What a Woman #Two

I wonder what you would think if you heard me speak today. Would I make sounds that you'd consider helpful? Gracious? Kind? Wise?

This mouth of mine can get me into all sorts of trouble. Sometimes I gossip...telling people things they do not need to know, things I do not have permission to share. Sometimes I use words meanly...to have a go, dig, put someone in their place. Sometimes my words are dark...I whinge, complain, swear, make fun, criticise. Sometimes I just use too many words....preferring the sound of my own voice rather than taking the time to listen. Sometimes I talk over others, or butt in. Sometimes, it's not the words that do the damage, it's the way I say them. I speak in anger....annoyance....frustration. I yell at the silly driver who failed to indicate. I raise my voice to the wrong people.

How about you? Do you ever find yourself regretting what you just said? Wishing you could take it back? Or do you ever kick yourself for using THAT tone?

It's likely that the woman of excellence we read about in Proverbs 31 had a few 'ooopps' moments with her words, but verse 26 suggests she used her words well...often. She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue.

What a nice idea...to be a woman who speaks with wisdom. What a powerful idea....that my words would be wise, impacting for all the right reasons and in ways that help, not harm. Words that encourage and comfort. Words that communicate hope, joy, love and bring peace. I want that to be the case for my words...and it can be.

The Bible also says that out of the heart, the mouth speaks (Matthew 15:18). So it's logical to assume that if my heart is dirty, upset, cold.....my words will be unclean....unhelpful.

So my new goal?  To make it a priority prayer each day to bring my heart to God and ask for Him to clean it. And then, ask for His wisdom to fill it, so that when I speak, wisdom will be heard.

I do like the sound of that.

Australia...The (VERY) Lucky Country

A little late I know...but at least it's still in the week that we celebrated Australia Day.
Here's just a few reasons why it's great to celebrate being residents of The Great SouthLand. Thanks for that privilege God!

Infant Mortality: PNG - 44.59 deaths/1000 live births
Australia - 4.67 deaths/1000 live births

Life Expectancy: Afghanistan - 44.65 years
Australia - 81.72 years

HIV/AIDS Prevelance Rate: South Africa - 18.1%
Australia - 0.2%

Literacy Rate: Bangladesh - 47.9%
Australia - 99%

GDP/Capita: Zimbabwe - $400
Australia - $41, 000

Blessed to be a blessing! Be grateful for it and live it!

P.S. For more interesting (and visual) comparisons check out these pics

From Genesis Again...Crazy Families!

Oh......My.......Goodness!!!!!

Deceit. Pride. Favouritism. Selfishness. Jealousy. Disobedience. Murder. Pain. Rage. Nastiness. Affairs.
The families whose stories we read in Genesis had it all...and more!

Sarah thought she'd never have a baby, so she gave her servant to her husband and then got jealous of the servant and treated her terribly.
Rebekah favoured one son over the other and helped him deceive his father and steal the family blessing.
Rachel stole from her Dad.
Cain murdered his brother.
Lot offered his daughters to evil men.
Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers who then proceeded to lie to their father about what had happened for years and years and years.
Tamar pretended to be a prostitute and slept with her father-in-law.
Laban tricked his son-in-law Jacob with the wrong wife at the wedding.
CRAZINESS!!!!

Makes me so grateful for my family.

And makes me realise that no matter how crazy things are or get in my family, God can still work His incredible plan and purpose for us, IN SPITE of us:))

Because it was from the line of Adam (who disobeyed God)...and Abraham and Jacob (who made more than a few mistakes) and Tamar and Judah (who received honourable mention above) that Jesus comes to us.


And it is through Him that we join an amazing family...of saved sinners and an awesome heavenly Father. CRAZINESS!

What a Woman #One

Mask worn to protect the identity of the innocent:)

I am a woman....hope that statement doesn't come as a shock to anyone.
I am a woman desiring to live life the way God wants me to live it. A worthy life goal if I may say so myself.
I am a woman who fails frequently in achieving said goal. Hmmmmm...obviously I am a work in progress, so in 2011....let's keep the building project moving.
I especially feel like I fall short when I read about the 'woman of excellence' in Proverbs 31. 'What a woman' that one is.

