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  • Simple and Quick Avocado Toast

    Avocado toast probably isn’t new to you. It has been around and been done and overdone, but it is new to me. Actually, I thought it sounded weird and gross until I tried it. Now it is one of my favorite go-to breakfasts. This is really versatile in all that you can do with it. Try different seasonings and toppings. This is a quick easy-to-grab meal or snack in between tasks or quickly before getting on the go. It’s also perfect for those mornings when I forget to eat until the 10 min reminder for my next meeting pops up.

    Avacado Toast

    Carla Dockery
    Simple and delcious
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe
    Prep Time 15 minutes
    Cook Time 7 minutes
    Course Breakfast, lunch, Snack
    Cuisine American
    Servings 4 Piece

    Equipment

    • 1 Instant Preasure cooker
    • 1 Toaster
    • 1 Knife

    Ingredients
      

    • 4 piece Bread I use Wholesome Harvest. It is made with whole grains and no added sugar.
    • 4 whole eggs
    • 1 Avacado
    • ½ TBSP Everything Bagel Seasoning

    Instructions
     

    Make hardboiled eggs

    • Place 4 eggs in the pressure cooker
    • Use manual steam setting for 10 mins
    • use quick release steam
    • Place the eggs in a cold ice bath to stop them from continuing to cook

    Toast

    • Place a slice of bread in the toaster or oven to toast it

    Assemble the avacado toast

    • Cut the avacado into quarters (You can use an avacado saver/keeper) if you do not plan to eat all 4 slices
    • Smash and spread ¼ of the avacado onto 1 slice of bread. Repeat for as many times as you
    • Sprinkle the everything bagel seasoning on the avacado
    • Peel one egg and slice it however you want, or shred it if that's what you are into
    • Place the egg on top of the avocado
    • eat it
    Keyword avacado, easy, healthy, quick, simple, toast

    Consider These Toppings:

    • Black Beans
    • Bacon
    • cheese
    • Tomoato
    • Salsa
    • Onion
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  • Hold All Questions Until the end

    Are you waiting on the Lord for something but asking, why God why? When God when? How God How? What if you are blocking your answer by asking the questions.

    Wait on the Lord


    …but hold all questions til the end

    Have you ever been going through a situation where you had to “wait on the Lord”? Perhaps, a situation where you can’t quite see the end anywhere in sight? Maybe it is hard to understand how God is going to be able to work it all out? Are you are facing that situation now? Perhaps, you are standing on a promise and you have no doubt that God will work it out but you still want to know how. We hear “wait on the Lord” and you are. However, you still find yourself asking questions, with seemingly no answer in return. “When God when, why God why, How God How”? At some point we all get here.

    Recently, I witnessed a friend going through a rather lengthy a process that involved many unknowns. She had asked me to partner with her in prayer. I witnessed her running herself into a frenzied sort of state trying to figure out what going to happen and how to best position herself for any possible outcome. All the while standing on a promise and knowing that God was going to work this out in her favor. Of course, on the day of decision, God showed up in a mighty way with mind-blowing results. However, leading up to the final sentence in the situation I began to ask God questions, but how? why? When? As I began to spin out in directions that were inconsequential to what was actually happening, I heard the Lord say,

    “Hold all questions until the end please”

    I paused in my tracks. This reminded me of the zoom meetings we’ve become so accustomed too. Where the main presenter asks to hold questions because they know that by the end of the presentation most questions, if not all will be answered. They want to prevent interruption, distraction, and side conversations that take away from the purpose. In some instances, they know that the topics ahead will completely change the trajectory in such away rendering all possible questions obsolete anyway.

    God certainly loves to dialog with us, but how many times to we want to know all the details before we get to the end of a process? It made me think of a few “meetings” I’m having with God right now where I am delaying it because I am having trouble trusting His process and holding all my questions until the end. Stepping out in faith, surrendering by faith… trusting God’s process and surrendering my self. Surrendering what I think is my “need”, right or maybe better said, entitlement to know the full plan.

    So what do we do about it?

    We dive a little deeper and see what scripture says. In revelations we read,

    I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.

    Revelation 21:13

    I particularly like that this scripture is the exact same in every translation. This just reiterates to me the point. In Exodus, when Moses begins to question the how and why the Lord is going to work his situation out He simply says, ” I am that, I am”. That was His solution to Moses. It was also the solution to the people He was sending Moses to as well. What if Moses had stood there asking questions and waited for God to explain everything He was about to do? Wait, God you are going to what with what?

