This week we’re losing our youngest, Beth, to Uni in London, but we’re gaining our oldest, Dan and his wife, Hanna. They’re planning to be here for a couple of months or so.

At the time of life that a lot of people at our stage of life are facing the Empty Nest Syndrome. We’ve been facing the prospect of the same too, although it’s not looking as though that will be happening soon. Facing an empty nest was a great way to see what Helen and I actually share in common and how we’d get on together in the absense of other people around us all the time. I’m glad to say we both like the idea – happy to have lots of others around us a lot of the time, but happy too with our own company.

I think it’s a good idea for couples to think about how it would be for them if there were no kids to give them common ground. if you think that would be hard, maybe it’s a good time to start working on your repaltionship; invest now for future rewards!

Here are a good marriage blog – simplemarriage.net

I have been looking at the generous nature of God – His wonderfully giving heart!……from Genesis onwards we can see how he gives…. life to Adam, authority over the earth, his wife, his land…we go on to see how God gives health, peace, rest, victory, wisdom… and there’s so much more!! God’s Nature is to give. John 3:16 – He gave His only son! When we accept Jesus into our lives… 2 Corinthians 5:17 says we are new creations! We are told in Scripture that we are made in the image and likeness of God!!… so… it seems to me that our redeemed nature is a generous one – a giving nature ! If we squash that in us by being tight fisted, holding onto “my” stuff… money, “rights” etc. then we are fighting against the new nature of God in us! So, in the light of this, there must be a real freedom, an “anointing”, as it were to be generous to others, to build the house of God, to live big lives and see that as Jesus gave everything for us , and because He is the Way,the truth and the LIFE…then as we allow theSpirit of God to rule in us …we LIVE! And we live life to the full!!
Today – live in the opposite spirit of the world… live the life of God … be generous, be a giver !!
Blessings!!

Hope Springs

Today is such a beautiful day – full of the hope of Spring!

Birds singing, the grass is looking greener, the sun is shining, my laundry is washed(!) and I can see some daffodils out at last!!
Such a day … allows you to hope!

I sometimes have thought that we don’t allow ourselves to hope! It’s as if we dare not allow ourselves the luxury of daring to hope that our dreams, our promises from God will ever come to pass in case we are disappointed.

Let me encourage you today – to dare to hope again – hope births faith and God has promised He will never disappoint us — we have that hope!

So get outside on a lovely day like today! – take some deep breaths and say to yourself – God is Good!… and allow your self to hope again.

So many seasons of life ….YET…. I just praise God for His YETs!!!
Tough days, recession times, challenges around us…. YET!!!
This passgae is a real encouragement to worship our faithful God in good times and bad . Put your trust in His goodness and faithfulness to you today! Look up and see His favour!

Be blessed and stirred to press on as you ponder this word. xxxxxxxxx

⁷ Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for it is now that God favours what you do. ⁸ Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with oil. ⁹ Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun- all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labour under the sun. ¹⁰ Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going; there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.

Live life to the full.

Ephesians 6: 5-8

Serve wholeheartedly – not as slaves who have to and get no reward, but as people who honour and love God in all they do.

So much depends on our attitude to life and its challenges … whether we serve “because we have to” or “as unto God”  makes a big difference!

(Luke 19 – Parable of the talents)

God does not ask us to be perfect in what we do, but to have an excellent spirit about us… doing things the very best we can!

Having the attitude that says… I can make something of my life… I can grow and develop in it!

Pictures of Bananas. One lot look really fresh and good

The other bunch – are not quite so appealing or attractive!

What is inside – may be just as good and delicious… but we are not particularly drawn to the bad bananas! In the same way, how we live and work, how we run church, our attitudes to people, the boss, our lot in life… can be as attractive, or as unattractive as the bananas!

What we do… in any sphere of our lives needs to be done well, needs to be done with the best of our ability. If we want people to treat Church seriously, we need to work to make it look good. Those of us in Church won’t notice much difference

Let our words not be, “I can’t be bothered”, but rather the willing heart that says “I’ll give it my best”

In a negative world – it is very refreshing to find people who will do whatever they do “with all their might”

Consider your life and how your attitude and “work ethos” is in the various areas of your life. Is it a “get by” mentality, “oh it’ll do” mentality or is it a passionate, ” I’ll lay hold of that for which Christ has laid hold of me!” attitude.

