Life

P 3399 For parents of kids of any age. 

/ DVH

Back when I was actively involved in mothering my kids, I noticed that doing bible studies, taking time to pray with them, plus other Christian activities, were all great – but the most powerful impact by far – came from displaying my OWN FAITH. They needed my faith to be worked out daily in front of them. I was their witness to Jesus, in good times and bad. It was not just what I said, or taught that mattered — my actions and reactions did. They were learning about Jesus as they watched me trust Him.

Our living faith needs to be visible to our children – otherwise it becomes yet another theory. If that is difficult and you are constantly wrestling with your faith, then let them see that. Let them see you turn to Him for His help. I learnt, that you can’t just teach your kids and expect that they will somehow ‘catch’ Christianity like a cold, or farm out your responsibility to a Christian group. You get to sow the seeds in their hearts.

If you want to raise them to believe in Christ and all He did for us, you will need to make a quality choice to demonstrate your faith in front of them – in good times and bad. Meanwhile being positive all the time, creates pressure on a child. They feel things very keenly, it is far better to be real. Saying: “I’m not coping with God’s answers right now,” sets the stage for them to still go to God when they are not coping too!

Today I want to share a testimony – I hope it illustrates my point about visible faith adequately.  When my three children were very young, they wanted a swimming pool, but we couldn’t afford it, and so the kids were greatly disappointed. They were just little kids, so they wanted one anyway. On one very hot summer’s day they came to me and presented their reasons for wanting a pool …their Dad was at work at that time … and I knew darn well it was going to be an uphill battle.

So that day, I tried to pass the buck off onto the Lord, and suggested that we all pray together and ask Jesus for a pool instead. Anybody can see I had a wonderful attitude about this. Not. It wasn’t a very long prayer, and then I sent them off to have fun under the sprinkler. Later … that very same afternoon … my sister-in-law rang me. “We have something we want to pass on to your family,” she said – “It’s a pool!” We have just built an in-ground pool at our house, and we no longer need our above-ground pool anymore.” I nearly fell over. I mean, I couldn’t believe it! That instant answer to prayer floored me.

Then she uttered the magic words; … “Of course the kids’ uncle will come and install it properly, no charge at all.” My brother-in-law installed pools professionally!! Wow!  I told her, I would call back after I had talked to her brother. He said; “OK. ” All we needed to do was buy some sand and chlorinate it. My brother-in-law worked so carefully to install that pool, the guy was a master at what he did. The kids kept running in and out watching him, they were so excited. A week later they were swimming in it, and it had been  installed professionally! 

Jesus cares about childish faith. All the teaching in the world can’t give your child your faith. But you can help them to grow their own, by inviting them to pray with you, and then leaving the results with Him. The Lord is so kind, He lives way above our human limitations and restrictions, He simply doesn’t see them. Meanwhile my kids all knew that pool came from God Himself!

I exhort you, please don’t let your own fears, spiritual struggles or concerns stop you from visibly using your faith to encourage your children. Teach them there are times God says no – but because He is God, and He knows everything — He will have a reason for it. Many times since then my kids and I have had to pray for something they desperately needed, and the Lord kindly provided for them. I want to testify that those things stick with them.. 

Let’s quickly look at the prodigal son in Luke 11. This young man remembered what he had already seen in his own home years ago …. “When he came to his senses, …” He remembered what he had seen his earthly father do, and it prompted him to take a chance and go home!

My adult kids have their own living faith now. It is expressed differently than mine, but they have fought through their own disappointments and troubles to a better place, and  strengthened their own faith as they learnt to walk with Him themselves. Faith can create memories, just like it did for the prodigal son. David did that too – when he ran at Goliath, he had the memory of God helping him to kill a lion and a bear.

The Holy Spirit will help our families remember what they have seen Him do, right at the moment when they need it, and that’s for kids of any age. Bye.👋

P 3394 Do you react or respond?

/ DVH

This subject has been a difficulty for many of us. If you have lived with a reactionary parent, you may find yourself reacting to antagonistic stimuli almost automatically. The people who illustrated this trait toward us, could also be our biggest source of distress, irritation and pain. Often the person who is led by this trait is impulsive, and they regularly need some sort of diversion. They live almost on the edge of their nerves and they have no peace in them permanently.

I think doing things on impulse can be great fun, I have done it myself … but doing it continually makes for an unstable, unsettled lifestyle. What I have written here is not aiming at criticism, it is simply my best illustration of what over-reaction can do. It can quickly destabilise situations and usher in instability for others. Someone with a temper might say: “That’s just me. I flare up, but I cool down again.” I’ve found when this situation happens to me, I’m often reacting to a perceived slight, or word out of place, rather than responding to whatever is really going on. Human beings need stability, that’s why the Lord Jesus is so incredible – “He’s the same, yesterday, today and forever.”  Hebrews 13:8. He’s stable.

The insecurity created by a reactionary response can foster a deep sense of fear of things being out of control. (PS It is much better if we leave Jesus in control – fighting for control leads us to a much darker path!) Because of my own upbringing, I had a huge need to study everyone, including those close to me, carefully. Purely because I was afraid of what might come next! So I learnt to read faces, and body language to help me deflect aggression before it started. That BTW, is still a reaction!

Reacting to a situation actually means something else, or someone else is controlling us. Something unforeseen has happened and we act defensively so we can cope but then we can easily be provoked further. I don’t want to get into a debate about whether this or that is right or wrong. Instead I think we give away our ability to rationally work our way through things when we react. It took me years to realise my reaction to someone else’s instability meant I was also reacting! But I did that stuff inside my head. I was simply managing and manipulating any potential ugly circumstances beforehand, so I could pacify or placate the difficult person or circumstances.