So in the hope of inspiring myself on in this goal of living a God-pleasing life, I thought I'd tackle blogging a series of posts on some of the different facets of this woman in Proverbs 31. Perhaps I will see areas where I need to lift my game....perhaps there will be some where I am succeeeding....perhaps.... Won't you join me?

A theme I have mentioned of late in other posts, is the role of a wife. Created by God to be a helper (one who 'complements') for Adam, Eve had a special God-given role.

So do I. I am to 'bring my husband good.' (Proverbs 31:12) I do that by....speaking highly of him to others.....showing him respect in my words, tone, actions....allowing him to lead.....encouraging him......being a willing lover.....doing the washing, cooking, cleaning, ironing, etc (with a smile:)).....giving him a head rub or back massage.....being his TA when he is replacing termite eaten skirting boards ......watching an action movie with him (even though I prefer comedies)......going willingly into his arms when he asks for a hug, even though I was in the middle of something.....making his lunch.....finding the icepack out for the green ant bite.....booking the holiday accommodation....staying within the budget he's organised when I go shopping........preparing a cold drink for him after he's mowed the lawn......praying for him every day.....thanking him for all he does to protect, provide and love our family.....

The other kind of wife is the one mentioned elsewhere in Proverbs. She is the one who makes life difficult and painful. Proverbs 12:4 - ....a disgraceful wife is like decay in his bones. Proverbs 19:13 - a quarrelsome wife is like a constant dripping. Proverbs 21:19 - Better to live in a desert than with a quarrelsome and ill-tempered wife. Hmmmm....NOT the kind of wife I want to be. Nor the kind of wife my husband deserves.

For our wedding, we wrote our own vows and J said in his that I was his crown. At first I didn't really know what that meant. But as I read Proverbs 12:4 - An excellent wife is the crown of her husband..... and thought about it, I realized the immense value and the incredible importance I have as my husband's wife. When I do him good, I am like a crown. I am a treasure. I make him feel important....like royalty. I help him to live well and bring him honour and pride.

But when I am selfish and look only to meet my own needs, I am more like a ball and chain. Hmmm.... wonder which one I'd prefer to wear?

A no-brainer question there. So that should make the decisions I make every day regarding my attitudes, words and actions towards my husband that much clearer and easier.

Simply put....Today (and every day), I need to do him good.

From Destiny Rescue

Love the work these guys are doing. Hard to imagine the life of these kids but thank God for the DR team. Keep up the great work!

Another one bites the dust... We just got word from our team in Mozambique of another rescue and us catching the dirtbag abusing the child... A bit of background... Young Tina lived with her 2 little brothers, her mother and her father. Her father has been an alcoholic for the last 10 years and rather than being a support to the family he has been drinking away money that should have been used to care for the family. Tina's mother began a friendship with a man that said he would support the family. The mother would cook meals for the man as part payment for his support. One night the mother told Tina to take a meal to the man's home, Tina asked for her brothers to come with her as they did in the past, but the mother told her she had to go on her own... and as you will see there was a good reason, or should I say a bad reason why Tina's mother wouldn't let her brothers go with her... she knew exactly what was in store for Tina that night... As good girls do, Tina did as she was told and took the meal to the man, he told her to bring it inside and once she had placed the food down he grabbed her and raped her. When the man had finished abusing her Tina ran home in tears to tell her mother, the one person she thought she could count on to protect her, but instead of reporting him to the police, the mother began to extort money from him... This was the beginning of Tina's nightmare... A little while later the mother got sick and died, Tina and her little brothers stayed in a small abandoned room in the hospital. Destiny Rescue got word of Tina and her brothers and went and brought them to one of our safe homes... As soon as Tina told us what had been done to her we went looking for the man who had been abusing her. Word of us coming travelled fast to this man and he saw our staff coming in the distance and made a run for it. With a passion to see this man brought to justice one of our staff (Mike) took off after him and tackled him to the ground. The two men wrestled on the ground until Mike overpowered him... now one of my favorite parts of this story is as Mike has this scumbag pinned to the ground he tears off his t-shirt and ties his hands behind his back and then proceeds to drag him off to the police station. He is now awaiting trial and sentencing... I love it when abusers are served justice, we are hoping for a long and uncomfortable period in prison, a sentence that will send a message to other likeminded predators. Well done Destiny Rescue Mozambique!

