Faith to Faith

Introduction

The women’s group will be creating care packages for the Sunday School kids (Grades K-college).

Faith Survival Bags

Tag “All of these is assembled to remind you that God loves you and so do we!”

Decorative paper bags 4” x 2” x 8”

*Home-baked Nestlé Toll House Chocolate chip cookies – Taste and see that the Lord is good. (Ps.34:8)

Packs of Gum – God will always stick by your side. (Heb. 10:23).

Tootsie Rolls – God is always there even when you bite off more than you can chew. (Ps.9:9).

Hershey’s Kisses – God loves you and so do we. (1 John 4:7).

Starburst – Burst of energy to continue your walk with God. (Col. 1:29).

Snickers – God has a sense of humor. (John 15:11.)

Lifesavers – Jesus is the lifesaver. John 3:16.

*Share the Nestlé Toll House Chocolate Chip recipe with a group of bakers who will bring one or two batches of the cookies baked at home.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

In 1939 was when it all began: Ruth Wakefield, proprietor of the successful Toll House restaurant in Whitman, Massachusetts, was mixing a batch of cookies, and decided to add broken pieces of Nestlé Semi-Sweet chocolate to the recipe expecting the chocolate to melt. Instead, the semi-sweet bits held their shape and softened to a delicate creamy texture and forevermore we will call them: Chocolate Chip cookies.

Ruth named them her ‘Toll House Crunch Cookie’ and the recipe was published in a Boston newspaper It soon found its way to the back of every bag of Nestlé semisweet chocolate chips. Her invention of the chocolate chip cookie quickly became the most popular cookie of all-time.

I know this recipe, just like you, like the back of my hand. It may have been the first cookie recipe I followed as a young girl. With predictable effort, the same cookie dough comes together in the way it always has before. I cannot overlook a single step; I cannot omit a single ingredient. No substitutions. No shortcuts.

The aromas linked with Chocolate Chip cookie baking are dependable and expectant. I trust the taste, and the trust placed in me when someone I love recognizes that there are warm cookies ready. The light in their eyes and the smile on their face is irreplaceable. They have faith in me to have prepared them by the favorite recipe, and they have faith that they are going to enjoy them the same way that they always do.

Still, there are baking dangers to keep in mind. “Is my oven temperature regulated?”  If not, the time will not matter for baking – the cookies can be burnt or raw, all due to how hot the baking environment gets.

“Salt is in an entirely different shaped container than sugar.” I share this with an eye roll that you can absolutely understand what happened once. Yes, I did…mixed up the salt and the sugar measurements because I accidently reached for what I thought was sugar, and since I was careless, my recipe produced Chocolate Chip Salt Bombs! You should have seen my kid’s eyes, starting off incredibly happy, then mortified, then disgusted as they ran to spit the offensive baked goods out of their mouths as fast as possible!

Cookie baking is based on faith, repeated disciplines, reliable ingredients, and follow-though.

Our spiritual lives grow stronger from relying on faith, repeated disciplines, and follow-though.

These days of our realm of spiritual growth and exercising our faith may feel unpredictable and uncertain, but they are filled with ingredients that are effective, disciplines to instill, lessons to learn and steps to take. When we are careless with our faith, we can reach for things that look like God’s influence in our lives, like self-help books or podcasts or comparison to other people’s lives, and it could quite properly stifle God’s work in our life because we mistook what He listed for us to follow.

Following the journey of faith leads to more faith…one step at a time, our journey will grow deep and wide. In Matthew 21:22 Jesus instructs His believers, “Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive.” (NRSVUE)

Our example of faith influences other people’s faith, and our encouragement into their lives can be tremendous. We can live out examples of faith-filled testimonies. We can pray with our children and teenager—they need us! We can share Bible verses aloud, choosing a different one each week or having one for the entire year. We can expect faith to be our first response when times get challenging. We can receive corrections from the Lord and strive to live our life embracing grace and peace, strength, and courage.

When our young believers encounter times of burden or challenge, we can point them to Jesus and embrace them for the amazing gifts from God that they are.

It is not enough to feed this Church family of ours, to clothe them, to nurture them, to get them to places on time and help them manage their time and schedule. Our spiritual journey needs to be drawn to their spiritual growth—and these children need more.

They need the dedicated ingredient that will bring it all together and help them to form a life that rests on FAITH: faith that has been tested and tried and nurtured and mixed into the everyday moments of their ordinary lives. All of it matters in this journey of faith. Faith growing to faith growing to faith. We pray this for our young believers. As we raise up these young believers, we are reminded that we need to love, discipline, feed, and clothe the little ones in our care, and we must offer more. Grace and peace to you, and strength and courage as we encourage them FAITH TO FAITH.