• Nov. 23, 2007
The Little Things

Ants are creatures of little strength,
yet they store up their food in the summer;

coneys are creatures of little power,
yet they make their home in the crags;

locusts have no king,
yet they advance together in ranks;

a lizard can be caught with the hand,
yet it is found in kings' palaces.

~Sheila

PS. I am slowly changing this blog to this address: www.christsinstrument.blogspot.com    I am currently double posting on both blogs. 

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• Sep. 11, 2007
Spread Your Wings

"The future", with is vastness, its infinitude,--so distant, so beyond our power,--grows out of the use you make of the present, so small, so near, so completely at your disposal.  Reality borrows from futurity, from eternity...What is seed?  It is the future harvest.  What is the present hour?  It is the future age,--a destiny of happiness or misery.  What is this field before you?  It is all that you can make of it by industry, by effort, by vigilance, by enterprise."

Quote from 'The Love of Truth', Anonymous.

We, the youth of our generation, are beginning to set foot in that vast place called the future, but what we do now so greatly affects this!  However, as we wonder about our future, we must remember that the whole point of these ideas are not to fixate every thought on what is to come, but to apply ourselves with heart, soul and mind to the importance of today!  God has given us today, and he has not gifted us with tomorrow quite yet.  Consider carefully the things you do today, because their effects will drastically impact your life tomorrow.

Matthew 6:34 (NASB)

 "So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

God bless each and every one of you as you strive to make today count for tomorrow in God's eyes.

In Christ,
Sheila

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• Feb. 1, 2007
The Miracle of Life...

I can't say who, but someone I know just found out recently that they're going to have a baby!   I just got this pic (Of course, I got all of it.), to bring me the good news!

(This is their youngest!)

It really is amazing what the thought that a brand new life is coming into the world does to you!  I'm all jittery and excited, and I feel totally blessed.  The Lord is really amazing.  How beautiful it is to know that Jesus is excited too!  Babies are a gift from God, and I am so delighted to know that another of his gifts is on it's way!
Blessings,
Sheila

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• Dec. 31, 2006
Christmas is Over and the New Year now Dawns

Dear ones,

Well!  I've had a busy, yet perfectly lovely Christmastime.  Christmas Eve was enjoyed here at home with two couples from the Church, filled with sharing and Bible-reading, fun, laughter, and tradition.  Waking up Christmas morning, I found all was at peace in my world, and we spent a gentle morning together, just the three of us, opening a few presents together, and drinking egg nog with the advent candles lit.  'T'was really a blessed time.  Thank you Jesus!

In the way of other events, we had a games night here on Friday, again filled with many laughs as we played 'dictionary' most of the evening.  What a blast!  We found out this week that a dear friend of ours who we haven't seen for a couple years at least past away on Christmas Eve.  He was a dear brother in Christ with a strong Christian wife, and really it hasn't been that hard, knowing that he is where he always wanted to be - with his Saviour.  There is no mourning in the Lord!

Now, a New Year is about to dawn.  It is - as Anne would say - "A new year with no mistakes in it yet."  Oh, dear Lord, how I want to grow closer to you this year, and to have a greater impact for you, on those I come into conact with.  It's a great responsibility, I believe, to be given such a fresh gift as a brand new year, to fill with worthwhile activities and meaningful relationships.  I have grown and matured so much this year!  It really has been the first year in a very long time that I haven't grown more than a centimeter in height, but I feel so much more mature on the inside than I did at the beginning of 2006.  My heart is full of expectations, dreams, and desires, and I hope that somehow I can gain merely a stepping-stone towards those goals this year.  I feel 2006 has been my last full year of childhood.  I will never cease being childlike, but even Anne acknowledged that 15 was the first step towards adulthood.  Why, she once when 17, exclaimed: "I've really only been grown-uppish for 3 years!"  This season is at twilight, and a new one is about to dawn.  I pray that I will  be ready for whatever it brings.

Sheila

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• Dec. 20, 2006
So it's 6 days 'till Christmas...

...and my Mommy gave to me - ONE GOLDEN HUG!   (as opposed to: 'On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me - FIVE GOLDEN RINGS!)

Don't worry; I really am alright in my upper story!!!!  I've learned so much from these Anne-books (I'm on the 4th!)  It even helped me a bit this morning in riding.  I was getting tense because of some puddles, and the horse, it's kind of hard to explain, but let's just say that using Anne's method, and believing that there was a 'scope for imagination' as she would call it, I was able to transform the muddy arena in my mind to a sunny meadow.  Thank you, Anne Shirley! (It’s spelled with an 'e' of course!)  She also reminds me that love is not always where you expect it. 

She really had me worried when she was going around with Roy Gardner.  *Shiver*  I knew she and Gilbert were right for each other, and it all turned out so blessedly!  I really am happy for her, even if she is simply a character on the inside of a book and nothing else.

In any case, I really meant to talk about Christmas.  What a joy it is to me!  I dont understand how non-Christian people can really enjoy it!  Reminding me of Christ's coming in flesh is what gives Christmas such glory.  I am blessed each time I look at our beautiful tree sitting in the living room.  How can one honestly believe that it is an idol?  It is a precious jem of God's marvelous creation, right here for me to enjoy.  It even points in worship to the Lord! 

Thank, Father, for such a blessed season as this one.

Sheila

PS.  Check out my pics!!

