It was going to be a special evening. I was cooking dinner for our 2nd anniversary. I decorated the dining table with some of our wedding decorations I still had and lit candles for a romantic effect.

Everything was going as planned.

My husbands favorite dessert at the time was monkey bread. I had never made it before but out of love, I thought I would give it a try. I slipped it into the oven as he got home from work and we sat down for supper. It was all smiles and a special moment as it was our first big meal in our new to us home.

About halfway through dinner, my husband asked about what was in the oven. I was so excited to tell him that we was going to have his favorite dessert. To our dismay though we noticed that the room was filling with a haze and it was not some kind of romantic effect that I had planned either. Fear gripped my heart as I turned to see smoke coming from my oven. We both dashed to the kitchen not knowing what to expect.

As it turns out, there is a difference between an angel food cake pan and a bundt cake pan. I will let you guess which one I had.

All the yummy, gooey stuff that makes the monkey bread so delicious had seeped out and ran down the racks to the bottom of the oven. Luckily, it had not produced a flame yet but it sure was on the verge. We were able to extinguish the smoke by covering the burn sights with a heavy dose of rock salt.

It was totally embarrassing but has since then turned into a very funny story that my husband enjoys sharing.

It’s our Burnt Monkey Bread story.

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Yesterday, I was faced with a very difficult situation. I felt like it was a mess I had made all on my own. It burnt. No doubt there will be some scars from that day in my memory.

In my distress I was calling out to God, letting Him know that I had made a mess of life and how I always mess everything up. I even said, “I can’t even make monkey bread.” Yes, you can laugh if you want but at the time I had a face soaked with tears and I was being transparent with the Lord. He knew what I was saying.

I can’t do it.

Immediately after saying those words, it came to me. We all make messes. We have to learn and we have to grow to become stronger and more experienced. Some of us humans are more stubborn than others and have to learn things the hard way while others can be taught with what they have at the moment.

From my Burnt Monkey Bread experience, I learned that I need the proper equipment to be successful.

My point is, we all make mistakes but we must not be afraid to get in the kitchen again. Learn from your mistakes. Allow the Lord to heal your heart and burns and cling to Him for strength to continue.

If you follow His guidance and directions, you could master the recipe and be an experienced chief.

Yes, it’s humerous but Burnt Monkey Bread has taught me a life lesson. Things gets messed up sometimes and it will hurt and leave scars but we must not settle in failure. If you fall, get back up again. Use the failure to grow and build your strength in God.

If at first you don’t succeed, get up and try again.

God knows your strength. He knows what you are capable of.

“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” Ecclesiastes 3:1

There is a reason and a purpose for everything you go through in life. We don’t understand it all at first but God does.

“The Lord will give strength unto His people; the Lord will bless His people with peace.” Psalm 29:11

God gives you strength. When you feel like you have no strength, He has more just waiting for you within you.

”…Greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world.” I John 4:4

There is no one greater and stronger than the Lord Almighty. In Him you will find your strength. He knows that with Him, we are more than conquerors. We are capable of fighting whatever battle He wills for us as long as He is in us. We are stronger than we think we are through Him.

He will equip us with what we need to keep on going on — the correct baking tools. He always knows best and He always has what we need. We just have to turn it all over to Him and allow Him to work it out instead of us trying to fix the problem. Sometimes, it takes hard trials to realize this simple but difficult lesson.

It’s amazing what Burnt Monkey Bread will do.