Landscape

Life changing events happen at the strangest of times. They throw us off balance and leave us wondering what happened. Whether they are good or bad, the one thing they do is to change the landscape of our lives.

I remember being in awe of this very fact when I went to Parys. Before making the decision to go there I had no idea about the geological significance of the area and what had taken place at that very site. If you haven't heard about it, I'll give you the short version.

The Vrederfort dome area was the site of one of 5 earth changing extinction level events that scientists believe have changed the landscape of our planet. A massive asteroid hit our planet at that exact point and changed everything.

The strange thing is that this is all just part of nature. We don't want to believe that something like this is normal, but in the scale of our universe it most certainly is. If you are in the middle of a life changing event, hang on tight to God and he will guide you through the change.

Insolence

Insolence is an ugly thing. It rears its ugly head at the worst time and when it is leveled at you then it can really leave you feeling angry. The question is what is its origin. I believe insolence comes from a base belief that you are somehow better than someone else or that your opinion is more important than the whole picture.

The Apostle Paul gives us some insight into how we should behave in this regard: Romans 12:3Amplified, “For by the grace (unmerited favor of God) given to me I warn everyone among you not to estimate and think of himself more highly than he ought [not to have an exaggerated opinion of his own importance], but to rate his ability with sober judgment, each according to the degree of faith apportioned by God to him.”

The Apostle James weighs in on this subject as well: James 4:10 NKJV, “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.”

These principles apply to every area of our lives from personal relationships, to work, to friendships and ministry all alike. In practicality though when a disagreement arises if you take the path of first lowering yourself to try and see the other persons version then when they have finished, your case may well receive higher value because you have been considerate to another's expression.

Let us not place ourselves on a pedestal and even if others place you there, get off quickly.

Colour filled

I love colour, so a 'grey' office space just doesn't work for me. So when one of my best friends gave me a beautiful calendar, once used, I used all the pictures to cover my workspace walls. One of my colleagues started asking me about some of the pictures and that got me all excited, especially the geological ones which are quite spectacular. She mentioned that it is a pity that I did not study that full time as I have such a passion for it.

Truth is that I have a passion for both geology and history, so it doesn't take much to prick my curiosity and I'm off like a rabbit wanting to know and learn more. The amazing thing is that history and geology teach us so much about God and that is why I had to do 3 years of bible school, I just had to know more.

Creation is God's masterpiece declaring His character and His love to all who will pay attention. Volcano's and earth quakes remind us of His power, river streams and quiet ponds of His great gentleness and sunrise and sunset of His warmth and love.

How about we get excited and share about God's great love for us to others today!

Too heavy a load

It is seriously taking me a lot longer to get all the bits and pieces of the house and garden back to normal after the renovation. Inside is done, just the top of the kitchen cupboards left to clean, but the patio was another story, so before I could tackle my first serious gardening for the season, that had to be sorted.

Well all was going fine, until I came across the one and a half boxes of floor tiles left over from the job. Now they say you are supposed to keep these for any future repairs, so I thought I could just shunt them over to the corner and leave them there. NOT. I had no clue how heavy the darn things were. No wonder the delivery guys were looking at my cross eyed when they brought them in.

I tugged and I pushed and I did everything I possibly could to get them to move, but it just wasn't happening. I eventually had to give in to the fact that I was going to have to move one or two at a time. This wasn't the best idea but the only solution I could manage. Eventually it got done.

This made me think about the divide and conquer strategy that the devil uses against our marriages today. He puts husband and wife at war with each other and then the kids and then we wonder why we are not able to achieve Godly submission within the marriage and why marriages fail.

You may disagree with me on my next point but take some time to think it through and ask God to open your heart to this spiritual reality. Yes, God made man to be the head of the husband and wife relationship and head of the family, but in order to succeed at this the husband has to expose his heart to allow him to love and care for his family. It is the wife's role therefore to act as spiritual guardian over her husbands heart and to protect him from attack from the enemy.

