Suzanne Elizabeth Anderson's Blog, page 2

Garlicky Red Chard with Mushrooms and Sausage

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The weather today is overcast, rainy, and cool. Between this weather and the baskets of mums I saw at the grocery store, it feels like autumn is closer than we think.

Which might be why I made this rustic meal today. What saved it from being too heavy, since we are still in August, is that I didn't add pasta...which would have transformed it into the perfect dinner for a snowy evening.

But I digress.

Following my intention to eat more vegetables, this dish is two parts vegetable and only one-part meat. The garlicky red chard and sautéed mushrooms are so full of meaty flavor; they hold their ground against the spicy Italian sausage.

This is a quick and easy dish that can be prepared in 20 minutes. Let's get started!

Ingredients:

2 Italian sausages

1 bunch of red chard - rinsed and chopped into bite-size pieces

2 cloves of garlic, minced

8 oz of sliced mushrooms

olive oil, salt, and pepper

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Directions:

First cook the sausage, since they will take the longest. When they have cooked through, slice them into bite-size pieces and return to the pan.

Add the mushrooms and sauté. Finally, add the garlic and red chard and sauté until the garlic is tender and the chard is wilted.

Serve with garlic bread...or add pasta.

Enjoy!

 

Suzanne Elizabeth Anderson is the author of Comfort Me Cookbook and other books. Find more recipes, cooking videos, and download a free cookbook at: www.suzanneelizabeths.com

 

 

what to do when worry keeps you awake at night

You will keep in perfect peace

him whose mind is steadfast,

because he trusts in you.

Trust in the Lord forever,

for the Lord, the Lord, is the

Rock Eternal.

 

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Yes Lord, walking in the way

of your laws,

we wait for you;

your name and renown

are the desire of our hearts/

My soul yearns for you in the night.

Psalm 26:3-4,8-9

 

Often the thing we worry about during the day can follow us to be and keep us awake, even as we try to quiet our mind for sleep.

Isn't it ironic that when we are exhausted, when we we are tucked beneath the covers, the room is dark, the house is silent, that our thoughts seems the loudest?

If we can repeat "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus" or "Peace, peace, peace" in these times, we can call up on the name of God to help us. And to remind us that He is working on our behalf no matter what time it is.

By repeating His name, we can quiet our mind and relax in the knowledge that He is close by and we can leave our worry with him.

Sweet dreams.

A Letter to a Sad Friend

Dear Friend,

 

Last week, one of the members of our idyllic mountain community could bear his pain no longer and chose to end his life.  

 

This tragic event made me think of you and the pain you have lived with for so many years. I know there have been moments when you thought the unending despair was more than you could bear. You have lived with that dark whisper that you should end your life, some nights louder than others.

 

But wait, please.  Don’t go yet. First, let me share my story with you.

 

I live with depression every day; I understand how someone can reach the point of wanting to take their own life. I have had moments when I asked God what the point of living was when the pain in my mind was so great that even my bones ached.

 

I am writing this to show you what my darkness feels like. And then I want to encourage you to embrace life, to know you are loved, and that your life matters. I hope this helps…

 

Two years ago, I went to see my doctor after I’d had a breast lumpectomy. I’d been plagued with horrible hot flashes, insomnia, and terrible mood swings. I had been taking hormone replacements to help, but after a brush with cancer, they were no longer an option.

 

My doctor asked if I would be willing to take an anti-depressant which had a side-effect of treating hot flashes. I nodded yes, because if I spoke, I would have cried.

 

I knew I needed help, but for fifty years, I was too ashamed to ask for help. I was grateful and yet for two years afterwards, if anyone asked what the little pink pill was, I told them it was for hot flashes.

 

A stigma surrounds mental illness. Yet, if I had a broken leg, I’d be first in line at the doctor’s office to get a cast. But why, then when my spirit is broken, do I feel as if it’s my fault? That I must hide my depression because to admit it to anyone else would label me as defective.

