Adios 2014

Well another year has come to an end and as I contemplate saying goodbye to this year I find it hard not to sit and pause for just a moment.  This great year, 2014, has brought with it many sorrows and disappointments but also successes and victories. 

This year has brought with it the challenges of facing self imposed limitations that should not have been there in the first place and the joy of breaking those barriers and breaking into new ground.  It has brought tests of patients and endurance and the joyous reward that comes from waiting for that which is good. 

This year has had moments of darkness, frustration and probably sometimes even fear but it has been a year that has brought me the closest to finding my truest self and the deepest desires of my heart and being able to see clearly who I am and what I want out of life.

There isn't a single year to which Ecclesiastes 3 would not be applicable but I'll leave that to you to ponder.  The most important element to this year has been that of finding balance in life. There are always good and bad experiences but it is how we respond to those circumstances that charts the course of our future. 

Looking back I thank God for all the wonderful experiences that life has brought me and give honour, praise and glory to God that if anything good has come out of this year, it has been by His divine grace and providence. 

I am so looking forward to saying, "Adios 2014!"  But I wait with excitedly with baited breath to say "Hello 2015, let's make this a great year!" 

What are your moments and thoughts of reflection?  I encourage you to take the time to think through these. 

Wishing you all a blessed and prosperous New Year and Happy 2015!  And here's to looking forward to another year of blogging :-) 

P.S. Please travel safely!

The remodelling has begun

This weekend was an amazing quiet and peaceful Christmas long weekend and I cherished every minute that I could spend at home with my babies as well as the opportunity to sleep and just be a couch potato when I wanted to be. I did however decide that it was time to start the front garden remodelling project and for this I enlisted the help of a little gardening buddy, being my neighbours little 5-6 year old daughter.

Darling little Rowan chewed my ear off through the whole process, she may well have slowed me down a bit, but the company was great fun. I must admit, I think I have already mastered the art of just doing the ahh ha, yeh and oh really bit!

The remodelling process will require 3 phases namely; stripping the beds of all unwanted plants, reshaping the beds so that the bed lines are just more fluent and creative and then planting. This time I plan on going with a low maintenance front yard with fewer and larger plants to fill the space.

In much the same way the rest of my life is going to have to undergo a remodelling process if I intend to take the idea of adoption seriously and I am praying that God will guide and direct my every step as I do so.

As we come to the end of 2014 and face the start of a brand new year, 2015, are their any aspects of your life both spiritually and physically that need to be remodelled? If so, then I join hands with you in prayer that God will grant us the wisdom to know where to put our efforts.

You are in my prayers!

Christmas: My special gift to self - Confessing my hearts desire

It is Christmas eve and a very special time.  I know my friends in NZ and AUZ are already enjoying the special day.  My special Christmas gift to myself this year is confessing my hearts desire that I truly and deeply want to adopt a child.  At this point I feel God has placed a desire for an Asian baby/child, preferably a girl, on my heart and I'll say why shortly.  The big questions are why do I want to adopt and what does this have to do with Christmas? 

Well I'll tell you!  It is only 3 generations back in my family that my Great Grandfather and Mother, Oupa and Ouma Louw adopted my grandmother, Joyce Louw (born Conradie).  Granny Joyce gave birth to my father, Des Hughes, who along with my mother June, gave birth to me. I had the rare privilege to know my Ouma (Grandmother) Louw and she was an amazing women and thus adoption is close to my heart. 

So where did the Asian bit come in?  Well as a young 12 or 13 year old girl in Nelspruit, I attended a very special youth group, Calvary Assembly Youth Ambassadors for Christ (quite a mouthful).  During a game of 'sweets or the box' I won the book "God's smuggler to China - by Brother David."  Along with desires I have had from early childhood to become a missionary, this birthed a love in my heart for the Chinese people and their plight to live the Christian life under Chinese communist domination.  This was further fueled by the book, "Chasing the Dragon - by Jackie Pullinger." 

Does this mean that this adoption will take place exactly as desired or planned?  Maybe, maybe not, but I know that when God places a desire in your heart it is for a reason and until God tells me otherwise, that is what I will be praying for. 

But there is another reason adoption is so very special to me.  That is because God opened up His master plan for salvation to the Jewish nation to all of mankind when he declared that Gentiles too should be saved.  In Romans 8:15 we read, "For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but we received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba Father."  Our very salvation is God's great act of adopting mankind, paying the price for our redemption and making us His family. 

This is the true story of Christmas, that Christ was born to reconcile man to God!

