Posts Tagged ‘red velvet cake’

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!