Crockpot Chicken and Dressing

Ingredients

2 boxes Jiffy Cornbread Mix (cooked)

4 Biscuits (cooked)

2 Eggs

1 Onion

2 Cans Chicken Broth or the Broth from the Chicken

3 Boneless Breasts (Boiled)

2 Tablespoons Sage

2 Tablespoons Butter

Salt/pepper

2 cans Cream of Chicken Soup

Directions 

Mix cornbread, biscuits, eggs, sage, salt/pepper, and butter in a large bowl. Set aside.

Boil chicken and onion together. 

Once the chicken cools, pull it apart and place in a separate bowl.

Pour chicken broth into the cornbread mixture and mix. If needed, add broth from the chicken.

Grease crockpot and add one can of Chicken Soup. 

Add half of the dressing mixture, followed by the chicken, and then by the remainder of the dressing. 

Top with the other can of Cream of Chicken Soup.

Cook on Low for 3 to 4 hours. 

If needed sooner, cook on high for 1 hour.

Tweetable: Enjoy this delicious chicken and dressing recipe. 

We believe Good food and God's Word go well together. After you've enjoyed this dessert--or even as you enjoy it--why not hop over to our main page and enjoy one of our encouraging devotions. 

Thanks to all our faithful followers who share our posts! We also invite you to follow and like us on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and Instagram. Help us spread God's encouragement through His Love Lines.

The Source of Life - Martin Wiles

For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. John 15:4 NLT

Within a few days, the large, green vibrant leaves were reduced to a brown, crumpled heap.

Mid-spring had arrived, and I decided to plant a small vegetable garden in our backyard. I made sure to plant yellow crook-necked squash—our favorite to fry when battered with cornmeal. Initially, the plants didn’t do well, so I brought out the Miracle Grow and poured it to them weekly. In no time, the plants perked up, grew at a rapid rate, bloomed, and produced numerous squash.

Then spring ended and summer’s heat arrived. The amount of squash diminished, and the once vibrant leaves faded. One day, I said to my wife, “I think I have just picked the last squash.” After doing so, I used my flat hoe to sever the shanks of the plants from the root balls. I left the severed plant lying where I had performed the surgery…and watched.

As my wife and I sat on the patio each night thereafter, we watched death spread. By the end of the week, our once large squash plants lay in a small brown pile. I had severed their source of life. They could no longer produce. They could only fulfill their destiny: death.

The ugly truth is sometimes hard to swallow: I came into this world dead. Not physically, but spiritually. At a young age, I began to show the truth of Jesus’s statement and of the Bible’s message. Through actions and words, I violated God’s principles and commands. I was severed from the Vine. Left that way, I would have carried that state of spiritual death into an eternity separated from God.

But Jesus shares good news amid the bad. If we connect with Him, the Vine, we’ll experience spiritual life now and in eternity. Forgiveness of all our sins is a part of the connection. Once in Him, we produce fruit in our actions, attitudes, and words—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control. We’ll also enjoy life as God intended—in a relationship with Him.

God doesn’t will for any to perish but for all to connect to the Vine. Are you connected?

Prayer: Father, thank You for the connection You provide through Jesus Christ.

Tweetable: Have you discovered the source of life? 

Thanks to all our faithful followers who share our posts! We also invite you to follow and like us on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and Instagram. Help us spread God's encouragement through His Love Lines.

Meandering Monday - The Head Lifter - Martin Wiles

Welcome to Meandering Monday, where we take a trip back to an earlier post and enjoy it again. 

The Head Lifter

But you, O LORD, are a shield around me; you are my glory, the one who holds my head high. Psalm 3:3 NLT

When my head is lifted and gripped by God’s hands, troubles take on new meaning.

The pain was unlike anything I had ever experienced. I had heard my grandfather talk about his one-time experience with the flu—the intense aches and pains--so I wondered if that’s what I had contracted. My body ached from head to foot. Lifting my head from wherever it rested was almost more than I could muster the strength to do. Read more...

Tweetable: What lifts your head when you're down? 

Thanks to all our faithful followers who share our posts! We also invite you to follow and like us on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and Instagram. Help us spread God's encouragement through His Love Lines.

Apple and Grape Salad

 

Apple and Grape Salad

Ingredients

1 Red Apple (cut in chunks)

1 Yellow Apple (cut in chunks)

1 Green Apple (cut in chunks)

1/2 lb Green Grapes

1/2 lb Black Grapes

2 (10pk) miniature Butterfingers

4 oz. Cream Cheese (softened)

8 oz. Sour Cream

1/2 C. Sugar

Directions

In a small mixing bowl, mix cream cheese, sour cream, and sugar.

Add fruit.

Pour into an 8 x 12 container.

Top with crushed butterfingers.

Keep Refrigerated.

Tweetable: Why not try this healthy dessert? 

Thanks to all our faithful followers who share our posts! We also invite you to follow and like us on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and Instagram. Help us spread God's encouragement through His Love Lines.

 

When the Battery Dies - Martin Wiles

But Paul said to the commanding officer and the soldiers, “You will all die unless the sailors stay aboard.” Acts 27:31 NLT

Around our house, a dead battery on a computer, iPhone, or iPad is a major disaster.

