Author: The Manna Chef

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Available to You

The Manna Chef

I absolutely love the song, “I’m Available to You,” by Milton Brunson and the Thompson Community Choir.  It’s an oldie but goodie, and the words are so meaningful.

Lord, I’m available to You.  My hands I give to You.  I’ll do what You say do.  Use me, Lord, to show someone the way.  And enable me to say, “My storage is empty, and I am available to You.”

Sisters, I have a question for you.  Are you really available to the Lord or is your plate so full that you don’t have enough room to actually do anything the Lord is calling you to do today? 

Hey, I get it.  You have work, church, a spouse, children, and parents you have to attend to, and they all require your full attention.  We often spend so much time taking care of other people that we neglect ourselves: mind, body, and spirit.  It feels like there just aren’t enough hours in the day to do everything.  But that’s just it: who told you that you had to do everything?

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Competition in the Church

The Manna Chef

When we will learn that there is room for us all in the Kingdom of God?  Lord, please help us!  Why do we feel the need to compete with God’s children when what God has for you is for you, and what He has for me is for me?  Why are we jealous of other people’s gifts, talents, and abilities?  We all are gifted, although we carry different gifts.  That’s by design, Sisters.  We are different parts of the same body.  (Ephesians 4:16)  Instead of being jealous of someone else’s gifts, put that same energy into cultivating the precious gifts that you carry. 

Other times, we may just be focusing on the wrong things for the wrong reasons.  But this isn’t new, not even in Kingdom living:

A debate broke out between John’s disciples and a certain Jew over ceremonial cleansing.  So, John’s disciples came to him and said, “Rabbi, the man you met on the other side of the Jordan River, the one you identified as the Messiah, is also baptizing people.  And everybody is going to him instead of coming to us.” (John 3:25-26 NLT)

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Slow Down, Sisters!

The Manna Chef

How many times have you found yourself so busy that you just wear yourself out?  You are focused on what you believe you need to complete each day.  And sometimes, it may feel like there just isn’t enough time in a twenty-four-hour period to get everything done.  So, the next day, you are even more focused to complete the day’s tasks.  (We may be overextending ourselves in the name of “multitasking.”) 

Well, today, I encourage you to slow down.  You may be missing out on opportunities to experience the blessings that God has waiting for you each day.  You may also be missing opportunities to be a blessing to someone else.  When we are so busy getting “our hustle on,” we may actually go through the day with tunnel vision and miss out on what God is trying to show us each day. 

In Luke 10:30-37 (NLT), Jesus shared a parable about the dangers of being in a hurry (even if it is for a “good” reason):

Jesus replied with a story: “A Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits.  They stripped him of his clothes, beat him up, and left him half dead beside the road.

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The Pause Button

The Manna Chef

Have you ever been fully engrossed in a movie and then needed to push “pause”? The movie is still on; you just had to step away for a moment to complete another task or tend to another matter.  Well, I want to encourage anyone who is experiencing that scenario in real life.  You were in full pursuit of the promises of God, and then He pushed the pause button.

To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven. (Ecclesiastes 3:1 NKJV)

There is a time for everything that God has ordered for your life, but God operates outside of our time.  We operate in chronological time (chronos)—the sequential, linear passage of time.  But God moves through chronos and operates in kairos, which does not measure how much time passes but what happens within it—God’s appointed time—that moment when God’s will connects with your purpose, your faith, and your obedience.   

But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. (2 Peter 3:8 NKJV)

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Purpose in the Storm

The Manna Chef

After experiencing an amazing move of God at The Manna Chef Sisterhood Fellowship in Cincinnati, OH, several members of the Manna Tribe and I went on our annual retreat to rest, recover, and plan for our gathering next year.  We arrived at the airport, eager to see what was in store for us, as we knew God was still moving behind the scenes.  I always look forward to our time together, enjoying the laughter and meaningful conversations, so I was already excited.

The agent at the counter announced that the time had come to board the airplane.  We were in different “zones,” so we boarded at different times.  Once all of the passengers were seated on the plane (and buckled in), we began to watch the safety video, and the plane began to move. 

All of a sudden, the pilot made an announcement, “A storm is approaching in just a few minutes, so we will wait here on the tarmac.  There’s no need to deplane, we will just wait until the storm passes, and then we’ll be on our way.”

I was sitting in a window seat, so I pulled up the window shade and watched as the rain started pouring down on us.  I thought, “Thank You, God, for allowing us to wait for this storm to pass.  You didn’t let us experience the severe weather in the sky.”  We had been sitting on the tarmac for quite some time when we heard a flight attendant exclaim, “Is there a medical professional on the plane?”

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