Ladies, God made us strong, strong enough to endure childbirth, so yes we can do this!

Gentlemen, encourage your lady to stand up to her role so that she protect you where necessary.

When we work together, the devil will not have his way and our marriages will be strong!

Choices

Today I was faced with a situation that presented me with some interesting choices. I could get angry and take my anger out on the wrong person who was just as much a victim of the circumstances as I was, or I could bridle my tongue and use that frustration to find a solution to the problem.

Now finding that solution won't be easy. It will take time, research, effort and more stress than I think I can handle right now, but it is the right thing to do. These choices are never easy.

So when did Jesus face the same dilemma?

At the back end of the desert after 40 days of fasting! I know that all he wanted to do was get home and rest and one Lucifer comes knocking at his door with an interesting proposal, worship me and I'll give you everything! We think it was easy for Jesus to refuse this offer, but in His weakened state this was no small feat.

But Jesus did the right thing and turned Lucifer down and walked the path from His first miracle at the wedding in Cana all the way through to Golgotha! It wasn't easy, it required every ounce of his strength, an unbelievable mental stress and rejection from His disciples...... But it was the right thing to do!

The result? Salvation for all mankind, for all time!

I think it was worth it!

Where we left off

Do you have friends whom you may see now only once in a while, but in years gone by you were almost inseparable choosing to spend time together as often as possible? Do you find now that when you see those friends that there is no need for small talk and pleasantries but you really can pick up where you left off and just carry on? Well those relationships are rare and precious.

We can have the same relationship with the word of God today. When we have made friends with the word of God and we know each other well, we can have the freedom to just pick up our scriptures where we left and enjoy wonderful fellowship with God through His Word.

Where is your relationship with God's word at right now? Have you been ignoring your time? Don't feel guilty but know that God is waiting with open arms to receive you and bless you through His presence and love, so why not pick up where you left off with the Word of God today?

Getting there

It took a whole week for the cement smell to dissipate but it is finally gone and I was able to move back into my bedroom this weekend. It was time to get stuck into the spare room and get it back to being a 'spare' room. Lol! I had wanted to tackle the patio this weekend too but that just didn't happen. I get so impatient with myself sometimes but my mom always reminds me that Rome wasn't built in a day.

We do that in our spiritual lives too. We get excited about an area in our lives we want to grow in and we throw everything at it, but it just doesn't happen fast enough and then we get frustrated with the process.

Paul gives us some encouragement in this are in Philippians 2:12 where he says, “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”

What does this mean? It means that we should work through the scriptures and allow them to impact our lives and that we should do so with reverence and respect for the word of God. When we follow and heed this principle we can be guaranteed that God will work through us to make his glory manifest within our lives.

Thank goodness for gas

This morning I woke up to another power failure.  Thankfully the geyser stays warm for a while, so guess what?  I took my first shower in my new shower....super cool!  Luckily for me I have gas, so boiling a quick kettle for breakfast was no stress. 

What would I do without gas in my home, struggle!  I have come to depend on it so much as my backup in these difficult times we are going through as a country with our power supply. 

Do we have a spiritual backup power supply?  Yes, but unlike Eishkom, He never runs out of power.  The Holy Spirit is our helper in times of need and he is our comforter when we need strength.  More importantly too, He is the active working of the power of God within us. 

Are you linked up to your Holy Spirit power supply?

Needs recycling

I had a grand plan but now I'm not so sure. I hate the thought of waste so I thought that I would try and recycle the broken tiles that came out of my bathroom into a feature in the herb garden. Trouble is, I didn't count on how much it would really be and now I have a stack of rubble along side the house. I know I can use some of it, but there will still be whole lot that will need to be discarded.

When I have time over the weekend, I'm still going to give it a shot and see what I can do. I know there are bits and bobs that I can donate to charity and maybe even give some stuff to someone who has been of help to me in the past.

Sometime our best laid plans don't work out and we need to find a new solution. That doesn't mean that our intentions weren't good, it just means that we didn't necessarily put enough thought into planning.