    God is confident in who He is and in His plan. He wants us to be also as we, yes… Wait on the Lord. We strengthen our relationship and our witness as we surrender our need to know and just Trust Him. This gives Him room to do the miraculous that is “Far above and exceeding greater than anything we could hope or ask for (Ephesians 3:20). I think fair to say God did far more than anything Moses could have imagined to even ask for.

    Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted over the earth

    Psalm 46:10

    Trust in and rely confidently on the LORD with all your heart And do not rely on your own insight or understanding.

    Proverbs 3:5

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  • Sweet Potato & Kale Sauté

    Never would I have imaged I would crave and love something like this. I recently went to a local BBQ place that offered Kale and Sweet potatoes as a side. I was amazed at how well the two complimented each other. Both of these are staple go to items for me, so I decided to try to recreate the dish on my own but make it a bit healthier. I’m certain it was swimming in butter at the BBQ place. So if that of no concern to you, go for it. Make it your own! Same with the seasonings and spices. This could be done with any variety of seasonings. Maybe add in some dried cranberries, diced onion, or bacon pieces.

    How To make it:

    Step One – Preparation

    1. Pour about a tablespoon of olive oil (or whatever you like) into a skillet (I use a 12 inch cast iron for this)
    2. Put it on medium to low heat and let oil get hot
    3. Mince up some garlic and set it to the side
    4. Go ahead and prep anything you may want to add, like onion, bacon, have your seasonings handy and pre-measured if you do that sort of thing. The cooking process goes rather quick so just make it easy on yourself now and plan ahead

    Step two – Prepare the Sweet Potatoes

    1. Wash 2 small to medium size sweet potatoes
    2. peel them
    3. cut them into bite-size cubes
    4. Add them to the hot oil in the skillet
    5. Add seasoning (This is where you can get creative, add what you like)
      1. For this batch I added 2 teaspoons of Graham Masala
      2. 1 tsp cumin
      3. 1/2 tsp celery salt
      4. a dash of pepper
    6. Now is when you would add onions or bacon if you choose
    7. Stir and turn them until the seasoning is well spread and also to prevent burning (browning is fine)
    8. When the potatoes are soft, put them into a separate dish to the side

    Step Three – Cook the Kale

    1. Add another tablespoon(ish) of olive oil to the skillet
    2. Add in the garlic that you minced up in the preparation
    3. Allow it to brown a bit but careful not to burn it
    4. add 2-3 good handfuls (or cups if you need to measure) of chopped kale
    5. Add more of the same seasonings you used before on the sweet potatoes
    6. Stir it around until its lighting coated in oil and seasoning
    7. Add 1 tablespoon of water
    8. The kale will quickly cook down, wilt, and become tender

    Step 4 Combine all the goodness

    1. Add the sweet potatoes back into the pan
    2. Stir them together, mix them up…get ready for the yum!
    3. Add more salt/pepper to taste

    Serve and enjoy. Comment below to let me know if you have suggestions for seasonings or additions that worked well for you

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  • Wine and Bread (222)- A word for 2022

    2/22/22 (publish date)

    No one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the [fermenting] wine will [expand and] burst the skins, and the wine is lost as well as the wineskins. But new wine must be put into new wineskins.”

    Mark 2:22 (AMP)

    The Lord said 2022 is about preparation.  It is about the preparation process of His people.  Those that are willing to go through the “making” process.  Being made into that which He has intended us to be. He will give us opportunities through the year(s) to come to strengthen, to grow, to mature, to become more flavorful, and ultimately more effective for my Kingdom purpose and advancement.  Don’t miss your opportunities along the way, be careful to pay attention to where I am and where I am not. I will LEAD you in triumph and diffuse the fragrance of my knowledge in every place as you follow my lead in total surrender and obedience. If you allow me to lead you, I will lead you to triumph/victory.  Those around you will come to the knowledge of my goodness as you release the fragrance of who I am into the places I lead you, says the Lord. (See 2 Corinthians 2:14)

