In teaching my students about bureaucracies, I asked them if they liked to work in groups. I went on to tell them that, even though, most colleges and jobs assign you to work with groups, that it is very difficult for me to work with other people. I often joke that my kindergarten report card had all E's (for excellent), but the only comment was, "Does not work well with others." For a long time, I thought it was a character flaw. As I grew older, I realized that I am a perfectionist (read, I have OCD with certain things) and I am an introvert. So, it is very difficult for me to delegate or even ask anyone for help.

Fast forward to my current life, in which, I constantly find myself in situations where I have to work with other people. God knows how to make you grow, even when you are perfectly comfortable with your quirkiness. It is still not easy for me to ask for help, though, so it only happens when I really truly cannot complete something on my own. Besides my slight case of OCD and introvertedness, I also do not like rejection. I am still learning how to deal with it.

Recently, I asked a group of friends to help me with a venture. Some responded favorably and have been an amazing amount of help. Others ignored me completely. At first, I was hurt. I was especially hurt by those that I had gone out of my way to help. But then, on Sunday, my pastor preached about God opening and closing doors. I realized that it wsa okay that people did not want to help or support me in my endeavors because God has placed the exact, right people. I realized that it does not mean that these people do not care about me or my success, but that God knows who to use to help me and who would be a distraction. God knows who would be my Peter, and who would be my James and John (please look it up, if you don't know what this means).

A couple of days after the sermon, I was watching a tv show and there was a person singing one of my favorite songs, "I Can't Make You Love Me" by Bonnie Raitt. I just started singing the chorus over and over. It was a reminder. Those who are going to be in my corner are going to be there. Those who are not, I can't make them want to support me. I can't make them love me or my work. God knows the right people to let in my life at the right time. And, I am thankful that he leaves some people on the other side of the closed door. Trust me, you don't want anyone involved in your endeavors that is going to steal God's glory, whether they mean to or not.

So, when God starts having people back away from you, be grateful. He knows what He is doing and He knows what is best for you. That being said, I am so thankful for those who, without being begged, poked or prodded, have continued to support and push me, knowing that it is difficult for me to even ask for suport. Praise God for the closed doors, even when people are involved! Ms. EV

God, my shepherd! I don't need a thing. Psalm 23:1 (MSG) – I woke up this morning replaying my entire relationship with my ex-boyfriend. I don’t know why that was on my mind. We met six years ago and broke up four years ago. We haven’t even spoken in over six months. And yet, there it was in my head; the entire span of our relationship from romantic beginning to sad demise. 

It is the beginning of the holiday season, in which I start to feel lonely. My team will play his team next weekend. And, this is the time of year when we made our relationship official all those years ago. Okay, I am starting to see why that relationship was in my head. In that relationship, I started off on solid footing, dependent on God and not focused at all on my ex, who we’ll just call Coach. But, very shortly after our first date, I fell and I fell hard. I slowly became more needy and dependent on Coach and too independent towards God.

True to form, God let me do things my way. And, as I reflected this morning, I do not even understand why Coach was able to sweep me off my feet. I guess at that point in my life. I, once again, felt that I needed something that was not present in my life. I felt that Coach could fulfill that need, and I longed for him to fill that need. That longing started to overshadow my longing for Christ. Ultimately, the relationship ended, and I was devastated, but God took me back, as always. 

Now, I am totally dependent on Him, and I don’t need a thing as the verse says. God, my shepherd, has already given me everything I need, and, He can fulfill my desires, as well. I would like to say that I will never put myself in that situation again, and I pray that this is true. God is my keeper, my source, not Coach or any other person who comes into my life. With Him, I don’t need a thing. Ms. EV

Every once in a while God speaks to me through one of my students. I was teaching a lesson about breaking down arguments. First, you identify the claims. Then, you figure out what the conclusion is and what the premise or premises are that support said conclusion. In order to figure out how those premises work together to reach the conclusion, you have to determine if they are linked (dependent) or independent. I hope I haven’t lost any of you yet.

Anyway, I gave the students an example for practice. They needed to figure out the relationship between the premises; whether they were dependent or independent. When I revealed that they were independent, a voice rang out, “No, they are not; they have to go together!” I resisted the urge to remind the student that I am the teacher, I had the answer key, and I had done this same question three times, so I knew what I was giving the correct answer. Instead, I explained that, while the statements made a stronger argument together, each statement could stand on its own and make sense with the conclusion. Just then, a young lady said, “I get it. It’s like men and women. We don’t NEED each other, but when two get together sometimes they are stronger.” This is what I call a “light bulb moment.”

