Scripture Exchange!

I was reading my devotional this morning and it was talking about celebrating God's word in your life; how it's impacted you and that type of thing.

So I thought why not host a scripture exchange?

Now if you were at my house I would have a plate of cookies and some tea. We'd all write out a verse on a card and put it in a hat then take turns pulling one out and talking about how that particular verse had impacted us.

But we're not at my house so here's what I'm going to do.

First, go get a cookie if you have one! :)

Second, I'm going to type out a scripture that God is currently working on in my life and share a little about that. If you want to play along you can comment on the verse I've posted (what He's done with it in your life). Then you can post a verse of your own and the rest of us will do the same. If you've already posted a verse you don't have to post another when commenting on someone else, but you can if you want to.

I hope this doesn't seem silly. I just thought it would be a good way to see how God's word has impacted our own life and maybe even gain insight from another. (And hey, it's a good excuse to eat a cookie!) I'd do this as a blog tag but I'm not quite sure how that works.

Here's my current verse:

"A gentle answer turns away wrath,
but a harsh word stirs up anger."
Proverbs 15:1 NIV

Lately I've noticed I've been a wee bit snappy. (Okay, convicted is the word! I don't like the sound of my own voice!) I was praying about it and this verse popped into my head. I'm sure it was the Lord instructing me on how to respond when I feel like being snappy. So that's what I've been working on, and trying to impress on my kids (because they model my behavior whether I like it or not!)

It's amazing how well this works. :)

With my kids and my husband both I've had opportunity to choose to say something gentle this week. I admit, it was something I had to choose at first because my inclination was to snap back. But after seeing the immediate impact gentle words made they come much easier!

You can literally watch the tension drain from a person when you respond with gentleness and kindness. When we're snapped at and respond in kind we end up creating an argument where we could have avoided one.

Practially, here's how this is playing out in my marriage: When he comes home from a long day and seems a little grumpy I'm making the decision not to take it personally. The amazing thing is, my doing this seems to wash away the grime of the day and he suddenly seems refreshed. His mood improves and he's actually happy to see me!

Proverbs 31:10-11 says, "Who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth is far above rubies. The heart of her husband safely trusts her; So he will have no lack of gain."

That part about the "heart of her husband safely trusts her" is, to me, the most important part of the whole Proverbs 31 woman section. I can buy stuff, sell stuff, have a clean house and well dressed kids but if the heart of my husband doesn't safely trust me then I don't think I've succeeded in being a good wife.

Answering gently (especially when he doesn't deserve it) is part of that.

**

Okay, your turn.

Audrey Hepburn Wedding Cake

This one was made for a friend of my sister in law. Her son was getting married and they liked the other cake I did well enough that they wanted me to do the one for their son's wedding. The wedding was patterned around Audrey Hepburn (the bride loves her). The bridesmaids wore green dresses with black tulle peeking out of the bottom. The men wore suits and fedora's and the bride was beautiful in her white dress. I didn't get to see the wedding itself but what I did see was very cool and I loved it.

The cake was fun to make even if it was a lot of work. We were going to put green hydrangeas on it but they are poisonous so I piped 250 apple blossom flowers and then glued them (with more icing) to wires. Then I used floral tape to put them in little bunches (I was trying to make them hydrangea like). I didn't end up using all of them so if you need a green flower (or many!) I have some to spare!

If I were to do this one over again I would make the design a little closer together and near the bottom (not so spread out) but I was mostly happy with the look of it. The mother of the groom was very pleased so I'm happy. :)