Today's name for Jesus is Faithful and True found in Revelation 19:11. The original Greek pretty much means what you probably think it means in English - trustworthy, reliable, genuine, cannot lie and fulfills what He says.
We could camp right here on this name for weeks, but we will look at one aspect of the fact that Jesus is Faithful and True. John 8:32 and 36 says, And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. If therefore the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.
In today's world, deception and lies are commonplace and lead to captivity of many kinds. How wonderful that Jesus is reliable and genuine and trustworthy! He is the source of the truth and that truth makes us free. I've experienced being set free as I study the Word of God and grow in my relationship with Jesus. When He allows something in my life which is difficult, as my Wonderful Counselor He helps me work through it and reinforces that He is Faithful and True. I am so grateful for Him!
Christmas Crafts: Wrapping Gifts
My love language is buying or making gifts for others. The thing I like the least about gifts is wrapping them. In the last few years, I prefer to "wrap" with reusable gift bags or boxes. I am trying to not be so wasteful. Did you know you can actually iron used tissue paper? I really need to do that this year...
My honey and I buy two gifts for each of our grandchildren for Christmas; an outfit and something to play with. So, I went to Hobby Lobby and checked out the Christmas wrapping aisle where everything was 50%. Then I went to the regular gift wrapping section by the cards and looked at what I could use there combined with the Christmas stuff. I bought the red and green gift bags, some red and white polka dot tissue paper and some Christmas tissue paper that had a snowflake design in red, green, white and blue. I also bought a big pack of white tissue paper because it was cheap and I use alot of it throughout the year.
I used to use just one kind of tissue paper in gift bags, but my friend Pam has inspired me to be more creative and have fun using different colors and designs together.
Someone showed me several years ago how to pinch a piece of tissue paper in the middle and then flip it down to make it easier to put in a gift bag.
So now I had my bags with the gifts inside and the tissue paper added. I wanted to make my own gift tags, so I went through my craft and scrapbooking stuff looking for items in blue, red, white and green.
Sorry this is sideways...not sure how to fix it! Because my bags were red and green, I decided to use blue, red and white to make the tags. I had these cute letters (the letter pops out so you get two usable letters for tags), some snowflake buttons and blue, red and clear jewels. I cut circles out of white and blue cardstock (I used pinking shears to cut the blue circles) and put red paper under the cut out letters. Then the jewels and snowflakes were glued on.
I wanted the tags to have some dimension, so I used mounting tape to make them thicker.
Next, holes were punched in each tag and red ribbon was added to attach them to the gift bags.
The gift bags had "cuffs" at the top, so I put tape on the ends of the ribbon, pulled out the "cuff" and taped the ends of the ribbon under the "cuff". (I had already written a note from Papa and Nanna to each recipient.)
So cute and fun to make!
Today's Recipe - Three-Chip English Toffee
From Taste of Home
1/2 tsp plus 2 cups real butter, divided
2 cups sugar
1 cup slivered almonds
1 cup milk chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup vanilla or white chips
1 1/2 tsp shortening
Butter a 15x10x1 baking pan with 1/2 tsp butter. In a heavy saucepan over medium-low heat, bring sugar and remaining butter to a boil, stirring constantly. Cover and cook for 2-3 minutes.
Uncover; add almonds. Cook and stir with a clean spoon until a candy thermometer reads 300 degrees (hard-crack stage) and mixture is golden brown. Pour into prepared pan (do not scrape sides of saucepan). Surface will be buttery. Cool for 1-2 minutes. Sprinkle with milk chocolate chips. Let stand for 1-2 minutes; spread chocolate over the top. Sprinkle with nuts; press down gently with the back of a spoon. Chill for 10 minutes.
In a microwave or heavy saucepan, melt semisweet ships; stir until smooth. Drizzle over nuts. Refrigerate for 10 minutes. Melt vanilla chips and shortening; stir until smooth. Drizzle over nuts. Cover and refrigerate for 1-2 hours. Break into pieces. Yield: about 2 1/2 pounds.
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