The newest adventure in my kitchen!

So, I've decided that I'm going to make Fridays...My Favorites Friday. I'm going to post about a few of my favorite things or in today's case, things I've grown to love. I've grown to love cooking. Now, before Bradley and I got married, you wouldn't be able to convince me that I would even like to cook. My sweet Maeg made me a cookbook as a wedding gift. She wanted Bradley to be able to brag about his wife's cooking. When we first got married, this cookbook was the main staple in my life. It went to the grocery store with me and stayed beside me while I was cooking. After surviving the first month or so, I realized that cooking's not so hard and it feels good to prepare a good meal for your husband. I learned that a crock pot is amazing and I've even made several successful batches of MaMa's biscuits. Last week, I tried venturing into the land of homemade desserts. I was looking at the Pioneer Woman's blog and I saw a link to chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes. Now I love cookie dough and pretty much anything chocolate and sweet...so, to say the least, it caught my eye.

My finished product! I'm pretty sure I overindulged on the cookie dough and icing in the process.

Yummy yummy....Now, if only I could acquire a love for cleaning:)

His promises will be fulfilled...

Divine Promises (The Valley of Vision)

"All thy PROMISES in Christ Jesus are yea and amen, and all shall be fulfilled.  Thou hast spoken them, and they shall be done, commanded, and they shall come to pass.  Yet I have often doubted thee, have lived at times as if there were no God.  Lord, forgive me that death in life, when I have found something apart from thee, when I have been content with ephemeral things.  But though thy grace I have repented; Thou hast given me to read my pardon in the wounds of Jesus, and my soul doth trust in Him, my God incarnate, the ground of life, the spring of hope.  Teach me to be resigned to thy will, to delight in thy law, to have no will but thine, to believe that everything thou doest is for my good.  Help me to leave my concerns in thy hands, for thou hast power over evil, and bringest from it an infinite progression of good, until thy purposes are fulfilled.  Bless me with Abraham's faith that staggers not at PROMISES through unbelief.  May I not instruct thee in my troubles, but glorify thee in my trials; Grant me a distinct advance in the divine life; May I reach a higher platform, leave the mists of doubt and fear in the valley, and climb to hill-tops of eternal security in Christ by simply believing He cannot lie, or turn from His purpose.  Give me the confidence I ought to have in Him who is worthy to be praised, and who is blessed for evermore."

Promises are very important to me.  I remember pretty much everything; this can be both a blessing and a curse.  If you're reading this and thinking, "not true, you lose your keys and phone every 5.2 seconds"...that is a true statement and you know me all too well:)  As with most people, I don't like being let down...a promise is a commitment.  I'm working on being a woman of my word.  I'm guilty of saying and committing to many things before I think them through.  I expect others to show me grace when I have to break a commitment or a 'promise', but it may take me some time to internally forgive if the broken promise is directed at me...not exactly fair, huh?

I'm thankful that my Savior doesn't think like I do.  The excerpt above is a prayer from The Valley of Vision.  I need to pray this prayer more often and remind myself in situations where I'm disappointed in a broken promise that people make mistakes, we're all far short of perfection.  We're naturally circumstantial...God's promises are the opposite, unconditional and unfaltering.  His promises WILL be fulfilled.

Bradley never verbally promised me anything until the day we said our wedding vows.  He wanted his first promise to me to be on our wedding day.  He knew the importance of a promise to me, even before we started dating (through our emails two summers ago when I was in India).
I started dealing with my heart and realizing the importance of a promise during this time.  That summer the Lord sweetly reminded me of His promises all through His word.  Joshua 21:45 is one verse that God showed me that summer, "Not one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed; ALL CAME TO PASS."

Thank you Jesus for your Word that's full of promises and truth, for rainbows to remind us of a promise kept, for your promises of unfailing love, forgiveness of sins,  and eternal life.