 

Dear friend, don’t be like me. Don’t wait to get help. If you are hurting, go see your doctor now. If you are afraid that your desire to end your life is stronger than your will to live…please call the National Suicide Prevention Hot Line: 1-800-273-8255

 

You are worthwhile, take care of yourself. There are several treatments for depression: medication, talk therapy, cognitive therapy. Each strategy works in its own way. Work with your doctor to find the best path for your health.

 

You may find that even with all of these strategies, you still find yourself confronted with periods of depression that come and go for no reason. As I described to my doctor, on the surface my life is happier than it’s ever been. But beneath the surface, there is a lake of sadness that colors my world and sometimes I feel as if I am swimming through its dark depths.

 

But there is hope. Each day you must resolve to live in the moment, to promise you will take one step forward. To reach out for help.

 

Repeat these words to yourself each day, several times a day: I am not alone. My life is worth living. I am loved. There is hope. My life matters. God loves me.

 

Pastor Rick Warren listed Five Truths that anyone living with mental illness should consider. I would like to share those truths with you, as well as my own experience, in hope that you will find comfort.

 

YOU ARE LOVED – You find this impossible to believe. When you look in the mirror what you see is unlovable. When you look at your life, you only see what has gone wrong. You are surrounded by beauty but it is as if someone has colored the sky grey.

 

What you cannot see are all the people who love you. You cannot see what they see, your kindness, your sensitive spirit, your one-of-a-kind genius. You deserve to live.

 

Get out of bed. Go out into the world. It is vital that you don’t isolate yourself. I speak with my mother every day. Sometimes we just chat. Sometimes she is the raft that keeps me above water. Find someone you can speak with every day.

 

 

YOU HAVE A PURPOSE – A purpose? When your life has been filled with failure? Yes, my friend, you have work to do.

 

Fifty-years from today, you will look back on all of your failures with gratitude, because you will understand that they were necessary to peel away the layers of other people’s expectations and reveal your true self.

 

You are a diamond in the rough. But thanks to your courage, you pushed through every painful failure, shameful days of being broke, and certain you’d fallen so far behind you might as well quit. Yet, you persevered. And now, all these years in the future…you will thank God, because you have become the person you were meant to be…because you didn’t give up.

 

 

YOU BELONG – Why do you feel so alone, even in the middle of a crowd?

Go out and talk to one other person today, even if it’s only to remark on the weather with the person scanning your groceries. See that you are connected to others. You have a voice. You can make someone else smile.

 

Volunteer! When you are among other people you will understand that your talents are needed in our community. Sign up to serve dinner at Father Dyer’s or St. John’s. Volunteer at the FIRC Thrift Store. Find a charity that shares your beliefs and join them! Share yourself with others and realize that your talents are needed and you make our community better.

 

YOU HAVE A CHOICE – This is your secret weapon. You have more courage than you realize. Each day you choose to get up, take another step forward, take another breath, look up, and outward. You choose to do all of this despite a spirit and mind that hurt so much. But you are stronger, so you get up.

 

This is your strength. Each morning is fresh with hope and possibility. The darkness that hounded you will grow weaker, because you grow stronger. And when it comes again, you will be ready. You are tougher today than yesterday. Take another step. Just one. That’s enough. Tomorrow you will take another.

 

YOU ARE NEEDED – God created you with a special talent and purpose that only you can fulfill. We need you here to fight through the darkness, come out the other side, and share what you have learned, to help us as a community. We need your special strength that could only comes because of all that you have been through.

 

 

Don’t go, my friend. Stay here with me, with all of us who love you. Stay here and fight the good fight. Your future is brighter than you know.

 

Tonight, go outside and look up at the stars. See how they shine for you?

 

God has strewn the night sky with this reminder that you are as unique as each of those stars. Tonight and each night, you are covered with a blanket of their promise. You are not alone. Each of those stars represents someone who loves you. Someone who needs you here to love them, too.

