by Morgan Ramsey

So at 22 years old, I’ve decided recently that I need to become an adult. In order to become an adult, in my unofficial checklist, you must learn how to cook, which is an area that I really struggle.

A couple of weeks ago my family got sick with the flu, and I suddenly switched from the lazy bum that lives on the couch to caretaker. I know what you’re thinking, my poor parents. You know how to pray for them. But hey, I don’t think it went so bad. They were fed. Somehow. Anyways, one night I was trying to cook dinner for them, and I grabbed the first thing I could find in the fridge: ground beef, heaven’s manna. I knew how to cook that, so I grabbed a pan, and started cooking, until I realized that I was missing something integral, especially for a rookie like myself: I didn’t have a spatula. Where was it, you ask? At the bottom of the mountain of dishes that had been sitting there for so long that I am not going to disclose the amount of time because you would automatically put my parents on your church’s prayer list. Inspired after my favorite movie series of all time, I called it “Mount Mission Impossible of All Dishes.” I know, it took me longer to name it than to actually do the dishes. Judge me.

Anyways, I was out a spatula, so I found the closest thing that I could find to use when I cooked the meat: a pie-cutter. Also, who knew it was called a pie cutter. I just thought it was called a triangle spatula. By my lack of knowledge of common household items (you know where I’m going with this story), it was bad. I couldn’t flip the meat as efficiently as I could with a spatula. Let’s be real: I couldn’t flip it at all. I was so frustrated. I kept saying, “ARE YOU SERIOUS RIGHT NOW? WHY IS THIS SO DIFFICULT? LORD JESUS YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE TO COME DOWN AND GIVE ME YOUR HOLY PATIENCE RIGHT NOW BECAUSE I’M ABOUT TO LOSE IT WITH THIS STUPID TRIANGLE SPATULA. LORD WHY DID YOU GIVE SOMEONE THE IDEA FOR A TRIANGLE SPATULA? IT’S JUST A STUPID CONCEPT.” Several of you probably have holy prayer moments with the Lord, which I admire. You all just got a glimpse into my moments with the Lord. You now know how to pray for me. The struggle with the pie-cutter was more than frustrating: it was exhausting. But after my mom told me (aka laughed at me) that night that it is used to slice pies instead of flipping ground beef, I realized why it was so difficult: it wasn’t designed to flip meat on a stove.

A couple of weeks ago, our family had a very close family friend pass away. To say it knocked us down and took our breath away is an understatement. I can’t think of any eloquent or spiritual way to describe it except by saying that it was awful. My friend that I’d known since I was 8, gone on several vacations with, laughed with, and loved so deeply was gone suddenly and unexpectedly. It was a hard time. But even though it was a difficult time, I remember telling my mom, “I can’t imagine how people go through something like this without Jesus.” Tragedies may not make sense to us as believers, but with the Lord we know that all things – whether we can see it or not – are working together for our good and His glory. I may not understand, but I can trust Him. His presence is so thick that it’s tangible in those hard times. He gives us a peace that allows us not always to see the big picture, but a piece that shows us Him, in a way we’ve never experienced Him before.

He’s our secret weapon. I had someone ask me, “Morgan how can you smile during this?” And I answered, “Because I know the Lord. I know what He’s done for me. I know what He’s doing for me. And my friend? She isn’t in the ground. She’s with my best friend, my Savior, my peace, my King. And because of that I can smile, because I know that yes I will see her again, because one day I’ll see my King.”

So ladies my question to you is what in your life do you simply need to release to God? Where do you need to trade in the pie-cutter for the spatula? Jesus desires us to have life, and not just life, but life to the full, not life weighed down by burdens and sin! Abundant life is lived with Him every day for the rest of our lives and beyond. So what’s your pie-cutter? Is it fear? Give it to Him. You were not designed to live with fear. An addiction? Jesus is bigger than that. Give it to the one who created you and deeply loves you. Comparison? God has created your life uniquely. He’s given you a story, a platform, a life that only you can live.

I don’t know what it is for you, but I do know that He wants to give you a life free from sin and from the hold of the world. He wants you to trade in the pie-cutter for the spatula. With a spatula you can cook food, because that’s what it was designed to do. A pie cutter was designed to cut pies not cook food. You were designed for life with Him, not a life burdened with the worries of this world, that is not our home. Trade it in ladies, and then you can experience real, satisfying, eternal life; the life you were created for.