Putting It All Together – by Joy “the Encourager” Netter

 Joy “the Encourager” Netter

Have you ever tasted flour all by itself? It’s not, in any sense of the word, ‘good.’ Have you ever eaten a spoonful of baking soda, swallowed a raw egg, or drank vanilla extract all by itself? Again, not appetizing at all; it is in no wise, palatable. The fact is even if we would blend any combination of the above-listed items to nibble, we would probably still find it to be downright disgusting, even yucky. But what would happen if we blended all those with a few more ingredients like sugar and butter, then poured it in a pan, placed it in the oven to bake, then removed it? Ideally, the result might be something such as a delicious cake—something we find satisfaction in and gladness. However, there are some things required before we can have that delicious dessert—that sort of outcome.
First, we DECIDE that a delicious cake is something we want to have and enjoy (having your cake and eating it, too ). Next we might want to have a RECIPE to make the cake. Then we FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS from the recipe—the process. Once the cake gets removed from the oven, we give it time to cool before we have a slice of our tasty achievement. Overall, doing these things would assure us of a good outcome as related to a cake.  In the process of living, we set out to do a particular thing or accomplish a certain goal—to bake the cake of life. Well, there are many different ways to attain a certain outcome. One of the best ways, I think, is to get some direction or instruction (a recipe) as it helps to make the path a little easier to follow or the learning easier—just doing or experiencing one of the steps, when there are several, will make for something displeasing, like eating the raw egg. But when we do all the steps (mix all the ingredients), accept the process (the fire) and rest in it (the cake cooling), then we can be certain to have good success.

From time to time we will encounter experiences one after another, like individual ingredients that appear or seem to be bad, unpleasant, and sometimes disgusting. Sometimes all the individual things occurring in our life seem awful; sometimes they are. It seems like we’re in the fire. But when we get through the fire and chill, like the cake having been removed from the oven, we have at the end something palatable, pleasant, enjoyable, and praiseworthy.  I am persuaded that we are predestined to do a certain thing or things, and we can REST in the blessed assurance of God’s promises. We decide to take on what has been predestined (that stirring in the soul that won’t rest), then we follow directions (what the Good Book teaches), we endure the process, and we relax (prayer).

Sometimes I think about the story of Jôb in the Holy Bible. He experienced and endured a myriad of unbelievable, painful, depressing single events in his life one after another—everything from the death of his children, his cattle, loss of all his property, his deadly health condition, to a wife insisting that he curse God and die. It looked awful—it was awful, devastating, and traumatic. But just like the cake process, his life was made sweeter because he was baked in the oven of life. He came through the fire of process as pure gold. All those negative, painful, and traumatic experiences worked for his good.

When life happens, and it will, rest in what we know: We know that ALL things work together for the good of them that love the lord, who are called according to His purpose. REST ASSURED that there is divine purpose in the pain; there’s purpose in the process. When we stand back to examine life events, and we put it all together, we find that the most important thing in the pain and process is God’s Providence —that extraordinary manifestation; we come to realize that He’s doing what’s impossible for man.

 Here’s to mixing the ingredients of life ~ Joy