Romans 8:1

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

Two-Layer Caramel-Pecan Bars

Yield: 20 bars (serving size: 1 bar)
















Ingredients

1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup butter or stick margarine, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
Cooking spray
2 tablespoons fat-free milk
40 small soft caramel candies
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup finely chopped pecans

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375°.

Beat the first 4 ingredients with a mixer at medium speed until well-blended. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Add flour to sugar mixture, stirring until well-blended. (Mixture will be crumbly.) Firmly press mixture into bottom of an 8-inch square baking pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 375° for 15 minutes.

While crust is baking, combine milk and caramel candies in a medium sauce-pan. Place over low heat; cook until candies melt, stirring occasionally. Stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla; remove from heat.

Remove the crust from oven. Pour the caramel mixture evenly over hot crust. Sprinkle with pecans. Bake at 375° for 15 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack

Champion Chicken Parmesan

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 chicken breast half, 1 cup sauce, 1/4 cup cheese, and 3/4 cup pasta)

Ingredients

Tomato sauce:

1 ounce sun-dried tomatoes, packed without oil (about 1/4 cup)
1 cup boiling water
1 teaspoon olive oil
2 cups chopped red bell pepper
1 cup chopped onion
2 (14.5-ounce) cans diced tomatoes, undrained
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced

Chicken:

1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
4 (4-ounce) skinned, boned chicken breast halves
1 large egg white, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon olive oil
Cooking spray
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
3 cups hot cooked linguine (about 6 ounces uncooked pasta)

Preparation

To prepare tomato sauce, combine sun-dried tomatoes and water in a bowl; cover and let stand 30 minutes or until soft. Drain and finely chop tomatoes.

Heat 1 teaspoon olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add sun-dried tomatoes, bell pepper, and onion; sauté 7 minutes. Stir in canned tomatoes; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in parsley, basil, vinegar, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, and garlic.

Preheat oven to 350°.

To prepare chicken, lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour, Parmesan, and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper in a shallow dish. Place each breast half between 2 sheets of heavy-duty plastic wrap; flatten to 1/4-inch thickness using a meat mallet or rolling pin. Dip each breast half in egg white; dredge in flour mixture. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook 5 minutes on each side or until golden. Arrange in a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Pour the tomato sauce over the chicken. Sprinkle with mozzarella. Bake at 350° for 15 minutes. Serve over linguine.

A God of Infinite Possibilities

We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair...~~ 2 Corinthians 4:8  

As we travel the roads of life, all of us are confronted with streets that seem to be dead ends. We may become discouraged. 

After all, we live in a society where expectations can be high and demands even higher. If you find yourself enduring difficult circumstances, remember that God remains in His heaven. 

If you become discouraged with the direction of your day or your life, turn your thoughts and prayers to Him. He is a God of possibility, not negativity. He will guide you through your difficulties and beyond them. And then, with a renewed spirit of optimism and hope, you can thank the Giver of all things good for gifts that are simply too profound to fully understand and for treasures that are too numerous to count. 

Every misfortune, every failure, every loss may be transformed. God has the power to transform all misfortunes into "God-sends." (Mrs. Charles E. Cowman)A Woman of Prayer - 365 Daily Devotions, Freeman-Smith LLC, Publisher

Isaiah 46:4

Even to your old age, I am He, And even to gray hairs I will carry you! I have made, and I will bear; Even I will carry, and will deliver you.

The Old Fisherman

Our house was directly across the street from the clinic entrance of Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. We lived downstairs and rented the upstairs rooms to out patients at the clinic.

One summer evening as I was fixing supper, there was a knock at the door. I opened it to see a truly awful looking man. "Why, he's hardly taller than my eight-year-old," I thought as I stared at the stooped, shriveled body. But the appalling thing was his face -- lopsided from swelling, red and raw. Yet his voice was pleasant as he said, "Good evening. I've come to see if you've a room for just one night. I came for a treatment this morning from the eastern shore, and there's no bus 'til morning." 

He told me he'd been hunting for a room since noon but with no success, no one seemed to have a room. "I guess it's my face...I know it looks terrible, but my doctor says with a few more treatments..." 

For a moment I hesitated, but his next words convinced me: "I could sleep in this rocking chair on the porch. My bus leaves early in the morning." I told him we would find him a bed, but to rest on the porch. 

I went inside and finished getting supper. When we were ready, I asked the old man if he would join us. "No thank you. I have plenty." And he held up a brown paper bag. 

 When I had finished the dishes, I went out on the porch to talk with him a few minutes. It didn't take a long time to see that this old man had an oversized heart crowded into that tiny body. 

He told me he fished for a living to support his daughter, her five children, and her husband, who was hopelessly crippled from a back injury. He didn't tell it by way of complaint; in fact, every other sentence was prefaced with a thanks to God for a blessing. 

He was grateful that no pain accompanied his disease, which was apparently a form of skin cancer. He thanked God for giving him the strength to keep going. At bedtime, we put a camp cot in the children's room for him. 

When I got up in the morning, the bed linens were neatly folded and the little man was out on the porch. He refused breakfast, but just before he left for his bus, haltingly, as if asking a great favor, he said, "Could I please come back and stay the next time I have a treatment? I won't put you out a bit. I can sleep fine in a chair." He paused a moment and then added, "Your children made me feel at home. Grownups are bothered by my face, but children don't seem to mind." 

I told him he was welcome to come again. And on his next trip he arrived a little after seven in the morning. As a gift, he brought a big fish and a quart of the largest oysters I had ever seen. He said he had shucked them that morning before he left so that they'd be nice and fresh. I knew his bus left at 4:00 a.m. and I wondered what time he had to get up in order to do this for us. 

