Mary Watercutter

Reclined at Table

by Mary Watercutter

Help JRM fund our next book! In Mary’s words: “Come recline at the table, there’s a place for you here! For a lot of my life, I have been a person who loves to cook and bake, and of course, eat! Over the years food has been a source of comfort, a source of healing, and one of great pain. What God has allowed into my life as a cross to carry in the form of food, He has used to define the depths of my heart, and a deep desire to give to others what He has given to me, a new perspective on what it means to be ‘full.’ The times where my heart is most at peace are gathered around the table with those whom I love, and those who are in most need to be loved and held and served.”

Foreword

written by Rob Watercutter (Mary’s husband):

In our early married life, I never could quite understand why Mary enjoyed inviting people over for meals as much as she did. What joy is there in frantically cleaning your house and cooking a big homemade meal (that creates a whole mess itself that must also be cleaned up before guests arrive) just to have to clean the entire house and kitchen and dishes AGAIN after everyone leaves?! Being an introvert made it hard for me to comprehend. As it turns out, it wasn’t really about the food at all. No, it was actually about the people that would recline at that table to enjoy the fruits of the labor that went into preparing that place and those gifts that we would receive at that meal. All of those meals were (and still to this day are) as much food for the soul as they are food for the body. Each of them has a purpose, although we may not know their purpose until long after the meal is over—if ever.

The kitchen messes are merely medicine. Remedies that heal the soul. Not the food itself, but the conversations to be had reclined at table with the friends and the strangers who would become friends because of the experience. It is peculiar how a good meal and good conversation can do far more for us than fill our bellies. These experiences have deepened our faith and healed many wounds over the years here at the Watercutter home, and I hope that this book can provide you with the same appreciation for good meals through all of life’s trials and triumphs as it has for us.

How “Reclined at Table” began . . .

Inside the pages of this book, you’ll read more about the story of Mary’s soul, have at your fingertips some of her go-to recipes, and also be able to read a small collection of some of her handwritten journal reflections. Before sharing her journal reflections in the book, Mary writes . . .

Looking back at my journals over the past 10 years was a difficult and painful experience, and yet, the Lord, in all of His goodness, was right there beside me. I didn’t know what I was going to find from the raw and gut-wrenching hidden places in my heart. What I discovered was a deep, abiding love for my husband and for our Lord in the middle of some of life’s toughest and lowest valleys. For so many years, I struggled to have a relationship with Christ because I saw Him so much as a just judge, and as someone I must frequently be a disappointment to. I lived under the idea that I needed to earn God’s love, and that after I earned it, it still must not be enough. Having a relationship with our Blessed Mother was easier, because I needed a heavenly mother to lead me and guide me, to show me how to be a mother to my own children. She did what she does best and led me always into the arms of her beloved Son. Somewhere in every letter I wrote to her, there was a “but not my will, His will,” or “if this is what He is asking me to suffer, then I must suffer it,” or “I do not understand why God is allowing this, but one day I will.” So many years slipped away with me believing I didn’t love Him enough, or not as much as I should, but in suffering, Christ often reveals the true depths of our hearts. My heart showed me more of His. There is a place for Him here. As you read through these journal entries, I pray that it gives you the strength to look back at where He may be taking you in your own life and recline at the table with Him. Be not afraid, He is right there with you.

Help Fund “Reclined at Table”

Donate* $50 or more and receive a free copy of Reclined at Table: There’s a Place for You Here by Mary Watercutter after it is released.

* All donations are tax deductible. Funds donated to this publication will first be applied to the costs of publishing this publication. The funding for this publication will be open for three months and will close on December 8, 2026. However, if: (1) the funding needed for this publication is not raised in its entirety by this date; or (2) the actual cost of publishing this publication is less than what we have quoted in our estimate above, the donor agrees to allow the funds they’ve given to be moved into JRM’s general operating fund; provided, however, that if you prefer a refund in the event that the funding needed for this publication is not raised in its entirety by this date, you please contact us within 10 days after the funding for this publication closes. Please note: The total cost estimated to publish this title is based on a good faith estimate of all the costs JRM will incur based on the current quotes we’ve received and our work on previous publications. The actual cost of publishing this title may be less than this quoted amount.

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