“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”
1 Corinthians 13: 4-7
Brownies
- 2 Cups of Chelsea Sugar
- 1 1/2 Cups of Self Raising Flour
- 1 Cup Cocoa
- 4 Free Range Eggs
- 2 Tsp Vanilla Essence
- 200g Butter, Softened
- A block of Whittaker’s Milk Chocolate, chopped up into small pieces (The whole block except for a piece for you, for health and safety purposes of course)
- 1 Cup of frozen Blueberries
Heat the oven to 160*c.
Combine all of the ingredients and mix. It’ll feel a little bit like you’re a concrete mixer because this brownie mix is pretty solid, but that’s a good thing; you should always increase your heart rate with a good work out before dessert… that way you can eat more.
Lay baking paper in the bottom of an insanely massive dish as this mixture makes enough to feed a small village, and bake for 45 minutes. Allow to cool and then dust with icing sugar, and if you can’t wait, serve hot with vanilla ice cream. These brownies are basically a heart attack but if you’re going to die, you may as well die happy.
Enjoy.
This is my very own recipe and *man trap. I give it to you as a gift, use it well and good things shall come your way. These babies have had my back whenever an apology was required on my part, usually due to assembling furniture from a flat-pack. I just whip these bad boys up and I’m almost instantly forgiven.
Cody and I have been together for a fabulous five years. The way we met, IMO, is kind of cute.
It was 2014 and us new kids on the block at NASDA sat in a circle and announced our favourite thing, what an ice breaker! My heart started to race as I prepared myself to be ostracised. Cody apathetically announced “cycling.” You sure about that one Cody? It’s been five years and you still don’t own a bike.
“Hi, I’m Chelsea! My favourite thing is… Jesus!”
You could’ve heard a pin drop.
Look, pole-dancing was already taken, and I wanted to be honest. (Relax, it’s a joke.)
I was used to people judging me for my faith so I figured I would tell them from the start and get the judgement over and done with.
That night I saw Cody at a NASDA party, because parties on a Monday are important if you want to succeed in student life. He was wearing a cross around his neck and I was instantly recruiting my new best friend.
“Why are you wearing a cross.”
“I’m an atheist!”
So we were off to a good start. Clearly.
Despite knowing that this “atheist” did not want to be my friend, I had other ideas. On our third day at the school we had to perform one of our audition pieces for our class (and the cheeky third years who tried to listen in from the dressing room!) That’s when I heard Cody sing. As he sat there on a chair and sang “I Don’t Care Much”, an accurate representation of Cody, the heavens opened up and revealed to me what fairy-tale love is; hearing the voice of someone almost as talented as yourself.
Cody was a rather shy dude who didn’t really say a whole lot and, well, what I don’t have in height I make up for in volume. With duets a mere six months away, I decided I needed to be with the second best singer in the class.
“Hey! Do you wanna be my duet partner?”
“Okay.”
That was the beginning of something special; me bossing around Cody.
From there it went that we, or rather I, would discuss duet options, practice, and then practice would turn into me treating Cody like my friend-zoned therapist. I would tell him all my problems with other guys, my friends and my dreams while he sat silently with a smile on his adorable face. We would go back to singing this romantic little duet from Cinderella and each time we sang our last note, Cody would hold my hand just a little bit longer.
We were falling in love.
Things weren’t going to be easy though. Yes, I can already hear my fellow Christians reminding me of 2 Corinthians 6:14, thanks guys *Insert finger guns*. I’m not saying rebellion is a good thing, I am saying you’ve got to trust God with these things too. At the end of the day people can tell you what ever it is they feel is right for you, but your dialogue with God is more important.
We started dating. *Gasp!
Cody left NASDA. I was gutted but if you love someone you have to accept them for who they are and you want them to be happy. For me that included his beliefs. So Cody didn’t have a personal relationship with God yet, the love I had for him was something for me to commit to prayer. I did, every day. For three years I prayed for Cody that he would come to know what it is Jesus did for him, that he would come to love God the way I do, that he would find the peace he wanted in his life.
“Chelsea, you’re not doing that boy any favours.”
“You’ve read the books, you know the truth, break up with him.”
“Look Chelsea, I know you think this will happen, many girls think they can change someone, some even marry them only to find out he was lying.”
Cheers for that vote of confidence, guys.
