When a Biscuit Blunder Reminded Me of God's Love

Susan K. Stewart is a no-nonsense Christian with a strong desire to inspire and equip people in various walks of life. In this UPLIFT post, she encourages us to find hope in God's love in the midst of life's "blunders."

“Little did I know," Susan says, "my granddaughter, Wendy, would remind me of God’s love when she baked biscuits for dinner.”

God's love? Biscuits? OK, Susan. I (Dawn) think you've got our curiosity!

Susan continues . . .

Eleven-year-old Wendy had just made her first batch of homemade biscuits. She put the plate down in front of her grandfather. “Papa, try one of my biscuits!”

Wendy followed instructions carefully, but the biscuits didn’t rise as usual.

No concern.

The color wasn’t quite right.

Well, it was her first try.

After slathering with butter, Papa took his bite. For a moment his face gave away a concern—just for a moment.

Wendy bit into hers.

“These are great, aren’t they?” She was proud of her effort.

Papa’s initial reaction confirmed that the biscuits weren’t quite right. They were course, not fluffy, and a bit gritty.

I pondered what had happened. What could have gone wrong?

I had supervised the baking effort and didn’t see any mistakes. Well, other than the flour looked odd. While munching my gray, gritty biscuit, the proverbial lightbulb came on.

It wasn’t flour. It was diatomaceous earth (DE).

We keep DE in the pantry to use for bug control. It looks similar to flour except a little finer. The wrong container had been grabbed.

Thankfully, DE isn’t harmful to humans.

In spite of the odd gray color and gritty feel in our mouths, we laughed about the blunder and enjoyed Wendy’s first made-from-scratch biscuits.

Even after learning what happened, Wendy was not discouraged. This was her creation and she was pleased.

Isn’t that like God? We are His creation, and we can sometimes be gray and gritty.

He doesn’t throw away any of us.

God said His creation, including humans, was “very good” (Genesis 1:31). Not just “good,” but “VERY good.”

Even after Adam and Eve fell into the snare of Satan, God didn’t give up.

He wasn’t discouraged and didn’t throw us in the trash can.

Instead, God had a plan to restore His creation to Himself:

“For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:6-8 ESV).

God made a way for us to come to Him. Jesus died to renew our connection with God.

That’s amazing! Even when I have a gray attitude or am abrasive, God shows His love. He says, “Isn’t Susan very good?”

Like Wendy, God sees beyond the blunders, my blunders, to His creation. He’s not downcast or unhappy. God continues His love. He is still proud of His effort put into me.

The next day, Wendy called her mom to tell her and laugh about her biscuits. She was so happy to have had the opportunity to be part of the meal preparation. We’ll forever talk about the DE biscuits.

“(God) will rejoice over you with gladness” (Zephaniah 3:17 ESV). Sometimes it’s hard to fathom that God takes delight in us, just as Wendy was delighted in her biscuits. He created us, saved us, and takes pleasure in us no matter what.

He continues to rejoice in His creation.

A few days later, Wendy made a new batch of biscuits—this time with flour. They were tall and white with a hint of brown crust. The butter melted into the fluffy bread. Each bite was a delicious. A new baking creation to replace the old.

God does that for us; He makes us a new creation.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV).

In spite of our sin and rags, He offers us hope.

God doesn’t see us as those old dark and sinful creatures. He sees the new, clean creation we are in Jesus.

Take joy in what God has created—a new you.

Have you mistaken one ingredient for another other when cooking? Was the result a disaster or a fun story for the family? What is your reaction to blunders? Are you downcast? Or do you rejoice with God? What is your hope today?

Susan K. Stewart—when she’s not tending chickens and donkeys—teaches, writes, and edits non-fiction. Her passion is to inspire others with practical, real-world solutions. Susan's books include Science in the Kitchen; Preschool: At What Cost?; the award-winning Formatting e-Books for Writers; and her most recent book, Harried Homeschoolers Handbook. Learn more about Susan at Practical Inspirations.

Graphic adapted, courtesy of Olisa655 at Pixabay.

Stop Pressuring Yourself!

Kathy Collard Miller writes to help women be wise and productive. In this Biblical Thinking UPGRADE, she helps us consider the "pressures" in our life from the perspective of God's Word.

“Why does life feel full of pressure?" she said. "There’s so much to do, so much to decide. People expect a lot and every situation seems potentially disastrous.”

Pressure. Stress. I (Dawn) have thought much about this lately, dealing with some personal stressful circumstances. I'm wondering if my thought-processes contribute to the struggle. Does Kathy have a word for me? And you?

Kathy continues . . .

The pressures of life can easily add up and feel overwhelming. Even when we’re seeking God, it’s not easy to replace pressure with peace and joy.

I remember seeing how I added lots of pressure to my life without realizing it. I thought I was following God, but in my cloudy thinking, I was contributing to the pressure.

Of course, there are many ideas for diminishing pressure but here are three ideas I’ve found helpful. I hope one or more help you.

1. Downsize!

My mom taught me, my sister and my brother how to clean our rooms every Saturday. And that included washing the sheets! After I had a family of my own, I still washed our sheets every week, even though I felt mounting pressure because of a husband who worked long hours, two toddlers and trying to serve the Lord.

One day I mentioned to my neighbor Pat about washing the sheets every week. Pat casually said, “Oh really? I wash ours every two weeks.”

Shocked, I replied, “You mean it’s ok to do that?”

I realized in that moment I was pressuring myself to do something that wasn’t needed. As I began to ask myself if there were other pressures I was putting on myself unnecessarily, I found others.

What can you eliminate or do less often that will relieve some pressure?

Jesus’ said to Martha when she was trying to make so many dishes for company: “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary” (Luke 10:41 ESV).

Of course we know He meant sitting at his feet like Mary, but maybe He also meant she could “downsize” the meal to include only one dish!

2. Re-read your journal.

Sometimes I’ll read my journal from a year ago or years ago.

I’m shocked to see that the things I worried about and felt pressured about weren’t really that important—in the end.

I wrote about what terrible things might happen if I didn’t do something just “right.” Or about the long range consequences if I made a mistake.

But without reading my journal, I wouldn’t be able to tell you now about those pressure-making circumstances. At the time, I felt pressured to pray exactly the right thing—as if I could know the future.

God worked things out often without me even knowing how to pray.

Proverbs 3:5 tells us not to lean on our own understanding. I think we can diminish pressure by not expecting ourselves to know exactly how to pray.

Yes, pray! But trust in God’s compassionate grace to know the right way to answer, even if it’s “no.”

3. Abide.

Lately, I’ve concentrated on living in the moment by following Jesus’ command to “abide”: “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love” (John 15:9 ESV).

For me, that has looked like being alert to God’s leading moment by moment and trusting His love can cover when I misunderstand.

It has meant believing:  

“God will give me enough time and energy to do what He wants me to do as I seek Him.”

If something doesn’t get done as I expected and I abided in Him, then that’s what He wanted to happen. I don’t have to feel pressured and beat myself up.

Which of those three insights could help you to resist pressuring yourself?

Kathy Collard Miller loves to help women trust God more through her 50 books and her speaking in over 30 states and 8 foreign countries. Kathy recently wrote Never Ever Be the Same: A New You Starts Today; and Choices of the Heart (Elk Lake Publishers). Visit Kathy's website/blog.

Graphic from Morguefile.