Following His Recipe

I had a realization the other night that has really been on my mind lately.

I am admittedly, a kitchen control freak. I follow recipes, use measurements, and want things done right (my way). Kelse, on the other hand, will take anything he can find, throw it all in a pan, and see how it turns out. It drives me nuts.

When Kelse got home from Ghana, we hosted a dinner party to welcome him back. I had an entire dinner planned and was excited to try some new recipes but we decided it would be more fun if Kelse cooked an authentic Ghanaian meal. Cue the control freak-ness.

As we grocery shopped and cooked, I found myself constantly second-guessing Kelse and asking him if he was sure he was doing it right. As he tossed things in the pot, with no recipe or measuring, I became more and more anxious. We were having 30 people over! How could he be so calm? What if his food tasted awful? I finally forced myself to stop talking and just help him as he needed me.

By the end of the night, every bite of food was gone and people could not stop telling him how wonderful it had been! I definitely had to admit that I had been wrong. And that’s when it clicked.

I am the same in life as I am in the kitchen. A Type- A, planner, perfectionist, control- freak. I know the way that I want things to go, I have a plan for my life, but God has other plans for me. This past semester was by far the hardest five months of my life. Challenge after challenge threw itself at me and I hit my breaking point more times than I’d like to admit. And time and time again, I was questioning God. How could He let these things happen? They weren’t part of MY plan! They prevented me from being my best self and doing things the way I thought that they should be done. I had a plan! How could He just let it all fall apart?

In my life, God is the cook that sometimes drives me nuts. When I don’t understand the ingredients He is using, it seems like He has no idea what He’s doing, and I am doing everything in my power to ‘fix’ it, I need to take a step back and remember the way Kelse cooks. God is an incredible chef and He has the perfect recipe in His mind but I need to learn to be patient and trust in Him. He may not always do things exactly how I want Him to. Things may not go according to my plan. But His plan is sooo much better than mine could ever be.

I may not understand why God allows certain things to happen and I may never get the answers. But that is okay. He tells us time and time again that His plans for us are good and He will light the way for us. But that requires us to set aside our own plans, our own ways, our own control-freak perfectionism and give it all to Him.

Next time Kelse cooks, I am definitely going to keep my mouth shut and let the master do his job. From here on out, it’s in God’s hands. His plans are so much better than mine, I just need to trust in Him fully and follow the path He has set before me. 2019 is going to bring huge changes in my life; student teaching, graduation, getting married, finding a job, finding a home, and these are just the ones I know of! This year, more than ever, I need to hand my plans over to God and ask Him to help me follow His plans for me instead. I hope that you will be able to do the same in this new year of life.