Four leaves over

If you love gardening the way I do, you'll know how exciting it is to watch plants grow. One such item I have been watching with interest all season is my pomegranate tree that I planted last year as a baby tree. My challenge to it all season long has been that I just wanted it to grow tall enough this year so that I can see its leaves over my garden wall as I arrive home.

Well, what do you know? It happened this week. As I pulled into my parking spot one evening I could just see four little leaves peering over the wall, you can imagine my joy. Funny thing is when you look at it, most of the growth has been and umbrella effect, it sent out one branch shoot, straight up....almost as if to say....”challenge accepted!”

Now imagine God's great joy when He sees us growing, not only in our relationship with Him, but in our faith levels and belief that He can and will do in our lives what He says in His word He will do.

I challenge you today to say to God yourself, “Okay God, challenge accepted!”

Distrust – Its a basket thing

So, I got it wrong. Tale goes back to just after Honey passed, I thought “Ginger” needed a new bed to help 'him' cope with the change. So I bought him the cutest burger bed and he could squeeze himself in and he really seemed to like it. Then along came miss Topaz, so I felt she needed one too. Problem was they did not have stock of that model so I had to buy another one which was slightly larger and did not close in front. No problem, I thought, I'll just cover it with a blanket. I therefore decided Ginger could have the new one and Topaz could get the burger bed.

Well did that plan backfire! Firstly, missy being a shelter cat at the time, had no need for being covered up so she kept jumping out and jumping back into the open basket. Then another kitty behind a blanket in another basket was just too much temptation and she pounced on it constantly. Well summer came and we were back to the old open baskets so all was back to normal, except that the winter beds are both on top of my one cupboard and he can manage to jump up there but she can't. Does she whine about that! Constantly wants to get on top just so she can lie in it too.

Okay, so now I'm thinking the only way to solve this problem is to get her one just like his. Got it......is she interested?....not a chance. Sigh! Then I got to thinking about what's the real problem here, besides the fact that I like spoiling my cats and wasting money on them, dah! I watched her behaviour and she jumps in, looks around as if to say, okay looks the same, but it just isn't mine yet, I don't trust this! Luckily we have some time before it really gets cold so I figured out a plan. I have put the new bed downstairs in her arrival bedroom and when I want her to get in it I just put her food inside and sit with her to get her to settle down and eat. I figure she'll be ready for it by the time its necessary (I hope).

In a cats world trust truly has to be earned and God knows it is no different with us when we first come to Christ and receive Him as saviour. That is why He will woo a new believer by making sure that they specifically see answers to prayers quickly, they experience healing at a fast past and many other things that we have to stand in faith for. Truth be told God never stops answering our prayers, I believe in time we loose our child like faith in Him and that is something we need to focus on again in our spiritual walk so that we can trust our Abba Father's arms just as easily as we did when we first came to Christ.

It truly is a matter of trust. Trust God today to lead you and guide you!

Sense of security

We live in a crazy world.  Just today another crazy incident in London has left us all terrified wondering what on earth has happened.  Last month I experienced a break in at our complex which left us all feeling vulnerable.  It seems as if there is no where that we can feel truly safe these days and safety in itself seems to be an illusion. 

Scripture is clear as to where we should be getting our sense of security.  Psalm 91 tells us that our dwelling should be in the Lord and that when we do take refuge in him He will cover us with His feathers in much the same way that a mother hen covers her chicks. 

The other day I was feeling a little vulnerable and as if God had forgotten about me in a particular situation.  When I opened my downstairs curtain the next morning a large feather lay on the patio (I'm guessing from a Hadidah).  I was instantly reminded of Psalm 91 and that God is my source of refuge.

Don't let fear grip you when things go wrong, read Psalm 91 and claim that portion over your own life.... and because we all need reminding I am copying a link for you to read it easily here below. 

Psalm 91

Lettuce galore

After a long lie in on Saturday morning, it was once again time for gardening so off I headed to Lifestyle. After a quick breakfast and checking the specials I started hunting for my stock. The specials had one item of interest being a Blueberry plant and seeing as my last one died, I was keen to try it again, but instead of planting it in the tyres it went straight to the front garden.

