Just passing through or enjoying the journey

The other day a friend saw an image of me sitting on a fast train. It was an express train, travelling at speed through the countryside without stopping. I was enjoying the journey.

As I've thought about the image over the last couple of days I realised how true it is of my life.

I'm really enjoying it! I long for the day when I will live eternity in God's presence praising him. In the meantime, I'm really enjoying my life.

There are ups and downs, times of trial and joy, but in essence I'm excited by what God is doing in this present age. I'm excited by my life. I know there's a lot more to do and see but for the present time - I love living here and now.

The greatest lie

I think one of the greatest lies that Satan tells today's christians are that we are not important enough for him to be bothered with us. Satan will do his utmost to prevent us from doing God's will. We need to acknowledge his interest in our lives and come against him with the authority given to us through the blood of Jesus.

I've had a rotten day at work. I've been so near to tears on many occassions and at other times I've succumbed. Satan has robbed me of my joy, peace, self-control and I've let him!

Yes I have the victory, but on a daily basis we all sin. We make mistakes, say wrong things, do wrong things, think wrong things. We go about our daily lives wanting to live God's way yet not asking him whether what we're doing is actually what he wants us to do. We assume that because we're not planning on sinning, what we're doing must be God's will. We have the audacity to assume we know what God wants us to do.

Jesus spent hours every morning in prayer. Now we can assume he was just having a chit chat with his Father, or spending time praising him. But isn't it more likely he was spending that time asking his Father what his will was for that particular day. Seeking information about who he should spend his time with, which relationships he should cultivate, where he should go. He knew when to heal and when to cast out demons. Yet we often just blindly pray for healing without asking God whether a sickness is a sickness which will bring glory to God, or whether it is a sickness brought about by demonic powers.

Satan is determined that we will not have the power and the victory that Jesus had. When we sit passively whilst people around us are crying out for God, when we don't speak up for justice, when we don't speak or pray or heal for fear of what the other person will think, or for fear of failure - then we are listening to satan's lies and not God's truth. When we don't act because of fear, we are sinning.

My bad day has been caused by my own sin. I have wallowed in fear, frustration and anger and it's prevented me from living the victorious life God has planned for me. Instead of allowing the things that have come against me to show God's victory I've allowed them to destroy my day.

I'm glad I've got a heavenly Father who loves me despite my failings. I'm glad I've got a heavenly Father who will forgive me my failings. I'm also glad I'm beginning to acknowledge that when I allow the bad to cause me to be negative then I'm allowing satan to come in to my life and steal what God has given me. My joy, peace, patience, self-control etc have been taken because I've allowed them to be. My repentance will restore God's glory in my life and cause me to worship my awesome heavenly Father.

I've had one of those annoying days when I've not really felt I've achieved much.

It started early, when I logged on to the net and chatted with my mum in Spain. I told her about my husband, Ian, being ill and she said I needed to get him checked out. Checking out has taken most of the day and resulted in him being admitted to hospital pending further tests. I'm now at home wondering where all the hours have gone, feeling lost because he's miles away in a hospital with no family around him and feeling frustrated because now all I can do is wait for the next batch of tests and their results.

I've done all I can do. Instead of allowing him to sit at home ill, I've dragged him off to get medical advice and I'm relieved that I haven't been wasting their time. The medics are concerned about his welfare too!

If I think about things sensibly, I've done nearly all I can. He's in good hands at the hospital. He's in better hands in God's care. I haven't done ALL I can do, as I still need to be praying. Praying for Ian, for the medics and the staff who are caring for him and praying for his brother when I phone him.

God holds us all when we go to him. He's our strength, our peace and our protector.

He's our creator and he know better than anyone exactly what is wrong with Ian's body and what is required medically to fix it. But my God is a God of miracles and I'm praying Ian will return from hospital without the need for surgery.

Awesome beauty

I was told the other week that I'm a worshipper. Now, in my eyes, everyone is a worshipper to some extent. In my case I was told that I can look at the beauty of a sunrise and it just causes me to lift my heart in praise and worship.

Well I have to agree! I just love God's awesome creation! The picture on this page was taken one morning as I drove to work. I was stuck behind a bin lorry collecting rubbish and had to stop, so I took out my phone and clicked a couple of pics. (Isn't technology great?)