If you have not yet bought yourself a Christmas gift, I want to encourage you to by my ebook, Growing with God by Ronwyn - Everyday God, available from Amazon.  It is $6.85, +- R50 and will be a blessing to you and your family throughout 2015.  If you don't have a kindle, you can download the app from Amazon when you purchase the book.  You can copy the link below into your browser.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00H1M90P6/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_BflHub0W5EFMH

With this, I wish all my GrowingwithGod by Ronwyn readers a blessed and prosperous Christmas. 
Peace on earth and goodwill towards men!
All my love!

Increased demands at Christmas

This time of year is extremely difficult for banking.  The increased demands and risks make life difficult for the skeleton staff still working. 

I can only imagine what Israel must have been like around the time of Christ's birth.  The census had been called and no matter what your challenges, you had to play your part.  The towns folk must have wondered how on earth they would keep up with the challenges of increased people movement. 

All the while Mary's heart must have pumped nervously at times.  She knew her time of delivery was near and she must have had some moments of nervous anxiety.  The truth is regardless of the challenges she was the picture of grace in a troubled time. 

I think a time comes when we remind ourselves of our increased strengths and remember that God has everything under control, no matter how difficult life may seem.  At this Christmas time, draw from the grace and strength of Christ that resides within you and remind yourself of God's words through the angels, "Peace on earth and goodwill towards men!"  [Luke 2:14 paraphrased]

Starry starry Christmas night

Since the start of the rainy season I have been going outside, hoping to catch a clear night with nothing but stars to look at.  For months, nothing!  Then Saturday night it finally happened.  A full clear night with nothing but beautiful stars and right above me sat Orion's belt.  If I hadn't just watered the lawn I may have put a blanket out there and lay watching for quite some time. 

This always makes me wonder exactly what it was that the three wise men actually saw when they saw the star that lead them to the birth of Jesus?  I wish there could be some way for us to figure that out.......But follow that star they did and they became part of biblical history.

What star are you following this Christmas?  Is it the star of fame, the star of fortune, the star of family, the star of relationships, what is it that you most want right now?  The question we must ask ourselves is, are we willing to sacrifice for it or do you expect it to come easily?  Those wise men sacrificed a tremendous amount.  Remember they had no modern highways to travel on, it was all a hard journey through deserts and forests and all sorts of terrain.  

Are you willing to make the sacrifices necessary to follow the correct star and find peace and joy this Christmas?

Sterkfontein adventure

This weekend has been a blast.  On Saturday one of my pals, Vanessa, joined me as we went on a short road trip to Sterkfontein caves and Maropeng out at the cradle of human kind.  Maropeng visitors centre was really fun but the best for me were the caves.  I am absolutely fascinated by geology. 

Although the sections open to the tour are considerably smaller and shorter than that of the Sudwala caves in Mpumalanga were I grew up, Sterkfontein did have something special to offer, that being an under ground lake, which has never been fully explored due to its depth and the darkness of the cave.  Sadly one poor soul did loose his life trying.  I am sure at some point those in the deep sea diving industry may be able to lend a hand to make it possible. 

In much the same way as this subterranean lake runs deep and far and must undoubtedly supply sustaining water resources the areas it feeds, so too our relationship with Christ can grow to the level and strength that it becomes our total source of power. 

Do you have that source of power in your life?  If not, why not consider developing a real relationship with God and not just follow religion. 

Christmas with the gogga's

I tried really hard to fight it, but the Christmas spirit eventually got a hold of me.  I had given away my tiny Christmas tree some time ago and have not replaced it yet so I decided to be different I wanted to make my own Christmas decorations by making some bedazzled and beaded pine cones. 

Pine cones hold many special memories for me of our childhood years in Nelspruit and the countless times we'd head off into the surrounding forests.  So on Monday on my way home from work I gathered a bag full of pine cones and brought them home to work on.  Some looked fairly clean so I figured I could get to work on them straight away.  Ha! Mother nature reminded me that these cones had been on the ground a while and had been inhabited by some tiny little critters.  After the fright of the bugs crawling out I took them outside to wash and pour over some citronella oil.  Needless to say I only managed to get one decorated before I ran out of time.  At least it will keep me out of mischief for a while. 

The Christmas story is rather messy too.  A stable certainly is not the type of place I would want to bring a new born baby into this world, but what could Mary do?  She had to make the most of a very bad situation.  Likewise our individual salvation stories may be messy, maybe because of a background of drugs, alcohol or abuse keeping us captive to our past. 

As much as we celebrate Christ's birth at Christmas it is already a reminder for us of why He came, that being to save us for eternity.  Whatever your story is, do not fear the mess, come to Christ as you are and His love will transform you. 

