Fruitful Family: Bible Study Update and (last week's) Meal Plan

I'm about 20 years behind, but I just starting reading Francine Rivers' Mark of the Lion series. Oh my! It is such a great story! I have a hard time putting it down sometimes. I'm on book two, and I can't wait to find out what happens. It's such a beautiful story of faith and unwavering devotion to God.

Have you read any Francine Rivers stuff?

Speaking of unwavering devotion to God, Ben taught an amazing lesson yesterday morning about self-examination. He talked about how we all want to know why we do the things we do in reaction to our circumstances, especially the sinful ones that we regret. There are many excuses that we can come up with for why we respond negatively to life, but if we are believers, then we should be able to look internally (not externally) for a solution. And that solution is always the process of self-examination led by the Holy Spirit, which leads to confession of the particular sinful response, which should prompt repentance (turning away from), which should bring us back into worship and closer fellowship with God. Jesus said that the greatest commandment is to "Love The Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength." If we say that we want to obey this command, then we must own-up to our sins, big and small, seen and unseen.

It was a very convicting lesson, and I am proud of Ben for teaching so obediently.

Last week's meal plan was extremely random. I made several things that I do not make very often, and there were not any repeat ingredients between any two recipes. It's rare that that happens. Here's what we had:

Brittany's sweet potato and black bean chili