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I was reminded this week about the importance of increasing my faith in God.  I started thinking about how easily it is to put my “faith” in things other than Him.  How easily I can listen to others and put my “faith” in things that were heard.

This isn’t the faith that God wants us to have.

Taking offense towards someone produces bad faith.  The bible says:

….faith comes by hearing…

Romans 10:17

What is it that we are listening to and putting our faith into?  We do things  because we “hear” something.

Take heed what you hear.  You can get faith from the wrong thing.  If it is scriptural you should receive it.  It will make you :

 ….be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord….

1 Corinthians 15:58

If it is strife, it will create “faith: that is not a good faith.  It will create imaginations and thoughts that are not of the Lord and you will take offense at things.

All someone has to do is say, “watch out for that person.”  As soon as you see that person, immediately you put up a wall and your “faith” sets you back from them.  You don’t even give that person a chance to say 2 words to you.  But your “faith” spoke to you and this is what it produces.

Faith creates all the strife in the world.  But on the wrong side.

When you have God faith it will create light.  It will never speak evil, it will never become offended, it will never leave you, or forsake you.  Its added with love.  Love never fails.  Faith works by love.

Instead of blowing something up it creates something.  Love smooths out the wrongs.

Do you know why the bible says that God will never remember you sins?  How does He do that?  It isn’t by memory—because even we can remember people’s sins and probably remind them of that all of the time.  We judge people every time we look at them, even when they have been forgiven.  God’s faith is so powerful, it destroys your past.  That is the type of faith that we should want to live by.

Take heed…….to pay attention to where your “faith” is coming from.

We live by faith….not by sight

2 Corinthians 5:7

I enjoy a good cup of coffee from Starbucks.  Hazelnut Macchiatos are my VERY favorite.  I used to get them more than once per week.  Then we scaled back to just getting them once a week.  I am thankful we live in the land of Starbucks.  There is a Starbucks almost on every corner where we live now, but my pocket book does not like that.  Plus the amount of wasting, I am doing.  Really?!? $5 for 2 shots of coffee plus about 1 cup of milk??!!  So not good.  But I buy them and I need to wean myself off of them.  Or do I????

I used to make these coffee drinks and they taste to me like the Starbucks frappuchinos that you can get in a glass bottle.  But to me they are creamy.  I have since moved away from that taste and moved onto Iced Macchiatos.  They are lighter—I went from nonfat milk to coconut milk that they serve now.  It has 2 shots of espresso and some flavored syrup.  It is less calories and for me, if I am going to get some caffeine power, I want the most for my buck.  I don’t want to waste empty calories on a fancy drink.

After talking with a worker, I know how they make it, why would I not try and duplicate it at home??  Well pure laziness is the answer.  Today was a day, I really wanted a coffee but was not going out, so I thought I would attempt one.  It was a good attempt.

I started out with my quart sized canning jar.

I then opened up my coconut milk in a can.  I added about half of it to the jar.

This is going to be an extremely cheaper drink as the coconut milk in a can is about $1 -$1.25.  You can even make your own by grinding up coconut and water in a blender.  I am out so I opted for a can of the milk.

I then filled my jar up with about 1 cup of crushed ice. 

I am an instant coffee girl.  It is cheaper, it is quicker and its good.  So I heated up my water and put 2 Tablespoons of coffee into my coffee cup.  Use a separate cup to mix the coffee in.

I added about 2 shot glasses of water in with the coffee granules.  I mixed it up so that the coffee granules were dissolved.

I then poured it into my quart jar.

It looks just like my Macchiato.  But how will it taste…….hmmm

Well, for one, I forgot my sweetener.  So I added about 2 scoops of sugar to this.  You can use syrup, honey, or any other type of sweetener.  I just added sugar to test out my drink.  I then thought it was too creamy.  So I added more water to the jar.  I filled it the rest of the way up with more water.  I assume that coconut milk in a jar is concentrated so that made sense.

Then I tasted it…………….and YES it tasted like my Starbucks drink. It definitely has the caffeine power of them.  I only drank about half of this jar and was feeling the effects of caffeine.  So it is a pretty potent drink.  I love it!! The taste from the coconut milk makes it delicious.  When I get the hazelnut syrup from Starbucks I can’t taste it in the coconut milk so this to me, tastes exactly the same.

Try it!! I am sold!! I will save us $50 this month by not buying these drinks while out.  Easy and simple.  Two words I am all about.