The great thing about God's love and forgiveness is that God judges the thoughts and intents of the heart. That means that if we have sinned unintentionally and we come to God to repent that he will always forgive us. The most important thing that God requires from us is a heart that is repentant when we sin.

So if you have slipped and fallen and sinned before God, don't waste another minute to come before Him and repent, for our Father is waiting with open arms to receive us.

Moving back

Trying to get everything moved back to where it is supposed to be is quite a mission, but I have great joy in knowing that I have a finished product that I am proud of. Like everything else though restoration is a process.

That's exactly how God works in our spiritual lives too. He allows times for us to experience His grace and forgiveness through things in our world returning to a place of wholeness. But restoration is not just a returning something to what was before we experienced pain and brokenness, it is about bringing that area of our lives to a place of newness but with the strength of wisdom that this experience has now brought into our lives.

If you are in a place of pain and brokenness right now, know that God will honour His word and that His true joy will come in the morning! So hold fast to God's promises and believe that Christ is your redeemer and restorer now and forever more!

Home Reno – It's doooooooone!

Saturday, day 3 of the home reno was by far the most stressful. I think I heard the guy accepting another job starting Sunday, so I'm guessing he decided it was time to hurry up and get done. The problem was he called in the cavalry with two extra men and didn't let me know before hand, left me feeling very uncomfortable.

Anyway, I was about to rush out to go and get the paint when they called me upstairs with a problem. Seems the original builders did a nasty and installed the drain trap diagonally across the base of the shower instead of straight. The new drain fitted but the metal plate at the top did not want to fit in the normal position. Their solution was that I needed to go and get new piping and an elbow fitting. I wasn't having any of that. After looking at the problem myself I figured the plate would fit and that all that was needed to fix the problem was to add two small metal washers so that it would hook in properly.

With solution in hand I rushed off to get the goodies and paint and then once that was done things smoothed out for the day. What frustrated me though was that here are guys who do this every day for a living, why could they not figure it out? Why did I have to find the solution, a women with no plumbing experience....... :-(

In our spiritual lives we can get ourselves into a similar situation. Something small just doesn't fit and then we want to throw in the towel. Lets use a practical example. You feel you should have a quiet time in the mornings but you are just not a morning person. Well then, grab a verse for the day in the morning and do your quiet time at night.... problem solved!

I'd like to encourage you not to let small things trap you up in your relationship with God. Focus on the bigger picture and figure it out.

Home reno – Demolition day

Yesterday was demolition day and oh my it was noisy. To my surprise though I thought that once all the goodies were knocked out that would be the end of the banging......apparently not! They did however manage to get the floor tiles laid, which is good progress.

Renovations are much like the work the Holy Spirit does with us after we are saved. Salvation ensures the immediate rebirth of our spirit from death to eternal life but the renewing of our minds takes work and that is the Holy Spirit's job.

The Holy Spirit will take us through some difficult times where our soul gets rough edges knocked off it and maybe like carpets there are things that need to be ripped out as well and like home renovations the process can be painful. The goal though is the transformation of our hearts to reflect the image of Christ.

Like home renovations too, the pain eventually ends and we are left with a masterpiece of beauty that brings glory to God.

Home reno – phase 2

I won't lie, I am totally stressed out about tomorrow. Thoughts of banging walls and tiles and dust everywhere do freak me out. I was going to do the painting myself but the tiler offered to do it and I know it will save me a lot of time and stress and with any luck by Saturday we'll be done with Sunday left for finishing touches if necessary. I know I'm going to have to wait a bit for the cement smell and paint fumes to dissipate before I move back in but at least I'll also be able to get the furniture back to its spot and that will open up my living space again.

Rather than reaching for Calmettes or Biral though I decided to head off to the gym for a quick spot of aqua aerobics. That got me thinking that it is really sad how quickly we reach for wine, cigarettes, chocolate or whatever our drug of choice is to alleviate stress rather than using exercise. Worse than that our minds run wild and we completely forget about the word and how powerful it can be in guiding our thoughts. Don't get me wrong, I'm just as guilty as anyone.