 

You are not alone. Right next to you, God is sitting with you, reaching out to you. Jesus says, “Here I am. Take my strength. I have enough for you.” He will say that every day for the rest of your life. You are never alone, because He will never leave you. You are loved beyond measure. You are stronger than you know.

 

My friend, you have a purpose. Stay and embrace the promise of a new day. We love you. Your life has meaning. Even the darkness will serve you, to show you how beautiful the morning can be. We need you here. Stay, please.

 

With love,

Your Friend Suzanne

 

May the Lord answer you

When you are in distress;

May the name of the God of

Jacob protect you.

May he send you help from

The sanctuary

And grant you support from Zion.

 

May he give you the desire of

Your heart.

And make all your plans succeed.

We will shout for joy when

You are victorious

And will lift up our banners

In the name of our God.

May the Lord grant all your

Requests.

Psalm 20: 1-2,4-5

 

 

 

 

Poetry Tuesday - When One Has Lived a Long Time Alone

When One Has Lived A Long Time Alone

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When One Has Lived a Long Time Alone

by Galway Kinnell

When one has lived a long time alone,

one wants to live again among men and women,

to return to that place where one's ties with the human

broke, where the disquiet of death and now also 

of history glimmers its firelight on faces,

where the gaze of the new baby meets the gaze 

of the great granny, and where lovers speak,

on lips blows from kissing, that language

the same in each mouth, and like birds at daybreak

blether the song that is both earth's and heaven's 

until the sun rises, and they stand

in the daylight of being made one: kingdom come,

when one has lived a long time alone.

 

A Mission Statement

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“As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?” 

 

This familiar Bible verse from Psalm 42, is one of my favorites. When I ran across it this morning during my daily time with God, the column that I’d planned all week flew out the window. I got up, went to my computer, and knew I had to share this with you, instead.

 

I write my column in the first person, because it’s an opinion column. I share my journey of faith in the first person because I want you to understand that I am not preaching to you or telling you what to do.

 

I am neither qualified nor desire to do either.

 

What I want to share when I tell you that God hasn’t answered my prayer is what my faith looks like in ‘real time’.

 

There are many blogs, books, and even churches of encouragement. I read and listen to them all. They are a real help and often show up when needed. For example:

 

This past Sunday, as I spent an afternoon sewing, I listened to a podcast by Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church and author of the wildly popular Purpose Driven Life. Pastor Warren’s Bible-based series entitled, “When You’re Hoping for a Miracle” is where I learned that Jesus prays for us.

 

Last Saturday evening, during Mass, Deacon Jim talked about the need to listen to God, and how he uses daily prayer and reading Jesus Calling to do that.

 

Last month, Barbara’s husband sent his copy of New Seeds of Contemplation by Thomas Merton, just when I needed to read about seeking God’s direction.

 

Although I have attended church all my life, my faith often feels quite child-like to me. I pout when God doesn’t answer my prayers immediately. And I have been known to throw a low-key but dramatic temper tantrum when my frustration at understanding God’s silence reaches a tipping point.

 

I share my disappointments, questions, and doubts with you because I hope it will encourage you in a different way.

 

As I experience yet another set-back, my relationship with God isn’t weakened. Strangely, impossibly, it is strengthened. In the fog of disappointment, I receive glimpses of God’s grace. There, I am filled with a certainty that this pursuit, and the writing of it, is the purpose my heart has longed for.

 

Of course, at the next bump in the road I lose that sure sight of Him. I retreat again until I remember that it is not God who has left me, but my fear has made it impossible to perceive His presence.

 

As you see, I’m not there yet.

 

That’s why I am so open with you. Walking with God is not a linear, upward path of meandering through the wildflower-strewn meadows. For me, it is a winding trail through dark valleys and bright mountaintops.  

 

The darkness that accompanies me like a sine wave only deepens my pursuit of God, and my love for Him.

 

Yes.  

 

“As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?” 

 

That is the heartbreaking beauty of faith.

 

My hope is that as I share mine, you will be inspired to consider your own walk of faith, where it started and where it is taking you. Is your relationship with God all that you imagined it would be? Do you want more?

