Inspiration

Faith

Recipes &

Family Time

BONUS: How

can you be a

blessing?

Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole

staircase. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr

It’s official – Sweet Grace is more than just a saying around here. Over the weekend, I

was able to share about what God is doing in the lives of two women – myself and a

friend. After spending a year in prayer, we have launched a new ministry. What we didn’t

expect was friendships formed around the country, a book deal for me, and a new website

all at one time. Let me tell you that when God gives you the desires of your heart –

you better bring out the blessing buckets to collect them all. Brenda and I had the

opportunity to travel to St. Francis, Minnesota where I spoke at a Ladies Luncheon while

Brenda did what she does best – love people. The title of my talk was “Sweet Grace”.

After it became clear that God was calling us into ministry, we thought about what to

name it. We knew that everything about our lives – from trials to triumphs and from or-

dinary to miraculous hinged on God’s grace. So the grace part was easy. We had another

name in mind, but after looking at our lives and signature parts of our personalities, we re-

alized that every drop of God’s goodness was sweet. Eventually, with some help from our

web/marketing guys, we settled upon the name of Sweet Grace – Real Women~ Real

Lives~ Sweet Grace.

Next to marriages and raising kids, this is one of the biggest things we have ever done in

our lives. So what will you find within a ministry of two small town girls who love God,

home, and family. The truth is a whole lot of real— ranging from the stories we share

to the hugs we offer. Brenda brings a passion for loving others with a zest for great ideas

on how to love women right where they are. I bring a penchant for having a story about

everything and for finding God in the middle of it all. We understand to know real joy,

you have to also know suffering. That’s where the real part comes into place! We want

women to know that God’s love reaches everyone everywhere, because we have both have

experienced God’s love down in the pits of darkness. If sharing that part of our life sto-

ries is what God calls us to do, then we are ready with His strength to do just that. Both of

us have a heart for serving which is what we want to do when we visit churches and or-

ganizations – serve women and their communities as well. This isn’t just some veneer pas-

time; this is truly what God has called us to do.

We hope you enjoy this newsletter, and we would love

to hear from you!

Hugs & Blessings - Kandy

Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole

staircase. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr

Brenda & her son at his wedding

Can God use your anger?

When Kandy asked me to write an arti-

cle for the newsletter, I pretty much pan-icked. I have never written an article for an-ything except ones that were required for school. I am not a writer by any stretch of the imagination. What could I write about that would inspire or touch someone else? I have done nothing spectacular. I am just an ordinary working wife and mom of two grown kids. I finally settled on the idea of sharing my journey of faith and becoming a woman of God.

Growing up I went to church and Sun-

day school. I honestly can’t tell you much of what I learned. I never thought of my faith or what it meant to be a child of God. It just wasn’t a priority then. I was confirmed at a Methodist church and re-ally didn’t go back much after that. I know this is pretty typical of most teen-agers after they are confirmed. They think they are done with the whole church thing unless it’s a special occasion or something.

Then a horrible series of events in my

life happened to make me really do an as-sessment of my faith and if God was as big a part of my life as I had previously thought he was. When I was 19 years old my beloved great-grandma passed away. We had gone to the nursing home to see her often. She always gave my sister and I money to go get a pop. She was just a wonderfully sweet lady, and I knew I would miss her terribly. I had never really had anyone close to me pass away. It was a very scary and strange experience. Little did I know this was preparing me for something that I never would have thought would ever happen in my life.

In 1984, while I was going to tech school

in Alexandria, I met an amazing young man who absolutely stole my heart. We were married August 3, 1985 in a beautiful wedding ceremony. We had our whole lives ahead of us, and it was so wonder-ful!! We were living in Oklahoma City at the time since Mark was working there as a computer programmer. On August 16, riding his motorcycle on his way home for lunch, someone cut across 4 lanes of traf-fic, didn’t see him and hit him. Mark was injured so bad there was nothing the doc-tors could do. He died that evening – just 13 short days after we were married. That beautiful, strong heart that had loved me so completely had stopped beating.

There is nothing to prepare someone for a

loss like this. I was 19 and a widow, after only 13 days of marriage? What in the world had I done so wrong that God would do this to me? Was I that bad a person that God

would take this vibrant, wonderful young man from me? I was so angry at God, and I didn’t know if I would ever get over being angry with him.

I looked for answers anywhere I could. I

asked one particular pastor who said “It’s just God’s will.” Really God really wanted to see me suffer so he took Mark away from me? I asked my pastor and he gave me a more understandable answer “I am just as angry at God as you are. I don’t understand why this happened.” It was just a struggle every day to believe in a God who would cause this much pain. I prayed that God would help me.