The beauty of God's creation makes me stop and sing! When I walk on the mountain behind where my mum lives in Spain, I sing praises to God at the top of my voice.

Somewhere in the Bible it says that people cannot help but know God exists. All they have to do is look around at his wonderful creation. (I really must find out the reference and learn it!) To me it's the most obvious reason to believe.

I'm getting so frustrated!

I'm really being challenged at the moment about living every moment in God's will yet it seems an almost impossible task!

When I'm driving to work, I get frustrated by the drivers who sit close behind me trying to intimidate me into driving faster - and breaking the speed limit. Surely it isn't God's will for me to be frustrated? So I'm not living in his will at those times.

I get annoyed when other people leave my work space a mess for me to return to - I wouldn't leave theirs a mess, so why should they have so little regard for mine? Getting annoyed isn't God's will for my life.

After almost 9 months of no pain, my husband has been suffering a migraine for several days. Now this one is REALLY frustrating me! I know God has healed him. It hurts me to see him suffer, yet I fail to pray with faith for the pain to just miraculously leave his body.

Talking to my son on the way to his life group I mentioned these things. I said I don't believe we should be surprised when God heals, but rather surprised when He doesn't! Could you imagine how surprised Jesus would been if He spoke health in to a life and it didn't happen? And yet we're told we are to do greater things than He did.

I believe we are living in a time when miracles are happening on a daily basis, I'm just not seeing them on a daily basis in my life and I'm getting frustrated!

More than anything, I'm frustrated with myself because I'm not expecting them to happen!

Freedom!

There's just one word to describe how I feel these days - excited!

God's teaching me so much about living in His freedom, about claiming victory over Satan in my life and about living with God's authority in my life.

God is showing myself and many others the need to be aware of the plans of Satan to prevent us from doing God's will. Now don't get me wrong. I'm not saying Satan will win (he's already lost!), but we often listen to his lies when God gives us a task and so we fail to follow through God's plan. God's ultimate plan will never fail, but we often allow stumbling blocks to prevent us from moving on as quickly as we could.

By recognising our failings and admitting they are sins, we can go to the Father for forgiveness. This then places us into freedom and the release and excitement that comes through repentence is immense! We gain a power to live!

Prayer that releases freedom! What an awesome gift from our heavenly Father!

My Heart's Desires

Often when I think of God giving me my heart's desires I imagine the biggies. In reality it's the little things that make life great. The little things that I fail to mention to friends, and sometimes even family, that seem insignificant to anyone but me.

Yet often it is in these things that God shows me how much He loves me. I've been reminded about how special I am to Him twice in a matter of days.

A couple of days ago I mentioned to my husband that I haven't seen my mum for what feels like ages. Last September she underwent major heart surgery and was so ill before the operation that she died on the table BEFORE they began surgery! It took weeks before she was fit enough to return home and she's seen a slow but steady return to health. Mum lives in Spain and so it isn't a simple job for me to just pop over to visit. I came home from work 3 days ago to be greeted by my son telling me to "Phone Nanny, she's coming over to visit." She's only coming over for a long weekend, but it's exciting because 5 months ago it was touch and go whether she would survive, and now she's fit enough to fly over and visit. But it's more exciting because the announcement came after I had expressed a desire to see her before our planned trip in August. God's given me the desire of my heart.

This morning I woke and had a yearning to chat to my son on the Internet. He's recently returned to the French Alps to ski and chef and I miss him when he's not in the UK. I thought about sending him a text message but know that it's expensive to reply and I hadn't had an email from him so felt he probably hadn't found an Internet cafe this year. I didn't mention any of this to anyone. This afternoon whilst on the Internet, Rob suddenly appeared and chatted. He's met up with someone he worked with last year who has a laptop and the guy was giving him to surf time. I was thrilled to be able to chat. I was more thrilled that God had once again given me my desire.

My family is very important to me and I would give them their desires if I believed it would be good for them. God has the same heart for me. These desires were beneficial, not just to me, but to the others invovled too. God has a family heart for His children. I am so thrilled that He loves me so much that he knows my desires, even the ones I don't tell Him about. He knows my desires and it pleases Him to give them to me.