 

Writing this column has shown me how shallow and inadequate are my understanding of God and faith.

 

But it has also made clear that writing to, and for God, is my heart’s desire and life’s vocation. I want to grow closer to God, and to become a better writer, so that I can better share what I learn with you.

 

Thank you for joining me.

 

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Suzanne Elizabeth Anderson is the author of “A Map of Heaven.” She lives in Breckenridge. Join her at www.Facebook.com/suzanneelizabeths or  www.suzanneelizabeths.com

 

 

You Be You and You'll Shine Like a Star

 

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God did not create us to be alike. He gave us each individual talents and strengths with a purpose that only we can live out in glory to Him.

He created us to be as unique as the stars in the sky. 

In today's video, I quoted this passage from Jesus Calling (July 20th) here it is...

"Do not be afraid to be different from other people. The path I have called you to travel is exquisitely right for you. The more closely you follow My leading, the more fully I can develop your gifts. To follow Me wholeheartedly, you must relinquish your desire to please other people. However, your closeness to Me will bless others by enabling you to shine brightly in this dark world."

What a beautiful revelation this was...God encourages us to be the beautiful, unique souls He intended us to be. So we can shine like stars.

"So that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe." - Philippians 2:15

 

Tuesday Poetry - Lineage by Margaret Walker

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Lineage

by Margaret Walker

 

My grandmothers were strong.

They followed plows and bent to toil.

They moved through fields sowing seed.

They touched earth and grain grew.

They were full of sturdiness and singing.

My grandmothers were strong.

 

My grandmothers are full of memories

Smelling of soap and onions and wet clay

With veins rolling roughly over quick hands

They have many clean words to say.

My grandmothers were strong.

Why am I not as they?

 

Is it always true that the earlier generation was the better generation?

Or are we better than we know?

And will our daughters and grand-daughters someday speak of us in such glowing terms?

 

Home Sewn - A Book Review

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Weekends are made for sewing, as far as I'm concerned.

This summer I have branched out beyond my simple (yet elegant!) toile aprons and skirts to dresses and tunics.

Happily, I've discovered that the more I sew, the more I want to sew more things.

Which is why I jumped at the chance to review HOME SEWN by Cassandra Ellis. 
Until now, my sewing experience has been strictly limited to simple clothing items: aprons, skirts, and now dresses.

 

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But, as I flip through the pages of Home Sewn, I am inspired to try some of the simple, but very lovely projects. The linen napkins, the large lounging pillows and even a quilt will be on my 'to sew' list soon. I even found myself browsing linen by the yard on Etsy, in preparation.

If like me, you are interested in dipping your toe into sewing for home, pick up a copy of Home Sewn. You will be inspired.

Highly recommended.

I received a copy of Home Sewn in exchange for an honest review.

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Faith and Trust and the Deep Blue Sea

 

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I used to believe that life was a diving board. We walked along this straight and narrow course until we reached the end. The pool beneath us was Heaven. Cool, comforting, protected waters in which we would swim for eternity, held in the steady palm of God’s hand.

 

In fact, I liked that analogy so much, I used it in a novel.

 

This morning at 6 a.m., I realized I was wrong.

 

I amended my analogy. Life was the swimming pool. The diving board was adulthood.

 

When we become adults, we jump off the diving board into the pool of adulthood and swim. If we know how to swim, know how to create a successful life using our talents and skills, we will swim and life will be great. If we don’t know how to swim, surely there is a swim instructor who can give us lessons, we will overcome our fear of drowning, and all will be well.

 

At 6:15 a.m., I realized the flaw in this idea was my imagining that life was a protected body of water, a temperature controlled environment, predictable depths, and no waves.

 

So I picked up my well-trained swimmer and plopped her into the ocean.

 

She was fine as long as the weather was sunny, she swam close to shore where the waters were clear enough to see the not-too-deep depths, and the gentle currents made her course easier.

 

Life was good.

 

Faith is like this.

