Monday 26 March 2007

My Little Cuties



Consider What God Has Done

It is so important to consider what God has done, for us and in us. To be content with all that we have and all that he has given us. There is probably a resounding Amen when I say that God is good and faithful.

In life we can find ourselves sometimes distracted with our situations and circumstances. Thinking about how we look, and how our behaviour is percieved by others. When we come into the presence of God, it can sometimes be an effort to take our focus off our selves and onto the things of God. I have to really guard my mind in times of worship and prayer. I almost have a little routine of saying to myself, this time is not about me but about my wonderful creator. I then make sure that the things I'm considering in the presence of God is God and what He has done for me. I have such powerful times with God when I only allow myself to think about His goodness and beauty and majesty. There is nothing in creation more beautiful and powerful than Him.

Dwell in His presence and consider what God has done and is doing for us and know that everything else will fade into insignificance compared to him.

Wednesday 21 March 2007

Appreciating Our Mothers



My youngest and I visited a play group last week. One of the activities that take place is a craft activity. This week they were making 'mothers day' cards. Most of the children are too young to really understand what they are doing. The most fun is the part where the children discover that it's ok to get messy with sticking and painting. The children are normally left to see what creation they can possibly make with pots of glue, glitter and sometimes clay. It was different last week. I noticed a lot of the mums sitting down with their child helping them to do their mothers day card! A lot of the children got bored with this craft activity and left their mums finishing their creation while they went off to play. The tables were filled with artistic mums making probably their own mothers day card!

Being a mother is one of those jobs that can often go un-noticed. We all love our mums, but I wonder how many of us really appreciate what they do, or have done over the years. Sometimes it is difficult to really appreciate something until we understand what amount of effort and love went into it. If we don't understand this, that act of kindness and love can be taken for granted.



I have always been close with my mum, but when I had my children I actually realised what it meant to me a mother. I believe this brought me closer to my mum. I have grown to appreciate all that she has done and all that she does. When our children are young we don't expect our children to show us apreciation all the time, but we do know that one day when they have gone through what we mums go through and becoming parents themselves, there will be a joining and a fresh appreciation. When I think about what I do for my children I don't expect anything in return. I do what I do because that's who I am. Whether my children understand what I do for them or not I will continue to do my best and lavish as much love as I possibly can upon them...
Thanks mum, for I know you do the same for me

Monday 12 March 2007

Where You Go I Will Follow


About a month ago we had a weekend of marriage teaching and ministry with a lot of the married and some engaged couples from our church family. It was a fantastic time. We started off with a romantic meal for two followed by some teaching. Many of the couples that came to this event benefited from the fantastic teaching, with opportunity to to talk intimately with our partners.


I shared on the topic of submitting to my husband. I only spoke for about ten minutes as part of some teaching on 'Working as a team within marriage'. Since that time I have heard much feedback on how this simple teaching had a part to play in impacting some peoples lives and marriages and that it has helped to unlocked some doors for some couples. The whole weekend was fantastic but I would like to share some of what I said:-


I am able to submit to my husband Richard because I trust him. My trust is confidently placed in Richard because I know he wants me to succeed, I know he loves me, I know he wants the best for me, I know I'm important and I know he needs my help. Not only do I know all these things but Richard makes me feel all of those things. It is not always enough to know it but to feel it is important too.


Richard has learned in our marriage that if he wants to take us in a certain direction as a family, I need to feel like he's considered me and my feelings. We talk about these decision and discuss how this makes me feel and how it affects me and the family. It is important to Richard what I think.


Whenever we go through this process of talking and discussing the trust and confidence in Richard gets stronger. When there are times when I don't see it, I can submit to the decision because I know I have been considered and my opinion is important.


Early on in our marriage there was a time when I struggled with some direction that came from Richard. We hadn't talked about it, I felt like it was just the way things were going to be and that was that. Being the 'good christian wife!' I thought I submitted to this direction, but in fact whenever the topic came up, all I felt was hurt, misunderstood and I did not want to talk about it. After some short time Richard realised that I was not happy with the decision. As far as he was concerned up until that point I agreed with him. I realised I hadn't really submitted to Richard I was just going along with what he wanted. After we had spent some time talking and praying we still came to the same conclusion, but I felt understood, and that what I wanted was important, I was then able to submit fully to this direction.


Submission is not about going along with it, it's about saying I trust you and even though I don't see it I want to go where you go. The process we go through to get to this point is very important.