The best friendships are the ones God has put together. . .even when they seem unlikely.
Do you have an unlikely friend? Someone you figured you’d never ever have as your friend. . .
but God had other plans.
Holy plans.
He brought together you and your friend for such a time as this. It is no accident you have an unlikely friend. I have at least three unlikely friends. Beautiful friends.
Tomorrow I’ll introduce you to one of my beautifully unlikely friends.
Her name is Vivian.
To celebrate friends of all kinds, here’s a story of a dog, an elephant and their inseparable bond. Tell me if you are as amazed at this compelling, unlikely friendship as I am. 🙂
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Psst. . .in case you missed my post “Mending a Broken Friendship,” you can read it now.
Cookies sweeten friendship. You are invited to join this cookie recipe swap. The more, the merrier.
Yesterday I shared a fun ingredient list for friendship. If you missed it, you may read it here.
Cookies. Cookies and friends go together like kitties and catnip (or dogs and squeaky toys).
Years ago I developed an amazing chocolate chip cookie while working as an editor at a food magazine. It received rave reviews from friends and co-workers. It even is healthy. . .for a cookie, that is. 🙂
It has a secret ingredient you may omit and replace with butter, bumping up the fat content a bit (which does not deter a serious chocolate chip cookie lover. Ha!) Here, then, is the BEST chocolate chip cookie EVER! Tell me if you agree. Or if you have an even better one.
Lucy’s Best Chocolate Chip Cookie Ever
Chewy, chocolate-y, just sweet enough, and very low in fat, this cookie uses a secret ingredient: apple butter, found near the jellies in your local grocery. You may replace it with 2 tablespoons of butter.
3 Tbs. apple butter
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
Up to 2 tablespoons of melted butter
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup unbleached white flour
1/4 cup whole-wheat flour or unbleached white flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup chopped pecans
Makes 36; serves 12
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a medium bowl, thoroughly combine the apple butter, sugar, egg, melted butter, and vanilla. In another bowl, combine the flours, baking soda, and salt. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Add the chocolate chips and pecans, and stir until combined.
Drop the batter by spoonfuls onto baking sheets. Bake until lightly golden brown, about 8 minutes. Watch carefully. Let cool on paper towels. Store the cookies in an airtight container.
PER SERVING: 171 calories, 3g protein, 5g fat (26 percent calories from fat), 1g fiber, 154mg sodium.
Your turn.
Please share a cookie recipe in Comments. This is our very own cookie recipe swap. Woot!
Friends are the chocolate chips in the cookie of life. They sweeten life.
“In the cookies of life, friends are the chocolate chips.”
As my Facebook friend Linda St. Myers says, friends are that sweet extra in life, and even sweeter is friendship among sisters in Christ. She is the founder of Patchwork Ministry, which helps hurting Christian women in Ohio.
Here is her ingredient list for friendship, which she shared with me. Tomorrow I’ll share my all-time best chocolate chip cookie recipe. 🙂 And I’ll ask you to tell me your favorite type of cookie too.
 Ingredients of Friendship Recipe
Shortening. Provides texture. Our fellowship and friendship with our sisters in the Lord adds depth and texture to our lives. We blend together in unity as part of the body of Christ.
Sugar. Adds sweetness. Our fellowship adds sweetness to our lives. If we didn’t have sugar in our cookies, we’d sure miss it. The same is with our fellowship with our sisters. We can’t leave it out of our lives.
Eggs. Holds ingredients together. Our sisters in the Lord are someone to lean on. We are stronger because of them, their prayers, and their love in the Lord. We have a special bond in Christ.
Vanilla. Adds flavor. Without friends and fellowship we become kind of bland.
Flour. Adds substance. We need the substance a sister in the Lord can add. They give us many things by way of mentoring us even when we don’t know it. Their shared testimonies encourage us.
Baking Soda. Leavens. Leavening agents lighten the dough. Friendship with our sisters in Christ lightens our burdens through their prayer and encouragement.
Salt. Enhances flavor. We know that friendships add flavor and just when we need it, they help improve the tastefulness and quality of our lives. Friends are there when we need them.
Chocolate Chips. The kind of chocolate chips we normally add to our cookies is semi sweet. Our sister friends tell us what they feel and think and that’s okay. They can be honest and truthful to us. “Iron sharpeneth iron” (Proverbs 27:17).
