I just made a chocolate mousse cake. This is one of THOSE recipes—you know, one of those trendy kinds you find in upscale restaurants, the kind that come with a chocolate or raspberry swirl on the white china plate, a piped dollop of whipped cream on the side and maybe even a shard of caramel “glass” sticking up out of it. This recipe is bound to get me oohs and aahs at the table from excited guests who suddenly think I must be a gourmet cook. And that’s when I start feeling guilty. Why? Because this conglomeration of bittersweet chocolate, butter, eggs, brown sugar, and vanilla took me exactly 15 minutes to put together and throw in the oven. The only thing hard about it is waiting 8 hours for it to chill so it won’t fall completely apart when you try to cut it.
I don’t deserve any oohs and aahs and it certainly wasn’t hard to do. I will grant you that it tastes amazing—but look at that ingredient list above and tell me how it could not. I have absolutely nothing to do with how it tastes unless I buy cheap ingredients—like Hershey bars and margarine. Taking a bow for producing this cake is like claiming a cordon bleu culinary education when all you’ve had is watching your mother and grandmother and reading a few cookbooks.
Have you ever had a friend ask you how you do it? How you go through some of the trials you have been through, yet live a happy and contented life, in fact, a life of joy and faith? What do you instantly say? Do you claim huge inner strength and unimpeachable character? Do you talk about your spiritual integrity? Of course not. You tell them that you had nothing to do with it except having the sense, or maybe the desperation, to take your Heavenly Father’s offer and let Him handle things.
And it was just that simple, wasn’t it? No, not really. A lot of time passed before it really “took,” before you really could face your demons with assurance instead of doubt, before you could race toward that “way of escape” instead of stumbling through it, before you could sit back and let God be in control and accept His will instead of trying to figure things out so you could understand them.
It takes a long time to say those words Abraham said on that mountaintop 4000 years ago--God is able; God will provide. But once you have reached that point, it’s just that simple. Every time life hands you the inexplicable, you don’t try to understand, you just count on God to handle it. How can anyone take the credit for that?
Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name, 1Chr 29:12-13
Dene Ward
I don’t deserve any oohs and aahs and it certainly wasn’t hard to do. I will grant you that it tastes amazing—but look at that ingredient list above and tell me how it could not. I have absolutely nothing to do with how it tastes unless I buy cheap ingredients—like Hershey bars and margarine. Taking a bow for producing this cake is like claiming a cordon bleu culinary education when all you’ve had is watching your mother and grandmother and reading a few cookbooks.
Have you ever had a friend ask you how you do it? How you go through some of the trials you have been through, yet live a happy and contented life, in fact, a life of joy and faith? What do you instantly say? Do you claim huge inner strength and unimpeachable character? Do you talk about your spiritual integrity? Of course not. You tell them that you had nothing to do with it except having the sense, or maybe the desperation, to take your Heavenly Father’s offer and let Him handle things.
And it was just that simple, wasn’t it? No, not really. A lot of time passed before it really “took,” before you really could face your demons with assurance instead of doubt, before you could race toward that “way of escape” instead of stumbling through it, before you could sit back and let God be in control and accept His will instead of trying to figure things out so you could understand them.
It takes a long time to say those words Abraham said on that mountaintop 4000 years ago--God is able; God will provide. But once you have reached that point, it’s just that simple. Every time life hands you the inexplicable, you don’t try to understand, you just count on God to handle it. How can anyone take the credit for that?
Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name, 1Chr 29:12-13
Dene Ward
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