When I first agreed to come as cook here at CICS, I determined to allow the experience to be one of spiritual growth. And this it has been. My experience thus far has proven both fun and challenging, as I try my best to keep stomachs full and people happy. My schedule for the first 2.5 months here was especially busy, as I was working on finishing up an online A&P course in addition to cooking 3 meals per day, 5 days a week. There is always stuff to be done in the kitchen besides cooking, from cleaning to washing dishes, and I am thankful to everyone who put up with some of my neglecting of some of this stuff, when I went off to do the needed studying for school.
Life as cook, I’ve come to conclude, can never get boring. Either I forget to mark things down on the grocery list and not remember we’re out until the moment I need it, or the gas runs out right at the time I most need the oven, the bread flops, the granola burns, or the list could go on. And then, just as I think I’ve got it all together, the naughty bull gets out of his pen and in his curiosity overturns the pot of beans that we need for dinner.
However, this has all contributed to some major growth spiritually… God has been showing me again and again how He can truly be everything I need. I absolutely cannot carry on on my own. He’s given super-natural energy at times when I was sure I could no longer get up in the morning. He’s given me patience and love for the kids even when they are so demanding. And He has shown me time and again how nothing I do is of any eternal value unless it is done in loving devotion to Him, who deserves it all and more.
Pray for me, as I seek to be a tool in His hands. As I try to be an example of Christ to the kids. Pray that God could be glorified through me, and that the kids would see that there is Something Greater to live for.
My desire for the rest of my time here is echoed in the disciple’s cry “Increase [my] faith, Lord!”
~Sandra Ramos