Father God has gently peeled back the layers of anger, despair and heartache, and He showed me that I wasn’t actually escaping, instead I was becoming just like the person who was treating ME like that! He began to teach me to respond instead of reacting. Reacting means we let someone else’s actions define or create a deficit in us. However, responding is about making a quality decision about our own situation or someone’s actions toward us. Reacting is much easier than responding – our feelings jump in and they are trying to control things we feel we can’t control any other way. We need to turn to Jesus, not a default system. Control in any form, and Christianity do not mix. 

Responding means you take a second to think about what is in front of you, and ask the Lord to give you His plan. Sometimes He says to me: “Just wait…”  One thing I’ve learnt is that some reactionary people don’t like waiting, they want the difficulty escalated or resolved, NOW! But responders assess, pause, and then they act. If we are having problems with a reactionary person, waiting can prompt the other person to get even madder. This type of person doesn’t like that potential silent space, it doesn’t fit their “accelerate into war,” or “fix it now” agenda. However, somebody else’s anger is not our problem. Instead we need to ask the Holy Spirit to help us say something soft to turn away that wrath that’s coming for us. 

I’m learning to say: “You really matter to me. Let’s not damage our relationship, instead let’s turn down the heat and talk about it quietly.” Responding means you have taken control of yourself, and your own feelings. This is one of the ways we can cultivate the fruit of self-control. Our feelings aren’t useless, they just don’t have good leadership skills, because they don’t make good decisions under pressure. I have learnt when I wait, that the Lord will give me a scripture to hold onto. It helps me to bolster my faith, and it gives me something concrete to stand on. It helps me with my own response. Confronting a reactionary person is not necessarily the best time to use that word as a sword. That might only escalate things. 

However responding treats the other person like they have rights too. Controlling others so we can feel OK about ourselves, and get what we want, is not a good Godly plan. The bible says we get our worth in Christ. Our value comes from what He has done for us. When we choose to pause, then we have some time to choose to how to respond under the Holy Spirit’s guidance. If we read the entire story about Christ’s torture, punishment and death, we can see that He chose to be silent in the face of blatant untruths. His response was to say nothing. Responders understand they have the power to make things better. 

Like the scripture says in my blog heading: “I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. I PRESS ON …” Philippians 3:13,14a. Bye. 👋

P3391 Personal testimony.

/ DVH

Hubby and I have made bible delivery trips all around Australia from top to bottom and side to side, for the past 21 years, approximately 280,000 kms. We lost count! God called us, when we were in the middle of Australia, staying at Uluru. My dear hubby was in terrible pain at the time. The L4/5 discs in his back were disintegrating, plus he couldn’t sit for long periods of time, and he couldn’t work anymore.

The bank wanted to repossess our house at that time. Undaunted, hubby had faithfully finished a 3 year bible college course lying flat on his back, most of the time on the floor! He had bone crunching against bone so it was not nice. A dear friend paid for us to fly to Uluru, and he shared his accommodation with us.

I like to tell people that my husband walked all the way from Brisbane to Uluru, because he literally did. Apart from going up and coming down again, he walked the aisles of that plane, both ways, in terrible pain. They had to put him in a wheelchair to get him on and off, because he could not manage the stairs. A bit later he had an operation for those discs and praise God, the pain left. But at that time we were both praying and waiting on the Lord to find out if there was anything He wanted us to do for His kingdom. 

On the very last day before we flew back home again, we decided to scrape up our pennies and invest in a hire car from Uluru, and go out to Mt Conner, which was about 147 kms away. The picture above shows you the area. We climbed out of the car to look at this interesting formation of rock, and hubby very carefully warned me to lock all the doors, because the car was not ours. So I did. 

The scene wasn’t all that riveting, just a huge lump of mesa rock far far away. Plus, by this stage we had taken some truly great pictures of Uluru. Now that is some rock!  But we took pictures anyway, then we went to leave. Poor hubby was taking pain killers for his back so he could manage the never-ending pain, so he was a bit vague. That’s when the unthinkable happened. In all his concern to keep someone else’s car safe, my dear husband had locked the keys to the car — IN the car. And it was very HOT in the sun. There were the keys, together with some  water, a very necessary item – plus sunscreen and food etc. All of it was locked away, tighter than a drum. This is not good when you are out in the middle of the outback, in the middle of nowhere! We were stranded. Yay!

We prayed for help, because neither of us had the ability or energy to walk to the nearest cattle station, which was, at the time, 65kms away. Then a Dutch couple turned up in a Combi van, and tried to help us with a tiny little screwdriver so we could get the window open. No chance there! Then along came a busload of Japanese tourists. They found what was happening to us, much more interesting than the view of Mt Conner! Bless them. Fortunately someone had a great big screwdriver, thank the Lord, so while this was going on, all the passengers were busy filming our dilemma. 

Finally a Ford Falcon drove into the viewing pull off – there wasn’t even a toilet! And out climbed these four guys who could have played international Rugby! Boy were they big guys!! One of the biggest ones had his wife with them. When they found out our predicament … which wasn’t hard to miss with a crowd of Japanese tourists jostling round the car filming away…the wife whispered to my hubby: “It’s OK, they can fix this for you. My husband just got out of jail for breaking and entering!!” We didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. 

