Reusable shopping bags

Are these reusable shopping bags really so "eco-friendly?"
Read this article and see what you think:


Reusable shopping bags

Maybe there should be an alternative bag that says: "Say no to fungus on my food!"

This really makes you think. I believe that if you can't wash it, don't use it

Are these reusable shopping bags really so "eco-friendly?"

Read this article and see what you think:

If you can't wash it, don't use it---

Here are my top 10 alternatives to using those bags:

1. 
   
   Reuse your paper bags --they hold boxed items and bread better anyway!


2. 
   
   Ask for paper in plastic. This makes a strong bag. When you're done fold them up still stuck together and bring along with you on each trip. You are reusing-yes?


3. 
   
   Never put raw meat in reusable bags. Some bags were made to be used only once!


4. 
   
   Always put produce in washable bags, launder at least every other week. Think of who and how many people have touch these precious vegies before you - ick. Note: always wash before eating.


5. 
   
   Always make sure bags are dry (from dairy or frozen food) before folding and storing - damp bags will breed fungus, mold and all sorts of yucky stuff.


6. 
   
   Use a plastic cooler for frozen or dairy. Wipe with a disinfecting cloth and dry after each use.


7. 
   
   Question why you're "buying" a shopping bag with the store logo on it?!? Make your own, there are lots of patterns on-line.


8. 
   
   Co-op and stores like PriceRite do not give you bags but are happy to give you stock boxes. Take the empty ones from the shelf and pack in those. They are nice and sturdy and can be easily recycled at home.


9. 
   
   Keep plastic bins in your trunk. Ask to have your groceries packed back into the cart. When you get to the car unpack the cart into the appropriate plastic bin - that way all the dairy, boxes, can, etc. are together. Note: Make sure you or your kids can lift a full bin! You will also need to clean these with disinfectant once a week.


10. 
    
    Don't use your grocery bags for anything else - this just exposes them to more bacteria.

Love to hear your ideas on this topic!

Experiencing God...Day 12,13

Today we work on that LOVE Relationship...



God created you for eternity. The time - your lifetime on earth - is for you to grow your relationship with Him.



What can you do right now, today, to grow that relationship?



Make a list of how you spend you time, then divide it up as time that works towards the Eternal and time that is just Passing Away.



Some of the things can be really easy, like time with kids, husband, homeschooling, church groups. But, dear reader, I caution you... Take a deeper look at these times and what you're doing within that time. Is the mom's meeting a time of praise to God or is it a time to complain and sympathize with other women. Is that homeschool time used to homeschool or to meet with play groups for your enjoyment.

I don't mean to get on people's cases, I'm just trying to encourage other's out there that there is more...More to your relationship with God, more to the growth of the love and time with family, and much, much more to the life you will lead for Kingdom.

I welcome any disagreement or comments on this topic and hope that it will help us all to examine the use of this earthly time as a building block to the relationship we all strive for in the Kingdom!



Father, to be loved by you is my highest calling. Help me live a life worthy of my calling based on eternity as your created me. Help me to let my present be shaped by my future and not my past. I want o make sure I am investing time in things that are eternal and not passing away. i know only you can guide me to incest this time in worthwhile ways to Your Glory. Amen

Experiencing God

A few thoughts today on my Experiencing God "experience"

I am thrilled to say I am focusing on Him more than me these days. I always thought that's what I was doing, but lately, I'm not so sure....

I always put other's first but I'm learning that I may be doing that in order to ignore the changes I need to make to myself...Does that make sense??

I think sometimes it's more selfish to constantly be working to serve other's when you know God wants you to work on yourself. A while ago I blogged on "Spiritual Gifts" and I must say the Lord has really been putting this on my heart lately. Christians have all the gifts in them, they are just to be used at different times in your walk.

The "Experiencing God" series has taught me that the Holy Spirit is the gift. The Holy Spirit is an actual 'piece of God' that is in me - WOW! That is AWESOME!