Ahhhhh....LIFE!!!

The best things in life are the nearest: breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of God just before you." (Robert Louis Stevenson)

Thanks God for breath.....it is the fuel of my physical life. I am blessed to live in a country with clean and fresh air....ask our friends D and E about the lack of that in Vietnam and you'll soon appreciate what we have. I can breathe freely on my own and my body does all it should to turn that oxygen into what I need.

Thanks God for hope and delight....they are the light in my eyes. Love shines there too. And may what lights my eyes, bring a gleam of gratitude to my heart. And a ray of hope to others.

Thanks God for flowers.....for your magnificent creation made just for us. Thank-you for the full moon and for the light refreshing rain. Thank-you for the passionfruit growing on the vine and the frangipani's fragrance. Thanks for my darling little boy's blue eyes. And for the rolling green waves at the beach. Thanks for seahorses and fluffy chickens. And for snowy peaked mountains and crystal clear streams bubbling over smooth stones. Thanks for cascading waterfalls and wispy clouds. I could go on and on and on...but you get the idea I'm sure.

Thanks God for duties at my hand....I have work to do and the ability to do it. Thanks for the work I have to do at home to look after my husband and my son. To care for our home. Thank-you for the opportunity to minister in a school. To spend time with vibrant teenagers and encouraging colleagues and get paid for it! Thanks for a job that offers variety and challenge and allows me to be creative and have fun. And thank-you for the joy of working so closely with people and having opportunity to make a difference in their lives, every day.

Thanks God for walking with me.....for guiding, directing, purposing and planning my path. Thanks for your Word and the advice it offers in living life well. Thank-you for family and friends to walk the path with. Thanks for the Holy Spirit's joy, comfort, strength and counsel to make the walk do-able and more than that, exciting! And thank-you for caring about me so much that you would bother with all of this.

Will you take a moment RIGHT NOW to pause and to say 'thanks' to God? Thank Him for the 'best things in life' and then....comment below, telling me 3 of your 'bests.' Thanks and God bless you!

From Genesis 5

How timely that I read about Noah and the flood just days before the Qld flood disasters last week. In the midst of the mess, I had firmly in my head the picture of the rainbow and God's covenant with us....He will never again send a flood that will wipe out all living things. So even in the midst of sadness and loss, there was still hope. Hope in a good God who always keeps His promises.

And another thought from Genesis 5 is about the life of Noah himself and the example he is to us. We are told that Noah was a 'righteous and blameless man who walked with God.' He 'did everything just as God commanded him.' How hard that must have been for Noah. In many ways.

The work he was called to do was physically demanding. Long days...heavy work....splinters. You can imagine the sweat, the aching muscles and weariness at the end of the day. Yet he kept on going....there was a job to do.

It was emotionally demanding work. Noah was facing the unknown. Having never even seen rain, he was being asked by God to prepare for a 40 day and night downpour. He was facing a future that seemed clouded and unclear. And he was leading his family into the unknown. Yet he kept on going....all the while trusting in God and living in obedience to the call God was making.

It was socially demanding. Noah was questioned and ridiculed by his friends and strangers. He faced isolation and ignorance. He was not popular and his work, his values and his life were not admired or accepted. He was misunderstood and he was alone, apart from his immediate family and of course....God. Yet he kept on going.....realising that 'God + me = a majority.'

