blog ~ faith ~ family ~ heartlife
Once upon a time, before I was a mother, I used to sew and design clothes for a number of ladies. One of the most valuable lessons I learned from this period of my life is that most women (I never sewed for any men) have parts of ourselves we want to hide or disguise and/or other parts to flatter and promote.
Continue reading “Appearance and assumption”
Each of our names shows something about ourselves, our relationships, our gifts or quirks. I am Heather to most but Mum to some, Aunt to more, Hon to one, Mrs to many, Fred to siblings, Frazzle to brother, Bruce to a few from way back when, Heath to the other, Mumsamoo to oldest offspring, Boss to third, Mummy to smallest. Each is true but none is complete.
God is My Refuge and my Strength but that is not all.
He is My Redeemer but that is not all.
He is my light but that is not all.
He is my Song but that is not all.
He is my Comforter but that is not all.
He is a Consuming Fire but that is not all.
He is my Everpresent Help in Times of Trouble but that is not all.
He is Truth but that is not all.
He is the Rock but that is not all.
He is Creator but that is not all
He is The Husband of the widow but that is not all.
He is Father to the Fatherless but that is not all.
He is the Father of Lights but that is not all.
He is the Hope of Israel but that is not all.
He is Jehovah Jireh-Nissi-Ropheka-Tsidkeenu-and they are not all.
He is my Saviour, Healer, Judge, Friend, Maker, Lord most High and Holy One.
And I’m still getting to know Him.
When is a question not a question?
a. When it is sarcasm.
b. when it is a challenge.
c. When it is a platform (like this one).
On the surface I’ve had this idea that questions are enquiries- which is a bit silly when experience tells otherwise.
The first time I learned it wasn’t safe to answer every question posed was as a child in grade one and I got the answer wrong. That kept my hand down for about the next 12 years.
Children are masters in the art of the question challenge… “Why should I” for example. And dramatic, melancholic, martyrish parents (hehem) perhaps once or twice in their lives known to employ the sarcasm question tactic. Once attending a seminar I ventured an answer the speaker didn’t want… It was too soon and he had an hours worth of material leading to that point. He wasn’t enquiring, he was planning to illustrate nobody knew what he was leading up to. I’ve since been on the other side of that and it was really hard but I learned from that NOT to ask a question I didn’t want the answer to or if my goal is participation/interaction more than information, then different words are needed.
Sarcasm, challenges and platforms posed as questions mostly dont welcome new or additional information or ideas… They are boxes designed to confine.
Questions used as thought prompts might be different in a true teaching setting… Parent and child, teacher and learner, Master and friend, kitchen, classroom, mountainside, heart – where the end point is truth. The tricky part is being sure to distinguish between truth and/or understanding revealed and a tasty sequential trail of cookie crumbs.
Some things I’ve discovered about reading the Bible in the last few years…
1. Things that seem weird, strange or boring are like red flags over buried treasure. Some hunting and persistence is required but treasure is there.
2. I don’t like being rushed. I know others follow ‘read the Bible in a year’ plans but I find this gives me a false sense of hurry. I want to read it and follow the trails that things weird, strange or ‘boring’ present to me.
3. I love to read big chunks in short periods of time- as you would a gripping novel. This gives a sense of flow and story that reading bitsy bits cannot.
4. I love to read it aloud with others. To stop and follow the trails together and see what each other knows and wants to know. To think on it in an entirely different way than reading silently allows.
5. And I love to read it silently… waiting for Him to show me new and deeper or old but fresher. Love this amazing letter
When I get to feeling lost and small in the magnitude of the earth and all its happenings I go here: “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.’
Continue reading “White stones”
I printed this in Facets (a parenting magazine I used to Produce) years ago – was given it by my sister from our Nanna close to the beginning of being a mum. I have loved it and have come back to it periodically as it expresses my hearts deepest desire and many years on, that desire remains paramount.
Continue reading “Something that has grounded me”
A lovely older friend of mine says “we all choose our own experts”. I have thought about this often as I consider opposing points of view and the origin of my own.
What do you make of this statement?
VSP 🙂
I don’t like labels. I like them less and less with the passing of time. I don’t like denominational labels, theological labels, political labels – any label on a person. Labels on tomato soup is one thing, but on people is another.
Continue reading “Labels”
What if… instead of looking at the Old Testament law as a list of do’s and don’ts, we looked behind the instructions to what they showed us of Who God Is? What if we looked for His heart, His requirements, His provisions FIRST?
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VSP 🙂
Christmas is many things to many people…
The story of His birth is not a complete story in and of itself. It is part of a chain of events woven across thousands of years in time.
Continue reading “Christmas – many things to many people”