sunday.

Hi my dear readers.

I hope you are doing well it is almost February and guess what connotation that brings... Valentine’s Day urrrgggg i don't like that. Cal me cynical but i really don’t like that day. In the first place i am not too fond of red and not having a boyfriend does not add to the skepticism of the date. But the highlight of it all is due to ROMWE that gave me the opportunity again to have a giveaway in this week for a lucky reader. So watch this space (in this week).

Anyway i bought a new camera from my cousin and great photographer Paula, so i was playing around for cool lighting today. So the first photo i took this morning. This week our friends from China will be visiting us and i am so excited. Plus i got orders for having to bake many cupcakes and wait for it wedding cakes. So now i can officially do the make-up and hair for the bride and bake her cake... is this a case of A.D.D?

Anyway i am starting to read Luke. It shows Jesus as a God-Man relating to sinners and gentiles. It is so sweet and pleasurable. I only started today but i love it. I read lots from this website too (here), it may look and seem old school but the depth and treasure of the written text is immeasurable, sometimes i read these books and i feel it is so saccharine (in a good way) i think it is better than the best crème brulee.  

May you have a great Sunday my friends that i don’t know.

Market @ Magnolia DeLL, Saturday!!

Hi everyone! I hope you are doing good. Just to let you know. There is a new market starting at the beautiful Magnolia dell. It is happening this Saturday. I will be selling cupcakes and fudge so if you are in the Pretoria area come and check it out. They will also be having coffee tasting!! And Chef's that will teach cooking lessons...

Marie Antoinette: Let them eat cake.

Hi everyone i hope you are doing great!! I will tell you a bit about my ‘doen en late’ (doings). I had this thing in me since the beginning of the year to start baking. I qualified as a chef in 2004 and have been a bit put off from that scene for a while. But lately i began baking cool cupcakes for a market i am at once a month on a Sunday.

But the funny story occurred that left me with a crooked smile. My sister makes fudge and also sells it at an organic market and she had the dazzling idea for me to sell my ‘Gourmet cupcakes’ there. So Friday i had my own little euphoria of what i considered gastronomic excellence. I only used the best vanilla extract and had a great recipe that proved to bring out little engorged bundles of cupcake bliss. Meaning, in normal terms, that the cake was uber moist, and the icing had little black spots to prove my use or misuse of vanilla extract.

Every individual cupcake had a piece of my love invested in them and i was sure it would be sold out once the market connoisseurs had grind their teeth in my master piece ,of what i called marshmallow and fudge cupcakes. So i went enthusiastically and initially it went well. I knew that if they tasted it they would buy. Until..... *drum beat*.... the market owner came. She approached my sister, and not me.  Apparently the cupcakes would be a threat to the other bazillion cupcakes selling there. My goodness my cupcakes had been compared to the ‘other cupcakes’. That is like comparing Cindy Crawford to uhhhhmm.... say lady gaga (looks-wise). I was so devastated and i actually felt a moist piece of water dripping from the side of my eye called a tear.

I went home and felt like a loser. ‘How could my cupcakes not sell at the market’ woe is me (again).  I knew i had my other market the next day (where the people actually knew me). But the only problem was i had soooo much cupcakes left from not being allowed on the ‘other market territory’. I even doubted my little cakes. How could i be so disloyal towards them. So i took what looked like tons of cupcakes to the other market.

The people tasted.... then bought... then tasted then bought in a few hours my gourmet treasures were totally sold out. Ridiculous. Put that in your pyp ‘ou tannie van hazelwood market’  en rook dit.

Ok but back to reality. I had to take a Birdseye-view of the situation. Man i needed to chill out and relax. I laughed at my narrow mindedness and had to take a breather.

So today try and not be too caught up in your own head and relax. Maybe you could see some sort of bigger view in your situation too.  Eat a cupcake! 

Him

I have been thinking lately about feelings. Feelings and experiences that lead to expressions. How they can take over your life if not in order with the Spirit. I also thought about how my feelings took over me as a person last year, maybe more for the negative. On the other hand i have been feeling Christ. I have never before in my life experienced Him for real. I have been brought up in the 'church' and around people from '' church' and knew God (apparently), but i could never be satisfied with Jesus. I always had a longing for old ways again. I could never keep the ''holy'' persona. Until i got to learn more about the real truth and how the so called- church had thought us wrong. The idea of having to do a set of rules then you are Ok with God. And not to forget to give a certain amount of money towards a ''good'' cause. That idea was never sustainable to me. Plus i always realized i am not very much of a ''good' person. Because i cant seem to get rid of this darn sin in me.

But then there is Jesus. My sweet Lord. The feeling that i get when i read from His Words and when someone helps me to understand the real meaning of those words. It is so sweet and satisfying. No amount of money or wine or fame could compare with the joy of it. Long term joy too. It is the first time in my life that i experience that. And only then can He be expressed through me. When i am gone. When He is there. When i am nothing and He is everything. Maybe this sounds mental, but bare with me through these experiences.

Whoever is reading this i really hope you could experience the God of peace and hope in reality. I love you also  

compassione.

Sinners' Friend,  by Watchman Nee

A Lady once said, “I have many things which are hard to overcome and many things in which I have failed. Eventually, I sought help from those believers in church who were better than I. But they did not understand my problem. It seems that they were born ‘holy persons,’ and they had never felt the annoyance of failures.” This shows that a person without experience cannot sympathize with others.

Why did our Lord not descend from heaven as a grown-up? Why did He have to come through a virgin’s womb? Why did He have to be nursed, nurtured, and grow gradually? Why did He have to pass through thirty-three years of suffering on this earth? Why was He not crucified three days after He was born on the earth to accomplish His work of redemption?

Oh, the reason He was willing to submit to all kinds of limitation and suffer every affliction was that He wanted to sympathize with us. He learned the principles of human living. He was misunderstood and persecuted. He was stripped, mistreated, and forsaken by people.

Eventually, He was crucified on the cross. He endured all these sufferings in order to experience the bitter taste of human life and sympathize with man’s weaknesses. His thirty-three years of human living and His preaching during the three years were not only to accomplish His mission and work, but also for the sake of sympathizing with us. He had to do this before He could sympathize with our weaknesses.

If there is a broken or wounded heart here today, the Lord is right now feeling what you feel. He knows your afflictions. Not only does He have the grace to save you, but He has a heart that sympathizes with you and feels your feelings.

Hebrews 4:16 says, “Come forward with boldness to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace for timely help.”

Many times we feel that others do not consider our problems to be important and that no one can sympathize with us, comfort us, or help us. At these times, we surely feel how heavy our burden is and how much our suffering is. But there is One in heaven who sympathizes with us. We can come boldly to the throne of grace to beseech Him.

In heaven, there is One who sympathizes with us and has mercy on us; He feels our burden. He will make our burden light. At times, friends on earth may lighten our burden, but this Friend in heaven is always ready to bear our burden. He not only bears our burden in feeling, but in reality as well. He sympathizes with us, and He is gracious to us. It is as though we are the only ones He loves. He is only concerned about our affairs. He is such a Lord! Thank and praise God! We have such a Lord!