Mary Margaret May

Ever since I was little, I LOVED spaghetti sauce. My mom would add molasses to the sauce to get my sister and I to eat it and ever since then, I have been hooked on that spaghetti sauce.

Over the past year, I have been trying to incorporate vegetables into my breakfast. I walked into the kitchen that morning and remembered how good my spaghetti sauce was the night before so I thought, “I would really like some of that spaghetti sauce for breakfast.” But how to make it breakfast-y? Add eggs! The way the tang of the cooked tomatoes went with the creamy yolk was awesome. I suppose this is a take on the popular shakshuka which is basically eggs cooked in tomato sauce.

I wouldn’t even mind a side of wilted fresh spinach with the dish to add even more vegetables. A piece of toast would also be a good addition, I just try to limit my carb intake. This dish as pictured is low carb, paleo, and delicious! 

My lovely china is by Juliska and in their Country Estate pattern in Delft Blue.

My husband John, a Lieutenant Commander in the United States Navy (recently selected for Commander!!!), and I were married October 31, 2015. Since then we have lived in Annapolis, MD for just over a year while John taught at the Naval Academy, Newport, RI (for 3 months), and we are currently traveling around between his next duty station (Pearl Harbor), San Diego, and Dahlgren, VA where we are currently. Life has not been boring!

The things I miss the most are my family (especially my sister), my doggie Dixie, and a kitchen. Fortunately where we are in Dahlgren (actually King George right next to Dahlgren) I have access to the kitchen here! The other night, John and I seared steaks. If you are anything like me, you have seen soooo many different ways of searing steaks. The different methods confuse me! Olive oil and butter…canola oil and butter….only butter….only olive oil….etc. Well for a while now I have been trying to figure out the best method and I think I may have found it.

We bought local ribeyes from a butcher shop in Fredericksburg, VA (about 30 minutes from where we are in King George). They were about 1.5 inches thick.

The first thing I did was season the steaks very generously with salt and pepper. The I preheated the oven to 350. Then I searched for a cast iron skillet but could only find stainless steel so I used that. I heated that skillet for about 5 minutes on medium high then added ONLY canola oil just enough to coat the bottom of the skillet. That skillet was really hot and the oil was smoking!

I immediately placed the steaks carefully onto the really hot skillet and seared one side for about 3 minutes. The steak did not stick to the skillet at all and I was really surprised! Maybe because I added the oil to the skillet after it was already hot? So after the 3 minutes I placed the skillet in the preheated oven for 10 minutes.

I let the steaks rest on a plate for about 10 minutes. Then I added about 2 tablespoons of butter and 6 cloves of smashed garlic to the pan and cooked for about 5 minutes until the garlic was soft. I then poured that pan sauce over the steaks and served.

Looks good! They were a little too done on the inside for me. Here is what I will try next time,

1. Preheat the oven to 275 instead of 350 and cook for the same 10 minutes
2. Sear the steak on preheated medium high skillet for 2 minutes instead of 3

I will take more and better pictures next time. Oh and also, the Virginia Meritage wine we had was a fabulous pairing with the steaks. Meritage is a typically a blend of at least two of the following grapes – Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Petit Verdot. This particular Kings Family Meritage was a blend of 50% Merlot, 23% Petit Verdot, 21% Cabernet Franc, and 6% Malbec.

“My Shepherd Will Supply My Need”

My Shepherd will supply my need:
Jehovah is His Name;
In pastures fresh He makes me feed,
Beside the living stream.
He brings my wandering spirit back
When I forsake His ways,
And leads me, for His mercy’s sake,
In paths of truth and grace.

When I walk through the shades of death
Thy presence is my stay;
One word of Thy supporting breath
Drives all my fears away.
Thy hand, in sight of all my foes,
Doth still my table spread;
My cup with blessings overflows,
Thine oil anoints my head.

The sure provisions of my God
Attend me all my days;
O may Thy house be my abode,
And all my work be praise.
There would I find a settled rest,
While others go and come;
No more a stranger, nor a guest,
But like a child at home.

