GOODlife Magazine January 2017 - Susan Norris

CONTENTS

Publisher

Kristen Bland

10 SUSAN NORRIS A tragedy in our town An epidemic on our streets

Damien Parodi

6 COURAGEOUS RESOLUTION New Year’s resolutions are a good idea as long as they are built on the right foundation

14 ATLANTA DREAM CENTER Reaching out to the brokenhearted and offering hope to the hopeless

8 EVENTS Mark your calendars for some around-town family fun

16 GOODlife TRAVEL Three ski resorts that are definitely worth the drive

Managing Editor Gabriel Bland Editor

Autumn Burr Advertising

12 POWER OF LIKING How three simple habits can build your influence and multiply your success

18 GOODlife RECIPES White Bean Chili: Something a little different that will warm you to your bones

info@goodlifemagazine.org 770.656.4400 Creative Director Damien Parodi

Graphic Designer Matthew Button

Contributing Editor Krista Messic

facebook.com/goodlifemonthly @goodlifemonthly

COVER CREDIT GOODlife Magazine features Susan Norris - author, international speaker, and founder of Rescuing Hope.

For the full story, see page 10.

Photography | KariBeth Gentry KBG Photography kbgphotography.org

GOODlife Magazine is a monthly publication distributed throughout Atlanta and Metro Atlanta. Entire contents, including design elements and logos, are copyrighted and may not be reproduced in any media without the express written consent of the publisher.

GOODlife Magazine, LLC reserves the right to edit or reject any editorial or advertising content. Advertisers assume liability for content of all advertisements.

All information herein has been checked for accuracy to the best of our ability.

Not responsible for deletions, omissions, errors and or inaccuracies. Š 2016 GOODlife Magazine, LLC. All rights reserved.

Pursue love. (1 Corinthians 14:1) Resolutions are good things. They’re biblical: “...may [God] fulfill every resolve for good” (2 Thessalonians 1:11). And I think developing New Year’s resolutions is a very good idea. A year is a defined timeframe, long enough to make progress on difficult things and short enough to provide some incentive to keep moving.

A resolve is not a vague intention, like “one of these days I’m going to get that garage cleaned” or “I’m going to read the Bible through this year,” but without any clear plan to do it. Resolves are intentions with strategies attached to them. You don’t just hope something is going to happen; you are planning to make it happen. To be resolved is to be determined.

Make Love Your Aim But resolves can either be rooted in our selfish ambitions or in the love of God. We must think them through carefully. So as we make our resolutions for a new year, God wants them to all serve this one great end: “pursue love” (1 Corinthians 14:1).

“Pursue” is a very purposeful word. The Greek verb has an intensity to it. It means to “seek after eagerly,” like a runner in a race seeks eagerly to win a prize.

The RSV’s translation of this phrase is clearer: “Make love your aim.” It has a sense of single-minded focus to it. The NIV falls short: “Follow the way of love.” It has no edge to it. It sounds like a platitude that the most polite company could smile and nod to without feeling unnerved. It does not capture Paul’s intensity.

No, this is an aggressive verb. In fact, it can mean to “pursue with hostile intent.” That’s why in the New Testament, it is frequently used to mean persecuting or harassing someone.

That sounds like Paul, the former persecutor who became the persecuted. What he is saying to us is that we should pursue love with no less fervency and determination that he once pursued Christians to Damascus — only our aim is not to stop love, but to unleash it and be captured by it, or, I should say, by God, who is love (1 John 4:8).

Plan to Make Love Your Aim Let this be the year that we pursue love. Let this be the year that we stop talking about love, that we do less regretful moaning about how little we love and how much we need to grow in love and actually be determined to love more the way Jesus loved (John 15:12). Let this be the year we actually put into place some strategies to help us love.

Each person’s situation is so unique that we can’t craft strategies for each other to grow in love. It’s something that we must each do with God, though some feedback and counsel from those who know us best are helpful.

