Last week, I had the wonderful privilege to take part in the soul-care workshop in Panis The Village together with 6 other colleagues from our church. It was a two-day workshop that included times of reflections, baking bread, and contemplation over the work of God in our personal walks in life. The workshop included talks, songs, live instruction of how to bake bread, prayer, and fellowship.
Day 1 Bread: IXTHUS (symbol of Christianity in the early church)
The biggest take-aways I had (excluding the two wonderful loaves of bread I had baked) are:
1. God's work in our life includes a lot of mixing and kneading - the more layers of mixing and kneading done, the more volume we have for His Work in our lives.
2. "Punching" to remove the inflated dough reminded me how God brings us low and punches down our foolish pride, and in humility we rise again.
3. Some ingredients in our life's bread mix can "kill off each other" when done in the wrong ratio (salt to yeast, etc.) The conflicting nature that may result in tension is part of the process, and God in His wisdom allows sufficient grace that doesn't remove all suffering to do its full work in our lives.
Yeast, Honey, Water, and Oil
4. Life isn't always "on-the-go." At times we need to prove our lives through rest as well just like bread allowed to rise without us disturbing the dough. There will be times when action is non-stop, and seasons when we need to wait for God's internal work to come to fruition.
5. So long as our lives are in God's hands, we need not be afraid of what is added, what is removed, what is not removed, in what order things be, knowing that God will bring to a wonderful completion what He has started in us through Jesus Christ.
To all in Singapore who are seeking time to take inventory of your life (and learn to make good bread in the process), do consider booking at Panis the Village for a session!
Dear God, thank you for allowing me a time to slow down and reflect of all your goodness to me. I see more clearly how you are shaping me into your masterpiece with all that you are doing and not doing in my life. I thank you for indeed, I am fearfully and wonderfully made!
Hungry Chaplain Update:
Apologies for the long delays between updates, things have been quite busy in the ministry and time has been one of the hardest things to manage.
Going through a long spout of flu, praying that God will release healing in the fullness of his time.
Thinking of baking more bread in the future, it does help calm me down in stressful times.