Freedom in Forgiveness: Discover the Healing in Letting Go by Sara BrunsvoldNäide

Day 3

Forgiveness yields a harvest in the appointed season.

Forgiveness is a choice we often have to make repeatedly, sometimes hourly. The pain can creep back, demanding to be heard and felt. One of the most effective ways to rerelease the pain and reaffirm our grip on forgiveness is through prayer. Jesus teaches us to pray for those who hurt us, and that is the lesson Nikki receives as she prepares her ancestral recipe for the titular dish of the book: streusel.

Streusel is a combination of butter, flour, sugar, and seasonings formed into crumbles and scattered atop the dough of a cake or other pastry prior to baking.

A talented baker employs the pantry ingredients; a wise woman adds a divine one. With every crumble she shakes from her palm, she pours a prayer from her lips. Each buttery seed is a petition for the souls who will partake in the bounty of her labor. She intercedes for their health, their healing, their sanctification, and their lives. Friend or enemy, she loves them with butter and prayer, putting off all bitterness and discord, hoping after the glorious crown in heaven for herself and for them. She sows seeds of love onto hate, mercy onto hurt, hope onto gloom, giving freely of the faith she possesses.

Every crumble released from the palm is a prayer sown. Every decision made to trust God is like a seed scattered upon fertile soil. We can watch in expectation for those seeds to yield a glorious harvest—in our lives and in the lives of those around us.

One who sows righteousness gets a sure reward. (Proverbs 11:18 ESV)

You, too, can scatter prayers like streusel as you intentionally sow mercy onto hope (streusel recipe below). Watch what the freedom in forgiveness can yield!

Prayer:

Gracious Father, you give only good and perfect things to your children. I trust you to lead me to the good when this hurt attempts to drag me back to dark places. Help me to rest in your peace and stand strong in your freedom. Give me patience as I wait in expectation for the sure harvest of righteousness that is to come. Every victory is yours. To you be all glory. Amen.

More Wisdom and Recipes

Nikki Werner understands the wrenching challenge of navigating family hurt. Find encouragement in her journey and the biblical wisdom paired with German recipes in The Divine Proverb of Streusel by Sara Brunsvold at BakerBookHouse.com or wherever books are sold.