But here are some of the Bible’s great love texts to soak in during the year that can help loving strategies emerge:

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1 Corinthians 13: Soak in or memorize it and let each “love is…” statement in verses 4–7 search your heart. With whom can you show greater patience, kindness, and more? goodlifemagazine.org

John chapters 13–15: Soak in or memorize them. Ninety-five verses are very doable. You can memorize them in 3–6 months and be transformed.

The First Epistle of John: Soak in or memorize it. You can do it! Forcing yourself to say the verses over and over will yield insights you’ve never seen before.

Take 2–4 weeks and simply meditate on the two greatest commandments according to Jesus (Matthew 22, Mark 12, Luke 10).

Look and look at them and pray and pray over them. You will be surprised at what the Lord shows you.

Read Hebrews 13:1–7, take one verse per day and prayerfully meditate on what you might put into place to grow in each area of loving obedience. It may be one thing or ten things.

You get the idea. We don’t need all our strategies in place by January 1st. But we can make this a year where we pursue love with more intentionality than we ever have before. And as we meditate, letting the word of Christ dwell in us richly (Colossians 3:16), the Holy Spirit will guide us in creating the strategies we should use.

The Most Courageous Resolution But let’s also be clear: making love our aim this year will demand more courage and faith than any other resolution we can make.

Nothing exposes the depth of our sin like really seeking to love God with our entire being and loving our neighbors as ourselves (Luke 10:27).

So we must let our pursuit of love drive us to the gospel. None of us has ever perfectly kept either of the two great commandments.

Ever. Our very best efforts have been polluted by our prideful sin. And we have rarely been at our very best.

We can only love because God first loved us (1 John 4:19) and sent his Son to become sin for us so that we could become the righteousness of God in him (2 Corinthians 5:21). Christ has kept the greatest commandments (and the rest) perfectly for us! So we are forgiven of our constant failure to love as we ought and are given grace to grow in the grace of love. And because of Jesus, someday we will love perfectly just as we have been loved.

So let’s make our resolution to pursue love this year more than we ever have, knowing that we have been loved with an everlasting love (Psalm 103:17). january 2017

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PASSION CONFERENCE January 2–4 Location: Atlanta Georgia Dome Website: www.268generation.com A gathering of 18-25 year olds and their leaders, Passion 2017 is all about the fame of Jesus, the One who rescues and restores, and the privilege we have to amplify His name in everything we do. We want to see a generation leverage their lives for what matters most.

GEORGIA BRIDAL SHOW January 8 Time: 12–5pm Location: Cobb Galleria Centre You’ve been online searching wedding ideas and trends. Now it’s time to see all of this come to life at the Georgia Bridal Show! Don’t leave your dream wedding to chance...Meet face to face with wedding professionals, and find everything you need in one place and in one day!

ATLANTA BOAT SHOW January 12–15 Location: Georgia World Congress Center Whether it is sails, paddles, skis, or motors, visitors will find the largest selection of boats and accessories at the 2017 Atlanta Boat Show.

THE LITTLE MERMAID January 12–15 Location: Fox Theatre The Little Mermaid tells the musical story of Ariel, the little mermaid who is tired of flipping her fins and longs to be part of the fascinating world on dry land.

Come join in her transformation and adventures!

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MAGIC TREE HOUSE® Now through January 16 Location: Children’s Museum of Atlanta Young explorers are invited to swing into adventure at the Children’s Museum of Atlanta’s newest feature exhibit Magic Tree House®, an educational traveling exhibition created by The Magic House® and based on the best-selling children’s book series written by Mary Pope Osborne.

DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. CELEBRATION January 18 Time: 10am Location: Turner Chapel AME Church, Marietta The event is free and open to all, and the theme is “Pursuing Liberties in the Face of Injustice.” The celebration features entertainment and the annual presentation of the “Living the Dream” award to a community member who demonstrates the ideals King exemplified.