-Isaac Watts, 1719

This is a list of 52 Bible verses I comprised today as a gift for someone. There is no greater love on earth than the love the Father has for His children. Let’s reflect on that this Valentine’s Day.

1.  “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness…” Exodus 34:6

2.  “…but you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Lev 19:18 

3.  “You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” Lev 19:34 

4.  “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” Deut 6:5

5.  “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.” Deut 7:6

6.  “It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you…” Deut 7:7-8 

7.  “Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments…”  Deut 7:9

8.  “Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.” Deut 10:18 

9. “…love the Lord your God, walk in all his ways, keep his commandments, cling to him and serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.” Josh 22:5 

10.  “Be very careful, therefore, to love the LORD your God.” Josh 23:11

11.  “Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
for his steadfast love endures forever!” 1 Chron 16:34 

12.  “For we are slaves. Yet our God has not forsaken us in our slavery, but has extended to us his steadfast love.” Ezra 9:9

13.  “But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love…” Neh 9:17

14.  “But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love, will enter your house.” Psalm 5:7

15.  “All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and testimonies.” Psalm 25:10 

16. “Blessed be the Lord, for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me when I was in a besieged city.” Psalm 31:21

17. “He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord.” Psalm 33:5

18. “I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart; I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation; I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness from the great congregation.” Ps 40:10

19. “As for you, O Lord, you will not restrain your mercy from me; your steadfast love and your faithfulness will ever preserve me!” Ps 40:11 

20. “My God in his steadfast love will meet me; God will let me look in triumph on my enemies.” Ps 59:10 

21. “Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.” Ps 63:3

22. “The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.”  Ps 103:8

23. “For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him.”  Ps 103:11 

24. “Great peace have those who love your law; nothing can make them stumble.”  Ps 119:165

25. “Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust. Make me know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.”  Ps 143:8 

26. “You are altogether beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you.”  Song of Solomon 4:7

27. “For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed.”  Is 54:10 

28. “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
    his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness.” Lam 3:22,23

29. “I will make you lie down in safety. And I will betroth you to me forever….in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love…in mercy…in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord.” Hos 2:18

30. “The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love…” Zeph 3:17 

31. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” Matt 22:37 

32. “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great…for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.”  Luke 6:35

33. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”  John 3:16

34.  “Jesus…having loved his own who were in the world…loved them to the end.”  John 13:1

35. “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.”  John 15:9

36.  “…and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Romans 5:5 

37. “…but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  Romans 5:8

38. “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28

39. “For I am sure that neither death nor life… nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Rom 8:38,39

40. “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” 1 Cor 2:9

41. “But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.”  1 Cor 8:3

42. “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”  1 Cor 8:3

43. “Let all that you do be done in love.”  1 Cor 16:14

44. “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”  Gal 2:20

45. “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.”  1 Peter 4:8

46. “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.”  1 John 3:1

47. “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”  1 John 4:10

48. “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”  1 John 4:11

49. “No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.”  1 John 4:12 

50. “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.” 1 John 4:18

51. “We love because he first loved us.” 1 John 4:19

52. “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.”  1 John 5:2 

I am a huge fan of quotes….I absolutely love reading them and finding new ones to take to heart and live by. I love finding new inspiration that encourages me to be a better person. So in this blog entry, I just want to share with you some of my favorite quotations that I have come across recently. Hopefully they will touch your heart like they have mine.

“Everything is not going to be okay, it’s going to be perfect.” –Burk Parsons

“The Christian is not scared when the whole world is shaking. Your faith was born on Calvary. It can stand anything.” –Festo Kivengere

“Hold everything in your hands lightly, otherwise it hurts when God pries your fingers open.” –Corrie Ten Boom

“When all your favorite preachers are gone, and all their books forgotten, you will have your Bible. Master it. Master it.” –John Piper

‎”If you are depressed, if you are down, if you have the blues, it means you are in control of your life. You aren’t paying attention to the Holy Spirit or you are exasperating yourself and exhausting yourself trying to make the Holy Spirit do in your life what you think He ought to be doing. It never occurred to us that He had a plan.” –E. V. Hill

