Questionable Clothing, Rachel Marie Martin, and Better Together

Welcome to another episode of All Things Southern. This is Shellie and I’ll be chatting with Rachel Marie Martin in just a bit about her new release The Brave Art of Motherhood. But, wait— don’t get ready to tune us out. Rachel’s story holds incredible takeaways for all of us, regardless of our gender or the season of our lives. We’ll pop into the kitchen to stir up something good for our bellies, and I’ll have some devotional thoughts before we’re done. Right now, let’s chat…

I’m fresh off a road trip to South Georgia by way of Tallahassee, FL where I was blessed to serve up God’s word – and more than a few stories—to a group of women at Climax Baptist Church. It was a fun, faith filled weekend. It was also revealing, at least for yours truly. Apparently, I’m having trouble with the basics of clothing these days, footwear, in particular.

Remember when I told y’all about having my shoes on the wrong feet when I came out on the stage in Commerce, TX? Yes, we all agreed I should’ve noticed something, sooner, but stay with me. Friday night after I spoke, the sweet women of Georgia gave me a sweet heads-up on my latest folly. They were gracious about it, but you can only do so much with some people. And by that I would mean, speaker type folks who talk while wearing two different shoes—booties, at that.

One dear woman told me she was convinced that it was part of my message and she had waited all night for the “special point.” The special point seems clear enough to me, but allow me to spell it out.

“I ain’t right.”

BUMPER

Interview with Rachel Marie Martin, author of The Brave Heart of Motherhood. Note the book pics and my sticky notes, visual confirmation of how much I enjoyed it!

 

 

*you’ll find this interview on the All Things Southern podcast on iTunes (you can subscribe for free!) or you can listen through the audio link at the bottom of this post. Just look for the audio bar and hit the play button!

BUMPER

The All Things Southern Kitchen

Welcome back to the kitchen, y’all! The men are almost through harvesting. Give us a week and praise the Lord. It will all be in the bins, and what isn’t in the bins will have been shipped out to the grain elevators. Will they slow down? You’re kidding, right? Nope, they’ll switch gears and try to get the land ready and “laid by”, that’s a farming term, before the winter rains. The goal is to have it as ready as possible for planting come Spring. All that to say, I’m stirring up another hearty meal for my beloved farmer, to keep him going. It’s my Corn Bread Meat Pie and I’ll show y’all the steps so you can bless your bunch. Let’s do it. (Psstt…I sorta forgot to take the picture. Please forgive the half-eaten dish.)

We’ll begin by browning a pound of ground beef with a large chopped onion. We’ll drain the grease, and then we’ll return it to a heavy cast iron skillet, along with a half of a chopped bell pepper, a can of tomato sauce, a can of whole kernel corn (I’ve got freshly frozen corn from the freezer that I’ll be using. Don’t hate.)

We’ll also add 1 and ¾ cup of water, a tablespoon of chili powder, and salt and pepper it to taste. Just let this cook on low while we make the cornbread topping. Note: if you don’t have a large enough skillet, (bless your heart, and I mean that sincerely,) you can turn this out into a greased casserole dish before topping.

Now, about that corn bread. We’ll stir together ¾ cup of corn meal with a tablespoon each of all-purpose flour and sugar, and a tablespoon and a half of baking powder. We’ll stir in a well beaten egg, a tablespoon of melted butter (real butter please) and a ½ cup of milk. We’ll pour this over our meat mixture.

Now, some of it will sink below the surface but that’s a-okay! It will rise while it bakes and come out all brown and crispy! YUM! That’s my Corn Bread Meat Pie and it’s mighty good eating from the Belle’s kitchen to yours!

BUMPER

Southern Comfort

I fell down an interesting rabbit hole the other day. When corresponding with readers, I often type “Let’s worship, together, forever.” It really just kind of spills out of my heart onto the page these days. Only that morning, as I was typing that, spellcheck (or Holy Spirit, you decide), put spaces in between the word together so that it came out as:

to get her.

Stay with me.

Our initial response to offense or pain (real or perceived) is to withdraw into a cave of our own design, where we can “nurture” ourselves. Only what we do is nurture the pain and protect our wound. Am I right?

So, I’m weird. I give you that one. But I can’t shake the significance here. Our enemy wins when he convinces us to retreat from the people who love us and want to help us, he wants to…get…her…

Don’t let him. If this is you, come back. Engage with the body of Christ. We’re here and you are loved. *

Matthew 18:20 “For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.”

That’s it for this week, y’all. I’m supposed to ask y’all to subscribe to this podcast leave a review, share it—you know the routine. Please take a second to spread the word. Hope to see you next time, right here on All Things Southern. This is Shellie with hugs for all~

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