God loves YOU

If God had a refrigerator,
your picture would be on it.
If He had a wallet,
your photo would be in it.
He sends you flowers every spring
and a sunrise every morning.
Whenever you want to talk,
He'll listen.
He can live anywhere in the universe,
and He chose your heart.
What about the Christmas gift He sent you in Bethlehem;
not to mention that Friday at Calvary.
Face it, friend.
He's crazy about you.
-Max Lucado

If I was only ever allowed to say one more thing to you . . . one last message, in one sentence it would be this . . .

As you are, right now, warts and all, God loves you, and that is something that will never ever change.

It doesn't matter who you are, or what you have, or even how much or how little you have. It doesn't matter what you look like, or how smart you are. It doesn't matter what you do, or what you don't do. God loves you because of who HE is. Your character and actions do not impact on the character of God. You might be compelled to think that on your better days He is proud of you, and he probably is. You might also be compelled to think that on your worst days, He is a bit disappointed and loves you less. Disappointed . . . maybe . . . love you less???? NEVER. You cannot apply human logic to the heart of God, for you'll always come up short. There is a life changing truth in the message of these three little words.

GOD LOVES YOU.



And how do I know this? Because He told me so. And I always believe what He tells me.

"Give thanks to the God of heaven. His love endures forever" (Psalm 136:26).

"I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness" (Jeremiah 31:3).

"The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing" (Zephaniah 3:17).

"But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in God's unfailing love for ever and ever." (Psalm 52:8).

"But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness." (Psalm 86:15).

“I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen.” (1 Ne. 1:20.)

The ear marked and dog eared pages of my Scriptures are filled to overflowing with examples of His love for us. Time and time again I am able to go to my scriptures and find words that comfort, words that heal, words that uplift, words that encourage, words that enlighten . . . the scriptures are my users manual for this life that I live, and one great big Love Letter from my Heavenly Father.



If you don't believe me???? Read them for yourself. You will see that I am right!

Just my thoughts on this Monday morning. I think sometimes we need a little reminder of just how very important we are to our Heavenly Father. I know I do!



Please continue to remember our good friend Lura in your prayers. I am so grateful for her friend Sil keeping us up to date on Lura's progress. From her page:

Lura had a very difficult day Saturday. Another portion of her lungs collapsed, so she was on additional painkillers through her IV as well as the epidural. To counteract the collapse and to try to reinflate her lungs, she is on a BiPap breathing machine, which forces air into her lungs. But thanks to all your prayers in her behalf, her lungs are looking clearer, and also, her epidural continues to remain in her back as there is no infection or inflammation.

Please continue to uplift her in prayer and why not go on over to her page and tell her know you are holding her in your prayers. She reads every comment we leave for her and they mean so very much to her. Thank you all so very much. You can find her page HERE.

Here's a cute recipe I found on Taste of Home for some sweet little Easter Bunny Dinner Rolls! Aren't they adorable? I haven't made them myself, but I plan on making them. This particular recipe had some wonderful reviews and lots of stars, so it must be good!



(Picture from Taste of Home)

*Easter Bunny Rolls*
Makes 24
Printable Recipe

Cute little bunny shaped herbed rolls to serve for either an Easter Brunch or celebratory Easter Supper!

1 packet of active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
3/4 cup warm milk
2 TBS sugar
2 TBS shortening
1 free range egg, beaten
2 tsp of celery seed
1 tsp rubbed sage
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
3 to 3 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
melted butter

Place the warm water in a bowl and dissolve the yeast in it. Add the milk, sugar, shortening, beaten egg, shortening, celery seed, sage, salt, nutmeg and 2 cups of flour. Beat until smooth. Add enough of the remaining flour to form a soft dough. Turn out onto a floured boad and knead for about 8 minutes or so until smooth and elastic. Place into a greased bowl, turning to grease the top of the dough. Cover with a tea towel and place somewhere that is warm and draft free to rise until doubled, which should take about an hour. At the end of the rising time, punch the dough down and allow to rest for 10 minutes.

Divide the dough into 24 pieces. For each bunny, roll one piece of dough into a 20 inch rope. Cut the rope into one 10 inch piece, one 5 inch piece, two 2 inch pieces and one 1 inch piece. Coil the 10 inch pice for the body and place onto a greased baking sheet. Coil the 5 inch piece for the head Place this next to the body. Shape ears from the 2 inh pieces and a tail from the 1 inch piece, adding each to the bunny. Pinch and seal the pieces together. Repeat with all the dough leaving 2 inches of space between each one on the baking sheet. Cover and let rise until doubled, some 25 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 190*C/375*F/ gas mark 5. Bake the rolls for 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Brush with the melted butter and remove to wire racks to cool.



Over in The English Kitchen today, a delicious Lemon Ricotta Cake!