But sure enough the four of them started tackling the problem of how to get into our little rental car. Meanwhile, they were all so big they could have picked up the car and shook the keys out!  A-n-y-wa-y … I shan’t tell you what they did, because I’m pretty sure it was illegal, but in the process someone came up with a coat hanger and they used the BIG screwdriver to open a window a bit, and then the coat hanger trick to pull the keys out of the ignition. 

Slowly the big guy balanced the keys toward the slightly opened window, and then … the keys fell off! A collective groan went up from all the Japanese tourists who were still  watching on! The keys slipped off the coat hanger hook onto the driver’s seat. Another big groan from the audience. Finally the guy managed to thread the keys back onto the coat hanger and carefully pull them out of the window. And he noticed a tiny scratch on the driver’s door and licked his finger and wiped it. “That’s OK,” he said. “That’ll buff right out.” Problem solved! 

Those burly men drove off almost immediately, but before they left the wife said to hubby, “They would never have left you alone here to manage this situation. They would have stayed with you, until you were safe.” They told us they were all from Newcastle. We gleefully jumped back in our now wide open car, drank a whole bottle of water, waved at the Japanese tourists boarding their bus, and then headed back toward the Uluru complex. As we were driving away praising God loudly for His provision, and kind hearted people, the Lord spoke into hubby’s heart. “These are your people, the people I have sent you to – ordinary working class Aussies”

Sometimes we get our assignments from the Lord, in unusual ways. We’ve been doing what He told us to do in that little white car on the road back to Uluru, ever since. I don’t usually share our personal life here, but maybe somebody out reading the blog today, needed to hear that a ministry can be born from strange and difficult circumstances. Bye. 👋.  Isaiah 40:3-8. Isaiah 55:10,11.

P 3369 When you run out of TRY harder ….

/ DVH

… REJOICE! Throw a party! Ask all your friends, rabbits and relations to come. Running out of the ability to try harder to be a good Christian is a good thing. CELEBRATE! 🎉🥳Father God loves it when we run out of self-effort, and we rely solely upon His goodness to get us through. I was struggling with my health this morning and I heard Him say: “Let’s do these things together. I’ll take the load, you just walk with Me.”  So today I want to talk about the things that can go unnoticed when we don’t have His eyes to see Him working behind the scenes, and let’s ask for eyes to see each other too.

I take some pretty fierce kinds of medicine. That means I don’t sort of – kind of, have to go to the toilet… I need to go now! As I am making my mad dash – which consists of something that looks more like Doctor Nefario in ‘Despicable Me,’ than Gout Gout on an athletic track setting yet another record … my dear hubby always helps and comforts me. This is a big deal at our house, he’s the poor sod that gets to clean up after me, so he’s definitely using his faith … right?? The Lord spoke to me about that: “Your husband is showing you what I am like. I will walk beside you teaching and comforting you, encouraging you, as well as urging you forward.”

The Lord never gives someone else the best, and you the left-overs. He is so BIG there is plenty to go around for everyone. Like I’ve said before – if we don’t got it, then we don’t need it. The bible reminds us over and over again: “His mercy endures forever.” He won’t withhold His mercy and grace from us, no matter what dumb thing we just did. We can always turn around and go back, and know that He will receive and help us. Trying to be what He already given us, for free, is a waste of the time we have been given. It is best to ask for His help early, rather than later, otherwise we can get frustrated. We also need to learn how to receive His help through others.

I am no longer able to do my own hair so it has become yet another thing my hubby has picked up to care for me … simply because I can’t. We need to take the time to notice these graces other people give us. This morning when I asked how my hair looked – hubby replied. “This side looks great, but the other side looks just like Doctor Emmet Brown’s hair from ‘Back to the Future.’ I laughed so hard. Get rid of suspicion, it ruins marriages.

My husband has arthritis in both of his thumbs. The thing is, thumbs are very useful things, so it is a big sacrifice for him to do my hair. Yet he does not resent helping me. On the other hand, because of that arthritis, every morning at our house is peppered by: ‘Crash! Bang!’ And then a disembodied voice echoes from the kitchen saying: “I’m ok, its alright! I haven’t broken anything.”  He can no longer hold things in his hands easily. This could be a negative thing, but God has helped us turn it into a point of laughter and identification.. Ask the Lord to help you focus on what’s good about things – because what we focus on gets bigger.

Sometimes we accidentally judge people by their negative traits – and focus on those things. “What’s good about it?” Is something I say a lot. There can also be times when we get a bit unhappy with the Lord, because He did not answer some important prayer we prayed, and now we are struggling with disappointment. That’s the time to remember that our God loves the greater good. Ask Him! “Please can You show me what the greater good is in this?” He will!

Because of ordinary times like this, I’ve learnt that this is what spouses do for spouses – I didn’t have parental examples. Meanwhile, we should not wait until our partner is tearing out their hair to help them. In our own immediate family, one family provider has taken every birthday, every special occasion, every illness — off from work, so they can be there for their loved ones. This person is also our standby carer if hubby has to do something he can’t avoid. It is no small thing. This person saves up their leave so they can be available to help us. That’s grace.

Lastly, the other day our grandson did the teenage thing and decided that hanging out with grandma and grandpa was not cool anymore. So hubby took himself off to the young man’s house, because we want him to know we love him … whether he wants to see us or not! Kids don’t always know what’s good for them, and we do things like this to demonstrate love. However, we don’t believe in only giving the little darlings whatever they think they want – we also give them what they need.

