The Captivating Woman

Designed with purpose.

Redefining Broken

Have you ever heard of Nellie Willhite? I had never heard of her until last week on a trip to a Flight Museum. We were walking through the exhibit of the first airplanes of the 20th century. The tour guide led us to Nellie’s large, blue plane that had the name Pard painted on its side. Pard was her father’s nickname.

Nellie Willhite was the first deaf woman to be a pilot. She lost her hearing after a childhood illness. It was a hard time in her life and she had to adapt to it. When she was a young woman, a pilot friend of hers joked that she should become a pilot. But that joke transformed into a dream in Nellie’s heart. A few years later at the age of 35, Nellie’s father provided for her aviation lessons and bought her the plane, the wings she needed to fly and oh! How she soared!

What I find so beautiful is that her father believed in her. He believed in the dreams in her heart and knew that she was capable even in her deafness. He believed in her even when she would not. I am sure that doubt and lies ran through Nellie’s mind every time she had a dream or a goal. I am sure that there were moments in her life where she made mistakes, listened to lies, and didn’t believe in who she was. BUT my favorite part of the story is that even though she had some hiccups along the way, she ultimately put her trust in her father to help her and she accepted the gifts that he gave her. Once she did, she discovered that her “disablement” was really an enablement. She took the lies captive and replaced them with truth.

You see, my dear friend, what the world calls broken, He calls a masterpiece. What the world calls a failure, He calls chosen. What the world calls a disablement, He calls an enablement. To put it a different way, imagine if you were to grasp a glass vase and throw it on the ground right now. There would be little pieces and big shards of glass everywhere, right? It would be a mess. The world would look at it and declare it impossible to put back together. “It’s not worth anyone’s time”.

But God would look at it with excitement in His eyes and declare, “I know the plans I have for you. Plans for good and not for evil. Plans for a future and a hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11). He redefines the world’s definition of broken. He says there is purpose. Our Father gathers the pieces of our lives with His loving hands and creates something new out of the old.

You see, our God is THE Creator. He makes all things new. There are times in our lives where we wish to go back to the way things were, to the shape we used to be when we were content. But God has SO MUCH MORE for YOU! His love for you is incomprehensible! He longs to create a masterpiece out of the brokenness you see! How mind-blowing is that?!

Girl, I have experienced moments where I have given into a temptation or I have believed in a lie about myself. Afterwards, it can be so so so easy to listen to the lies that say “There is no way that vision will be a reality someday?” “You think God still loves you after what you just did?” “How could you ever get to that college?!” “You keep messing up and you will never get to that good place again.” THESE ARE LIES. THESE ARE NOT FROM GOD.

Girl, I know firsthand how broken you can feel when it seems like you keep messing up and making the same mistakes over and over again. You feel empty, lost, weak, and hopeless. You start beating yourself up about it. BUT I have beautiful truth for you today. His love and grace is not a onetime gift. It is an every time gift. His power is made perfect in weakness. Yes, you are human. Yes, you make mistakes sometimes. Yes, you get some scars. Yes, you go through trials. But God promises that He will take your tribulation and turn it into a testimony. He will take your broken moments and turn them into wings! His plan for you is to soar with the beautiful dreams that He has placed in your beautiful heart.

“Each time he said, ‘My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.’ So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.”
– 2 Corinthians 12:9

I think being broken is beautiful. Do you want to know why? If my heart desires to shine Jesus’ light, I do not want to be a glass vase with light trapped inside. You might be able to see the light in me, but think how much brighter the light would shine if the vase was shattered and the light reflected off all the pieces, both big and small! The light would shine on every inch of the room! The pieces would reflect off each other. So do not be discouraged with a mistake you have made or a “disablement” you possess. God has a marvelous plan for that piece and He has promised you that He “works all things together for the good of those who love Him.” (Romans 8:28).  Remember, the Lord is always faithful and He will never give you an empty promise.

So, daughter of the Most High, let’s fly with that promise and see what He does with our broken pieces!