That being said, I must not have only one spiritual gift, I must have the whole multitude of heaven's gifts at my fingertips! Simply put, I must align my thoughts with God's, find where He is working, pray for my role in it, and use the particular Spiritual Gifts necessary to accomplish His purpose. He will equip me for what is necessary to complete His task. We think so small sometimes!

We need to think only of the purpose and the Purposer. If it is God's purpose He will give us all we need.

Don't try to align His will to your desires and then call it a blessing....pray for the discernment to be guided. If you are a saved Christian, you have the gift and it is just what you need.

God said "I AM that I AM" (Exodus 3:14) - meaning He is all and everything you need or could possibly need at any given time. A piece of this I AM is given to you when you accept Christ as your personal Savior. Therefore everything you could ever need to accomplish God's will is actually there ready to be used for His Glory! GOD is so COOL! We can at any time ask the Holy Spirit to guide us and help us understand it all. That's what He does....

So much to take in, I would love to hear any comments you have on this subject.

Follow me at Twitter in my sidebar or just comment below:)

Thanks for stopping by--

Blessings

Elizabeth

Experiencing God...Day 11

God's love for me was settled at the Cross!

A love relationship with God is more important than any other single factor in your life.

If you missed that read it again....A love relationship with God is more important than any other single factor in your life.

It takes work, like any other relationship. It doesn't just happen. Does you marriage just happen? Do friendships just happen??

The entire purpose of your life is to have a real and personal relationship with God.

He takes all this earthly "time" to grow you into the one He wants to spend Eternity with! Now that's going to take some work for most of us, isn't it!!

There's more to this story than meets the eye. You see, dear reader, your relationship with God not only effects your relationship with Him it effects every other relationship in your life - from you spouse, to your children, to your friends, to your co-workers, to your paperboy....a poor relationship with Him with result in poor relationships overall. But, on the flip-side - a great, loving relationship with the Father will result in great relationships with others!

You will not be able to have the relationship with others you want, if you can't have a pure love relationship with the Father.

Describe your relationship with Him - can you honestly say I LOVE HIM! Or do you not feel worthy? Is your relationship based solely on obedience, worship and fear? Base your relationship solely on LOVE and the rest will come naturally. We respond the best to those we love, don't we?

Take a look at your relationship with your earthly father. I was blessed to have a wonderful father. He loved, provided, and fulfilled my needs as a child. That made it super easy to accept that God could accomplish all that in my adulthood.

Others that I have spoken to are not so fortunate...their relationship with their father was absent, hurtful, or broken. This makes it really difficult for future relationships on earth, as well as with your Heavenly Father. Difficult but NOT impossible!!

Start here-- pray and be faithful to His Word. Work on that love relationship and let that influence all your relationships.

Let the future dictate who you are not the past!

Father, I love You seems so easy to say yet is not said often enough. Thank You that You want to have a love relationship with me. Thank You for making me conquer my difficulties with love and for never leaving me. Deepen the quality of my love relationship with You. I love You. Amen

Experiencing God...Day 10

God Speaks with a Purpose

If God speaks to you, why would you wait to act??

It almost seems like a foolish question when you ask it that way, doesn't it?

But, many of us are guilty of just this kind of foolishness. We ask around to make sure that other's think it's God speaking. Or, we sit on it because it seems too big, so God must be mistaken, that's meant for someone else.

We know God doesn't make mistakes, and one sin that rarely receives any attention is the all-too-common:

PROCRASTINATION

I admit it to you and all who read - I am a procrastinator. I have mastered it to an art. I can put off just about anything until a more "convenient time." Sometimes if you're cleaver, you can disguise it as anticipation, or allowing others to participate, or even better "I'm waiting for God to be more specific." OUCH! Sometimes it hurts to even write it!

I suppose I won't know the result of my procrastination until I reach the gates and see what I have missed as a result of my hesitation. I pray no one has lost out on the gospel because of my procrastination. I pray I will get another chance with them. I pray to drag my feet less and run more!

