Posted in Sharing my heart
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I have had some amazing spiritual experiences in recent weeks...I attended our churches women's camp a couple of weeks ago and I had the most amazing time...but it's so discouraging when a couple of weeks down the track, you feel like you're right back where you started from, and God feels once again distant and somehow removed from your everyday life. I know that it's not God that's distant, but me. It's hard not to let the little everyday things rob you of your joy...I guess that's the result of living in a fallen world. It's hard. "The Christian has a great advantage over other men" said C.S Lewis, "not by being less fallen than they, nor less doomed to live in a fallen world, but by knowing that he is a fallen man in a fallen world." I know God is real, I've felt Him, so why am I still plagued with doubt? Because I'm human, I guess. I know that my faith is not perfect, and never will be. I hate that. I hate that I'm not perfect. So what does it mean to have faith? Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (KJV) Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. (NIV) 1-2The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It's our handle on what we can't see. The act of faith is what distinguished our ancestors, set them above the crowd. (The Message) In the words of Philip Yancey (I just LOVE Yancey's books!) in his book "Reaching for the Invisible God"; "The only thing more difficult than having a relationship with an invisible god is having no such relationship". Amen! Love & blessings
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Posted in Sharing my heart
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Oh, you have to read this!! http://christianwomentoday.com/womenmen/whatmenwant.html Be blessed! Love
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It's one of those things you read and just know that it's the truth, you know? I'm going to need to think on some of those things!!Posted in Sharing my heart
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I'm struggling a bit with finding joy in the everyday tasks of being a homemaker...I so desire to be flourishing instead of just 'getting by'. I get really frustrated sometimes because the jobs are never-ending...you know, even when you do get the washing 'up to date', by that evening there's a pile more...you sweep the floor only to turn around and there's paper-cuttings everywhere (my pet peeve ;-), I tidy the lounge only to come back 5 minutes later and the children have pulled all the cushions off the couch again...! I think that, with other 'jobs' outside the home, you get a feeling of accomplishment, when something is finished - it's done, you know? And you move onto the next thing. I think with home-making things are not ever done, you always have to start over again (with the same old task) the next minute, the next hour, the next day, the next week...I know that I'm not doing this for 'earthly' rewards and I need to keep my eyes 'above', but I'm really missing the everyday joy, you know? I think I need to start reading "Hidden Art" by Edith Schaefer again (I started it then stopped...I have so many books I'm trying to read at the moment!!)...maybe that's the key to finding that elusive joy?!
I don't know...maybe it's just my heart attitude that I need to make a decision to change? There are a few books by Nancy Campbell (Above Rubies) that I'd like to read that might help, but funds don't allow at the moment. Probably what's missing from my life at the moment is quiet time...I haven't picked up my Bible since before Christmas *gasp*!! The other thing that's missing from my life at present is exercise!!! Eek!! I really want to get in shape so I'll have more energy and 'get-up-and-go', but I'm just not sure where to fit it in!
Okay, so the plan is to think about fitting in some excercise (and DOING it!) and start having a daily quiet time again...I have recently put into place a daily quiet reading time for the children at 3pm every day (ds 1's nap-time), so I'm going to make sure I spend at least 15 minutes (hopefully more) of that time reading my Bible and praying.
Blessings & love
 Ang"I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble" Helen Keller
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Posted in Sharing my heart
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7 Weird things about me... 1. I like to eat peanut butter and alfafa sprout sandwiches...my dh tells me this is gross, but I think it's yummy ;-)
2. I always have to have the toilet paper turned around so that the paper hangs on the outside. Even if I'm at someone elses house, I have to turn it around if it's the "wrong" way. LOL
3. I homeschool and I want more children (pretty weird by today's standards...although probably not to homeschoolers!)
4. I still like the Carebears and the 80's Strawberry Shortcake...what can I say, I was a child of the 80's!
5. Hey, this is harder than I thought...I'm sure there are heaps of weird things about me, but I can't think of any more!
And I'm sorry, but I don't have 7 (untagged) blogging friends to pass this on to, and I don't have time to find any!
Love
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Posted in Sharing my heart
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I could have written this song! It so describes ME!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SUPERCHICK LYRICS |
Posted in Sharing my heart
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I've learnt that...
Blessings
  P.S I've learnt WAY more than that this year! The main things I've learned are that I've got A LOT to learn, and that teachers learn more than students!! LOL
P.P.S I realise that this is the 2nd blog entry I've posted I've done since saying that I won't be blogging until after New Years!! LOL blogging is addictive!! I think I can safely say that I won't be blogging MUCH over the Christmas/New Year period, but there might be the odd one ;-)
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Posted in Sharing my heart
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I know I said I wasn't going to blog again until after the New Year...and I won't be blogging much, but this is for my friend 40winkzzz: About my baptism: The day so did not go the way I planned! My parents and little sister and brother all turned up, and as soon as my little brother (16yo) got there (he drove himself) he had a severe seizure. It's never happened before. So he was on the ground unconscious (after the fit) while we waited for the ambulance. They don't know what caused it, but he may have epilepsy. He won't be allowed to drive for one whole year and has to take other precautions incase it happens again (it might never happen again, or he might suffer from seizures for the rest of his life...they just don't know).
So my brother and my parents and sister all went to the hospital with him and missed my baptism. I could have pulled out and done it again another time, and although I really wanted my family there, I really had it on my heart that I needed to be baptised before the end of the year, so I didn't let it stop me, even though I was a bit of a mess after all that. It was a really amazing and powerful experience.
We left church soon after my baptism and went to the hospital to see my brother. He is okay now, just really tired. After we had been to the hospital my grandparents and sister came back to our place for lunch. My sister has just recently ended her engagement and after the events of the day, she broke down and shared with me how hard she is finding everything at the moment - it must be so hard to have your whole life planned out with someone, then due to finding things out about that person have to end the relationship.
