The beautiful orange color . . .
The mix of salt and oil . . .
Krispy on the outside . . .
Soft on the inside . . .
Mouth watering sweetness brought out by prolonged roasting in the oven . . .
My family loves roasted sweet potatoes. They taste like dessert!
However, I don’t make them that often. They take about 55 minutes to cook with prep and clean up plus the 10 times I check on them. Who has time for that!
But, every time I do, the kids usually eat them up before we can even pray.
Each time I make them I am reminded, the time was worth it.
I am also reminded . . .
Prolonged heat softens hard walls,
Prolonged heat brings out the sweetness from something tasteless.
And prolonged heat makes something unedible into a mouthwatering dessert.
. . . . .
It the last 7 months, I have only been able to make roasted sweet potatoes a few times.
My family deals with MCS – multiple chemical sensitivities. We have walked this road for 10 years. Most days I forget it is a part of our lives.
Most people don’t usually travel with crock pots, bedding for each family member, coolers of food, air cleaners that resemble missiles or car air cleaners that look like bombs.
Our family can’t cook on gas stoves and with gas ovens.
We can’t be in buildings with gas heat.
We can’t be around people with cologne or perfume.
We can’t own diesel vehicles.
We can’t read from new books or use computers with fans.
Is your head spinning?
MCS is an invisible disease.
Αn invisible disease that has been life changing for our family.
MCS has been good, really good for us.
The last 10 years Rob and I have been like sweet potatoes . . . slowly roasting in the MCS oven.
Praying the Lord will use it to . . .
Soften rough spots,
make the spot crispy,
and make something tasteless into a mouthwatering dessert.
Unfortunately, like sweet potatoes, it takes time.
It takes a willingness to sit in the oven and let it change you.
It takes a willingness to let God reveal flaws.
It takes a willingness to trust God’s transforming work.
The last few weeks I have been reminded, I need to sit in the oven a little longer.
I want 2 Corinthians 8 to always be true of me;
“Out of the most severe trial,
their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty
welled up in rich generosity.”
If you have been in the oven, are in the oven, or are heading to the oven remember; while roasting in the oven, something tasteless is being transformed into a mouthwatering dessert.
What is the oven God is using to make you into something mouthwateringly special?
It is a truth that God perfects his work in us through His refining fire. As you said, if we just let it transform us, by trusting Him and waiting on Him, it will turn us into a much better and more useful and maybe even sweeter version of ourselves for His holy purposes. Too bad so many of us fight the change God is allowing us to experience for our own good and turn bitter and hard. I pray I always embrace the challenge of the oven and thank God even for things that seem too difficult to endure. Thank you for the reminder, Liz. God bless you and your family.
Liz, I love this analogy. It's such a mystery that God's grace works best in weakness. Thanks, thanks, thanks for sharing.