I've woken in the night singing. Thankfully not out loud! I don't think my husband would have appreciated that!

I can't remember all the words to the song but the main jist is:

You deserve the highest praise
We can give - and more!
Lord we give you our praise,
That's what we came here for.

At present my mum is in hospital in Spain awaiting a heart by-pass operation. Yet we are at peace because we know she is in God's care, as well as the medics.

Despite the seriousness of her condition, the fact remains that God deserves the highest praise. I can thank God that this situation is now, just when we're due to fly over at the weekend for a week. I can thank God that she is in a country that acts swiftly. I can thank God that she is saved and experiencing His peace at this stressful time. I can thank God that he is who he is, he does what he says he will do and he loves us with an immeasurable love.

God deserves the highest praise we can give! And more! I love him!

Coventry

We moved to Coventry in February and this week took the opportunity of a break from work to visit the city centre and be a tourist.

We wandered in to the centre looking for a place a friend had told us about to eat lunch. On the way we discovered Coventry's first cathedral - destroyed by greedy Henry VIII. My mind became confused because I thought the old cathedral had been destroyed during the war! I remember being taken to the new and old cathedrals as a child and this one didn't fit the bill.

During a delightful lunch sat in the sun I spotted the shape I remembered of the new cathedral building. So, after lunch we set off in the direction and quickly found both the present day cathedral and the bombed cathedral. I was amazed to discover that Coventry has had 3 in it's history!

I wonder if at any time these wonderful and immense buildings have seen spirit filled worship. To imagine a weekly meeting in these places with over 1000 people giving glory to God! What would the acoustics be like?

Woshipping God in an awesome cathedral or worshipping God in a converted cattle shed makes no difference to either God or the worshipper. But sometimes these magnificent buildings can act as a starting place for a pilgrim looking for the answer and finding it in a wonderful loving Father God.

A Servant Heart

I did a couple of VERY small favours for a friend and colleague yesterday and it got us talking about serving.

I remembered a previous colleague who had done a favour for someone. She had the attitude that now "he owes me." I remember thinking what a sad way to live. Only doing things for others because then you can get something in return.

The example Jesus set us is to be a servant. I love being able to do small things for others. I love helping others at work because it helps to relieve their stressful times. I never do it with an attitude of "now they owe me".

Yesterday my friend said that God will bless me because I have blessed others. Satan whispers in my ear - "so you're only doing things for others to get God's blessings! You're as bad as the others!"

No! I love to serve! It's what I've been created for and when I'm fulfilling my purpose there is a peace and a joy which far outweighs any "pay back" friends or colleagues can offer.

Rooted in the Word

Searching on Biblegateway.com for references to "The Word", I found 359. 261 were in the Old Testament and the phrase was qualified by "The word of the LORD".

Of the many New Testament references quite a few were references to the parable of the Sower: Matthew 13:1 - 18, Mark 4: 1 - 20, Luke 8: 4 - 18. These 3 accounts of the Parable of the Sower also include Jesus' explanation. The fact that each of these gospel writers included this parable and also the explanation shows the importance of understanding the Word for our lives.

There are many people who hear the Word of God but who fail to acknowledge it in their lives and ignore what they have heard, others who like what they hear but don't allow it to take root (they don't take action to accept the word into their hearts), another group who hear the word and accept it, but don't live by it. They allow the worries or the pleasures of live to dominate their lives and eventually their lives take control, rather than allowing the word to control their lives.

The final group are rooted in the word. For this to happen we need to be reading the Bible and allowing it to feed us daily. I'm still guilty of not doing this. I need to take God's word and allow it to control my life.

Towards the end of May, Steve Peake came over to Coventry to speak on The Word. The golden rule for his family is "Whatever I see in the Word, I will do". They take the promises of God and apply them to their lives. It was a challenging message. I'd always thought that when I read James 1:22

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.


The verse referred to doing good works, looking after the poor, loving our neighbours etc. Steve showed me that "Doing the Word" also meant taking hold of God's promises and applying them to our lives. In order to live by God's promises we need to make every effort to read the Bible; when we find promises applicable to our circumstances, hold on to them; learn promises by heart in order that they can be recalled when problems arise.

