Our church takes communion every week, and I kind of love it. I love being reminded, often, what the Lord did for me. That it’s only by His life and what He did on the cross that I can come to Him. That I can have a relationship with Him. That I can come into His Holy presence and be with Him. It blows my little tiny human mind.
And one thing that our church started about a month back was new to me. There are tables on the sides of the stage with bread and juice, and we each get up when we’re ready and go and take communion and then sit down. You know the drill, but each church usually has a different way they do it. So what happened a few weeks ago really touched me. The pastor said we were going to try something new. He said when we went up to take communion, you would take the bread and break off a piece and actually hand it to the person behind you. You were to look them right in the eyes, and say,  “This is Christ’s body, broken for you.” And then hand them the cup so they could dip the bread and then say, “This is Christ’s blood, spilled for you”.
I have to admit, I was a bit skeptical at first. Communion is that strange thing that is both very personal, but also something we do as a body of believers. And so I wasn’t so sure I liked the idea of talking to someone else when I just wanted this moment to be about me and God.

Or so I thought.

I stood in line waiting for my turn, and I watched the people in font of me. And oh my goodness, I was so moved as I watched my brothers and sisters in the Lord serve each other. I was actually in tears as I heard a husband whisper to his wife, “this is the body of Christ, broken for you.” And then an older man say those same words to the woman behind him.

It was beautiful.

I was reminded that yes, what the Lord did on the cross was for me. If I was the only person on earth, He still would have done it for me because that is how much He loves me. But it was also done for every single person. It’s a gift that is completely free, and was done out of His great love for us.

So we’ve continued to do it this way for about the last month, and each time we do it I still get teary eyed. There is something so powerful in hearing those words, each week, spoken right to me because the pastor has added another element of personalization. Since we are a small church and can do it-we say the person’s name. And if we don’t know it, we ask them. So each week I hear these words, and it does something way down deep in my soul.

Jessica. This is Christ’s body broken for you. This is Christ’s blood spilled for you.

Thank you Jesus, for what you did for us on the cross!!!

I feel like I’m in that constant struggle of wanting to make something yummy for dinner, not feeling like I have tons of time to prepare it, and also not wanting something with an exhaustive ingredient list that sends me to the four corners of the grocery store and back. (cause who has time to back track in the grocery store?! It’s maddening.)

So, I thought I would share three of my favorite new recipes. They are easy. Fast (quick enough to pull off while both kids are awake and running amuck because let’s be honest I rarely want to give up any of that precious nap time to make dinner either!!) Delicious.

First…Chipotle burrito bowls. These are amazing. And it makes enough for like 6 people. So if there aren’t six of you to feed, with a little prep work you can have dinner and lunch the next day!) Oh, and it has you make your own chipotle sauce by using chipotle peppers in adobo sause-sounds annoying but it’s SO worth it. Word of caution, well two actually. 1. slice open the chilies and scrape out the seeds! (she fails to tell you to do this!! like all of them. then when you’re all done, try it and if you need more kick add like 3 seeds at a time! 2. don’t touch anything with your hands when you chop them. nothing. You’ll regret it…

http://damndelicious.net/2014/09/10/easy-burrito-bowls/

Second pick. This one I knew would be amazing, and the funny part was since we have tacos all the time -usually ground meat, carne asada, or chicken-Brandon kept saying, “hmm this has no meat”. Hmmmm And I was like “hmmm is good”?!? or hmmm don’t make this again?! And he was said it was amazing. So for those of you who see the words vegetarian and get freaked out-try it !!

http://soupaddict.com/2014/06/loaded-guacamole-vegetarian-tacos/

Third.Lettuce wraps. Who doesn’t love these? I cheated too and just chopped up lettuce, it was just as yummy and way less messy. Oh, and another tip here. Not sure what on earth this girl is thinking, but she has like 10 spicy things in the recipe!! I cut out a few cause I either couldn’t find them, or didn’t want it that spicy for the kids and it still had a kick!  (I didn’t add a jalepeno and only did 2 TBS of sirachi sauce. Also, this one does have kind of different ingredients, but you may just want to buy them cause you’ll love it so much you will most likely be making it again!!

http://gluten-free-zen.com/2012/04/19/asian-lettuce-wraps-lemon-buttercream-cupcakes/

I’m a little bit embarrassed to admit that Brandon and I don’t pray together regularly. Every time we do it, we both love it and always see the fruit of it in pretty amazing ways. So, why don’t we do it together more often? I don’t know. (actually, I do know. It’s that dam devil who knows how powerful it would be if we did do that more regularly, and it’s not a discipline in our lives!)

So when I got an email about a prayer challenge through Family Life I was excited. I asked Brandon if we would do it with me and he said yes. Like an excited yes!! And then something ugly happened in my heart, I got annoyed. Instead of being thankful that He was willing to commit to praying with me every single day for the next month, my head was saying “but he’s supposed to be the spiritual leader of the family, he should initiate/do this”.

And I’m sorry, but I think this is just sad.

I do believe that the husband is the leader of the home, in all things. That is where God has placed him. And after doing an amazing study on submission (don’t cringe ladies, it was actually a great study that completely changed my perspective on the word!) I learned through that study that the Husband should indeed be leader of all things spiritual in the home. But, but I learned that doesn’t mean as the wives we can’t do/lead/encourage Godliness too. Or do/lead/encourage a bible study together, or praying together. Just because he is to be the head doesn’t mean that I can’t initiate things that are spiritual. For some reason I blurred those lines, and I know, it doesn’t make any sense! So, thankfully, A total light bulb went on, that simply because I think he should initiate and do all things spiritual because that is his job, I then back down at things I know the Lord wants me to do as his wife and helper. I feel annoyed that Brandon didn’t’ think of X for us to do, or if he doesn’t ask me how my relationship with the Lord is than that isn’t okay. Ummmmm hello. I can initiate that! And I’ve fallen into that rut, again.

And so, as I found this prayer challenge, and brought it up to him, I am so thankful He is on board! I mean, I am thrilled that he was excited, ready and happy to do it with me. Thankfully, I know he and the Lord forgive me for those old negative thoughts creeping in-stuff that could have poisoned the very thing meant to breathe fresh life into our marriage-simply because he didn’t initiate this one.

So we are on day seven. And I am loving praying with Him every single day. So far it’s been great.