GEORGIA RV & CAMPER SHOW January 20–22 Location: Cobb Galleria Centre Our biggest show ever! See the largest selection of NEW motor homes, travel trailers, 5th wheels, toy haulers, and more at discount prices from Georgia’s leading dealers. Talk to the experts to find the camper that best fits your needs.

WINTER JAM February 4 Time: 6pm, Doors open at 5pm Location: Atlanta Georgia Dome Website: www.2017.jamtour.com Winter Jam Tour Spectacular is continuing an unprecedented reign as one of the world’s largest tours and Christian music’s biggest annual tour. Including Crowder, Britt Nicole, Tenth Avenue North, and MORE!

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Imagine that one day while at home, an emergency broadcast was released saying that there was a deadly virus sweeping across the nation, and it was in your town, in your schools, at all the big sporting events. But everyone chose to ignore it and go about their lives as usual because they had yet to see anyone get sick, or they didn’t feel sick themselves. However, the news reports confirmed that not only was this deadly virus in your town, but so was the cure. Would you seek out the cure, or would you choose to overlook it like everyone else until it directly touched your life? What if you or someone in your family got sick, and you could no longer get the cure yourself, but your neighbor could? What if they chose to do nothing, leaving you with no options and no hope?

I have a message for you: this scenario is real. No, it is not a viral epidemic, but rather an atrocity against the lives of countless people right around us. And you have the ability to help save them.

We sat down with Susan Norris, an international speaker on the topic of Sex Trafficking and Founder/ Executive Director of Rescuing Hope, as she brought to light the abomination of sex trafficking right here in our area. Our prayer here at GoodLife magazine is that this article will help you become aware of the reality of the epidemic among us today and become equipped with practical knowledge of how you can, literally, save the lives of the people around you. We cannot allow this evil to continue unchallenged. In the words of Edmund Burke, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

“Every two minutes, evil strips innocence from a child and sells her into slavery for sex. Not in a third-world country, but in the United States of America.” This staggering, and near incomprehensible, fact is the reality that Susan works daily to fight against. Susan entered into the battle against sex trafficking with the question “Where’s the weak link?” knowing that no matter if it’s a cause, a business, a church, or a family, there are always areas that need work. She quickly realized that there is a severe lack of awareness that this is a local issue, as well as a national one. “No one knows it’s happening here; not just in the U.S., and not just in the inner cities. There’s not a county in Georgia that this isn’t being reported in.” So God not only led Susan to write the book “Rescuing Hope,” but has also chosen to use her as a voice of hope to reach the hearts of all and to continue to inform and equip the nation to jump into the fight against this atrocity in our midst.

The sobering reality is that this sex trafficking is a multi-billion dollar industry, and those who benefit from it desire 10

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to see it continue to grow. When asked where traffickers can be found, Susan gives a very sobering response: “Where your kids are. They could be the guy with a backpack looking like he is studying for exams like a college student, or hanging out at the local coffee shop looking like a completely normal and often good looking individual.” The thought of such an atrocious evil preying upon the people in our lives is a weighty reality that must elicit the proper response.

It necessitates an intentionality within families, from parents—and while that isn’t always easy, it’s so crucial. The first thing Susan says parents can do is to love their children well. Sex traffickers exploit insecurities in people as a means to get closer to them. The second response is to, “Recognize that your children aren’t perfect. They are curious— God wired them that way—and they may look for things whether you have told them they can or not.” Creating an open dialogue with your kids so that they can be honest in these areas is key. She goes on to advise parents to educate themselves. Many parents use a lack of understanding of technology as an excuse to avoid this area; to not step into the role of managing your child’s technological exposure is, in Susan’s words, “…basically handing your child to a trafficker. Get out there and figure it out, and if you can’t figure it out, grab a teenager that’s a few years older than your child and have them help you and teach you.”

