Tuesday’s Treats #16

/ The WheatandTares / 3 Comments

Fogo De Chao

location: Atlanta, Ga 

I had never eaten at a Brazillian Steakhouse until the other day during our “Night on the Town.” Oh. My. Goodness. You can really hurt yourself when eating there! They have an enormous salad bar, appropriately called, The Market Table, and then, when you’re ready, the waiters start bringing out the meats!

You have a little coaster, which is red on one side and green on the other, and you use this to let the waiters know if/when you want more. The room seems to almost “move” as each waiter goes from table to table with a skewer stacked high of individual types of meat, such as top sirloin, bottom sirloin, house sirloin, filet of lamb, ribs, pork loin, chicken legs and chicken sausage. You can choose what you like, and you can have as much as you’d like.

The food is absolutely fantastic, and because it’s simply slices of meat that each waiter gives you, it’s pretty easy to not realize how much you’ve really eaten until you are about to bust! 😉

They also have an incredible array of desserts, if you can actually stand putting another thing in your belly after all this! They have New York style cheesecake with strawberries, Creme Brûlée, Turtle Cheesecake, Molten Chocolate Cake and Key Lime…just to name s few!

Here is their website to find all the information you need. 😊

In Hot Pursuit

/ The WheatandTares / 6 Comments

 “He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” 1 John 4:8
Did you know Gid pursues us with His love? He surrounds us with beauty everyday so that we might think of Him. He sends good things our way so that we might remember Him. Even in trials and tribulations, even in the smallest things, people have testified time and again of the goodness of the Lord. We just have to open our eyes to see it. 

Why does He do this? He pursues us with His love, because He longs for us to be with Him. He longs to walk with us, to talk with us, to have a friendship, a deep relationship with us. He longs to be reunited with us. 

How much do we pursue Him in this way? Do we only think about Him when it comes church time and prayer time over the meal? Do we only think of Him when we are in trouble or in distress, because, after all, He is a God of wisdom and a God of answers. He’s a God of refuge and help. 

He pursues us, because He wants our hearts as well as our hands. He can catch our hands easily. It’s easy to catch your child’s hand when they’re young, when they need help after a tumble, or when you need to stop them from running in the street. However, it’s harder to catch the hand of your teen when they desperately long for independence and have so many new avenues to find that freedom. It’s even harder to win the heart of your grown child if you didn’t quite master the task in their younger years. 

Too often, I believe we have this same tendency toward our Heavenly Father. When we first get saved, He is all we think about, all we talk about. We pursue a relationship with Him. Yet, as life moves forward, the responsibilities pull on us, and the priorities of life knock down our door, we set Him aside for brighter, easier days. We forget about that relationship we once had when we communed daily with Him. We wait till we are in distress to call on His name. 
But oh, the sweetness of walking with Him day by day. Oh the joy we miss when He’s put aside. 

He’s still there where you left Him. Seek Him out today. You will find Him. He promised when you seek Him with all your heart, you will find Him. 

What Do You See?

/ The WheatandTares / 2 Comments

  Sometimes, your vision is everything… 
In 2 Kings 6:17, Elijah prayed this for his servant: “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he might see.” 

What do you see when you look at people? What do you see when you are in the middle of chaos? What do you see when you are surrounded by those who have less than you or, maybe, who have more? What do you look at? What do you envision? 

What you see makes up who you are. It will determine if you live as a victim or as a victor. If you always see negative, you will tend to be a negative person. If you see hopelessness and despair, you will be a fearful person and you will have a tendency to either run away from problems or avoid anything that might appear as a challenge. Yet, if you see hope and strength, you will have a tendency to be a fighter, a person who doesn’t give up too easily. If you see love and prosperity, you will tend to seek out those with whom you have camaraderie and with whom you can succeed. Depending on what you look at, you will see trouble or triumph.  

What you see will determine where you end up in life. If you don’t see success, you’ll never achieve it. If you don’t see possibilities, you’ll never see a promotion. If you don’t see faith and integrity in others, you’ll never learn to trust and open up to another person. You can look at people all day every day, but if you don’t see them, you’ll never be able to reach them, and you’ll never be able to learn from them.  

So, I’d like to leave you with a few questions to ponder… 

When you look at yourself, do you see all your faults and failures, or do you see a child of the King?  

When you look at your children, do you just see your little ones and the responsibilities they bring, or do you see a king or a queen?  

When you look at this world, do you see sin or a sinner who needs Jesus? 

When you look at the cross, do you see a burden hard to carry, or do you see the story of a promise desperately needing to be shared?

What do you see?

Answer to Friday’s Angle #65

/ The WheatandTares / 1 Comment

How’d you do yesterday??

