HELEN SANDERS

8-3-2025

FOLLOW THE RECIPE

If you ever made a cake, then you know there are steps to take for it to be delicious. First, you get out the instructions, the recipe, often found in a cookbook, or a recipe card someone gave you. 

Then you bring out the ingredients and put them together step by step. You blend the ingredients together until the lumps are out, then when you have the “batter” ready it is time for it to go into the pan. But before putting it into the pan, the pan must be greased, or the batter will stick to the pan. Before putting it into the oven to bake, you must turn it on. You do not put it in immediately. You let the oven heat up. Then you put it into the oven to bake. If the oven is off balance, then the cake might turn out lopsided. Then as it bakes, you test it by poking it with a toothpick to make sure the center is baked as well as the outside. If the center is not baked, the cake will not be edible. 

Then, after it has baked for the right amount of time, you take the cake out. You cannot grab the pan without a potholder or towel, or you might get burned. Then, the cake is allowed to cool before you put any frosting on it. If you frost it while it is hot, then it will melt and be a mess.

This is called the process of following the recipe. If one ingredient is left out, then the cake might not rise, or be tasteless. You cannot rush this process. It takes time. If you pull it out of the oven too soon, it will be a sticky mess.

Life is a lot like that cake. We learn how to put life together through experience. We learn how much heat we can take before we get “burnt” in life. Then, when we go through the heat of experience, we often cause our heat to burn others.  The tests, the poking, and the waiting period have to happen to bring the best results. Often, we need time to cool off before we share what we have learned, or we can do others damage.

The process of life is not easy; we learn it through various trials and errors. It is learned through being a victim or being victorious. We often are too hard on ourselves wanting to be “perfected” before we are ready. Trials build faith in us. We cannot learn a lesson without having gone through a teaching moment. 

Remember through the process that there is a book that will guide you in life. It is the bible. It never gets old. The success stories are there to learn from, along with the stories of those that failed. It holds your recipe for life. Just like a cake’s recipe directions must be followed to get the best results, we must remember that life is a process, and you have to be patient for things to line up correctly. Do not be in a rush. Enjoy each step of the process. Spend time in the bible, which is our “recipe” for life book.



Russell and Helen Sanders

Spirit of Life Ministries International, Inc.

www.spiritoflifeintl.org