"For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." Luke 14:11 (memory verse for the month....you are herby challenged to memorize it!)
Our February PEARLS warmed us right up! In my case I was warmed in two ways. 1. You know the uncomfortable sensation you get when you know you have done something wrong? When you have sinned? Pride is a sin. That didn't warm me up, but knowing that God loves me and He is calling me to humble myself and turn to Him. Feeling His arms around me, warms me. 2. A cup of wonderful Broccoli Cheese soup and Cream of Mushroom soup!We gathered at Linda's beautiful home and opened up with "Alphabet Soup". No, we didn't eat it, we had to pick two alphabet letter and then choose words starting with those letters that described yourself. There were words like vivacious, weird, diligent, waterbaby, exhausted, ready and the list goes on.
Next, Felicia led us in our devotional on humility. 2 Chronicles 7:14 says "If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land." If we want to experience the revival that God wants to send, then we mus 1. Humble ourselves. 2. Pray. 3. Seek His face, & 4. Turn from our wicked ways. Pride is the opposite of humility and the Bible has a lot to say about it. Proverbs 16:18 is just one of numerous verses. "Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall." James 4:6 is another, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." Why do you think God is so opposed to human pride? Pride causes one to think that God is not needed. Felicia shared the example of two kings in the Bible...Rehoboam and Asa. Rehoboam began his reign in pride, but after being told that God had abandoned him to the hand of the enemy, Rehoboam humbled himself and God did not destroy the people. Asa, on the other hand, started his reign honoring God and then ended it full of pride and rebellion. He was even given the opportunity to humble himself, but chose not to and he died from a severe disease. Both of these kings sinned and both were confronted. Rehoboam decided to humble himself and therefore was restored. Asa chose the way of pride and was ruined.At the end of the devotional, Felicia and Julie read a list contrasting proud people and humble people. It was then asked what is your pride quotient? God says we must humble ourselves and He is waiting for us with open arms.
Linda then made us all cry...well, mainly she was crying from cutting up at least 6 onions!!!!!! Boy were the tears streaming down her cheeks! Why so many onions? Well, for the delicious soup she was preparing. I will probably not give all the information needed, but I will do my best.
The first thing you have to do is chop all of your veggies. Linda said she just scrubs her veggies really well even carrots. She doesn't peel them because that takes aways some vitamins. Next, pour a little bit of olive oil in the pan to keep the butter from burning. Add one stick of butter for each soup to melt. Then add your veggies to saute them. In another pan make the roux (cream sauce). Melt another stick of butter for this. Then slowly add some flour. Stir the flour for at least 3 minutes to get the starch all dispersed. Slowly add whole milk (Linda likes to use heavy cream). The sauce actually will be very runny once the milk is added. After the veggies have been sauteed, then add the cream sauce. For flavor, Linda added some minced garlic and she uses Kosher salt. I only had the broccoli cheese soup which was excellent, but I know others really enjoyed the Cream of Mushroom! Thanks Linda for sharing those tips with us and for raising our cholesterol:)
The Broccoli Cheese soup also had celery and carrots in it. Cheddar was Linda's choice of cheese.
