Encouraging Treats

Two Sundays ago, I decided to use my Raspberry Artisan KitchenAid mixer for the first time. I knew that I wanted to bake something beautiful because I was grateful for the new investment that I had. And at that moment, baking something beautiful meant doing these three things:

1.) Making a Raspberry-Vanilla cake

2.) Including fresh Raspberries in it, and

3.) Frosting it with Raspberry Buttercream icing shaped like roses.

I really enjoyed experimenting in the kitchen that day. Because of the freshly baked cakes, our kitchen smelled like sweet vanilla! Moreover, whipping the buttercream frosting was a breeze because of the KitchenAid mixer.

However, I did struggle with frosting the cake because I didn’t have much time to let the icing chill in the refrigerator. This resulted to a softer cream which made it difficult for me to pipe roses out of it. After frosting half of the cake, I started to get discouraged because it didn’t seem pretty at all. And at one point, I even told my sister “Maybe I should just smudge the icing on the cake and make it look like an abstract design.”

I placed the cake in the refrigerator and took a break for a few minutes. A part of me really wanted to smudge the icing, but somehow, I felt like doing it would be a waste of resources because I had a purpose for it. In spite of the discouragement and the cake’s flaws, God allowed me to see the beauty in it and He encouraged me to continue frosting the cake.

And so, after 10-15 minutes, I got the cake from the refrigerator and started to pipe roses again. The amount of icing was just enough to make three layers of roses and the extra fresh Raspberries that I had were lovely toppings for the cake too.

By God’s grace, I served the cake to my family after dinner and they genuinely appreciated it! They said that it looked pretty and it tasted good. Woohoo! (Thank you for being so supportive. :) )

This experience reminded me of three things:

Inspite of our weaknesses and struggles,

1.) God never gives up on us.

2.) God sees the good and beauty in us.

3.) God is constantly at work in our lives.

I realized that many times, it would be more convenient for us to complain and to give up when things don’t go the way we want them to. But, I’m learning to continue doing my best as I put my trust in God because He definitely knows what He’s doing in our lives. And in His perfect timing, I know that He can make beautiful things out of our weaknesses too. :)

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.” – Proverbs 3:5-6

 Encourage yourself one treat at a time. :)