God allowed a fifteen year old to make the issue of earthly relationships so plain to me. And, this doesn’t just apply to romantic relationships. Any child of God who is living wholly and fully in God, can stand alone and make sense. However, he or she can stand with another believer, whether it is a husband, family member, friend or fellow worshipper, and become even stronger. So, while we may feel that we have to be together because together we feel stronger, wiser and better, we are able to stand alone and still make sense.

On the other hand, one cannot take God out of the equation. When we are not linked to God, not only do we not make sense, but nothing makes sense. Think about a time in your life when you felt that you were not connected to God. Did anything make sense? If it did, I would challenge you to examine your relationship with Christ. I know that in my life, in some dark times, things did not make sense because I had moved away from the One to whom I should have been linked. And, other times seem like dark times because I am want so desperately to be linked to someone else, when I am perfectly capable of standing alone with God.

It is clear that now is not the time that God desires for me to have certain connections. He wants me all to Himself, and that is perfectly fine because, as long as I stay dependent on Him alone, everything will start to make more sense. I am sure my student has no idea the impact her words had on my present situation, but I thank God for her and for wisdom and understanding. Ms. EV

I like to bake desserts in my spare time and for your next event (shameless plug for EV Catering). My favorite thing to bake is cupcakes, but the hard part about cupcakes is pouring the batter into the cupcake pan without making a mess and wasting batter. After watching several episodes of “Cupcake Wars” on Food Network, I noticed that the professionals use ice cream scoops to get the right amount of batter quickly into the cupcake liners. So, I decided that before I baked my next batch of cupcakes, I would get a scoop.

As much as I love cake and cupcakes, I do not like frosting, so when I am baking for myself, I usually leave it off or use very little. However, when I am baking for a client, I have to frost the cupcakes and they need to look professional, so, in order to do that, I have tried several different piping bags and methods of making the frosting look beautiful and appetizing. I know that it tastes fantastic; however, many people eat with their eyes first, so it needs to look fantastic. So, in addition to my cupcake scoop, I also set out on a mission to find a new cupcake decorating tool.

I recently had an order to fill, so when I went to get ingredients I looked for my new baking toys. I was a little dismayed at the prices of the items though. In the aisle, as I scanned up and down, back and forth for something in the right price range, I stopped and prayed. I asked God to help me find what I needed. I took one more stroll down the aisle, and all of a sudden, I see not an ice cream scoop, but a cupcake scoop. It was priced perfectly. I moved on to the aisle with the decoration tools. The same scenario played out. I found what I wanted, but it was way more than I was willing to pay. I stopped, and I don’t even think I said a whole prayer, I think I just said, “Ok, God, here we go again.” I turned around and I spotted a cupcake decorating tool. I did a little mini-shout right there in the store. I used both of these new tools for the order, and my prep time and decorating time were greatly decreased, I was less frustrated, and the cupcakes were a “huge hit,” according to the client.

Why am I going on and on about cupcakes and baking tools? It is not about those specific items. It is about the fact that I love and serve a God who cares about every detail of my life. If it concerns me, it concerns Him because He cares for me. In fact, He said I could cast all of my cares on Him because He cares for me. A lot of times, we think that we are bothering God with the “little things” in our lives. I can attest to that. There are people dying and suffering and hungry and unsaved, so why would I bother God by asking Him to help me find baking tools? Because the God I serve can handle the sick, the wounded, the hungry and the lost, and He can still care about everything that concerns me.

I have found that when I stop asking God about the smaller details of life, eventually I star leaving Him out of the bigger details in my life, and then, I just start getting all sassy and independent. God wants to communicate with us and be our companion. He has called us friends. And, I don’t know about anyone else, but I tell my closest friends even the smallest details of my life because I find beauty in that level of intimacy with friends, even when the details seem silly. God wants to be involved in ALL things in our lives from buying baking tools to buying a house; from choosing furniture to choosing a future spouse. The fact that we talk to Him and listen for the promptings of the Holy Spirit shows our trust in Him. So, include God in ALL things. If you have a real relationship with Him, there is no area of your life that about which He does not care. If you really tap into an intimate friendship with God, it will be the best relationship in your life. Ms. EV