Be Strong and of a Good Courage

Right before the children of Israel were to cross over the Jordan River to claim their inheritance from the Lord, Moses passed the mantel of leadership on to Joshua before his translation.  And Joshua was left with the overwhelming, probably pretty daunting task of not only leading this gigantic group of Israelites into a new land to be their leader.  But, oh yeah!, he was also commanded that before they could claim their inheritance, they had to destroy ALL the inhabitants of the land who were ripe in iniquity.  Probably pretty overwhelming, even for someone spiritually strong, doing all the things the Lord had asked, and really trying hard.  But here is what the Lord said to Joshua:

2 Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel.

 3 Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses.


 4 From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast.

 5 There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.

 6 Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them.

 7 Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest.

 8 This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.

 9 Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.

He reminded Joshua three times to be strong and of a good courage because he probably needed the extra encouragement.  He also told him two other important things.  (1) In verse 6 he reminds Joshua that he, the Lord, has already promised the land to the children of Israel as their inheritance.  And he will always keep his promises--and he even keeps that promise when they  fall short.  Amazing his goodness on that promise.  (2) In verses 7-8 he reminds Joshua to study and meditate on the scriptures, and turn not from them, and he would make their way prosperous and have success.

This is our counsel too.  He has made promises to us in the face of an unknown future.  So when we are in a moment when we don't see that, we have to hold to the promises he made.  He will ALWAYS keep his promises.  And what's more, he will not fail us or forsake us.  Remember, he loves those who have him to be their God.

Secondly, we need to feast upon the scriptures.   Recently I was feeling fearful and empty.  And I literally read the scriptures ALL day.  I was feasting on them all day to be lifted.  And for the first while I cried the entire time I read them.  But as I kept going, and kept reading scripture after scripture after scripture about how the Lord knows us, understands our trials, and loves us and will help us through them, I finally felt peace and hope and calm from the Holy Ghost.  But it took hours of concentrated study of the scriptures to feel that way. Take time to live in the scriptures.  Listening to others speak is good, but I don't believe it equals the power of God's word. 

He still asks, "have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee withersoever thou goest He is with you."  Let go of the fear and feel it.

The Best Classic Chocolate Chip Cookie

I like to branch out at times with baking cookies, but when I need a good standard, this is the go-to cookie for me.  I have been making this recipe for a classic chocolate chip cookie nearly as long as I have been married--19 years.  And it never fails to impress--or make it to day 2.  So, in the spirit of sharing good ideas, here is one I want to put out there.  It's kind of my signature cookie, but I am happy to share it with good friends.  And as long as you don't bring it to the same "Bring Your Favorite Cookie" activity as me, you are welcome to enjoy and share these treats as much as you like.


I have been making these so long, I'm not even sure if I own a hard copy of the recipe.  But this is what I always think of first--The First Five.

These five ingredients go into the mixer first.  And I tick them off my mental list every time.

1 stick butter flavored shortening
2 eggs
1/2 C white sugar
1 C brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Cream these first five together and then add:

1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 1/4 C flour

Every time (and I do mean every time--that's a lot) I make these cookies, as I am measuring the flour carefully, I think back on a memory of mine when I was in high school.  See these girls?

When I was in high school (probably the same age as this picture--maybe a touch older), my mom let me travel from my home town of Idaho Falls to Salt Lake City (3 hours away) with these two, Stephanie and Mindy, to spend the week at Mindy's Grandma's home to shop for school clothes.  CRAZY.  When I think about that I am a little stunned.  As the mother of a 15-year-old, I can't believe the trust my mom (and their moms, for that matter) had in us to let us go on such an excursion--and we did it a couple times.  But what a great way to spread our wings and grow up a little.

On this particular trip, we spent many hours watching Ann of Green Gables movies (how we all loved Gilbert Blythe), drinking ourselves sick with...water (because we heard, of course, that we should drink 8 glasses a day and interpreted that to mean 8 glasses, at once, at 1:00 in the morning), and baking cookies.  Steph and Mindy both came from big families and had much more experience than I in the kitchen.  So as we made a batch of cookies, they insisted that adding more and more flour to a cookie recipe just made them better.  In the back of my rule-following mind (probably why this memory sticks out to me so often), I remember thinking that that didn't really sound right.  But what did I know?  I didn't have much baking experience.  Well, generally, it's a good idea to stick to the recipe when it comes to adding flour to cookies.  Those were terrible.

So, every time I carefully measure out 2 1/4 C flour for these cookies, I think of our Salt Lake excursion with a smile.

After those ingredients are mixed, I drop in 1 bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips.  I like these better than the milk, which is a little too sweet for my taste.

After lining my cookie sheets with the yummy little dough balls (that sometimes don't make it to the oven if the kids are around), I bake them for exactly 8 minutes at 375 degrees.  And I don't vary from this either.  They look like they aren't done at 8 minutes.  But I take them out anyway.  I have been doing these for a long time.  And every time I think I am smarter than the cookie and leave them in a little longer, they turn out hard and over done.  So I stick with the 8-minute rule.

After removing them from the oven, I leave them on the pan for a few minutes to continue a last little cooking, and then I move them to the cooling rack.

Yummy!  We love them at our house.  I hope you like them too.

And, in case you don't want to have to write the recipe out, here it is in once place so you can print it off.

Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 stick butter flavored shortening
2 eggs
1/2 C sugar
1 C brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla

cream and add
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 1/4 C flour
1 bag semi-sweet chips

375 for 8 minutes.

Enjoy!

Teaching Our Family about Family

Today in seminary we talked about the importance of covenant marriage.  It was a great opportunity for me to incorporate this great talk I discovered on one of my new-found favorite blogs.

How I love this talk.  It really breaks down the great Plan of Happiness to the most basic element of importance--family.  What a great reminder for me as the mom of a growing {up} family. 

Getting Started

I am finding that the blogs I enjoy the most--and there aren't many mind you.  I am not often browsing.  Just no time--are the ones with a take away for me.  A great recipe, a fabulous lesson idea, a suggestion for making me a better wife/mom/daughter/etc.  So with that in mind, I thought, "Maybe someone else likes to find great ideas too."  And thus the birth of yet another blog in the whole wide blogosphere.

Of course I will keep up my daily {ok, maybe weekly or, let's face it, monthly} update and travel log of our little family's happenings over at Ramblewilde.  Grandmas and grandpas still like to see what's going on around here. But this blog will be dedicated to things that offer something to someone else.

And if can figure out how to use my blog correctly, I hope to add indexing tools so in can be navigated easily and not necessarily chronologically.  Here's to the new start up.  Hey! That's an Idea.