The end of the Ronosaurus

On the 5^th of January this year I wrote a blog called, “The year of the Ronosaurus”. The Ronosaurus was a Dinosaur that had breached extinction and was forging a way into the future. This year has indeed been a year about breaking barriers and changing direction. There have been changes in the physical realm as well as the emotional and spiritual realms that have shifted dramatically over the past year, and I am grateful for every change.

I believe it is time for the Ronosaurus to bow out as the lead character within my life and for the year ahead 2015 to be declared the 'Lion heart' year. I have faith that the year ahead will see bold new expeditions and forge me on into a year of victory!

What are you believing for in the next year? I challenge you to write it down and make it clear. There is tremendous power in writing down a vision and making it plain for all to see! As 2014 draws to a close, take some time to reflect back on the joys and sorrows of life and what you have learned through both the good and the bad that have come from the year.

Then set forth your goals for the coming year and BELIEVE!

To view the original blog go to:

http://growingwithgodbyronwyn.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-year-of-ronosaurus.html

Thunder

I really tried hard on Wednesday night to get to bed early as I was really feeling the fatigue. All went well until about 2am on Thursday morning when a really loud thunder storm rolled in. It woke me up with a fright but more so my poor kitties. Honey particularly hates all the loud storms. Well after that it was tickets to getting any real sleep, every time I drifted into dream land the kitties woke me up for one reason or another. My biggest worry as I settle down to bed tonight was seeing the dark clouds rolling back in. What I wouldn't give now for a clear starry night.

The wonderful thing though is that even though thunder storms are loud and scary, they roll in and the roll out again fairly quickly. If you are at all lucky there's lots of noise but not too much damage.

That's what the devil does. He arrives in our life and makes his presence known with lots of noise and plenty of evidence that he is going to wreck havoc but when we are rooted and grounded in Christ the storms may blow and our branches may bow, but we will never befall a fate that God has not ordained for our lives. I'm not saying God causes storms, but rather that He allows the storms of life to build our character.

If you are facing a scary storm now, take heart and ask God to be your shelter. We can rest peacefully through any trial knowing that God is for us.

Flavour burst

I've been enjoying having herbs to use in my salads again, but I hadn't used any in cooking. I decided that tonight was the night to try it. Well I can honestly say, my new favourite easy pasta dish tasted simply spectacular with just a few fresh herbs added, I was so chuffed!

Changing the way we experience things can change our outlook on life. A cup of coffee on a couch is nice but a cup of coffee in your favourite spot in the garden can bring tranquility. The same would be true of our experience of faith. When we change the way we experience God, new aspects of faith are opened up to us.

What do I mean by that? Well for instance if you only ever read your bible from a New King James version, using and Amplified version may change your understanding of the scripture. We must not be afraid to mix things up a little with our christian walk, this allows us to experience God in ways we may never have imagined.

Fountain of youth

So a cousin and a good friend nagged me to share my tips on ageing gracefully. Lol! I think my body parts south of my neck might not agree. I could say that it is because I drank from a fountain of naturally filtered waters in the Sudwala caves in Mpumalanga not once but several times that my skin has stayed young, but oh that's just a fairy tale.

I do have some genetic factors that play a role, good skin in the family and red heads just don't go grey until late, but I do have some good secrets of my own that do work. Firstly skin care does play a huge role, using the right formula for either dry, combination or oily skin is critical. If that's not done right then the PH levels don't normalise and you break out in pimples. Massaging the skin correctly when cleansing is important to remove impurities. Using a good scrub is essential but my biggest tip is, moisturise and moisturise some more. That helps to keep the skin cells plump and full. I usually moisturise before and after using a hair dryer as the hot air dries your skin.

Diet wise my biggest secret there is lots and lots of salads and then very importantly, I consume as much vinegar as I can manage. Vinegar cleans the blood and also purifies the skin, minimising break outs. Another key indicator that vinegar works well is the fact that it was also used during mummification. All in all these few things keep my skin clean and plumped up.

So what does all this have to do with our spiritual walk? A lot actually. Just like the right skin care products are essential for beauty, the correct application of the word of God to our lives is essential. Just like vinegar cleans the blood, we need to allow the word of God to work in our hearts to cleanse us from within.

But what is the greatest spiritual beauty tip of them all? Making sure you are connected to God, after all, is He not the resurrection and the life? Is He not the one who can quicken our mortal bodies and revive life within us? Oh yes, my biggest beauty secret is is being refreshed by the one who gives life in the first place.

What's your secret?

