[Pep Talk] The secret to crispy French toast...
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Hey beautiful! Did you know May is Mental Health Awareness month? I know, I know. Mental health is one of those buzz topics that seems to have really sprang up during + post COVID. But did you also know that our minds are addressed quite a bit throughout Scripture? Yes, the world may be putting our mind, mindfulness, and mental health in front of us more regularly, but God is actually the one who designed our minds + He has all the answers on how to overcome mental health struggles. He tells us all about it in His word and we will be talking all about it this month + beyond! The world is constantly trying to sell us ways we can live without God. Because that’s what our flesh desires. To live our life on our own terms, doing our own things in our own ways and on our time. And sadly, many times we buy into it. To include when we are so focused on efficiency that we forget to take the time to rest or when we don’t trust in God for His perfect timing. Speaking from my own experiences, the more I said “yes” to outside activities the less and less time I had for things that truly mattered to me including:
When God gave me this revelation a couple of years ago I began peeling back the layers of things I was doing, and ultimately the way I was living my life. ⏸️ sidenote: I even recorded a podcast on the topic of rest called Blessed by Rest. If you’d like to check it out you can find it by clicking here! Because we can’t have it all, do it all, or be it all. When we say “yes” to one thing we are saying “no” to something else. And so the process began of slowing down to actually be present, be purposeful, and do all things with love as the motive. I will say, it has not always been easy. When you go from feeling like you’re going 100 miles an hour and you just need more time in the day and instead you allow the seed of truth to be planted that more time would just mean more stuff. More stuff to do, more stuff to clean, more ___(fill in the blank here)___. The truth is we need to slow down to a more manageable pace and steward well what time, energy, people, etc. we have already been blessed with. And no, this process of slowing down does not happen overnight. It happens through many (many!) moments of making new + intentional decisions over the course of time. And sometimes I get derailed. Sometimes I’m not as intentional with my decisions or my days as I would like to be and I get back into just going with the natural flow of getting things done in the quickest amount of time possible. Sometimes I get stuck in a lag of procrastination + indecision. But then I feel the tension inside myself. The restlessness. And those signals are an internal alert that I’m backsliding into old habits instead of intentionally taking steps forward in faith. But most importantly, this process has given me the ability to re-focus on what matters most. Let’s face the facts sweet friend, our time on this earth is short. God has given us a set time to love Him while we are here, love others, and be an example of love for others. And it takes time to plant the seeds of love, self discipline, and selflessness. And then it also takes time to see those seeds begin to sprout and then come to fruition. Now I’ll tell you how all of this ties together with French toast. 😂 Yesterday while I was fixing my children French toast for dinner (yes, it is normal for us to eat breakfast for dinner 💕) I put the burner on a mid setting which is not what I normally do. Normally I have the burner on high from beginning to end because it gets the toast made the quickest. But the caveat to that is that you have to be careful you don’t leave the toast on there too long or it will burn pretty quickly. But yesterday I used the mid setting and let both sides cook and then turned it up to the high setting towards the end and cooked it again on the high heat on both sides before I took it off the stove to serve it. Want to know the differences I noticed? Of course the obvious one is that it took longer. But once I got passed that I noticed something else… the French toast had a little bit of a crisp on the edges and seemed firmer throughout than what it normally does using the high heat for the entirety of the cooking process. So I actually enjoyed it more even though it took longer to make. I appreciated the texture of the toast, the firmness, and the little bit of crust around the edges. So what did I learn? That the missing ingredient in many of our lives is us taking time to go through the process so we can yield a better result. In other words?
Sure we can run through life just completing task after task in record time. But does that really yield the best result? Sure from the outside we may seem like we are crushing it but on the inside are we just soft + mushy unable to stand firm in our faith when trouble comes? Jesus said in Matthew 11:28-30 :
“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.””
Resting in Jesus is a blessing. And it is freely offered to us. We just have to take reach out and take it. We have to take the time to sit at the feet of Jesus. We have to take the time to learn from Him instead of just getting the Spark Notes or summary version for everything. Please don’t misunderstand me. I’m not saying those things aren’t helpful because they absolutely are. But what I am saying is that if we are only being filled with small snacks (such as the summarized version or someone else’s revelation of Jesus) instead of full meals (getting to know Christ for ourselves) then we won’t be able to build the spiritual strength + muscles we need to be the best lights of Christ He created us to be. Did this resonate with you today, Reader? Respond back to this email and let me know! In Christ’s love, ~Sarah Murphy
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