If your boss says jump you should ask how high? I say if God says "Jump" you'd better get up and start jumping and don't stop until He's says so...

So what do you believe??

Believe God will equip you for the challenge - Believe God develops character to match the given assignment.

Believe you're not prepared for the assignment, when He calls you. That way you are open to all the adjustments He wants you to make without clogging the path with your own ideas of growth.

Believe He wants you to respond immediately- this is God's timing, not yours. He will build you into what you need to be in order to complete the assignment for His glory.

Believe God has a right to interrupt your life any time He wants to....If He uses a big assignment for you He will expand your character to match.

Father, help me to respond to you the moment You speak to me. Teach me your timing. Develop my character to match the assignment You have for me. I have accepted you as Lord of my life, you have the right to interrupt my life. You are my LORD. Amen

Experiencing God...Day 9

God Speaks to His people


When did God speak to His people??

God spoke:

----in times past - through the prophets

----these last days - by His Son



John 14:26 Jesus promises that the Father would send...the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, in his name...

The work of the Holy Spirit is -

'to teach you all things and remind you of everything I have said to you.'



The one who hears what God says - belongs to Him

The one who doesn't hear Him does not belong to God




When Jesus returned to Heaven, God sent the Holy Spirit: He speaks to us:


--through the Bible,

Prayer,

circumstances and

the church (other believers)


He wants us to know Him! It's not a big secret! He longs to:


--reveal Himself, His purposes and His ways




The Key to knowing God's voice is all in the intimate relationship...


--God does not use a "formula"-- you have to actively and fully desire the relationship

Need more assurance, need some"time"?

--Asking for a sign signals unbelief

--Scripture is good but shouldn't be totally relied on as a 'sign'. Only the Holy Spirit can reveal God's Truth of Scripture to you for a particular circumstance.




Father, I pray that I will grow in my relationship with You so much that when you speak, I will immediately hear and respond. Amen

Experiencing God...Day 8

God takes the Initiative....will you answer the call??

He reveals Himself. It is an invitation to join Him. You can't remain the same afterward. You have to make major adjustments in your life to walk obediently with Him.

Are you READY?!?

When you are God-centered, even the desires to do the things that please Him come from Him! His activity in your life stirs the wants and desires to join him...

Phil 2:13---

"It is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.."

A self-centered life tends to confuse its selfish desires with God's will. Circumstances do not always indicate clear direction.

I used to say if God opens the door, I'll walk through it. But, I don't say that any more because sometimes doors open and allow for free will. You really need to check what you presume to be God's guidance and check it with honest prayer, Scripture, and circumstances to see if they all agree.

Learning to Walk with God

1. Sincerely seek God's direction

2. Patiently wait on God until you have a word from Him.

3. Look to the Holy Spirit to teach through Scripture.

DO NOT

1. Lack honesty in your heart. Convincing yourself that God's will is your will will only lead to more problems.

2. Lack uprightness before God. He always knows your heart.

3. Be impatient. God's timing is always better than yours. Look how long Abraham had to wait or Moses, or Elizabeth...odds are you will not have to be patient as long as them, but you do have to be patient.

4. Prefer council of men to the Word of God. Although God does speak to us through other believers, you should never seek their council over His. It may seem right when people agree with you or give you a quick fix to your circumstances, but a true friend or believer will encourage you to rely on the Father, not man.

Start today by getting your heart in such a state that it no longer has a will of it's own. Sure we all have free will but don't use that as a crutch for your sin-nature..

Align your heart with God so your will aligns with His. When your heart is right you no longer reach for that free-will ticket...all you want is God's will!

When your will is the same as God's will

that is truly FREE-will!

John 8:32

"And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

Father, I no longer seek my own will. I give up my free will and pray to be in such a state that I have no will of my own in any given matter. Let Your will be my will, and let Your will be done. Amen