God is far more like that, than we are. Sometimes His people need to be chastised, the bible says He also does that for the people He loves. We need to stop deciding we know what’s best for me — and let Him oversee our lives. That’s what surrender means! When we run out of the ability to try, the Lord is always there, patiently waiting for us to turn to Him. Let’s start with Him and continue with Him, as we learn how to do things His Way. Bye 👋

Colossians 2:1-15: “Entering into this fullness is not something you figure out or achieve. It’s not a matter of being circumcised or keeping a long list of laws. No, you’re already in—insiders—not through some secretive initiation rite but rather through what Christ has already gone through for you, DESTROYING the power of sin,“

P 3363 Forget material blessings.

/ DVH

Colossians 2:2,3,6,7,9. AMP. “[For my concern is] that their hearts may be] braced (comforted, cheered, and encouraged) as they are knit together in love, that they may come to have all the abounding wealth and blessings of assured conviction of understanding, and that they may become progressively more intimately acquainted with and may know more definitely and accurately and thoroughly that mystic secret of God, [which is] Christ (the Anointed One). In Him all the treasures of [divine] wisdom comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes of God) and [all the riches of spiritual] knowledge and enlightenment are stored up and lie hidden. …   … As you have therefore received Christ, [even] Jesus the Lord, [so] walk (regulate your lives and conduct yourselves) in union with and conformity to Him…. … Have the roots [of your being] firmly and deeply planted [in Him, fixed and founded in Him], being continually built up in Him, becoming increasingly more confirmed and established in the faith, just as you were taught, and abounding and overflowing in it with thanksgiving…  …  For in Him the whole fullness of Deity (the Godhead) continues to dwell in bodily form [giving complete expression of the divine nature].”

Paul is carefully explaining that there are much better things to aim at than a ‘happy life with everything I want in it.’ That’s what this world is busy doing right now, scrabbling around trying to save money for the future, or simply make what they have go around. I’ve discovered that sometimes when we pray, we won’t always see the answer right away. Jesus is ‘drawing us after Himself so we can run together.’ He loves us! We are His joy... who you are gives our Heavenly Father great joy. He doesn’t see a failure, He just sees His family.

When our lives are rooted and grounded in what Jesus did, then material things become irrelevant. Personally, I’m grateful to have somewhere to live, a bed to sleep in, a chair to sit on, and a car to take bibles to far away places — but I wouldn’t give you tuppence for the extras that seem to occupy most of this world’s time. Those things get old or disappear or become obsolete. My greatest joy is to see God’s children prosper in their relationship with Him. And I love seeing my immediate family put the Lord first despite the difficulties they face. Who could possibly be richer than that?

Paul calls this kind of life, full of wealth and blessings. It can be our daily choice. We’ve been taught previously that once you choose to follow Jesus we will have a better life down here. Rhubarb. This isn’t heaven, we are living in enemy territory! The blessings Paul talks about are hidden inside his relationship with Christ. I’m not there yet, but I’m not giving up either! We need to choose to walk with Him, and let Him help us live our lives according to His Ways. God’s blessings are definite realities, but they will seem inconsequential to the people around us … until they need them.

Paul makes it clear that once we are saved, we need to pay even more attention to Jesus than we have ever done before. Why? God’s deep mysteries are hidden in Christ. Hidden means we gotta go look for them, it doesn’t mean they will automatically fall upon us. Investing in Christ is investing in eternity, and that’s way better than superannuation! Our inheritance comes from Him. We need to stop waiting for the pastor to give us a word and go and look for one in the bible for ourselves, plus find one for someone else! The Lord Jesus cares for each one of us, and He will provide whatever we need. But what if He doesn’t? Well, we really don’t need it then! God’s kingdom is about faith, not the stuff this world admires.

“Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.”  We can get daily caught up in wanting things, blessings — the so-called ‘good bits,’ but we can’t afford to skip over the prerequisite conditions. First we must seek His kingdom! Everything we will ever need is hidden in Christ – spiritual knowledge, life, healing, our daily bread, and we become His companions. Jesus is visible to us in the book and He walked the earth like we do! He didn’t have to pray down healing — He was healing. He didn’t have to pray down deliverance—demons couldn’t wait to get away from Him. If we aim at walking with Him day by day, then when we need it, wisdom will come. Why? Because we are walking with the Wisdom of God personified, that’s why.

We can’t afford to allow ourselves to be shallow-rooted plants, who are affected by our outward circumstances. Abiding means He is now our reference point, our life, our hope, our future, our everything. If He isn’t Who He says He is then we are sunk! That’s the kind of abiding that doesn’t have emergency contingencies. Of course we will make mistakes, but we have chosen to be honest about them. We own them, we repent and repair and move on again. The lumps and bumps are normal! This life is a journey, if you aren’t DEAD, you haven’t arrived at the destination yet. 

Our faith is designed to grow – it’s like a tree – it is meant to get bigger. Jesus’ kind of faith is more than the emergency exit button, that we try to press when thing get hard. While we are learning to walk with the Lord, our faith will expand. But it isn’t knowledge that expands it, it is living it out day by day, and making choices to trust Him. If we forget and wander off … well, you get the idea. Don’t let fruitlessness, or seeming  lack of wisdom scare you off. We can learn to depend upon Him, not our circumstances. Jesus is FOR each one of us and because He is FOR us who can be against us? He told us things would get difficult sometimes, it’s normal.

Our reactions can be changed by His Grace and His point of view. Forget material, physical blessings, our real riches are in Christ, go after them. He will blow your mind and enrich your life in ways you never even thought about. BTW, seeking doesn’t mean a mild curiosity – it took those three kings years to reach that stable! Bye. 👋

P 3359 In which I talk about Elephants.

