Did you think I'd disappeared??!!??!! I'm so sorry -- Last week was SALSA WEEK! And the house as we know it shuts down during that week. The stove is steaming tomatoes and jars and lids and I'm chopping all the goodness that goes in it. By the last day, I'm "whooped"!
This year I had some friends to encourage me to sell some, so I bit the bullet and put it out there on Facebook - and my dear dear friends purchased just about every jar of the mild -- almost all of the hot -- and quite a bit of the medium! I'm so grateful and blown away! You guys are the BEST!
I'm taking a week off from the canning stove and will cook some meals now. I miss homecooking. I'll be back to the canning kitchen to can tomatoes and make pepper jelly in a week or so. I'll take some pictures and post recipes when I'm done -- how's that sound?
I've had a new round of stress in the last couple of weeks too. But as with most things, God is so good to send a great lesson or opportunity to humble me and remind me of how much He loves me (and you) and this past week was exactly that. The week started with a precious sister - a single mom of 2 beautiful girls - sending me a text with a prayer and physical need. I shared that need with a few friends who agreed to pray and offered their resources so unselfishly to meet the need of this dear one. I had the opportunity to share this blessing with another dear sister, a lifelong friend and she reminded me of an object lesson that I hadn't considered. I'm not a mom of children (mine are furry) - and so to pray for the needs of my children would be unknown to me - even though I've prayed for neices and nephews and the children of friends - I know that from a parent - to see a need and have no idea where it will come from is somewhat foreign to me. So in sharing this story with her, she reminded me that this dear sister who had this need had been praying over this for a long time - her text to me was the beginning of God's Hand moving to meet her need. God heard her very first prayer over this - but He waited to answer it on His time because He knew who'd be available and ready to meet it and the timing of it came during the "tax free" weekend in our state...thus saving some money at the same time...being better stewards of the resources provided. I was reminded of so many things that I've prayed over that have gone unanswered and yet, in my spirit, I know that God is faithful and that He will answer - but I'd never given much thought to the fact that God's timing on my prayers may not have come into fruition - and it's not that He won't answer - it's just not the time yet. Does that even make sense?
I think what it did for me was to renew my strength -- Isaiah 40:31 -- "They that wait upon the Lord will renew their strength, they will mount up on wings as eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint." -- I was weary in my prayer life - didn't have anymore words really - and so in the humility of this dear sister's request and the wisdom of another dear sister - God renewed my strength to keep trusting and going knowing that He has heard me and will act when the time is right according to His plan...and in the meantime, He blessed me with dear friends, generous friends, and beautiful vegetables to focus on...and chop my stress away making something wonderful!
My second lesson came in the form of these beautiful tomatoes. I was amazed that every box I opened had tomatoes that from the surface appeared to be all the same shape, size and color. They were beautiful, they were perfect and they were exactly the right ripeness to reach their destiny - my salsa jars! But as I began to select them as individuals, I began to notice that they were all different. Some were perfectly round and red, some were kind of long and might have a different top or bottom, some were juicier and some were not completely ripe - and needed to wait on another day to be processed. Isn't that just like the church - the body of Christ? When you look at us from a distance, we all worship the same God - we acknowledge that Jesus is the only way to be saved and we long to introduce others to this wonderful miracle and blessing of eternal life based on grace and mercy and the love of God and God alone. But when the camera zooms in, we're all different. We may worship differently, we may have subtle differences in our approach to the gospel, we may be plumper, thinner, smaller in number, quiet or talkative, creative, analytical or organized...but somehow when we're all put together, something so beautiful and perfect comes out of it...why? Because of the unique way in which we've been put together. In going back to the lesson of the sister with the need -- each of us had different levels of resources to help her - some committed to pray with her, some encouraged her, some met physical needs and so on...and when it came together, it blessed not just this sweet Mom, but her beautiful children and so many others that she's told. In looking at my jars of salsa, some combinations produced a spicy product, some were sweet and mild and some were somewhere in between...but the outcome was all amazing.
So many times, we're quick to think that we aren't blessed with a great gift - we are so quick to feel as though we have nothing "special" to offer - but what we miss when we do this is an opportunity to cooperate with others in a blessing - and maybe even a long awaited answer to prayer. If I hadn't added peppers, onions, salt and garlic and cilantro to my salsa - it would have been just stewed tomatoes. But in adding those other things, it became something special. Not to mention the tools helped relieve some stress too! Chopping veggies, really is a great stress reliever! None of us could have met the needs of this dear sister alone - God could but we couldn't -- but together we were able to be His hands and feet and mouth and ears...and arms to hug too!
I guess in writing this tonight, I'm just feeling a sense of awe that God would use me not only to be an answer to someone else's prayer - but that He would use my dear salsa to show me yet another object lesson that I am privileged to share with you.
Sometimes the enemy will make you feel as if you have nothing to offer - sometimes people will accuse you of being something you're not -- sometimes we stumble and fall -- sometimes we soar and sometimes we swim -- but at the end of the day - we really never should try to walk alone. We need each other -- especially in these trying times. We need to be willing to be used of God in any capacity - whether it's to be the strength, the words, the resource, the fire or the calm not to benefit ourselves, but to cooperate with others and with God.
Dear friend, I pray your week will be filled with object lessons and that you'll be blessed with an opportunity to participate in being an answer to someone's prayers -- the reward for that is completely indescribable...but you can bet the applause of heaven is deafening....God sees and knows and is storing up treasures in Heaven for children who cooperate with Him here....
I love you so much --- thank you for blessing me with reading this blog...Amy
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