Ingredients

Have you ever had a different entree or dessert or just something new where you thought, "Wow.  I wouldn't have put those ingredients together.  That was really good"?  Sometimes I wonder how chefs come up with such insanely different recipes.  I mean, come on, how much can you do with macaroni and cheese, but then again.....

"Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - His good, pleasing and perfect will." - Romans 12:2

I visited one of my favorite mountain towns a couple summers ago, Black Mountain, NC.  They have some of the most unique shopping experiences.  The local chocolate shop, Chocolate Gems, is right out of the movie "Chocolate", yea, the sexy one....  Anyway, the whole family decided to go in and enjoy a piece of heaven of their choosing.  I've had my fair share of chocolate in my lifetime so I decided to take a leap and try something new.  I chose this truffle with dark chocolate and cayenne pepper:

My niece cringed at my choice with lots of "ewwwwwww"  thrown in there.  Let me tell ya, it was the best truffle I had ever eaten.  The perfect blend of ingredients.  I wouldn't have put those together, but thank goodness somebody else didn't conform.

I have really been reflecting a lot on how we are all intertwined in our lives like this.  My small group, my church, my marriage, my friendships, etc....."wow, I wouldn't have put those two together."  God has his way of knowing exactly how to weave our beautiful lives together for our own good, our own enjoyment, our own.  Understanding that notion that God put just as much thought and love and care in choosing our church families and work families as he did our biological families. 

As most of you who have read parts of my blog in the past, you know I have struggled with, "do I stay or do I go now?"  (Hmm, sounds like a song.)  A very wise and wonderful woman in my life made the comment in my presence a few months ago, not knowing my battle, saying, "I can't believe it when someone leaves the church.  This is my family.  My church family.  I can't understand why."  It changed my perspective.  I had been looking at me.  Shocker.  At that time I had resolved that I was messing with a plan that God had so intricately woven together.  I was going to be unraveling a beautiful tapestry by leaving.  I won't be a part of the unraveling.  I want to be a part of the weaving.

  
I can only hope that through life I will never forget how God has put this plan in place before I was born, that, if I'm not careful and faithful to Him, I will unravel.  I trust he will work with whatever happens at church, or work,or life and be glorified through our unraveling.


May your ingredients be strange.  May the taste of life be so different it leaves you wanting for more.  May your chef mix it up perfect for you.  May God continue weaving where you feel unraveled.  Bless your ingredients!