CLEARLY GOD WANTS ME AROUND FOR A BIT LONGER

I cant tell you how awesome it is to walk my journey through life with God by my side directing and guiding me.
Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.
I was booked in for an operation next week, I had my thyroid removed 8 weeks ago and I have regular blood tested to monitor how my adrenal gland and hormones are functioning so that my thyroxin medication is doing what it should.
I had a blood test last week that showed my levels at 10 times higher than they should be, I was concerned that perhaps I should postpone this second operation, but my surgeon and Gp said it will be ok, however I still felt uneasy.
This is where the God is awesome part comes in.... I had a call yesterday from an anethasist to say that if the operated in my current state of health there was a great risk that I would have a stroke during the surgery...Nice, thanks for the heads up ...
The funny part is that this person was the anesthetic Registrar that just happened to stumble across my tests, only my GP had a copy of these results.
The second brake that God put on was a friend sent me a message yesterday to say that she could not get me out of her mind and prayers yesterday.
I was not feeling at peace at all about this op and now that it has been postponed I feel at peace . As Christians we are so blessed to be able to have an internal alarm that tells us weather something is right or not, because our God is as solid as a rock and trustworthy beyond measure.
....Isaiah 26:3-4 (NLT) You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you! Trust in the Lord always, for the Lord God is the eternal Rock.
When we abide in God he in turn abides in us, it opens a path of communication that as Christians enables us and our Christian friends around us to hear from God. it is the hearing part that is so important. If we don't position ourselves in the word and will of God then we may miss the signs along the way when he is desperately trying to say something to protect us . "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” – John 15:9-11
If you are not hearing from God , then perhaps you may need to look at your position in life and make some adjustments , a shift in you will create a shift in your spirit.
1 corinthians 3 :16 Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

30 DAY CHALLENGE

ATTITUDE WILL DEFINE WHO YOU ARE
YOUR PROBLEM Is not he enemy... It is your attitude.... YOUR attitude belongs to you .. Not the people around you or your circumstances :)
God requires us to do an attitude check many times over , it is our bad attitude that gets us into so much bother. I always find that even in the middle of a bad attitude if I decide to make a change the there is an immediate shift in the situation.
It is so easy to fall into the enemy's snare and take the road of the bad attitude . God wants us to be more than conquerors . He wants us to live a full and victorious life filled with his spirit and his attitude. ROMANS 8:37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
So listen to his promptings and prepare for a change TAKE MY 30 DAY CHALLENGE :)It takes 30 days to form a new habit... So for the next 30 mornings I am planning to ask God to show me things in my attitude that could do with a tune up.... Who is with me...
Post your daily changes on this blog each day and lets see together the change that it brings in us.

THE BUDS OF SPRING ARE ABOUT TO BLOOM

The first day of spring today. As I look out my window and see the absence of sunshine as the rain trickles down without ceasing I am looking desperately seeking some sign of hope amongst the trees in the garden that there is new life forming amongst the dreary gray from the bare branches that are yet to spring forth an array of shades of green. My garden has lay dormant for moths now with no sign of life , just bareness , not even the birds can find a reason to stay . From the outside there appears to have been nothing going on out there at all, but in actual fact there has been an overwhelming amount of activity from within these dormant trees , They have been drawing precious nutrients from the ground to sustain them for the warmer months, they have been growing which they cannot do while they are covered in foliage, there has been a dying off of old dead wood that no longer has a use or is able to support the weight of fresh new foliage. What i can see however is the slightest shade of green on some branches , tiny brown buds with a tinge of green at the tip that will open to luscious new green leaves and delicate pick blossoms about to spring forth on my fruit trees that will soon turn into juicy ripe apricots in summer.
How similar is our life sometimes when we have been through a very long tough winter where there has been far too much gray and dead branches with very little signs of renewing and life or sign of new foliage. How easy is it for us to walk through these times and feel a sense of hopelessness and no end in sight. This year in Melbourne they say we have had the coldest and wettest winter in 15 years .... for allot of us it feels more like a lifetime and a winter with no end when we wake up each morning to more gray with rain and a 7 day forecast that shows very little change. The reality is though that the sun is going to shine again , the days are going to get longer and the trees will soon be covered in a canopy of fresh new foliage, and God has an awesome forecast ahead for us to step into .
Same too works for us if we have spent the winter season in the palm of Gods hand being nurtured, fertilised, renewed , fed , watered, and pruned. God uses these dark gray times to renew us and bring forth new life on new branches that he has made strong enough through the winter to carry the weight of the new foliage that he wants us to carry into the next season of our lives.
15 :1-2 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.
The hard part is for us to submit to the winter seasons in our life and submit to Gods pruning and shaping. God has such great things ahead for us but he needs to get rid of some dead unproductive wood in order to do that, submission can be very hard and painful for us especially if you are like me and you want a plan and a map that you yourself has approved set down before you first. But we must trust in the God who formed us, created us and knows every step of our lives and we must submit and allow him to bring us into alignment with him, even when we cant see light at the end of the tunnel we must trust that God can see the end of the tunnel and it is good.
Jeremiah 29 :11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
John 15 :5-8 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
Remain in God , firmly attached to the vine and we will grow and flourish , no matter how much gray and rain we are living in right now . He promises "THE SUNSHINE WILL COME "
1 Peter 5:10 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.

