I hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend! I didn’t post today because I was at our lake house and the Internet didn’t want to cooperate with me. I had a restful weekend. One of the highlights of my weekend was watching Joel Osteen’s sermon on TV on Sunday morning. It is not my usual habit to gush about sermons, however, this one really struck a chord with me. Even is your belief system is different from mine, I believe this message will resonate with all of you.
Joel uses the simple analogy of making chocolate chip cookies. It takes all of the ingredients to make a good cookie. You cannot have a complete cookie without all of the ingredients. God is the master chef. The recipe for your life has already been established. Joel s remind us not to isolate one part of your life that’s discouraging— one divorce, one bad childhood, one disappointment—but instead, keep the right perspective. God has another ingredient to send your way that will cause everything to work together.
When Joel was a newlywed, he had an accountant from out of state prepare his taxes. Unfortunately, the accountant wasn’t familiar with Texas tax law and Joel and his wife ended up owing thousands of dollars in taxes. They were devastated because they had to spend the money they had saved for a down payment on a new house to pay the taxes. During this difficult time, Joel hired a tax attorney to help him with the tax mishap. In turn, Joel became great friends with the attorney. A few years later, that same tax attorney told him about one of the last public TV stations that was for sale. The tax attorney helped Joel and his ministry buy the TV station. Years later, the COMPAQ center in Houston went up for sale. Joel and his ministry wanted to buy the building, but it would take $100 million to renovate the center. Joel sold the TV station for a large sum and was able to renovate the COMPAQ center. You see, it was Joel’s bad break of owing taxes that set all of the future good in motion.
As I look back on my life, I see there were many times I felt like giving up and now I see that I needed to wait for God to finish adding all of the ingredients. As I look at my growing children about to leave the nest, I am excited to see how the master chef adds the ingredients in their lives that will cause everything to work together. Do any of you have stories of God adding all the ingredients in you life?
Beautiful post, Leslie, and most of us that are ” not so young” can so relate to what looked like a huge negative later turned out to be a blessing. But as Joel Osteen normally says, we have to not be resentful and bitter but stay open to what ‘s next and be ready. Thanks for this sharing.
Thanks Mitzi! Yes, time can be our friend as we age because it allows us the perspective of seeing how all of the ingredients come together. Such a great lesson of staying open to what’s next and be ready!