/ DVH

I have been ill one way or another for the past 50 years, I have a cranky immune system. Why? I dunno. Loads of people have prayed for me. I imagine if I asked people-who-are-much-smarter-or-more-spiritual-than-I-am they could probably list some sin or unbelief in my life that has caused this stuff. All I know is it stretches my faith daily. 

I don’t always find other people’s suggestions, even though they are well intentioned, all that helpful. Because these not-quite-so-helpful souls go home and do ordinary stuff, and yet I still need help going to the loo! I realise that others are trying to be inspiring by telling me to declare this, and remember that verse from the bible. It’s all good! But when I am in the middle of a physical battle, I can’t pick stuff up, I am too busy fighting my overactive mind, feelings and symptoms, and I feel condemned if I can’t do it.

I truly believe Jesus has the Answer so I go to Him minute by minute for the strength to manage this kind of weakness. At the same time, I can use all of His life in me that I can get, when my own life is sitting on me! Unfortunately, another problem with ongoing chronic illness, is that you can get used to it — and sadly, you don’t have to like it to get used to it. One of my least fav feelings is the one that says: “Here we go again!” I’m doing OK today, BTW.

I want to take the time to encourage others who happen to be sick or broken. The people who love and desperately need Jesus day in and out, just to get out of bed every morning. It takes courage to choose Jesus when it seems like there are no wellness benefits- yet. I salute you. So does Paul in 2 Corinthians 11:16-33, and 2 Corinthians 12:8-10. Without the Lord’s help, chronic illness can become the overriding flavour of any life. 

You will have to fight against the idea of giving in to it, and grab hold of your courage to fight that same battle one more time. I believe I have discovered a small but helpful secret to surviving with elephants…what we focus ON, fills our minds and emotions and it filters down right through our everyday lives. A person with a disability has to fight harder, but I’ve learnt to comfort myself with the thought that God loves me dearly, sick or not.  Plus I strongly resist the urge to fling blame and angst about. Instead I put my sights firmly on Him and keep on following Him.

It’s extremely profitable to look for some good in life – especially if you are laid aside. That attitude can become a refuge in itself. Two sentences have helped me: “Oh well,” and “God is always good, no matter how it looks.” God is still good when everything looks BAD! I want to be clear, these two things are not an exit sign, they are simply a way to keep my spirit man, who isn’t sick (!) energised and active.  

So I say: “oh well” and postpone any plans when things get icky. It’s become a spoken cue to shift my focus back onto the Lord, and off some painful thing or other that has forced itself on me. What we pay attention to, fills our vision. Bad stuff can happen to anyone, and ‘oh well,’ reminds me I’m in great company. Otherwise self-pity grabs me by the throat and I start circling the drain. Then I’ve just lost an opportunity to rely upon Jesus, as well as renew my mind to think like He does. The Body of Christ focusses on healing, but we need to focus far more on the fact that Jesus SAW sick people!

Problems come disguised as ordinary every day incidents that are easily solvable for most people …but when they land on the chronically sick and disabled they become distractions to keep us busy elsewhere …so we will forget who we really are! When praying for myself shows no visible signs of relief, then I choose to pray for YOU. Otherwise pain and illness can take over my thinking, and block out the reality of Who He is and what He has done for all of us.

The other thing I hang onto is: “God is always good.” I say that out loud, and I’ve learned to treat it as a lifeline. Then I resist evil, focus on Him – and I have peace instead of turmoil. When we use the truth of the bible as our plumb line, it steadies and focusses our inner thinking. This means we can pick up on whatever the Holy Spirit wants to give us, so we can fight the enemy’s insinuations with it.

Sometimes, realistically speaking, we may have to gird up our loins, and do everything we can, including ignoring our battered feelings.  In those moments, it helps me to keep going when I remember what the Lord has already done in my life. I’ve learnt to let the little things that might otherwise go unnoticed, become my focus. I give thanks for the small things! Even if we don’t know how to fix ourselves—let’s face it if we did we would do it! We can still always go to Him and ask for His help and healing. Believing ‘God is always good,’ switches our focus.

Chronic illness means some people around us, are running this race set before them with a handicap – and some are barely holding on. Perhaps other people don’t realise how much courage it takes to hold fast to what is true, in the face of the lack of answers to fervent prayers. The Body of Christ needs everyone, including the lesser, unseen parts, so we must stand with the chronically ill and keep remembering them in our prayers. “I was sick and you visited Me.”

I vote we support the person and stop ignoring that elephant, because love looks like something – a prayer, a real hug, tears, even a sandwich! Let’s not make someone’s healing more important than comforting the person themselves. Bye. 🙏

P 3356 ‘If’ and ‘then’ and ‘was’ etc.

/ DVH

“But IF you live in life-union with Me and IF, my words live powerfully within you—THEN you can ask whatever you desire and it will be done. When your lives bear abundant fruit, you demonstrate that you are My mature disciples who glorify My Father!” John 15:7-8 TPT.

Some times those little words, when you notice them, will punch you right in the eye! You know the ones I mean, the little words that help string sentences together. Those little words in God’s book, can have the biggest meaning. There are times when we can be like little children in a candy store about scripture; grabbing …”one of these and one of those …” only taking the ones we like, so we probably don’t give a lot of thought to the little words. 

It can be easy to treat the bible like a story-book or a novel. However, those little words show us that what’s in the verse is conditional to the things we need to do. We cannot afford to read simply picking out the ‘lollies’ we like. I’ve already talked about the word ‘let” in another blog in the past. Look out for that word, it’s a sleeping giant despite only having 3 letters!

