Friday, September 21, 2018

When God Bakes a Cake - Devotional by Dianne J Wilson


One of my favorite things about being a mom to tiny people was getting to bake snazzy birthday cakes three times a year. I've made cellphones, rainbows, lions, dolphins, butterflies, a mermaid castle... even Noah's Ark. 

 I'm happy to say that I discovered the secret to creating perfect birthday cakes. It happened round about the time my firstborn learnt to say the word 'ugly'.

I share that secret with you now ... DO IT WHILE THEY ARE SLEEPING.

Seriously. I cannot stress how important this is. Why, you ask? Here's the thing. Usually a great cake starts with your child's Current Favorite Thing and a basic slab of cake. Then you get to maul and sculpt the cake into a crumbly version of whatever-the-favorite-thing-is. If any bits break off during this process - don't panic! There is nothing that cannot be glued back into place with a good dollop of icing (frosting).

At this point in the process, your glued together cake-thing will look nothing like your child's Current Favorite Thing. You won't be concerned because you can see it in your mind - all lathered in multi-color icing, sprinkles, chocolate drops, cherries... It's all good, until said-child strolls into the kitchen, screws up their nose and asks, "What's that? It's ugly. I don't want it."

From here on, it's downhill fast. In all my years of being a mom, not once has a kid caught my vision. Any rational explaining quickly degenerates and ends with me yelling go sleep or else.

It only took a few 'it's ugly's' to convince me that decorating cake at 2am is a far better plan than trying to convert the masses.

Without fail, the next morning would bring sparkling eyes and gasps of wonder as they saw what I'd had in mind all along.

Have you ever looked at your life, turned to God and said, "What's this? It's ugly! I don't want it." I know I have.

But here's the secret to loving your life in all its glorious mess and drama. He's not finished yet.

Your Baker knows exactly what He had in mind when He created you, and He will finish what He started. You can trust Him. Philippians 1:6 '... being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.'

Dianne J. Wilson writes novels from her hometown in East London, South Africa, where she lives with her husband and three daughters. 

She has just finished writing the third book in YA series, Spirit Walker, with Pelican / Watershed. Book 1, Affinity released on the 8th of June. Resonance (book 2) will be released in October 2018.

Finding Mia is available from AmazonPelican / Harbourlight, Barnes & Noble and other bookstores.

Shackles is available as a free ebook from Amazon & Smashwords.

Find her on FacebookTwitter and her sporadic blog Doodles.


6 comments:

  1. Lovely post, Dianne. Yes, baking at 2am has perks, lol. Thanks for sharing. :)

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    1. 2am seems useful for many things! Hehe. Thanks for reading & commenting Narelle!

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  2. I needed this post! I've got one ugly cake on my table right now lol... Thank you!

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    1. I'm so sorry you're dealing with ugly cake Patricia! Praying for much grace for you!

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  3. I never had this problem - my daughter doesn't like cake (so we'd buy something cheap from the supermarket for the party guests who expected it), and my son didn't have complex requests. But I can see the problem in other areas of life (like writing, for example). We often need to go through the ugly to find the beauty that was there all along. Thank you for the inspiration!

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    1. Fertilizer is always gross, but it does so much good. It's all about trusting the Gardener. Also - how did you manage to produce a child who doesn't like cake? Lol! I tried three times over and didn't manage! Thank you for reading & commenting, I appreciate it so much!

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