 

When we enter into a relationship with God, our first impression, perhaps lasting for years, is of floating in calm, warm waters. We know that we are loved, God’s presence is near and reassuring. We don’t have trust God, because we take for granted His closeness each day.

 

Life is good, so we believe our faith is strong.

 

Growing up in Fort Lauderdale, I was tossed into the waves as soon as I could walk. I was a strong, competitive swimmer, and when tropical storms threatened far offshore, I would join my friends, body surfing in the churned up waters of the Atlantic.

 

But if you had dropped me into the deep blue Gulf Stream during that same storm, where the waves towered as high as a building and the current whipped you far from shore, all my swimming skills would have been exhausted and I would have drowned.

The other evening, my friend Paula and I were messaging back and forth about the challenge of trusting God in impossible circumstances.

 

She wrote a beautiful lengthy letter sharing her faith in God and one of the examples she included was the familiar story of Jesus walking on water. In the book of Matthew, the disciples of Jesus, men who have grown up by the sea, strong fishermen, have gone out in their boat when an overwhelming storm arises. They rightfully fear for their lives.

 

Suddenly, they see Jesus walking toward them over the waves. They are frightened, believing they are seeing a ghost.

 

But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”

“Come,” he said.

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?” (Matthew 14:27-31)

 

This morning, I realized that the ocean not only represents life, but also faith.

 

Reaching out for the hand of God will not happen once in my life. I will be called to rely on my faith, to trust God, not occasionally but constantly.

 

When I take my eyes off of Jesus, when I try to walk on water by my own efforts, I sink. But when I reach out for His hand, I must accept the challenge of trusting that I will rise.

 

Before I began writing this column, I imagined the deeper my faith, the easier my life would be. I’ve found the opposite to be true.

 

The seemingly endless cycle of hope and disappointment wears on my self-confidence and on my relationship with God. It also highlights a glaring hole in my walk of faith.

 

Every time I fail, I take it as a sign that I am unworthy of God’s love or that God could not be trusted with my dreams.

 

According to God’s Word, both of those conclusions are wrong. But in the midst of a sea of disappointment, that is all I can see.

 

If the analogy of walking on water is too fanciful to believe. Let me share one that is based in scientific fact.

 

If you are in the deepest part of the ocean you have two choices. You can become frightened by the fathomless depths below, panic, struggle, and drown. Or you can relax, lay on your back and allow the buoyant salt water to gently carry you over the waves.

 

Either choice is one that has to be made continuously. Once I commit to floating and trusting that I will be carried, I will only remain afloat if I continue in that commitment moment by moment.

 

That is also the inextricable intertwining of faith and trust. We cannot have one without the other.

 

In the shallow waters close to shore, the water is warm, the waves are infrequent. But there’s not much to see other than a seafloor worn into sandy sameness.

 

As I venture further from shore, into depths where God’s unimagined beauty is found, I discover that to get there and stay there is difficult.

 

My experience of God is richer than anything I imagined before. But I am challenged and forced to trust God or head for shore and the shallow relationship we had before.

 

That is the choice I face, every day.

 

Faith requires trust. Will I accept Jesus’ invitation into the depths?

 

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Suzanne Elizabeth Anderson is the author of “A Map of Heaven.” She lives in Breckenridge. Join her at www.Facebook.com/suzanneelizabeths or  www.suzanneelizabeths.com

 

 

 

How to Live a Life in Full

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The following is a journal entry from my mother, Adeline Marie Anderson:

 “After Sunday School, a young woman came up to me and said, ‘Excuse me, but I want to tell you what an inspiration your smile is to me.’ Just when I thought at 88 years old, it was all over for me, my health is poor, I use a walker. I thought it was time for me to just sit back and let someone else carry the ball until that young girl spoke to me and then I discovered this verse: “Even in old age they will still produce fruit; they will remain vital and green. They will declare, “The LORD is just! He is my rock!” (Psalm 92:14)

“No, it isn’t over for me! My body is deteriorating, but I can still smile and smile I will!”

