The Love of God- a difficult subject

I'm currently reading a book on the topic of the love of God. "The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God" by D.A. Carson. It is a short 93 pager and it is jam-packed with solid theological exposition on all the many facets of what "God's love" means. This has become a controversial topic among friends of mine (believing & unbelieving alike). I'm half way through and I started at 9pm last night. I can't wait to finish it. It strives to answer questions like, "Does God only love His elect?" "Does God love the world and in what context is it used in Jn 3:16?" "Is an unbeliever incapable of love as God defines it?" "Is God a god of love? a god of justice? or both?" "Should I fear the love of God?" "How do I reconcile God's love/sovereignty with man's sinful choices?" I have battled over many of these questions and this book does an impressive job of clearing up some error in my thinking on this topic. I highly recommend it if you are struggling with any of these thoughts. Struggle is good! I'm reminded of that when I find myself pouring over the Word in confusion. Struggle draws me to the Truth- to God. I'm so thankful for that. D.A. Carson's book is available in pdf form online for free. Take advantage of it and read it!

Monkey's Uncle Banana Creme

This recipe is from the blog, Eat 80/20 and it is sooo good. If you're a banana lover like me you'll adore this healthy banana dessert. Here's how you do it:

Chop up 3 ripe bananas and place in a lightly sprayed baking dish.
Place in freezer for 2 hours. Scrape bananas into a food processor
and add 4 tbsps of almond or plain milk. Blend for about 3 minutes
until consistency is soft-serve like. Garish with whatever your heart
desires. I used sliced almonds, coconut, and heath bar bits. A yummy
summer treat and a great way to get some potassium.:)

Caprese Chicken

This blog post is about food! One of my many loves. There's this salad I make all the time when I'm craving something really light and yummy. It's super simple and delicious. Caprese salad. 5 ingredient fix:fresh, sliced mozzarella, fresh basil, Roma tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, extra virgin olive oil. Done. We eat a whole lot of chicken in the McNew house. It's my favorite meat and you can season it a million different ways. I have no clue why I didn't think to put the caprese ingredients over chicken. Well this weekend I remedied that. I made caprese chicken on Saturday night when we had our friends Eric & Bridget over. D.R. & Eric are great friends and meet regularly for Bible study together. Eric is a Srgt 1st Lieu. in the Army and a fairly new believer. It's been a sweet friendship for the guys. Eric teaches D.R. about the Army & D.R. teaches Eric about the Bible. Although, D.R. says he's learning just as much during their time together. Bridget is a precious friend. We hit it off when we moved here last Sept. She loves all the same things I do: eating healthy, drinking wine, cooking, running, fashion. We're soul-sisters really. She is a fairly new believer as well and has such a vulnerable, teachable heart. Her excitement for the gospel and Bible stories is so child-like and refreshing.

Bridget is gluten-intolerant so it was a task to find a totally gluten-free meal. Luckily Publix has a "guide to gluten-free" pamphlet that helped this sister out. I learned that I am so thankful I do not have celiacs disease (like poor Bridget) and that my body is able to digest gluten.

So here is the recipe:


chicken, basil, mozzarella, baby tomatoes, red onion, balsamic vinegar, evoo, salt & pepper

dice mozz, tomatoes, basil & onion

add extra virgin olive oil

add vinegar and mix to coat all ingredients

brush chicken with evoo, s&p and grill lightly for 4 minutes on each side. Finish it off in the oven; 375 for 15 minutes until cooked through.



Bridget brought dessert: healthy pear & apple cobbler. no sugar added surprisingly. she made the crust her own gluten-free way with minced almonds/pecans, cinnamon, un-sweetened coconut, dried dates & figs. a trail mix crust if you will. we had a scoop of vanilla ice cream with it to add some sugar :) it was delightful.

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McNew update

per Lauren McCaghren's facebook request :) here is an update on the McNews.

