Tie one on with Audrey Meisner

Turn up the Heat!

There’s nothing hotter than a Sugar Baby Apron to turn up the heat in the kitchen.  Okay, maybe the only thing hotter is a Sugar Baby Apron in the bedroom, but that’s a completely different topic.  This is a kitchen story.  

It was an emergency.  The 700 Club was sending a TV crew to our house to record our marriage story, and 8:00 a.m. came way too early.  I neglected to wash last night’s cooking pots and bowls full of food, and there’s a certain amount of pressure to present a nice clean kitchen in these national network situations!

I did what I guess any one of us would do – put on a fancy-schmancy apron and hide the mess.  I grabbed the dirty pots and did a quick glance to find the best place to stash them. (Taking time to wash and scrub them was definitely out of the question).  The oven caught my eye as the best possible scenario and I was pretty proud of myself when they all stacked up perfect and I could still close the oven door.  The apron helped my domestic persona and I felt pretty darn perfect when the doorbell rang. My husband Bob and I greeted the 700 Club TV crew with smiles, hugs and great anticipation for our day together.  

Fast forward: Eight hours later I plopped my tired self on to the biggest and puffiest chair we own and let out a huge sigh of relief.  Bob and I have one of those marriage stories that could be considered scandalous, but because of God’s divine intervention, has a very happy ending.  It involves me having an affair, getting pregnant and facing the reality of a baby who will not look like the other three kids all while involved in a very public Christian ministry.  

Our first book, “Marriage Under Cover” has helped tons of people to have hope for their marriages.  And for seven years we been telling our marriage story in coffee shops, churches, on television and to curious moms at the school bus stop, (when we get the question, “Why is he so dark?”)but an interview setting demands a pretty deep vulnerability and I was asked questions about the darkest time of life…forcing me to visit places in my heart where I don’t care to think about details.  Even though Bob forgave me a long time ago, I certainly don’t like him hearing about the affair that took place over eleven years ago. I let a few tears roll down my cheek.

Don’t get me wrong.  It’s worth it.  On March 21, the story will air throughout the United States and be available online, and I am fully persuaded that God will touch people’s hearts and I will have the honor of planting seeds of hope into lives that may be overwhelmed by despair. And the story is definitely not about my selfish mistake but rather the beautiful, infinite and extravagant love and grace of Jesus.  That’s the part I like best!  I love that way Bob and I laugh together, dream together and love our life – it’s nothing short of a miracle!  

So after sitting and rocking on that big chair for a little while I decided that a full day of emotional intensity deserved some relaxation and maybe even some chocolate chip cookies.  I’m fully confessing to caving to comfort food. I like my cookies hot and homemade.  What sugar baby aprons girl doesn’t? Then I remembered I already had cookie dough just sitting in a bowl ready to go - prepared in the fridge. DING! That’s when I miraculously had enough motivation to get out of the ridiculously soft chair and get my party started!  I convinced myself that I was baking the cookies for Bob and the kids and proceeded to preheat the oven.

I’m guessing my heightened anticipation of pleasure was distracting me from the smell that began to permeate the house.  I didn’t even notice the smoke.  In fact I was oblivious to any sign of the fire that was going on in my oven. I suppose if you’re going to have a fire in the house the safest place is in the oven!

I actually laughed out loud as I whisked the flaming pots outside. I’m such a nut-cake. The good news is my apron didn’t even get a smidgen of “char” on it and the oven was definitely hot enough now to bake the cookies.  No permanent damage done. Whew!

I immediately related the incident to my own life.  Sometimes I take shortcuts and stuff things away, hoping they won’t be noticed. I promise myself I’ll deal with wrong thoughts of resentment or compromise later, and then I forget about them.  That’s when the heat gets turned up, and I begin to smell something funky and suspicious.  That’s when the opportunity arises where I get to whisk the “wrong belief” away and deal with it before it has a chance to destroy my life.  

My prayer:

Turn up the heat Jesus!  Remind me of anything – absolutely anything – I have stuffed away so that we can get on with the party-adventure of our lives together!

Secondary moral of the story:

Give yourself a break and say “yes” to cookies.

And last but not least:
Always wear your Sugar Baby Apron.  It’s domestically impressive and it turns up the heat.

what about Audrey Meisner...

Every single one of us is uniquely amazing. I’ve discovered a treasure I never thought possible: A completely safe, not-one-bit-fake relationship with my invisible God that has proved Himself to be more real than the chair I’m sitting on. My passion is to journey with you to see yourself the way God sees you. Your gorgeous self is possibly locked deep inside of you, and I am going to thoroughly enjoy taking a wrecking ball to walls of unprecedented guilt, heavy self-inflicted shame, and habitual, negative self-talk. You can tap into the irresistible beautiful girl you were created to be. All it takes is a single choice and then a commitment to journey to the place where you agree with how God feels about you.

Podcasts, ecourses and personal coaching
Lovemarriedlife.com

And check out Audrey’s newest book wake up smiling! I love this book so much I gave it to all my girlfriends to read during the pandemic, we had a texting group and encouraged one another daily to keep smiling and not lose hope! In fact I loved the book o much I asked Audrey if I could carry it in my store. I am so happy to share this wonderful book with all of you!

Keep Smiling