The turning point came around Christmas

of that year. I had a HUGE fight with my mom and dad over what I can’t even re-member now. I just hurt so badly and I guess I just wanted everyone else to hurt as bad as I did. When I saw the look on my parent’s faces, I knew that they were actually hurting as bad as I was. Partly be-cause of losing their son-in-law but mostly because they hurt FOR me. They were trying so hard to take the hurt away and couldn’t. I saw the love in their faces and I knew that God had been there all along in the form of my parents and my sister.

God hadn’t abandoned me, he

was just waiting for me to let him love me and help me through the pain. He has put so many wonderful people there to help me, I just had to let them and God into my life to help. From that point on, I knew he was walking beside me and hold-ing me in his arms when the pain was just too much to bear. (continued page 6)

“It is not fancy hair, gold

jewelry, or fine clothes

that should make you

beautiful. No, your

beauty should come from

within you—the beauty of

a gentle and quiet spirit.

This beauty will never

disappear, and it is worth

very much

to God.”

1 Peter 3:3–4

There are so many things that happen in our

lives to test that faith. I have had other in-stances that have really put my faith to the test. In November of 2011, my hero, my beloved father, passed away after a long ill-ness. Just 2 short weeks later, my son was married. There was just a huge hole in our hearts because Dad wasn’t there. A week af-ter that I was informed that my position of 12 years was being eliminated and I would be out of a job. With all of these things coming at me just one thing after another, there was only one glaring thing to do – get on my knees and pray for strength.

Well it’s now a year and a half later and I

have a job that I love, family and friends who have seen me through the tough times and a faith that I never could have imag-ined. I believe there are different levels of faith and there are people out there with stronger faiths than I have but that’s ok. My faith is mine and it nobody can take that from me. God speaks to me if I just take the time to listen. He has led me to a minis-try that makes my heart sing. I never would have imagined me, the woman who was so angry at God, is now ministering to people.

God is good and he never gives up on any-one! He just waits patiently for us to pray to him and listen with our hearts when he speaks to us.

So can God use your anger to transform your life? He absolutely can!

Praise the Lord! ~ Brenda

Flowing from the Land of

Milk & Honey Scrub/Mask

1 tsp milk *

1 tsp honey

1 tsp ground almonds

Mix together, apply to face, wait 10

minutes, gently scrub, & rinse

with tepid water

* Use variety of milk for skin types

(skim for oily, 2 % for normal/

combination, or cream for dry.

Wanna meet the girls of sweet grace?

Pics from our recent visit to

Living Hope Evangelical Free

Church for the Ladies Lunch-

eon!

Need speakers for a

ladies event? Want to recharge

your women’s ministry? Contact

Kandy or Brenda to see how

sweet grace could bless you!

mominmn75@gmail.com

I am an ARMY – National Guard wife. My

She’s a Grand Ol’ Flag

husband is a veteran, having served overseas

during war time. This time of year I am re-

minded how lucky I am. Despite having wit-

nessed some terrible things, my husband came

home safe and sound. I know that not every

family can say the same. I am humbled by the

price they paid. The fabric and stitching is

more than just a symbol to the men and wom-

en who have fought for its right to boldly sway

in the wind. It embodies ideals that brought a

vast and diverse group of people together to

form our nation. Having never served in the

armed forces that same flag reminds of the

sacrifices big and small that were made by my

husband and countless others.

A few years back on our 14th wedding anniver-

sary, we went out to visit an impromptu memo-

rial to the lives lost during the wars in Iraq and

Afghanistan. It was a sea of flags. As the sun

was slowly dipping down, I watched silent as

two men – strangers but not really – embraced

on that field. They had never met before that

moment, but something in their eyes told the

other one that they had served. Turned out

they had served during the same war. They

talked about gratefulness – of returning home,

for the lives willing to die to protect theirs, and

for the families who the flags represented. I

just stepped back and listened—this wasn’t my

sacred moment – as they eventually

thanked these flags for making a choice.

The choice was volunteering to hold pre-

cious the identity of a nation. Before that

moment in the dusk-dappled horizon, I

had never thought about how each flag

represented a volunteer. There wasn’t a

draft instituted for those wars, and each

of the stars-n-stripes flapping in the prai-

rie wind marked someone who had made

a choice. It was a lesson I never forgot.

neighbors flag and the tree standing next to it. I

have an excellent imagination and what I saw

was a not the product of a slightly tattered flag

caught by growing branches. The turmoil was

both the tree and the flag had a plan for the

flag’s life, and the battle waged on every day the

wind swept through that tiny town. At some

point, my imagination took over, and I began to

think about how I was the flag; God - the tree.

I had my way of doing things and my plans for

MY life. God, on the other hand – or should I

say branch – kept trying to tell me that in order

fly proudly, I needed to submit to His plan.

