A Blessed Year!

So I've finished...

            

Teaching Scripture for the year and due to my University commitments and suburb change I will not be returning.

However, I feel so blessed to have been part of my class' lives. Being the first teacher to last a whole year with them.

Here are some links that helped me along the way:

Fervr.net

Biblegateway.com

My life is about the Change dramatically.

Last night I said goodbye to my Church of 12 years. I am attempting to change degrees and I will soon be in a completely different suburb quiet a trek from most of my friends.

              

Sometimes I don't understand God.

The first thing I thought about all this was - 'Why would God bless me with so much ministry and such close friendships and then take it all away.'

But then I remembered a conversation I had with a great friend of mine earlier this year. He said 'Heather, maybe God is preparing you for harder stuff later in life.'

At the time I didn't like the thought but now I understand.

           

God has blessed me with so much to leave that I can leave knowing that I am always loved and supported not only by these wonderful people but also by my Wonderful God.

We don't always understand what God is doing with us and often life feels like a random string of events but we can be confident that we follow a consistent, all powerful God who knows exactly what he's doing.

So as I attempt to cast my anxieties on God, I will leave this part of my life to start the next with sadness but also joy. 

God is in control, what more can I ask?

Some picture I created for me beach mission team this year. So blessed to be spending 10 days with people who Love God and who Love me before I begin my next phase of life.

Many Blessings!

Big Changes

I often have no idea what God is doing in my life. Most of the time I don't mind but lately I really have.
You see this year has been one of massive growth for me. For the first time I have attended church regularly for the whole year. However, I will be leaving my current and loved church (where I've been for the last 12 years of my life) because my family is moving house and therefore moving suburbs.

Here's something I say often: "Be careful what you pray for!"

I have once again not been taking my own advice.
Earlier in the year I was praying: "God send me wherever, I am your servant"
I was also praying for a feeling of safety, security and consistency in my life. Three things I haven't felt often.

But here's the catch...

God is giving me a sense of safety, security and consistency in this life but it's not the way I wanted. God is teaching me to find these things in himself only and NOT in my life situation. And God is obviously taking me wherever he wants me to go.

So instead of kicking and screaming  I will go with a sad but glad heart. I will allow myself to trust my creator, the most consistent being in my life and I will move house and find a new church with the knowledge in my heart that God is watching over me. God has many plans in store and though I can not see them, once again will I follow his lead.

I will also allow myself to feel sad, because sadness is an emotion and a proper one when you are leaving one church family to find another.


Romans 8: 18-30 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%208&version=NIV)

Present Suffering and Future Glory

¹⁸ I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. ¹⁹ For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. ²⁰ For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope ²¹ that^[h] the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.
²² We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. ²³ Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. ²⁴ For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? ²⁵ But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
²⁶ In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. ²⁷ And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.
²⁸ And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who^[i] have been called according to his purpose. ²⁹ For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. ³⁰ And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

Here is my current Work in Progress.

This one is for my beach mission leaflets.

The sand is made of raw sugar! 

You might recognise some of them from my previous post entitled "Breathless" which is also here: 

http://little-thoughts-on-a-big-book.blogspot.com.au/2013/11/breathless.html

Many Blessings to you all!

A tired People

The last three days have been exhausting.
So many things have happened. The fires still blaze and we may not get rain until Tuesday.
Friend's have lost houses and some are still waiting to be evacuated.

However, these events cause me to be reminded that our time on earth is not all there is. I've been reminded of one of my favourite songs. Soon and very soon by Hillsong/Brooke Fraser
Here are the lines from it:

Soon and very soon
My King is coming
Robed in righteousness
And crowned with love
When I see Him, I
shall be made like Him
Soon and very soon


Soon and very soon
I'll be going
To the place He has prepared for me
There my sin erased
My shame forgotten
Soon and very soon


I will be with the One I love
With unveiled face I'll see
There my soul will be satisfied
Soon and very soon


Soon and very soon
See the procession
The angels and the elders
'round the throne
At His feet I'll lay my crown, my worship
Soon and very soon


Though I have not seen Him
My heart knows Him well
Jesus Christ the Lamb
The Lord of Heaven

Here is a drawing I completed tonight:

 

I began this more than a month or two ago but I came back to it tonight.

When I began this I was focused on the idea of growing old on this earth. I was yearning for it at the time as I see it as the time in life when you are truly cared for. When we grow old we can no longer care for ourselves. However, this is not the only time we are like this.

In this time of hardship God has reminded me that we are frail, fragile and unable to truly care for ourselves. Without God we are nothing.

