my flawless chef

                                                                               I am a little embarressed to tell this story,but I will take a deep breath and tell type.

This amazing chef I know,who is kinda famous because he is flawless in everything He creates, wanted me to cook along side him in upcoming cook/baking battle.

He choose me, out of a bunch of other people,who in all honesty I feel would have been alot more adequate. I was feeling shoked,excited and very inadequate,but with him being the leading chef, He promised to be there at all times and oversee every aspect of what we were baking. He told me about the recipe and the best part was we would eat the extras afterward, with that to entice me, we prepared and very soon we started. He would do alot of the main stuff and tell me what ingredients to grab,how much of what, how to mix the little things etc....

The first disaster was with the flour. I was running up with it and of course tripped. *poof* flour everywhere. As I apologized repeatedly...(Did I say it was everywhere?) He smiled, reassuring me that it was fine and He insisted on cleaning it up. As he cleaned up the mess,he instructed me to pick up the remander in the bag to add to the mix. I added the flour and soon we were happily working side by side once again. My side or the counter space, as I was chopping up pecans, was a mess.

I tried to keep it neat and clean like His,but failed miserably every time. "How do you kept your space so clean?" I muttered tired of the long day already. He smiled as he glanced at my mess, then onto my pecans that I chopped pathetically into uneven chuncks rather then the finely chopped pecans he asked for,but I was trying to not cut my fingers..(hint hint...afraidy cat).As if hurt he kindly and softly spoke "well,first I trust what my Father told me on cutting food and I have passed on to you that if put your hand here and here as you chop you won't have to fear cutting your fingers." He spotted out my fear and soon I humbly decided to trust his advice.Things began to go smoothly. That is until he told me to add a 1/4 teaspoon of a lemon zest. That wasn't the problem,it was when I glanced at the recipe it said 1 teaspoon, I figured He was mistaken and put the whole teaspoon in the mix. Thats when I felt him watching me as I dumped it in. Out of the corner of my eye I saw him cringe and as if I slapped him,the hurt clouded over his face. I turned beet red. "The recipe called for 1 teaspoon ." fumbled out of my mouth. He, like earlier with the same calm,forgiving attitude spoke,"well a 1/4 goes into the recipe the rest goes on the topping." 

 My jaw fell slightly. I humbly apologized near to tears cause I seemed to keep messing things up and I didn't trust him. He reassured me,"don't worry I got this." In the end we... uhem, HE somehow managed to finish and make it look all pretty on a plate......Guess what?..we won!!!! :)

 I was somewhat stunned..... we actually won,even with all the mistakes I was making. I looked at my champion chef and asked "why did you ask me to help you when you knowing knew I wasn't qualified and knew all I would do was mess things up and slow you down?" 

He gave me that knowing smile and as if His words smiled with Him, "Because I delight in having you with me at my side,working along side me."  I stared longingly in to His gentle, loving eyes. He continued,"Every mistake I saw coming, every mistake turned out for the good, even though every mistake made because you ignored my request hurt, but I willing and joyfully would clean it up, but also your mistakes made me smile as I saw you learn from them,I saw your longing to do it right and it worked out as you humbled yourself and trusted, we won and conquered."

 

 

If you haven't figured it out already this isn't a true story, but rather one I concocted while I was making brownies the other night, thinking on how Our Lord and Savior is like this flawless chef.

 

 

     He is perfect.

      (1Peter 2:22) (1John 3:5) (Heb. 5:8-9)

That title says enough, He is without sin, pure and as stated perfect.

 

 

     Do not fear, for He is able, trust in Him.

 (Ps.33:4-6) (Is. 41:10) (Is.41:13) (Ps.23:4) (deut.31:6)

We have nothing to fear if we trust in Him and know that He is truly able to do all that is in accordance with His will. We are commanded countless times not to fear.

 Not comforted, but commanded. I break this commandment sadly way to often, to fear is to sin.

 A sin that is forgiven,to all who know and accept Him, forgiven by a God of mercy and of justice.

He can forgive this grievance only because someone has paid the debt.

The life laid down for us because of our sin. He forgives because Jesus tells our God the just judge of all "This is my child and (s)he has repented, accepted me  and has put trust in me, the savior of the world, in whom I live and sacrificed my life for."

 

         Jesus Chose you.

              (John 15:16) (Eph.2:10) (Eph.1:5) (1Peter 2:9)

He chose you to prepare for His 2nd coming, to proclaim of His goodness, to shout out the good news of salvation, His power to redeem the lost and heal the broken.

 

 

                    We aren't perfect and admit it we mess things up a lot.

                     We are all sinners.