“Christ deems his happiness completed by his people sharing it.” –Spurgeon

“What we need is a generation of heavenly minded people who see human beings and the earth not simply as they are, but as God intends them to be.” –Randy Alcorn

“But you, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head.” –Psalm 3:3

“Because He has already been our help, we feel confidence in Him for the present and the future.” –Spurgeon

“The central problem is always in the midst of the people of God, not in the circumstances surrounding them.” –Francis Schaeffer

“Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told.” –Habakkuk 1:5

“I gave up all for Christ, and what have I found? Everything in Christ.” – John Calvin

“God is at work in your life right now. He is directing your steps. What you thought was a setback is going to turn out to be a setup.” –Hugh Freeze

“Every sin is an attempt to fill voids.” –Simone Weil

“The ultimate test of our spirituality is the measure of our amazement at the grace of God.” –Martyn Lloyd-Jones

“You are not strong enough to fall away while God is resolved to hold you.” -J.I. Packer

“Pray a lot, imagine big, and ask for more.” –D.A. Carson

“The terrifying thing about beginning to change your mind is that there is no stopping it. It is metaphorically like falling through a floor which suddenly gives way to your feet and falling so fast that when you hit the floor below, that gives way beneath you as well, and huge numbers of things which you did not question or thought to be open to question, suddenly become questionable.”

-Peter Hitchens, former Marxist Atheist

Peter Hitchens Author Interview–The Rage Against God

Christopher (right) and Peter Hitchens

For the past few months, I have had the privilege of the being the guest soloist at this lovely church in Raymond, MS. It has such a remarkable history. It was founded in 1842 and is still going strong with it’s faithful members, some of whom have been going there ever since they were born.

I got started going down there when my Dad, a ruling elder at First Presbyterian Church in Jackson, was appointed to be on there “borrowed session” to help out the church a bit since their preacher left, causing several of it’s members to leave. When I heard what was going on, my heart went out to them. I hated to see a church with such an incredible history struggling to stay alive. I wanted to do something. The past few months, I have been going there along with my dad to sing during the offertory, in hopes to maybe rekindle their hopes and to be an encouragement to them. The first song I sang down there was “It Is Well With My Soul.” The members of the congregation have become so dear to my heart, some of them even came out to my graduate voice recital! This past Sunday (Easter Sunday) was the largest congregation the church had had in some time. One of the most encouraging things to see down there is that even despite the church’s lack of a permanent pastor, there have been two baptisms over the past three months. Wow! No preacher and still there are people coming, and even getting baptized.

Last month I started a Facebook page for them. If you are on that social site, I would encourage you to “like” their page and help me and many others pray for this dear church. I would hate to see it dissolve. Let’s pray for the Lord to raise up a strong man of God to fill the pastor position, for the interim pastors they have in the meantime, for the church members to not lose heart, and that Raymond Pres would be a beacon of hope to the Raymond community, and ultimately, the Kingdom.

Here is the video of me singing “Because He Lives” this past Easter Sunday at Raymond Pres 🙂

Here a a few pictures I took this past Sunday. (Yes, my dog came but he did not attend the service!)

Here is the poster one of the congregation members made of “Dinner on the Grounds” on Palm Sunday!

“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.” -Matthew 5:14

Hey y’all, check it out!

Keeping Our Eye On: Mary Margaret May

Jackson soprano vocalist Mary Margaret May is back with another release of classical and inspirational songs.

I Asked the Lord (available on iTunes, Pandora and Amazon.com) is the third album from May, who got her start singing in church and at Jackson Preparatory School. She earned a bachelor’s in vocal performance from Mississippi College where she is currently completing a graduate degree in vocal pedagogy.

May’s first album In the Shadow of Thy Wing was released in 2010.

Also an actress, May has starred in numerous MC productions including Little Women, The Secret Garden and Oklahoma! May says her favorite acting role to date was as Cosette in the Pearl Actor’s Playhouse Production of Les Miserables.

May recently talked about her new album with the Mississippi Business Journal.

Q: So this is your third album?

