Happy Hand Washing?

It’s been over a month and hopefully, you are still doing the recommended mitigation to stop the spread of the COVID virus;  Wash your hands, cough into your elbow, disinfect surfaces, wear a mask and stay home.  Nothing has changed with the guidelines, but maybe it’s time to change up our hand washing protocol.  So, daily our state Secretary of Health reminds us to wash our hands for 20 seconds or “the time it takes to sing Happy Birthday twice.”  Are you still singing Happy Birthday?

I’ve never practiced this recommendation of singing Happy Birthday because early on my sister in law recommended praying every time we wash our hands and she suggested The Lord’s Prayer.  I began my intentional handwashing routine (However, I had been washing my hands prior to the pandemic, but believe it or not, I was doing it mindlessly out of habit.)  Since the daily reminder, I give it much more thought. I’ve posted prayers, quotes, and sayings by all of my sinks to encourage the rest of my family to join me in prayer.

My brother in law shared the following prayer on Palm Sunday so I printed it out and posted it:

Almighty God, who sees that we have no power of ourselves to help ourselves: Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

I loved the part about having NO power to help ourselves and keeping us outwardly and inwardly free from adversity. This spoke volumes to me at times.

However, my recent post (on the mirror not on social media!) is a poem by John Ryland in 1777.

Sovereign Ruler of the skies!

Ever gracious, ever wise!

All my times are in Thy hand,

All events at Thy command.

 

Plagues and deaths around me fly,

Till He bids I cannot die:

Not a single shaft can hit

Till the God of love thinks fit.

After reading it multiple times a day, I realized that it is the perfect length.  It is also easily sung to the tune of Happy Birthday.  Go ahead, read it again, but this time, change the tune, and sing it out loud and join me in prayer!

A Small Book for the Hurting Heart – A Book Review

A Small Book for the Hurting Heart by Paul Tautges is just that.  A small book that delivers large amounts of comfort and wisdom. Within the 50 devotions on loss, grief, and healing there are multiple other lessons directly from the English Standard Version of the Holy Bible.

When this book arrived in the mail, I was not suffering from loss or grief and didn’t know I was in need of healing.  However, shortly afterward, I lost my father in law and found each day’s lesson to be exactly what I needed to read.  In addition to the stereotypical loss of losing a loved one, I recognized that I indeed had suffered loss and needed healing even prior to my father in laws death.  We all suffer loss more often than we may admit.  This book covers all different types of loss and is applicable to many situations. The short chapters which are to be read daily give ideas for further action and study and quote many scriptures that can be studied on your own. Though each chapter is short in length, they are long in lessons and opportunities for growth and further discovery.

Grief from losing a loved one is recognized and addressed in many articles and books, but I found this book to help me realize that I am currently grieving more than a loss of life.  Currently living in the time of the Covid-19 Pandemic has left me grieving for many losses and Paul Tautges has led me to many scriptures to help me address the loss of social outings, friendships, and even normalcy.  This book is written for times like these.

“This is my comfort in my affliction, that your promise gives me life. –Psalm 119:50”

“In the middle of your fog, you need the piercing light of divine truth to break through and speak words of grace and comfort to your hurting soul…When the trials of life seem to drain every bit of spiritual, physical and emotional energy from you, God’s Word will be your strength.”

Though Paul Tautges wrote this book, he urges readers to read “THE Book”…The Holy Bible.

NOTE: This book was provided to me free by New Growth Press and Net Galley without any obligation for a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.

One Bowl Apple Cake

It’s late March, early April during a Pandemic of Covid-19, when someone calls to see if you need anything from the store, the only thing you want is fruit.  You know, REAL fruit.  But, it is late March, early April in rural western Pennsylvania with limited grocery stores to begin with, so the only fruit that appears is apples. There’s always plenty of apples.  I’d love to have strawberries…real strawberries, or blueberries! Blueberries would be nice.  (Actually, I snagged a box of blueberries, but the cashier accidentally opened the box and they spilled all over the conveyor belt. Using her gloved hands she touched each berry and put them back in the box…I opted out of purchasing them AND I didn’t want to brave the store to run back and get a different box, so apples it is!) Purchasing in bulk is also prevalent during a shelter in place order, so lots of apples.  To use them up and also to provide entertainment, it’s time to share a recipe.  Enjoy!

One Bowl Apple Cake

Ingredients:

2 eggs

1 ¾ cups sugar

2 heaping teaspoons cinnamon

½ cup oil

6 medium Gala or Fuji or Honey Crisp apples*

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large bowl, mix the eggs, sugar, cinnamon, and oil.  Peel and slice the apples and add to mixture in bowl (coating as you go to keep apples from turning brown)  Mix together the baking soda and flour and add to the ingredients in the bowl.  Mix well (best with a fork) until all of the flour is absorbed by the wet ingredients.  Pour mixture into a greased one 9×13 or two 9” round pans.  Bake for approximately 55 minutes (Much less time if using smaller pans.)

*FYI – 1 apple = approximately 1 1/3 C chopped X 6 = 8 cups chopped. (No need to be exact! ALSO, I use any type of apple I have.)