  
If you guessed wood or, more specifically, driftwood, you guessed right! 😊

   
Look at the little shell in there! I was going to use this pic, but I was afraid it would give it away too quickly. 😉

   

Between The Ditches

/ The WheatandTares / 3 Comments

I wanted to do one more Daily Post tonight, and as I began thinking about the word, “Survive,” this post that I wrote last year came to mind. I hope you won’t mind me reshaping rather than trying to come up with a different “survive” post. I think this pretty well sums it up for me. 😉

OCTOBER 26, 2015 / THE WHEATANDTARES

We were driving behind this guy one day who seemed very preoccupied with everything except the one thing he needed to be focused on: driving. He turned around to talk to his backseat passenger. He looked down for something. He reached over into the front passenger seat for something else. The whole time, he was swerving from the yellow line to the white line, back and forth, time and time again.

It made me think of our personal lives with Christ. Sometimes, I think we can find ourselves driving the road of life simply keeping it between the ditches. We can survive this way. We can definitely make it to heaven, keeping our lives just barely beyond the boundaries of sin, and, yes, especially when we are just getting into this thing, it takes learning and growing to set those boundaries strong and true.

However, when we consistently live our lives simply with the mentality, “How much can I get away with and still make it to heaven?,” I wonder if we truly THRIVE in our Christian walk. I wonder if we can have as much impact as when we set our standards higher and start living life victoriously…

I believe God has called us to live thriving to seek more of Him and less of us. I believe He would have us thriving in this life, paving the path for those around us to find Him. I believe He would have us to live victoriously, mountaintop to mountaintop.

This doesn’t mean we never encounter temptations, we never drop down into the valleys. After all, the only way to move from one mountain top to the next is by going through the valley or across the ridge. We can’t just hop from one to another. We will face low points at some time.

However, the difference I’m talking about is just like the driver that we found ourselves behind that day. He had a choice to drive straight, to take the curves wisely and to not hinder, or even scare the life out of, the on coming traffic due to his distractions. He lacked focus of the main thing he needed to be doing: driving!

We, as Christians, are called to a higher place, to live a better way. After all, Jesus told us, “…But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light…” 1Peter 2:9

*I do not own or possess this picture. Found on Google images: http://www.equipmentworld.com

Daily Prompt: SURVIVAL
Survival

What Do You See?

/ The WheatandTares

It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see

-D.H.Thoreau

Sometimes, your vision is everything…

What do you see when you look at people? What do you see when you are in the middle of chaos? What do you see when you are surrounded by those who have less than you or, maybe, who have more? What do you look at? What do you envision?

What you see makes up who you are. If you always see negative, you will tend to be a negative person. If you see hopelessness and despair, you are, most likely, a fearful person and you will have a tendency to either run away from problems or avoid anything that might appear a challenge. Yet, if you see hope and strength, you will have a tendency to be a fighter, a person who doesn’t give up too easily. If you see love and prosperity, you will tend to seek out those with whom you have camaraderie and with whom you can succeed.

What you see will determine where you end up in life. If you don’t see success, you’ll never achieve it. If you don’t see possibilities, you’ll never try. If you don’t see faith and integrity  in others, you’ll never learn to trust and open up to another person. In order to have a dream realized, you must first see the goals needed to get to the dream. In order to have a goal achieved, you must first see the first step that is needed. In order to start on that path, you must be able to see those around you who can help you and guide you learn to walk.

You can look at people all day every day, but if you don’t see them, you’ll never be able to reach them, and you’ll never be able to learn from them. You can look at the places people go, or the successes they have and wish you were there; however, if you don’t see the sacrifices they made to get there, you will never know the cost you’ll need to pay. You’ll never see how many steps it will take, whom you will need to help and how long it may take to arrive.

What do you see?

Daily Prompt: VISION

Vision

Friday’s New Angle #65

/ The WheatandTares / 2 Comments

It’s FRIDAY!! 🎉 That means it’s time for another New Angle! Are you ready? 😊

 
Remember, the answer will be here, same time, tomorrow. Hope you have fun with this one! Thanks for playing! 😊

What Makes You Tick?

/ The WheatandTares / 4 Comments

I wanted to do a little different post today. I’d like to hear from those of you out there who frequent The Grizzle Grist Mill, as well as, those of you who might be dropping by for the first time today…
 

This photo not only sums up one of my favorite places, but it always turns my thoughts towards my Savior as well. For He is Living Water. ❤️ John 7:37-38

 
 I was scrolling through my iPhone pictures this morning, and because I probably tend to be a photo hoarder, I have way too many pictures stored there! However, even when I clear the storage down to just a few (100 😳), there are a handful of photos that I like to keep in there. It made me wonder if there might be others “out there” who do the same thing? Are there some things that you keep close just because they seem to be a part of you? Is there a photo or a possession you have that just seems to sum up who you are and what you’re about?

For the sake of online safety, I don’t post any present day photos of my guys, but my little family is a great big part of me!

 

What makes you tick? Will you kindly share one or two of them with us today? 😊

 

I love this man with all my heart! ❤️

 
 

My childhood home will always be a part of me.