Resources for parents can be found at www.rescuinghope.com. Use these tools to help educate yourself and your loved ones about how to respond to this danger. Ignoring this issue will not help the ones you love, but will actually endanger everyone all the more. There are many additional ways you can fight against this evil. “We have a phrase at Rescuing Hope that is ‘Be the key.’ Keys are very unique and they all serve a purpose to open something, and we believe that people can be the key to someone’s freedom.” Susan talked about how there are countless stories of people using their occupation to help the fight. You can make an impact by partnering with an established organization with your finances and/or with your time, in addition to speaking with people who can help you think of ways that you can use your skills and connections to make an impact. For more resources and information, check out: www.rescuinghope. com.

Now you know the epidemic among us. Now you have access to resources to challenge this evil—in your life, in your family’s lives, and in the lives of the community around you. From now on, you have a choice. In the words of William Wilberforce, “You may choose to look the other way, but you can never say again that you did not know.” kbg photography

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How three simple habits can build your influence and multiply your success What is influence? And how much of it do you have—at work, at home, or when faced with a your favor?

situation you want to work in

Your influence is your capacity to have an effect on someone’s character, development, or behavior. You’ve probably noticed some individuals around you who seem to wield more influence than others. People are won to their point of view more easily, seem to follow their lead even if they are not in positions of leadership, and clamber to get what they have to offer.

Let’s talk about a few key habits that can transform your ability to “get to yes” …

Showing Concern for Those Around You It almost sounds too simple, but it’s a simple fact that caring leads to influence. Theodore Roosevelt famously said, “Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care.”

The people who show concern for you, who go out of their way for you and display an interest in what matters to you, are the people who are most likely to influence you. I once had a boss who hand- wrote personalized birthday cards to every employee in the company. It seems like a small gesture, and it is, but the positive emotions it created in each person strengthened the relationship between the leader and those who followed her.

Now, imagine for a moment that your boss remembers all of your children’s names and ages and routinely stops by your desk and asks about them. Imagine that same boss tells you about a skill you need to develop and opens up an opportunity for you to be trained on that particular skill.

All of these are real scenarios, and guess what? All the bosses who engaged in these acts of care and concern have fiercely loyal employees. These bosses influence the behavior of their team not by telling them what to do differently, but by caring.

Making People Like You The whole idea of “liking” as an important foundation for building influence may sound superficial, but it’s how we are wired as humans.

I am not suggesting that you make it your objective to be liked to the detriment of your character, beliefs, or authenticity. Not everyone will like you. It’s okay. Being liked should not be your life’s work. The best rule of thumb is to be your best self. Seek in any given moment to be kind, authentic, and helpful.

What makes someone like you? Research shows that a major component of “liking” is having commonalities. We like people who are like us in some way. This can be as simple as a cue taken from the fact that you are wearing a similar outfit or you grew up in the 12

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same region of the country. Even small things can make a difference in how comfortable someone feels around you and is ultimately approved of by you.

Being Generous with Your Approval, Appreciation, and Acknowledgments A good compliment is not only kind. It is wise. Those who freely give compliments create a dynamic that makes them more likable.

Giving approval in the form of compliments, affirmation, and acknowledgment builds the bonds that strengthen your influence.

Research has shown time and again that it is more powerful to build on one’s strengths than to try to fix one’s weaknesses. In fact, in the workplace, it is critical for managers to acknowledge what employees do well and not just harp on what needs to be improved.

Affirming a person’s good attributes is the right way to get them to make needed changes.

If you want to influence the likelihood of a person repeating a behavior or saying yes to a request, state your compliment in a way that gives them a reputation to live up to. For example, “So-and-so told me you did a fantastic job with that project, and I would love it if you would consider helping on this new project.” Complimenting positive behavior increases your likability with the person being complimented and influences the likelihood that behavior will be repeated.

Favor There is one more key habit of influence, and it is not a habit that you control. It is unmerited favor. Have you ever had good fortune come your way, but you cannot explain why it came to you or perhaps even how? That’s favor.