“But we are a colony of heaven on earth AS we cling tightly to our life-giver, the Lord Jesus Christ,” Philippians 3:20 TPT. It is easy to see this verse is conditional when I highlight the little word … as.

“Be imitators of God in everything you do, for THEN you will represent your Father as His beloved sons and daughters.” Ephesians 5:1 TPT. See what I mean? Everybody wants to be a beloved son or daughter, but that verse says we need to imitate Him in everything we do, and … then … we are His familial representatives. 

But what if the version of the bible I like to read is not the same as yours? The same thing applies, because I am not actually talking about the words per se, I am talking about a way to read.  When we deliberately take notice of the little words, we won’t just pick out the main point and run off with it. The bible is like Dr Who’s Tardis, bigger inside than what appears on the outside!

What I am highlighting today has nothing to do with grammar, I would thoroughly fail at that. My purpose is to highlight that we cannot read God’s word and digest it in the same way we do any other book. This book is alive. It is inhabited by Jesus Himself — He is God’s Living Word. It must to be eaten and digested.

Let’s look again: “In the beginning WAS the Word, and the Word WAS with God, and the Word WAS God. The same WAS in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him WAS not any thing made that WAS made. In Him WAS life; and the life WAS the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” 

This is the KJV of John, chapter 1, verses 1-4. Isn’t it astonishing how many times that little word “was’ appears in these verses? Yet we may not have ever noticed it before. That’s my point, the little words in the bible do more than just tie one word to another – they give the things said, context. We get a sense of Christ’s place in the Father’s purposes.

Colossians 1: 15-17. This verse also testifies that Jesus was with God right at the very beginning. “We look at this Son and SEE the God Who cannot be seen. We look at this Son and SEE God’s original purpose in everything created. For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels—everything got started IN HIM and finds its purpose IN HIM. He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment.”

These verses clearly establish Jesus’ Deity. He is the light shining in the darkness all around us. So when we need light then we must go to His book. By all means ask your pastor, minister, etc. but go to him after you read the bible first, because Jesus knows what happened to Samson, or Jepthah or Ruth. He was there.

Those little, seemingly extraneous words can give us context and clarity, and they help us to live our lives displaying God’s will, God’s way. So they are worth taking the time to notice. The Holy Spirit wants to speak to each one of us, and our task is to take Him speaking to us seriously. We can’t trust our own judgment, or even our own personal insight, we need Him to teach us how to read so we can digest and act upon what we have read. We need even the little words. Bye. 👋.

P 3353 It’s worth a thought.

/ DVH

Philippians 4:4. “Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean, revel in Him!”

Psalm 65:1-13. “Silence is praise to you, Zion-dwelling God, And also obedience. You hear the prayer in it all. We all arrive at Your doorstep sooner or later, loaded with guilt,
Our sins too much for us—but You get rid of them once and for all.
Blessed are the chosen! Blessed the guest at home in Your place! We expect our fill of good things in Your house, Your heavenly manse. All Your salvation wonders are on display in Your trophy room.
Earth-Tamer, Ocean-Pourer, Mountain-Maker, Hill-Dresser,
Muzzler of sea storm and wave crash, of mobs in noisy riot—Far and wide they’ll come to a stop — they’ll stare in awe, in wonder. Dawn and dusk take turns calling, “Come and worship.”Oh, visit the earth, ask her to join the dance! Deck her out in spring showers, fill the God-River with living water. Paint the wheat fields golden. Creation was made for this! Drench the plowed fields, soak the dirt clods With rainfall as harrow and rake bring her to blossom and fruit.
Snow-crown the peaks with splendour, scatter rose petals down your paths, All through the wild meadows, rose petals. Set the hills to dancing, Dress the canyon walls with live sheep, a drape of flax across the valleys. Let them shout, and shout, and shout! Oh, oh, let them sing!”

I would like to start out this morning by remembering that King David in his heart, was first a worshipper; then he went on to be a great warrior and a Godly king. But he started out on the side of a hill, watching sheep, looking at clouds, and marvelling at God’s creation. Please note that not only does he admire the Lord’s handiwork – he worships Almighty God for Who He is, as well as what David can see! Hubby and I had opportunities to do that, on this latest trip while we were travelling.

It was autumn in most of the places we visited, and the hills and valleys were alive with colour, smells and movement. We stopped the car at one point, just to watch a little breeze stir some deep red, orange and green leaves into a delicate little dance. We saw lambs and heifers… and our personal favourite … birds of all kinds everywhere. Flocks of them. We haven’t seen some of these birds in years. Hubby took my photos today.

When I read this Psalm, it reminded me that in our cities, sometimes all we can see are buildings, cars, trucks, concrete and people — but in the country you can often see God’s creation, bubbling over with life. It’s like He decorated this world with every beautiful thing He could think of, just so we could see Him in another way. Father God is constantly revealing Himself, how glorious He is. We cannot afford to reduce Who He is into only words or language. no matter how revelatory language seems to be.

Sometimes the best thing to do, is to go outside and just take the time to look. What a pity it would be if all we know about Almighty God are some words that somebody else taught us. Instead, lets allow Him to reveal Himself to us, by what He has made.

We don’t have the season of autumn much where I live, it is semi-tropical. So all that happens is that the sun gets lower on the horizon, and the days seem shorter as it gets a bit colder. But when the sun is out, the rich golden daylight dances through leaves creating shadows. Every single time I look at it, I understand why the Impressionists thought that just painting representationally was not enough! 

