Just another heat wave

With summer now in full swing the heat waves are hitting hard, especially as we have not had the normal rain fall we are used too. I am longing for those late afternoon thunder storms that cooled off the day.

Longing for and missing the rain has brought with it a flood of emotion with missing my Honey-Bear. I had come to feel that I had moved on and accepted his loss but a flood of emotion has brought it all back.

Longing and yearning aren't new to mankind and David expressed it well when he wrote, “As the deer pants for the water, so my soul longs after you. You alone are my hearts desire and I long to worship you.”

The beautiful difference between longing for rain and longing for God is that unlike longing for rain, where the end is unsure, we can be assured that as we long for God, He indeed can make His presence felt in an instant.

Under seige

To a lot of South Africa's it seems as if our nation is under seige and the sad truth is that they are correct.  It is true, corruption, crime, unnecessary violence plague almost ever aspect of our lives and we really are sick of it.  There is a tide of change that is coming but for the most part it just feels too slow. 

But that is exactly how God's justice works, it is slow, very slow but when God decides to act it is with swift speed.  Why is that?  Well, it is because God wants to give every sinner the opportunity to repent. 

The devil uses all kinds of wicked ways to plunder and destroy, but God in His kindness uses grace and mercy to draw us to Himself.  His seige is one that works through the Holy Spirit, it is soft, it is quiet and peaceful and when we surrender to His love the greatest seige of all is complete, the seige of your heart.

Palony juice

My mother was quick to remind me of another one of my culinary faux pas. I was around 12 and we were living in Nelspruit. It was the Dippie year (story for another blog) and one particular day I wasn't feeling well. I was very, very nauseous. I had figured out somewhere along the line that Marmite helps to deal with nausea. I had taken a big spoon full of Marmite and sucked some off the spoon but just couldn't finish it, so I left the spoon in the fridge.

Something, and to this day I don't know what, had dripped into the spoon, I think it might have been milk. When I next returned for my next lick........yuck, it tasted like palony!!!! In my innocence I yelled, “Who put palony juice in my Marmite??!!” To this day I've never lived that one down. Bwahaha!

There are some mistakes that we make in life that are genuinely innocent. We truly do not understand at the time what it is that we are getting ourselves into. We say or do things that only once committed are seen to be big mistakes. It is easy for us to beat ourselves up about that, but God is a good God, He knows the intent and thoughts of our heart. In situations like that all we need do is show genuine sorrow for our error and He will forgive and forget those things quicker than we can even utter the word, “I'm sorry God!”

If you have faltered in your faith in any way, reach out to God today and ask for forgiveness. His everlasting love is only a heartbeat away.

Supper sucks

I was reminded of my 20's very quickly on Sunday night when I cooked a meal that totally sucked! Quite frankly I should have known better!! Now I'm not going to disclose the nature of my disaster but any rationally thinking human being would have seen that one coming. I think I did too but I was just being to stubborn to admit it.

Quite honestly I don't know how I ever survived my 20's. Most of my meals came from cans and when I did venture to cooking a meal, it often ended up in the bin. Back then the culprit was my heavy hand with salt, hence to this day I seldom cook with salt but prefer to add it in the plate.

Why I was being so stubborn in proceeding down a path I knew would end up in disaster I don't know, but I guess that's the moral of the story. How often in life don't we see our own mistakes staring us in the face before we commit them but we stubbornly proceed by kidding ourselves that somehow we will get a different result.

Eish peeps, let's wise up a little and just think twice before we jump!

Voooops it's gone!

This morning as I got into the elevator at work, my office tag that I hang round my neck got hooked on the elevator rail and slipped out my hand and flung back......and before I could even gasp....vooooops it was gone, down the elevator shaft!  Bwahahaha!

I think to myself, will I get to the end of my life and wonder...my goodness that all went so fast!  That also makes me realize that I really don't want to get to the end of my life wishing that I had done certain things that I could have done.  The time to act is now, no more hesitation. 

We really hesitate so often to truly live life and make the most of things, but we really should not.  Sure we may make some mistakes along the way but I would rather make mistakes while taking risks and achieving something than sitting in a safe zone and hating every minute. 

Come join me will you, let's make this life amazing!

Is it possible?

I ask myself, is it possible to live an ordinary life and still achieve something extraordinary for God?  Well that would probably depend on your definition of extraordinary.  If you are thinking wowzer amazing, out of this world....then you may be disappointed. 

If however you are thinking, extra, as in more of and ordinary, as in normal, then you may be onto something.  That doesn't sound exciting does it?  Lol! Fear not.  Truth is that 'ordinary' ministry is quite exceptional.  Being willing to allow God to work through you when you often feel you have nothing to give but pushing on and giving despite your own fears.....well that is quite exceptional. 

Then being willing to give more of yourself, to give more than your fair share of ordinary ministry and giving with all your heart....well that is something quite extra ordinary isn't it. 

You may think I have nothing much to give, give it anyway and give more and more of just that and your ordinary life truly will be something extraordinary to God!

Discontented

I have been challenged this week about the meaning of contentment.  I must admit that in all honesty I actually don't think I know the true meaning of contentment.  It seems that I am always striving for something more somewhere. 


I started asking myself the question, what is the danger with discontentment?  What I felt inside was anger, regret and frustration.  These are all traps the devil wants to lock us into.  When we are angry and frustrated we lash out at other people and do everything in our power to hurt them because we want them to feel the same pain we are feeling. 

Philippians 4:11 reads, "Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content."  The key word here is learned.  That means that by careful consideration about the things we are discontented about and bringing them to God and asking Him for wisdom as to how to deal with them, we can then learn how to finally surrender those aspects of our lives to Christ and be content that what He teaches is is the path forward.  It is then, in that place, we can be content.  

I pray this week that you will draw near to God and allow Him to teach you, how to be content.