I don’t know about you, but I love olive oil.

Take me to an Italian restaurant where they bring you warm, fresh bread and a small dish of olive oil and spices to dip the bread in and I’m set.

I wish there was an option on the menu where you could just keep eating the bread and oil for your meal, that would also be amazing for chips and queso but that rabbit trail is for another day…

To be totally honest, every time that I’ve enjoyed dipping the bread in the olive oil, I have never once thought about the process of making olive oil. Have you?

Sometimes food can be so good that it distracts. The taste of olive oil on the tongue doesn’t make my brain immediately go “let’s learn something interesting”, but maybe it should.

I know I haven’t written a blog post in a while. I want to make sure every time I share my heart with you, that I share something that is inspirational. I want to share something that God has laid on my heart and not just posting random words often for more followers.

Jesus had twelve disciples. No matter how small you feel your influence is, God is using you in someone’s life. Even if it’s just one life, that one life matters.

I recently fell in love with a TV show based on the Bible called The Chosen. It inspired me to bake unleavened bread and dive deep into God’s Word. Maybe I should try the unleavened bread with olive oil…but my taste buds will have to wait for now.

I just came across a video on The Chosen’s social media. The short video was about Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, which contains olive trees. An interesting note they made was about the process of making olive oil.

To make olive oil, olives have to be crushed three times to produce the oil I’ve come to know and love.

Did you catch that? Olives have to be crushed to produce an oil that is used throughout the globe.

This immediately made me think of us, Christians.

I don’t know what you may be facing, but I know some of us may feel like we are getting crushed physically, spiritually, emotionally.

We may be crushed by terrible news from the doctor or car mechanic. We may be crushed by spiritual warfare and never-ending temptations.

There are countless things we may be feeling crushed by.

Do you remember the olives from earlier? We are like the olives. God can use circumstances in our lives to mold us into who He would have us be for His glory.

He has to crush us, like olives, to bring us to our full potential for Him.

Whatever you may be going through, don’t give up. You may feel crushed to the point of no return, but don’t lose hope.

Christ is our Hope.

Isa. 40: 29-31

“He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.  Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:  But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”

Ps. 52:8

“But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God: I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever.”

Don’t let the crushing get the best of you. God has a plan even through the crushing.

Yield your live to Him and allow Him to use you in the way He sees fit.

Don’t lose hope. He is our Hope!