When Your Life(or Cake) is Falling Apart(or Staying)

Recently, I made a chocolate cake to take to a potluck gathering. This was a cake my husband had long anticipated, as we both craved chocolate cake earlier but thought it silly, as empty nesters, to make an entire cake just for the two of us.

I made it before heading to work, with plans to frost it after work, before our gathering.

As I frosted the cake, it began to look quite lovely (it’s amazing what a little chocolate fudge frosting can do to two simple round cakes).

I set the plate it was resting on aside to place wrap on it for transport, and as I returned to wrap it, I noticed the top layer had begun to split—to fall dreadfully apart. I haven’t had that happen in years! I shook my head and muttered, “of course this would happen now!”

See, that very day, in the very minutes after leaving work, I was made aware of a dangerous situation a loved one had been in while I was at work, completely unaware. Shock and fear had riddled my mind, and as I had frosted that cake I was still praying through the ramifications of what had taken place (and thanking God for His protection in the midst).

I was quickly allowing this circumstance to feel overwhelming on top of a (seemingly) mounting pile of situations and circumstances that had surprised me in the few days prior. And this (truly inconsequential) disfigurement of our cake offering felt like a cynical blow to an already discouraged heart.

Thankfully, as I surveyed the damage, and I considered trying to give the top another good spread to try to smooth things out, I began to ask the Lord to help my thoughts.

I didn’t want to be discouraged or focusing on the things that felt so “wrong” in my life at that point (including the ridiculousness of the cake)—I wanted to have a heart of joy for all of the ways I knew the Lord was at work, for all the ways I knew He was revealing Himself present, drawing us near Himself  and revealing Himself sovereign in grace and provision.

I began reciting various passages of Scripture to my heart and to my Lord in prayer.

And, in that moment, my eyes caught a wonderful sight. Just behind the plate was a phrase that seemed so fitting for this cake that was falling apart in the throes of a day when I could quite easily begin to believe the lie that my life was falling apart.

This is what I saw in that moment:

The phrase had been a beautiful gift from some amazing friends who consistently have lovingly encouraged me over the years about my tattered, unglued, falling-apart Bible.

And, in this moment it seemed to stand out over this imperfect cake, as I considered my imperfect life…as I surrendered my imperfect heart to the Lord in prayer and declaration of His perfect Word, His perfect truths, and His perfect provision (all rooted in the very falling-apart Bible(s) I have clung to over the years).

Contrary to what my heart was trying to convince me of, my life was NOT falling apart.

Were circumstances difficult? Yes.

Were some of them beyond my ability to change or fix on my own? Yes.

Was I being held and sustained by a loving Father? Yes.

Was my very life (and all things in my life and this world) being held together by the One who holds all things together? Yes.

So, I swept one more smoothing move with the knife across the cake, to allow the frosting to attempt to hold some of the cake together, and I smiled as I beheld this perfectly imperfect cake that was falling apart, but which, in its own amazing way, had reminded me of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, the One who holds all things together.

For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 

–Colossians 1:16-17 (ESV)