Looking beyond restrictions

Sometimes I get the feeling that 2021 was a year of restrictions, in many ways. That may be true, if I look through a negative lens.

If I look through a positive lens instead and make my 2021 work summary, I come to the conclusion that I have done many things... when it comes to writing and speaking.

I realize that there is an enemy who always tries to make us think that we didn't do enough, that it wasn't good, that it could be better, that what we did had no impact etc. etc.

That enemy is a liar and a thief. He is harassing us, trying to steal our joy, and belittle our talents. For that reason alone I like to take inventory for myself, as proof that he has no right to speak!

• I have recorded more than two hundred videos about the Psalms and Proverbs 3 and distributed them on YouTube and Instagram TV
• I have written monthly blogs for www.ikzoekgod.nl and
• monthly columns for Opwekking Magazine
• In addition, I also wrote posts almost weekly on my English and Dutch blogs
• 
  I also wrote two feature articles for Opwekking Magazine
• Recently I also started making podcasts that you can find on Spotify under the name Fresh Insights on Ancient Truths
• I also wrote 23,000 words in my new book and
• I preached a number of times in churches and at gatherings.

All different ways to stay connected with readers and listeners and to keep spreading His Word. After all, my #oneword for 2021 was connect.

👉I don't know about you, but if you have the feeling that the year has slipped through your hands without significant highlights...

Please, take inventory and you will be amazed at what you have been able to accomplish and it will inspire you to continue, also in 2022!

Italian castagnaccio pie

When we visited our friend Maria Meier in Comunità Brezzano in Tuscany, Italy this last September, she gave us some chestnut flour to take back home to The Netherlands.

Ancient chestnut trees are abundant in Tuscany and the grinded flour of chestnuts is being used for salty bread, cookies, and pies.

👉Since the flour does not contain gluten, it is great for people who cannot eat cookies or bread made of regular flour. I found a recipe for Italian castagnaccio pie, which is quite simple to make and surprisingly tasteful. (Remember: no sugar, no butter, no eggs, no wheat flour!) By the way, you have to preheat the oven to 395° F (200° C).

What you need:

• 
  9 oz (250 g) chestnut flour
• 1.5 cup (350) water
• 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 sprig rosemary
• ¼ (30 g) pine nuts
• ¼ (30 g) walnuts
• 3 tbsp (30 g) raisins
• 1 tsp table salt
• honey (if you have a sweet tooth)

How to prepare:

Soak the raisins in lukewarm water (or sweet wine), then soak the rosemary leaves in another bowl filled with water and crush the walnuts into pieces.

Pour the chestnut flour into a bowl and add the water a little at a time, stirring with a spatula until consistent, then add the raisins (+ lukewarm water), 1 tsp of table salt, and 2 tbsp of extra-virgin olive oil.

Bake the pine nuts and crushed walnuts shortly in a flat bottom pan. Grease a 9 -inch baking tin with 1 tbsp of olive oil or line with parchment paper and pour the chestnut mixture into the baking tin and garnish with pine nuts, walnuts, and (optional) a sprig rosemary. Use a spoon to press the nuts halfway into the mixture.

Baking time:

Bake the Castagnaccio in about 35-40 minutes, depending on your oven, until the surface becomes perfectly dried and starts to crack.

ENJOY!!

Got oil in your lamp?

'Darkness is nothing more than lack of light',  my husband always says. And he is right. 👉When we complain about the dark world we live in, we are not shining our light.

Ouch! We don't want to hear that. Especially not in this current time of unrest, crisis, political mess, and ungodliness.

I suspect many are not even sure whether they still have oil in their lamps. I meet people who are tired, weary, worried, anxious, down... just waiting for better times.

Well, there is no better time than Christmas time when we celebrate (no matter the circumstances) the birth of Jesus, the light of the world! He came to shine His light and to pass the oil (the Holy Spirit) on to us. He said: You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.

Wow, like a city on a hilltop... I love that idea. No matter how hard the enemy is trying to dim the light of Jesus, he will NOT succeed. That should encourage us, that should stir up our faith. We are blessed to be the light and to have the light. |Jesus said:

I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a deLIGHTful New Year!

The Holy Spirit in the Christmas story

Last Sunday I spoke at 'De Hoeksteen' church in Etten-Leur about the role of the Holy Spirit in the Christmas story.

Yes, of course, the Christmas story is about the birth of Jesus Christ and the special announcement that preceded it. The role of the Holy Spirit, however, is very clear in those first two chapters of Luke's gospel, although we usually don't emphasize it.

If we carefully read Luke 1 and 2, we will find that Elisabeth, Zachariah, John, Mary, and Simeon were all filled with the Spirit. They were touched in a special way for the task assigned to them.

👉I feel safe to say that everything in preparation for and around the birth of the Messiah was led and empowered by the Holy Spirit. Without the Spirit no life, without the Spirit no miracles!

How wonderful it is to see that just before the end of His life, Jesus makes room here on earth for the Holy Spirit... on a much larger scale. Just read John 14, 15, and 16. Even today, the Spirit wants to use ordinary people like you and me to pave the way, to prepare people for Jesus' return to earth.

The sermon is in Dutch, but it can be viewed and listened to on YouTube. 

Hopeless or hopeful view of this world?

The devil is a defeated enemy, he has no more power. I often hear Christians say that. Then I look around and I can only conclude that reality is just slightly different.

Yes, Jesus has defeated the enemy, that's for sure. But the devil is still trying to exercise power in this world, you have to be blind not to see that all around us every day. There is murder, abuse, violence, and misery... everywhere.

He has power because people give it to him. Satan is always looking for people through whom to do his destructive work. That doesn't sound very encouraging, of course.

And frankly, it would be very depressing if we didn't understand (or know) that God is also always looking for people through whom He can do His redemptive work! We need to understand those two things. In 1 John 5:19 it says: We know that we are children of God and that the world around us is under the control of the evil one.

This was written some 2,000 years ago! The whole world is under the power of the devil. That may sound very frightening, but it is exactly why it is so important to know whether you are a child of God. We are all part of God's creation, but not automatically His child.

In John 1:12 it says that we have been given the right to become children of God. 👉How? By accepting Jesus and believing in His name, it says. That's not very complicated. With that in mind, it is very good to continue our read in 1 John 5:20,

And we know that the Son of God has come, and he has given us understanding so that we can know the true God. And now we live in fellowship with the true God because we live in fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the only true God, and he is eternal life.

From such a perspective, we can look at this world full of hope!