PUT OUT INTO DEEP WATER: 2016

Our church runs a craft group where about 100 women come, chat and create for a couple of hours each Wednesday morning. Each week, someone shares for 3 minutes. I was asked to share and felt the Lord prompt me to share part of my story with them. I thought I'd also share it with you.

"In 2014, after living with chronic fatigue syndrome since 2006, I was prescribed a year of rest. At the ripe old age of 26, at the age when I was meant to be in my prime, when I should be working on my career, travelling the world, starting a family; I was told to stop: stop work, cease social engagements, and to rest.

In preparation for this year, I spent a lot of time mourning what was to come and what I would miss. And what if it was all for nothing!?

I have found that God doesn’t let any experience be wasted.

If we let him, he will use it to show us more of himself, teach us about himself, and prove himself faithful. This may not be your experience of God, but this is what I have seen, time and time again.

At the beginning of the year, when I resigned from my job, one of my colleagues sent me this verse from the Bible. Psalm 73:26,

“My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart: he is mine forever.”

I was disheartened. My health is bad, is my spirit growing weak? Will God remain my strength?

I thought this would be a year of hardship, of pain, of loneliness, of disappointment. And it was.

Maybe it would be a year of healing, of answers, of breakthrough. And it was…

but not as I had expected it.

I read this quote:

“I used to think life was like a series of hills and valleys. I was either in a good time or a hard time. But that’s wrong. Life is actually more like a railway track, where the good and bad coexist side-by-side all the time. In the midst of hard, painful and confusing things, good is still happening.”

And I saw this first hand. It wasn’t a year in a valley, I was on a railway track, and it was beautiful.

“In the midst of hard, painful and confusing things, good is still happening.”

At the end of the year, I wrote a poem as a reflection, here is how I began:

A year of rejoicing, a year of mourning

A year of clarity, a year of confusion

A year of peace, a year of restlessness

I serve a faithful God

My goal was good health; I was taking a year off to invest in the next 60 or 80 or however many God would give me. His goal was something greater, something deeper, something more significant. He gave me that year to invest in eternity, to know him more, to grow with him.

The Bible verse that was shared with me earlier in the year made a bit more sense. “My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever.”

Do you know Jesus? Do you love him? I wonder if you’ve thought you could only be in a valley or on a hill at one time, but maybe you’re actually on a railway track and God is doing something beautiful in you. He knows you and he loves you, I have no doubt about that, and he desires to walk with you; will you let him?"

Celebrating milestones

Saturday, July 30, 2016

Abundant and infinite generosity

Thursday, July 28, 2016

Where is my home?

Friday, July 15, 2016

Looking forward, looking back

Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Affirming words

Tuesday, May 24, 2016

This is a post I originally wrote on my other blog, Thearle Girl, back in March 2014. I have been thinking about encouragement and words (as I often do) so thought I'd share these thoughts with you here.

I’m a ‘words of affirmation’ kind of girl.

Words, the right words, for me, bring life. No words, do not bring life.

I have been trying to decide if to write this blog or not. Trying to decide if to put my heart, my content, my being, my creations, my words, out there. It’s a scary thing. People think things. People don’t always say things.

Rod and I have been thinking a lot about encouragement lately. Sometimes life sucks courage, rather than giving courage. It can be disheartening. Encouragement is in short supply. Not saying the encouraging thing can be as bad as saying a negative thing. Silence is deafening. One of the most hurtful weapons a person has, is not nasty words, but silence – that doesn’t speak up when it could speak up.* I feel this deeply; he’s learning this (for me and for others). We want to be encouragers of people – he doesn’t need it, I crave it. But we both realise the importance of it. And instead of him not giving it because he doesn’t need it in return, and me not giving it because no many others are handing it out, we’re learning more than ever that we need to take the first step and encourage. Maybe then someone will encourage us. But we don’t want to worry about that; we want to give life.

Life cannot be given solely through words. For all of us, we need the Word to bring life. When we aren’t encouraged, we need to know what the Word thinks and says about us. Then our encouragement for others will flow freely. And what we need will become less about us, and more about him.

Words bring life. So use your words (and your likes and your comments) to bring life.

* We watched a Hillsong TV sermon by Brian Houston called 'I Feel Better Now'. Some of these thoughts are from his thoughts.

