Posts Tagged ‘harriet in georgia’

Turning A Mess Around!

My family heritage has many talents. One of the talents from my mother’s side of the family is that we are fabulous cookers. My brother is an Executive Chef as well as an instructor! Fortunately, I learned how to cook starting when I was about five years old. One of the favorite things that people like for me to prepare is my homemade rolls! I must admit they are REALLY good! I am a great baker. So, I thought that I would “debut” my skills for baking cakes. Since it is the Christmas season, I chose to make from scratch my “Red Velvet Cake” for my church’s Christmas Party. I was so excited!

I put all the ingredients together and poured the mixture into the cake pans. When I took the pans out of the oven and after letting them cool I attempted to take the cake out of the pans! That is when the problem began. The cake wouldn’t come out of the pan very easily. It was starting to crumble! Oh, my goodness, I thought “I am going to have to throw this away. This won’t work.”

Well, I cried out to the Lord “Please, help me.” I suddenly remembered when my mother would make a cake and it would crumble, my mother would piece it back together and put the icing on the cake.
My pastor was in the kitchen with me and she encouraged me all the way! I pieced each layer and used the icing to “paste” it back together. My pastor kept saying to me “This cake is going to be good.”

Since the cake was “pieced” together, I couldn’t use a knife to spread the icing, so I just poured it over top of the cake and let it drip! I then took a knife and smoothed it as much as possible. My pastor suggested that we put some decorations on it. So, we put some candy canes on it. With the cake being in a glass plate cover, it looked pretty good. Even though the caked looked funny and totally an unconventional Red Velvet Cake, I knew that the cake would taste good!

Well, the cake was a HUGE hit. Even though it didn’t look like a Red Velvet Cake, once a person put a piece of the cake in their mouth, they immediately knew that it was TRULY a Red Velvet Cake.

During this whole cake process, the Lord began to speak to me. I discovered that I didn’t put enough flour in the pan so that is what caused the cake to stick to the pan. When I was putting the flour in the pan I was trying not to put too much flour on it! Even though the cake was broken, the Lord showed me how to put it back together again. Even though the cake looked different, the Lord used me to make it anew! The newer version of the cake still accomplished the original intention.

Jeremiah 18:3-6 says, Then I went down to the potter’s house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.

The Lord looks at us and sees that we are marred in some way. He puts us on the potter’s wheel and makes us anew again! Even though we may have been marred by situations and circumstances in our life, He puts us on the Potter’s wheel and makes us anew! Just like the “renewed” Red Velvet Cake, the Lord will present you in His favor and the original purpose that He has designed for you will still come to pass. Just like there was a second that I thought I had would have to throw the cake away, I suddenly had a plan to salvage the cake. The Lord always has a plan to salvage your life!

When Adam sinned which caused us to be separated from the Lord, the Lord could have looked at us and said “I have to throw them away.” Instead, He sent his son, Jesus Christ, to redeem us back to Him. That is what Christmas is all about. We are celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The birth of Jesus Christ was the beginning of the plan of redemption for us. What a precious Gift for Mankind.

During this Christmas holiday as you share gifts, meals and fellowship with family and friends, take time to be thankful for the gift of Jesus Christ!

Out of the mouth of Babes

Every one that knows me whether for a long time or just a day find out very quickly that I love Jesus Christ with all of my heart. But people soon find out that I am also an avid sports fan! Whenever I watch something that is sports related whether it is a game or some sports news on ESPN, I always seems to find the spiritual significance! That happened the other day.

There is a quarterback, Brett Favre, that retired from football two years ago and then came back to play last year with the New York Jets. He retired AGAIN last season but has unretired again as is playing with the Minnesota Vikings. All summer there was talk on ESPN if Brett was going to stay retired. He had surgery and was trying to determine he was in good enough condition to play another season. Three weeks ago, Brett Favre told the Minnesota Vikings that he was going to stay retired! End of story…well not so fast.

After the Minnesota Vikings had their first pre-season football game, the coach of the team called Brett and gave Brett Favre another opportunity to come play for the team this year. This time Brett said yes!

During the press conference that Brett Favre held explaining why it took him so long to make up his mind to return to play football this year, he told a story about his 10 year old daughter, Breleigh. Brett shared that during the decision process, Breleigh pretty much remained neutral. Brett asked her, “What do you want Daddy to do?” She replied “Whatever you want to do Daddy.” But Brett asked her “But what do YOU want me to do.” Still Breleigh kept her position in neutral. Breleigh didn’t remove herself from that neutral position until after the story started breaking that her father would be returning to play football with the Minnesota Vikings.

Brett and his family live on a farm in Mississippi. After the story broke, Brett and his daughter were sitting on their back porch. Breleigh had tears streaming down her face. Brett’s heart was touched my his baby girls’ tears. Breleigh told him in her tears, “Daddy, I wanted you to go back and win one more Super Bowl.” Brett breathed a sigh of relief and asked her why she didn’t tell him that before. She replied “I didn’t want to make that decision for you.”

Before Brett boarded a private plane that would take him to Minnesota, he dropped his daughter off at school. With tears welling up in his eyes, his daugther said to him, “Daddy, it is going to be fine. You do what you have to do and we will be up there soon enough!”

Oh, the wisdom of a child. Comforting her father and reassuring him that they would be ok even if they had to be apart for a short time!

Jesus Christ does the same thing with us. He gives us all the information that we need and stands by sometimes when it seems like He is silent giving us an opportunity to make decisions believing that we will make the right one. Jesus put situations and information before us to help us make the right decisions. Breleigh wasn’t satisfied to see her Dad just go back to play football but to win the ultimate prize in football, the Super Bowl. The Lord is always believing that for us. He just doesn’t want us to settle for the medicore but go for the very best!

Whatever decision that you are contemplating, the Lord is with you and believing that you will make the decisions that will bring blessing and life to you! Each decision can take you to your own Super Bowl!

Deuteronomy 30:19 (King James Version)
I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:

Breleigh Favre with her Dad Brett and sister Brittany last year