Pat Layton: Sweet Tea for Surrendered Sisters

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Hello 2013! So happy to see you!

As you can easily see, I have not posted on Sweet Tea for quite some time. I now have 4 active websites...go figure!

My personal ministry/web/blog at Pat Layton. Net This is where I post devotional type blogs and keep track of myself as I travel around this amazing nation, sharing Freedom and Truth with the women God leads me to.

My post abortion recovery ministries: Surrendering the Secret and my JUST RELEASED new book "A Surrendered Life".

My national woman's conference: Imagine Me..Set Free. You just have to join me this year!!

So...you might imagine how all those cyber spots could keep me busy huh? HOWEVER< anyone who knows me know how many balls I can spin and how much I LOVE to spin them.

During this Holiday season I decided I really needed to restart Sweet Tea. First of all, I LOVE this blog. It was my first and is still my favorite. The name actually is the one thing in my life today that has remained the same, an unbroken chain, since my childhood. The one thing that has 100% SWEET memories and has never let me down---SWEET TEA!!

So, I decided this year I will post on Sweet Tea--my wanna be version of--Pioneer Woman Pat.

Home stuff.

No ministry. No preaching. No assignments or "callings" just cooking and decorating and being a Wife, Mom and G-Ma.

So, there may be only 1 or 2 friends who visit me here but I don't care, it will be my SWEET SPOT :); just for fun.

Let me know if you ARE visiting so that I can chat back.

Here goes some sweet fun..for me anyway :)

Friday, May 7, 2010

Pat Layton, Christian Author and Speaker

Find me here!!!

Personal Web/Blog www.patlayton.net

or here:

"Freedom Weekend" Woman's Conference www.imaginemesetfree.com

or here:

Surrendering the Secret "Healing the Heartbreak of Abortion" www.surrenderingthesecret.com

Or Best of All.....Here!!!

Friday, February 5, 2010

Freedom!!

Ladies,
We are all so pumped about this retreat as you can see.

I would love to see you there and will have a special treat for you if you tell me you came because of "Sweet Tea"!

Register at the the Mecklenburg website or to get more info on this fun FREEDOM WEEKEND at "Imagine Me...Set Free" check out my website.

I am so excited I can barely think straight, can barely think straight, can barely think straight!!!!

Could it be that You are meant to be there???

Monday, January 18, 2010

Is anyone crying??

One of my new joys this year has been joining my firstborn Grandson for Christian Rock Concerts.

WhooHoo!!

I do love music and I love to be "actively involved" in worship. In other words, I like to jump up and down and lift my hands and Praise the Lord! I have not gotten too old to do it yet and I pray that I never do! The very fact that my GRANDSON wants to go with me makes me jump up and down!!

Our most recent adventure together was "Winter Jam" here in Tampa. We waited in line for over 3 hours along with over 2o,000 other people!! YES-- I said 20,000!!!!!

It was awesome! We saw Tenth Ave North, Newsong, News Boys, and my personal favorite, Third Day.

There were multiple opportunities available throughout the night to join one of the many world wide efforts that have been generated to respond to the tragedy and loss of lives in Haiti, including a Love Offering gathered from 20,000 GOD Loving, LIFE loving, COMPASSIONATE people.

There is barely a way to actually wrap your brain around such pain, loss and death as what we have watched unfold in Haiti.

We respond the way that Jesus told us to respond and by the example He set--we give, we act, we love, we cry.

When we look at children starving in the streets and the arms of trapped men and women stuffed between layers of concrete, we respond. Our hearts break, we sit in front of TV news and newspapers and cry.

We have Prayer vigils.

We park semi trailers in parking lots to gather clothes and food.

We give money.

We fight for the protection of the children and long to bring them into the safety of our homes.

Mostly...

WE PRAY!!

Every Life Matters and it should.

God said in Deuteronomy 30:19:

I have set before you LIFE and DEATH, CHOOSE life!!

Each time a horrific loss of life such as this one is placed before our eyes, people respond. People cry.

Most of the time.

Sometimes, not as much.

It occurred to me as I have prepared my post for this week, that each year as we approach another anniversary of the legalization of abortion in America, how often there is some National or World tragedy going on that makes me reflect even more deeply on the value of human life and how we as Christians respond so fervently to one tragedy but not so much another.

I just wonder why???

January 22, 2010 marks the 37th Anniversary of legalized abortion in America.

Conservative estimates project that in America, we ABORT in the neighborhood of 1,0000,000 babies every year.

That amounts to over 50,000,000 innocent babies have been AND CONTINUE TO BE DAILY--torn apart in the womb right here in America.

I'm just wondering...

Where are the "Love Offerings"?

Where are the Semi's?

Where is the National News?

Where is the Church??

That 55,000,000 equates to 110,000 Mommies and Daddies lost in a social lie, a multi-BILLION dollar industry, a political quagmire.

I read a quote by Francis Shaeffer that said, "There should be a sign in front of every abortion clinic that reads: Open by Permission of the Church".

How do you feel about it?

Do you feel that church is responding to the tragedy of abortion?

What does your Church do to address the horrific loss of life by abortion?

