I don’t do as much cooking these days as I used to – I haven’t had as much time since I was born again and I started to do more for other people. I'm not home very often, and when I am, I don't want to do much at all. But the first place the Lord sent me after I was born again was to work in a Soup Kitchen, and He showed me how to use the gift in the kitchen that He gave me to serve others. Now in the health and wellness work that I do, I help other people learn how to cook and make healthy choices, so I’m in the kitchen a lot, even if it’s not to make food for myself.
But I’ve been wanting to learn how to make lasagna, and the
noodles were on sale, and then the Lord arranged it that they ended up being
free. They charged me a higher price at the store and I didn’t notice when I
was checking out. When I got home and saw what had happened, I didn’t have time
to go back until two days later. When I went back, I didn’t bring the box with
me because I had to go to the store after work and didn’t want to carry it. At first the woman at customer service said that I’d need to bring the box
back, but then she called the manager over to ask him and he said to give it to
me for free. So I had my noodles, but I didn’t really have the time yet. I had
a can of tomatoes to make sauce – that’s something else that’s second nature –
spaghetti sauce was one of the first things my mother taught me how to make.
She taught me how to make marinara sauce and chili and how to separate eggs so
I could make chocolate mousse.
Then about a month ago, one of the stores was having a crazy
sale on mozzarella cheese. It turned out to be $1.25 a pound. I bought several
pounds and cut it in slices and froze it. Then two weeks ago, the Lord told me
to stop at one of the stores while I was on the way home - yes, He can be very practical and He wants us to have good physical food and not just good spiritual food - and they had a crazy
sale on Italian sausage. I bought a pound each of hot and sweet for I don’t
even remember, maybe $1.49 a pound, and I made my sauce and froze it. Then last week, He sent me to another store
that had Ricotta cheese on sale for two pounds for $3.49. These are prices that
I didn’t even used to get when things were much cheaper. Nowadays they’d be
three and four times that much. And everything was the best quality. What an
awesome God.
So on Sunday night, I made lasagna. It was the easiest thing
in the world and it came out so good. What made it so easy was that I did it on His timing - He had me buy the things I needed when I needed them so that they'd be ready, and I could do some things like make the sauce in advance. I have to honestly say that I’ve never
had a better one, and I’ve had some good ones. It was exactly the way I like it
– sausage sauce is my favorite and I added red bell peppers and mushrooms that
came from my other favorite stores that have the bag sales and discount produce
for a dollar. But the thing that made it so good was not me - He was doing the cooking and I was just following along. A man I met years ago who's from Puerto Rico told me his mother always said, "Where there's garlic there's love." He told me how to say it in Spanish, but I don't remember. I always cook with a lot of garlic, and God is love, so with them both in my kitchen you can't go wrong.
I was in a lot of debt when I was born again, and then I went
into ministry work and I wasn’t making much money at all for a while. There
were lots of people who were telling me I should claim bankruptcy, including
some credit counselors and some Christians and even my Pastor at the time, but when I prayed about it the Lord
told me that I owed the money – yes, the credit card companies charge high
interest rates and they are in business to make money off of fools like me, but
I still had the choice to get into debt or not. I’d made some bad choices and
some poor decisions and wasted a lot of money on a prodigal daughter life, and
the Lord said that I needed to honor my debts and pay them back, so that’s what
I decided to do. When I started the job I have now, the Lord gave me such favor
with the credit card companies that they made deals with me that no one who
hears about it can believe. I’ll be paid off in the next year or two and though
I don’t have much money left over after paying my bills, He makes sure my house
is full of good food and I have the best clothing thanks to the thrift stores
He’s shown me. It’s amazing how He provides even more than what we need when we
do what He says is right to do.
Over the winter a friend of mine borrowed some money. He’s
someone I care about a lot, and though it was a big amount for me, and I didn’t
know if he’d ever be able to pay me back, I gave it to him. It was in January, before
tax time, and that’s why I had some extra. I told him he didn’t
need to pay me back – that it was God who had told me to give the money to him,
because He wanted him to know the love and provision of God in his life. When I
went to pay my taxes, I ended up owing about a third of what I’d expected, and
I was going to get a refund, so it turned out I owed practically nothing. It’s
amazing how God provides even more than what we need when we do what He says is
right to do.
Romans 13:7-8 tells us, “Give everyone what you owe him: if
you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue then revenue; if respect, then respect; if
honor, then honor. Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt
to love one another.” In Matthew chapter 18:21-35, Jesus tells a parable about
a servant who is forgiven a great debt by his master, but then he goes off and
has someone who owes him a much smaller debt thrown into prison. When the
master finds out, he says, “You wicked servant. I cancelled all that debt of yours
because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just
as I had on you?” This parable is part of the message that Jesus is giving on
forgiveness, and it comes after He has been speaking about having the faith of
a child, of not being the cause of “one of these little ones – those who
believe in me ” to stumble, of the man who goes after his one lost sheep even
though he has 99 others. I had been telling my friend that I cared about him
with the love of God, I had been quoting these scriptures and many others, and I had been telling him that He could trust the love
that God had for him – that he could trust God to provide for him. When he
asked me to lend him money, I knew it was the Lord asking me to put my money
where my mouth was.
In James 2:14-16, we hear about faith without works, or
deeds as it’s written in some translations. James talks about the person who
says they have faith but does not take action. He says, “Can that kind of faith
save anyone? Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing,
and you say, ‘Good bye, and have a good day; stay warm and eat well,’ – but then
you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do?” I can
say I have faith all I want to, but when it really comes down to it, am I willing
to do what it is that I know that the Lord is speaking to my heart? If I have a
lot of money, it’s easy to give to a friend, but if I don’t? What then?
God will always be clear about when to give and when not to.
Sometimes we want to do so much for the Lord that we’ll give everything to
everyone, and He doesn’t want that either. But when a friend is in need, it’s sometimes
not just a need of food or clothing, but sometimes the provision they need is
about something else. Sometimes people need to know that they are loved, that
there are no strings attached, that they are loved with the unconditional love
of God. In the God’s Word translation of James 2:16, the verse reads this way, “and
one of you tells that person, ‘God be with you, stay warm and make sure you eat
enough.’ If you don’t provide for that person’s physical needs, what good does
it do?” There are times when words are not enough, when telling someone that
God loves them doesn’t cut through whatever darkness is around them. There are
times when we have to do something more, to reach through the wall with a love
that knows no bounds. If that time comes, and you know it’s what God wants you
to do, He’ll honor what He’s asked, and pay you back with more than you gave. Everything belongs to Him anyway, so you're just moving the money or whatever it is into other hands that need it, and He will always have more to give to you.
Blessings,
Jannie Susan
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