Identity hang-ups

Thursday, May 19, 2016

I don't read my Bible enough

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

One thing that gives me life is reading God's Word and journalling.

But I don't do it enough.

There I said it. I don't read my Bible enough. I'm not good at being a read-your-Bible-everyday kind of Christian. There's too much pressure for me, there's too much guilt for me, and there ends up being too much reading and not enough understanding, not enough applying, not enough doing. I don't like just ticking boxes.

I like getting deep into God's Word. I like journalling. I like imagining how I'd write a sermon around the passage. I like comparing translations. I like small chunks. I like achievable goals.

I've found a way that works for me, yet it's still a struggle.

A couple of weeks ago a girl in our life group emailed (thank you!) and suggested we read Genesis together by ourselves. I love together by yourself. There's the accountability without the guilt. There's time to catch up. It's where introverts and extroverts unite.

We're reading through Genesis in 30 days. It's not much but it's enough. Often I get so overwhelmed by the enormity of the Bible that instead of doing something, I do nothing. I've learnt that something is better than nothing... but I'm still learning.

Knowing what I have to read each day and having one page in my journal to write on a verse or two is freeing for me. It's life giving. It excites me. It makes me want to read and it makes me want to share.

I want to be excited by God's Word and I want to share it with others.
I can't do this if I'm not reading it but I find it just as hard if I'm doing it to tick off a duty.

My way won't work for most of you. And your way – I have found – usually doesn't work for me.

If you can read your Bible every day, please do, and keep telling me to, because I want to. But don't judge me or make me feel guilty or let me not be able to be open with you because it's something I don't do.
I want a real relationship with God, not to tick off a list.
I want to connect with God, not have some words go in and out.

I admire my friend who wakes at 5:15 each morning to spend 30 minutes getting ready and 30 minutes with God before work... but I can't do that. And I'm not her. So let me be me and connect with God and allow my relationship with him to be really real and ask me what he's saying to me. Because he's still talking. And the Bible is still important. It just might look different to me than it does to you.

So here's some freedom: find a way that works for you to connect with God.
If you read the Bible every day and get through the Bible in a year, I respect you, thank you and need you in my life.
If you have a Bible verse on your mirror and read that each day, I respect you, thank you and need you in my life.
If you study the Bible with commentaries and different versions and the original text, I respect you, thank you and need you in my life.
If you sing in the shower and you're real with Jesus, I respect you, thank you and need you in my life.
Don't allow this freedom to let you disconnect, but let it help you dig in.

Let's be real with God. Let's embrace the freedom he offers and remove the guilt we feel.

Holy Saturday

Saturday, March 26, 2016

Idolising busyness

Thursday, March 24, 2016

"Busy" is an all too common response.

It has a whiff of vague importance; without really saying anything, you can convince others (or maybe just yourself) that your day,

your week,

your life...

is filled with meaning.

Why do we do that?
Why do we feel the need to promote ourselves this way?
Why do we hold busyness as an idol?

I think we're better than that, I think we're made for more than just looking and feeling "busy."

"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us"
- Gandalf (The Fellowship of the Ring, chapter 2)

"Busy" is an empty term.

Moving to a new place and starting a new job, people want to know how we're going, how we're settling in, how our weeks have been.
"Busy" is an empty response.

It doesn't say how we're going, settling in, or how this week has been. People who care about us deserve a better answer than that.

We use busyness as an excuse - for not rocking up to events.

There are times in life when there is a lot going on, so share that burden - tell people what is happening or that you need a rest, admit that you can't run at 100%.
Be honest with the way you're choosing to spend your time.

We use busyness as a boast - to make us look good.

There are much better ways to talk about work or study, actually reveal something about what you're doing. Remember that productivity is measured by effectiveness. I'm not impressed by the number of things you're doing, but by the number you're doing well. And even then, I'm probably more interested that you shared openly, than by what you share.
You don't actually need to impress me.

We use busyness as a veil - to hide the truth behind.
It can feel like everyone else is busy, so I need to join in the chaos. But you don't need to hide - admit when you're "busy" because you spent all day on Facebook or watching Netflix;
share about when you're feeling unproductive or uninspired;
ask questions when you don't know the answer.
We're all searching for purpose and meaning, join the adventure.

This blog, in part, is about risk-taking.

But taking risks doesn't mean running at 110% or pretending you are.

Sometimes the risky move is to stop and wait.