Hope

Dear friends and family:

It's been a long while since I've posted anything here on my blog. I hope to start again and I've had many of you, my followers, friends and family in mind as you have nudged me and encouraged me to think about and start blogging again. Thank you for the encouragement!  I think it might be time to do just that as I have always had a love for writing. 

Today I was thinking about the word hope during my quiet time and was thinking about how critical it is to hang on to hope for dear life during difficult seasons.

Hope really is everything, I've learned. 

Of all the forces that make for a better world, none are truly more powerful than love and hope. 

What I know for sure: God is the very essence of love. 

And when we let God's love to permeate every area in our life and allow His love to move in us and through us, radical transformation occurs. 

And with hope, one can dream. We can go on for one more day, one more hour if needed. If you have hope dear one, you have everything. 

I hope your 2017 has gotten off to a great start. And in case it hasn't, in case there are some things that are still very present and hard and difficult that carried over into the new year, please keep hoping. Keep swimming. Please keep believing that your best days are still ahead of you. 

Every hard season has an expiration date. Hold on to that truth as you put your trust and hope in the One who will carry you through, who loves you unconditionally and who wants the very best for you. 

Cheers to your best year yet!!!

Sending love from Chicago,

Ruthie

COURAGE

It finally arrived today and I love it! It's a key necklace with the word "courage" on it from The Giving Keys company. I purchased it a couple of weeks ago and have been waiting with great anticipation for its arrival. It's lovelier than I imagined.

The Giving Keys company is a California based company that employs those transitioning out of homelessness to make jewelry out of re-purposed keys that get sold and shared around the world. 

The concept is all about empowerment, inspiring yourself and others, paying it forward and to share your paying it forward story. 

Each key is totally unique and carries a single word message like HOPE, STRENGTH, DREAM. There is a wide variety to choose from or you can create your own word. When the wearer of the key encounters someone else who needs the message on the key, they give it away and are encouraged to share their paying it forward story on The Giving Keys website. 

I could have chosen a number of different words but in this season, I feel that the most appropriate word for me is courage. Courage is the running theme in my life these days. It's the word that comes up over and over and over, in stories, in what I'm reading and what people are talking about. Courage is the thing I know I need to to help me embrace and to hold on to all things good, it's what I need to help me let go of anything and everything that weighs me down. It's what I need to accept, to inspire, to speak my truth, to keep on keeping on, to look ever upward. It's what God calls us to do in Joshua 1:9, it's what I sense God is calling me to do, fearlessly, and boldly. And I want to answer the call, every single time .... with courage and daring greatly. 

So now it's your turn. If you could pick a word, what would be your word?

Until next time, 

xx, Ruthie

Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you. ~Joshua 1:9

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly. ~Theodore Roosevelt

Inspirational story about happiness

The 92-year-old, petite, well-poised and proud lady, who is fully dressed each morning by eight o’clock, with her hair fashionably coifed and makeup perfectly applied, even though she is legally blind, moved to a nursing home today. Her husband of 70 years recently passed away, making the move necessary.

After many hours of waiting patiently in the lobby of the nursing home, she smiled sweetly when told her room was ready. As she maneuvered her walker to the elevator, I provided a visual description of her tiny room, including the eyelet sheets that had been hung on her window. “I love it,” she stated with the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old having just been presented with a new puppy.

“Mrs. Jones, you haven’t seen the room …. just wait.”

“That doesn’t have anything to do with it,” she replied. “Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time. Whether I like my room or not doesn’t depend on how the furniture is arranged, it’s how I arrange my mind. I already decided to love it. It’s a decision I make every morning when I wake up. I have a choice; I can spend the day in bed recounting the difficulty I have with the parts of my body that no longer work, or get out of bed and be thankful for the ones that do. Each day is a gift, and as long as my eyes open I’ll focus on the new day and all the happy memories I’ve stored away, just for this time in my life.”

She went on to explain, “Old age is like a bank account, you withdraw from what you’ve put in. So, my advice to you would be to deposit a lot of happiness in the bank account of memories. Thank you for your part in filling my Memory bank. I am still depositing.”

And with a smile, she said: “Remember the five simple rules to be happy:

1. Free your heart from hatred
2. Free your mind from worries
3. Live simply
4. Give more
5. Expect less

Isn't this an inspirational story??? Read this on Facebook tonight and I knew that I wanted to share this with my audience. 

Blueberry Crisp

This Blueberry Crisp is a mouth full of joy, tastes better than it looks and totally gluten-free. Recipe found on page 26 in Bread & Wine written by Shauna Niequist.  I learned that serving it ala mode with french vanilla ice cream is the best and you can even eat it cold the next morning with yogurt. I followed the recipe mostly but only used 3 cups of blueberries and baked it in a 2 quart oval baking dish. 

• 4 cups blueberries, frozen okay
• 1 cup old-fashioned oats
• 1/2 cup pecans, chopped 
• 1/2 cup almond meal
• 1/4 cup 100% pure maple syrup
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together oats, pecans, almond meal, maple syrup, olive oil, and salt with a fork.

Pour berries into an 8 x 8 pan, then layer the crispy topping over it.

Bake for 35 – 40 minutes, or up to 10 minutes longer if topping and fruit are frozen, until fruit is bubbling and topping is crisp and golden.

Serves: 4 – 6