GLUTEN FREE DARK CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES, EVERYONE.

So, I've been in the urge to bake - however, I just couldn't seem to find recipes that didn't use really expensive flours to make GF desserts [I'm a poor college student, you know]. So, here are some cookies that I love! It was my first time to cook with GF baking mix - and it seems like the same consistency to me!

I substituted 3/4 butter for unsalted butter, and substituted 1 tsp of salt to a 1/2 tsp of salt, and instead of egg substitute, I used 1 egg..

Oh, and I used Dark chocolate morsels instead of Semi-Sweet (I don't like semi-sweet)

Anyways, i hope you GF friends are as excited about this as I am!

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon gluten-free vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup egg substitute
• 2 1/4 cups gluten-free baking mix
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F ( 190 degrees C). Prepare a greased baking sheet.
2. In a medium bowl, cream butter and sugar. Gradually add replacer eggs and vanilla while mixing. Sift together gluten- free flour mix, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Stir into the butter mixture until blended. Finally, stir in the chocolate chips.
3. Using a teaspoon, drop cookies 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheet. Bake in preheated oven for 6 to 8 minutes or until light brown. Let cookies cool on baking sheet for 2 minutes before removing to wire racks.

The Throne of my Heart

I am so easily satisfied

by the call of lovers so less wild

that I would take a little cash

over your very flesh and blood.

- Derek Webb, Wedding Dress

I asked God to forgive me. I am trying to forgive myself.

The throne of my heart has been taken for awhile. I'm sure Jesus is so tired of standing around waiting for His turn.

It's not fair what I do to my King, you know? I mean, after all; He died a brutal death, bearing my sins on his shoulders.... however, with my lifestyle, I treat that as if he did that as a kind gesture. I don't think I ever gave him the seat. I didn't let him sit on the royal throne of my heart.

Here's the deal: throughout my blogs, [for you faithful readers]... I have consistently struggled. I have struggled with marriage, wanting to be loved, and affection from others. Mainly with men. At some point in my christian walk - I asked Jesus to get up for a second... and then this desire in my heart came and sat down in his place.

Instead of getting angry - Jesus - my warrior, savior, and King went to battle. He went to battle with this deep, heavy, burden and desire of mine.

As I was talking to a friend today, she showed me that in Genesis - when sin came into the world, Jesus said to Eve, "Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you". I have never interpreted this passage before... I just read the part about childbearing, and blamed Eve.

"Your desire will be for your husband" - funny, isn't it? As a woman - my desire is definitely for my husband.... however, this isn't a bad desire... but I have made it one. I have made the desire for my husband the throne of my heart - I want this man to come into my life - capture my heart, and sit (in the throne) and stay there. Forever.

Jesus says, though, "Heather, I want you to be free. I want to free you from this sin"

I don't know exactly why I wrote this today. Maybe this truth will touch your life like it touched mine. Maybe we can all get to the root of our problem: sin. Making our own desires their home on the throne.

Father, forgive me for giving away your place. Help me be patient. Help me wait. Help me desire you most of all.

Running Aimlessly.

I don't know much about my Savior. Shamefully. I've decided that I should start reading about Him - understanding who He was... who He is... and in turn who He calls me to be.

Mark 1 is where I have begun... and this really stuck out to me.

Mark 1:40-45 (English Standard Version)

⁴⁰ And a leper came to him, imploring him, and kneeling said to him, "If you will, you can make me clean." ⁴¹Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, "I will; be clean." ⁴²And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. ⁴³And Jesus sternly charged him and sent him away at once, ⁴⁴and said to him, "See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, for a proof to them." ⁴⁵ But he went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in desolate places, and people were coming to him from every quarter.

I love this - I love that our Savior comes down to our level - This man, an outcast in society... in reality, no one probably talked to him. No one would look him in the eye. No one would sit down and eat a meal with him. Parents would hurry their children away. He wasn't attractive. He wasn't worthy. This man was lonely. He was a leper. However; he went before Jesus. He kneeled in front of him, and said probably in the most sincere way, "If you will, will you make me clean?".

Jesus was moved with pity. Can you even grasp what that looks like? It almost brings me to tears. Jesus - he saw how much of an outcast this man was. He saw his loneliness. He wasn't afraid of his leprosy. He touched him. He touched him. Probably the first touch this man has had in a very long time. Jesus said to him, "I will; be clean"... and the man was made clean.

Of course, this man was overflowing with joy. Like anyone near Jesus, after Jesus says "don't tell anyone who cleaned you" - he goes, and tells EVERYONE. Probably with, "Don't tell anyone I told you, but Jesus healed me! He is the Messiah we have been waiting for". He spread the news.

I wish my life resembled this leper more. Jesus - saw me. He was moved with pity when he saw my sin, my shame, my lonliness. He put his arm on me. He touched me - and I didn't go and tell everyone. I kept it to myself. That's the part of the story where I wish I could act more like this leper. Not in his disobedience to Jesus - but his longing to tell others about him. He was filled with joy. He had a smile across his face. He was praying with people and telling them about a man who changed him forever.

Father, allow me to be like this leper. Allow me to share the joy you have given me with others. Father, thank you for cleaning me. Thank you for removing my sin & shame.

Something that made me happy today...

I found a health food store in Shawnee.

Praise-The-Lord.

I bought some: Chips! Soy milk! BREAD! Cake Mix! Soup! ....

All Gluten Free.

Also, I found some blogs with GF recipes...

I was trying the gluten free attempt from only eating fruits & vegetables. I am so excited now.

Also, my mom gave me a recepie for pumpkin muffins/cupcakes today - Its 1 box of yellow cake mix (I picked up the GF kind...), and one can of pumpkin pie mix... We will see how it works out!

Well. I guess It's official.

Lately, everything that has to do with my faith also has to do with community. it's a buzz-word here around campus. Especially among us Res-Life staffers.

I went to a fellowship on Sunday, and we talked about living in Community, and what that biblically looks like.

Tonight, I went to a service and we talked about what it means - how it looks.

To me, community is living life-on-life. Discipleship. You can't have community without d-ship. You can't have d-ship without community. Community is VITAL to our faith. Living where we are together working to see the fingerprints of God among us... is VITAL to who we are as believers in Christ.

However, I think I am absolutely horrible at living in community. As my pastor says, "when you live in Community with one another, you rub against each other (As iron sharpens iron...)... and it hurts, and it's dirty". I wish I knew better how I could live in community.

Anyways. On another note... I applied for my first after-college ... job?.. can I call it that? I will for now. Let's just say that it's something I promised God, my family, and everyone else in my life that I would never do - but here I am. I'm nervous. it's step one - but 2,000 miles is a really, really long way from home. We'll see.

Also, I recently found out that I have an intolerance to gluten. Gluten is in just about everything yummy in the world - so I'm not exactly the happiest camper I found this out. I've eaten edamame (soy beans) for the past 2 days. I need some new thoughts for food. If you also have this intolerance, or love someone who does... I could use some help in my dietary choices. :)

this wasn't one of my better blogs. But, I don't think I really have a whole bunch that I want to talk about. I still wanted to write. maybe the next will be better.