
“Kindness is the light that dissolves all walls between souls, families, and nations.”
— Paramahansa Yogananda

“Evil cannot and will not be vanquished by evil. Dark will only swallow dark and deepen. The good and the light are the keenest weapons.” ― Nora Roberts, Heaven and Earth

Who doesn’t love cookies? Cookies turn even an ordinary day into a celebration. This is my regular chocolate chip cookie recipe jazzed up a bit. Just in time for holiday cookie exchanges, this recipe is gluten free, egg free and reduced fat. Don’t be fooled by the ingredients in this recipe. These taste so good, if you don’t tell them, people without food restrictions will never guess anything is missing.
Chocolate Chip Trail Mix Cookies
2 Tablespoons flax seed meal mixed with 6 Tablespoons hot water (this will replace the eggs)
1 cup unsweetened applesauce (instead of butter)
3/4 cup agave nectar (instead of white and brown sugar)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Baking Flour
1 cup brown rice flour
1/4 cup buckwheat flour (don’t worry buckwheat isn’t even a distant relative of wheat)
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup cranberry almond trail mix
1 cup shredded unsweetened coconut.
Foe more recipes, including this one check out:

“Ever since we crawled out of that primordial slime, that’s been our unifying cry, “More light.” Sunlight. Torchlight. Candlelight. Neon, incandescent lights that banish the darkness from our caves to illuminate our roads, the insides of our refrigerators. Big floods for the night games at Soldier’s Field. Little tiny flashlights for those books we read under the covers when we’re supposed to be asleep. Light is more than watts and footcandles. Light is metaphor. Light is knowledge, light is life, light is light.”
Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider
I have not mentioned this here on the blog, but I have been Standing with Standing Rock in prayer to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline. As I am writing this on Sunday evening word just came that the Army Corps of Engineers has denied permission for the pipeline to cross under the Missouri River. While we understand this victory may be temporary we praise God for it. We have also learned lessons from our native brothers and sisters about how to fight the divisive forces taking over this country.
First we must come together. The protest at Standing Rock was a major inter-tribal effort. There was also support from non-natives including, religious leaders and veterans acting under tribal leadership.
We must all learn that we are fighting a spiritual battle and our weapons are spiritual. Peaceful, non-violent civil disobedience rooted in prayer and meditation along with a spirit of love and peace are the only weapons we have against fear, anger, hatred and a total disregard for human life and our mother the earth. Even if we cannot be “feet on the ground” in protest efforts we can pray and meditate to elevate the energetic field from wherever we are.
This is a victory we need to be inspired by and look to as an example of how to fight darkness in the coming days.

“There has never been a time on Earth like we see today. What we need are more ways to experience our interconnectedness – it is a precursor to deep love. So in this quickening light, with the dawn of each new day, let us look for love. Let us no longer struggle. Let us ever become who we most want to be. As we begin to be who we truly are, the world will be a better place.”
John Denver
Susan Irene Fox is offering her Branches Devotional Workbooks free as a Christmas gift. Please read below and visit her blog for more information, and don’t forget to say Thank You.

I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you’re joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can’t produce a thing. (John 15:5, The Message)
In the U.S., the Thanksgiving holiday is over. Yet my thankfulness exceeds a five-day weekend feast.
I am incredibly thankful for the peace-filled place I am in, joined with Christ who led me into my Father’s embrace. God’s arms are full of unconditional love, extravagant compassion and outrageous grace and mercy.
My mission as a follower of Jesus is
to bring others back to Him. It is central to our good news that God was in Christ making things right between Himself and the world. This means He does not hold their sins against them. But it also means He charges us to proclaim the message that heals and restores…
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