In the years he came to stay overnight with us there was never a time that he did not bring us fish or oysters or vegetables from his garden. Other times we received packages in the mail, always by special delivery; fish and oysters packed in a box of fresh young spinach or kale, every leaf carefully washed. Knowing that he must walk three miles to mail these, and knowing how little money he had made the gifts doubly precious. 

When I received these little remembrances, I often thought of a comment our next-door neighbor made after he left that first morning. "Did you keep that awful looking man last night? I turned him away! You can lose roomers by putting up such people!" 

Maybe we did lose roomers once or twice. But oh! If only they could have known him, perhaps their illness' would have been easier to bear. I know our family always will be grateful to have known him; from him we learned what it was to accept the bad without complaint and the good with gratitude to God.

Recently I was visiting a friend who has a greenhouse, As she showed me her flowers, we came to the most beautiful one of all, a golden chrysanthemum, bursting with blooms. But to my great surprise, it was growing in an old dented, rusty bucket. I thought to myself, "If this were my plant, I'd put it in the loveliest container I had!" My friend changed my mind. "I ran short of pots," she explained, "and knowing how beautiful this one would be, I thought it wouldn't mind starting out in this old pail. It's just for a little while, till I can put it out in the garden." 

She must have wondered why I laughed so delightedly, but I was imagining just such a scene in heaven. "Here's an especially beautiful one," God might have said when he came to the soul of the sweet old fisherman. "He won't mind starting in this small body." All this happened long ago -- and now, in God's garden, how tall this lovely soul must stand. by Mary Bartels Bray

Psalm 139:17-18 (King James Version)

17. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!  

18. If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.

Look Up

by Charles R. Swindoll Read Job 26:1--14 

I've lived long enough to be convinced that suffering is not an enemy. It seems strange to put it this way, but the truth is, suffering is a friend. Not until we acknowledge that will we glean its benefits. 

Job is living in the crucible. His misery in that difficult arena has forced him to focus on things that really matter. I have finally come to realize that one of the benefits of going through times of suffering is that my focus turns vertical. 

Charles Spurgeon, the great pulpiteer of London for so many years, was a flashpoint of controversy. The media of his day relished taking him on. They took advantage of a target that big. Normally he could hold his own, but there was one occasion when it began to get the best of him. All of us have our breaking points. 

His wife noticed a depression that was lingering. She became concerned for him that he not lose his zeal and not miss the opportunities that were his while going through such hard times. That led her to do an unusual thing. 

She turned in her Bible to the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus said: Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Matthew 5:11--12) 

  In her own handwriting she wrote those words on a large piece of paper. She then taped it on the ceiling above their bed. When the preacher turned over the next morning, he awoke, blinked his eyes, and as he lay there he read those words. He read them again, aloud. He focused vertically on what God was saying, and it renewed him within. He pressed on with new passion. 

What a wonderful, creative idea Mrs. Spurgeon had! Here's the point: when flat on your back, the only way to look is up. Focus on God, rather than on your pain. Become totally absorbed with thoughts of Him.

Harsh But Realistic

by Charles R. Swindoll Read Job 21:23--33 

While speaking the truth Job left the defense of his own character in the Lord's hands. He was firm and deliberate, but he remained in control. 

I repeat, I understand what it's like to be unjustly maligned. I have been accused of things, and that rumor has kept me awake. It has made my stomach churn. It has taken away my appetite. I have determined not to pay any attention to it, yet found that I was unable to turn it off in my mind. Not until I decided to leave things in the Lord's hands and rest in His sovereign control did I find inner peace. 

Without exception (please hear this!), not until I deliberately stepped back and leaned hard on my God did my mind begin to relax, my emotions settle down, and my inner peace return. 

I say again, the truth will win out. And God will be glorified. Refuse to let the accusations discourage and derail you, remembering they are nonsense and lies. 

Get tough! Returning to that one-liner from the Revolutionary War, "Trust in God but keep your powder dry," is essential to keeping your balance. You may be trusting the Lord for safety, but you still lock your doors every night, hopefully, and turn on your alarm. When you get in your car, you lock your doors, don't you? You roll up your windows, don't you? If you don't, you are playing with fire. 

Trusting God is not naive presumption. Wisdom must be applied to a life of faith. Going through hard times requires a get-tough mind-set. Go there. That may seem harsh, but it's realistic. And realism is a powerful message. 

To you who are going through a time of false accusation, may God strengthen you in it. May He hold you close through it. May He give you wisdom and grace in responding to it. May He become real and personal to you, even giving you songs in the night and quiet rest with the assurance that He is defending your integrity. And may He toughen your hide so you don't cave in while awaiting vindication.

Speaking Words of Encouragement of Hope

And let us consider how we may spur one another ontoward love and good deeds.~~ Hebrews 10:24 NIV ~~ 

The words that we speak have the power to do great good or great harm. If we speak words of encouragement and hope, we can lift others up. 

And that's exactly what God commands us to do. Sometimes, when we feel uplifted and secure, it is easy to speak kind words. Other times, when we are discouraged or tired, we can scarcely summon the energy to uplift ourselves, much less anyone else. 

God intends that we speak words of kindness, wisdom, and truth, no matter our circumstances, no matter our emotions. When we do, we share a priceless gift with the world, and we give glory to the One who gave his life for us. 

As believers, we must do no less. Sometimes we need to be reminded of the great potential we possess.We need someone to point out our likeness to the Onewho created us, to see God's image in us. Just one little wordof encouragement can make all the difference.~~ Barbara Johnson ~~