Do you acknowledge "Sanctity of Life Sunday"? (The first Sunday following the anniversary of Roe v Wade established as a response opportunity for the church by Focus on the Family and other national Christian voices)

Do you take up "Love Offerings" for Crisis Pregnancy Centers offering a Christian alternative to abortion?

How do YOU feel this tragedy compares to the horror that happened in Haiti in terms of our Christian responsibility?

I'm just pondering this morning.....

Is anyone crying over the innocent lives lost last year to abortion in America??

"Surrendering the Secret "is a Post Abortion Recovery Bible Study published by Lifeway in 2008. If you or someone you know is crying about a previous abortion, we want to help.

Thursday, December 31, 2009

Christmas 2009

Make a Smilebox greeting

Happy New Year from our Home to Yours. We welcome in 2010 Giving Thanks for Family and Friends!

Ephesians 1:16 (New International Version)

16I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.

Monday, December 28, 2009

Julie and Julia have nothing on me!

One of the MANY Christmas movies my daughter and I have enjoyed over the past few weeks was "Julie and Julia".

I loved that movie on so many levels. I love to cook, love to eat, love to blog and love the complicated and painful world of book publishing.

ALL of those levels are emotionally and visually tapped in this movie.

The entire time that I watched it (all 4 times actually) I wished I had thought of what Julie thought to do. It was so clever and challenging and fun!

In any case, after getting the new Pioneer Woman Cookbook for Christmas, I have been pretending to be Julie (definitely NOT Julia). Don't worry, I won't be blogging through the whole cookbook although I WILL be cooking it through and through.

Tonight was "Chicken Pot Pie".

After announcing it on Facebook I was asked for the recipe so here goes (with my abbreviations included)

3 Celery Stalks

3 Chopped Carrots

1 Chopped Yellow Onion

1/2 Stick Butter

1/2 Cup Frozen Peas

2 Cups cooked Chicken (dark and white) cut into bite sized pieces (I used leftover Honey Baked Turkey)

1 Cup Flour

2 Cups Chicken Broth

1 Chicken Bullion Cube

1/4 Cup White Wine (optional)

1 cup heavy cream

1 teaspoon thyme

1 teaspoon salt

Pepper

(Kicker here....I perfect pie crust---Her recipe is in the book. I used refrigerator pie crust. NOT nearly as good)

Basically, mix all that together and pour into pie crust. Put another pie crust on top and seal.

Bake for 30 minutes in 400 degree oven.

Honestly, her wonderful step by step photos are what make this book so great. That PLUS her amazing stories about life on a ranch. I recommend the book highly.

Enjoy.

I will be doing this one again using her pie crust and fresh cooked chicken.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Merry Christmas "Sweet Tea" friends!

Click to play this Smilebox slideshow: Christmas 2009

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Come visit me at www.patlayton.net to get my "re-gift" for you!

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Giving Thanks!

This photo was sent to me my a dear friend...it says:

At the very moment you realize that all you have was never yours,

but by the full embrace of God's Grace,

You have discovered Thanksgiving!!

I could not figure out a way to say it better!

Thanksgiving Blessings!

ps...Visit me at my new website PatLayton.Net

Friday, October 23, 2009

Signed, Sealed, Delivered...I'm His! Eph1:1-14 Message

My ride over the golden mountains.

Harvest!

My precious ride---through----the golden mountains.

The "cabin" in the woods that awaited us!

If you know me...you know how I felt about THIS table arrangement waiting in the cabin! Nobody planned this but God!! He knew I would need my sunflower reminder that it is not by might, not by power but BY HIS SPIRIT!!!

How great is our God! I have been sitting in His presence all morning, hearing His sweet voice and love for the women who are on the way here to Hidden Mountain Retreat. He planned this weekend for them before they were created in their mothers womb! Imagine That! I am so excited to be a part of it and so humbled by His amazing love and grace.

It is truly NEW every morning!!

Monday, October 19, 2009

Come and See!!

What ministry or non profit do you support that literally rescues babies from death every day in Tampa Bay? So far this year close to 300 babies have been saved from abortion.

Would you like to see?

What ministry do you support that shares the saving love of Christ with thousands of women and their families every year?

Would you like to see?

What ministry do you support that insures loving Christian homes for those newborn babies rescued from death through adoption?

Would you like to see?

What ministry do you support that reaches thousands upon thousand of women and men all over the Nation with Biblical healing and restoration after they have bought the lie of abortion?

Would you like to see?

What ministry do you support that tells the truth about sex outside of marriage and risky relationships in every High School in Tampa Bay?

Would you like to see?

What ministry do you support that preserves and protects the sanctity of human life in a greater way than Life Impact Network?

Would you like to see?

By the Way...Grammy and Dove Award Winning Artist Rebecca St James will be there as well!

Come and See!

Will you show your support for this critical Christian alternative to abortion?

Come and See!!

November 5th Ala Carte Pavilion Tampa

The Life Impact Network Annual Light of Life Gala is just a little over 2 weeks away.

Please make your reservation today by clicking above. Life depends on it.

We need your support.