“But he answered, ‘It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God’”” (Matthew 4:4 ESV).
Now that I’m unemployed I have a little more time on my hands although honestly I have been staying fairly busy. Near the end of my first week of “faux retirement” things slowed down just a pinch and I was able to do something I hadn’t done for many months, read food blogs! When Ryan and I got married I had no idea how long to even boil an egg. I had helped my mom cook but it didn’t take much thought to do the tasks she gave me. “Please chop this,” “we need ½ cup of that,” “stir this.” I never actually made a meal 100% by myself. After a somewhat nervous and rocky start, I realized I actually really enjoyed cooking and especially tackling new recipes!
Early in our married life, Ryan and I decided to eat more plant based meals, and I moved away from preparing meat entirely. Growing up in a steak and potatoes household I was stumped on how to make a meal without meat as the main entree. I proceeded to immerse myself in food blogs. I learned a crazy amount about different foods and techniques and was excited each week to try something different. Over the years my passion for the kitchen has ebbed and flowed depending on life’s other demands. So after settling into our new apartment, I was ready to get back to it. One morning, as I read a food blog, something hit home. In college, this food blogger said she sat through a presentation on writing. The speaker said if you wanted to be a writer you needed to read a lot and write a lot. Therefore, she decided to read a lot about food and cook tons of food in order to then write about food! What a concept right?!
Then it hit me. If I want to write about Jesus then I need to read about Jesus so I can discern His will and then do it! “Be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2b ESV). How can I write and tell others about God if I haven’t allowed him to transform and renew my own mind? Being unemployed is a great opportunity not just to improve my culinary skills, but to advance my relationship with and knowledge of Christ. You can see through the apostle Paul’s writings how his relationship with the Lord grew between his conversion and the writing of Romans. Only by abiding in Christ can I know and do what is “good and acceptable and perfect” and then be a witness in sharing my experiences with you. You too can eat the bread of life and grow your relationship with Jesus each and every day!