A Cake- Not A Cookie

I believe Satan's greatest accomplishment is to have God's people wake up one morning and say there is no God. I call it the greatest seduction because even Satan knows that God's presence cannot be denied. I asked myself how could someone deny who God is, and I was ready to put Peter on the cross alongside Jesus when I first read how he denied ever knowing who Jesus was.

The same finger I pointed at Peter, I had to turn toward myself. I take back the cross part because it means I would be strung up there too. Recently I had to go through my own situation, and when God did not show up immediately I asked Him, "God if you really are who You say You are why don't You do something?"

I don't care how holy you are, it isn't easy to whistle like a kettle when heat scorches your behind. It's hard to be still and wait, especially when nothing seems to be taking place. I mean if its going to rain I need to see some clouds or something.

One of the first things my Mom taught me to do in the kitchen was bake a cake from scratch. I couldn't understand how the cake batter would become the cake that I grew up enjoying. She stuck it in the oven, and I watched and watched, I tried to open the oven for a closer look and then Mom quickly stopped me explaining that to open the oven before time would cause the cake to sink. I heard TD Jakes say that Jesus speaks to the end of a thing and it took me a while to get it. A cake may not look like a cake going into the process but it is still a cake. If I make a cake it is not coming out of the oven as a cookie. 

David was a boy when anointed a king, but went straight back to the fields to tend his sheep after the auspicious occasion. Why didn't he leave those stinky sheep alone immediately after? It took years for David to sit on a throne. If I were David I would go network with other palace officers, and find someone else to watch sheep- read some books about being a king, brush up on my speech.... but it was not needed. God already made him king and all he had to do was be still and wait. If God said it, it was so. 

But what about the years that passed with Saul still being king, and the perils he went through when Saul threatened his life. It didn't matter because in the end he would still be King. God speaks to the end. He says I am healed so the end result will be my healing. It doesn't mean that I won't get sick, at the end of the journey I will be healed. Why worry about the process when God promises a great end result.The cake is in the oven, it takes time and some heat, but the end is a cake- not a cookie.

Anonymous Writer

Blessings Too Many to Count

I have gone through a period in my life where I found myself focusing on all the things that just aren't going right- ongoing doctor's visits, financial setbacks, and I cannot leave out the fact that I still don't get an answer when I open the door to my house and shout "honey I'm home" to the walls. Just one night Lord, I want to be able to tell the girlfriends that I can't make it to movie night because my 'boo' and I have plans. Why does it seem that nothing works in my favor? It's always something.

A mood like this called for a bit of mall therapy, so I yielded to the urge. While browsing past store after store, a passerby swooshed by me unlike the ones that I previously encountered; a woman in a wheelchair with no feet who was quite engaged in her Christmas shopping. Though it was just a light breeze that brushed by, it knocked the wind out of me.

I honestly wondered, what motivates her to get out of bed to face the day? I looked down at my feet. It was as if it were the first time that I noticed they were there. I have had several health obstacles but I can still walk from store to store. I often take for granted the fact that God has brought me through a childhood battle with Leukemia. It's been over twenty years since then. Why do I take my life so lightly?

Why do I hit the panic button every time the doctor sends me for another test, when my life bears decades of evidence of His power. Cancer, blood transfusions, surgeries, cut off from job promotions, self esteem problems, NO MAN...... a family that loves me, friends that have my back, a house, a car, a church home, creative abilities, a Master's degree, a working mind, a God (Jesus) who loves me so much that He always comes through. 

Turn the flash light on while the sun is out and it really has no effect, but it's amazing how much you can see in the dark when that little bulb goes on. Sometimes darkness forces us to shed light on those blessings in our lives that otherwise go unnoticed.

Anonymous Writer