Happy Thanksgiving!
"Giving thanks always, for all things unto God and the
Father in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ."
As I think about Thanksgiving, the above verse in Ephesians 5:20 is my constant reminder to give thanks always. You and I know that is not easy when it seems that all hell is breaking loose against you and you've fallen into a spiritual sinkhole. It is in those moments that I stand firm on God's Word that He promises to never leave us nor forsake us. I always stand firm in my belief, also, "If you're always grateful and thankful for something, you will always have something to be grateful and thankful for." Through my many life experiences as well as the thousands of people we have met and ministered to these past 48 years, we have discovered this…those who are ungrateful and unthankful always have a problem…will always have a problem…and live under God's blessing rather than in God's blessing.
For
years I've made it a precedence to start out my daily prayer thanking God for:
1) Coming into my life as my Savior, Lord and Friend when I was 8 years old.
2) Sending His Holy Spirit to lead, guide, protect, and comfort us.
3) Bringing Larry and I together and for giving us three wonderful children, a son-in-law and two grandchildren.
4) Calling Larry and I into ministry and thanking Him for the thousands of lives that have been changed by the power of Jesus because we obeyed His will and calling on our lives.
5) Blessing us with our immediate families, friends and ministry partners and praying for them.
When I get through thanking God for all of the above, I am literally overflowing with gratefulness and joy for God's goodness and faithfulness. May you examine your life and in finding the many blessings, purpose to live in gratefulness and delight in the joy that follows! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends. We are so thankful for you!
Gloria
According to a nationwide survey of 5-8 year olds, there are better things than plain old bread, cornbread or sausage fillings.
- Wendy, age 5: "I'd put strawberries in the stuffing and grapes and oranges and hot dogs and no more. Then I'd tape the turkey to close it."
- John, age 5: "I will put meat, lemon juice, flour, sugar and cholesterol in my stuffing."
- Tiffany, age 6: "I'd cut the turkey in half and put a chicken in there."
- Dan, age 7: "Bread, spices like peppers, onions and radishes, meat, cheese and crackers."
Yummy Cheesecake
Crust:
1 1/2 c. Of crushed mint Oreos
1/4 c. Sugar
6 T. Butter, melted
Filling:
5 (8 oz.) pkgs. Cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 c. Sugar
3 T. Vanilla extract
5 eggs
2 egg yolks
1/2 sour cream
Ganache:
1/2 pound chocolate
1/2 c. Heavy whipping cream
1 T butter
Couple drops of peppermint extract
1 T. Glucose
Direction:
Preheat oven to 325 F. Spray 10 in. Springform pan.
CRUST- combine all ingredients and firmly press the mixture down with a spoon in the pan (try and get it up the edges of the pan). Cook for 10-20 min. Turn oven down to 300.
FILLING- in a large bowl beat cream cheese,
sugar flour and vanilla until smooth. Beat one egg one at a time into the
mixture. Blend in sour cream. Pour in the springform pan. Bake for 75-90 min.
Cool for 15 min then take a knife and scrape the sides of the pan from the
cake. Cool for another
30 min then unlatch the sides of the pan. Cool for another 1 1/2 hours.
GANACHE- boil cream melt the chocolate in
the cream, stir until smooth, add butter and flavor and glucose. Pour onto cake.
Be careful it's runny so it will drip off onto your counters if you don't put something
under it.
* Glucose - you can find it at Michael's craft store. It's a type of clear sticky
substance, in the cake decorating isle.