The Home Front
God sure can surprise you with what I like to call God Winks! I know He has surprised and delighted me many a time. Like my antique measuring cups…yes, He sure has proven Himself to me over and over again.
I love old things! I love to cook with old kitchen items from years ago, and I love to have old kitchen paraphernalia beautifully displayed in my kitchen. I have many family items from long ago polished and shined in my kitchen because it makes me happy. And every time I come across a new “old item” I say to myself, “What a treasure!” And sometimes I get a hankering* for something that fits right in with my wants and desires for my kitchen. I admire something as I go antiquing and thrifting with my husband, and I add it to My List. My List is the official “Danna sure would like to have it” list. Now I learned a long time ago that the Good Lord gives his children surprises, sometimes called God Winks, just like we do our earthly children. Our Heavenly Father loves His children and wants them to be happy. As it says in 2 Chronicles 16:9, “For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.”
As I was praying to the Good Lord one morning, I let it slip that I sure did like those brown and beige sets of measuring cups and wouldn’t they look good in my kitchen? And I never said a word to anyone else about them. No one knew I wanted those beautiful old measuring cups except the Good Lord. And then, I forgot all about it. Until one rainy hot summer day, my husband had a bee in his bonnet* to get out of the house for a little while. You know, God uses others to answer prayers. “Let’s go antiquing,” he said. It was so wet and rainy that my heart just wasn’t in it, but David talked me into it. Even though we had very little time before the antique places closed, I agreed. We ended up in one of our regular spots which was a piled-up cacophony of beautiful but dusty old items. As we roamed the crowded aisles, we left the troubles of today and got lost in the world of yesterday. Then, I saw it! It was a beautiful little brown and beige measuring cup sitting so charmingly on a very cluttered shelf all by itself. Well, my sweetie bought that one just for me. I wanted to stay and look around to see if the rest of the set was hiding in there somewhere, but I was suddenly the object of desire to a swarm of mosquitoes. I’m telling you, my legs were, as we say in the South, “eat up with skeeters.”* I was so disappointed. I really wanted to stay in there and look. But those mosquitoes were making me so miserable, so David whisked me off to another place down the road, and I went along – scratching all the way.
And low and behold, as we were looking around at all the treasures, we found the answer to my one little prayer to my heavenly Father one morning a while ago. There was a whole set of those beautiful brown and beige measuring cups. As they were announcing on the loudspeaker that it was almost time to close up for the night, David scooped them up and rescued them to live out their days all shined up on my kitchen counter as a blessed reminder of the marvelous love my heavenly Father has for me. God sure can surprise you! Like the antique measuring cups…yes, He sure has proven Himself to me over and over again. And, my friend, He will do that for you too when you become His child.
-Danna Standridge
Author of Happiness is Homemade Y’all! and 2024 Sweet Grown Alabama Ambassador
Read her faith story at www.birminghamchristian.com/issues.
Join her in the kitchen on Facebook and YouTube.
Corned Beef & Cabbage
It’s March for goodness sake, so let’s make some Corned Beef and Cabbage to celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day!
Ingredients:
Corned beef, 2 lbs, cooked according to package directions and sliced
2 heads of cabbage, cored and roughly chopped
½ lb bacon
½ stick butter, and more if needed
Salt and Pepper
Instructions: In your large Dutch oven or skillet, cook bacon and set aside. Use 2 tablespoons bacon grease and ½ stick butter in pan. Add half of the cabbage. Add salt and pepper. Cover with lid. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally for even cooking. Add the remainder of the cabbage. Add salt and pepper. Add more butter to suit your taste and add richness. When the cabbage is cooked to your liking, taste it. Adjust your seasonings as needed. Sprinkle with crumbled bacon. Serve with sliced corned beef and a pan of cornbread.
