Category: Entrée

Entrée

All Things New

The Manna Chef

And He who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” (Revelation 21:5a)

Recently, I brought home a new puppy.  He is a bundle of love, excitement, energy, and joy, and I love him already!  It has been fifteen years since I had to train a new fur baby, so I am calling on the Lord daily, Sisters!  God is faithful and is showing me so much through this little puppy, and I am going to share one nugget with you today…

Jaxon meets everything with total excitement because he is seeing the world for the very first time.  Whether it is a leaf blowing across the grass or a butterfly fluttering through the yard or even a string hanging from my dress, he is bursting with excitement.  (It must be wonderful to experience things for the very first time, right?)  I see his zest for life; it reminds me that each moment really is a gift, and we should truly appreciate all the blessings God affords us every single day.  It also is a reminder for me to allow myself the grace and time to fully enjoy the experiences that God is bringing to me in this season of my life.  

We sometimes have a way of minimizing the impact of our blessings, whether it is because we are too busy to even notice or we simply are not appreciating the ways in which the Lord is moving on our behalf each day.  Sadly, many of us just take God for granted.  We expect the blessings, but we forget to express our thanks to the Giver of those blessings.

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Entrée

Mostly Obedient

The Manna Chef

Sisters, today’s word is a warning.  We must take heed of all that God is instructing us to do.  It’s so important to follow all of what the Lord has instructed you to do.  I won’t lie: this one is tough!  But it is so necessary if we really want to grow in our relationship with the Father.  We seek God’s will, but if we are honest, we really don’t always want His way, do we? 

I’ll be transparent right now.  Sometimes I feel like I have the best plan for how things should transpire.  I’m a planner, so it’s not even difficult for me to plan to the tiniest detail.  The problem is, I cannot see all of the variables that are in play at any given moment, so even my best plans are limited in scope.  I have had my moments of praying to God and then sort of telling Him how to manifest whatever I have requested.  Isn’t that something?  Here I am telling God how He should move.  (I know some of you holy Sisters have never done that!) 

But if we’re honest, we can admit that sometimes God’s instructions don’t seem all that fair.  And other times, we try to interpret His instruction instead of just obeying what He said to do.  This can be really dangerous, Sister.  Your choices have consequences.  Real consequences.  Our choices actually plant seeds, and those seeds have the potential to produce blessings and benefits or curses and punishments.  We always here about the blessings, but today I want to share about the negative consequences—even when you think you’re doing a good thing.  (I warned you that this one may be a little rough.) 

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Entrée

Lay It Aside

The Manna Chef

One morning, God gave me a deeper revelation about me.  I’m sure many of you can relate, so I thought I’d share with you.  In an attempt to get some exercise early in the morning, I sometimes take the stairs instead of the elevator before heading into my office.  (I park on the bottom floor of the garage, so I take several flights of stairs.)  For some reason, I had so much to carry that particular day: my purse; my work bag, which was heavier for some reason; my lunch bag; my large water bottle; and my large umbrella.  I immediately thought, “Why do I have so much to carry today?” 

I gathered my things and locked the car.  As I approached the stairwell, I was met with my first dilemma of the day: do I forego the stairs and take the elevator, or do I press through and take the stairs with all this stuff I’m carrying today?  Sister, you know what I chose, don’t you?  I took the stairs.

When I reached the half-way point, I began to get a little winded.  The thing is, ordinarily I would have moved up those stairs quickly, but not that day.  I was barely holding on to all my stuff.  Did you get that?  I was barely holding on to all my stuff.  By the time I finally reached the top floor, I was silently reciting a part Hebrews 12:1:

…let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.  

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Entrée

Meditate on These Things

The Manna Chef

There is so much negativity in the world that we are often bombarded with bad news the moment we wake up and on a daily basis, too.  Between the extreme weather, the increasing incidents of violence, the ongoing pandemic statistics, racial injustice, homelessness—you get it—the list is unending!  If you are not careful, you may begin to focus on all of these issues instead of focusing on the God who has the final say over all of it.  And it’s really easy to say that none of it affects you, but you are human, so at some point, you will be affected whether you admit it to others or not. 

The pandemic alone has caused some mental health issues that often go ignored.  Listen to your body and your emotions when they are signaling an overload warning to you.  Don’t be so holy that you neglect your emotional well-being.  And learn how to be still and let the Lord minister to you.

Face it, Sisters, everything around you has the potential to influence your thoughts.  I want to encourage you to focus on the positive things and all of the blessings around you.  Look at Philippians 4:8 (NKJV):

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. 

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Entrée

Can I Get an “Amen”?

The Manna Chef

Sisters, how many of you remember School House Rock?  When I was a little girl, I couldn’t wait to turn on the television on Saturday mornings.  I’d sing along cheerfully, not even realizing I was learning all kinds of information.  (I’d later use that very same tool on my own classroom.)  One of the episodes from the Grammar Rock series was titled, “Interjections!”  The song reminded us to use them to “show excitement or emotion” and then told us they were “set apart from a sentence by an exclamation point or by a comma when the feeling’s not as strong.”  In other words, interjections interrupt a sentence.  (Hold onto that for a minute.)

This morning, I was thinking about the word amen.  (Those who know me personally are not surprised at all, knowing my love for words.)  Amen is a declaration that simply means so be it or it is so.   That’s why we proclaim “Amen!” at the end of our prayers.  We are literally claiming whatever it is that we have just prayed for.  Well, the word amen is actually an interjection.  (Remember, interjections interrupt a sentence.)

Hmm … That got me thinking!  What if we interrupted the nonsense the enemy tries to throw our way by praying, using the authority that God has given to us, asking Jesus to move mightily on our behalf, and sealing the prayer in His name, and then we proclaimed “Amen,” fully believing that our Lord and Savior is going to come through for us?  Amen is meant to interrupt some things! 

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