Adeline celebrates her 89th birthday on July 8th.

At every stage in life, we can and should pursue the dreams that God has placed in our heart. I believe this is what gives our life richness and meaning, no matter how old we are.

My mother’s life reminds me of God’s promise: “For I am sure of this very thing, that the one who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6)

Although she began life in humble circumstances, Mom had a purpose that would carry her through decades of challenges.

Adeline Marie Lucas was born in 1927, the last of seven children in a poor Hungarian immigrant family. Her father died when she was four, leaving her mother to become a baker, a cleaning woman, anything to feed a house full of children during the darkest years of the Great Depression.

There were nights when all the children had to eat were slices of homemade bread slathered with lard. And yet, her mother always seemed to find something to feed the ‘hobos’ who occasionally came begging for food.

Often there was not enough coal to heat the old house on Lorraine Avenue, so Adeline’s mother would heat a brick, wrap it in a towel, and place it between the sheets of each bed so that her children would at least be able to warm their feet.

At the age of nine, Mom went to church and heard visiting missionaries speak of working overseas serving God, and Mom knew at that moment that this was her calling.

Mom left school at the age of 14 to go to work as a housemaid to help the family make ends meet. At the age of 18, she got a job working as a secretary in Cleveland, and completed her GED at night.

This enabled her to go to Bible college in Missouri. There she was part of a team that brought food and God’s Word to poor families living in Appalachia. After she graduated college, she went to Juneau, Alaska and worked in a children’s orphanage.

After Alaska, Mom married, raised four children, earned two Bachelors, two Masters, and a Doctorate, while working full-time in education, dedicating her studies and career to helping learning disabled and underprivileged children learn to read.

“I thought age should speak, and increased years should teach wisdom.” (Job 32:7)

When she retired at the age of 65, she immediately moved overseas, where she became Director of Early Childhood Education in international schools in Kyiv, Ukraine; Bishkek, Kyrghstan; and Baku, Azerbaijan.

While she taught children overseas, Mom often traveled to remote villages on weekends to deliver medicine, food, and clothing to the poor and elderly.

Adeline finally retired at the age of 79, only because she had a heart attack and needed to return to the States for open-heart surgery.

Mom once told me that she wished she’d spent more time in missions. Yet, as I write this overview of her life, it is clear that missions have been a thread throughout her life.

As she begins her ninetieth year, her life exemplifies the purpose God placed in her heart then and now: “Now that I am old and my hair is gray, don’t leave me, God. I must tell the next generation about your power and greatness.” (Psalm 71:18-19)

Mom and I lived together for twenty years after my father passed away in her arms in Kyiv. Then, a year and a half-ago, Mom told me that she wanted to return to Florida, to live independently, for the first time in her life.

Although she lives alone, she is surrounded by friends, family, and is very active in her church. She distributes food to fifty people in her community and shares God’s Word.

 

Mom embraces the challenges and opportunities in this stage of her life because her mission remains the same: to help others in need, and to share God’s Love wherever she goes. As a result, God continues to strengthen her, even as she requires the use of a walker.

“Even to your old age I will be the same, and even to your graying years I will bear you! I have done it, and I will carry you; And I will bear you and I will deliver you.” (Isaiah 46:4)

When I write about my mother’s life, I see a woman whose relationship with God is something I aspire to. She has created a full life, and one that fulfills the missionary calling she wished for as a child.

Our lives never reflect the smooth, straight and narrow path that we imagine. Yet when we look backwards, everything has fallen into place as it should.

“That is why we are not discouraged. Though outwardly we are wearing out, inwardly we are renewed day by day. Our suffering is light and temporary and is producing for us an eternal glory that is greater than anything we can imagine.” (2 Corinthians 4:16-17)

Happy birthday, Mom. I love you with all my heart.

 

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Suzanne Elizabeth Anderson is the author of “A Map of Heaven.” She lives in Breckenridge. Join her at www.Facebook.com/suzanneelizabeths or  www.suzanneelizabeths.com