This past week we celebrated 3 birthdays!!!  It is the only month that we have so many celebrations within a couple of days.

We started out by making treats to take to church for Valentines Day.  We went with something that we enjoy making a few times a year.  Popcorn balls.  You can make a lot for little effort and they taste very good.  We have made this successfully with children of all ages for our girls group at church and we did it, with our younger group and it wasn’t too messy.  Most of the time they got their “blob” and just licked their fingers!!!

You can click here for complete step by step instructions.

Up next, we celebrated Madelyn’s 4th birthday.  She was our “red-head” born on Valentines Day.

We always let the birthday person choose their favorite dessert or cake.  Madelyn went with what else?? Chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting.

She really wanted a princess dress for her birthday, but since they were like $35 for a flimsy one at Walmart, I passed on it.  We instead went to the Goodwill and found this “looks like a princess” style dress.  They also had the matching crown, found all of this for $4.  That was a deal and she can wear it out.     

The chocolate frosting was messy, she licked an awful lot of it.  We were having guests over, so I made sure to keep a separate plate for them and kept a “child-made” plate. 

Everyone wanted to get into the fun. Who can resist chocolate??

Here the birthday girl was all dressed up and ready for celebrating.

It is hard to believe how fast time flies.  I can’t believe that my life has gotten so much easier over the last few years. I would have never imagined being able to do the “extra” things that I do like my blog and going out on dates with my husband.  All the weary mothers out their who don’t get to do anything, I was you.  It seemed, I would never have a chance to breathe again, but it came.  In time it will.The other person who had a birthday was Lauren.  She turned 17 this year.  This year was much quieter than last years birthday where we had a big 16th birthday party for her.  Which I am glad that we got to do before we left Michigan.  This year Lauren and I got to go out alone to the Winter Jam concert.  That was way fun!! We got to see Family Force 5, Skillet, Jeremy Camp, Building 429, Veridia, and Blanca.  It was so great to be worshiping with 14, 000 other believers.  We took along some new friends from church and had a great time. Who said that Christians can’t have fun??

Since we did the concert, we decided to have our cakes on Madelyn’s birthday party.  That way, when we had guests over, we could have a variety of cakes.

Lauren’s favorite is chocolate eclair cake.  You can view here how we make it.  This is her absolute favorite.  Our old neighbor gave us this one time for Christmas and it quickly became a favorite in the family.

We also celebrated my birthday.  I decided to go with something different this year for a cake and I wanted to try pineapple upside down cake.  I had Jadyn make it and she did an excellent job. Click here to see step by step instructions on making this cake.  It was super easy and looks great for presentation.

So delicious, I am thankful that everyone liked this, otherwise I would have been eating most all of it myself!!!

We went and chose a Mexican buffet for dinner.  It was an easy thing to make and then it allows everyone to pick their favorite toppings for nachos.

Good fun, family times.  We get a little break before the next ones.  Have a blessed weekend.

When we go about our life and someone or something comes our way that “hits a nerve” and then bam!!! We are offended!!! It happens suddenly, it doesn’t usually take time to sink it, we are either easily offended or not. It is like a wound that refuses to get better. It festers, continues to open, reddens, and gets infected. It hurts and keeps infecting our life with anger, bitterness, un-forgiveness, sickness, and strife. It will rob us of so many good things that God has for us.
For most people, it is hard to forgive. They might get to the point of forgiveness but they don’t usually forget. Satan knows if we don’t forgive and forget then he can bring that offense up over and over again. He will use it as a tool against us to keep opening that wound and digger deeper, to cause bitterness in our soul. He LOVES to see us miserable and so loathed in our own self pity. He is sick soul.

Ephesians 6:12
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

We have to remember that we are not striving against people, but against demonic forces that are trying to oppress us. When we allow ourselves to get offended it is like stepping into that trap. Remember the definition from the beginning? Offense is a snare set by Satan. We cannot get out until we forgive and release the other person from the offense.
Holding onto bitterness and anger only causes us to be affected physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

Physically it will create stress in the body, as the body no longer can function doing the natural processes of day to day. It has to work hard to help ward off the excess pumping of the heart due to stress and anger. This causes a weakness in the body, which in turn can lead to sickness, tiredness, and more stress on our heart. Repeated anger over the years leads to a multitude of health problems as in high blood pressure and heart conditions. How easy it sounds to take care of our bodies physically by not taking offense at things?
Emotionally is a big one. How many of you deal with depression and sadness in your life? I know I did for years even after I was a believer. I would let offenses eat at me for days on end. I let Satan beat me down and make me believe I was not worth something. But let me tell you, the day I stopped believing in all that garbage was the day I was set free from my sin and bondage. It was, and is the best decisions I have ever had. DO NOT let Satan work on you through offenses and make you believe you are not someone highly favored by the Lord. Our minds are a delicate thing, when offense comes your way DON’T TAKE IT.
Spiritually, offenses will not allow us to move to that next level that God has for us. We all work towards a greater goal in life. We want to strive to keep working towards learning and experiencing a greater level of spiritual-ness that can only come from God. Most people never get to experience this awesomeness from the Lord. They are so stuck in bondage of sin and it happens because of their own selfish choices and choosing to take offense at things.
We may get offended that the pastor speaks on giving and tithing. Even when they share the blessings of seed sowing and all that God has done, we get offended. We may remember hearing a story of someone who has abused this principle and now we reject hearing the words of the Lord. We think all he wants is our money so we reject the principal and choose not to experience the blessing.
We may get offended because they didn’t choose us to be the new Sunday school teacher. We stop going to church because we are offended by that. This ONLY hurts us spiritually and we miss out on the blessings God has for it. How do we know what God is going to work out in our lives if we get offended over things that WE THINK need to happen? We have to start believing God and let Him work in our lives.

Are you enjoying this series??? You can download the entire PDF here or keep reading Why we should not take offense?