Time For A Rant

Today I read an article which chilled me to the core.  The article discusses the possibility of post term abortion, yes killing a baby after it is born.  This is actually being considered/discussed/has crossed the mind of, those who inform and influence our politicians and country's leaders.  Read the article here.

This is insanity itself!  Here we are living at a time and in a nation that strives to have a family through IVF and similar programs.  A country which has a dilapidated and immensely difficult adoption system.  A country which has legalised the killing of children in the womb, and now it is being debated that we should be able to take the life of a new born babe. 

If you have baby pictures, go and find one of them.  Look closely at your young self and ask your self this question, 'Who looked after me?  Who nourished me?  Who kept me warm?  Who loved me?' 

You see we were all babies once.  I love the quote from Ronald Reagan that states, 'I've noticed that everybody that is for abortion has already been born.'

The discussions in this article are evil in themsleves.  History repeats itself over and over.  All throughout time babies have bore the brunt of our our selfish wants and desires.  In this age, when we consider ourselves so enlighted and knowledgeable, it seems apparent to me that men of power have lost their hearts. The seeds of pride arrogance and self estimation are now in bloom, threatening to choke all morality out of the society in which we now live.  I am beyond tired of hearing truths twisted and broken for the sake of selfish motives. 

And here in Australia, the land of the brave and free, we have become mere shadows of our once strong and courageous settlers, men and women, who struggled and toiled to make this land great under God.  In settler days nearly every family lost loved ones, especially babies to sickness and disease.  How ashamed they would be of us, taking the lives of our own little ones.  Who will now speak for our children, who are being slain and then thrown away as 'medical waste'?

How long suffering is our God that he has mercy, when we should be struck down for our complacency.  How His heart must break as His treasured  babies, discarded for the sake of our own needs.  How many arms ache in our communities for the love of a child?  How many wombs lay barren, when parents hearts ache for the want of seeing a little one smile?

Please don't let an article pass your sight, a conversation pass you ears, a situation pass your hands without praying and then responding.  Your little prayer will move mountains and your little gesture, will change a life, maybe one that is yet to be, or maybe...

someone that you love.

More Than Dreams

Jack will be six in May.  His new adventures at school have seen him grow in ways that have surprised even me.  He has such a capacity for love and pours it out wherever he goes.  He is celebrating the fact that God has sent him a friend that 'knows Jesus'.  He loves to read and has got very excited recently about writing.  The other night at church, he decided to copy from the bible and copies sentences and then gets us to read them.  He was doing it again this morning before he went to school.  He does it with other books at times too.  God seems to have given him a real love for the Word.  Last night he shared with me that Jesus came to him again and showed him 'the brightness of heaven'.

'It shined Mum like gold and silver, and was so bright I couldn't tell.  Is it gold or silver Mum?'

'I don't know mate, I haven't been there. But you let me know when you find out ok?' 

'I wonder if it is white gold, the bible says the streets are made of gold. Jesus says, He has a house for me'

Wondrous silence

'He sure does Jack, he sure does.'

Sam is now conversating along with us.  He LOVES Kinder and counts the sleeps down.  He and I have a great time together at home cleaning, playing, cooking, sewing and whatever else we need to do. He is a story teller and tells us some of the most amazing tales.  He tells me stories of Jesus and the angels. He seems to be reasoning and learning truth as he speaks his stories.  For example

'Yast night, I sawed angels and they had BIG wings yike birds.  And there was a black crow bird and they chased him.  Then Jesus came and the angels flew round and yelled out songs. I was scared so I said 'Jesus said GO AWAY!' But it was ok, they were not baddies.  they were goodies, but they still looked big and a bit scary.'

'Wow, I think I would have been scared too.  But was everything OK in the end?'

'Yep.'

I share these things to encourage you and increase your faith.  I do not say them to brag and be boastful.  My boys are still prone to disobedience and struggles,  They are not perfect and I will not pretend them to be.  God loves them anyway.  When I see how God teaches and loves my kids, it shows me how much he loves them and holds their future in His hands.  I hope that reading it encourages you also, in your own relationship with Jesus.

God is certainly not silent when we seek Him.  No matter how old we are.

