Hopes and Dreams

Sometimes it's really hard for me to take my hopes, dreams, and plans that I have for my life, give them to God, and say,

"Here. Take them. As much as my heart wants things to go the way I had planned, if they are not part of Your will for my life, take these away from me. I don't want them."

It can be physically painful to pray that prayer, but it's necessary in order to live totally in God's will.  I'm not saying that we shouldn't have hopes and dreams, and plans for our lives.  However, when I may want something or think I've got a pretty good plan worked out I think God would sometimes say, "That's a good idea.  But wait!  I've got a better plan!" Tonight, I'm leaning heavily on Jeremiah 29:11 ("For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord. "Plans to prosper you, and not to harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future.")

Read it.
Memorize it.
Highlight it in your Bible.

You'll probably need to be reminded of these words many times in your life.

I know I do.

Homemade Veggie Soup

In honor of the soon arrival of fall, I thought I'd make some vegetable soup tonight to take to work this week. I took the recipe for the "Cabbage Soup Diet" (one of those "lose weight fast" diets that I think are a waste of time and effort unless you plan on eating that soup for the rest of your life) and I kinda ran with it. I wanted some soup packed with veggies but few calories for a healthy snack or meal. Here's what's in this:

8 green onions, chopped
2 green bell peppers, chopped
1 clove of garlic
1/2 head of cabbage
1 bag of pre-sliced carrots
2 cans of diced tomatoes with sweet onions
1 packet of onion soup mix
Other seasonings (I added some bay leaves, salt, pepper, low-sodium Misty's seasoning, garlic and peppercorn seasoning, and some onion something-or-other Mrs. Dash. I go with the "little of this, little of that" methodology.)

Spray your pan with cooking spray and sauté the green onions and garlic and let that cook a bit until the favors are released, then add the rest of the veggies. Fill your pan with enough water to cover all the veggies and simmer on low for two hours. Oh, and I added some beef bouillon flavoring. You could easily add some ground beef, chicken, whole wheat pasta, etc. I just wanted an easy way to get my veggies with few calories, so that's all I added...for now. With the hopefully cool temps to come, I imagine I'll be adding to this recipe and playing around with it more in the near future. Enjoy!

*This made a huge pot that all together was just under 800 calories...for the whole thing! I estimated 15 cups total, for an approximate calorie count of 60 calories per 1 cup serving.*