Although we didn't let our two grandsons who stayed with us five days each week remain on their devices continually, we did allow them several hours each day. In fact, getting on their devices was the first thing they wanted to do when they arrived each evening after school. 

If my wife or I had forgotten to charge the devices the night before, the scenery changed. Our grandsons’ moods changed drastically. In their little minds, they had planned to watch videos or play games as soon as they got to Meme and Pop’s house.

One morning during the summer when our grandsons arrived, one of the device’s batteries was dead, leaving only one device between the two of them. Instead of fussing, the younger grandson took his charged device and invited his older brother to sit beside him to watch videos. A rare moment of unity between them. Of course, it didn’t last long, but I saw what could happen when a battery dies.

At the moment, Paul’s dead battery included a hurricane, a group of sailors who wanted to steal the lifeboat and escape the sinking ship, and a group of soldiers who wanted to kill the prisoners so they wouldn’t escape when the ship sank. In the end, they all had to pull together to reach the island shore after the ship ran aground on a sandbar.

Sometimes, God takes things from us or allows a trial in our life to help us see what’s most significant. Paul was a prisoner and on his way to Rome to stand before the most important person in the known world: Caesar. He wanted to get there. Thus, the advice he gave to the officer and the soldiers. Our grandsons getting along was more important than the devices themselves.

Through trials, God helps us distinguish between wants and needs. Devices are wants, not needs. When God reduces our income or our possessions, we quickly learn how much we can do without. Chances are, we already have more than most people in the world.

When life’s batteries die, we also see how important relationships are. Hopefully, our grandsons discovered the lesson, and I’m sure the soldiers and sailors did, too. God created us for relationships with others and, most importantly, with Him. Things … unnecessary things … can promote or hinder our relationships.

When your battery dies, look for the lesson God wants to teach you.

Prayer: Father, show us through trials what the most important things in life are.

Tweetable: What have you learned from a dead battery? 

Thanks to all our faithful followers who share our posts! We also invite you to follow and like us on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and Instagram. Help us spread God's encouragement through His Love Lines.

Draw Near to God - Joel Berry

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. James 4:8 ESV

I enjoy playing a round of golf with my two adult sons.

I learned the game in my mid-thirties, then taught them to play as youngsters. We spent many summer evenings walking as many holes as we could play before dark.

By their late teens, my sons could outdrive me. Now, in their thirties, they beat me whenever we play. I don’t mind. I value the time I spend with them on the golf course, and I take satisfaction in knowing that I taught them to play.

My sons once needed my help to brush their teeth before bed, to put on a sweater as they dressed for church, and to tie their shoes multiple times throughout the day. I carried them on my shoulders when they were tired, and we had a long walk ahead. I remember when they climbed on the sofa as I watched a football game, just so I could hold them in my arms where they felt safe and secure.

Whether they were happy or sad, obedient or disobedient, pungent and sweaty from playing outside or smelling like baby shampoo after a bath, they did not hesitate to draw close and feel my embrace.

James tells us we can do the same with God. Regardless of what we have done or what we are going through, God invites us to draw near.

We draw near through confession, prayer, worship, and meditation on God’s Word. When we draw near to God, He does not turn us away. He draws near to us, wrapping His arms around us when we need His comfort and assurance that He loves us.

If you need to feel God’s love and acceptance, draw near to Him, and He will draw near to you.

Tweetable: Do you feel far away from God? 

Joel Berry is an aspiring writer who will soon graduate from Dallas Theological Seminary with a Master of Arts in Biblical Studies. He serves as a spiritual mentor for men and leads a Bible study group for married couples. Joel and his wife, Cheri, live in Roswell, GA.

Thanks to all our faithful followers who share our posts! We also invite you to follow and like us on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and Instagram. Help us spread God's encouragement through His Love Lines.

Crockpot Macaroni and Cheese

 

CROCKPOT MACARONI & CHEESE

Ingredients

16 OUNCES MACARONI NOODLES

       

1 SMALL BLOCK VELVEETA CHEESE

1 LARGE CAN EVAPORATED MILK

              

2 ½ CUPS WHOLE MILK

           

3 CUPS SHREDDED SHARP CHEESE

2 EGGS

2 TABLESPOONS BUTTER

SALT/PEPPER TO TASTE

Directions

COOK NOODLES (DRAIN AND RINSE).

COMBINE EGGS AND CANNED MILK AND BEAT. 

IN A GREASED CROCK POT, PLACE ALL INGREDIENTS EXCEPT 1 CUP SHREDDED CHEESE.

STIR TOGETHER AND TOP WITH REMAINING CHEESE.

COOK ON HIGH FOR 45 MINUTES, AND THEN LOW FOR 1 ½ HOURS.

We believe Good food and God's Word go well together. After you've enjoyed this dessert--or even as you enjoy it--why not hop over to our main page and enjoy one of our encouraging devotions. 

Tweetable: Try this sumptuous macaroni and cheese. 

Thanks to all our faithful followers who share our posts! We also invite you to follow and like us on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and Instagram. Help us spread God's encouragement through His Love Lines.