 

Forgiveness With A Boundary

/ The WheatandTares / 2 Comments

 Sometimes, we just have to forgive, simply, because He says so. It may not be easy. It may not be what we want, and it may definitely not be what the other person deserves, but God is very clear in this fact: We Must Forgive. Yet, forgiveness does not always mean reconciliation…

Many times, it may take years to find the ability to forgive, and sometimes, it will come instantly. Some of the hardest moments to forgive are those when someone continues to cause pain and wounds on top of the scars you have already endured. That’s when the real test comes, “Can you forgive…again?”

However, I think, oftentimes for me, the harder test comes as I struggle with the balance between learning to “forgive and walk away” and “forgive and reconcile” when someone continually wounds me, especially when it’s someone for whom I care deeply. It’s easier to forgive and walk away when you don’t have to deal with them daily. It’s easier to forgive and walk away when they’re not family or a close friend. It’s so easy when you can forgive and never worry about seeing them again, but what about those who keep knocking down your door?

As a young child and even as an adult, when someone hurt me, I would always have the tendency to ‘go back for more’ before I cut them off completely and became unforgiving. Not everyone’s problem, I know, but it’s still a problem that must be solved, because this kind of tendency will cause codependency, abuse and lack of boundaries for a healthy life. We must learn to forgive, but we must, also, learn when to say, “No more.”

As I’ve grown older, both in age and in wisdom, I have learned that true forgiveness does not always bring true reconciliation. Sometimes, that other person is just wrong. Sometimes, the other party is too abusive, codependent, mean or just plain cruel, and you are better off to forgive and walk away than to return to the relationship. You have to learn to do this for your own well being, your own health, and your own sanity.

I call this “forgiveness with a boundary.” It doesn’t mean you don’t forgive, and it doesn’t mean you don’t love and care for the person; however, it does mean you draw a line in the sand and say, “No more after today. This is now your boundary into my life. You can come this far but no further. You will not continue to break through and wound my heart to the point I cannot function and live the life I am supposed to live.”

Just as an abused child must learn it’s not okay to be abused, those who have relationships with people who have no boundaries must learn it’s not okay to be used. It’s okay to say no to the abuse of your emotions, your mind and your heart. As I’ve already stated, it’s okay to set boundaries for your life to protect your well being, your health, and your sanity.

This has been my hard lesson learned:

You are a daughter of the Almighty God! You are a daughter of the King! You were not made to grovel in self pity nor in codependency. You were not made to be a doormat. You were not made to be a yo-yo, always up and down with the emotions, feelings and thoughts of others. You are destined to be so much more!

You were created to be YOU, a child of a King! You are a precious, beautiful jewel and you should be treated as such. Stop living with your head held low, always looking to the ground. Look up! For your Redeemer has come. He loves you, and He has called you to be so much more!!

If you find yourself in that kind of place today, in that place of hopelessness, pain and abuse of any kind. I hope you will be encouraged to know there is a better way. There is hope and freedom beyond where you are. He has made it possibly for you to live beyond your pain, beyond your fears and beyond your intimidations!

Thank you, Jesus, for redeeming me and  forgiving me. Thank you for helping me to forgive, and thank you for helping me to learn how to walk away from hurtful people and to live in the freedom you’ve given me and for showing me how to live victoriously! ❤️

Tuesday’s Treats #15

/ The WheatandTares

Rico’s World Kitchen

Location: Buford, Ga

Rico’s is a cool little eclectic restaurant in the heart of Historic Buford. Buford is the town famous for The Mall of Georgia, but sometimes the downtown can get missed, because it’s a few Mike’s away from the mall. Rico’s has been listed in several magazines and articles as one of the best places to eat in Georgia, and I completely understand why. Their food is unique, and it tastes incredible!

Pictured above is their sandwich called, “The Chicken Cuban.” I promise you, when you first bite into it, you will think it is a wonderful pork Cuban. It’s all in the marinade. The first time my husband orders it, he called the waitress over and she knew before he even asked what he was going to say. She assured him it was chicken, and it was due to the marinade and cooking process. He thinks it’s the best chicken sandwich on the planet.

I do think it’s wonderful; however, I’d have to say their “Royal Rooster” is my all time favorite. They (now – it used to be just one) take TWO chicken breast, marinate them in a habanero sauce and fry them, place them on a bun with tomato, lettuce, and mayo. Now, I switch mine up just a little, because I sub in smoked Gouda for the Swiss, and I only have it with lettuce and the bun.

You have a choice of inside dining and outside patio, both are nice. If you time your meal just right, you’ll also get the treat of watching the train run through downtown. I always love that..I guess, I’m still a kid at heart. 😊

They always have the best sweet tea (yes, this is the South! 😉), a creative and delicious daily special and beautiful desserts on display. If you haven’t been to Rico’s, you’ll want to try it! Here is their website for more information.