Ask God to help you change the way you think about things, that He would be honoured in our lives and we would attract people to Jesus because of our excellent spirit.

Job 1

We see Job as a righteous man … upright before God. He was very wealthy, Godly, and cared about the right things.

v.6:  God has a conversation with Satan and is confident that Job is undergirded with the principles that make a Man of God … it’s not “stuff” or blessings alone. Satan is given leave to test him.

Total disaster befalls Job… he loses everything… all of his livelihood, his workers and his children, but he blesses the name of the Lord and doesn’t blame God.

Job 2

He loses his health … yet despite his wife’s encouragement to curse God and die, he refuses to blame Him.

So how did Job respond to these very negative situations?

1.       He held to his integrity… he didn’t float about as he was well anchored in the things of God. When times are hard, we need to hold fast to God

2.       He reached despair… “I wish I’d never been born!”, but he faced the reality and acknowledged the situation. He wasn’t in denial, he was honest, about his situation – hard, but necessary!

3.       He confronted his fears! We do well to face our “Worst case scenario”. When we face the worst defeat the far of that, it no longer has a hold over us. See Job 2 v 5:  He faced his worst scenario and allowed God to be in it… What can God do for me in this … He looked to his Maker!

4.       He looked at God’s greatness and recognised the power, the mercy and grace of God even in this hardship. See Job 9 v 2.

5.       He realised his humanity in the face of GOD… recognised his distance from God and that he needed a saviour.

6.       He did not allow the “stuff” that was oppressing him to squash him or make him feel inferior, bitter or resentful. See Job 12.

7.       He recognised that God is full of Wisdom, Counsel and Understanding and that in God, he had everything he needed! See Job 12 v 13

Then we see Elihu, a young man who rose up passionately and roused! N.B. Sometimes our “young men” have a passionate wisdom about them that we need to listen to!

8.       God comes and simply asks, “Who are you and what can you do?” See Job 38 v 41

Job answers, v 3 – 6, I know you can do anything… and he responds by recognising that before he had just heard of God and His ways, but now, he had met Him!

Job’s breakthrough was when he surrendered to God. After that God was able to rebuild Job and his life. We need to daily surrender our lives to God and live out of His rebuilding work in our lives… quite a challenge “give up and let God!”

Whatever you’re facing, the most importand key to surrender it to the Lord. That’s the central message of the book of Job. Yet if you’re anything like me, it’s not the first thing you think of doing – panic; action; worry, etc. but how about crying out to God with the statement that “I’m lost without You”? He cares and be assured He has a plan to restore your life. In Job’s case, the letter part of his life was twice and successful as the first – once he totally surrendered the the Lord.

It’s so easy to over-complicate things. It’s so easy to make the Christian Faith so complicated… by putting conditions, ways, rules on church, issues, things that we don’t fully understand – we wrap up in complicated discussions and arguments . We try to justify our “point of view” or our “opinion” and life gets full of head issues!Jesus kept things simple, e.g.:

Follow Me
Seek first the Kingdom of God and all these things will be added to you
Abide in me and I in you and you will bear much good fruit
Do to others as you would have them do to you
I am with you always – to the end of the age.

Why is it that we read in to things, motives behind what others say, or do?
God gave simple instructions in Micah 6: 8
“He has shown you, O man, what is good;
And what does the LORD require of you
But to do justly,
To love mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God?”

Simple – do this and live!!
Look at them in reverse:

1.    Walk humbly with your God –what does it mean to walk humbly?
Not being proud or arrogant – but accepting God’s opinion of us!
Simply put it means believing, saying, doing what God says… what He says about you – you are loved – I believe it, You are worth dying for – I believe it,
Called, precious, able, strong, filled with His power….
As we live out of what God says about us we simply become those shining lights that shine in a dark world… just live out of His Word.

2.    Love mercy – well that’s easy – we all love mercy we need it so much – for God to be merciful with us – full of loving kindness and kind in His dealings with us – wonderful …”chessed” (Hebrew).

His mercy drew us to Him, gave us His grace and helped us come through… and does when we fall. Full of mercy – so kind. But what about us – do we love to be merciful to others….or are we quick to get our penny’s worth of revenge? When they said the wrong thing, didn’t do or live out of our expectation of them… are we merciful to them, or do we slate them (maybe not always to their face) for forgetting, doing it again, not considering you, critical of them? Do you judge them on their appearance their fumbled words, have we presumed?