Nuts…Optional. Just a little craziness in a sister friend is great! Sometimes a little zaniness in our friends can be just the ingredient we need.
A Friendship Question: Which is your favorite ingredient in a friendship. Leave a comment and let’s encourage one another?
Psst. . .On Tuesday I continue my October friendship focus on my online radio show REFILLS. You can learn more at my REFILLS radio page.
All friendships among women need a double dose of love. Think of a dear friendship. Can you feel the love? Or do you just know it? 🙂 Please leave a comment if you have a moment. Comments spell l-o-v-e too.
Desperate circumstances knit women together: One an illegal immigrant. The other, a widow of a border patrol agent. Two women, a baby, and Christmastime.
Desperate circumstances knit women together. . .despite their differences.
One an illegal immigrant. The other, a widow of a border patrol agent.
Homeless, penniless, and pregnant, Isabella Alcantara–a character in Kathi Macias’ novel A Christmas Journey Home–determines to find a way to honor her promise to her beloved husband.
Living on a ranch along the Arizona border, Miriam Nelson becomes furious with God. Her mother and young son try to help her find her faith.
Two widows—one driven by fear and a promise, the other by bitterness and revenge—discover that a beautiful common yearning on Christmas Eve in a barn full of animals and a miracle. Here’s an interview with the novelist.
An Interview with Kathi Macias
Q. How did you come up with the idea forA Christmas Journey Home?
A. I knew I wanted to do a Christmas book. (It is the first of what would become an annual event that my publisher and I were discussing.) I also knew that despite the lighter tone required in a Christmas book, I had to stick to my “brand” as closely as possible: hence, an “issues-related” Christmas novel, dealing with the issues related to illegal immigration.
Q. What was your favorite scene to write inA Christmas Journey Home?
A. I loved writing this entire book, but I think I liked the scenes with Isabella’s old abuelo best, as the grandfather reminded me of my own grandpa and even my dad, both of whom I loved dearly. I love incorporating at least one elderly saint in each of my books. I also brought in a little boy because children can add such a delightful element to any story, and six-year-old Davey certainly does that in A Christmas Journey Home.
Q. What was the most difficult scene, and why?
A. The toughest scene had to be when Francisco and Isabella thought they were finally on the verge of being able to get away from the migrant camp and find a small home of their own, where their baby could be born in relative comfort and safety. If you’ve read the book, you know that isn’t at all what happens. But this heartbreaking scene had to take place to bring the story to its miraculous conclusion.
Q. What is there about you, apart from writing, that many people don’t know?
A. My “road name” is “Easy Writer” because my husband and I were Harley riders for many years.
Q. Who are some of your favorite writers, and are you an avid reader?
A. Absolutely I’m an avid reader. I have always loved books, reading, and words and been fascinated by them. When I ran out of books as I child, I started writing my own. Voila! Look what came of that! As for favorite writers, that’s tough, but here are just a few: Brock and Bodie Thoene, Francine Rivers, Patti Lacy, Athol Dickson, Jim Rubart, and Alan Paton, who wrote my favorite all-time fiction book, Cry the Beloved Country. That book changed my life and inspired my novel set in South Africa in 1989, No Greater Love. I also enjoy reading Brennan Manning, Jennifer Kennedy Dean, Oswald Chambers, and Max Lucado for nonfiction.
Q. What’s on the horizon for you now, so far as future book projects?
A. I am currently finishing up the final book of the three-installment Freedom series (Deliver Me From Evil, Special Delivery, and The Deliverer). Then I will jump into my Christmas 2012 novel (working title is A Home For Christmas) and a novel called Last Chance for Justice, which is part of the multi-author Bloomfield Series with another publisher. After that I hope to get going on a new fiction series, which is still in the discussion/planning stages with my publisher and agent. So life is busy, but most contracts coming my way seem to be fiction right now. I am also keeping busy with very occasional editing projects and some speaking/teaching around the country.
Q. Where can we find out more about you, The Freedom Series, and keep up with your to-be-released books?Â
I was given a complimentary copy of this book from the author in exchange for posting the author’s interview on my blog. This blog tour is managed by Christian Speakers Services (ChristianSpeakersServices.com).
The best friendships are the ones God has put together. . .even when they seem unlikely.
