God Doesn’t Use Recipes
Yesterday, while having a conversation with my husband, I melted some unsweetened chocolate a friend had given me. We were talking about all the training the Lord had given us in seemingly unrelated areas and wondering what He had planned for it all.
As we talked I added the rest of a bag of powdered sugar, some corn syrup, and a dollop of shortening. I mixed as we talked about the urges we were feeling, wanting to serve Him specifically instead of the random “I want a ministry” of our early Christian lives.
I poured the mix into a pot on the stove, turned it on low, and began to cook off the excess moisture. As I stirred we talked about how the Lord has begun openning doors to ministry which we had never expected–doors into areas that He had already trained us for instead of in unrelated areas as we had naively assumed.
I poured the mixture back into the food processor, turned it on, and thought a bit as I watched it mix (it was too loud to talk.) When I turned the food processor off and began to grease the glass pan for the chocolate I mentioned to Hubby why I had always assumed that God would give me a ministry that had nothing to do with my training–often pastors use the 12 desciples as an example of ministry, who were as they point out, untrained for the job of evangelism.
I poured the mixture from the pot to the glass baking pan and smoothed it as Hubby suggested that although the 12 desciples had been chosen out of uneducated backgrounds, Christ had trained them up in their three years together and those that followed were well suited to the jobs God gave them–though not necessarily as they would have expected.
I looked up from my pan and suggested that it was true. I doubt Paul ever expected that his education, speaking ability, and tent making skills would be used in such a manner. Shamus agreed then looked at the pan and asked what on earth I was making.
“I don’t know,” I replied, ” I know it will be chocolate candy but am not sure whether it will be more like fudge or more like taffy.”
After a moment of thought we looked at each other and smiled. Just like I knew that mixing those ingredients together would form some type of chocolate candy, I can know that the Lord is going to use the talents, the training, and the experiences He has given me and create a ministry perfectly suited to me. I can’t tell what it is going to look like right now just as I wasn’t sure of the texture of my candy until it cooled.
And, just as I couldn’t wait to find out what texture the candy would have (it turned out with that of very good, real chocolate Tootsie Rolls and very,very yummy) I can’t know how my life ministry will look, except that I know it will use the lessons I have learned and will probably not look like anyone elses–because like me, God doesn’t use recipes.
Has God trained you in ways you never expected He would use? I promise He won’t waste anything–if He intends all things for good He will use it to bring glory to His name. It might be in a big way, it might be small, but if you are willing He will use you.
20In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. 21If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work. ~2 Timothy 2:20-22
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Lord, each of us longs to be useful to You. Help us to glorify Your name in all that we do, to serve You regardless of our situation, and to know that You will use us and all our life “stuff”for the good of others and Your glory.Â
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My hearts prayer is to be useful to Jesus.
What a great post, Heather! I’m praying to be flexible and that I allow God to use me as He sees fit.
Blessings~
I really liked this post. It spoke to me as a writer. For the past two years I’ve just been “casting my net” everywhere- writing devotionals, informational articles, book reviews, short stories, blogs and all the while, working on a novel. I’ve had things published here and there, but still I am uncertain where my nitch is. Am I a novelist? A devotional writer? Both? Neither? Are the two articles just accepted by a teen girl magazine hints that I should write for teens? I don’t know if my writing will ultimately turn into fudge or taffy. Meanwhile, I keep dumping words in the pan- a pinch of metaphor, a dollop of dialogue, a bit of humor… and I pray, asking God for direction, asking Him to use all of it, and trusting that He has a plan. Thanks for this! God bless you, Heather.
About 3 years ago, I was privileged to be part of a group of women that God put together in my town from all different Christian denominations. He “hid” us for 2 years while He loved on us, spoke to us, grew us up, and prepared us for Him. Going through that process was slow to me (I’m a do-it-now-and-do-it-quickly gal) but looking back, it was so very precious and needed and He knew exactly what he was doing. I was not brought up in a church that moved in the gifts of the Holy Spirit, so alot of what I went through was very new to me. He was preparing me. I’d love to say that I know what He was exactly preparing me for, but I still can’t. All I know is, He’s prepared me for something, and I’m going to do it with all my heart for Him when He brings me to it.
Loved your post. It speaks volumes.
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Very good post, it speaks to me!!
Ummmmmm you had me at melted chocolate?
Great post- I needed to hear…. btw— you’re killing me with the chocolate pic…. I must make brownies— or SOMETHING!
I left a comment this morning. Did it get deleted or something?
I so want to be useful for God. Thank you for this great post.
Heather,
I am right where you and Janet are at. This post was EXACTLY what God wanted me to read. Thank you… Thank you… Thank you.
God intends all the things for good, in our lives, we really should use the Lord’s eyes to look our life, the circumstance around us, other lives,etc…
I love your words very much….
I want my life to be used by the lord and bring glory to HIM.
Thank you for your comment on my post “Gifted (or not)”. I followed it here. This post that you have written is such an encouragement to me. My husband and I are on our way to ‘somewhere’ that we know God has intended just for us. He has been working in our lives. We’re impatient as we wait on what, to us, seems imminent. We just don’t know what that is or how long until we get there. God bless.
Amen to that, Heather 🙂 You are right, He trains us to be useful to glorify His name. We just have to let Him stir us around and trust Him with the outcome.
Blessings to you and yours.