What about people who seem to have it all together? They also need mercy! Sometimes we overlook the needs of people we presume are ok. We are quick to criticise and presume, without looking below the surface. We miss out on the blessing of being merciful, because of assumptions. John 13: when the world sees the love we have for one another, they are drawn to Jesus.

God wants us to LOVE mercy – the giving of mercy as well as wanting to be on the receiving end all the time. Consider it!

3.    Do justly… do the right thing … and like mercy we so want to be justified ourselves. We want to have justice when wronged, make sure people know we were in the right, we didn’t say, do etc… But what about the giving of justice. Do we want to we do what Jesus would do – love, forgive, bear with one another, be kindly gracious with one another, forgive one another? Or do we always want to be putting them right, interfering with the mercy and grace. Yes there is a place and time for correction from others… but consider this – why do we make it hard for one another to find the grace of God and the mercy of God in each other’s lives by criticism, judgement,  presumption?

So; why not de-clutter your faith, according to Micah 6 v 8? You’ll find your life, relationships and walk with God go a whole lot better!

——————————————–
A story used to illustrate mercy:

He was kind of scary. He sat there on the grass with his cardboard sign, his dog (actually his dog was adorable) and tattoos running up and down both arms and even on his neck. His sign proclaimed him to be “stuck and hungry” and to please help.

I’m a sucker for anyone needing help. My husband both hates and loves this quality in me.

I pulled the van over and in my rear-view mirror, contemplated this man, tattoos and all. He was youngish, maybe forty. And he wore one of those bandannas tied over his head, biker/pirate style. Anyone could see he was dirty and had a scraggly beard. But if you looked closer, you could see that he had neatly tucked in the black T-shirt, and his things were in a small, tidy bundle. Nobody was stopping for him. I could see the other drivers take one look and immediately focus on something else – anything else.

It was so hot out. I could see in the man’s very blue eyes how dejected and tired and worn-out he felt. The sweat was trickling down his face. As I sat with the air-conditioning blowing, the scripture suddenly popped into my head. “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these, my brethren, so ye have done it unto me.” I reached down into my purse and extracted a ten pound note. My twelve year old son, Nick, knew right away what I was doing.
“Can I take it to him, Mum?”

“Be careful, honey,” I warned and handed him the money. I watched in the mirror as he rushed over to the man, and with a shy smile, handed it to him. I saw the man, startled, stand and take the money, putting it into his back pocket. “Good,” I thought to myself, “now he will at least have a hot meal tonight.” I felt satisfied, proud of myself. I had made a sacrifice and now I could go on with my errands.

When Nick got back into the car, he looked at me with sad, pleading eyes.

“Mum, his dog looks hot and the man is really nice.” I knew I had to do more. “Go back and tell him to stay there, that we will be back in fifteen minutes,” I told Nick. He bounded out of the car and ran to tell the tattooed stranger. We then ran to the nearest shop and bought our gifts carefully. “It can’t be too heavy,” I explained to the children. “He has to be able to carry it around with him.” We finally settled on our purchases. A bag of dog food, a flavoured chew toy shaped like a bone; a water dish, bacon flavoured snacks (for the dog); two bottles of water (one for the dog, one for Mr. Tattoos); and some snacks for the man.

We rushed back to the spot where we had left him, and there he was, still waiting. And still nobody else was stopping for him. With hands shaking, I grabbed our bags and climbed out of the car, all four of my children following me, each carrying gifts. As we walked up to him, I had a fleeting moment of fear, hoping he wasn’t a serial killer.

I looked into his eyes and saw something that startled me and made me ashamed of my judgment. I saw tears. He was fighting like a little boy to hold back his tears. How long had it been since someone showed this man kindness? I told him I hoped it wasn’t too heavy for him to carry and showed him what we had brought. He stood there, like a child at Christmas, and I felt like my small contributions were so inadequate. When I took out the water dish, he snatched it out of my hands as if it were solid gold and told me he had no way to give his dog water. He gingerly set it down, filled it with the bottled water we brought, and stood up to look directly into my eyes. His were so blue, so intense an my own filled with tears as he said, I don’t know what to say.” He then put both hands on his bandanna-clad head and just started to cry. This man, this “scary” man, was so gentle, so sweet, so humble.