My next goal was lettuce galore. I can easily consume 2 lettuce's a week when I'm into my greens so it gets expensive. I was specifically on the look out for varieties that had loose leaves that I could cut out piece by piece instead of harvesting the whole plant as I think that will give me the best result. It didn't take long to find at least 4 trays that are worth the effort. To my surprise I found one other item of interest, a tumbling tomato. Now this particularly intrigued me as I have tried the regular tomato with disastrous results, i.e. my plants fighting for global domination and taking over the whole garden. Apparently this variety is bread specifically to grow in pots, so we'll see how it goes. Now the big fight will be to see who wins, me or the critters.

Only time will tell if I win or if I have to go back to the drawing board with these gardening ideas but I won't know unless I try. Growing spinach was highly successful but all I have to do now is get the right crop rotation going.

In our spiritual lives, believe it or not there are certain things that are bit of trial and error until we figure them out right. I have seen this often when ministering to people in the area of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. There were many people who told me they have tried before but it didn't 'work'. Well I certainly can't judge them for as to why, but the one thing I know it is learning to know that the Holy Spirit is a person who wants to be a part of your life and have a relationship with you and not just a once off experience that makes all the difference.

If something is missing in your spiritual garden, why not ask the Holy Spirit to introduce Himself to you and get to know Him first. I am sure that once you do that you will easily get to the point where you will very easily be able to pray, “Come Holy Spirit I need you. Fill me with the Baptism of your Spirit today and let me know the joy of your secret language of speaking in tongues.”

Wake me up

Well it seems as my phones get older the first thing I start having problems with are the alarms, or this could be a change in my meds....not sure but waking up has been a mission again. Well this time I have decided I am not going down without a fight, I have installed a separate alarm app as well as a wake up call service app....tee hee! I could have just employed mother to do the job again, but I hate bugging her with my problems...Lol!

Some times we need to be woken up spiritually as well. We can become complacent and hit snooze all too quickly and miss out on vital aspects of our growth that we need to be focused on.

If you need a wake up call, ask the Holy Spirit to come along side you and be your spiritual alarm system and help you to be focused on the growth aspects you need to take care of in your life.

Pretty people

Well now, I wouldn't exactly call myself a looker but I have been told I'm easy on the eye. The other day I was remembering a very cute, funny incident that happened in my late teens while I was living in Empangeni. I was attending a home fellowship meeting with my parents at a families home that had a young baby boy who was just beginning to talk.

The little one had been good all evening all be it active and it came time for prayer. While we were all doing our best not to be distracted and focus on our prayers, the little fellow sat pointing at us one by one and calling out, “people”. We all managed to carry on until he looked at me and pointed and cried out, “pretty people!” Lol! Bless his heart, well by then we were all giggling.

Amy Grant has a beautiful song from her early music career called, “She's got her father's eyes”. In it she sings about us being able to look at others and see the good and beautiful things in the people around us, rather than focusing on the negative. Well, I'd encourage you to do the same and when you look at someone, look at them and think to yourself....”Pretty people.!”

Ground zero

Lol!  A movie title for sure, but in this case it is much simpler than that.  I tend to get rather scatter brained, especially if I am tired and being a creature of routine and habit, I like to get things done around the house in a particular way.  So when my mind does wander off I have a little habit kick starter, I say to myself, "Start at ground zero". 

Ground zero in my house means start in the downstairs bathroom and check all chores in each room, ending in the kitchen where the final activity is washing dishes.  This little mind reorganizing trick really helps me.  I realized tonight that with all the changes in my life since Honey passed, my inability to get back into a proper writing routine was simply because I needed to find 'ground zero' for my computer routines as well. 

Do we ever need to re-set our faith in the same way?  Oh absolutely.  Life can come and hit us hard with storms, trials and grief and at times we feel we have absolutely no idea which way to turn.  That is when we need to go back to ground zero in our faith, which is the simple things, like just starting to talk to God on a regular basis.  For each of us ground zero will mean a different thing.

I pray that in whatever situation you may find yourself today, that today's message will help you to not loose heart and to simply return to the ground zero of your faith.