If Your Life is a Batch of Coffee, Jesus is the Roaster.

Hi Ladies! I'm so excited to get to share something that the Lord put on my heart and have each of you begin to unpack this Word that the Lord has for us. My name is Grace and I love craft coffee. In high school I got super into roasting coffee and the meticulous process that goes with it. The thing about coffee is that it takes perfect timing for the end result to taste good enough to drink. In fact, a perfect cup of coffee, even without any sugar in it can taste sweet if it is roasted correctly. If a batch of coffee is roasted for too long the beans burn and the final cup of coffee leaves a bitter taste in your mouth. The same goes for if they don't stay in the roaster long enough. The coffee will not taste right. Coffee is not enjoyed by the consumer unless the roaster perfects the timing of when they put the beans in and when they take them out. Now, this may seem a bit irrelevant to you right now but trust me, all of my crazy analogies have a purpose and I believe the Lord speaks through images that we can understand and have experienced in our everyday lives. 

Have you ever felt like a green coffee bean? You were just not ready, not cut out for a certain thing even though you knew you were called to do it. Like, maybe you were not really cut out to be a part of a certain team, club or church event. Maybe you didn’t feel like you were ready. You felt like an undercooked (green) bean of coffee. In your mind you just were not ready to be taken out of the roaster and thrown into the world where you would be tossed around, ground up and scorched with water, only to not be fully delighted in, when you reached the end. 

Or maybe you feel burnt out. You can’t take another second of something. Online school, the pressure from parents, or maybe the people you are surrounding yourself with are causing this draining burn out of your spirit. Let me tell you, I know first hand that being burnt is the worst! The taste of burnt coffee is GROSS! Those beans went through the roaster for a second too long and ended up tasting more like ash than coffee. When we get burnt out we become bitter too. Can you remember a time where you were completely drained, but not bitter at the circumstances you were in? Because I can’t. 

Can I assure you of something, friends? Jesus is the best coffee roaster in the world. He has never made a batch of coffee that is burnt or one that is under-roasted. He has perfect timing. He puts you in circumstances for the perfect amount of time. When you feel un-equipped He knows that He has already prepared you. When you feel burnt out, He knows that you are stronger and can last a little longer in that time. When we trust that the timing of the Lord is good, and we let Him have control of our lives. He will reward us with a life that is sweet and pleasing to Him. When we believe that He can use us even when we feel burnt or unworthy, we will use every season of our lives to glorify His timing and goodness. Lets cling to the promise of Psalm 31:15 today, “My future is in Your hands. Rescue me from those who hunt me down relentlessly.” Here are some questions for you to think about or journal:

1. Where/when have you felt unworthy or under equipped for a certain season?

2. Where/when have you felt burnt out and in need of change?

3. Where have you seen the Lord's perfect timing in your life. (Write down as many circumstances as you can think of and trust me, there will be many!)

-Grace