Family Name

It's always interesting to remember growing up and things said - esp now as a parent myself.  I never fully understood what it meant when my parents would say that my behaviour would reflect good or bad on them.  After all - it was me who would do the "things" - why would it not just reflect myself?  However, as a mother of a 4 and 1 year old (still young in the motherhood area I know), I have seen first hand how their behaviour - esp my 4 year old's - makes me feel.  Sometimes I feel so proud I could burst.  Other times I want to shy away and disown the boy!  No, it was not my child that just said or did that!

Last night, as I was talking with a friend, we discussed what it meant to carry the name Christian.  Christ means "the Messiah" or "the Annointed One".  So, as John is known as John the Baptist (because he was a baptizer), Jesus is known as Jesus the Messiah.  Family names were based on professions - it is likely that Joseph (Jesus' earthly father) was known as Joseph the Carpenter.  When we accepted Christ as our Lord and Saviour we were "born again" into the family of Christ and essentially took on His family name - Christian (Messiah followers).  So, what does that really mean?

Let's take a second to think who our Father is....

God, Creator, Love, Omnipotent, the Alpha and Omega (beginning and the end), Saviour, Comforter, Provider, Prince of Peace, Master, Almighty, Everlasting, Righteous, Holy, Just, Judge, Strong One, the Great I AM.

Think about that for a second.  Our Father - is the one who created and sustains this world that we live in.  He gives us breath each second of every day.  He is the one who loved us before we even knew who He was.  He CHOSE us to be in His family.  To carry His family name.  To represent Him here on earth.  Are you in awe yet?  In case you need more - the name we carry as Christians represents the Christ-child who gave up everything and suffered immensely for us while we were dead in our sins -   while we only cared about ourselves and what we could get from the world and others.  We represent the One who shows the ultimate grace and mercy.

I'm sobered - are you?  As you go about your day, do you think about how you are representing your Father?  Do you think God is glowing with pride - "That's my girl or boy"?  Or do you think He may feel the need to "lovingly discipline and draw you back to Himself"?  To remind us who we represent and Whose name we are really dragging through the mud or bringing honour too.  I encourage you (and myself) to remember daily your family name and Who we as Christians really represent.

Scheduling Prayer - religious rituals or God provided?

Growing up in a Christian home, praying before meals and before bed was always the thing to do.  Sometimes, I will admit, that I was not a fan of this as it seemed numb and thoughtless.  It was just the thing to do and the prayers were often very similar - seemingly mindlessly spoken.  In the past week, while preparing a study on prayer, I came to the realization that there are specific hours of prayer in the Bible.  The third hour, the sixth hour and the ninth hour - were originally laid out in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament the hours of prayer were also the hours of sacrifice.

Although this prayer practice was established in the Old Testament, it is more often mentioned in the New Testament. These hours of Prayer/Sacrifice were prophetic in nature.  Jesus our supreme sacrifice was crucified in the third hour of the day (Mark 15:25). His witness of "darkness at noon day" occurred in the sixth hour (Mark 15:33-34; Matthew 27:45). Finally at the time of the evening sacrifice being the ninth hour Jesus gave up the ghost and died for the sins of the world (Luke 23:44-46). 

The New Testament is filled with glorious accounts of how God has honored these special hours by responding to prayer in a significant way. 

Here are some examples:

.It was the third hour on the memorial day of Pentecost, when the one hundred and twenty disciples were in the upper room praying for the promise of the Father when cloven tongues of fire sat upon each of them and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:3, 15). Not only was it the prophetic day (Pentecost) but also the prophetic hour

It was the ninth hour when Peter and John went to the Temple to pray and a lame man was gloriously healed.  They were deliberately at the Temple because it was the hour of prayer - it was not random or coincidence.

It was also the ninth hour when Cornelius was praying and the Lord appeared to him in a vision.

It was the sixth hour when Peter was praying and saw a vision of a great sheet let down.  (Acts 10)

