House and Home

In all the years that I rented space I was never really allowed to decorate the way that I wanted too because land lords don't really want holes everywhere. As a result I limited my collections to moveable decorations. When I bought my house however I knew instinctively that I did not want a bare and sterile space.

Strangely it has taken longer than I thought it would, but I actually have finally reached a point now where my home is filled with colour everywhere. I even have a few pieces of my own hanging on my walls now and one of my favourite spots is my heritage wall with all my family black and white photos hanging.

We decorate the walls of our houses to turn them into homes, but what do we do about making our hearts a place where the Holy Spirit can dwell? God desires to work in and through all of us and the greatest invitation we could give Him to dwell in us is a willing and humble heart. Even through life's darkest times if we are willing to open ourselves up to God, He will come and dwell within us and make us His divine and glorious home.

Age of Grace

It has been a very long time since I have experienced a season of not only frequently answered prayers but of grace as well where I feel that God is tending to my every need. I am so happy to be in a season right now where that is a reality. My new change in lifestyle is taking time to show all the results I want or need but I know in time I will figure things out.

To give a very recent example of God's grace in action, on Sunday I drove through to children's church. I was using props for my story so had one more package than normal and by mistake I forgot to pack my laptop. Now this would have previously been a major catastrophe for me as I have come to rely heavily on my precalculated routine to keep the kids in check. What made matters worse is that I only discovered my carelessness when I was about to turn down the street my church is in, which is quite a distance from home, there was no turning back to fetch it.

Well, I quickly resigned myself to my fate (with images of little hooligans running amok), so I figured I was going to have to dig deep and improvise a smart solution fast. Imagine my surprise when I walked into the venue and there was music and videos already playing and I could see a brand new PC in full swing. To top it all, our lesson was saved there too. God had been gracious indeed! It meant that baring a few minor glitches I was able to pull it off and thoroughly enjoyed the lesson.

I have said it many times before....God answers our prayers...but His way! When we have faith in Him, He truly can do the miraculous and provide everything that we need. If your faith has been weak, draw encouragement from this story, God truly sees your need.

Just a little bit of murder

I absolutely love using my Kindle application and it never ceases to amaze me as to how many ebooks are sold on Amazon on promotion at rock bottom prices and also many totally free.  A while back I stumbled across 'Cold-case Christianity' written by J.Warner Wallace.  Mr Wallace is a seasoned homicide detective who claims to have been a solid atheist who met Christ at the very point of his skepticism.

He grew curious about whether or not a true case for the authenticity of the gospels could actually be verified.  Using his skills as a homicide detective and looking for all the 'clues' you would look at with a crime scene he has skillfully drafted one of the most powerful defences for the accuracy of the gospels I have ever read and seeing how he has managed to contrast homicide investigation with an investigation into the gospels is purely spectacular.  Okay there are few parts where the intense detail gets a bit boring, but push through that and the end result and image is mind blowing. 

The trick here is he used the same methodology as he did in his homicide investigation work so the question I have for you is, what skill do you have that you can use in a 'defence of the gospel'?  Every one of us has skills and talents that God has given us to glorify His name and His great desire is for us to use what we have in our hands to magnify His name. 

A state of being resigned

There are always a lot of emotions that you go through once you've resigned from a position. Some feel elation, others relief, others excitement or just pure joy. Whatever the state you may find yourself in it is clearly because a decision was made.

At a time of being resigned you feel in control and as though you have direction and focus and at least for the short term you feel that you have clarity about life. But why is it that we only allow ourselves to feel this way when we have done a resignation? Shouldn't we be capable of having clear and constructive thought about our future more often than that?

For the last three years, at the beginning of the year, I have chosen an animal to represent the direction that I want my life to take and so far it has been spot on target and my life has followed a pattern I chose at the beginning of the year. 2015 was the year of the Dinosaur and breaking old barriers. 2016 was the lion (or lion heart) year, and with the loss of my little lion, that as certainly true, but it was also a year to be brave. This year 2017 has been the Eagle year, a time to rise to new challenges and soar to new heights and I can see now that I am certainly on track for completing that by the end of the year.

