Revelations & Smoky Navy Bean Soup

Happy Wednesday! I'll get to the soup in a minute but I wanted to talk about a revelation I had on my drive home last night. 

 Have you seen this saying around?

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I've seen the phrase before but I never really understood what it meant until yesterday.  On my lunch I was looking at different flowers, specifically what I'd like to have in my bouquet, when I fell in love with some garden roses.  For whatever reason they reminded me of my grandmother who passed away this last year and so she stayed on my mind for the rest of the afternoon.

I was a little apprehensive about my drive home with the anticipated rain, wind, fog and snow. When I started the trek home I set some tunes on my pandora and thought I was mentally prepared to spend a decent amount of time in my car.  Fast forward an hour and I still haven't even made it to the freeway because traffic is so bad.  All I can think about it how bad the freeway must be if the side roads are this way.  I finally got to the freeway, and much to my surprise, it was wide open.  Literally, free and clear.  This has never happened on a rainy day at rush hour before and rarely happens on a bright and sunny afternoon at my normal leaving time around 4pm.  

It was at this moment that I said to myself, "Thank God. I don't think I could have handled traffic in all areas tonight."

And then I thought about what I just said and in that moment I understood, "God helps us handle what we are given."  I doubt He cleared the freeways just for me, but I felt the overwhelming presence of my grandmother in that moment, as if He sent her to say, "See, it's not so bad after all now is it."

Traffic in terms of so many other life struggles really is a small trial but it's this trial that I will remember when I'm faced with true struggles in life.  I will be stronger, because I understand.  

Now for what you really came to read about: Smoky Navy Bean Soup

Worst Photo Ever.  Sorry!

The jury is still out on this one.  Even though I soaked the navy beans overnight and cooked the soup on low for 10 hours, the beans still weren't done and it was overall a bit bland.  I think the soup has some potential but maybe needs some adjusting.  I'm letting it sit overnight in the fridge and I'll try it again tomorrow for lunch.  I'll post an update with my official verdict after the second taste.

If you'd like to try the soup for yourself or make your own variation the base recipe can be found here. Let me know if you try it out, what your thoughts are and if you made changes!