Our God speaks so many languages, and one of them  — is visual, and exquisitely beautiful! I think what we call nature, is another one of our Father’s Heavenly languages. “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands.  Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.” Psalm 19:1,2. 

It is interesting that David notes how important our obedience is to God. I think disobedience can render human beings a bit dumb and blind. Some people think we need entertaining to help us relax, but there was no TV, Media, books etc. in the Garden of Eden! Just God’s handiwork. Imagine the smells in that garden!

Then our sin put a tear into the perfect fabric of this picture. Human beings allowed disobedience and fear inside that glorious garden – and their inner silence was shattered. Sadly, I know I can do that myself by rushing past what really matters, to get to something that doesn’t – just so I can put a tick on a long list in my head! Sometimes I think mankind is almost a parody of who we are meant to be — instead of a glorious reflection of Who He is! We were created to look like Him – “Let us make man in Our image.”

If someone seems ugly to you, in the way they are acting or speaking, then ask the Lord to help you to see Jesus in them. There are so many angry, agitated, shattered people with so much fear in their eyes, that the light God put in them has almost gone out. Even our children have not been nurtured to appreciate the beauty around them. Their eyes are stuffed full of immersion in worthless stuff that ushers in distraction. That is so sad, children were made for wonder.

In my mind’s eye, I can see a tiny little two year old girl, hugging a small book to her chest, dancing with delight. She didn’t need the internet – which went off the day we left! She had a book. Who knows what sorrow her little eyes had seen before we met her that day? Today my thought is this — let’s never stop expecting to see the good things of God. Instead we need to treat what this world offers as a pale shadow of His life-giving realities. It’s worth a thought. Bye. 👋

P 3342 HOW?

/ DVH

Philippians 1:9-11: “So this is my prayer: that your love will flourish and that you will not only love much but well. Learn to love appropriately. You need to use your head and test your feelings so that your love is sincere and intelligent, not sentimental gush. Live a lover’s life, circumspect and exemplary, a life Jesus will be proud of: bountiful in fruits from the soul, making Jesus Christ attractive to all, getting everyone involved in the glory and praise of God.”

I have come to understand that Paul’s prayers are not just in the Epistles for the churches he started and pastored – those prayers are for us too. It is good to read these things aloud and say Amen … I personalise the scriptures and pray them for myself. I’ve been praying for years that “the eyes of my heart would be enlightened” so I can see what He wants me to see. PS I also ask for wisdom. I don’t stop praying for that, because I don’t want to put a ceiling on what He wants to give me. And I thump the daylights out of Psalm 91, mainly because I need to remember every single day I’m only a spectator – participation is optional!!

Yesterday what I wrote was pretty intense. When I read things like yesterday’s blog, my first response is always: “That’s terrific, and I am all revved up and ready to go… but how?” … The secret is in the HOW …  BTW today’s blog is not comprehensive, however I have learnt it is good to make some sort of a beginning – and remember to be kind to yourself while you are learning – God is! Stay filled with the Spirit – if you mess up, repent, and refill. If you give out to others refresh yourself in His love for you.

The Apostle Paul tells us what love looks like over and over again in the scriptures. Part of HOW is this: Love looks like something. It looks like patience when you ran out an hour ago and you and the Holy Spirit are wading through the ghastly stuff of life and He’s holding you up!  I think any mother can tell you what patience looks like.

I think it looks like a two year old who wants to get dressed “all by myself” … and then go to church in any old jumper, especially if it is inside out, together with odd socks and shoes – I let the kid wear them BTW!  Kindness looks like your elderly parent who tells the same stories over and over again and you already know them word for word. Kindness understands they are really saying: “I’m still here, I had a life, things happened to me too.”

Love looks like not giving someone else – who often clearly deserves it – a piece of your mind. Instead, you tell that person how much you appreciate them and why! ‘But, but, but – that’s so-oo bad — aren’t you lying?’ OK. Let’s unpack this — are you saying that telling them what you really think about them isn’t bad? BTW, for your info, I’m not talking about lying – I’m talking about asking the Holy Spirit what HE sees in that person to love. The Holy Spirit knows everything and He will share those things with you. This means I’ve received, for free, a whole heap of insight into the person who is bugging the daylights out of me. 

One of the Holy Spirit’s Names is HELPER – why not allow Him to help you! We have a Resident Helper Who knows you, as well as that other person. As I was typing He reminded me about a person who is in my ‘difficult to relate to file.’ I prayed and asked for His help, and I saw them just yesterday – we got along so well. I think it was because I relinquished my own efforts and gave our future conversations to Him.

This is the biggest part of the secret of HOW. I urge you to pray over things, repent of your own bad attitudes – and don’t forget to let Him decide what a bad attitude is! … Then give it all to Him and leave it alone. He’s GOD, He can do anything! Sometimes we think we can see what that the other person needs, and we don’t even ask the Lord what He wants! Bad plan. Take the time to consult the Master Planner first. He knows it all. He’ll tell you what to do, He will give us useful stuff to help us love others .

Plan to live a life of love. That’s my next bit of advice. You have to plan it, and own it, day by day. A life of love cares about others. It is not absorbed in promoting itself, and it doesn’t emphasise ME being understood, instead it concentrates on love. The last suggestion about how to do it – is this: There are things we often say, and we say them because we are down, or someone has hurt us. But, if we are honest, they really don’t need to be said – I would like to suggest that it is better if they are not said.  