But, you know what the devil meant to hurt me, God used for His good...I got share The Message with my sister, told her how much Jesus loved her, and that she didn't need to carry the burden alone, and how much I loved her, and how special she was. She even said that she might come to church with us at Christmas!
So please pray for my little brother and for my sister as well.
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Posted in Sharing my heart
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It's 11:15pm and I should be asleep! I went to bed and turned off the light at 10pm, but my heart was so full I just couldn't sleep! I am so excited about being being baptised on Sunday...it's going to be awesome, and amazing and scary!
I am struggling with a few things at the moment...I lose my temper a bit with the children some-times,
I am working on cultivating the fruit of the spirit* in my life, I definitely need some more patience and self-control.
I think I will talk the children on Monday about the fruit of the spirit and how we can all help each other to cultivate it in our lives...I need to apologize for my angry outbursts and ask their forgiveness (not for the first time *sigh*).
Being baptised will be a brand new start for me...death to the old me who is lacking in patience and self-control, and birth to the new me...living for Christ 100%. Of course I don't expect to suddenly be perfect after my baptism, I know it doesn't work that way, but I am committed to growing in my walk with the Lord. I desire to be a Proverbs 31 woman with all my heart...I must admit...I need to work on that whole "does not eat the bread of idleness" thing too.
How's that for honesty huh?? Please pray for me.
*But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Galatians 5:22
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I just hate myself when it happens...I mean, I tell my ds 7 off when he calls his sister names, and yet in the last few days I have shouted at him (for disobedience & defiance) called him a twit (which BTW means pregnant goldfish!?) and asked him if he is stupid. I didn't mean any of those things - I mean what kind of mother calls her darling babies names? 
I love my children so much...but I have a very combative relationship with my ds 7...I'm not sure why this is...I had a very traumatic birth experience with him and had trouble bonding with him, so I guess that could be it.
Posted in Sharing my heart
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I had one of those days yesterday...
I was tired (too many late nights recently) I spent all afternoon baking (which I have committed to doing in order to save money), but my muffins all stuck to the pan (I ran out of muffin-pan liners), my bread was too crumbly (I need to find a good wholemeal recipe that doesn't fall apart!), the muesli bar I made was over toasted (aka slightly burnt), and I realised (too late) that I forgotten to buy half the ingredients I needed to bake the other things I had planned. Then as soon as I was finished the baking and clean up, it was time to cook dinner!
Now add to that the fact that the pastor from our church was coming over at 7:30pm, so I had to have the dinner mess cleaned up, the children & baby in bed and the house tidy before he got here! Talk about stress!
But on the upside, we had a really good chat with the pastor (who came over to talk to us because I'm getting baptized on 10th December - yay!), but he was here until 10pm, and I hadn't finished cleaning up the kitchen before he got here (I just can't leave it like that overnight anymore thanks to Flylady), so I had another late night (which was not so good).
Anyway, that's enough moaning from me - today is a new day! I haven't got much achieved today...I'm still not following my routines like I should be...but I have managed to get my house back into shape this week so it's not all bad!
Praise the Lord! I'm trying to be thankful for the bad days too...I know they help me to encourage others when they are having bad days and need encouragement from me! And they sure do help me to appreciate the GOOD days!
Blessings
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I'm sorry to say that I was also very grumpy with my children and my dh when he came home. 
Posted in Sharing my heart
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Mirror Mirror, on the wall… I have recently been convicted about what I see in the mirror. I used to see all the imperfections, all the ways in which I didn’t measure up, all the ways I didn’t fit the ideal. I used to see someone who would never be truly beautiful, someone who wasn’t what she was ‘supposed’ to be. Someone who was never going to meet the standards of the media-portrayed ideal of the ‘perfect’ woman. I only saw the freckles I didn’t like, the blemishes, the less-than-perfect teeth, and nose and ears…the body with stretch marks and cellulite. Have you heard the song “Mirror” by Barlowgirl? Have you heard the lyrics? I mean really heard them? Mirror, Mirror on the wall; Have I got it? I don’t need to listen So I guess that’s the question – “who are you to tell me, that I’m less than what I should be, who are you, who are you??” And who are we? who are we to look in the mirror and say that what we see, that Gods creation, the us that He created in His image is not good enough? Who are we to say that we are not good enough, not perfect enough. We cannot continue to buy into what the media and the world is telling us. We cannot continue to let ourselves be defined by what we see in the mirror. God sees the inside, and His light should shine from our very being – what is more beautiful than that?? True beauty is not defined by what we see in the mirror, it is not what is portrayed by the media – even the movie stars and models don’t look like their magazine cover images. He answered: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind' ; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' " Luke 10:27 If we are commanded to love our neighbour as ourselves – does that not mean that we first need to love ourselves? Is it possible to truly love another person, if we do not first love ourselves? So I challenge you…don’t let the mirror define you another day. Don’t waste another second on wishing that you were thinner or had better skin or straighter teeth or whatever it is that makes you feel like you’re not good enough. What does your soul look like? Is there beauty within, or have you allowed the lack of ‘skin deep’ beauty and the trials of life to rob you of your inner beauty too? It’s not too late. God can make you beautiful beyond your wildest dreams. We don’t need an “Extreme Makeover” to be truly beautiful, we need Gods Makeover.
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:2 Don’t believe the devils lies another day. You are beautiful. You are made in God’s image and He wants His light to shine in you, for all the world to see. Oh Lord forgive us for buying into the lies, for believing the lie that we are not good enough. You see the inside Lord, the true and most breathtaking beauty that is within.
Blessings
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