So if like me you are stressed out, remember that God made our bodies to move and He made our hearts to respond to His word, so declare that word today.....

I can do and live through all things in Jesus name! Amen!

If only for a traffic circle

How many times don't you get stuck at a bad intersection that just blocks up traffic for miles and you know it would all be sorted if there was only a traffic circle in place to regulate traffic. Not a robot, no I think we have way too many of those, just a simple circle. After all, who could steal a sim card from a traffic circle..... Neh, ja I'm telling you it's true!!!

Traffic circles simply allow us to take turns. Don't we need that in our relationships too as well? We get so worked up and bent out of shape because we want our own way that we sometimes just don't allow others to communicate their needs to us. That tends to happen at work just as much as in romantic relationships.

Does it happen with our relationship with God? Yeh I suppose so. The Holy Spirit may be trying to guide us and give us direction but because we are on our own mission we don't listen and don't hear him and we miss our turn off or a change of direction that He desires for us to take.

Next time you find your life paused for a moment, stop and ask God to give you direction. Ask Him to show you whether you should go straight or turn and take a different direction. I know if you do you will find that the traffic in your life starts to flow just a little bit easier.

Hiding behind the leaves

My scented geranium's have really taken off and growing like crazy and I'm going to have to cut them back somewhat to keep them under control. I got curious though and decided to lift up the bush to see what was happening underneath and what do I find? Snails. Now I'm sure snails have a role in the Eco system somewhere but in my garden all they do is destroy stuff so I'm afraid I have to be tough and get rid of them.

To my surprise though under the lilies I have once again found a whole bunch of raspberry seedlings. The last bunch I transplanted are having a rough time, so I figure I have to let them get a little bigger with more roots before I move them. I've even found a few blackberry seedlings as well, so who knows how this will turn out but I'm quite excited about the discoveries.

Two sets of leaves with two different discoveries, some positive, some negative. I suppose life presents us with opportunities to pick our attitudes. If we choose to focus on the negative we can easily allow the snails of life to chew up the garden of our hearts. If we choose to focus on the positive, who knows how much fruit you can produce in the future and where the seedlings if growth will land.

Something's happening, something's happening!

They're here, they're here! My tiles and all other materials arrived on Saturday. Ginger and I were both instantly excited about the new arrivals but Honey took a bit of convincing. It's great to be able to see the the colour matches again and make my final paint colour selections. I'm not too sure when I'll be buying the paint but hopefully it will be soon. There is still lots of work to do so no rush.

It was however going to be my last weekend of peace and quiet for a while so I made the most of it. In honesty these last three months have NOT been fun at all but I hope that the finished product will make it all worth while.

I know Jesus bore in mind the pain and suffering he would go through during his trial and Crucifixion but I wonder if there was ever a moment when He sat and contemplated what the future would look like afterwards? I wonder if He was excited about what it would be like to be able to walk with mankind in a personal relationship once again?

I believe He must have. I believe that was precisely what God the Father and God the Son must have done the moment Adam sinned....dream about the future of securing mankind's personal relationship with God and that was where the plan of salvation was borne.

Another look

Another look at our over the wall hanging trees made me realize that I had missed something important.  Their sheer audaciousness and boy that is a quality we all need.  So often in life we hold ourselves back from reaching out and grabbing our dreams. 

The question is why do we hold ourselves back?  There are many answers to that but the one I want to look at tonight is, low self esteem.  We may have grown up being fearful or being told to be cautious.  Low self esteem can also come from experiencing traumatic events.  Well I want to encourage you to be bold and see yourself the way God sees you!

God sees us a beautiful, complete and perfect creations.  In Christ He sees us as redeemed, blood washed and righteous.   God's love for us is unimaginably great and He would not sacrifice for us to have a full and complete relationship with Him.

So put away your self doubt and negativity and believe in yourself and be bold and audacious for God!