God's word needs to be the foundation of our existance. It not only tells us how to live but also gives us the strength and ability to live. This is not a life of obedience to a list of rules as in the Old Testament, but a life of freedom.

Spending time with God is the best part of our lives, spending time in God's word is the doorway to God's presence. In the words of Matthew Ling - "The word is a dynamic place to meet with God".

City Gates

Just over a week ago, we heard about gates being the way into the city. In Nehemiah, a long list of people who worked together to rebuild the city walls of Jerusalem was given. The list included the name of the main man and the section of wall he rebuilt or the gate he rebuilt.

The text was used to challenge each of us on the different places that God has given us to work. For me personally, I was challenged by the Old Gate. Now I may be feeling old when everyone lovingly calls me Grandma (my daughter has recently given birth to my first grandchild), but it isn't an age thing.

The Old Gate was rebuilt by Joiada whose name means The Lord Knows. We were told that God knows the work we have done in the past and it was not in vain. The gate was also rebuilt by a guy called Meshullan, whose name means ally. God will be our ally if we go back and restart the work with His favour.

For me, this meant restarting the blog. I'm not sure if I've touched any lives by what I wrote in the past, but I believe my written thoughts will be a blessing as people touch base with the blog at some point in their lives. I will probably never know who or how this blog has helped them enter God's city, or even re-enter. I just know that God wants me to use it for his purpose.

Now I'd said I'd be talking about this week's word and yes there is a link. The next discipleship point was that Jesus called and the disciples responded. By writing this blog, I'm responding to the call of Jesus. It may seem a trivial way of touching lives, a safe haven as I don't meet face to face. But I believe that sharing my faith through this media will strengthen my ability to share my faith face to face as well as touching lives anywhere in the world.

Never Understimate God

I copied this from a diet web site I'm a member of:

Dwight Nelson recently told a story about the pastor of his church.He had a kitten that climbed up a tree in his backyard and then was afraid to come down. The pastor coaxed, offered warm milk, etc. The kitty would not come down. The tree was not sturdy enough to climb, so the pastor decided that if he tied a rope to his car and pulled it until the tree bent down, he could then reach up and get the kitten.That's what he did, all the while checking his progress in the car. He then figured if he went just a little bit further, thetree would be bent sufficiently for him to reach the kitten. But as he moved the car a little further forward, the rope broke. The tree went "boing!" and the kitten instantly sailed through the air - out of sight.The pastor felt terrible. He walked all over the neighborhood asking people if they'd seen a little kitten. No. Nobody had seen a stray kitten. So he prayed, "Lord, I just commit this kitten to your keeping," and went on about his business.A few days later he was at the grocery store, and met one of his church members. He happened to look into her shopping cart and was amazed to see cat food. This woman was a cat hater and everyone knew it, so he asked her, "Why are you buying cat food when you hate cats so much?"She replied, "You won't believe this," and then told him how her little girl had been begging her for a cat, but she kept refusing. Then a few days before, the child had begged again, so the Mom finally told her little girl, "Well, if God gives you a cat, I'll let you keep it." She told the pastor, "I watched my child go out in the yard, get on her knees, and ask God for a cat. And really, Pastor, you won't believe this, but I saw it with my own eyes. A kitten suddenly came flying out of the blue sky, with its paws outspread, and landed right in front of her."Never underestimate the Power of God and His unique sense of humor!!



I found this on a "get motivated" forum. I've been "trying" to lose weight for too long, but never really have the motivation. I'm officially "obese" and really need to lose weight, but I love my food too much. It's so easy to forget that God is interested in the trivia of our lives, which includes our eating habits. I've just realised that if I need to find the motivation for anything in my life, who better to turn to for strength, encouragement and support than my best friend, my father and what better counsellor and advisor can I need?

Discipleship

Today we were looking at discipleship and hearing that the word disciple is one of the most frequently used words used to describe Christians in the New Testament. The word Christian only actually occurs twice.

The first point of the meeting was that the disciples "came to Jesus"

Matt 5:1 Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.