Are you often indecisive about what to do about life and the challenges you face? Do you find it hard to find peace and clarity? If so ask the Holy Spirit to help you to be brave and to make some decisions and to be clear about what you want for your life. When you do that and you are able to make the right choices, you will be able to experience the joy that comes from “being resigned”.

He lead me by....still waters

Today, after nearly 8 ½ years at the bank I tendered my resignation. The decision was prompted by a number of factors, but the most pressing of these being my absolute hatred for Jo’burg traffic. It has been the most painful part of my life for almost a decade as my previous job was in Sunninghill as well.

It took literally hundreds of online applications to produce just a handful of interviews. As I look back now I realize that with each interview, God was bringing me closer and closer to home, but somehow with each one the fit just wasn't right. While on leave these past two weeks I had responded to an advert and was called to submit my documents and then later attend the interview. I couldn't believe my eyes when I found out the office block was just behind Clearwater mall, which is really a stones throw away from where I live.

But to tell the full story I need to back up about 10 to 15 years to when I was still attending Rhema Bible Church, I had been to see a counsellor about a matter and during the course of our one session she prophesied that she saw that God would lead me to still waters. This image resonated with me so greatly that when I created my blog page and had my blog business cards designed, I chose images of still waters.

Back to present day and during the course my interview I took notice of the rather large mural in the board room with an image of bubbling ocean waters. When I enquired if the image had any special or significant meaning to the business owners their response was, “Nothing in particular, but just that they liked the image of.....still waters.” After many other indications during the interview, this was my final cue, that indeed God had planned this meeting many, many years ago and that he was now leading me...by still waters!

Once again God has been gracious enough to allow me a mountain top experience where I can look back and know that though I do not always understand God's plans and often question His work in my life, He has indeed been guiding me through every little step I take and as I surrender my decisions to Him and allow Him to guide me, He will lead me into His perfect will for my life.

I pray this testimony will encourage you to seek God's will and submit your decisions to Him and allow Him guide you every step of the way.

A new season – a fresh start

So I took a short sabbatical from writing but it was oh so necessary! Like many perennial plants I needed a season of complete end in writing to reboot. What aided this process has been my annual leave that I have just finished now and Monday is back to work.

God has spoken clearly and He has ordained that the next few months will be months of change and new beginnings and I cannot wait to share these experiences with you. God has stamped His mark clearly on this process and there is no doubt or no turning back.

I know there will be many challenges that lie ahead but there will also be great joys. After ending my season of grief after Honey passed, God has now blessed me with a season of joy and thanksgiving. I have prayed for a special anointing to rest over my writing as well in the months ahead. I may face a times of frustration with technology or other complications but I am praying that these will be minimal.

My hearts great desire right now is to get back to a place where writing will be more frequent and that it will once again be a blessing to my readers and I hope that you will join me on this journey.

44 but who's counting?

Wow! Mid 40's already. I never would have thought it would happen this fast. 7 August is my birthday and I have a little game I've played with the numbers of in my birth date: 07/08/1973. If you split the numbers into groups of 4 with a separator in between (for convenience an =) an interesting scenario appears, let me show you.

0 +7 0+8 = 1+9 7+3

7 + 8 = 10 + 10

15 = 20

1 + 5 = 2 + 0

6 = 2

6 + 2....... = 8

I might have lost a few of you, but never mind too much. No matter what arrangement I place the numbers in I always end up with either an 8 or a 7. Quite bizarre!

But what is the significance in all of that? I believe God is very specific. At this point in my life I am not at the place in life that I want to be personally, but I do believe that God has a divine plan for my life and that one day it will all make wonderful balanced sense. God is very precise about numbers.

One of my best friends dad passed away last week and I mentioned to her that her dad really was a brilliant business man....and he closed out of the life business, precisely at close of business on 31 July.... That certainly does not surprise me. We love him and miss him dearly.

Every day in our lives is unique and special, even when we don't see its significance and beauty.

As I celebrate my birthday this 07/08/2017 (Lol - More 7's and 8's) I choose to believe in God's wonderful plan for me. Will you join me in having faith for your life too?

P.S. And 44? 4+4=8 Go figure!