What does this mean for believers today?  Is it still significant?  Should we "plan" prayer.  We are taught to pray without ceasing.  So, does it matter if we pray at specific times or not.  Ashamed to say one of my weaker areas as a believer is my prayer life.  It is not that I don't want to pray - I do.  It is not that I don't have reason to - I have plenty of reason to.  It is time.  The "I will do it when the children are asleep or at least quietly playing and I won't be distracted" mentality.  I'm sure you Mums are right there with me as I smile thinking - Yup, that really doesn't happen.  In the rare times that it does, it is time to get a bunch of other things done that have been on hold until "child-free".  So, is it wrong to have specific hours to pray?  My first thought came back to the religious ritual but then I started thinking about it.  As humans we are creatures of habit.  We usually end up having breakfast, lunch and dinner around the same time.  For my family, breakfast is around 7, lunch around noon and dinner between 530 and 6pm.  I plan the meals for this time.  I somehow get the meals done - regardless of the children.  We have set times (or try to) for naps and bedtime.  For children - esp little ones - it is all about routine and it is the routine that gives them security.  Why then, when it is normal for us to plan and schedule does it seem religious to plan specific prayer times?  I thought about it some more and determined that if my husband and I are going to have a chance to talk - without interruption - then we have to plan it.  Some families have a standing schedule of phoning a loved one at a specific time on a specific day.  So, even in earthly relationships we plan and schedule "talking sessions".  If with our human relationships - people we see and interact with on a regular basis - have to be "scheduled and planned";  then why does it seem so unreasonable that God is in His infinite wisdom - knows that we need to schedule prayer time with Him?  Maybe to you - it is straight forward and you are thinking that I'm crazy.  Maybe you hadn't even really thought about it - or noticed that God has given us these hours of prayer - remembering the specific hours that Jesus suffered and died for us - the ultimate sacrifice.

Since, coming to the realization and while I continue to study prayer - I have incorporated the three hours of prayer.  The third hour (9am), I focus on God and Who He is and what He has done.  The sixth hour (noon), I focus on praying for others.  Lifting my brothers and sisters up in prayer and praying for unbelieving friends and family.  The ninth hour (3pm) I pray for me and my family.  Do I stop what I am doing at the top of the hour - no.  But sometime during that hour, I specifically make time to pray - maybe only 5 mins - but it's still time in communion with my God.  How is your prayer life?  Do you consistently pray throughout the day or are you like me with great intentions and desires but get to the end of the day and crash realizing you hadn't stopped to spend some quiet, quality time in prayer?  Notice I said quality not quantity!

*As a side note - 

I had often wondered how Daniel was "caught" praying 3 times a day to be thrown into the lions' den.  Having read more about it - I have now come to the conclusion that he was following the hours of prayer and sacrifice laid out by God and that his adversaries knew when to specifically watch him.

THM - Shortbread

Afternoon tea is often a staple in an English household and I am no different.  I enjoy a nice hot cuppa with biscuits (cookies) - especially when it is cold outside.  After starting THM, biscuits appeared to be more difficult to incorporate.  For Christmas I was given some English shortbread - brought to me in the US by my parents when they came to visit.  The idea and the strong desire to create THM biscuits became stronger as I enjoyed my afternoon tea with the shortbread.  Yesterday afternoon I adapted a brown sugar shortbread recipe - successfully!  The best part, you can have as much as a 1/3 of the recipe - 12 cookies - and still stay within weight loss (YES WEIGHT LOSS) limits.  Enjoy....

What you need...

2 1/4 cups almond flour
1 cup butter (8oz)
1/2 cup brown sugar*

*I make my THM brown sugar by using 3/4 cup of erythritol and 1/2tsp blackstrap mallasses.  It really depends on what sweetener you use - some can do a 1:1 swap.

Directions...

Preheat oven to 325F
Soften the butter and add to mixer (if you are lazy like me - or you can do this by hand).
Make up your brown sugar - add the mallasses to your sweetener of choice and mix well with a fork.  Add the sugar to the butter and cream it.  Btw you can always test it at this point - butter and sugar yum!
Slowly add the almond flour until fully mixed.  Then knead (I still used the mixer) the "dough" until smooth
Place the dough on the counter and make into a rectangle.  Cut 1x2" slices and place each slice on a oven tray about 1" apart (place ungreased wax paper on the tray first).
If you want the "official" look you can prick it with a fork for the round holes you would get with the ones at a store.
Bake for about 25 mins or until the bottom is brown.
Remove and let cool 5 mins in the pan and then remove to a wire rack to finish cooling.  Note - it will still be crumbly until fully cooled.
ENJOY...

THM - each batch has about 27g carbs in it and makes about 36 biscuits.  You can safely enjoy 1/3 (a dozen cookies) and stay within S limits.

Variation...

I added protein powder and chocolate chips to mine.  Whenever you have a snack it is good to have the protein - adding the protein powder, meant I could enjoy my biscuits as an S snack anytime.  The chocolate chips I had added 9g carb per 1tbsp.  This limits you to around 8/9 biscuits in one sitting!!!!!