Trust and obedience. They are to be the obvious hallmarks of anyone who calls themselves a 'Jesus follower'. And while for you, they may not look anything like they did for Noah (I assume none of you has an ark taking shape in the backyard!) the command of God is nevertheless on our lives. Today He is calling us to be His earthly ambassadors. He wants us to love others...unconditionally. He desires for us to care for the poor. He needs us to help our husbands....cherish our wives......teach our children. His commands challenge us to be wise stewards of our finances and our time. He wants us to make wise choices about what we eat....watch...read....say. And He has specific jobs and ministries for us to be involved in.

Sometimes, He ups the ante with His call on our life. He may be asking us to care for an elderly parent.....walk through the trial of sickness or injury.....raise a child with a disability.....clean-up after a flood.....live with the grief of loss......endure the ill treatment of a work colleague.....keep on loving an unlovely spouse.....

No matter the circumstances or situation, God desires our trust and our obedience....but He never suggested that either would be easy. Some of what He asks of you may be physically demanding. Some may be socially or emotionally demanding. But like Noah, we can keep on keeping on. Because the reward will be great. Like Noah, I want it said of me....s/he 'found favour in God's eyes.' Don't you?

From Genesis 1-12

As I read thru the Bible again this year, I am going to try and keep an online journal (of sorts) with a few thoughts from what I read. Perhaps some of my thoughts might be relevant to you too...I pray that may be so....at least on some of the days.


As most of us know, the first book of the Bible - Genesis - is about origins or beginnings. But have you ever thought about what it is the beginning of? It's not just the beginning of the world, although there is that remarkable account of an awesome God planning and creating this magnificent universe. And to think, all He had to do was say it and it was...and it was GOOD!


So Genesis is also the beginning of life. It tells us how we got here. Life - including humankind - was created by a loving God. Logically then, life is precious. It is a gift. It is to be revered and valued. And we are to be grateful for it and thoughtful in how we treat and use it. The early chapters of Genesis remind us that we have been created in God's image...the only part of His creation that can claim this. I hope that as I live my life today, I reflect even a part of His amazing character.


Genesis tells of the beginnings of marriage....Adam and Eve together as a God-ordained couple. And a definition of what marriage should look like: Genesis 2:24 - For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. And we are also given the principles for a successful marriage.....walk daily with God and wives, be a helper to your husband. Someone who 'does him good.'


The early pages in the Bible also reveal other beginnings, not all good. There is the beginning of sin, as Eve and then Adam disobey God. They chose to live life - this life given by Creator God as a gift - on their own terms. And the result? Separation from Him and a legacy of sin and separation for all generations to come. The beginning of judgement....God cannot abide sin and as a just God, He needs to deal with it. And as we know from Romans, the 'wages of sin is death'.


But how incredible that Genesis also is the beginning of grace. God has made a way for us to be forgiven, reunited with Him and able to live life without fear of eternal death. And finally, we can read about the beginnings of covenant....solemn promises God makes with Noah and Abraham. Promises that still impact us today and particularly relevant as flood waters continue to rise and fall. (see: Genesis 9:9 and on)


To me though, one of the best bits about the book of beginnings is the fact that it tells us that God had no beginning. He always was and always will be. Beyond time and space, God existed....always. He is not limited in any way. He is limitless. Infinite. Exceptional. And He is the One in whom our hope and trust can find the firmest and most secure and fulfilling foundation. I have a small grasp of WHO He is and who He is makes all the difference when I consider WHO I am. A simple, but astounding, concept I heard at a conference once is 'Because He IS, I AM.' If God was not, then neither would I be. If God did not exist, I would not exist. Just a little reminder that you and I are not here by accident. There is a plan and purpose to our existence...and it's not just for the here and now, but for an eternity.


Finally, Genesis: it is the story of a good God and His good creation. It tells of man's role and outlines sin and its effects. It is the story of hope as we read about God reversing those effects and providing a future. Yes Genesis is about origins...but it is also about our destiny as well.....and when we faithfully walk with our Creator, that destiny looks VERY GOOD. 