These are the comments that broke me. I turned up at Cody’s student flat and tried to get the words out. I couldn’t do it. I tried with every part of me to say goodbye and I couldn’t. What was wrong with me? I had dated before; I had broken up with people without even shedding a tear. Something was different. There was some part of me that felt like if I said goodbye I would be giving up on him. I had amazing friends who had broken up with men they loved for Jesus and I admired them so much, but there was this huge part of me that knew that this wasn’t the kind of love and patience Cody needed to see to want to know the Jesus I know.
Jesus is love. Love is patient. Love is kind. To turn my back on him after being his closest friend instead of patiently, lovingly and kindly walking beside him and sharing about Jesus, seemed wrong. I’m not saying go out and find yourself a pot-smoking, bad boy who rides a motorbike, has tattoos of naked ladies on him and work your “flirt-to-convert” magic here, okay. I’m just saying, “one size fits all” is not applicable for human beings, you can’t put each other in a box, it doesn’t work.
I’ve been to my fair share of churches over the years, some with women pastors, some where women aren’t allowed to speak at all, others where everyone marries their cousin (Mean Girls quote here), where kids are disowned, where a woman teaching a man about Christ is a sin. I want to say to those people;
Jesus died for us equally.
Jesus didn’t die for all of men and half of women, He didn’t die for me and not for Cody, He didn’t endure everything He did so that women could sit down and shut up and not share His love with others.
So I made a decision. That as a Feminist for Jesus, I would love and support Cody and accept him for who he is. That any questions he had about God I would be open to and that I would wait on God to know what would be right for us as a couple and Cody supported me just the same in my faith, coming to church and praying with me. Because when you love someone, you support them and you respect the most important things that make them who they are. Cody has always respected that Jesus is my number one and encouraged me in my darkest times to seek Him.
A big life decision then came up at the end of my time at NASDA, what next?
After a discussion with one of my tutors I decided it was time to spread my wings and move overseas. It was time to put into action all those dreams, goals, plans I had made and worked for. I saw Cody after work and I told him;
“I’ve decided to move to Australia.”
I expected an “okay, I will miss you,” or an “I’ll have a think about it.” Straight away I had
“Cool, I’ll come too.”
So there you have it. From the bossy girl who wanted a duet partner, to the nervous girl making apology brownies, to the girl with a dream, I had an amazing man backing me, supporting me in chasing my dreams in a not so stable career choice. We packed our bags and moved to the glorious Sydney.
Sydney was another world. Busy, frantic, wealthy, expensive, multi-cultural and massive. Everything was designer, including my day jobs. Finding balance and a chance to centre yourself or even put down roots, was not an easy pursuit.
Cody and I found ourselves at a pretty little church in Annandale where all of a sudden he had a little circle of friends around him. For the first time we were not judged, we were accepted with arms wide open and Cody was given the love and nurture to grow.
And he grew.
God had him right where he wanted him.
I’ll never forget the night he came home with that news. He had just finished a shift at Lush, now home and smelling like an organic, vegan bath tub and covered in sparkle. There was a batch of fresh brownies on the table. In his cool calm and Cody way, he told me about his prayer, and I cried.
This man who I loved, giving his heart to the one who loves him most, made me the happiest woman on earth.
I reflected over the times where people had said “it happens all the time, young Christian girls thinking they can change boys,” and “I know you’d like it to happen but it probably won’t.”
The thing is, God is bigger than that. God is bigger than our worldly understanding, than our opinions. God is even bigger than church. I knew my God would save the man I love, and he did.
Cody is the knight in shining armour that every princess deserves. He is loyal, he is loving, he is patient, kind, thoughtful, generous, slow to anger, sweet. He’s also devastatingly handsome. But most importantly, his heart is wrapped up in Christ. Just like with my illness, I knew God could do it, I knew with enough patience it would happen.
And now, we get to plan the rest of our lives together. If you missed my last post (the one with a lot of swear words in it) we’re getting married!!!
I have been ashamed to share this journey with people. Afraid of judgement that I am not a good enough Christian because I didn’t do this the way other people would have, because I didn’t snub a man with a different story to mine. I didn’t enter a courtship and have my brother escort me on every date, I didn’t have a dad to interrogate the crap out of Cody, but I also didn’t give up on the man who is my perfect fit, the kindest, most-humble and genuinely wonderful man you will ever meet.
And to those who kept a narrow mind about this journey, our journey:
You know what? You’re right. I’m not a perfect Christian, neither is Cody, neither are you. So let’s just love having love, being in love, seeking love and continuing to fall in love with the greatest love of all.
Now go make some brownies, I know you’ve secretly been thinking about them the whole time!
Chelsea xx
“Love is love is love”
Lin-Manuel Miranda
Chelsea Gaiger 