                  (Rom.3:23) (Rom.8:28) (1John 1:8) (John5:30)

We, like the assistant, are constantly spoiling things, getting in the way, but as our beloved Abba Father, He delights in us being there with Him. When we sin, it breaks His heart , but He forgives and redeems.  It is because of His grace, His sacrifice that we are able to join Him in heaven through faith and acceptance of Jesus our Lord. (1John 1:9)(John3:16-17) Because of Him (Jesus) we have an example to strive after and its through Him alone that we are able to strive to be a reflection of Jesus. (Phil.4:13)

 

 

 

         I am in such awe of our perfect flawless Savior who willingly forgives and cleans up my mistakes.

                   With joy He takes the lowest position being the servant.

     With joy and a willing heart I want to forgive, I want to take the lowest position, I want to reflect Christ that others may know His goodness, His glory and know that He is God, worthy of all praise.

 

 

         Matthew 5:13-16

 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.

 “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.   Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and then I tried videography

   Memories are a beautiful aspect of life that is very much apart of who we are. I want to share a  video that is a little personal project I created for my family & friends. I captured aspects of my home that I grew up in, just little clips here and there that may not mean much to your average joe , but each shot triggers such memories for others such as myself.

I am thankful for Gods abundant blessing and a beautiful gift of a home and family to grow up with!

 

Not unto man

I realize its nearing the end of the month, but with us moving at the beginning and we were just now able to get internet at the house, I fell slightly behind schedule on things.;)

                                    The word of the month I felt pressing upon me for March was diligence,

                                                             inspired by Colossians 3:23

 

Moving into a home from a whole different state that is a fixer upper provided many oppurtunities to be practice diligence. Cleaning, painting and unpacking that this month had and continue to have in store I was tempted many times to not put my best effort into it. It is easy to slack off  on something you just want done, so you can move on. So often we know we probably do a little better job on things, but they really don't matter to us or anyone and no one may every notice that we slacked off. That temptation arises often in my life, because why put in a little extra time in effort in something that isn't going to make a difference, and no one cares about. Let me direct you to another verse; Matt.5:16, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."

None of what I do should be about me or you, it all needs to go back to Him. When we work diligently for Jesus and by the way working for our Lord doesn't happen only in certain ministries, it could be cleaning your room and while others 'may' not notice when you slack off, people often notice when you work with diligence putting in 110%. When we are become Christians we are no longer apart of this world, but apart of Gods heavenly kingdom. As long as He leaves me/us here on earth we can and must strive to represent our Lord and Savior in a way that offers up praise and glory in who He is, what He has and continues to do in our lives on accordance with His word. I am seeing more and more in different little areas of daily living that its so not about me and in every aspect of the way we live is to offer our Lord Jesus Praise.

 

 

                                     

moving on

                          The first week of March wasn't only the only first that week it was also my first time I moved. Just to make the move more intense we made the move to a completely new state to boot!
 I spent the first part of the week packing and preparing to say goodbye to the home I grew up in since I was 4. I am one of those people that I know I will miss something, but I am totally up for an adventure and it hits me later that I am missing that pat of my life that is now gone, then the sad bitter sweet remembrance hits! So many amazing memories and moments happened in our home.  Many ' we are expecting' announcements, marriage + engagement announcements and even a proposal happened in our home. I remember running and blazing through the brush with my siblings, late summer nights on the trampoline, long walks, listening to the peepers, yearly all day applesauce making, the thrill of the first snow fall every year and waking up early Christmas morning.

The years of my childhood and teens years in this home were filled with tears and moments of joy and tears of pain. But those were/are moments that create and shape us into who we are along with being what life is about. What you do with the joy, pain, excitement, fear is what makes us who we are and I am so blessed to have done them where and with who I did.

The fact that I left my childhood home and childhood friends makes my appreciation for photography and the reason why I love photography heighten. Photographs tell stories it captures moments, it freezes time to look back on.

       Before we left I realize as the date was really close I grabbed a few shots of randomness as I wandered about my home filled with memories. I had been working on capturing a lot of video footage (which Lord willing I will be posting once finished) and realized I hadn't taken

This bell holds so many memories its been there for over 16 yrs and was my great grandmother. I was so happy to have been able to take it with us.

 Despite the freezing temperatures,our house with an amazing team of workers got everything packed up and moved out in 4 days!  I naturally miss my small town, my country roads and of course family and friends, but God has placed me here, with new surroundings, new people and new opportunity to be a blessing to my siblings and parents as we make a rough transition and a new start.

 

                                                            Have any of you moved before?

 What's one thing you thing you would probably miss the most if you had to move your current home?