Favor doesn’t require you to be perfect—only faithful. That means when you stumble, you do your best to learn the lesson. You are willing to admit your faults and you try to do better next time.

In Proverbs 3:3, it tells us that when you love well and live faithfully, you will win favor. Favor can give you influence when it seems you shouldn’t have any. Favor will cause people to like you, elevate you, and place you in positions of higher influence. Ask for it.

Taken from: Successful Women Speak Differently: 9 Habits That Build Confidence, Courage, and Influence Copyright © 2016 by Valorie Burton. Published by Harvest House Publishers, Eugene, Oregon. www. harvesthousepublishers.com. Used by Permission.

About Valorie Burton: Valorie Burton is the bestselling author of eleven books on personal development, including Successful Women Think Differently and Happy Women Live Better. She is the founder of The Coaching and Positive Psychology Institute (CAPP), providing tools and training that build resilience, well-being, and productivity for life and work.

Valorie has appeared numerous times on the TODAY Show, Dr. Oz, CNN, HLN and hundreds of other radio and television shows. She has also co-hosted two national television programs, The Potter’s Touch with T.D. Jakes and Aspiring Women. She has written for Oprah Magazine, Essence, Ebony, Woman’s Day, and many more. And as a speaker, she has inspired audiences for GE, McDonald’s, Goldman Sachs, State Farm, Accenture, General Mills, FDIC, Verizon Wireless, NASA, Wells Fargo, the US Military and hundreds of others. Valorie has a master’s degree in applied positive psychology from the University of Pennsylvania and a master’s degree in journalism from Florida A&M University. She earned a BA in International Affairs from Florida State University. She and her husband grew up in Denver, Colorado and live near Atlanta, Georgia with their three children.

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by Evie Palmer Pastor Paul Palmer and his wife Patty Palmer, founders of the Atlanta Dream Center, were visiting their son and his family in Georgia when the vision to start a church in the heart of downtown Atlanta began. While they were driving around and enjoying the sights of Atlanta, Patty noticed a homeless man sleeping on the front steps of a church building. However, bars to keep out unwanted guests surrounded the church. Patty recalls, “I knew then that we needed to come to Atlanta to start a Dream Center.”

Therefore, in 2003, Paul and Patty Palmer, along with eight of their eleven children and new daughter-in-law, traveled all the way from California to Atlanta in the summer of 2003. The Palmers began the Dream Center in a crowded recreational center, mowing lawns for their neighbors and taking the love of Jesus to the community.

Currently, the home of the Atlanta Dream Center is located in the Old Fourth Ward in what used to be a warehouse building.

Everyone is welcome here, and Pastor Paul and Patty greet visitors, including former drug addicts and prostitutes, with a warm embrace. What sets the Atlanta Dream Center apart is not only the acceptance and love for people, but also their outreach in the community.

For example, the Palmers and volunteers from all across metro Atlanta disperse throughout the city picking up trash and bringing food and the gospel to residents early on Saturday mornings. Adopt-a-Block is one of the ministries of the Atlanta Dream Center devoted to serving the community by acts of service like furnishing the apartment for a single mom or picking up a prescription for an elderly neighbor.

In the past month, through the ministry of Adopt-a-Block, volunteers lent a helping hand and the hope of the gospel by knocking on an estimated 881 doors and hand-delivering 104 Bibles.

In addition, the Atlanta Dream Center is also serving the community through the ministry Out of Darkness, which reaches out to victims of sex trafficking. Every Friday night, a small group ministers to those trapped in the sex industry in Atlanta by giving roses and a handwritten card, as well as a hotline number to escape. So far this year, Out of Darkness has rescued 226 women.

Vickey is an example of one of the women on the streets who was selling herself to get her fill of crack. Paul and volunteers reached out to Vickey to help her, but she only came to the Dream Center to get clothes and other needs met. However, when Vickey got beat up one night, she went to the Dream Center for help. A young woman from the Dream Center cleaned up Vickey’s wounds and stayed with her all night, comforting her and praying over her.