So while my hands do not look like this yet and acknowledge that I will always need my God. He will always care for me and make my path straight. He will always do the best in my life and those whom follow him. Even if it doesn't feel like it. God is here always. He's the beginning and the end. The creator of all and I Love Him dearly.

Praise be to our God and Father!

Many Blessings and please pray for us in New South Wales, Australia as our land burns.

Prayerfully Trusting God

Walking through the supermarket tonight with my sister I noticed everyone around me looking tired and defeated.

My community were not directly affected by the fires. I have friends who have lost their homes and some who are still under threat.

Last week there was an explosion in part of my suburb and the other day someone was shot to death a few suburbs over and someone was hit by a train in another suburb nearby.

Its hard to think positively at this time and it shows on the faces of the people in my community.

However, I will still choose to stand firm in my God. I will still choose to rely on him and find my hope in him.

For it is not what happens here that matters in the way of possessions and riches. It is the relationships formed. Most importantly though it is our relationship with God that is the biggest concern we should have now.

As I pray for my family and friends most affected by these fires, and for those in and around my community affected by the recent tragedies; I will keep leaning on my God for strength.

Romans 12:12

Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and


keep on praying.



Many blessings and if you're reading this please continue to pray!

Light Box Love final

I woke up this morning and an image came to my head. A wonderfully colourful one and so I had to try it. These are the fruits of this... almost exactly the image from my head.
Here are my pictures from today:

While I was working on the the final images a bible passage that came to mind. After some investigation I found it:

Luke 18:15-17

New Living Translation (NLT)

Jesus Blesses the Children

15 One day some parents brought their little children to Jesus so he could touch and bless them. But when the disciples saw this, they scolded the parents for bothering him.

16 Then Jesus called for the children and said to the disciples, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children. 17 I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn't receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.”

Here's what I thought when I chose these photos:

The first set of the girl and man make me think of how sometimes it takes a child’s faith to really get us to see the wonder and mystery of God.

The second set of the man and his son look to me as if they are hesitating. The father doesn’t know what to do with the cross and so he shelters his son from it. It shows us the profound influence our parents can have on our beliefs and our knowledge about what’s true in life. I thought "Don't hesitate GO FOR IT! You don't know what you're missing out on!"

Listen while you look: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whv1DojfIWA


Many Blessings!

Growing Old

For the whole...

of my life (the short twenty years it's been so far) my Mother has exclaimed "if you... you'll get wrinkles!"
My mother plays into the western cultural idea that ageing is bad.
I however have turned in the other direction.
Many of my relatives in their late 60s and 70s are very ill and dying. However I admire them because of the lives they've lived. Some have been caring and comforting to me. Encouraging and loving and some have shown a strength in the face of struggles that I hope to model in my own life.

I look forward to ageing. It is something that we only do once so why not accept and enjoy it?
I'm the kingdom of Heaven we will not age, we will not grow weary and we will not suffer pain.
In this life we will experience all these things because of sin.
However on the flip side consider it a blessing to have many years in your life. I know too many people who have passed leaving young children without parents, young adults choosing to take their own lives and teenagers killed in car accidents.
These are unfortunate thing sin life and cause me to grow thankful for every day that I have.

I look forward to aging. What a blessing from God!
To grow old in this life and to bear the wrinkles of age will be such a blessing (if I am blessed with this gift) because it will mean that God has given me many years in the service of his kingdom.

I will wear the laugh lines on my face with joy for the many good days the lord has gifted me with. I will wear the wrinkles around my eyes from the many tired nights I've sat beside ones I love who are grieving or in hospital.

My hands will shake and be frail from the many years I've held the hands of ones I love or baked food for their enjoyment.

My voice will become but a soft whisper from the years of singing and praising my God. The years of conversation with others of his love and glory.

I look forward to aging to the day my hands look like this:

When I clasp them in prayer as the breath of life leaves my body and I am united with my God forever more.

Until that day I continue to walk in his grace and his love. Doing good deed for the kingdom. Not so I can be saved but because I am saved!

Grace and Peace to you all. I pray that God gifts you with many years in his service on this earth.

Isaiah Chapter Two

So after a day of... being sick, dizzy, watching Dexter/Friends, eating soup, catching up on lectures and completing part of a Uni assignment... it's finally time to sit down with my bible -> before my parents return home to being their karaoke practice. (Ask me about that later!)
Isaiah Chapter Two - lets see how my brain goes, since my vocal chords won't work.

The headings I come across are: The Lord's future reign and a Warning of Judgement.
My first impressions of these headings without actually reading the text are -> well that's a pattern I see in the bible often. The Lord - I'm assuming Jesus - is continually looked toward as the king of all creation, the heavens and earth. We are now in the time where we wait for his return to become the reigning king forevermore. God always provides a warning of judgement before it comes. Part of me thinks it is so we can't turn and say "well you didn't tell us what to expect!" Also humanity likes predictability - it creates a feeling of stability.

