Her Name was: "Pauline"

"Pauline" was competing on the Netflix program The Chef's Line during African Cuisine Week - competing against Africola Head Chef Duncan Welgemoed and his staff of kitchen chefs.

The premise of The Chef's Line  is to invite four "home cooks" to cook against a well-known Head Chef and his or her line of chefs - starting with the Apprentice Chef, Station Chef, Sous Chef and then finally the "Head Chef" of the restaurant to see who would prevail in an almost "David -vs- Goliath" cooking competition.

The "home cooks" traditionally bring heart and years of experience cooking meals familiar to their families and to their culture.

The Chef's Line - comes with swagger and skill sets that come from attending Culinary Institutes, rising in the ranks at various Restaurants and perfecting the same meals over and over, night after night in their respective restaurants.

Pauline, who survived two earlier elimination rounds, calls herself a "tribal chef" bringing the "village-to-plate experience" along with her customs, spices and cuisine of her Kenyan culture.

During the Third Episode of The Chef's Line, two remaining "home cooks" would prepare Boerewors (a South African sausage made up of meat and spices), Pap - a dish similar to polenta, that is made from ground maize and Sheba, a dish made with a tomato-and-onion based sauce.   The "home cooks" would compete against Africola Sous Chef Allistair to see who prepared the best dish.  The whole meal is similar to Bangers and Mash which is a British staple meal.

They had 1 hour and 45 minutes to prepare this meal and they were required to make their sausage from scratch which included grinding the meat and piping the sausage mixture into casing.  Pauline was making Beef Mutura Sausage which is traditionally made by the men of the Kikyuyu Tribe - made with minced meat and incorporating fresh pig's blood into the mixture.

As Pauline began to prepare her Boerewors she realized that her mixture was too wet and couldn't be minced properly to pipe the sausage into the casing.  Africola Head Chef Duncan Welgemoed was kind and offered additional mince mix to add into her meat mixture (a gesture he didn't have to extend seeing that his Sous Chef was competing against Pauline).  That generous offer helped to stabilize her mixture and she was able to begin piping again.  But then tragedy struck... She heard "30 minutes to put your plates on the pass," and she realized she needed 45 minutes to simmer the blood sausage.

It was at that point that she stated "I was crushed. I broke down (and started to cry)."  Her fellow "home cook" competitor Agnes encouraged her and said "you can do it Pauline, don't give up!"

She knew she had to plate up something and didn't have time to simmer the sausage, so she had to pan fry the sausage.  But she didn't give up or walk away!

As Pauline put her plate on the pass, she admitted that she was disappointed in herself and still had tears in her eyes as she presented her meal for judging.

As the Head Judge deliberated and tasted the three meals presented,  he seemed pleased by the taste, texture and depth of flavors of the each participant's meal.

Finally, Blind Tasting Judge - Mark Olive provided his decision...

"The plate that really made my mouth dance and my taste buds sing was this one" - He amazingly pointed to Pauline's Dish!!

Pauline beat "home chef" Agnes and Africola Sous Chef Allistair!!

Absolutely overwhelmed with emotions, Pauline stated,  "I won with something that totally broke my emotions!"

How many times have we been totally broken and seemingly utterly in despair AND THEN...

God reveals HIS care, compassion and HIS character of unconditional love for us that totally restores, refreshes and renews our mind, body, soul and spirit.

We may never win a cooking competition, BUT we can certainly receive the BEST reward EVER as children of God.  Knowledge that when we obey his WORD, put Christ on in baptism and live faithfully until death, our greatest reward is to see HIS face in peace and to hear "well done thou good and faithful servant".

Even in the face of great trial, temptation, turmoil and tribulation we can BE strong and of good courage, because the great God of heaven is on our side.

Remember what King Jehoshaphat said in 2 Chronicles 20 when he was facing the Moabites, and Ammonites with some of the Meunites who came to war against Jehoshaphat?

In the face of this "great multitude" (v.2) that was coming against him, after he sought the Lord and proclaimed a great fast throughout all Judah - he composed himself and in verse 12 he prayed "...for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do; BUT our eyes are upon THEE." 

We need to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus the author and finisher of our faith - EVEN against the "Goliath's" of this world.

Then we can face our "Goliath's" like David and say "You come against me with sword and spear and javeline, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied." I Samuel 17:45

And just like David used 5 humble, smooth stones to conquer his Goliath; just like Pauline used a humble meal of Boerwors, Pap & Sheba to take down her "Goliath"; we can use the humility of "mustard seed" faith to face down and conquer the "Goliath's" in our lives.

Don't give up or give in!! You may be totally broken, your eyes filled with tears, wounded and weary - just remember what the Psalmist says in Psalm 147:3  HE heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

Remember Pauline....