The next morning Vickey tells Paul that no one has ever loved her before and brings him her crack pipe, her torch, and her condoms, and she never went back out again. Vickey has been clean and off the streets for over eight years now.

Moreover, the Atlanta Dream Center believes the way to begin mending broken men and women is to start with the youth.

Their Metro Kidz ministry sets up a sidewalk Sunday school program with a Bible message and games throughout the week for children living in government housing. Additionally, Metro Kidz volunteers offer to tutor children who have behavioral problems or those exposed to violence and drug abuse, free of charge. However, more than only tutoring the children, they are reaching them with the love of Jesus.

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The Atlanta Dream Center is not only a church, but also represents the hands and feet of Jesus by reaching out to the brokenhearted and offering hope to the hopeless. Paul’s eyes light up when he talks about the impact of the Dream Center in the community. “Our call is to reach, rescue, and restore men, women, and children,� he says. And the Palmers, along with their family and numerous volunteers, are doing just that.

Evie is a homeschooling mother of seven who has been married for over fourteen years and considers serving her family her main ministry.

She and her family are involved in the International House of Prayer in Atlanta, where her husband is the Community Life Pastor. Additionally, they are the co-founders of a non-profit organization, Send56, which is devoted to sharing the gospel with unreached tribes in Africa.

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GOODlife Travel North Georgia has some high mountains, but no ski resorts. If you’re in the Peach State and want to hit the slopes, you’ll have to head over the state line. Conditions aren’t always ripe for snow skiing in the southeastern United States, so it’s a good idea to call ahead before embarking to make sure there’s enough natural or artificial snow to make it worth the journey. Here are the top three resorts in the Southeast that are worth the drive!

Sugar Mountain Resort in Sugar Mountain, North Carolina 271 miles from Atlanta

One of the largest ski areas in North Carolina is a favorite ski resort for many experienced skiers who don’t have the opportunity to fly out West or go up North. Sugar Mountain has a 4,100 to 5,300-foot elevation resort featuring 20 trails, 7 lifts, and a 1½ mile run. The resort team has the ability to make snow across the entire complex of slopes, a rare thing for a resort of its size. The slopes are almost entirely beginner and intermediate levels. However, there are a few advanced slopes for the daredevils in your family.

The resort also offers a variety of snow fun activities for the whole family including a snow-tubing area, an ice skating rink, and a snowboarding park. The peak of the mountain is a mile high, with a view that might stop you in your tracks to take it all in, before darting back down to the lift. www.skisugar.com

Beech Mountain Resort in Beech Mountain, North Carolina 279 miles from Atlanta

Located in the mountains of western North Carolina, Beech Mountain Resort will give you the real feel of a ski resort. The Town of Beech Mountain sits adjacent to the resort, providing the convenience of lodging, restaurants, shops, and nightlife within a short distance of the slopes.

Beech Mountain has a base elevation of 5,505 feet above sea level, making it the highest ski resort in eastern North America. It offers 16 slopes on 98 skiable acres, a high-speed detachable quad chairlift, and a modern state-of-the-art terrain park with its own surface lift, lighting system, and regularly updated features that cater to snowboarders and freestyle skiers. With a vertical drop of 830 feet and more than 84 inches of annual snowfall, Beech Mountain Resort stands out as the premier ski resort in the South. www.beechmountainresort.com

Snowshoe Mountain Resort in Snowshoe, West Virginia 557 miles from Atlanta

Snowshoe Mountain is the perfect winter destination for adventure-filled vacations in West Virginia. Snowshoe covers a total area of 11,000 acres in the Appalachian Mountain Range, and includes the second highest point in the state at 4,848’ elevation. Snowshoe was named one of the Top 20 ski resorts in the East by SKI Magazine in 2016.

