Dear readers,
It’s been a couple days since I’ve written to you all. I’ve had a couple good adventures, but, I have also had a decent amount of Burnt Toast.
Allow me to explain.
If you’re a human on this earth odds are you’ve had the terrible misfortune of burning your toast in the toaster. It is one event that will always make you a bit sadder than you were just moments earlier.
I’ve recently started my full-time job of raising support for my World Race mission trip that will be launching in January of 2021. And as I reach out and talk, text, call, and email people, I realize more and more that I focus more on the discouraging interactions with people more than the moments where God’s love and grace is shown in the interactions that actually go well.
All that to say, you really do feel very attacked when you’re doing the Lord’s work. You want to do the smallest task, and if your heart is not in the right place the smallest thing can crush your spirit for the rest of the day.
That was yesterday. I will not lie. Yesterday was a big plate of steaming, black, crunchy, burnt toast.
It says in the Bible over in James 1:2-4
”consider it all joy my brethren when you encounter trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
I’m running into these trials left and right, sometimes I don’t even get a chance to catch my breath. But a question always comes to my mind.
“God, why are all these trials coming right now?”
I like to think it’s a valid question. But why do I ask the question when I know the answer? I don’t want to remember scripture some days, which is an extremely selfish thought. Some days I just want to be mad and upset about how much my circumstances suck, I like to yell and wrestle with God. I want to be real and lay everything out in front of Him.
This is always where God shows his perfect Grace and Love. We deserve Hell. Death. As much burnt toast as we can get. Why then do I choose to focus on all the trials in my life? And not my Heavenly Father who is the author and conductor of my amazing story.
That brings me back to today. September 1st, at 1:17 as I write this paragraph.
“My life is not going the way I think it should.”
But. It’s going exactly the way that it needs to be.
My prayer this morning during my God and I time led me to praying this prayer as I meditated on Jeremiah 29:12-13.
“Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.“
”God, what do you want me to see?”
After a time of sitting, dwelling on the scripture, discernment, and listening, this is what I heard from God.
“How good I am. Even when you don’t see it. I’m still doing great things you don’t see. Be Still.”
So here I am. Living my life, and leaning on my Lord and Savior with everything I am. I have nothing in this life if I don’t have Him.
About and hour ago I ate some burnt toast. I was throughly looking forward to eating this toast for lunch, little did I know the toaster was broken so you had to manually pop the toast out. I left the bread in the toaster for a good 11-12 minutes I believe.
When the I finally got the toast out I looked at it and had a brilliant moment of self reflection of my story, which I just shared with you all. I then proceeded to eat the burnt toast.
Yep, I ate it completely.
You’re probably thinking.
”Mitchell, why didn’t you just make another batch of toast and just pay attention this time?”
I could have. But I wanted to not waste what I was given. God is going to allow many trials in my story, many of which I have already walked through, but my story is far from done. The conflict and trials in my story either push me closer towards Christ or away from Him.
I choose to eat the burnt toast. I refuse to waste an opportunity where my character and my relationship with Christ will grow for the better. Which has never been easy for me, sometimes more than others, but I will always need to be pushed in my faith so it becomes more real to me day by day.
I want to invite you support me in this journey God is calling me on. If you’ve read my previous letter called “99 Days” I talk about how I’ve been praying and walking in faith towards funding my trip in 100 days. I am far from that goal, and I’ve begun reaching out to many of you, but if I haven’t reached out to yet and you feel the desire to support me in the calling that God has given me, please reach out to me!
My phone number: 716 251 2336
My email: [email protected]
I hope to talk to you soon.
Your brother,
– Mitchell
