Recently I asked my Mom what desert she wanted for her birthday and she sent me this Butterfinger Pie recipe.  Now I LOVE to cook and bake and expected my Mom to pick one of the elaborate cheesecake recipes I have made for her in the past.  I was a little disappointed that she was not going to challenge my culinary skills more than this.  I even gave her a hard time about the recipe and how easy it was and told her I was not going to make this, even though it was what she wanted.  I thought about it for a few days and decided that I needed to make the pie, no matter how easy i thought it was, because I had asked and she had answered.  It was not the answer I had wanted, but it was an answer.  How many times do we do the same thing with God.  We pray and ask for an answer and when He gives it to us and it is not the answer we want, we stop listening.  When we take the time to ask a question or pray for an answer, we need to be prepared for that answer even if it is not the answer we want.  Once I realized this and I decided to make the pie my Mom asked for, a great idea hit me.  I have 2 boys, 7 and 9 and this recipe requires nothing sharp or hot in its making.  What a fun recipe for me to supervise them making and what a great gift for them to give their Nana. See, if we stop and listen and take the answer we are given, some thing great is libel to come from it. 

Warning Warning....This is NOT a diet recipe.....

Only FOUR ingredients for this pie!! That's it, and only 3 simple steps! It's almost silly....... if it wasn't for the fact that this is a candy bar pie, which is always serious business...

Butterfinger Pie
6 (2 1/8 ounce) butterfinger candy bars, crushed
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
1 (12 ounce) carton Cool Whip
1 graham cracker crust

Directions

Mix first three ingredients together.

2. Put it in pie crust.
3. Chill.

Candace Furiosi

A a little girl, I loved to hear my grandfather tell stories. I remember sitting at his feet while he sat in his favorite rocking chair. I would say,"Granddaddy, please tell me a story and he always had one. He was a circuit riding Baptist preacher, so he always had plenty of stories.

Stories that affirm the power of prayer are my favorite stories. The story I want to share with you is old and I have heard it told many times throughout my Christian life. I have it written down somewhere, but could not locate my notes, so please forgive me if I get some of the details wrong. I know the main point is correct.

In the early years of Dallas Theological Seminary, Dr. Harry Ironsides and the board members were in a special prayer meeting about the future of the seminary. They needed a very large sum of money to keep the doors open. There was much discussion on what to do. Dr. Ironsides spoke and said that HIS God was big and HE owned the cattle on a thousand hills. He instructed his secretary that they were not to be disturbed for any reason because they were going into a serious time of prayer. As the men prayed and sought God's will, Dr. Ironsides prayed a simple prayer: God, your word says that you own the cattle on a thousand hills, so could You please sell some of them and send us the money. In a short time, his secretary was knocking at the door repeatedly. Finally Dr. Ironsides came to the door and said "I thought I said we did not want to be interrupted." She said I thought you would want to see this man. This Texas cattle rancher came in and told them he was taking a load of cattle to the market when God impressed upon him to sell them and give the money to the seminary because they needed it. He had a check in his hand and gave it to Dr. Ironsides. It was for the exact amount of money they needed! The seminary was able to pay their bills and as you know, they have kept the doors open since the early 1920's and trained many pastors and church leaders.

I have loved this story all my life because it proves to me that God desires to have us pray in faith Believing He hears us and that He will answer.

James 5:16 says "Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective". (NIV)

So, ladies, don't give up, Keep praying!!!

--
LINDA DAVIS 

In one of our Women’s Ministry courses, we just finished our Bible Study entitled
“Glorious Ruin,” a study on suffering. Of course, this study is based on the Book of Job, a man whose story always brings many questions to mind. Suffering has been always something I feared  since I was a child. Since there was so much drama in my family growing up, I was always afraid to see what else might be coming my way. 

I learned a lot during this study. I learned that we may not be suffering simply because we did something wrong. This thinking is referred to as “moralizing suffering” and it is not Biblical. There are consequences to our actions, but not all pain and suffering is a direct consequence of something we’ve done.  We are not to minimize our suffering, because pain is real and we are broken people living in a broken world. God never says to anyone in the Bible: “Just get over it!” Jesus suffered on the cross.  He did not suffer because of His own sin, but because of ours. 

Job’s story also reminds us that God is in complete control. He was when He allowed
Jesus to be crucified on our behalf, and He is in complete control now when you and I suffer. If you find yourself there today, hold unto God’s sovereignty in the midst of suffering. Anytime we suffer, we need to remember that Jesus knows exactly what our suffering is like. 

”For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tested in every way as we are, yet without sin.  Therefore let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us at the proper time.”  Hebrews 4:15-16

Suffering, pain and grief are all an acknowledgement that things in this world are not as
they should be. God never promises to rescue us from our suffering, but He does promise us to rescue us in our suffering, so we will not be slaves to things like bitterness or anger. 

My prayer is that maybe one day soon you and I can say with Job: “The Lord gives,
the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord!”

 Krisztina White

My family and I recently took a vacation to the “Happiest Place on Earth.” However, our experience fell short of that happy expectation. Sadly, the gap between expectation and reality proves to be disappointment every time. To briefly explain our trip, my family has been using a disabled guest pass that has been available at this theme park for many years. It has been a wonderful help to accommodate my son’s special needs; however, the system was abused by others, policies were changed, and our family was negatively impacted by sinful choices made by others.

In my frustration, God patiently reminded me of another “Happiest Place on Earth,” His perfect and peaceful Garden of Eden, meant to provide all that was needed for those living there. A sinful choice was made in Eden by the residents, changing the experience of the Garden, and affecting every family from then on.

“Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death spread to all men, because all sinned.” (Romans 5:12)

Sin ruins happy experiences and affects those around us beyond the experience. Left alone to our own choices, we are without hope and dead in our sin. But I have good news, dear friend, because God’s Word doesn’t end in verse 12 of Romans 5.  By God’s grace, He offered a gift to us through His Only Son, Jesus Christ, in the wake of our sinfulness that can affect any person.

“But the gift is not like the trespass. For if by the one man’s trespass the many died, how much more have the grace of God and the gift overflowed to the many by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ…For just as through one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so also through the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.” (Romans 5:15, 19)

Happiness on this earth is temporary. The effects of sin are so widespread that we will always be disappointed. But receiving God’s grace and forgiveness while trusting Jesus with your life will prepare you for the day your Creator brings you into the glorious “Happiest Place of Heaven” to live with Him forever.

Now that’s the place I want to be, where reality exceeds far beyond my expectations. Until then, follow Jesus closely and trust Him completely. He not only knows the way, He is the Way, and that is enough.   

Tamar Miller