A: Yes, I actually recorded this one before I recorded my Christmas album, Upon a Winter Night(released in 2011).

Q: How long have you been singing?

A: Since I was 13. A close family friend of ours Winona Costello started Attaché Show Choir at Clinton High School. We had her over to lunch one day and she said, “Marty (my mom), can I take your girls back to the piano and see if they can sing.” I started taking lessons and stayed with her all throughout high school.

Q: Did you sing at all before that?

A: I wanted to be a country music singer. I belted LeAnn Rimes, Shania Twain, Reba McEntire- all those people- at the top of my lungs and I would just turn them way up and dance around in my room.

Q: Do you still like country music?

A: What I appreciate are the lyrics and how they tell a story. I hardly ever listened to country music radio. One time a year ago I turned it on just to see what would happen and it made me cry, the song that was on. That’s just how country music is. It’s emotional. That’s what I appreciate about it. But the twang? I don’t know… it’s just not easy on my ears.

Q: Who’s your current instructor?

A: (Mississippi College professor) Kristen Johnson and I love her she’s great.  She’s really transformed my voice. I don’t know if I could have recorded these CD’s- I mean I still could have- they just wouldn’t have been as good if it hadn’t been for her instruction.

Q: What do you think of Skylar Laine (Brandon native and finalist on this year’s American Idol)?

A: I think she’s really good. Her stage presence is phenomenal.

Q: Talk about your experiences performing live…

A: For me, the performance just comes when you feel it. It just kinda comes out of it. I don’t try to do things. I just let them happen. I like being able to- after I sing- to be able to hear a pin drop. Just feel like people are with me and feeling what I’m feeling. I sing at church and we don’t applaud and I kind of like it because I’m not up there to try to get the attention on me. I want it to be directed to the Lord. There’s nothing like singing in church. I’m more nervous singing in church than anywhere else.

Q: Tell us about I Asked the Lord.

A: The inspiration for this album came from when I was going through a very difficult part in my life. I love old hymns and these are just the ones that I especially clung to during that time.  I was struggling with, “Why does God have us go through trials?” It is only because Jesus went through trials. I wanted to expound on that. He puts us through them because he loves us and wants us to be drawn closer to Him. He always brings us out. He doesn’t want us to be miserable.

Q: You have a performance coming up April 3 at Mississippi College. What are some of the songs that you have selected to sing?

A: I’ll start off with a Bach aria from the Saint Matthew Passion. The time of my recital is around Easter and Bach intended for this oratorio to be performed on Good Friday. I’m doing a German set of Strauss and Schubert and I’m doing a Franz Liszt art song. Also a John Duke set that I’ve been working on for two years. He’s an American composer and it’s a five movement work.

Mary Margaret Likes

Food: Babalu Taco’s & Tapas in Jackson

Sports: Ole Miss Rebels

Movies: “Les Miserables”

Books: “The Valley of Vision” by Arthur Bennett

Music: Coldplay

Dear God,

Help me to search for you no where else but you. I know that sounds silly but I have just been trying to find you in people lately. I have been looking for people to give me what only you can give me. Help me to “dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly lean on Jesus’ name” because all ground apart from you is sinking sand. I am constantly getting discouraged because I am not getting my satisfaction from people. God, why am I doing this? Why am I looking for what only you can give me in all the wrong places? I know where to go. Sometimes it’s just hard because I can’t actually see you or touch you or audibly hear you so I cling to things in front of me. But don’t you say faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen? By my looking elsewhere for things only you can give, I will only sink deeper and deeper into despair. You have made me people different. You have designed me in such a way that it is impossible for me receive true peace and satisfaction anywhere else but you. It is impossible for me to gain fulfillment from anyone or anything other than you. Why do I lie to myself, telling myself that I can? I will never forget the monologue at the end of the move “Alfie” starring Jude Law. The title role played by Law is very suave, debonair, attractive, charming, etc. Women love Alfie, needless to say. The movie shows Alfie go in and out of relationships with several different women who are willing to do anything and everything for him. Alfie seems to have it good. Towards the end of the movie, his life starts to spiral out of control. At the end of the movie, Alfie speaks to the camera saying:

“What have I got? Really? Some money in my pocket, some nice threads, fancy car at my disposal, and I’m single. Yeah… unattached, free as a bird… I don’t depend on nobody and nobody depends on me… My life’s my own. But I don’t have peace of mind. And if you don’t have that, you’ve got nothing. So… what’s the answer? That’s what I keep asking myself. What’s it all about? You know what I mean?” (Alfie, 1966)

Those words have stuck with me. Alfie seemed to have it all together from the outside, but on the inside he had no peace. Without peace we have nothing. But what do you say about peace???

“Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river…” -Isaiah 66:12

“For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.” -Romans 8:6

“For he himself is our peace…” -Ephesians 2:14

God write these truths upon my heart. Give me your peace. Help me to seek peace from no where else but you. Thank you for the promise that if we ask, it will be given to us, if we seek, we will find; knock, and it will be opened to us (Matthew 7:7). All other ground apart from you is sinking sand. We were made for you, thus we will never be fully satisfied with anyone less than you. Thank you, God that you promise us this peace and that we can have it through the merits of your Son. Thank you for Jesus. He stood in our place, taking our blame, suffered your wrath so we wouldn’t have to. We now can have peace with you by your Son. Thank you for loving us that much. We don’t know why you would love us, but you do. Thank you.

“Lord, why was I a guest? Why was I made to hear you voice, and enter while there’s room, when thousands make a wretched choice, and rather starve than come?” -Isaac Watts, 1707

Dear God,

Please take care of me. I am counting and depending on you. A lot of times I get discouraged and afraid that you will forget about me…but I know that’s not true because in your Word you tell us that you will never leave us or forsake us.  I just get scared.  I don’t know my future and what sorts of things You have in store for me and honestly, that shakes me up a bit.  But I know that You give us what is good for our souls and what will make us most like You.  Help me to not doubt you. Help my unbelief. Help me to believe that You really will take care of me even when I feel like you aren’t and You won’t. I have no reason to think that you won’t take care of me because You have always taken care of me.  Help me to rely on Your promises and never to forget them.  Help me to write them on my heart. Also, help me to remember that this is not my home and I am only here but for a little while.

“But the land that you are going over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water by the rain from heaven, a land that the LORD your God cares for. The eyes of the LORD your God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.” –Deut 11:11,12

“But the LORD’s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted heritage. “He found him in a desert land, and in the howling waste of the wilderness; he encircled him, he cared for him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.” –Deut 32:9,10

“You have granted me life and steadfast love, and your care has preserved my spirit.” –Job 10:12

“When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.” –Psalm 8:3,4

“…for the LORD of hosts cares for his flock, the house of Judah, and will make them like his majestic steed in battle.” –Zechariah 10:3

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” –1 Peter 5:6,7

“Then the LORD said to me, ‘You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to perform it.'” –Jeremiah 1:12

Help me to write these truths upon my heart so that when unbelief creeps in, I am ready.  You will not forsake your Word because You are Your Word and You are perfect, therefore Your Word is perfect and true. Help me to love, trust, and believe you more.  Thank you that You never stop loving me and that You will never, ever let me go.

Forever in Your unfailing love,

Mary Margaret

PS: Thank you that you for the old hymns and hymnwriters. Thank you so much for inspiring these incredible men and women to write such incredible truths in the form of verse. It has has been such a help to my heart in hard times. The one especially on my heart tonight is “On Jordan’s Stormy Banks I Stand.”

On Jordan’s stormy banks I stand,
And cast a wishful eye
To Canaan’s fair and happy land,
Where my possessions lie.

All o’er those wide extended plains,
Shines one eternal day;
There God the Son forever reigns,
And scatters night away.

No chilling winds nor poisonous breath
Can reach that healthful shore;
Sickness, sorrow, pain and death,
Are felt and feared no more.

When shall I reach that happy place,
And be forever blessed?
When shall I see my Father’s face,
And in His bosom rest?

-Samuel Stennett, 1787