God Loves Me Anyway

I love that I am human.  I love that I feel and love and hurt.  I love that God made me in his image and loves me regardless of my continual blunders.  I love that He is still making me perfect and that I am nowhere near it yet.  Because in all of my brokenness, I can see His hand at work, Holy Spirit making changes to help me, even when it hurts. 

Boy, has my faith been tested recently.  Especially in regard to our calling to MAF.  (See more about that here and then here.)

Sometime you are just in that place where your mind has had enough, your body quakes and your heart melts likes molten wax.  I guess that is how I have felt like that for the last 4 days. Inwardly and quietly I have been crying out to God.  I have dared to think questions such as:

Are we in the right place?

Is this a fight, or is this God closing doors and us breaking them down, in misdirected fervour?

Can we just run away? Oh let me run away! 

Why are you so quiet? I can barely hear your voice above all that clamours for our attention.

Psalm 77 has been my prayer now for the last week.

and within me Holy Spirit whispers...

You know the answers, you don't even need to voice these questions.

Rest in the lap of your Father and let Him work it all out. 

If you could just see the battle being waged on your behalf you would be overwhelmed and in awe of His love for you.

Keep holding on...

Keep holding on...

Keep holding on...


Well God is silent no longer!

And now His words blow like a mighty wind, flaming the smouldering embers deep within my heart. God is fanning the flame, fighting the fight, clearing my mind, healing my heart and bringing new strength to my bones.

How un-real life was without Him.  I can barely remember what I was like before I knew the love of God.

Yes, we are in the right place, and we are fighting a great battle because God has great things planned.  I want you to know that your prayers and mine have been heard and that God is moving to turn the tide.  His promises will be fulfilled.  God always keeps His word.

The Rip Tide

The last month it seems we have been caught in a tide that has dragged us out to sea.  We seem to be floundering in the water, our arms weary from the constant treading. 

Don has failed his flight exam for his commercial pilot's license for the second time today.  I just want to cry really.  For him, for myself, for our weariness and lack of hope.  There seems to have settled upon me a sense of despondency, enlarged by the fact that we are far from home and and the comfort of familiar family and friends.  I am tired of the fight, and Don must be far beyond that.  I have watched him labour and toil for the last 7 months with little rest, all the while looking for the silver lining.  He is exerting his best and yet, it is thrown back in his face continually that it is not good enough.  And yet he remains, plodding along, while I struggle at home to wrestle with God and his appointment to this calling, when there seems to be very little breakthrough.  Does God see how we struggle?  Yes, He most certainly does and be bears it with us.  Does He see that I can't make our finances stretch any further?  Yes, He certainly does and He supplies.  Does He still want us here?  Yes, He certainly does and reminds us again and again.

I struggle to write the new book about God's promises, because we battle to live in their truth each day, and are weary for a break from the constant onslaught.  Who am I, I wonder to pretend to tell others to live in God's promises if I am of so little faith?  Oh God, where is my faith! It is like it has been robbed from me while I have slept.  And yet, still I stand.  I stand because He gives me strength, I can own no portion of it.  Please pray for us and help us fight in the spirit.  Our enemy looms large but we know who is victorious. 

Don is on his way home after his defeat today.  May God give us both the strength to keep going. 

So again, I raise my head and look to the battle front, raise my shield, and thrust my sword high. 'CHARGE'

Praise and Prayer Points

As there are many things swimming around in my heart and head at the moment, I thought I would share them with you, so you can celebrate and believe with us.

Praise with us:

• Jack is loving school and God answered his prayer by sending him a friend in his class that knows Jesus. He is loving writing and reading, so this is awesome.

• Sam loves Kinder.  He is exhausted afterward but so energetic while he is there.  He absolutely adores playing with the kids.  His introductory line is : 'Hi guys, I'm Sam', so cute.

• Sam's cardiologist is in the process of writing us a letter stating that he is happy for Sam to live wherever we are, as long as he can attend his appointments every 4-6 months.  This will be forwarded to MAF, so that our application can continue.

Pray with us:

• Don is (weather permitting) resitting his practical flight exam tomorrow for his Commerical Pilot's License.  This would take a load off his shoulders and be a really awesome early birthday present for him (and all of us).

• I am continuing to write my next book and though I am over halfway, I lack the time to really get into it.  I get distracted so easily.  Pray for me to have a focused mind and perseverance to complete what I know I must.