Think like a man

Now now ladies, hear me out! I had to remind myself today that emotions are fickle. How many times do we (men and women) get caught up with paranoid thoughts about what other people think of us, say about us or maybe even what we think they might be plotting against us. We may even overreact to a situation (I know I've done it many times) only to discover that this was not the case at all.

Here is where simple logic comes in and ladies, I think men are generally better at this than we are and thus my title. I do however know that men are also capable of great depth of heart and spirit and at times may loose themselves as easily as we can. Logic however must begin with simple questions. Unfortunately I can't tell you what those questions are but if you start questioning your thoughts, you will soon find out that you are on the wrong track.

You also need to give yourself some grace. Don't put yourself down so easily. Most people who know you would probably say that you are a good person with a good heart, so trust the norm and not the exception. I think when you cut yourself some slack and just breath a little you will feel a sense of calm and peace returning and that is when you can then pray and ask God to guide your thoughts and actions and return you to a state of joy.

Some fresh ideas

I am currently facing a challenge that I just have not been able to overcome. After much frustration I decided to contact a good friend and successful business man for some advice on how to move past the difficulties I was facing.

I met with him this morning for 1 hour and in that time we managed to bounce around a stack of ideas that could really help. I left the meeting feeling empowered and excited about tackling the issue head on.

Sometimes all we need in life is just to sit at the feet of a mentor who has faced the same challenges and found ways to overcome them. I'm betting that's how Mary felt when she sat at Jesus feet (Luke 10:38-42). She must have just wanted to glean every little bit of information and wisdom she could from Jesus in the time that He was in her home.

When last did you take time to just sit at the feet of Jesus and open your heart to Him and allow Him to impart spiritual knowledge into your life? I want to encourage you to do so and I am sure you will be surprised at what Jesus will say to you.

I just have to do it

It runs through my DNA and every fibre of my being and it is just something I have to do! What is that? Be CREATIVE! A day without creativity of some sort is like a day with no air. I simply cannot live without experiencing or expressing art in one way shape or form, be it gardening; writing; beading; making something; baking....something creative just has to come out or I dry up like a prune.

But that is nothing.......take a look at the heavens and though we can't see it with the naked eye, new stars are being born every day. I'm guessing new planets are forming in a solar system somewhere and I know some would differ with me (you're entitled to your opinion) but I believe that somewhere in the great cosmos there has to be another planet with life forms on it of some kind. Why do I believe that? Because God Himself is the origin of all creation and all creativity and He Himself cannot stop creating new life every day!

With every conception, be it animal or human, new life is created and these beings breath air and live. Our God is indeed awesome!

Let's just stop and pause and be thankful just for this one small fact, our God is creative!

Who is this artist?

There is an artist I know very well. He does the most spectacular work I've ever seen and he does it all on the move, no scene is ever the same. Yes the nuances are similar but the use of his colours and the spectacular strokes of his brush are simply indescribable. His repertoire is something to behold and he is ranked amongst the greats.

He paints sunsets and sunrises, rain and rainbows, bushveld and animals all with vividly different interpretations each time. He paints the stars and the planets and every day he captures the splendour of our universe. And by now you must to wondering, who is this Artist?

He is simply..... God!

I write to tell you about this artist because of one important fact. This artist also paints every scene, every joy, every delight, every tear and every happy moment in our lives with pure perfection. It is this very fact that has given me complete peace, for I know that even though a storm would come, he would paint the waves and the tossing sea, but he will also paint every victory. It is because of this that I can rest, knowing that I am safe in the arms of a loving God and He is good!

Silly season

It isn't called silly season without reason and it started with a bang today. Work stress, finding out one of my best friends was in a serious car accident and then the doozie! It came in the form of a callously published news paper article that will have a direct impact on my life and hundreds of people I know, with zero regard for the feelings of the people involved. This left me outright angry!

Recently though I have been challenged that attitude is a choice and that if I want to overcome the negativity of life that is constantly being thrown at us, then I have to make a choice and choose positive attitudes. So I decided that I would start posting a positive choice on my FB status every morning at the start of each new day. I have decided that I would like to share this with others so I'll be creating a new FB page for this and will let you all know once it is done.

I want to encourage you, the same way that I have to encourage myself that we have to choose to rise above. Does that mean we will never fall? No, certainly not but with a positive choice weapon in your pocket, you may well bounce back a lot faster.

As Christians we have an even great advantage because we know that scripture tells us that all things work together for the good of those who love the Lord and are called according to His purposes. I know it is hard to pick yourself off the floor when all you want to do is throw a tantrum, but know that God has a new day and new opportunities waiting for you with each new morning.

Let us wake with hope with each new day!