Happy Dance

Half the joy of life is in little things taken on the run.  Let us run if we must...but let us keep our hearts young and our eyes open that nothing worth our while shall escape us.  And everything is worth its while if we only grasp it and its significance.

Victor Cherbuliez

When I start to understand Your timing Lord,

I am better able to co operate with the plan You have for my life.

When I do not know how, then I must learn to wait with confidence on You, the one who does!

If I am to walk with You and enjoy my walk then let me start by ‘letting God be God’ in my life.

The problem I have is sometimes I attempt to take the lead role in my relationship with You. And it just does not work,

You give me the instructions and I follow and obey - even thought I do not always like or understand the way You direct me to go.

Timing is always perfect with You,

I am beginning to see why sometimes; you take so long to do things? And sometime no time at all. Because trust is required in unanswered questions.

When I do not know the answers, I then have to trust in You. That keeps my faith growing.

You Lord, have a plan and a time, and You are preparing me. You keep me growing strong. It is only as I reach a new level of maturity that You release a new level of blessing into my life.

I am learning to break the habit of trying to prepare myself -

You Lord, want to take care of me!

Lord, I know that You Love me and that Your plans and Your timing are perfect, so I trust and rejoice in You!

Jeremiah 29:11

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

I was walking in the park one day

Taking great delight in the trees and gardens all around me. How peaceful it is to,’ just be‘.

To just soak up the beauty and message He has put there for all to see.

It was autumn,

At the stage that most of the trees had lost their leaves.

I usually prefer to see the trees in full greenness,

Or in the most beautiful of autumn colours just before they drop their leaves.

Today was different; I saw a beauty in their nakedness.

They stood there exposed for all to see.

Some showed branches broken and twisted, having survived the battles of life. Some still supported a nest or two, once a refuge for a family of birds.

Maybe in the springtime once again would be, host to some birds and a nurturing tree.

Much like what our lives should be, exposed and open for all to see.

If we look around, we can always see a message in creation, for it is in His creation that we see Him.

There amongst all the trees this day were a couple of tall silver birch trees;

They were glowing white against the dark cloudy sky,

A spectacular sight to see.

They glowed in the dark light of the day, so clear for all to see

There was a message there for me, a challenge even,

To be like that silver birch tree.

Does my life shine out against the dark sky?

Do I show the light of His love for the world to see?

The trees in the park that day left a clear challenge to me.

Do I blend in with the world hardly visible at all, offering no hope, for the season to come?

Or am I to be like the ‘glowing Silver Birch tree, the ones that shone out against the darkness of the sky.

Branches held out in friendship and hope.

I want to be like the silver birch tree, to allow Jesus to shine out of me against the darkness of this world.

That I also might show there is hope for the season to come.

[Matthew 5:14-16]

"You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden;

 nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.

 "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

Blessings

Les

I found a small scrap of paper in my  dad's wallet after his death, they were words that obviously meant a lot to dad, the paper was old and folded and in a fragile state,  but still very readable.  I know for them to have been written down and carried around for years in his wallet they must have meant something to him. 

So this post is dedicated to my dad whom I loved very much.

Ideas are not the responsibility of the people who believe in them...


Herein is the evil of ignorance,  that he who is neither good nor wise is nevertheless
Satisfied with himself; he has no desire for that of which he feels no want...


Most of us have no real loves,
No real hatreds,
Blessed is love,  less blessed is hatred, but thrice accursed is that indifference which
Is neither one nor the other.

For Valour

This is a token of appreciation and affectionate regard to my wife, Patricia Elizabeth Piper.                                                Mother of my children.
For her unflinching courage, unselfish service, loyalty, and devotion.

Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing.

[Proverbs 18 v 22]

Well, I have sat at my keyboard day after day and struggled to find something within me to write
Something that was not just of me but something that would lift up and glorify my Lord.

Yet here I am again and my page is blank yet again. There are words within me that churn around within my head and in my heart, but for some reason I cannot seem to get them out and onto the page to make sense of them.