HOW LOVELY IS YOUR DWELLING PLACE

SUNDAY....
Jesus said, "I will build my church" Matthew 16:18. The church is important to Jesus , he loved it so much that he gave his life for it Ephesians 5:25.
If we are have the mind of Christ, we will love the church, too, and give ourselves to it.

The Greek word for "church" is ekklesia, which means an assembly. In Acts 19:39, 41, it is used for a large group of townspeople. But among Christians, the word ekklesia came to have a special meaning: all who believe in Jesus Christ.

There is not better place for us to be than in the presence of God today , in fellowship with other believers. The church has been put in place by God as a place of worship, refuge renewing and fellowship for believers.
Position yourself in his presence today and soak in this living waters , renew your strength so you can be a strength and help for others this week to come. We cant do it on our own :)

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Psalm 21:6 For You make him most blessed forever; You make him joyful with gladness in Your presence.

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Psalm 36:7 How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! And the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings.

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Psalm 36:8 They drink their fill of the abundance of Your house; And You give them to drink of the river of Your delights.

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Psalm 43:4 Then I will go to the altar of God, To God my exceeding joy; And upon the lyre I shall praise You, O God, my God.

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Psalm 46:4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, The holy dwelling places of the Most High.

FRIENDS

PROVERBS 18;24 A man that has friends must show himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother.
Today my thoughts have been about friends and how important they are to us. I have been recovering these last 3 weeks from surgery and have been totally blessed by the love and caring from my friends, it has been a very humbling experience.
Friends play such an important role for us, we can give to them and we can receive from them, we can love and be loved, share our deepest thoughts and hear their deepest thoughts, laugh and cry together, share joy and pain .
Most of we girls would have spent a great part of our lives looking for that elusive " Best friend ". We have an inbuilt desire within us to seek out that soul mate..best friend..life long buddy. The sad part is that for some of us we never seem to find that person, we begin our hunt in the primary school play ground and when we finally think we have found the one.... our hearts are broken when they tell you one lunch time to go away they have a new best friend now. But never to be deterred we try again and again all trough school and beyond.
Then heaven help us !!! we grow up marry have children and are thrust into the world of "the mothers play Group " trying to find a whole new circle of friends to fit into. I f we thought the school yard was hard , it was only a mere walk in the park compared to hormonal new mothers. Our task to fit into this frightening play ground begins at first light preparing our baby in his finest outfit , packing the nappy bag being sure that nothing is forgotten , preparing ourselves in our slimmest looking clothes so we look like the most together hottest mamma in the room. Then off we go ready to walk into the unknown hoping that we will connect with these mums and develop a life long kindred spirit with at least one of them.
I spent many years wasting my time on trying to be the person that I thought other people would want me to be in order to have them want to be my friend, the joke is however that all I really had to do was be who God created me to be and just simply be their friend. I did not need to jump through hoops trying to be the sort of person who would appeal to others.. I just had to be me and use my talents that God had placed in me to love the women around me and in turn they would love me back.
I cant tell you the amount I times that I have allowed myself to be put in the position of walking away from women feeling completely shattered and unworthy to hold the title of being their friend subjecting myself to inane comments, and allowing Satan to scream in my ear "just go home you stupid woman , who would ever want to be your friend " I was leading myself to the slaughter each and every time because I was listening to the wrong voice time and time again.
The funniest part of all this however is that all along from the day I was born I had my best friend right there with me every day jumping up and down before me saying "pick me !!! pick me!!! " God was there all along, a truly faithful friend handing me unconditional acceptance and love.
He was right there the days I was sitting at home in the depths of loneliness just waiting and hoping that I would look to him and share my deepest thoughts with him. He was waiting for me to place my hand in the warm safe palm of his and feel truly loved. He was there in my deepest times of rejection whispering in my ear " No Janelle don't listen to them listen to me, hear my words , my truth, my love for you, spend time with me and I will show you how much I love you ".
Thankfully I can tell you that person is not me today. I know who I am, I know who God created me to be, I know the gifts placed within me to love and nurture those around me, I have set aside time with my "best friend " for him to whisper in my ear truth and not lies.
I have been exceedingly blessed to have learnt the truth of friendship.
Take the time my friends to stop and ask God who you are ? who he wants you to be to the people around you ? Because therein lies your answer to being a true friend to others . You are bringing friendship to the table not coming empty handed wanting to take friendship from others. “The world of the generous gets larger and larger – the world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller” (Proverbs 11:24).
Micah 7;5 says ; " Do not trust a neighbor; put no confidence in a friend. Even with her who lies in your embrace be careful of your words." The prophet saw no safety or comfort ,but in looking to the Lord, and waiting on God his salvation. When under trials, we should look continually to our Divine Redeemer, that we may have strength and grace to trust in him, and to be examples to those around us.
Charles Spurgeon said. " I trust my soul in thy kind hands "
Who are you trusting with your soul ? God is the only one who will not damage your tender
heart and be your true faithful life long friend.

