it was only through journaling that I was able to capture the beautiful portrait that God was creating in my heart.

The only problem that I found with my journaling was that there was no structure to it. When it comes to spending time with God is perfectly alright in many ways. However, I’m certainly a person that craves organization, and the one thing that I found was that it was very hard for me to find ‘certain’ journal entries when I went back to look for them.

If you’ve been following my Daily Dish posts, you know that I recently started going to a new church that just launched called, New Generations! It’s been amazing so far, and I am really growing in so many areas! One of which is in the area of performing for God. I have really struggled with this in my past, instead of just accepting His unconditional love and grace for me.

That being said, one of the best sermons that I’ve heard so far was my pastor’s teaching on self-feeding. He talked about a specific way of journaling called SOAP. He explained that this type of journaling has radically transformed the way he views spending time with God, and that it made him very excited to see what God was going to show him every day.  After seeing some of the benefits journaling has had in my own life, I was instantly intrigued!

Although quite a bit of time has passed since the Christmas season, I wanted to share some of the amazing memories that the end of this year brought! This post is loaded with pictures from the beginning of December, all the way to January 1st! I pray each one of you had a blessed holiday season and you truly felt the Love of God, because that is what it’s all about….God loves us so much that He gave us Jesus!

In reality, my holiday season started November 1st, because to me, the season isn’t long enough, and our local radio station starts playing Christmas music the moment November hits! I just love Christmas music because most of it glorifies God, and they play it all everywhere including the mall, so it’s no wonder everyone’s in a good mood! ;)

We decorated our tree the weekend after Thanksgiving, which is the moment that it truly begins to feel like Christmas to me!

Over the past few months, I’ve received many emails from people asking me how I’ve stayed on track with living a balanced lifestyle longterm, while not falling back into old unhealthy patterns. I’ve found that it’s pretty easy for people make the initial decision to change, but often times they have a very difficult time ‘staying on track’, which leads to feelings of guilt, shame, and failure.

I’ve come to realize that the question that everyone is truly asking is, how do I “get free” and “stay free?“ … (Really this can apply to any area of our lives where we are struggling to find freedom).

Hey everyone!  I hope you enjoyed the 12 days of Christmas and the Chobani Giveaways!  I wanted to wish all of my readers a very Merry Christmas and a happy new year!  You really have made this year so great and I appreciate all the comments and emails!

I’ll be taking a break from recipe making and post updates until the new year and spending some much needed quality time with the husband and family!  I have so many big things planned for 2012 so get ready!  God Bless and enjoy the Holiday!

Merry Christmas to each and every one of you! I pray you have a blessed time with your family and friends, and that you feel the Love of Jesus Christ this Christmas!!!

Congrats to Sara Papa who is the winner of the Chobani Giveaway!

God Bless you all! Stay tuned for lots of exciting news, recipes, videos and more coming this January on Dashing Dish!!!

All you have to do to enter is share a link to your favorite Dashing Dish recipe on Facebook OR Twitter, OR both! (each counts as a separate entry!)

Just besure to @me, so I can count your entry! I will announce the winner on December 24, 2011!

Also, be sure to join Chobani’s twitter party on 12/15. Each participant will have the chance to win a membership to the ‘Chobani of the Month Club’, winning a case of a new flavor each month for a year.

The way I see the holidays is that it’s a special time of year that is meant to be enjoyed with family and friends, while gathering around the food we share. Here are a few tips that have allowed me to enjoy the holidays in a balanced way!

1. The FIRST FEW BITES are what counts!

Have you ever noticed how a child eats a dessert? It takes them what seems to be forever to finish eating! They truly enjoy every bite! Now let’s think about how adults typically eat.  Often the treat is gone before we ever realize what we ate!  If we ever stop to consider at what point the food was is enjoyable, we would realize it is in the first few bites.  Since there are plenty of treats surrounding the holiday celebrations, go ahead and indulge a little bit, but as soon as you find yourself losing the enjoyment of the food, stop there!

Have you ever had a thought that went something like this, “Wow…I wish I had that, looked like that, or had that ability or talent?” Chances are, you have… And whether you realize it or not, that thought stems from Jealousy. So your next thought may be, well since we all have thoughts like that, what’s the big deal? Jealousy is a very big deal…A much bigger deal that most of us even realize, and the bible has some very specific warnings about it.

One of the verses that God used to show me how dangerous jealousy can be is found in James 3:14-16 which says, “But if you are bitterly jealous and filled with self-centered ambition, don’t brag. Don’t say that you are wise when it isn’t true. For jealousy and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom. For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and every evil thing.”

So what is this verse telling us?! Well, there are two important things that we are being taught…One is that when we think a jealous thought, or do something motivated by jealousy, we can’t say that we have wisdom. Jealousy and selfishness shows that we are not operating in the wisdom of God. The second thing we are being warned of is that when we open the door to jealousy, we are opening the door for disorder and every evil thing to operate in our lives. So you see, these thoughts inspired by jealousy are not something to mess around with…We have a clear instruction that it is not wise to be jealous, and that it opens the door to evil in our lives.

Well, if your anything like me, you’re already thinking up what you’ll be serving (or bringing) to your Thanksgiving table! I thought I’d share the list of our Thanksgiving dishes with you.  Who knows… maybe it will inspire you to make something new! And look closely…. some of the items on the list are coming to a Dashing Dish this week!  (DD recipes that is!)