I guess I am tired, but I know within myself that I yearn to be able to feel that freedom and blessing from the words that God gives me at times to write. It does not have to make sense to anyone else, but only to me and to my God, because it is to Him I want to give glory and praise.

This year has been hard and it has had some stress with it, but the Holy Spirit has also taught me much through all the trials and grief attached to the year.

A few years ago, a dear friend counselled me and taught me about how to experience freedom and healing from past hurts and how to deal with future hurts. He told me that if I learnt the lessons then, and accepted the healing and freedom that came from those lessons, that when future storms and battles arose in my life I would deal with them in the new way I had learned.

In my past, it had been usual for me to deal with pain by stuffing it deep within me and pretending it did not exist, that only helped the pain to fester and to bind me up spiritually and physically.

This time I have exposed it to the light of Christ and to the guidance and healing of the Holy Spirit.

My friend told me I would not be able to go back to my old ways that it would not happen like that again, because I had exchanged an old part of my fleshly ways for a new way in the Spirit.

Lampwicke my friend, you were so right, as hard as my flesh battled to send me back to those darker years, my spirit would not allow it because it had become something dead.
Yes, I still did feel the temptations to become again as if I was back again during those darker years. I think the word for it is Ostrich syndrome, you know the one, where one puts ones head in the sand and pretends something did not happen, just so one can cope without feeling the pain at the time?

I did for a short while; want to allow anger and hurt give me an excuse to hold onto unforgiveness, at least for a little while longer. My spirit would not allow that anymore though, because that part of me is dead, and I am thankful to God that it is and that I remain alive and free in the spirit.

I learned the lesson, I faced and am still facing the situation and I am allowing the healing of the Holy Spirit in each and every situation He brings to my memory and importantly now I am also letting go and forgiving those involved, each act of forgiveness rewards me with more and more of God’s peace and freedom.

I started off saying I had a blank page and I didn’t know what to write or even how to start, and that was true, but now I have come to the end of this and seen there has appeared a page of writing.
I have no idea why or how I wrote all that because I did not have anything to start with, I just allowed my heart to empty onto this page.

As I said in the beginning it does not matter if it makes sense to anyone or even to me, it only matters that I obey Him and that is what I did.


So Lord, I am thanking You for Your healing, for Your peace, for Your strength, for Your guidance, for Your presence, for all my brothers and sisters You send to me at the right time, when You know I have a need to speak and share with someone.



1 Chron 16:8-13

Oh give thanks to the LORD, call upon His name;
Make known His deeds among the peoples.
Sing to Him, sing praises to Him;
Speak of all His wonders.
Glory in His holy name;
Let the heart of those who seek the LORD be glad.
Seek the LORD and His strength;
Seek His face continually.
Remember His wonderful deeds which He has done,
His marvels and the judgments from His mouth,
O seed of Israel His servant,
Sons of Jacob, His chosen ones!

My mother died three weeks ago in the hospital after two major surgeries and complications.

She asked me so many times to take her home, and as much as I would loved to have been able to grant that request to her it just was not possible because of the level of care she needed.

The night she died I sat by her bed and held her hand and told her about this verse in Scripture..

I explained to her that our home on earth was only a temporary one and was destructible.. And that Jesus had gone to prepare a place especially for her, a permanent home where she would live in peace and comfort for eternity.




John 14:1-6

1 "Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.
Be at peace mum, believe in God and believe in Jesus

2 "In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, Would I would have told you; that I go to prepare a place for you?
There are many rooms in our Fathers house mum, and He has gone to prepare a place especially for you.

3 "And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to Myself, that where I am, you may be also.
When He has prepared that place for you mum He will come to take you home with Him and then you will live there with Him forever.

4 "And you know the way where I am going."
You will know the way mum, He will take you.

5 Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, how can we know the way?"

6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but by Me.

Enjoy your new home mum and be at peace with Jesus who loves you so much.

I love you and miss you but one day will see you again..

Much love Lesley