Books and snacks!

Right now I am reading Forgotten God: Reversing our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit by Francis Chan. I am loving it! Coming from a background that doesn't usually neglect the Holy Spirit, I was attracted to the book and very interested to see what Chan had to say. I wondered if he leaned more one way than the other, since it seems that many people go to one extreme or the other when talking about the Holy Spirit. Chan seeks to simply use the Bible to give evidence to the Holy Spirit and the necessity of the Spirit in our lives. He addresses fear- fear that God won't show up if we pray for the Spirit to work in our lives and also the fear that God will show up and ask us to something uncomfortable. I definitely can identify with the latter. As I read and pondered what was written, I realized that I am more afraid of the Holy Spirit showing up than I am of God not showing up. I have been praying a lot lately for God to guide me and that His will to be done in my life, all the while saying at the same time, "I don't want your will if it includes speaking in tongues and admitting that I have a lot of pride and that I may be messing up some stuff in my life." Talking about hindering the Spirit! I am only through Chapter 2 of the book, but I am looking forward to reading the rest of it. I am also going to be praying and talking to my dad about my fear of the Spirit and speaking in tongues. Yes, I know there is NOTHING to be afraid of and that fear (other than the kind that means awe and amazement) is NOT from God. I know this. I know how silly I may seem. Regardless, it is where I am right now. It is NOT where I plan to stay! Moving on...

On facebook a few weeks ago I posted about making a frozen fruit salad. I figured I'd post the recipe here because I just got it out of the deep freezer again to eat a little bit. What's awesome about it is that you can put the salad in cupcake liners and freeze or freeze, cut, and then wrap in plastic wrap so that you have individual portions to easily grab all summer long as you want them! I got the recipe here. I made a few modifications. Since mom is allergic to strawberries, I added a bag of blueberries and a can of mandarin oranges instead. And for those that don't know, a #2 can is 20 oz. I got the smaller can of pineapple because I didn't know what a #2 can was at the time. The proportions of my version worked fine, and it turned out delicious!

FROZEN FRUIT SALAD
1 (8 oz.) cream cheese 3/4 c. sugar 1 lg. Cool Whip, thawed 2 (10 oz.) frozen strawberries, thawed 1 #2 crushed pineapple, drained 3 lg. bananas, sliced Cream cheese and sugar together. Combine fruits and Cool Whip. Add cream cheese mixture. Freeze! You may pour salad into cupcake papers, pretty and nice for luncheons.