Sometimes that real turmoil means letting go of

dreams and being able to fly in the breeze of

God’s choosing. Even though I had long

known God, I didn’t really understand what it

meant to dream with God nor did I understand

what it meant to make sacrifices on His behalf.

Not that long ago in my life, I couldn’t imagine

doing either, but after choosing to follow God’s

plans (and not mine), I am beginning to under-

stand the real meaning of beauty and grandeur.

The moment the shared by two soldiers was

based upon the love of others, and the moment

I had based upon the love of another. Both

sacrificed immeasurably to give us the life we

have today.

A few years later God used that same

red, white, and blue to teach me a les-

son in making choices, much like the

souls lost and remembered on that

football field. At that point I was a lit-

tle past my prime in more ways than

one for the Army, but God uses all

kinds of souls in His.

Everyday sitting at the bus stop wait-

ing for my children, I watched a colos-

sal tug-o-war that ensued between a

Freedom was never, is not,

nor will it ever be FREE!

Page 10

Great Recipes

A SPECIAL THANK YOU:

To the ladies of Living Hope Evan-

gelical Free Church for sharing their

recipes with us. These ladies made

the most delicious food at the La-

dies Luncheon where Kandy spoke.

The food was DELISH! We are

still dreaming of the ice cream! We

hope you enjoy both the recipes and

the pictures of the their presenta-

tions.

Ingredients:

3 long cucumbers

1/4 cup sour cream

1/4 cup cream cheese

3/4 cup crab meat, excess water removed

1 tsp hot pepper sauce

1 tsp brown mustard

Salt/pepper to taste

1 Tbsp minced green onion

Garnish with chili powder or paprika

Instructions:

1. Remove the peel from the cucumbers

using a vegetable peeler. Cut the cu-

cumber into 2 inch slices. Using a

small melon baller, scoop out most of

the inside. You want to leave the walls

and a thick portion of the bottom in-

tact.

2. In a bowl, combine the sour cream

and cream cheese with a fork until well

combined. Add the remaining ingredi-

ents and stir until combined. Fille

each of the cucumber cups with the

crab dip. Refrigerate until ready to

serve. Serve within two hours of mak-

ing.

Recipe posted www.domesticfits.com

Veggies & Dip—We love this recipe! It fits our motto of party planning: Add water

and stir! Slice veggies of your choice into strips. Place dip or dressing of your choice

in the bottom of a cup. Place veggies in cup! Voila! Instant party pizzazz!

For the most amazing “fried” ice-cream without

much work, the ladies made Cinnamon-Honey

“Fried” Ice Cream from the

www.bettycrocker.com site. Trust us, we were

completely in awe when we heard how “easy”

this recipe was. Check out the recipe at the Bet-

ty Crocker website. You won’t be disappointed.

Spring is here – time to do the planting! This activity is a fun

one that kids of all ages can do and enjoy.

Supplies needed:

Latex free glove, seeds (can be the same or 5 different ones),

cotton balls, pencil & permanent marker, water, tape or mag-net

1. Set out seeds.

2. Label fingers of the glove with seed names (important if

you are using different seeds).

3. Soak cotton balls and squeeze out excess water.

4. Place one cotton ball and one seed in each finger/thumb

of the glove. You can use the pencil to slide them down

to the end if needed.

5. Hang using tape on a wall or using a magnet on a door or

fridge. Germination should take place in a few days.

Once large enough, seeds can be transplanted to a pot or

outdoors.

Family Activity—Garden in a Glove

Nothing beats snug-

gling up with a good

book with kids.

We highly recom-

mend checking out

your local library this

summer.

We suggest these

books to go along

with this activity.

Oh Say Can You Seed

by Bonnie Worth,

Tops and Bottoms by

Janet Stevens,

A Seed in Need by

Sam Godwin

How does your garden grow?

We have been a little Vitamin D deficient this spring

in the upper Midwest, so this first Blessings Chal-

lenge of the Summer is “Fun in the Sun”! Do some-

thing with someone else (your spouse, your kids, your

neighbor, your clergy, your friend) out and about in

nature. The only condition on this challenge is to

have fun. Remember to make this a blessing time for

you and for your someone else. Be purposeful about

spending time differently than ordinarily do. The

beautiful blue sky is the limit!

Brenda & Kandy’s favorites – going for ice cream, long walks at sunset, blowing bubbles,

watching cloud shapes form, picnics, outdoor dining on the porch/deck, fishing, camping, and

many, many more.

Tell us what you do in the next month. We will share our blessings too! One lucky reader will

receive a Sweet Grace gift jar for simply letting us know how you blessed someone else!

We cannot wait to hear your good news!

Always Be a Blessing! Challenge

how to reach to girls of sweet grace

Follow us on Twitter

@RealSweetGrace

More heartwarming stories and inspiration:

www.kandynolesstevens.com

Watch for details for our new Facebook page &

website!