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Bulletproof Coffee
Fall is slowly making her debut here in Raleigh, and I am starting to get excited about warm drinks and coziness. The mornings have been much cooler, and it has me pulling out my blender to whip up some magical “bulletproof coffee.”
If you are hesitant to add fat and calories to your beverages, then back away slowly. But if you love creamy delicious drinks and having lots of energy and happy feels, then keep reading and make this stuff stat!
Bulletproof Coffee (serves 1)
-8 ounces hot coffee
-1 tablespoon butter
-1 tablespoon coconut oil
-1/4 cup coconut milk (I use the canned full-fat kind, usually Goya or Trader Joe’s brand)
-honey to taste
Buzz this up in the blender for a few seconds, pour into your favorite mug (this step is crucial), and enjoy.
Happy (almost) fall!
Paying Attention
It feels like I am on this constant quest to slow down, pay attention, and be more present in my life. I have read so many wonderful books on this subject, and right now I am reading The Attentive Life by Leighton Ford. I figured we might all need a little midweek reminder of the importance of paying attention (or at least trying to!). Ford says this:
“Hurry is the great enemy of the life of the spirit… I suppose that most of us live more like tourists rushing to keep up with an itinerary than pilgrims drinking in the lands we are passing through.”
“Attentiveness is much more than our attempt to see and understand; it is a species of faith, an open and receptive trust that God has much to reveal to us when we pay attention.”
Loving Lately [#14- Trader Joe’s Edition]
It’s been such a weird couple weeks with all of this crazy weather, and it’s strange to me that I’m going about life as usual while so many others have had their lives completely turned upside down. Here is a link to sustainable relief funds if you are interested.
In the meantime, I am going to lighten things up a bit here on the blog by chitchatting about some recent Trader Joe’s finds:
1. Salted almond butter. This little jar of happiness is $6.99, which is one of the best prices I’ve found. I love to eat it on a sandwich, on a spoon, or- my personal favorite- stuffed into a medjool date.
2. Coconut milk. I don’t know much, but I know that putting this coconut milk in your smoothie will make you cry tears of joy. It makes smoothies next-level delicious! Sometimes I’ll pour the milk into ice cube trays and keep them in the freezer so I always have a cube or two when I need it. I also use the coconut milk a lot in curries, or as coffee creamer.
3. Grass fed beef burgers. Not much to say about these other than that they are burgers and I love them. Bun + grilled burger + pickles + ketchup/mustard is the besttt dinner paired with some salad and sweet potato fries. I’m not yet willing to admit that summer/grilling season is coming to an end!
4. Coconut cream yogurt. I am totally down for anything coconut flavored, and this was no exception. It was creamy, sweet, perfectly coconutty, and might just be my new favorite yogurt.
5. Pink lady apple kombucha. I’m not going to lie, at first I didn’t love the taste of this. As I sipped on it throughout the day, though, it started to grow on me (you better believe I’m not letting a $3 drink go to waste!). I ended up really enjoying it, and I recently bought a kit to brew my own… Stay tuned!
Praying for everyone’s safety this week! Praying also that we would cling to Christ’s promise that He will “never leave us nor forsake us,” and that He will be with us in the troubles and uncertainties of life.
Self-Righteous
Here is something I love about Jesus: He is not self-righteous.
If you’ve been around church for any length of time, then these verses will likely be familiar to you:
“Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to His disciples, ‘Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?’ Jesus answered them, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.'” -Luke 5:29-32
I’m going to be honest- lately I have felt sad and heartbroken over attitudes and actions within the church that I perceive to be self-righteous. But then I read this and remember that while we humans may be prone to pride and self-righteousness, Jesus never is. There is absolutely no darkness in Him at all (1 John 1:5). While I love the church and intend to belong to a community of believers until the day I die, I have to remind myself that it is Jesus I’m following, not the institution of the church.
I need to pause here and point out that I, too, am susceptible to self-righteousness. My sinful heart is all too prone to create an “us” and “them” mentality, smugly satisfied when I find myself on what I perceive to be the higher moral ground. It makes me sick to admit that because I never ever want that to be true of me, but that is human nature and I know that I am no exception.
I want to be transformed into the character and likeness of Jesus, not of our culture. I want to look more like the One who gladly ate with sinners and called us into His Kingdom and loved us to the point of sacrificing His own life. There is absolutely no room for self-righteousness or moral superiority in a heart that mirrors Christ’s.
While I continue to wrestle with prevailing attitudes in Christian culture and in my own heart, I never want to forget who it is that I’m truly following. Because, “you see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly… God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:6,8)
Enough
Hi friends!