SOMETIMES GOD NEEDS TO SHOUT

C.S. Lewis said ; “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: It is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world”

Fifteen years ago I went to Koorong book store to buy a new bible, after over an hour of searching for just the right one for me from the amazing array of choice I gave up in frustration and decided to leave feeling rather dissatisfied .

As I turned to walk away a hard cover bible fell from the top shelf hitting me on the head and almost knocked me out. Clearly the obvious choice to me was I had to buy this one, if only for a funny story to tell.

I still have that bible and in the front cover where there is provision to fill in "who presented you with this bible " I have written "God, because he dropped it on my head."

Today I found myself back at the same store to purchase a bible for Lucy, I was not in a particularly good frame of mind as I had a cold and a thumper of a headache. I stood for 20 minutes looking at all the choices and found the one that was the perfect choice that Lucy would love , It was however in hardback and cost $40.00 which was twice the amount of money I had to spend so I decided to leave and have a look online and see if I could find something suitable, as I turned to walk away I was startled by a loud thump as a bible came crashing to the floor directly behind me. Now being the tidy person I am I picked it up without looking and placed it back on the shelf and again began to leave.

Tap tap .... I felt the Holy spirit tap me on my shoulder "Do you remember the last book that fell to the floor in this store ? "he said .... How blonde am I !!!! Yes I do I said to myself with a grin on my face and looking around at the same time to see if someone else dropped the book.

I picked the book up from the shelf and realized that I was holding a paper back copy of the bible that was perfect for Lucy but was out of my budget and this one was $20.00 exactly the amount that I had in my hand. I actually laughed out loud... two times... same store,,, two perfect bibles .... what are the odds ??? No there are no odds, just God getting my attention.

Isaiah 42:20 You see many things, but do not pay attention. Your ears are open, but not any hears.

Zechariah 7:11"But people refused to pay attention. They shrugged their shoulders at me and shut their ears so that they couldn't hear.

ANNIE MELINDA LANE

Today August 25th 1994 , 16 years ago
I was in my bed at The Anglis hospital holding Our Annie Melinda Lane who was only one hour into her journey through life.
I spent the day prior to this day cleaning my home, playing games with Steph whom was only 3 years old and Liam who was only 14 months old , taking my then 6 year Old Robert to school and home again. I was a busy mum to say the least. Well by 4 pm this day my home was spotless, my children had had all their needs attended to and dinner was cooked for my In Laws who were coming for dinner, we enjoyed a wonderful dinner together and home they went, only to return at midnight because Annie was on her way.........
How precious are the memories when I look back and recount every detail leading up to and the birth of my precious girl. That first look into her eyes I never forget, those precious Sapphire blue eyes flickering open and shut in an attempt to adjust to her new surroundings. Her tiny fingers reaching out for me. The very best of all was the overwhelming sense of joy as she crept and wriggled on top of my belly looking for my breast to suckle on and truly bond with me and know that without a doubt that I would love, care for and nurture her for all her days to come.
To have the privilege of watching Annie grow and mature over this past 16 years , to witness first hand her love for God, her love for her family and friends, her magnificent voice when she sings. The compassion that is stirred within her and her ability to take action when she sees a need. Her strong sense of justice for others are all part of her God given character that was placed in her tiny heart when God first formed her withing my womb. Jeremiah 1:5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."
Even when Annie was two and they thought she had Cystic fibrosis , God you were there loving her , guiding the surgeons hand and taking care of our worried broken hearts
How blessed Mike and I are as her parents to have had God along side with us every step of the way as Annie journeyed through life . I have read my fair share of parenting books but none come close tho the wisdom and insight that only the Holy spirit can give to you when it comes to raising our children .
Thank You God for the truth and wisdom in your Word , Thank you for trusting us with such a precious gift as Annie to raise in your ways .Proverbs 22 :6 Train up a child in the way he should go ; and when he is old he will never depart from it.
Annie the kingdom of Heaven is yours keep learning, keep loving, and keep looking forward. Mathew 19 :14 Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."