I don’t think we need to be paranoid about these things, because then they can become a task that needs to be done, instead of a way of thinking about others. Let’s revise our thinking prayerfully, repent wherever necessary, but be careful not to end up religious about it. Religion prospers, because it becomes a cultivated habit … it’s easier! But it doesn’t bring LIFE. Listening to the Holy Spirit means we’ve given up our agendas and we want to walk in His. So that’s the how, to yesterdays’ theme – “there is a bigger reality.” Bye. 👋 

P 3337 Life ain’t boring, that’s for sure!

/ DVH

Here are some memories from our trip: At our farm stay the hosts had one Scottish Highland cow, multiple chickens, three dogs, not to mention a herd of ordinary garden-variety cows. The Scottish Highland cow loved carrots, so hubby went to feed it a number of times, as she was quite friendly. Her nose was as hard as a rock – it looked like a giant potato! And her tongue was so much longer than the large carrot he gave her. Crunch, munch … all gone! Some pet – half the size of a barn!

Two of their farm dogs were very active, but all of them were somewhat chubby from too much love. There was an elderly Pit-bull, a Labradoodle, and a Golden Retriever. The two younger dogs were quite bouncy – but fortunately, as you will learn, also a bit slower because of their excess weight. We were all in the lounge together talking about life on the farm, and suddenly the golden retriever runs by outside the large glass doors, with a pair of chicken legs hanging out of one side of her mouth and the chicken head hanging out of the other. She’s having a whale of a time. Hubby noticed her, said discreetly: “That doesn’t look like a good thing.” He’s a master of understatement. 

The owner went from a pleasant, friendly person to a distraught owner instantly. She screamed, “Lindy stop!” And ran out the door chasing after the dog. Lindy had quite obviously latently discovered her real role in this life … retrieving things. The dog thought the whole thing was a game, but when the owner yelled out “drop it,” Lindy dropped the ….mostly-dead-looking-straggly-wet—chicken on the ground. She’s still ‘smiling’ ‘cos she’s thinks she’s clever. Good time to note that retrievers have a soft mouth as they are often used for retrieving pheasants. Anyway, there were feathers everywhere because it seems the chook put up a bit of a fight. 

Now the dog sat by this totally collapsed chicken, looking so pleased with herself, wagging her flag of a tail. However, her owner was not amused. She picked up the chicken, the poor thing had fainted …  then she took the dog and the chook with her, and disappeared. Five minutes later she came back and announced that the chicken was going to be OK. For a few minutes I thought we might be headed for a chook funeral. How it survived that ordeal I will never know! However when we understood said chook was OK, we laughed so hard we couldn’t stand up. It truly was the funniest thing. 🤣 You could not have choreographed it.

Meanwhile the next day, in yet another town – we went to deliver some blankets, bibles etc. to a trained social worker at a local hospital. She brought tea and coffee with her, and came out to the car to collect packages, to save us the bother. An-y-wa-ay … we had already prayed for her before we met her, and when we were talking together, the Lord said to me: “Tell her she needs an exit. Tell her to pray for an exit.” We like know, zero, zilch, zip-didley-squat about this girl who is cheerful and smiley and looks professional and normal! I’m kind of dubious about this idea…”I can’t tell her that Lord! You can’t do stuff like this nowadays, it is not PC!”  Jesus said: “What are you concerned about? You won’t be here tomorrow!” 😂

I got the impression that the Lord was holding a big EXIT sign in His hands. “Tell her to look for the exit.” He said again. So bearing in mind the actual happy truth that I am definitely escaping soon, and I won’t have to see her ever again – see how heroic I am? … I simply told her what He said and Who said it. I had no faith whatsoever. None!

This precious young lady cracked open like an egg, weeping and nodding, and yes-sing all over the place. It transpired that she loves the people, but hates the job. She travelled 140km each way, every single day, from Sydney just to go to work – because she doesn’t live where she has to work. God sent us there — supposedly to provide blankets and toiletries —- but He really sent us to tell this sweet young lady to actively look for another place to do what she is trained to do. You never know what the Lord has up His sleeve and it can be a lit-tle bit scary. 

Next fun story:  someone back home mentioned to us that they just love autumn leaves, because when you pick them up, no other hand has touched them. They just kind of float down from the tree by themselves. Well, the town we were staying in was chock full of gloriously coloured trees and I had the bright idea that perhaps we could collect some and take them back to this person as a gift. So there is hubby, (I volunteered him, I sat in the car invisible to the world!… As you do!) He’s jumping up and down, bumping and thumping branches, so that leaves would fall off, and he could catch them in an open plastic bag – look Ma no hands! He’s racing round and round the tree holding the bag open. Yes we got some!

After that we trundled off to deliver bibles to a caravan park, 6 kms down the road, the last time we were here they said “No!” very firmly. This time, praise God, they said ‘Yes.’ However, on the way back we needed to buy some fruit, and the only Woolworths was on the wrong side of a very busy road. So I light-heartedly said to the Lord: “Do You think some angels could build a Woolies on this side of the street for us please?” Jesus said: “How long have you got?” He cracks me up every time. 

Last story, I promise! In one of our overnight accommodations, the ceiling of the unit was covered in tiny black insects. Hubby can get anaphylaxis from some bug bites, and I suffer from rampant hives. Well clever hubby carefully sprayed them with bug spray that we had brought with us – so now they are like … dead … on the floor, the bed, our clothes, the benches, the soles of our feet etc. were all covered in tiny black bugs. That was soooo fun! I am very glad neither of us sleep with our mouths open. Reaching out to people for His sake ain’t boring that’s for sure. Bye. 👋