(Credit where credit is due.....thanks to the Bible Society's Women's Devotional Bible for ideas for this post.)

Beginnings

As we start a new year, some people nearby are having to start a new life. After the floods comes the clean-up then the challenge and adventure of starting again. Sadly for some, the new start is without people and possessions they treasure. And so this week, rather than blog, I continue to pray. My prayers today are for all those who have lost loved ones. I read a couple of victim's stories this morning and the tears ran and my heart ached. So I pray. I pray for the ones who survived. I pray for comfort and peace.....for strength and courage....for friends and family to encourage and support.....for memories of happy times to stay strong and alive.....and for hearts that are broken to, in time, be healed.

What can I say?

There really are no words to express how sad I feel right now.
So to all involved in the flood dramas that have been....that are happening right now....and will happen in the coming hours, days and weeks....I am praying for you.
And even though I hardly know what to pray, I am simply asking that Almighty God stays close, in control and proves Himself to be real to you.
Stay smart and safe. Be strong and courageous, for He is with you.
xo
K

The New Diary

I was so excited last week as I wrote in my new diary. Not a diary/journal, more a planner. So as I planned and put in all sorts of dates like birthdays and to do lists and dinner ideas and my weekly prayer for J, I was filled with a real sense of anticipation and excitement for the new year.
This is a special diary too, in that it has Bible verses and quotes for each week to inspire and encourage. Last week's quote was from Joseph Barnby: "When morning gilds the skies, my heart awaking cries; May Jesus Christ be praised." How appropriate, I thought. As a new day starts, my thoughts should turn to Jesus. As a new year starts, my focus should be on Him. Each new day brings opportunities to spend in His presence - learning, growing, changing, being refreshed. And He is so worthy to be praised...no matter what! No situation or circumstance changes His goodness. All those great thoughts filled my heart and made me feel lighter.


Then....reality struck! Since reading that quote and having all those marvellous thoughts, my circumstances have changed. Almost overnight baby j morphed from an angelic little baby boy, into a screaming, sleepless terror. And sadly, the circumstances got to me. I too, became a terror....a sleep deprived, frustrated, sobbing, short tempered terror. I became a me I do not want to be. A me that my husband is not blessed by. A me that is not the best parent for my little boy. A me who does not reflect God's goodness and grace.
But the incredible Jesus Christ IS to be praised. It is because of His grace that I can hope that things will change....and they have. j has settled somewhat, that's true. But I have changed. As I crawled back into bed after sleep interruption #3 early this morning I hid myself under the sheet and I prayed. As I climbed out of bed this morning I thought about Jesus and I prayed. As I write this now, I am praying. And my prayer is not for smooth sailing and for j to be perfect and to sleep....it is for me to more like this Jesus Christ.

Happy New Year

 

Hi all! I am back...briefly.
Hope you are safe and dry and 2011 has started well for you my friends.
It has been a somewhat challenging beginning to the year for me, but my challenges pail into insignificance when I consider the poor people to my north and south who have lost so much in the floods.


As I do think about 2011 and those words "Happy New...." I think about what makes life 'happy' and what 'new' things I would like to see and do and be in 2011.
Happiness is not a goal of mine, although joy is. To be grateful and content, no matter the circumstance is to be joyful. I want to live my life like that this year.
And in order for that to happen, some 'new' work needs to be done in my life by the only one I trust to do the job well....God. So I am offering myself up to Him again (which I will need to continue to do moment by moment) and asking Him to continue to do His good work in me and through me.
And for those of you praying a similar prayer for 2011, may God answer you in fresh and wonderful ways.


PS. I have added a new page to the blog...'About Me'. I just want to reassure anyone who visits this blog or reads the posts, that they are written by a regular girl who is walking with an incredible God. And it's only by His enabling that I am able to put words to the page or be anything like His Son. And btw, I have just yelled at the computer in frustration and snapped at my husband:( Classy girl that I am:(