Anointed Motherhood Issue #4: Living with Supernatural Understanding, White Chicken Chili, book suggestions and more!
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From My Heart | Living With Understanding
My husband and I were quickly discussing bringing a riding truck inside that my 18 month old thrifted (yes, she found it, and sat in it so no one else could take it at the thrift store!), when what I said was completely misunderstood.
“I don’t think we can handle having it upstairs right now, but if it was clean we could take it downstairs.”
What I meant was if the basement was cleaned up.
What my husband heard was if we washed down the truck.
He immediately told me the basement was in no shape for the truck to go down there.
I stared blankly.
“I know, that’s what I just said.”
Typing it out, I can see that I did not use enough words to be clearly understood.
This is just a little example, but very often we can get confused with each other. Add in the extra noise of a dishwasher running, crying children, someone practicing guitar, and misunderstandings can be fully anticipated.
Have you read through Proverbs lately? This is a book that I try to almost continuously be reading because it seems to keep me on track as a mom and wife.
The age old godly wisdom stirs up my heart and every time I read it something different sticks out and becomes the focal point.
This time through Proverbs, the word “understanding” has been at the forefront of my mind.
Proverbs 14:29 TPT
When your heart overflows with understanding you’ll be very slow to get angry. But if you have a quick temper, your impatience will be quickly seen by all.
There is a key here. Understanding slows anger. When we can look at someone’s life, words, situation and seek to understand it, we will not get angry in the same way.
The New King James Version puts it this way:
He who is slow to wrath has great understanding, But he who is impulsive exalts folly.
There are two types of understanding. Our own, which we are admonished by the Lord to not depend on:
Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.
Proverbs 3:5 NLT
And there is a fountain of understanding that is a result of wisdom, the wisdom of God.
Wisdom is a gift from a generous God, and every word he speaks is full of revelation and becomes a fountain of understanding within you.
Proverbs 2:6 TPT
My older cubs and I are at the point in our overview of the history of the world that we are learning about the Second World War.
As we have each read further on our own, I have a noticed a theme in the rehabilitation of concentration camp survivors.
Wherever people were providing respite and healing, they made sure that lights were left on, doors were unlocked and food was available around the clock, with Corrie Ten Boom’s respite home going so far as to never ring a bell or have a horn go off to announce a meal after having had their lives controlled by these sounds.
That is understanding.
When the young boys, known as the “Buchenwald boys”, were liberated from Buchenwald Concentration Camp and brought to an OSE centre in France, the children when crazy stealing food set out by aid workers and stuffing their pockets every meal.
But no one was angry. No one even got upset when they fought over the food.
They understood that this was coming from a place of the deepest trauma and a new way forward must be found.
These are the most extreme situations and examples. but having these verses in Proverbs intersecting with some of these stories is challenging my heart.
This is so convicting for me right now.
Am I willing to be understanding toward my husband and my children?
Am I able to pause and even let my imagination wander to perspectives that are not my own and see where their hearts are coming from?
Could I accommodate what I see and even make room for what may have caused this action, response or behaviour?
I don’t know about you, but I want people to be excessively understanding toward me. I want to be shown grace upon grace and have people assume the best. I want them to say, “Oh Monica is so tired” or “she has a lot on her plate right now, I’m sure she didn’t mean that.”
And in turn understanding is what I must give to others.
Can you bridle your tongue when your heart is under pressure? That’s how you show that you are wise. An understanding heart keeps you cool, calm, and collected, no matter what you’re facing.
Proverbs 17:27
An understanding heart keeps you cool, calm and collected when the schoolwork is a struggle, the chores haven’t been completed, your spouse has misunderstood you again and another dish is broken by your toddler.
Wisdom soothes the heart of the one with living-understanding, but the heart of the fool just stockpiles stupidity.
Proverbs 14:33
My heart needs to be soothed. It is often anxious and overwhelmed and trying to keep firmly rooted in Jesus. I am often unsure of the next step, how to help a struggling child or how to give my limited time and energy.
