Dinner & a Holy Rant

I'm on a roll! A Cabbage Roll recipe that is~ We love distinct flavors, esp. those from different cultures. I feel super blessed that our children have enjoyed the variety of food we have opened them up to and are willing to try anything.

I love cabbage rolls. Don't eat them much, but after this last time making them- its def. something I will remember to make more often.
Pictures via google- my cooking not pictured.

The Leaves
I took a head of cabbage and set it in water and boiled it slightly trying to loosen the leaves a bit to remove. If I find a better way to do this I would certainly welcome it. I especially like the dark green leaves- it reminded me of grape leaves and a Greek dish that is similar. I cook them enough to be able to work with them in rolling up the meat mixture inside. Get enough leaves for the portion and size rolls you plan on making, pictured above is about a 13x9 pain with fat eggroll size rolls.

The Meat Mixture
ahhh. I really wish I measured things when I cooked, but I don't. So I will guess.
I used at least-

1 1/2 lbs of ground beef
2eggs
1 pk of Dill Ranch dressing mix
2 tbs Dill weed
a couple of shakes of all spice/pumkin spice
a dash of thyme
a couple of shakes of fajita seasoning
Garlic to taste
Salt n pepper
1 cup of minute rice (uncooked)
basil
mix the above all together and open up some picante, rotel or diced tomotos add to the meat mixture enough to flavor yet still forms a ball. I used a mixture of rotel, paste and stewed.

13x9 pan spray with pam. Pour the rest of can of tomatos in the bottom. Take a cabbage leaf spoon in a large amount of meat and tuck sides in and roll. Place roll seam down in pan. Do this and fill pan. After rolls are tucked in pan nicely. Take another can of rotal/diced/stewed tomatos and pour over entire top. Add bay leaves, cover with foil and bake about 30-45 min.
Seriously I thru so much dill in and pumpkin spices the aroma in my home was fantastic! The only thing that could have possibly made this better was Nicks Greek dressing for a dip!

HOLY RANT
(A year and a half mark since moving)
Another Sunday, another day of drudgery to get to church with out holy episodes. Has yet to be done with out fighting, crying, hitting, bickering, arguing, potty mouths- Do I need to continue? Today was different. Even though I still pulled the car off the side of the road, once again to either administer spanking or separating fights. Today was my breaking point. As I pulled over as safe as possible at the half way point of our 30 min venture up the road to go to a place we go to out of obedience. I decided NO MORE. Why I am doing this to me or to these kids and for why? Is this JESUS? Come on, no really? What is this doing and how is this a reflection of Him and Who He is and Why would these kids want this as adults, this horrid memory of Sundays?
I can't be the only one whom drags children to church. Maybe I am. Just in case I am Not, this is for the other one out there.

As I cried uncontrollably crying out to the Lord for help, with the constant WHY being blurted. Freaking the kids out into silence. It hit me. Ok, maybe I should say the Lord showed up. I'm driving to a place, I don't want to go to, Oh, don't get me wrong, its a good place, they are in the word, we are just not part of the group, we live out of town and I don't feel whole with out Dewayne- My husband is no longer an active member in our family except financially and providing insurance ( I can't tell anyone, because here, thats how they roll & these women like it that way!).Not to mention, I get the smart ass response of, At least he has a job. That is a different rant for another day on Trusting in the Lord & what I could say about that statement.. Anyway, Like I said Holy(self perceived of course) rant, I realize for the first time in our lives we are ALONE. We truly have not one single person that we live around that believes as we believe that practices living in the Word they way we try to and on and on and on.. blah blah blah... Theres is the Holy part. I witness now every Sunday and Wed. a Show. EX: Its what we do because its what our parents and their parents did and its where all our friends are. Of course the other group has been fried and tossed outta church forever & they hate anyone that goes.
Even at that we fit in nowhere. Today I thru in the towel. No more. I refuse to go. I quit.
But get this.
Do you know how easy life was to Go to church, Bible studies, Mothers day out, Mom groups, Neighborhood associations, School activities- anything you can think of with your all inclusive group? Think of how easy it is to be a Believer or Christian when you have others surrounding you that do not cause you to step out and have to be one with out anyone else around like you.

My Holy Rant is.............Holy is not when your in the Temple, its what you do when your a fithy mess in the ditch. Its so easy praying for others when you are in an atmosphere of expectance & acceptancy, thats what we do. They are all there for that purpose. Its easy to live a clean life when your friends are clean, watch clean TV, speak, clean and live clean lives with their husband/family etc. .. Surrounded by like-believers. What is that anyway? Was that real..How easy is it to stay clean when your surrounded by no boundaries or examples of clean? This rant could go on for ever...
My lesson in Holiness today, from now on. Is you want to see how Holy you are, how great of a believer you are, how much a true christian you are? Then step out of your bassinet and see how your clean spirit responds to unclean, how will you pray for them now that are spewing darkness, how bout those demented lives you get to live by- how bout those influences on your children? I believe only then will you know whats inside of you. Its EASY being Christianese when everyone you socialize with on a daily basis also is christianese. Why would you ever do this on purpose?