• Pray for safety in travel, as Don is travelling a lot both in air and on the road. And pray for us that despite the changing weather the walks to school and Kinder will be pleasant.  Also pray that our car continues to motor along, as it is well overdue for a service.

• Pray for Sam's continued healing, good health and growth.  He is doing really well at present and seems to be back to his normal self. 

• My Dad is going to have surgery on his foot tomorrow, a surgery that has quite a long recovery.  Please pray for his healing but also for him to rest, relax and make the most of the time he has to be  stationery.

Thank you for believing with us for these things.  Sometimes a monthly newsletter is just not enough! 

Also if anyone has snow gear that they think might fit us.  Could we please borrow it for the Winter if you don't need it?  We are really looking forward to seeing the snow this year and do not have the proper clothes to go.

Love to you all. xx

Jump In And Make Friends

In our 11 years of marriage, Don and I have moved around quite often.  We have always been blessed to have good friends wherever we have been.  There is one thing that we have noticed though and it is a really simple, yet sad occurrence.  When you move around frequently people are sometimes reluctant to be friendly. We have noticed it again since we have moved down here.  It seems that often people have a defence mechanism that tells them that if you are leaving within a year or so, then it is probably not best to cement new friendships-'after all they are leaving anyway'.  It is not something that people come out and say, but rather a silent withdrawal followed by a lack of wanting to get to know you in any depth.  I have had people ask me how long we are intending to be be in Melbourne, and when I tell them, they start to look around and the conversation ends.  They don't bother to get to know us because we are not staying.

Thankfully we have found ways to combat this, and just love people.  We are continually amazed at how God bring friends into our life for a season.  Often we bump into each other in another time and place.  And when we are together we impact each others lives, deepening ties that are not bound by time, and distance.  We choose to sink our roots in deep, so that we can enjoy genuine and loving relationships, no matter how long we may be together.  We have treasured friends that we have not seen in 5 or more years.  It does not mean we love them any less and when we do see each other, we just take up where we left off. 

Hearts remember love.  Hearts remember the laughs, tears and good times shared. 

I look at Jesus and the three short years that he got to spend with his closest friends.  I look at Paul, who never got to stay still for long.  Each of these had a tremendous impact on the lives of their friends.  The effects were life changing. 

How sad it is that we guard our hearts so closely and not share them abundantly with those we meet.  Imagine if our openness and and outpouring of love, was given freely without fear of loss and hurt. 

I want to encourage you to embrace those around you, no matter how long they may be in your midst.  God puts us in places, and with people for a reason and a season.  Let us not pass by the opportunity to make new friends, mates that could be our company for the eternity to come.

If There Was A God...

How many times have you heard that statement?  I have heard it more times than I can count.  Usually it is in relation to something bad happening.  Today I want to talk about this one...

If there was a God why would he allow Congenital Heart Disease?  I will speak about this because it is close to my heart.  I am not defending God.  He is more than able to look after himself in that regard. 

Recently I read this:

A congenital heart defect is an abnormality in any part of the heart that is present at birth. Heart defects originate in the early weeks of pregnancy when the heart is forming - before a woman even knows she's pregnant.(Heartkids Victoria)

compared to this

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body
and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,
as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
You saw me before I was born.
Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out
before a single day had passed. (Psalm 139:13-16)

So if God knew what was going on in my womb, why did he allow Sam to be born with CHD?  I don't have the full answer but there are two things I know, and these give me absolute peace of heart.

1. We have an enemy on this earth that hates all of human kind with a passion and wants to see us destroyed.  In the fallen earth in which we now live, there is disease,illness,hunger,poverty and death.  But even this will have an end. That is why Jesus died and rose again.

2. God will use even this seemingly bad circumstance in our lives to bring glory to Him, to help us, and to help others.  The time we have here on earth is like a breath of wind in the realm of eternity.  Our bodies were not meant to last forever.  But we have better things to look forward to.

So what I guess I want you to know is that God knows what is going on your life.  He knows because he lives and works outside of time.  He walks with you every step of the way.  He fights for you.  And he has made you a promise that one day, when the curtain rolls back, a new life awaits you.  A life that is free from all manner of disease, illness and death. 

For when we know Jesus, we are made new day by day...until forever comes.  This little boy Sam knows it and so do we.