Our beautiful Christmas Tree (no, it's not supposed to be fluffy, it's the European kind, and we put Candles on it, I don't know if you can see them though.):

A lovely shot of under the tree:

And, of course, the obligatory best shot ever of my thumb as I plugged the cam into the computer. :D

Enjoy!!! :)

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• Dec. 9, 2006
Christmas Cake and Advent Wreaths...

Well, as last weekend we weren't here to start advent, we just went out and got the branches. :)  So this evening we will make the wreath - who cares if you start a week late?  Oh well!  The house smells great now!  We finally made our Christmas Cake today!  I can't wait to eat it!  Mmmmmm...  They're done!  Just out of the oven.  Heavenly tasty!  Maybe later I'll sit down with a glass of Egg Nog, a piece of Christmas cake, and a visit with Anne of Avonlea. (Second book in the Green Gables series)  Sounds perfectly Christmasy to me. 

It's funny, how the smell of Christmas cake, and looking outside and seeing Christmas lights can bring back memories of Christmas eve.  Sitting around the advent wreath, and reading the Christmas story from Luke in English and German, and praying together, and cuddling with my Parents on the couch, burning the candle flame into my heart.  Lighting the candles on the Christmas tree, I feel a sense of glory and wonder, and pure peace.  I just stare at the candles, so for the rest of the evening, I see green, flame-shaped images when I look at anything else.  Then I give each of my parents a little gift, and recieving one or two myself, say pyjama pants or chocolate.  Perhaps my Father will pull out his recorder and play an old Christmas song.  I walk to bed with joy in my heart, the thought of giving my precious little gifts in the morning clear in my mind.  It's excitement and peace combined into one emotion that a person can only call: Christmas.

Thanks for listening,
God bless,
Sheila

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• Nov. 17, 2006
A quick note...

Hey!

Few days, no see! lol  Anyway, I am busy with school, doing lots of music practice and music theory, oh joy.  No, it's not so bad, really. :)  I've begun to accustom myself to taking things one day at a time.  It's tough at first, you want to look at the big picture and to try to figure your whole life out, but at this point, from a 14 year old's point of view, it's just too big.  It hurts to try to figure it all out, and you just get upset.  So,  look at today, and acomplish what you need to, and then get some rest until tomorrow.  That way I can smile at each days hard work, and move on without fear, trusting all the while in my Lord, Jesus Christ.

I just finished 'Anne of Green Gables', and at the end of the book, I felt a growing oneness with her.  She was seeking goals in life, and so am I.  Here is a quote from the book, referring to Anne:

"All the Beyond was hers with its possibilities lurking rosily in the oncoming years - each year a rose of promise to be woven into an immortal chaplet."

It reminded me of the beauty of life, and to savour each precious moment.  It is all before, me.  What a simply splendid time of my life!
Sheila

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• Oct. 4, 2006
A Little Chit-Chat...

Hello! 

As you can see, I've made some great improvements...well, actually, not a ton, I just changed the URL (by making a new blog and adding all the entries from my old blog with the correct dates. :) and the background and the title...buuut, I think that is cause for celebration!

Weeeeee!!!

What with my new happy blogness, I'm feeling kind of proud of myself!  But, that's that.

Anyway, I was in bed with stupid ouchy 'girl' cramps today...igh, not fun!!!  But fortunately it didn't last as long as the last two; probably because of my happy new meds!  Weee!  But it got me thinking, you know, about having kids one day.  It's a really exciting thought!  I come up with names (Chelsea, Saurelise, Christine, and Josiah - in that order!!! lol), and ideas about what they might be like.  I wonder if I'll be married with kid(s) in 5-6 years, or if it won't be untill 20 years from now.  Sometimes I get this weird little thought roming around in my brain (what girl doesn't?): What if I never get married - or even if I do, what if I can't have kids?!?  It scares me a bit, but I just have to deal with it.  Besides, God's got it all under control!  Yesss!!!!

Funny, that's another topic I've been musing about a lot lately.  My family and I feel like we need to downsize so that we are freed up to use our money/time to minister to people's needs etc.  Problem is, the money part.  We want to have an acre or two to have chickens, maybe goats or something too, a little space to do something with, but it's so expensive, even if there's just a dumpy little house on it!!!  So I know God's in control, but it seems like all of a sudden all of us felt like this (where we are now) isn't right, and that we need to downsize and live much more simply, but there seems to be no provision for that - yet.  So we pray about it, and we wait on God (...but it's really hard - Hurry up God!) and I feel like sooner or later (sooner?) something's going to happen. 

Crisis.  We need crisis.  We need crisis to bring us all together - for Christians to start acting more like what we're supposed to be.  If something terrible happened (Earthquake?  A few churches in North America were bombed or something?) it would really make us need to depend on one another, therefore, we would.  I wouldn't like it if my friends in the Church were hurt, but it would make me think!  It would make me help the families involved and reach out to them.  Wouldn't it be great if we would all just do it anyway?  Problem is, it just doesn't seem to work that way.  Phooey.  Anyway, I hope you understand where I'm coming from.

I suppose I should go.  Actually, it doesn't really matter, I'd just go work on my book anyway.  Ya, I'm writing a book.  Maybe one day I'll publish it, that would be awesome!  But I don't know, we'll see. :)

Anyway, thanks for tuning in, I appreciate it when people read my rants and actually respond.  It makes my time spent here feel much more worthwhile. ;)
God Bless you,
Sheila

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