Baking a Cake

Baking a Cake

Sitting with morning coffee in hand, staring at a blank computer screen, I sigh and decide not to post this week. The mass shooting in Florida, followed by the on slot of freedom of speech has put a heavy burden down deep. Before the first mother lay her  unsleeping head on a pillow and while the first daddy still paced the floor wishing it was him, the internet was full of hate, angry, and bickering. I thought back to 9/11 and how I brought food into the store I managed, brought the TV out of the breakroom into the lobby and sat chairs around it. The few customers that ventured out that day, all shared a heaviness of disbelief. No one talked about politics, no one argued amendments, and we all mourned. When did we stop mourning? We must mourn together so we can come together. Bickering, opinions, anger, memes, are not going to bring us together. The issue will not be fixed, until we mourn together, love each other, and hear each other.

I had an old journal sitting on the end table, that I noticed, as I sat my lukewarm mug down, and I flipped it open. A smile formed as I found sermon notes I made as a single momma, when I attended Life Church.  The sermon is dated July the 10^th, it had to of been 14/15 years ago, and it was preached by Pastor Sammy. The sermon is titled, Where to find the Hope you need, and I would like to borrow some of the Pastors points, I hope he doesn’t mind.  The first line reads:

When going through hard times, we ask – is there any hope?

·         9/11

·         Lost child

Without hope you cannot cope.

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe in Him so that you may

overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15:13

Further through my notes I wrote, all things do not work out good here. (Meaning on this earth) A few sentences down, I wrote, God can put bad things together to make good, and the example is a cake. Stay with me……

Eggs

Flour

Sugar

Oil

Cinnamon (I added this because cake is better with Cinnamon)

Vanilla Extract (Okay, I added this one too, because as a Southern, we add Vanilla Extract to all sweet recipes)

Now this is the part that is interesting. By themselves, each ingredient is hard to swallow, however when mixed together, and placed in the fire, you get cake. A sweet, yummy, mouth-watering cake.

Fellow believers, we cannot allow ourselves to get mixed up in the bickering of this world. We must understand the root of this evil. We, as believers, need to band together and fight against the enemy. Remember what the Word tells us.

Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and by His vast strength. Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the tactics of the Devil.

For our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world powers of this darkness,

against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens.

Ephesians 6:10-12

One of the greatest tactics of the enemy is to separate us by arguing. If we are blinded with our own opinion, and too hardheaded to listen to others, we will NEVER come together. We will always….let me repeat that, ALWAYS stand alone, hard to swallow, and never blend into unison.

Stand firm in your beliefs and rise up for what you believe needs to change. However, show love and support of your fellow man. Mourn together. Agree to disagree…. That’s right, it’s okay to agree to disagree and still love your fellow man. Don’t get caught up in the ugliness of this world. Social media is a tool that was meant to bring us together and instead it is tearing us apart. Be the difference. Show love. Be love. Embrace those that are different. Separated we all a little hard to swallow, but blended together in unity and praise, we are a sweet aroma to the Lord. A cake, if you will, of perfect flavor, diversity, and opinion. God created us all, even the ones with different opinions than yours….that’s right…He created, Left, Right, and middle…… The enemy prefers us to be separated, remember that….. he fears the blend.

                                                                         

Father God, we as a nation once again are broken by the killing of sweet children, taken too soon. Mothers are broken, fathers are broken, and people are broken and lost and need Hope to cope with all this world has thrown at us. We argue over how to fix this all while things just get worse. Show us Lord, how to blend together in Love, and be the difference. Amen

Jesus Wept

Jesus Wept

I’ve had some news this week from family and friends being viciously attacked by the enemy. I sat reading a private message last night from a dear sister in Christ who feels, “murdered, but I am still alive”, by the events that have taken place in her life this last few days. I wept with her over miles and prayed God could let her feel my hand holding hers from across the country. Other news of sickness and unspeakable events had already hurt this praying heart and I just sat, while my husband pumped gas, and I stared. I sat in silence as we drove home, thinking of everything I had heard this week and wondered how I could pray for them all. How do I tell brokenness that God has a plan. How do I  remind someone of God’s plan for them, when the life they thought He had promised them, just fell apart.

I thought about a woman that I used to work with and when I would go through something difficult, she would say, no weapon, formed against you will prosper. Then she would say, “What part of NO WEAPON, do you not understand?” God bless her…she is right. The enemy will use anything and everything to try to rip us apart. He has already lost us to the Cross, he has no power over our eternity, so he works to destroy our testimony, so that others will see us as failures. God turns our brokenness into our testimony. 