The Lord's future reign: Another vision (verse 1). From the passage I am hoping that my interpretation of the text to mean after Jesus return, however the words "last days" (verse 2) could mean before his return. I do not possess enough biblical theology knowledge to feel confident about this. Although I think some scholars may feel similarly to me. Moving on...
The idea of the temple of the Lord being the most important place on Earth is mind boggling. This would mean that every human being would be focused on the Lord! That the Lord God would be the center of all human life - which he should be but since the fall we all know that isn't the case right now.
People from all over the world coming to the temple - its almost a reversal of the tower of Babel (Genesis 11: 1-9). The people of the world focused on one goal. However instead of selfish gain and a great name for themselves they would be coming together in worship of the Lord!
Verse 3 - "he will teach us his ways, so that we may obey him." -> this is something that God has called for many times over in the Old Testament before the book of Isaiah. Mainly in Genesis and with the calling of his people Israel. The idea of God teaching his people at the temple means contact with God, relationship with God. The ability to converse with God! Isn't that INCREDIBLE?
Further in verse 3 it says "the Lord's teaching and his word will go out from Jerusalem" Is this a prophecy of the ascension of Jesus, the giving of the Holy Spirit and the spread of the Gospel from the Jews and to the Gentiles? That's what it looks like to me. We have to remember that in the Old Testament - which is where we are reading right now - the message of God was mainly and pretty much exclusively for the people of God alone. That is the Israelites who were the Jews. Its not until Jesus but mainly after Jesus that the MESSAGE OF SALVATION is shared with the Gentiles. (Note: Gentiles just means non-Jewish people.)

The beating of swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks is significant.
The word beating is a forceful word, giving the idea of hard work, breaking a sweat. So behind this action is intent, its is meaningful.

• But what's a plowshare? -> Thanks to the invention of Google I found out that a plowshare is the cutting blade of a plow and a plow is a tool used for farming. A tool to help in the planting of crops.
• Pruning hook? -> A cutting tool used from pruning trees and other crops.

So a plowshare is for creating, growing crops and a pruning hook is for maintaining crops.
Its pretty cool how the tools used for war are in this passage changed for farming. Instead of warring against one another the nations are coming together to work the ground. This is possibly reflective of the beginning purpose of humanity to rule and care for the earth (see Genesis chapters 1 and 2). These tools are helpful if we are in  a pre-Jesus return era since we would still act under the curse of the ground being hard to work (Genesis 3).
Wars stopping and military training ending is significant because in the text there will not longer be a need for such things. People working in harmony together under the will and care of the Lord God.
LET US WALK IN THE LIGHT OF THE LORD! (verse 5)

A warning of Judgement:
Here's the flip-side of the chapter. We leave the bliss of the imagery of a people following one God together and enter the images of what happens to a land who does not unite under God.
In these verses we notice that the people are breaking some of the 10 Commandments (Exodus 20). They are not worshiping the Lord but the idols of the nations around them. In creating alliances with other nations they are being infiltrated by the cultures and practices of these nations also. The influence and love of God is being rejected for the pleasures and fleshy desires of the other nations. Here's something that has happened over and over again throughout Genesis and Exodus. The people of God turning from him, their focus is not on the ways and wills of the Lord but on the ways and wills of their minds and  their wrongful, lustful desires.
AND THIS MAKES GOD ANGRY!
HE REJECTS THEM!

The Lord cannot simply ignore their sins! (Verse 9)

The imagery here is extremely powerful. The call for people to hide from the wrath of God. The crawl into caves in rocks. To take cover from what is to come.
It really gives you a sense of God unending, undeniable power!
The people will be afraid and ashamed. What they built that wasn't under the Lord will be destroyed so the GLORY of the Lord will come through. The Lord will not stand for their disobedience.
The idea that the earth will shake is scary. Earthquakes kill thousands of people! The Lord has this power and no one can manufacture it. Only the Lord has the capacity to control the earth and everything in it.
This is something people often forget.

Final thoughts: When I read passages like this - with such stark contrasts in content - I come to a feeling of fear of the Lord. Seeing his power and Glory, but it is a fear that come in hand with admiration. I should fear the Lord, he has the power to smite me down at any second. But he is also a loving and caring God. He offer redemption - which we saw in the first part. We should live under him and there will be a day when we do. But for now I am content to live in fear and admiration of my God.

And on that note:

Stop putting your trust in mere humans. They are frail as breath. How can they be help to anyone? (Chapter 2 verse 22)