    The Lord God Almighty has called this body of believers at NCCA as “His Special Blend”.  We look like no other vineyard He has established on the earth.  We are truly a unique special blend set apart for this time.  Our created wineskins will have a vintage date and time stamp with a set time for its uncorking and specific instructions for the contents inside.  The Lord says that He is bringing in new “active ingredients” to mix in with some of the existing.  The process of making Bread is similar to the process of making wine.  There is a fermentation process.   For example, when you make bread, you have to mix new active yeast (lactobacilli) into the fermented dough (leaven) to make it rise.  However, take heed as prescribed in Galatian 5:9 .  Let us never again allow a spirit of error to cause the batch not to rise.  Perhaps this is the message the Lord was trying to speak to his people during the pandemic when suddenly everyone started making sourdough bread.  (Just a thought) 

    The Lord says He is bringing in the NEW and the Fresh to mix in with the existing, He is bringing in that that has not yet been seen or heard by the eyes and hears of man.  He will bring it forth through this people group, this special blend if we will YEILD to the PREPAREDNESS season.  Allow Him to make us into that special blend and pour it into new wineskins. Heed and Heal. 

    It is the preparedness season for the New Wine and New Bread! 

    The 5 basic stages of the winemaking process: 

    1. Harvesting – “without fruit there would be no wine” 
      • Allow God to Harvest the fruit in you. Study, meditate, and allow God to produce, ripen, and harvest the fruit of the spirit.  Careful not to spoil the fruit.  Heed and Heal, do not rush this process it will only hinder and delay.  This cannot be skirted or short changed.  Quality over quantity. 

    But the fruit of the Spirit [the result of His presence within us] is love [unselfish concern for others], joy, [inner] peace, patience [not the ability to wait, but how we act while waiting], kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the [l]sinful nature together with its passions and appetites. 25 If we [claim to] live by the [Holy] Spirit, we must also walk by the Spirit [with personal integrity, godly character, and moral courage—our conduct empowered by the Holy Spirit]. 26 We must not become conceited, challenging or provoking one another, envying one another.

    Galatians 5:22-26
    1. Crushing and pressing – This is the process where the old skins come off.  Our old shells, old mindsets, old ways of thinking, old mindsets, old coping mechanisms, the strongholds from our old season, bursts like grape skins.  As we are no longer separate grapes, but one special blend.  United with purpose. All that remains is that which the Lord has produced in us for praising HIm in spirit and Truth as one body.  Something interesting about this process, sometimes the winemaker leaves whole clusters of grapes for a time and allows the fermentation process to start within them before crushing them.  Again allowing the ones already in process to blend with the new
      1. Micah 2:13 – Allow the breaker to go before you and bring out that which He has placed inside you
      2. Study how that relates to the crushing and pressing process described in  2 Corinthians 4 (TPT).  The result being that more and more people come to Praise God.  
    1. Fermentation – Wait upon the Lord.  During this process, we wait.  We allow God to be God and do what only He can do.  Trust Him in the process.  Surrendering to the Process.  Knowing that Only God knows all that is happening and how long it will take, but trusting that He will make it clear 
      1. Romans 8:25
      2. Isaiah 40:31
      3. Psalm 27:14
      4. Exodus 14:14

    1. Clarification – Seek the Lord for Clarity 
      1.  Psalm 27
      2. 2 Corinthians 3:18
      3. As we seek the face of God we are transformed. Our character becomes more like Jesus as we are transformed in His image. Our identity and purpose becomes more clear.
    2. Aging and bottling 
      1. Colossians 1:9-12 – Wisdom and knowledge bearing fruit in every good work
      2. James 1:3-4 (AMP) – 3 Be assured that the testing of your faith [through experience] produces endurance [leading to spiritual maturity, and inner peace]. 4 And let endurance have its perfect result and do a thorough work, so that you may be perfect and completely developed [in your faith], lacking in nothing.:
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  • Sound Decisions

    11/24/21

    God Is not controlling.  He allows us to make decisions.  Those decisions will sometimes have consequences.  The Holy Spirit will GUIDE us but not force our hand or force us to make decisions.  We have free will so that we CHOOSE the Lord and His higher ways, every time.  We choose to love Him with our obedience not because we have to but because we want to choose Him and HIS love for us.

    Luke 11:34-36 (AMPC) Your EYE is the lamp of your body; when your eye (your conscience) is sound and fulfilling its office, your body is full of LIGHT; but when it is not sound and is not fulfilling its office your body is full of darkness.  Be careful, therefore, that the LIGHT that is in you is not darkness.  If then your ENTIRE body is illuminated, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright(with light) as when a lamp with it’s bright rays gives you light. 