For those of you that don't know, God provided a job for D.R. back in September at an urgent care clinic in Columbus, GA. We packed up in Mobile, AL and headed east on August 31. We were extremely thankful that God provided a job for D.R. so quickly after his graduation in July. After applying to over 100 jobs and being rejected or not even considered due to his Nat'l Guard status, we had almost given up hope of finding a job. God is faithful. The P.A. that hired D.R. is retired Army and actually hired him BECAUSE of his enrollment in the Nat'l Guard. He viewed it as a positive: that he was a hard-worker, devoted, loyal and conservative :) We were thankful. Over time D.R. became frustrated and stressed with the nature of the job. Urgent care clinics are unpredictable. You never know what will come through the door. With the wide-variety of illnesses and situations, he started feeling more and more dependent on the doc's for answers and less and less confident in himself as a P.A. I hated this for him. Every time he walked in the door I would see that look of exhaustion and defeat. It made my heart sink. But D.R., being the man he is, was always determined to improve and get better; only the nature of the job really doesn't allow for that if you are not used to total inconsistency. We spent many days praying that if God wanted D.R. to be somewhere else, then He would open the door in time. It happened while D.R. was at drill in March. ("Drill" is his monthly commitment as a P.A. in the Nat'l Guard to go to an army clinic and do physicals. He remained with the AL Nat'l Guard so he drilled in Birmingham) He met a man who works on Fort Benning, the army post in Columbus. This man told him that there was a P.A. position coming available in a certain battalion and would he be interested. Well of course he was. When we got home, the man that formerly held D.R.'s position called him and asked if he wanted to come on post and check it out. He did and felt an excitement about the possibility of working full-time for the Army. After a couple months, they offered him the job. It wasn't an easy thing to tell the urgent care clinic that he would be leaving but we both felt God had provided this new job which would really benefit us as a couple. This new job is wonderful all the way around! It's a higher pay, more consistent hours which allow D.R. to always be at church on Sundays and small group on Wednesdays, it's less stressful as his patients are all army men and women whom he has health profiles on and it allows him to create his own schedule which he is really enjoying. His busiest hours are in the morning from 6:30-9:30. Then depending on the day, he may have lots of free time to himself. He said he plans to work-out everyday, read, learn Spanish on Rosetta Stone and moonlight at different places once in a while. Sounds like a great job! D.R.'s hours are 6:30-3:30/4:00 M-F and once in a while on Sat/Sun from 3:30a-7:30a (i know crazy) during a road march test. (where the guys run a ga-zillion miles in full army gear in the 90 degree heat...D.R. is pretty useful during those shifts) So all in all, we are so thankful that God provided this new job for D.R. He is so passionate about being in the Army and serving his country by helping these men and woman be in optimal physical health. He's definitely been a more relaxed D.R. since starting this job last Friday. He's laughing more, singing more (yes, he's always singing or whistling around the house) and I love it. Plus, he looks so hot when he gets home everyday in his fatigues! rawr!!

As for me, I took a job back in April as High School Administrative Assistant at Calvary Christian School. I love it! I currently work part-time 9-1 M-Th and that's been stellar summer hrs! I have loved getting to know the students and the teachers and really look forward to them being back in the fall. The job is challenging as I wear so many hats. I really can't name all the tasks/responsibilities but I love them all. It's definitely the most challenging job I have held and for that I am thankful. I feel so blessed to be able to work and minister in the same place with teenagers- which are my heart! I love them and their messy lives! Many of them have been such an encouragement to me so far b/c I can tell they love Christ. I know God will teach me so much being at Calvary.

Champ McNew is doing super. He just turned 3 on May 22 and is healthy as can be. I give him lots of exercise, probably too much. D.R. & I truly love him. He's our child. Forreal. He's such a sweetheart; he still thinks he's a 16 lbs puppy and will crawl in our laps. ouch!! 80 lbs later doesn't feel so good! He's a joy in our lives and it's neat that D.R. & I love something together.

D.R. & I look forward to what this next year will bring. Talk of starting a family, taking a big trip somewhere far away, pursuing further education....who knows! We'll keep you updated. :)

Eat 80/20

My new favorite food blog is http://www.eat8020.com/ She shares 80 recipes- which are healthy and 20 recipes- which are indulgent and just plain yummy. Her recipes are fun, semi-easy, & "healthy-lifestyle-encouraging". :) Check her out.

my idea of a perfect day

I was sitting here pondering what to blog about and my mind kept drifting to things like....i need to do my buns&thighs work-out... OH, I think Giada is on right now... champ needs to be walked.... wonder if chicken is on sale this week at Publix?.... i miss the beach.... dang I love Adele.... So I thought, why don't I blog about what I'd love to do if I could do all my favorite things in one day.

here is my idea of a perfect day:

I wake up between 7:30-8:00 and have one cup of coffee, pulpy orange juice, a bowl of toasted oats cereal with bananas & blueberries and almond milk.

Then I get my sweat on: a 30 minute run followed by some weights. Shower (or not...who am I kidding. I would love to live in nike shorts and a tank!) Grab my Bible and Champ and head to the park. Take champ for a walk around the lake. Read in the car for a while. Go to Publix, buy ingredients for a yummy salad. Go home and make the salad and watch Giada. Call Kirstie and catch up on life. Laugh, cry, pray, miss her and my family. Take a bike ride with D.R. when he gets home. Take dinner to the park and grill out. Enjoy each other's company. Take a dip in the pool when we get back (because it's hot!). Play with champ. Watch a netflix movie and eat popcorn. Turn in by 11:00.

I'm lucky enough to have those days once in a while. Life is good. God is good. I haven't a thing to complain about. That's all.