HOLD ON TIGHT

As I write today today I know that some of you are facing incredible trials and pain. For some of you are feeling that you are at breaking point, that you just can't bare any more. you have been crying out to Jesus , enough enough . I know for me that walking through my health issues these past few months have been the most difficult circumstance I have ever had to face in my life and I can tell you I have had many times that I have felt that God had abandoned me . But there is hope there is comfort in the knowledge that all that Jesus withstood on the cross, that he came out the other side to sit at the right hand of God He rescued me from the miry clay and set my feet on a rock, we all have times that we feel we are sinking, I know I truly do , but god wants to set our feet on the rock that's steadfast and firm not soft under foot that allows us to sink. The best way to get on the rock is to stay connected with Jesus, through prayer, worship and finding verses that you can hold onto . Promises in his word that will pull you from the clay look through the bible for yourself and see The steadfast ability Jesus to withstand incredible pain How much pain ? How long did he endure such incredible pain ? Why did he endure the pain when he was the son of God ? Being thankful of the answers you will find in the bible will give you an open door to all that God has to offer's to deal with our own trials and sufferings
Isaiah 40 ;3 A voice of one calling: “In the wilderness prepare the way for the LORD make straight in the desert a highway for our God Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all people will see it together. For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
How steadfast are we ? What is our tolerance level ? If it falls short ask yourself what can we do to build it up ? The ball is in our court god does not just magically create a perfect pain free life for us But then does give us the tools to withstand the pain this world throw at us to endure. I love the Lifehouse "broken" song Holding on barley breathing.. In your name I find healing ... There is nothing to hold on to other than you Jesus Everyhing else will fail you or slip through your hands You will loose your grip because when you hold on to worldly things the Grip is only one handed When you hold onto God the grip is two handed, he hold on to you as you are holding onto him. It is his desire to cradle you in his arms and hold you ever so tightly for as long as it takes. Friends will stand by you for a time but not forever. God is there forever and he also knows the outcome of what you are going through, he has an insight that nothing or no one in this world can offer.

Deuteronomy 33:27 The eternal God is your refuge, and his everlasting arms are under you. He drives out the enemy before you; he cries out, 'Destroy them!' Psalm 18:32 God arms me with strength, and he makes my way perfect. Psalm 68:19 Praise the Lord; praise God our savior! For each day he carries us in his arms. Interlude John 19:-30 When Jesus had tasted it, he said, "It is finished!" Then he bowed his head and released his spirit.

Jeremiah 29:11-14 For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. I will be found by you," says the Lord. "I will end your captivity and restore your fortunes. I will gather you out of the nations where I sent you and will bring you home again to your own land."

God wants to restore our broken bodies, loss of health, loss of hope, loss of faith , and so much more and bring us back to a place of wholeness Jesus suffered and endured so much pain for us and then he rose again. Our hope today is in him and him alone , keep pushing through because Jesus promises us victory on the other side.

TEACHABLE MOMENTS

He is here for the broken and life to the one who is undone
He is peace to the wounded and hope to the helpless one
HE IS HERE, HE IS HERE
Be still my soul be still
Be still my soul be still
Wait patiently upon the Lord
BE STILL MY SOUL BE STILL ( Lyrics Kari Jobe )
I have just purchased a Kari Jobe cd and as usual always in Gods perfect timing.
Isn't it funny how often we come across something that is so part of Gods timing and plan for us, things that if they came week earlier we may not have noticed or listened to.
How often do the conversations of the past week all point to something that God is trying to teach us, a pastoral word here, a friendly correction there, a piece of music, a scripture that you may have read 100 times before but never felt the fire in the words.

I have struggled for so long it seems with health issues and been almost begging God to put an end to it now, almost demanding and threatening God, "right now, if you know whats good for you God ". All my efforts and prayers have been based on my own agenda, my own desires, my own need to be healthy so I can achieve goals, to feel worthy of love, To get the job done , whilst all along I have been completely missing the "Teachable moments " That God has been wanting to reveal to me.

