Protection

Job 1: 10

¹⁰ “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land.”

Satan was in the meeting speaking to God, he and God where discussing Job.  I believe that there are many meetings held each day around God’s people.  Satan will come to God with whatever You are doing and tell God about your sins which you have committed.  I believe today was one of those days, I am not the most perfect of people and I do have a temper problem.  Yes, little old me, a temper?  Believe me I have a bad temper.

It was a difficult day for me, I faced it head on, chin up and back straight but I thank the Lord it is over and I made it.  I believe that God is in control over my life and I can trust in Him.

My prayer is: 'Lord please may I come into Your hedge of protection, may I ask You to keep Your hand of protection over me, my family and friends.  I believe I am Your child, keep me safe, please Lord.  In the name of Jesus Christ I pray.  Amen'

2nd Wedding Anniversary!

Hey, hey it is my 2^nd anniversary!  This has been an interesting time in my life and I must be honest I am starting to see the changes in my own life.  

Firstly remember I am a city girl with this bad ass attitude, my way or the highway.  Ah, now let me tell you that doesn’t work like this.  My husband has a firm hand over me and keeps me in toe.  I am still my own person and have many new interests.  

How was my day today?  Well the normal, got out of bed at 04h30 and then left the house by 06h00 arriving at work at 07h00.  Then to top it off in an early morning meeting at 07h30 to 08h30, then back in the office.  I worked on three projects; getting information from people isn’t that easy.  I firstly completed my own scope of work, followed up with the suppliers and then going back to the next person.  As I work according to my time keeping schedule I then finally got to lunch time.  I missed my husband; he was in a meeting all day.  What a bummer!

Lunch was two banana’s and two strawberries, yum.  Tea, tea, and more tea it kills the hungry bug in my stomach.  Tee-hee, nothing I cannot handle.

Great we then get into the afternoon; I have Millicent at my desk the two of us both idiots right now trying to sort out our problems.  We have problems, no access to systems, needing to beg and ask constantly for information.  Learning is difficult and man we are really struggling, this power house isn’t that easy to get into.  But I enjoy the challenge and I hope and pray my work will be seen and recognised.

Yippy time to go home, 16h15 waiting for my lift, hmm run over the street, hop into the car and off to collect my husband.  Hmm, what a handsome chap, navy blue trousers and pin stripped white and blue shirt.  Behold the sigh of this handsome man, waiting for us to come along and take him home.  The drive home is peaceful and he normally takes a nap when he doesn’t have to drive.  I sit next to him reading a novel as usual.  We finally get to the toll gate, through it almost home, another 15 minutes to 20 minutes.  At our drop-off we get into our own car and then back into the traffic, it can be a bore but hey there isn’t any other way.  Life is like that.

This morning, I was reading God is in control over our lives and it doesn’t matter what we think, we must just realise that God knows best.  Sometimes I look at my life and wonder can I have any impact on anybody and do I have the ability to actually be the best that I can?

What is impacting my life this moment is the looking after two young teenagers, two beautiful Yorkshire terrier puppies, two beautiful little birds, a beautiful Golden Mantle and a beautiful yellow canary.  They both sing so beautiful, my Golden Mantle – Birdy sings all day long and not forgetting my lovely canary in toe.  Then the horrible cat and my love for my little coy fish, white and orange, man has he grown.  Hard to believe when you keep in mind the water in Witbank is very, very dangerous and not human friendly.  Yip this is about my whole life in a couple of words.  

‘In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,’  Ephesians 1: 11

Lord today I dedicate my marriage back into Your hands, You have predestined both Andus and I to be here together in this year as husband and wife.  Lord I want to pray and ask that You will work out everything in conformity with the purpose of Your Will.  We need You in our lives, You know our dreams and desires.  I dedicate all the children into Your hands and I dedicate my husband and myself into Your hands.  Keep us close to Your heart, let no harm come to our marriage, our finances, our home, our vehicles and whatever we deem precious and important to us.  Our friends and family, keep all of them safe too, I plead the blood of Jesus Christ over all our lives.  Amen

Renew me from the inside out.

Romans 12: 17 – 19 ‘don’t hit back; discover beauty in everyone.  If you’ve got it in you, get along with everybody.  Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not for you to do.  I’ll do the judging, says God.  ‘I’ll take care of it.’ (The Message)

Life has not been so kind to me and I find the older I get the more I want to ‘hit back’.  I know and have come to realise that most people go through the same things.  People are fickle and boy can they disappoint you.  Looking back at what has happened in my own life, I sometimes feel that it is my right to actually ‘hit back’.  Well it isn’t that easy and being mean spirited doesn’t work for me.  I don’t want to become someone that is all bitter and twisted.  I don’t want to sit at home in a couple of years and think back to the years of being bitter and twisted. 