Jesus walked away from the crowd but the disciples chose to follow after him. We make a conscious decision when we become Christians and we continue each day to make the decision - do I follow Jesus, or do I go my own way?

As Christians we should stand out as people who are obedient to the word of God, our daily lives should show that we are following Jesus in everything we do.

On my return to teaching I'm now working at a school 25 minutes drive away. During the journey I play praise cds which encourage a conversation between myself and my maker, my saviour and my guide. On non school days I rarely take the time to tune my life in to a conscious decision to follow Jesus that day. I'm hoping that by reflecting on my "Sunday notes" each day I will find a means to daily decide to follow the life that Jesus has for me.

New decision

I've decided to use my blog to help me to do something I've been meaning to do for years.

Each Sunday I conscientiously take notes in the meeting. I then close my notebook and never refer to them again. I've been prompted many times to make use of the notes during the week for my quiet times. Another rare thing!

Having also been prompted to return to blogging, I've decided to combine all three. I'll use my notes to meditate on during a quiet time of study and reflection and then I'll log my notes in the blog.

Now this becomes a scary thing to publish! Blogging will become my record and anyone who reads it regularly can challenge me about my times of reflection (or lack of them..).

I will add that they will be personal to me, that is that they will be a logging of what I believe the Holy Spirit is saying to me. They will not be comments which are applicable to everyone, but a personal logging of thoughts concerning my life and faith.

We'll see what follows....

Busy week

There's something about a Bank Holiday which leads people in the UK to do DIY. It's reportedly the time when there are more serious accidents in the home than at any other time.

Well Ian and I have been busy working on our kitchen and it's beginning to look fantastic!

When we bought our last house, we spent about 3 years completing our kitchen. We had fantastic large units, a good layout and an awesome, black granite/composite sink. It was my biggest reason for not wanting to leave! I joked from the day we fitted the sink that when we moved I'd take the sink with me.

Our new home did NOT have a good kitchen. The design was ok, but there was an area which I felt was wasted space. Soon after moving in my dad generously gave me a financial gift to "do those jobs you need to do after you've moved into a new property." We redesigned the kitchen and then went shopping for units and bought the same as previously - well we loved them! We did look at others but none pleased us as much. As for the kitchen sink? Well we've almost got the same one... This time we've gone for a full sink, rather than a bowl and a half. I've got a large wok and it won't fit in the dishwasher and wouldn't fit in the previous sink. Now having a large bowl I have somewhere to wash my wok!

Rob, my eldest son, worked hard over the last bank holiday weekend stripping out half the kitchen and replacing it with the new units. This week, we've had a friend around to do the professional part of the plumbing and a bit of rewiring and the carpentry side of the worktop cutting. Yesterday, Ian and I spent the day doing the finishing touches to the final units.

There's still the decorative part to do, the flooring, tiling and a bit of painting but apart from that it's a fully functional, working kitchen which is perfect!

One of my favourite promises of God comes from Psalm 37:4

Delight yourself in the LORD
and he will give you the desires of your heart.

One of the desires of my heart was not to lose my kitchen! God, as a loving father, used my earthly father to allow me to "keep" my kitchen after we'd moved house.

God cares for the little things, the insignificant things as well as the important things in our lives. He designed us to have abundant life, a life of fullness and joy. What appears to some as unimportant can be important to others and God knows what is important to each of us.

When Ian and I were first challenged to move house we thought we would be movin north of our home in Nuneaton. A couple of months later and we realised we were to move south to a city we were dreading living in.

Since the move I've not stopped thanking God! I love this place! I love the area, the house and the accessibility to everything we need for living. Now I can add to my list of thanks the return of my kitchen sink! and thankfully - no injuries!

Challenged!

I received an email today from someone who has read my blog. They asked why I hadn't blogged since Auust 2007.

I guess if I'm honest it's because I was in a bit of a stalemate. I won't lie and pretend I'm going on with God so rather than tell the truth about life I just kept quiet.

God has been challenging me recently to start writing again and the email has given me the extra push.

I've recently returned to teaching after an 18 month break due to stress. I know I'm doing God's will by returning and I am thoroughly enjoying being back in the classroom. By the end of the first week the school, through both staff and pupils, was giving me very positive feedback about my work and I'm extending my temporary contract till Christmas.