    – I have a sound mind- I will make right choices- When the Light of Christ Jesus shines in my mind and exposes darkness, I will repent, my soul is healed, and my mind is sound, fulfilling its office, causing me to make right decisions.
    – The Light of Christ causes us to make good decisions that are Holy Spirit led. I can choose things that are good for me, my will, is in alignment with the will of God. 
    – His goodness/kindness draws me to repentance  and making the choices that are in alignment with His good and perfect will for my life. 
    – If I slip, grace covers me, the Blood redeems me, and the Oil heals me. 
    – I am free to choose and to make right decisions
    – relationship not dictatorship – trust not control

    eye: G3788 – opthalmos – they eyes, eyes of the mind, faculty of knowing

    Lamp: G3088 Luchonos – word origin G3022 Lekos – Brilliant witness, dazzling white, shining white garment

    Light : G5460 – Photenios – composed of light   – a bright character, full of light, well litword origin – G5457 – Phos
     – emitted by lamp- a fire – because it is light that sheds light
    – of truth, it is knowledge with spiritual purity
    – that which exposed to the view of all
    – reason, mind- the power to understand, especially moral and spiritual truth

    As I focus on Jesus, His light (Phos) the power to understand moral and spiritual truth enters my faculty of knowing (eyes)

    Because my eyes  are filled with the light of Jesus, because I look to Him and not the things of the word then I am able to understand spiritual truth and make good decisions
    I make good decisions when I decide to look at Jesus

    Because I choose to look at Jesus, I make right decisions and have spiritual understanding

    I am able to discern what is TRUTH!

  • Crumbles of Thought

    11/26/21

    Have you ever noticed repetitive cycles or circles in your life? Where the same patterns of things or events seem to keep happening in your life? You know, you seem to keep colliding with the same types of people. Maybe its the same financial cycle that keeps sucking you back in. Maybe you just can’t seem to make the decisions that bring you to the life of success and abundance you know is intended for you.

    Romans 12:2
    Do not conform to the PATTERN of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test what God’s will is, his good pleasing and perfect will

    Lets go in a little bit further:

    The word pattern doesn’t show in every translation of the Bible but the Greek word for Conform means to be conformed to a pattern. One of the definitions of pattern is: to give something a form based on that of something else. If you think of forming an object, you will need to have a base that you form that object on. That is the the thing that holds that object up and helps give and support its form. If that base is faulty, then it crumbles. Like a house built on sand. That is what happens when we form our thoughts based on what the “world” or popular opinion or even other people is thinking. If we form our thoughts on anything other than that which we have received from God, then they are bound to crumble. This is why we see the world in such a fragile state and everyone seems to be grasping for something to stand on. Somewhere something they had formed their thoughts on, crumbled.

    As Christians we have the ability to renew and transform our minds so that they are build on a sure foundation. We have a sound mind. We have the mind of Christ when we choose to yield to these spiritual technologies that we have inherited and gained full access to as believers.

    Wait, but how?

    Step one: Surrender – You make a decision from the heart level that you are ready for real change and not by your own strength, might, or understanding. But in way that you are ready to put it in God hands and let him do what His good and pleasing and perfect will is.

    Step two: Acceptance/Identity – Accepting who you are as a child of God. Accepting that you are LOVED and that God is for you, not against you. That he wants to lavish his love on you and give you good things, good gifts, that he is concerned of every detail your you life, that he has a hope and a plan for you. That you were predestined before the world began. You aren’t an afterthought He will let slip through the crack and pick up a few nice things. He has storehouses waiting for you and books of things written about you. You can find all this and so much more in scripture, look it up and let your mind be renewed ans you find out who God says you really are. Find out what His good and pleasing perfect will for you is. It wont look like anyone else’s.

    Step three: Processing – Allowing God to develop and process you is the time it takes to begin to trust, believe, and build your faith on these promises and the reality of your new way of thinking and doing life. This is a process and it takes time. You didn’t learn bad behaviors and bad thought patterns over night. You won’t unlearn them overnight either. The key to making this go faster, and to prevent 40 years of cycles in the dessert/wilderness repeatability is to daily, and moment by moment go back to step one, surrender.