Jesus wept

John 11:35

When we hurt, the Son feels the pain of our heart and He weeps. He didn’t cry because Lazarus died, he wept because His friends were in pain. When you think that God has forgotten you, He hasn’t. He feels your pain, He understands your flesh, after all, He is Creator God.

I do want to remind you of what Christ did after he wept for the heart break of His friends.

³⁸ Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. ³⁹ Jesus said, “Take away the stone.”

Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.”

⁴⁰ Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” ⁴¹ Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying.^[d] And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. ⁴² And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.” ⁴³ Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!” ⁴⁴ And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.”

John 11: 38-44

When you think your world is falling apart and that God can’t fix it. Remember this, Lazarus was dead. If Jesus can raise the dead, he can restore whatever it is that is hurting you.

Will you join me in praying for all of the hurting people? Prayer request are private, but my God knows them. A lot of people are hurting right now and they need Christian’s to pray.

Lord, I lift up my friends that are going through pain and defeat. I pray you give them strength to face the Lion’s den. God you are mighty and right now, I need the stone moved, Lazarus to come forth, and the weapon to be defeated. Amen.

Mighty Forest

Morning traffic with drapes of darkness still hovering over the roadway, music cranked up loud, and morning dew still clinging to my windows, as my mind races with all of the “new” this year brings. A funny conversation with a friend, new job responsibilities, home life decisions, and I hear the Savior’s whisper of slow down, breath, and listen…..

The sky with finger swipes of pink and orange emerged from the madness in my mind as the dark drapes began to open to the slowly rising sun. Crossing over the Catawba, fog rose from hidden still waters, as the Queen city’s shadow showed her first trace. The trees were still clusters of dark matter, standing as one forest, a barrier for the homes behind them.

As the Queen City’s towers emerged full view and the sky burst open with brilliant colors that were so inspiring, many water coolers heard conversation and saw cell phone photos throughout the day and I turned my eyes to the trees. No longer just a cluster of one in the darkness but light now shone on each individual tree. In darkness they all looked alike, just one lump of trees without color, without shape, without character. In light, they become individuals with their own unique beauty.

This is how the Light transforms us. When we live in the darkness we are just another shapeless form, but when the Light shines on us, we become a powerful forest of individuals with unique skills, color, shapes, and strength.

1 In the beginning was the Word,^[a]
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
² He was with God in the beginning.
³ All things were created through Him,
and apart from Him not one thing was created
that has been created. ⁴ Life was in Him,^[b]
and that life was the light of men. ⁵ That light shines in the darkness,
yet the darkness did not overcome^[c] it.

                                                               John 1: 1-5 Holman

My tears found the familiar trails down my cheeks as I thought of the significance of what I was seeing. As more trees became visible I turned on to my exit, Freedom Drive. The Light gives us freedom to be individuals, although the darkness lies and makes those trapped in a shapeless forest think it’s the cover of darkness that gives them freedom. Darkness lies and makes you think that you can live your life however you want, do what you want and that is your freedom. But darkness came for one thing, to steal, kill and destroy. Darkness doesn’t care what you do with your life because darkness seeks to drag you with him, into the fire.

Light, cares how we live our lives because the Light sees us are individuals with unique gifts, talents, and abilities. The Light forgave us so that we can live eternally with Him. We are truly free in the Light because we can be who we were created to be.

Be an individual in the forest of Light. Love each person, no matter your differences. It takes many trees to form a forest and they are all different but all important. Each tree bears fruit that is different, but essential to life.

Does the Light shine on you? Do you bear fruit and share love with all? When Christ is the center, His Light overcomes the darkness and always will. If you want the Light today, will you join me in this prayer?

Father, I am in darkness and I am lost. I want to accept the forgiveness that Jesus Christ gave when He died on the cross. I want to be a Light into this world and I pray you forgive me. Amen.

Welcome my sister or brother. If you accepted Christ today, then know you have a forest praying for you. Feel free to reach out to me, if you need someone to pray with you.

Father, I pray that someone accepts you today.  I don’t want this blog to just be my words, I want it to serve as light in the world. Not for my glory, but for yours. I lift up all the readers and I pray for each of them. I pray you bring them healing, peace, and guidance this week. Amen.