I want to make a difference, I want people to look at me and say ‘she is always kind, understanding and friendly.  She doesn’t carry grudges and she always tries to look at the bright side of life.’   Yes, people are always going to disappointment and I need to get used to that, I might as well play ‘second fiddle’ and get used to that.  It doesn’t mean I don’t care.  I care, I don’t like disappointment, I don’t like people being nasty and rude to me.  I don’t like people ignoring me and not doing as they are told.  So what now? 

I am going to take a deep breath; I am going to take these people in prayer to God.  I get angry and irritated but let me tell you something, I will not let them steel my joy, I will not let them take away my dreams of being loving, kind and understanding.  I want to show grace, have compassion and love them for who they are.  

I will trust in the Lord God, I am going to make Romans 12 my motto for the next couple of years.  I am going to carry this around with me until it becomes me.  I want God to change me from within so that this old body will shine and just maybe be renewed as my mind and soul gets renewed.

Do yourself a favour; take a look at the people around you.  Look at the people that serve the living God, I mean look at their faces.  They radiate a beauty and seem to have a kind of inner strength and peace about them.  Then go and look at the person that isn’t serving our Lord, they seem to have burdens so heavy it draws on their faces and they seem tired and worn out.   Look and you will see it.  Look at Joel Osteen and look at Joyce Meyer (Joel is my age, and Joyce is older) aren’t they beautiful?  Yes I believe they are.  Compare them to someone you know who really doesn’t care about the Lord and the life after this life.  Look at them and think about it.

Lord God, I want You to renew my body, mind and soul.  Most of all I want You to come and life within me and renew me from the inside out.  Lord please renew me.

Hands

Have you looked at your hands lately?  I have been studying mine for a couple of weeks now.  They are so wrinkled and old looking it gives my age away.  Then I started to think about my hands, what they mean to me and how they serve me.

First of all these hands of mine held my three children.  Helping them grow up, I fed them with my hands and later I taught them to dress properly with my hands.  I held them in my arms with my hands and I look after them with these hands.  I washed washing with these hands, I knitted and sewed with these hands, I painted oil paintings with these hands, I wrote long letters with these hands.  I washed dishes with these hands, cleaned my house with these hands.  My hands have seen so much water it is no wonder they are so wrinkled.   

Most importantly my hands are able to do the things I need done, I can take up my Bible and read the scriptures.  With my hands I am able to type letters, long documents; I am able to do so much with these hands.  They are my life line in my life, without my hands I would not be able to type as fast I do, I would not be able to hold a cup of tea or eat a slice of bread.  I would not be able to cook a plate of food and make a warm dish to eat.

Today with gratitude I stand before the Lord of heaven, Lord Jesus Christ, thank You for my old hands.  Thank You that I may use them and thank You that You blessed me to have them.

Think about it without your hands you won’t be able to do much either.  We seem to lose our gratitude towards life for the little things that keep us going and the majority of use takes everything around us for granted. 

Romans 12 - a thought for the day

There was a time in my life when I believed that I would be looking after more children, perhaps I would adopt a couple of children to fill my house.  Life sure changes and I am looking after two young children.  The funny thing is I don’t have the same patience and understanding I may have had when I was a younger mom, I also get irritated by the way the children act and behave.  Nevertheless, they are two sweet young kids, growing up in a house with a step mom must be difficult for them too.  I have strict laws and I keep them to it, I don’t let anyone get away with stuff that don’t suit me.  So at the present time life is hard for them.

Currently I am focusing my life on Romans 12, Paul writes and tells the Christians to keep their minds focused on God.  We need to keep our daily lives focused on God, you know your day-to-day living, your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life.  Bringing this before the Lord and asking Him to sanctify it for you.  We are asked not to become so well-adjusted to our culture that we actually fit into it without even thinking.  Paul say we should fix our thoughts on the Lord so that we may change from within.  All of these things are there to change our lives so that we may become mature people in God.

We live in pure grace as Paul puts it and we must not misinterpret ourselves as people who are bringing the goodness to God.  No, God bring it all to us.  Now we can only accurately understand ourselves by what God is and by what He does for us, not by what we are and what we do for Him.

Wow if I had to take my own life I feel that I would be falling short all the time, my temper and my temper tantrums keep me so busy I don’t think I can be a nice person.  But when you look at me through God’s eyes you wouldn’t see me as I see myself, no you would be looking at me through God’s eyes.  He loves me because He sent His only begotten son Jesus Christ to die on the cross for my sins.  So that I may be saved.  How awesome is that.

So here’s some food for thought ‘Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it.  Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good.  Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.’  Romans 12: 9 – 10 The Message.

Work hard and don’t burn out, keep yourselves fuelled and aflame.  Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant.  Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder.  Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality.  

Bless you for reading my Blog today, may God bless you as you think about it.  Take courage and good cheer.  Live your life to the fullest and be all you can be as God wants you to be.