Chicken Alfredo and following God’s lead

Hey ya’ll! I missed last week and I am late with this week’s post but I am finally sitting down for a few minutes to share a good mid-week recipe and some things that are on my heart. Let’s start with the chicken Alfredo. It’s quick, easy, and so delicious:

1 pound diced raw chicken breast

1 pint heavy cream

1/2 stick of butter

1 tsp minced garlic

1 1/2 cups Parmesan cheese

1 box penne noodles

salt, garlic powder, onion powder to taste

Start by putting your water on the stove to boil for the pasta. Season the water liberally with salt. Then dice your chicken breast and season with salt, garlic, and onion powder to taste. Heat a cast iron skillet over medium high and add about 2 tbls of oil (just enough to coat the bottom). Put the chicken in the pan. Hopefully at this point the water is boiling and you can start cooking your pasta according to the box. The chicken should cook quickly. After about 1-2 minutes stir it around. It should be getting a crust on the outside. After the chicken has cooked through (5-7 minutes unless you cut huge chunks) remove it from the pan and turn the heat down to medium. Add in half a stick of butter. Once it melts add the minced garlic and scrape the bottom of your skillet to get all the cooked chicken bits up and make them part of the sauce. After about 1 min of stiring add in the heavy cream and bring it to a simmer before tossing in the cheese. Once the sauce comes together take the drained pasta and pour it in and mix it up. Then add your chicken back and stir it in the sauce as well. Then enjoy!

Now for some things I have been struggling with the last few weeks (really months). I often struggle when I am making a decision. I try to decide if I am following Emily’s agenda or God’s agenda. I read Pricilla Shirer’s book “Discerning the voice of God” last year and plan to read it again because it was so helpful. But, back to the point, its hard for me. I like to trust in my own plans and thoughts for my life. Pridefully, I often feel like I have it figured out. And then something will hit me in my soul and lead me to a place that doesn’t make sense.

For all of my life until this point, when I had a decision to make I would spend about 30 seconds in prayer over it and then I would ask for opinions from everyone I respected. I would give my input and often try to sway them into thinking the same way I was thinking. But recently, I have had to make a big decision. It wasn’t life or death but it does affect my whole life on a day to day basis. So this time, I dug in. I prayed hard about it. I prayed every day, multiple times a day. I dug into the word and prayed God would lead me through his word. I fasted. I went to faith prayer every Sunday. And yesterday was the day to make the decision and I still couldn’t find peace.

So I felt the Lord tell me to seek some Godly counsel (I had been feeling that just ignored it because I am stubborn). So I called Gran. If you don’t know my Gran you are missing out, but she is the most Godly influence I have had on my life. When you hang out at her house you see her Bible open and her pen and note book where she has been studying. If you hang around long enough you’ll hear her walking through the house and praying about her kids, grandkids, friends, and spouse. So that’s who I called and she answered. She didn’t make my decision for me, just encouraged me and prayed over me that the Lord would give me peace. I thanked her and went on my way.

As I left my classroom, I prayed. I said “God please give me confirmation if I should or shouldn’t do this.” Because even though I thought I knew, I like to KNOW that I KNOW. And the decision I felt led to make, doesn’t really make sense in this busy, expensive, materialistic world. So as I am walking I meet someone who has NO idea what’s on my mind. She discusses with me about a phone call she had asking about me. Long story short, she was confirming my decision for me. I had chills. Only God is that kind that he will speak to us, and then confirm it for us.

So if you are like me, and you struggle to know the difference in your voice and God’s, I want to encourage you to dig into the Word. I know I heard that my whole life but until you really read it for yourself and learn the character of God, you can’t know if he is speaking to you are not. And I do NOT have it all figured out yet. I am praying and trusting that this is God leading me in this season. I am standing on Psalms 37:25 that says “I have been young, and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.” God provides. He always has, and I am trusting that he always will. Love ya’ll!