Just popping in to let you know that I have a guest post today over on In The Quiver, where I talk about the relentless pursuit of being “enough” and how it is ultimately fruitless. You can check it out here. Hope you enjoy!
First Anniversary
This weekend, Josh and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary! We stayed at an AirBnB in downtown Durham and basically just ate our way through the city. It was glorious.
I initially wanted to write a post on things we’ve learned during our first year of marriage, but I think I’ll save that for another time. At the end of the day, we really don’t know a whole lot other than that God’s grace is relentless and that He delights in giving good gifts to His children (praise!!!). Marriage can be challenging, sure, but it can also be full of so much joy and laughter and just plain fun. I am so so so thankful for our first year of marriage and can’t wait to keep building on it.
Without further ado, let me share some snapshots of our weekend in Durham! (Disclaimer: If you hate delicious food, then you might want to skip this post.)
Bottom line: we love marriage, Durham, and tasty food! I’m praying for many many more years of marriage and adventuring together. ❤
Seeking the Lord
I love how the Word of God gets all up in ya business. One minute I’m reading along, just hoping for a nugget of encouragement, when- BAM!- a truth bomb hits. Before I continue with the purpose of this post, I have to confess that a lot of times my prayers to God sound like a laundry list of things I think I need. How annoying of me, right? Like what if every night at dinner I just sat down and pointed out to Josh all the things he hasn’t given me? It’s even worse to do this to the Lord, who has graciously “given us everything we need for life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3).
So anyway, the other day I’m reading the Bible, my mind filled with various requests, when I stumble upon this:
“The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.” -Psalm 34:10
I wonder how I would live if I truly believed this Psalm. What if I truly believed that God gave me everything I would ever need when He sent Jesus to die in my place, and that anything else He gives or withholds is for my good and His glory? I’m thinking I would live with a lot more contentment and joy. Probably a lot more trust in Him, too. I don’t want to live like I think God is holding out on me. Isn’t that the original sin (Genesis 3:1-6)?
John Piper describes the continual seeking of the Lord in this way: “It is the conscious fixing or focusing of our mind’s attention and our heart’s affection on God.” I don’t think it’s that God is hiding from us, but rather that our minds often don’t behold His ever-present glory and goodness because we are distracted by lesser things.
This week, I’m going to be repeating Psalm 34:10 in my mind as I go about my days. I’m going to practice remembering the truth that God is for me, and that when I genuinely seek Him, I find that He is every good thing I really need.
Happy + Hale
This Saturday, Josh took me on a surprise lunch date to a place called Happy + Hale! The man obviously knows me, because when we got there I wanted to order the entire menu. The store has locations in both Raleigh and Durham, and we checked out the Durham location. I loved everything about it- the atmosphere, the friendly staff, and of course, the food.
After much deliberation, I finally just asked someone what to order and they told me the Incredibowl (called the “Incredibull” at the Bull City location 😉 ) was their favorite, so I got that along with a can of kombucha. Josh ordered the Protein Bowl and the Hale Mary smoothie.
The above photo does not even do my meal justice! It was full of beets, nuts, butternut squash, black beans, quinoa, and avocado. It also had a lemon tahini dressing which I am recreating at home as soon as possible.
We had such a good experience at Happy + Hale and can’t wait to go back. I have my eye on the Almond Brothers smoothie (coffee + chocolate!) and the Ahi Poke Bowl, just to name a few. If you are ever in the Raleigh-Durham area, I highly recommend this place!
Loving Lately [#13]
1. The Next Right Thing podcast. I love Emily’s writing, and it turns out that her speaking is just as good. Her voice is so calming! I love how these podcasts are relatively simple and straightforward, yet so full of wisdom.
2. Homemade brownies (from the WakeMed farmers market). No words, just happiness.
3. Headspace. I totally decided to hop on the meditation app bandwagon, and I’m so glad I did. I’ve only used it for two days so far (slow clap), but I really enjoy it! They have super cute graphics and there are several shorter meditations for us beginners, not to mention that the speaker (at least in the ones I’ve listened to) has an Australian accent. Love! My goal is to do at least 5 minutes each weekday and slowly work up to longer meditations.
4. Iced blueberry tea. All I do is boil water and steep the tea for about 10 minutes, then mix in a bit of honey and stick it in the fridge. Voila- delicious and perfectly sweetened blueberry iced tea for the next day! (Ps can we talk about how cute that bear on the tea box is?!)
5. She Reads Truth. First of all, this site is just beautiful. Second of all, there are FREE devotionals every day and they are full of Scripture + truth! They are also very succinct, which is nice if you only have a few minutes and need to remind your soul of the Gospel (speaking for myself here!).
Happy weekending!