I smiled through my tears and said, “Don’t say anything.” Then I noticed the tattoo on his neck. It said “Mama tried.”
As we all piled into the van and drove away, he was on his knees, arms around his dog, kissing his nose and smiling. I waved cheerfully and then fully broke down in tears.

I have so much. My worries seem so trivial and petty now. I have a home, a loving husband, and four beautiful children. I have a bed. I wondered where he would sleep tonight.

My step-daughter turned to me and said in the sweetest little-girl voice, “I feel so good.”

Although it seemed as if we had helped him, the man with the tattoos gave us a gift that I will never forget. He taught that no matter what the outside looks like, inside each of us is a human being deserving of kindness, of compassion, of acceptance. He opened my heart

Tonight and every night I will pray for the gentle man with the tattoos and his dog. And I will hope that God will send more people like him into my life to remind me what’s really important.

A work in progress

1 Corinthians 1:7-9 (The Message)

“Just think—you don’t need a thing, you’ve got it all! All God’s gifts are right in front of you as you wait expectantly for our Master Jesus to arrive on the scene for the Finale. And not only that, but God himself is right alongside to keep you steady and on track until things are all wrapped up by Jesus. God, who got you started in this spiritual adventure, shares with us the life of his Son and our Master Jesus. He will never give up on you. Never forget that.”
I was reading Corinthians in The Message over the weekend, just for a change, and was so struck by this short passage. I have been going over it again and again and just letting it settle in my spirit… God is going to keep me steady and on track!!! Wow! that is such a comfort to know and that He will never give up on me! I love it! All His master plans and designs for my life – He will bring to completion … Paul says it again to the Philippians in Phil.1 v 6 “There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears.”
It makes me really want to allow God more access to my life to see His handiwork in me – that I might bring Him honour!

Have a “muse” on it yourself … it is a wonderfully encouraging Scripture … a work in progress – a masterpiece at that!

22-24 “Don’t fuss about what’s on the table at mealtimes or if the clothes in your closet are in fashion. There is far more to your inner life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body. Look at the ravens, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, carefree in the care of God. And you count far more.

25-28 “Has anyone by fussing before the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch? If fussing can’t even do that, why fuss at all? Walk into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They don’t fuss with their appearance—but have you ever seen color and design quite like it? The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them. If God gives such attention to the wildflowers, most of them never even seen, don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you?

29-32 “What I’m trying to do here is get you to relax, not be so preoccupied with getting so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep yourself in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. Don’t be afraid of missing out. You’re my dearest friends! The Father wants to give you the very kingdom itself.

33-34 “Be generous. Give to the poor. Get yourselves a bank that can’t go bankrupt, a bank in heaven far from bankrobbers, safe from embezzlers, a bank you can bank on. It’s obvious, isn’t it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being.

Trusting God for the daily stuff of life!

So easy to say and talk about, but the practical outworking of it all takes steps of faith … little steps and bigger ones too – but steps nevertheless!

Just remember He loves you so much … He cares so much that you don’t fret or worry over the things that have the potential to wreck you… finances, relationships, direction.etc. He has placed in His Word the promises of His Peace, His provision, His Wisdom, His Grace and mercy… so why do we fret and worry? Possibly because we feel we need to “sort it all out”?!

Possibly!

Could we possibly… “Cast the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully.” (1Peter 5:7) What amazing Care He has for us!

Can I encourage you today to try for yourself… and see…He is faithful!

Let go and let God!

Be blessed as you learn to trust and rest in Him!

xx Helen

It got me thinking again,of how amazing it is – marriage, I mean!

How two separate people , with their own dreams and desires, passions and hopes come together in marriage, and when God is in the centre, they combine to become one!… One dream – together, one heart – together, one passion – together … their future purposeful and blessed ….. it’s amazing the way God brings couples together to be strong in Him to build His kingdom. One can put a thousand to flight, two can put ten thousand to flight! …  such a wonderful plan ……. I’m so for marriage!

Well they were deep thoughts! – I hope you caught some of it!  … I’ll be back when I’ve returned to earth!! haha!!