Offering the most natural snowfall, best skiable terrain, and largest vertical drop in the region, Snowshoe Mountain is a bit farther north from Atlanta than the other areas mentioned here. But it’s the closest thing to a Rocky Mountain-sized ski resort to be found in the southeastern/midAtlantic states. The Village at Snowshoe is located at the summit of the mountain, rather than at its base. And just like those impressive places out West, Snowshoe’s slopes span more than one mountain.

Winter at Snowshoe Mountain Resort is about more than skiing and snowboarding. They have snowmobile tours, backcountry adventure dining, split rock pools, the big top, Coca-Cola Tube Park, and more. In addition to terrific outdoor winter recreation, Snowshoe offers extensive lodging options, gourmet dining, shopping, wedding and convention areas, and a luxurious spa. www.snowshoemtn.com 16

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Food is essential to life. You cannot live without it. On one of those reality shows on TV, they dropped a group of men out in the wilderness, each on his own. They had to fend for themselves. Their shelter, food, safety, and survival was totally up to each one of them. Soon the importance of finding and eating food consumed the majority of their thoughts, time, and effort. Their survival depended on it!

There are some interesting facts about food and our obsession with it. There are times when you think of your favorite dish or meal.

Sometimes it will cause you to seek out a certain restaurant that serves it. Some people have planned their days around it. Even vacations and trips always seem to include those favorite stops. Cravings over certain foods overtake our thoughts. Then, if carried too far, binging occurs, followed later by regret. And we are all guilty of it at some time in our lives. More often than not, guilty over and over and over again.

Food provides us strength, vitality, energy, and healing. The Word of God is our spiritual food and provides us not only strength, vitality, energy, and healing, but also wisdom, spiritual blessings, instruction, peace, joy, power and authority, deliverance, victory, refuge, shelter, and relationship with Father God. • 1 Peter 2:2-3: “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.”

• Hebrews 5:12-14: “In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.”

• Isaiah 55:2: “Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare.”

• Jeremiah 3:15: “And I will give you [spiritual] shepherds after My own heart [in the final time], who will feed you with knowledge and understanding and judgment.”

Natural food can be a controlling problem in our lives. That which we consume can consume our thoughts every day. What to eat, where to eat, when to eat, and what to have for dessert. I’m sure that’s why fasting in the Bible was always about food. It wasn’t just about showing restraint regarding food, but about pushing all thoughts of food aside…taking that time spent on food and spending it with God instead.

John 6:35 says, “Then Jesus declared, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty’.” We ought to be craving the things of God and His Word as food for our lives. Our very survival is dependent on God’s Word as our bread of life! Feed on the Word of God daily. Crave it as you would your most favorite foods.

Desire to taste His goodness! There’s no better way to get closer to God and hear His voice than through daily feeding on His Word, prayer, and fasting every once in a while. Feasting on the Word of God is true food! january 2017

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by Krista Messic It’s January, and I’m cold. I wanted to bring you something a little different, but something that would warm you to your bones. I hope you enjoy as much as my family did!

Ingredients:

White Bean

CHILI

4 cans of Great Northern Beans 2 medium onions chopped 1 Tbsp. olive oil 3 (4.5 oz.) cans of chopped green chilies, undrained 4 cloves of garlic, minced 4 tsp. ground cumin 2 tsp. dried oregano 2 cups of chicken broth 5 cups of chopped cooked chicken breast 3 cups (12 oz.) shredded Pepper Jack cheese ½ tsp. salt ¼ tsp. white pepper Chopped cilantro Fresh bacon cooked and cut into 1 inch pieces Sliced pickled or fresh jalapenos

Sauté onion in hot olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat until tender. Add green chilies and next 3 ingredients. Cook for about 2 minutes stirring constantly. Add beans and chicken broth. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat.

Add chicken, 1 cup of the cheese, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer uncovered, 10 minutes, stirring often.

To serve, ladle chili into individual soup bowls, top each serving with cheese, a few of the bacon pieces, some cilantro, and a couple of jalapenos to taste. Yields about 13 cups.

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