Double Chocolate Chip Muffins

The taste of warm chocolatey muffins in the morning. The sound of leaves rustling on the sidewalk. The smell the autumn breeze carries. The feel of the cozy blanket as you watch Elf.  Who doesn’t love this time of year?!

With Thanksgiving and Christmas on the way, this time of year is the perfect excuse to whip up something delicious. Something you would find in the bakery. Something extremely chocolatey. I don’t know about you, but when it comes to chocolate I could eat it all day, every day. I have fond memories of eating chocolate chip muffins in my grandmother’s home, in the Dublin airport, and honestly wherever I could get my hands on some. I especially enjoy a good muffin in the quiet of the morning.  But why limit muffins to the morning? For my family and I (at least for me), muffin baking and eating can happen at any point of the day.

This is similar to our time with God. In the past, I have enjoyed my quiet time with God at the beginning of my day. I would get up at six o’clock and have a good forty-five minutes of reading His word, journaling my thoughts, and praying before I walked out my bedroom door. There was a time where it was difficult for me wake up in the morning and still have my “Me and God” time. The times I did get up to do it, I would be so tired I could not concentrate on the words I was reading. I would get frustrated with myself because I knew I needed a positive start to my day or my day would go downhill fast. I was frustrated because I was believing that I could only have time with God in the morning. But I realized something. Yes, it is good to start my day with God, but I also need and can continue my day with Him.

God is our loving Father. He is the one who brings the peace and the joy to our lives. In Psalm 30:5, it says “Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning.” His joy is not a gift that comes only for the morning. His joy, His peace, and His presence come with the rise of the sun and last throughout your day. He will never leave you or forsake you. What is so beautiful about our God is that He whispers to you and me to be women after His own heart. He whispers to you at breakfast, at the art museum, at your job, at your school, at church, and so on. He loves you so much! He wants time with you! Small moments or big moments, our time with God doesn’t begin and end in the morning. It begins and continues when we choose to whisper back to His heart.

I hope that if you feel like making these mouth-watering, bakery style muffins, you will not think you can only make them in the morning. I hope that when you feel His tug at your heart, you will not think that you need to save your response for only the “You & God” time. You can make the muffins for a midnight snack! You can have moments of “You & God” time throughout the day! My challenge for you today, my sister in Christ, is to listen for Him, answer Him, and rest in Him. Think on that as you enjoy some chocolatey goodness!

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Double Chocolate Chip Muffins

Ingredients

  • ½ cup (8 tbsp.) of unsalted butter, softened (put butter in a small bowl & microwave for 10-15 seconds)
  • 1 cup of white sugar
  • 2 tsp of baking powder
  • 2 tsp of vanilla extract
  • 2/3 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
  • ¾ tsp of salt (if you have to use salted butter, omit this tsp of salt)
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup of almond milk
  • 1/3 cup of Greek yogurt
  • 2 cups of all-purpose flour
  • 1 ½ -2 cups of chocolate chips (be generous!)

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Spray the cups of a stone or metal muffin pan with cooking spray.
  2. Take a large bowl and mix the butter, sugar, vanilla extract, and Greek yogurt very well until a creamy and smooth consistency is reached. Add the eggs one at a time and mix into the batter.
  3. In a small bowl, mix flour, salt, baking powder, and cocoa. Add 1/3 of the dry mixture to the wet batter and stir. Then add 1/3 of the milk to the batter and stir. Continue in this pattern until all the dry mixture & milk have been mixed into the batter.
  4. FINALLY (my favorite part) mix in plenty of chocolate chips!
  5. Fill the muffins cups ¾ of the way and bake for 23-25 minutes. Put a fork through a muffin. If it comes out with some batter on it, put muffins in for 2 more minutes. If it comes out clean, you are good to go!
  6. Let muffins cool for 5 minutes and enjoy the yumminess of muffins!! Oh… and maybe save some for your friends 😉
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