Do you know it is all going to have a good ending , because thankfully for some of we "Bull at a gate Christians ". God Will sometimes use people around us to bring us a word of truth that we so desperately have needed to hear. Through the tender words of a friend I was able to finally hear what God has been trying to tell me all along and when I am obedient to this teaching I will finally see the breakthrough that I have been waiting for.

The key here is that brick by brick God has been trying to pull down a wall that I have built myself to protect a place deep inside of me that I have allowed myself to believe was what was keeping me safe, what i could rely on always.
When in actual fact my own self reliance was beginning to destroy me and God wanted to show me that it is Himself and only him that I can rely on , who will bring me internal peace , no matter what the situations around me hold.
Psalm 46;10-11 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.” The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.

God often does not create the situation that we find ourselves in but he will often use that situation to teach us and bring about change in us. He loves us beyond our wildest dreams and will do all that he can to draw us into a new and fruitful season in our lives for the better of ourselves and the better of the people that he wants us to share himself with.

So I am going to submit myself to the refining fire of God safe in the knowledge that he is bringing about change for the better and a new season of life for me . I bet I am not the only one out there who could do with some refining. Malachi 3;3 "He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver "
As my very wise Pastor said to me recently , sit quietly take time to be at PEACE with God , TRUST that God has it all under control and that looking to external situations all the time to bring me peace will always fail me if I dont have INTERNAL PEACE OF GOD first.
Philippians 4:7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

THE END OF LIFE AND THE BEGINNING OF NEW LIFE

In my bedroom I am fortunate enough to have two magnificent tree ferns outside my french doors, I deliberately go to sleep with my curtains open on that side of the room so that when I wake in the morning I have the pleasure of experiencing the full beauty of theses ferns as the sun rises and shines through their foliage and shows off their lush green colour. Last summer my ferns took a beating , they were badly sun burnt and withered away to almost nothing. To my delight our long cold wet winter proved very beneficial to my lovely ferns and from my window I could see tiny rolls of new life poking up through the top of my fern. It was not until spring however that the true glory began to be revealed , over the last two weeks I have watched as each one of these baby fronds slowly transformed from a three centimeter tight roll to a magnificent one meter long lush green frond. Each morning as I lay in bed more and more of what was hidden inside this tight little roll was revealed, as the bud unraveled I was surprised to see that on the end of each shoot there were teeny tiny baby rolls that were unraveling to form the many side shoots from the main frond. So today the process is almost complete and I have my beautiful tree fern in full foliage to greet me each morning to remind me how awesome my God is that if he cares enough to create such Majesty and new life in a dull bunt out tree , how much more does he love us and want to bring forth new foliage . He wants to unravel those tightly woven little balls we have created in our own lives and slowly unravel the pain, hurts , regrets, bitterness, lost hope that we have stored up in them.
Matthew 6;26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Gods hearts desire is for us to prosper and experience fullness of life and a life filled with joy, not pain and suffering . He wants to shape us and mold us into wholeness . He does not want us to remain in that place of burnt out dead wood that is of no use to anyone let alone ourselves. Trust God that he is a gentle good God , he knows that with my tree fern it is a slow process to unravel the new growth and If I grew impatient and went outside and pulled the new growth open myself it would not be ready for the suns rays and it would wither and die. God knows the same is true with us, he wants to slowly bring forth new growth on strong stems that he has strengthened within us with his spirit as he has tenderly sown his word and love into us. Give in to Gods love and tender mercy today and allow him to bring forth the seeds he has sown in you.
Romans 15;13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

trust

Isaiah 26:2-8 (NLT)
Open the gates to all who are righteous; allow the faithful to enter. 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. He humbles the proud and brings down the arrogant city. He brings it down to the dust. The poor and oppressed trample it underfoot, and the needy walk all over it . But for those who are righteous, the way is not steep and rough. You are a God who does what is right, and you smooth out the path ahead of them. Lord, we show our trust in you by obeying your laws; our heart's desire is to glorify your name.

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.