Easy-peasy oat crunchies

Now that I am at home full time I have re-discovered my copy of Delia Smith's Complete Cookery Course. This book tells you how to boil an egg properly (and I found I've been doing it wrong all these years!) and it also contains a recipe for oat crunchies which I made for the first time the other day. Very easy and very nice! Here is my slightly amended version:

Ingredients
110g (1.5 cups) oats
75g (1/3 cup) light brown sugar
110g (1 stick) margarine or butter

Preheat oven to 375oF, 190oC or gas mark 5.
Grease a 9x9 inch cake or brownie tin.

Put the oats and sugar in a bowl and mix together well. Gently melt the butter being careful not to let it brown. Pour the melted butter into the bowl and mix well. Tip the mixture into the cake tin and press down evenly with your hand (the crunchies will be quite thin).

Bake for 15 minutes until they are pale golden brown. Remove from oven and cut into 12 portions with a spatula while still warm. Leave in the tin until cold and crisp then store in an airtight tin.

Much more, remember, not much less

From Daily Secrets of the Christian Life , a devotional from the writings of Hannah Whitehall Smith, brought together by Ann Spangler:

If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Matt 6:30

How often have we marvelled at the orderly working of the universe, and have admired the great Power that made it and now controls it. But we have, none of us, I suppose, ever felt it necessary to take the burden of the universe upon our own shoulders. We have trusted the creator to manage it all without our help.

Even where we have fully recognised that the universe is completely in God's care, we have failed to see that we are also there, and have never dreamed that it could be true that "much more" than he cares for the universe will he care for us. We have burdened ourselves with the care of ourselves. In our unbelief, we think that we are of "much less" value than the birds of the air or the lilies of the field. Man is so puny, so insignificant, of so little account when compared to the great, wide universe. What is he, we ask, that God should care for him? Yet God declares that he does care for him and that he even cares for him much more than he cares for the universe. Much more, remember, not much less. Every thought of anxiety about ourselves must be immediately crushed with the reflection that, since we are not so foolish as to become anxious about the universe, we must not be so more foolish as to become anxious about ourselves.

Why Falling in Love Isn't Enough

From my husband at Unashamed Workman:

"Tomorrow night I have an unusual opportunity. I’m speaking to married couples about cultivating their marriages, prior to them heading out for Valentine’s meals across the city.

My short talk will mention John Wesley, who this week in 1751 literally ‘fell in love’ with his wife to be, Molly (read about the remarkable outcome of his painful slip on London bridge here).

As infamously known, however, Wesley’s marriage did not build upon its initial promise. One certain cause was John’s unwillingness to travel ‘one less day or one less mile’ simply because he was now in a married state. He did not invest in his marriage. As I will put it tomorrow night:

John Wesley learned the hard way that you can ‘fall’ into marriage, but you can’t slip and trip into a good one. That takes care and consideration; it takes labour and learning. Such a marriage is neither light, frothy or easy. But it if we do it God’s way – with loving intentionality – it is lasting."

Ballymoney is Calling

It's been a bittersweet week in our house as my husband and I announced to our church in Edinburgh, that Colin has accepted a call to Pastor Ballymoney Baptist Church in Northern Ireland.

For the past 6 years it has been more than our privilege to serve and fellowship with God's people in Charlotte Chapel. Not only that, we have benefited so much from this local church that it is with a heavy heart that we will go. But the Lord's hand is upon our lives, upon Charlotte Chapel and upon Ballymoney Baptist Church and we pray that he will work out his purposes among his people, bringing glory to his name in these places.

Here are some things that I am thankful for:

1. 200 years of faithful Gospel witness in Charlotte Chapel

2. 23 years of faithful Gospel witness in Ballymoney Baptist Church

3. 200 years of faithful expository preaching in Charlotte Chapel

4. 23 years of faithful expository preaching in Ballymoney Baptist Church

5. For many a godly example in Charlotte Chapel that I have sought to follow

6. For many a godly example in Ballymoney I hope to follow

7. For God's grace to serve in Charlotte Chapel

8. For continued grace to serve in Ballymoney

9. For the love, care & fellowship of many dear brothers & sisters in Charlotte Chapel

10. For the love, care & fellowship already felt from Ballymoney

Encouraging Words from Mrs Spurgeon

When my soul is tossed on the rough waves of the troubled sea of this life, if I can but cast out the anchor of hope into the depths of God's blessed will, it holds fast at once and the winds and the waves are rebuked...

God's plans and purposes for me, and for you, dear reader, were all made and determined on from the beginning; and as they are worked out day by day in our lives, how wise should we be if, with joyful certainty, we accepted each unfolding of his will as a proof of his faithfulness and love! When once I, as a believer, can say from my heart, 'This is the will of God concerning me', it matters not what the 'this' is - whether it be a small domestic worry, or the severance of the dearest earthly ties - the fact that it is his most blessed will, takes all the fierce sting out of the trouble, and leaves it powerless to hurt or hinder the peace of my soul.

Susannah Spurgeon, Free Grace & Dying Love

Q & A on Singleness

• How is singleness better than marriage?
• How can singles help foster a relational culture at church?
• How do I deal with the intense longing to be married?
• What are the trials unique to singleness, and how do you recommend combating them?
• What would you say to someone who thinks their sexual sin has disqualified them from ministry?
• What do you think about masturbation?
• Is it OK for a single woman to pursue a career?

For the answers to these questions listen here.