The Hicks Family

As promised here are two really yummy meals that I have made in the past week and you should make them soon for your family. I got both from an awesome blog called Annie’s Eats – she is so talented and reading her recipes makes my mouth water.

I made this first, Thai Chicken with Cashews. Make your mouth melt and it was easy! And an extra bonus is that it is mostly good for you. I did use brown rice instead of white rice and it was yummy or as I like to say Yumilicious

Then on Sunday I made these Chicken and Spinach Quesadillas. I don’t have a grill pan but that is ok because they turned out delicious. The marinade for the chicken is so good. I think that I’m going to try it next and just grill the chicken instead of cooking it on the stove. The lime favor was good and yet again such an easy recipe. I hope that yall enjoy her site and recipes as much as I have. Thanks to Lindsey for sharing her site with me!

Now a change of subject.

A few weeks ago at church we were given a message that to me was a great reminder. We are called to be different, to be set apart from the world. I know the message, I’ve heard it many many times yet this is just one that continues to strike my interest. We are to live in the world NOT of the world. But what exactly does it mean to be different. In a world that we all strive NOT to stand out and we all want to fit in so bad and be accepted and then we’re told by Christ that we are supposed to be different. Sometimes I can have a self confidence problem and become insecure about who I am and what others will think of me. When I truly think about what we’re called to do in Christ it does give me confidence that I am created by God and that my purpose is to be pleasing and true to Him not others (family, friends, co workers, etc).

John 17:15-17 (NIV) Jesus prays “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.”

As I was sitting in church thinking about how I am going to apply this to my everyday life it was actually difficult for me to think of how exactly I am set apart for the sake of Christ. What can I do different in my life that will set me apart for Christ to be pleasing to him. We then sang Let Us Be Bread, I don’t think that I have ever heard it before, or maybe I have and just never listened closely to the words. The chorus caught my attention and started to shed some light on my question. “Let us be bread, blessed by the Lord, broken and shared, life for the world. Let us be wine, love freely poured. Let us be one in the Lord”. Oh that is so sweet. I think particularly the “love freely poured” is especially what caught my attention. That is how I can be different. Not judging and being opinionated about others but to just love them freely for who they are – to be one in the Lord as He created us! To feel free to love others and not be worried what others think of me for loving that person.

I really liked this version of Romans from The Message.

Romans 12:1-2 (The Message)So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

I just love that! It certainly does remind me of sharing my love with others as God loves us and how we can give every part of our day to God as we seek to be pleasing to Him.