We finally moved house in February of this year and God has really blessed us with our new home. Ian and I dreaded the idea of moving to Coventry, but we are both so much happier here than where we were previously. God's peace is truly on this house!

If I don't blog again for a while - someone give me a nudge!

May today be a day of God's blessings for each one of us!

Getting Changed

Ephesians 4 : 17 - 24 tells us to put off our old selves, the way we think and act, and take on our new selves.

When the Holy Spirit enters our lives he enables us to change how we are. Not who we are, but how we react, how we think, how we interact with others.

The problem is, this isn't some instantaneous result of becoming a Christian. This is a conscious act we need to make. It's a daily, if not moment by moment, decision we need to make if we are to be effective for God.

The other day someone said something to me at work and I had to struggle with how my mind dealt with the comment. Eventually, after asking God to help, I viewed the comment from a totally different perspective and saw it as an opportunity not a threat.

This "new attitude of mind" that Paul talks about requires practice, daily decisions to do things God's way. We don't do this in weakness but, because Jesus lives in us, His Holy Spirit gives us the power and authority to live as God desires.

I've got a challenging day today - I'm going over to visit one of our customers with the MD. I've never done anything like this before and naturally I'm scared, unprepared and worried I'll let the side down. I thought I was just going to be sitting there looking efficient (hopefully) but yesterday the boss told me I'd be taking the lead at some point! Mega scarey! I've prayed, I've prepared and now I feel ready. I could still let the side down, but I know I won't let God down if I allow Him to guide me through the process.

If God has placed me in this job, he's placed me in this position today and it won't be to fail but to succeed! I know I can do this, I just have to put off my old self of condemnation and put on my new self as a child of the Living God. Whatever the company implications of today's visit, my role is to glorify God in everything I do and say. What a great opportunity!

Mimics

Eph 5:1

Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children.

How many of us have watched children grow and develop. It appears they develop their own personality, their own way of doing things. In many ways, each of us is unique. Yet each of us are imitators of those closest to us - for many - our parents.

10 years ago I visited my sister in Australia. She'd lived there for 10 years and had had little close contact with us for several years before. Mum surprised us with a visit part way through and one night we went out for a meal. Liz and Mum sat side by side and it was startling how similar they were. I'm not just meaning their appearance (although mum's hair was grey :-) ), it was their mannerisms.

We pick up little nuances, such as posture, fidgets, facial expressions etc without realising we're doing it. We pick up phrases and ideals without realising we're doing it. How many times as a child/teenager did I hear my mum say things which annoyed me and yet those very words and tones I use with my own children these days.

God wants us, as His children, to mimic Him. It's a bit hard just through reading a lot of Laws to know the Father - although King David's love for his Father enabled Him to know Him. God helped us by sending His Son, Jesus, as an example of how his Law is to be lived. What it means to live the way God intended us to live.

How often have young people been told "What would Jesus say if he saw you doing that???" When really they should be encouraged to think "What would Jesus DO in this situation?"

We need to be imitators of the perfect example. We need to be reading God's word, along with spending time with Him each day. That way, it's so much easier to become an imitator. We cannot imitate someone we don't know. We need to get to know God intimately if we are to have any hope of imitating Him like a child imitates his parents.

Ephesians

For the past week I've been going through Ephesians as part of my daily readings. I've been meaning to write about what I've been learning/what God is saying to me etc, but I haven't had the time in the mornings and I've forgotten what I wanted to write by the evening. (ooh that implies I've forgotten what God had said to me!) Anyway, here's today's thoughts from Ephesians 2: 1- 9

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,

made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions

—it is by grace you have been saved.

God chose to love me. His love for me is not conditional on my loving Him. His love for me is not conditional on my obeying Him. His love for me is not conditional on the work I do for Him. His love for me is not conditional on the work I do for Him.

God's love for me is a gift, freely given, that I may enjoy life, that I may propser and that I may life a life so full that I can only praise Him for his love and for all that I have.

Yes, there are conditions for following Him, but there are no conditions to receiving His love or for remaining loved.

His love is a gift He will never take away from me.