Why would one be exiled or exhile themsleves to find their strength in the Lord?
I don't know, all I can say is we prayed and we begged to be used by HIM, and here we are. Dissappointed at all the lost, all the perversion, all the antichrist spirit, all the complacency.

And Cry because we can't fit in.........................................................................

Ditch the finality of thinking.

Christmas-done & over. Happy New Year-in the past now. Final. Can't take it back, over.

FINALITY OF THINKING
I challenge us to change one thing. Pull a Floop (off of spy kids-come on!). Don't try to reprogram the entire system, just flip a word. Turn Final into Eternity. Remove your FINAL thinking and Start replacing it with Forever. Look around you and see your life in existence as a continuation of forever. I can assure you, once you gain a moment of that glimpse, you will start to making changes you had no idea you were capable of changing.

The enemy gives us Finality, God gives us Eternity. The world we live in is patterned after one of these.

Subject finality. Imagine life with this perspective constantly. Its the worlds eye-view. Its money making. If we can imagine a timeline, then we have to work diligently to get to the END of it. Goals, Resolutions, one final ending after another. Then when we get to the Deadline, whalah.......either extreme satisfaction in another successful feat or disappointment of another failed attempt. ooh , can there be both? Oddly enough, in this world my t-shirt would read "I am Failure" in His Kingdom my shirt reads " I am HIS". I choose the latter to wear. Ooooooh & so opposite.

Dirty rotten Final! What is this? Its Clever. Its another way to reap destruction and distract. Lets focus Here! No here, um na-uh, Here! Jumping through imaginary hoops we call life, oh yeh forgot- A quality meaningful life. Productive, successful, goal oriented. Kingdom minded? Won't go there. Not today and that's final!

I watched this year pass by like any other. I found Dec. 31, 2011 deeply saddening. I set goals, resolutions and made mad attempts to change my life, because after all- I Have The Power to Do so. Isn't that what we hear when we turn it to some positive encouraging pep-talk of sorts. You too can have this life............so & so and blah blah blah..... I agree, love it, it makes me feel good too. However,what happens when it didn't come true.... Well,I decided to research the immediate stats on Yahoo of what People were doing this December. Money topic, of course and how they were spending- or the big one IF they were spending money. The findings were astonishing. Most reviews stated this Christmas was no different than any other, they may even spend a bit more. I couldn't believe what I was reading. The Retro of the past year- It Was A Good One. Aw, how positive. Pure perspective. Nice Yahoo, nice. I'm sure the devastated people all over the world would love to jump on that band wagon, talk about how wonderful life is without jobs, food, shelter, their loved one(s) etc. Yes, I am aware of the Poor and how they will always be among............. & not just financially...... Lets divert for a moment.

LIES
I am actually quite sick of them. The power of BS. Gosh, now how would this fit in to a Go quickly after Him mentality, warrior Princess.... Child of Most High, I might add?


John 10:10 For the Devil has come to Kill, Steal & Destroy. But I(Jesus) have come to give you a Good Life, a life of Peace & Joy. Yep, I paraphrased it.
Do you ever wonder why Jesus spoke this putting Satan first? I have pondered this ALL Year. He wanted us to see the clear difference, yes, I got that right away- you would be proud. It still did not explain Why it didn't read " I have come to Bless you, give you Joy & peace, but the bad guy wants to ruin your life,, so choose ME. " I think maybe that would have led us in to our common thinking of- Finality. If I do this, then I definitely get this result. LIE.
We are not in control. I believe HE made the statement "KNOWING" that.

Before I repeat the opening paragraph, let me actually leave you with this- Kingdom Here on Earth As It IS in Heaven. Just close your eyes and imagine, is this real? Can this be possible? Hum. It says what it says, we have the prayer memorized since we were 3. From a loss perspective- Isn't it better to anticipate the reunion than the funeral? Then try it. Can you visualize your current relationship in eternity? Is Jesus included? Missing someone is alot better KNOWING you will see them again, than the finality of Never. Satan rules Never.
Today is NOT TOO LATE, flip the word, make the change.


FINALITY OF THINKING
I challenge us to change one thing. Pull a Floop (off of spy kids-come on!). Don't try to reprogram the entire system, just flip a word. Turn Final into Eternity. Remove your FINAL thinking and Start replacing it with Forever. Look around you and see your life in existence as a continuation of forever. I can assure you, once you gain a moment of that glimpse, you will start making changes you had no idea you were capable of changing.

The enemy gives us Finality, God gives us Eternity. The world we live in is patterned after one of these.