But when we have His living-understanding, oh how that changes everything.
Wisdom is a deep well of understanding opened up within you as a fountain of life for others, but it’s senseless to try to instruct a fool.
Proverbs 16:22
Wisdom is a deep well of understanding. We have it at our disposal. All we have to do is ask.
If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.
James 1:5 NLT
Lord I believe that if we have your living-understanding that comes from wisdom, we will see things from a new perspective, your perspective. Anger will subside and we will be able to think clearly and creatively about the situations we face. Today, I am asking you for a great outpouring of wisdom and understanding upon each woman reading this. That you would overwhelm her with a waterfall of wisdom. May we remember to seek to understand even when our own hearts are so injured, or our bodies so exhausted or our minds confused. Thank you for your word Lord. I know it is true and powerful and will not return void. In Jesus Name. Amen
From My Kitchen | Slow Cooker White Chicken Chili
Chili is one of my son’s favourite supper. He often bemoans the infrequency of it, while I feel like I make it quite often! I decided I needed to try a new variation of chili for the sake of the whole family, and hopefully get a win with this chili loving boy!
Enter White Chicken Chili! This is made with a Mexican green salsa called salsa verde and is SO easy that I plan it on days when I need an afternoon off of cooking to do some other things.
I adapted it from this recipe. My version makes a large crockpot full to feed about 8 people.
Ingredients:
3 large chicken breasts
4 cans of rinsed white kidney beans
1 1/2 cups salsa verde
1 heaping tablespoon cumin
1 1/2 cups corn, divided
2 cups of chicken broth
salt & pepper to taste
your preferred thickening agent
Instructions:
Place the chicken breast in the bottom of your slow cooker.
Add white kidney beans, salsa verde, cumin, 3/4 of a cup of corn, and the 2 cups of chicken broth with some salt and pepper.
Cook on low, stirring once or twice if you are home to do so, until the chicken breast is ready to shred.
Remove the chicken breast and shred.
Before you add the chicken breast back in you can scoop out about 1/3-1/2 of the bean mixture and puree in a blender with your preferred thickener. I use about 1/2 tsp of glucomannan as it’s gluten free and high fibre.
Add everything back to the slow cooker along with the remaining corn and cook for another hour or so. If you find it too thick you can add a little more chicken broth, but I like mine to be thick like traditional beef chili.
Colourful toppings look beautiful on this tan coloured chili. We had organic red corn chips, green avocados, lighter green onions, yellow cheese, white sour cream and I had more salsa verde on hand for those in my family who like it spicier! You can also have chili peppers or jalapeños if you enjoy that!
Songs & Stories |
It’s March, and where I live that means the first day of Spring will come only on the calendar, with actual spring like conditions coming later in April. We are still needing to take indoor movement breaks some days and this song has been fun to follow along with fom Orange Kids Music.
There is another version on YouTube with actions if you prefer that!
As for books we are enjoying, I found an old copy of “We Help Daddy” in the used book room at the homeschool conference! If you remember, I shared before how much my two year old was loving “We Help Mommy”. The dad in this book does smoke a pipe, so you’ll have to decide if that’s ok for your family. This is pretty much a typical day off with daddy for my littles, minus the pipe. There are always a million things to fix and I’m happy to bake alone while he’s with them, just like their mom!
For older children, we just finished Christian Heroes Then & Now: Corrie Ten Boom. This is an incredible story, and I will probably be talking about Corrie Ten Boom more in the future because her story is really impacting my life. I’ve been on my own interested led learning journey and I’m currently listening to her book “Tramp for the Lord” on our library app. If you are home educating and studying World War Two I believe this is a very important story because sometimes it can look like God was missing from this time, but he was very much at work and doing miracles!
Thanks so much for being here today! Leave me a comment or reply to this email to let me know if you try any of these ideas or if the Lord was speaking to your about understanding! I always love to hear your thoughts!
Have a blessed week! I’m praying for you and I know that you are anointed for such a job as motherhood!
Love,
Monica