I decided I wanted some lasagna this week and was looking for the recipe that I use. Now that we are in this digital age, I have thrown a lot of my paper recipes away and stored them in some fashion electronically. It could be on my computer or Pinterest. This particular recipe was on Pinterest but is no longer available. Only the picture could be found but with no recipe.

I started to panic just a little bit, not really, but I REALLY wanted to find the recipe.  I looked in every possible location…no luck. I looked at similar recipes and finally had an AHA moment! I said to myself, “Girl, you have made this lasagna soooo many times and you have even altered the recipe to make it better. Why do you think you still need the recipe? It is time for you to let go of that crutch and make the lasagna that you’ve been making all these years!”

Why did that stop me in my tracks? The Lord told me, “Yes, daughter, let go of the crutch.  I have given you everything you need.” Friend, God has given us everything we need. We have trained long enough for that thing and we don’t need the crutch anymore. What we need to do instead is just move out with the confidence and assurance that we have mastered the training! Class is over!! Go do the thing!!!

What is so funny is that I have been making that lasagna for years so I pretty much have the recipe memorized. Heck, I never really followed the recipe exactly as printed. I made tweaks and changes along the way.

So, I browned some Italian sausage and ground beef with finely chopped onions and garlic. I seasoned it up really well.  I added tomatoes with garlic and onions and also a garlic and onion spaghetti sauce. (Yes, I love garlic and onion!) I let that cook for an hour or so. While that was simmering, I made a cheesy bechamel sauce (as you can probably guess, I had to make a sauce that did not involve cottage cheese..Yep, hubby strikes again! LOL!) After I cooked the sauce, I shredded all of my cheese. I boiled my lasagna noodles and set up my stations to assemble the lasagna! I put it in the oven for about an hour and BBAABBBBAAAYY it was sooooo good!  All that worry and fuss for no reason because I thought I needed a recipe when I had it memorized all along. I had already created some muscle memory and I knew what to do!

Let me encourage you to step out in Faith and do the thing that you’ve been trained to do!! You don’t need the recipe anymore! You know what to do! Now walk out in confidence Hebrews 10:35 says, “Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.” CONFIDENCE!!

It goes on to say in verses 36-39;

36 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. 37 For,

“Yet a little while,
    and the coming one will come and will not delay;
38 but my righteous one shall live by faith,
    and if he shrinks back,
my soul has no pleasure in him.”

39 But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.

It’s verse 38 for me! We don’t have time to shrink back! We are righteous because God is righteous and we LIVE BY FAITH! We don’t need no stinking recipe anymore! :>)

How will we know if we’ve mastered it if we don’t move out? How do we know if we’ve mastered the craft if we don’t try it without the crutch? It’s time to move out and quit hanging onto the crutches. Hang onto the Master instead! HALLELUJAH!!!

As the Lord would have it, always perfect with HIS timing, a song came on Pandora that made me stop what I was doing and dictate this part of the blog! The song by DeWayne Woods, entitled “Let Go” is powerful!! The chorus says:

As soon as I stop worrying..
Worrying how the story ends
I let go and I let God
Let God have His way

That’s when things start happening
When I stopped looking at back then
I let go and I let God
Let God have his way

Friend, I had to stop worrying about how it would end. Of course, my previous cake escapades could cause me to be fearful and freeze BUT I let go and I let God and He had his way!!!  He was so sweet to me! He said, “Crystal, let go of the crutch!”

Friend, I say to you, let go of the crutch and quit worrying about how the story is going to end! Instead, let God have His way. He’s already trained you and you just need move out!! God, your heavenly father TRUSTS YOU! Everything that He has put in you, He will cause it to come out!! In Jesus’ name, AMEN!

#Spicing Up Your Soul