Wednesday 30 April 2014

Go on, Bloom!



I give you this space, right here and right now. I give you this space as one Yeshua – loving
sister to the next. I give you this space as one of the crowd, one of the great big crowd gathered around the stadium. I am one of the crowd and you are on the playing field, it’s your time. Go on.
Don’t see yourself as small, see yourself as the crowd sees you – all eyes fixed on you, all voices cheering for you. You are someone special, someone valuable and someone important, a feather in your Papa’s hat. You are important, a dream filled vessel whose dreams have paled over time but yet you are still important. You have this space right here and now, God your Papa has given it to you it’s a space in time. A time to be alive in, a time that is right now. You are alive for this generation and you have been given to the world for right now. He has given you what you need, but you have let it go, paled in the light of the chores, the dirty dishes and the unfolded laundry. The unfinished homework and note books, kisses and clean up time. At night you turn the lights out, making sure all is locked but not before you see that leather bound Bible and its Love eyeing you from below the list of papers that litter your desk. How your heart longs for your First Love. How your heart longs. You are still on the playing field young lady, maybe you have sat on the reserve bench by choice or maybe you are too scared to kick the ball. But you were called for more – that’s right, more! You are not confined or defined by your role or timidity, that’s just it – you were called for unconventional, unimaginable more. You are on the playing field and you have been chosen, you are in the flowering field and you have been singled out. What you do with your whistle call is up to you but I am sharing this with you, I give you this space. I give you this space right here and right now – so go on then precious flower take it because it’s time to Bloom!

Monday 28 April 2014

Creation's Call....

This song and video touched me immensely through the Ruach Hakodesh (Holy Spirit) this morning, its about Creation! May you come to realise that Father is so deeply connected with His creation that even who He is - His Heart, His Love, His sensitivity and Gentleness, His strength, His Majesty, His Freedom and Wonder is all expressed in the beauty of nature. In the way the waves roar and the camels run, in the way the trees stand immeasurable, certain over time. In the way the clouds play in the sky and the way the animals move, everything.... its all our God.

 

Sunday 27 April 2014

Freedom and Human Trafficking



Freedom is indivisible, and when one man is enslaved, all are not free...
(John F. Kennedy)

The concept of freedom seems to be invisible in the minds of most in the Western World. Freedom seems to be something that many never contemplate or think too hard about. But the very real reality of freedom is on my mind and heart today. South Africa celebrates Freedom Day today (27 April) and I want to bring to your consciousness the reality of the freedom-less. The enslaved, whose reality is bondage, slavery and fear.
Do you know that there are more slaves alive on this earth at this very moment, than there has ever been before in the history of mankind? Even as we sit hear drawing breath, close to 30 000 000 (million) people are surviving in slavery. I say surviving because slavery is not living, its daily breathing. Modern day slavery is called Human Trafficking and its becoming something that most people are hearing about and others are experiencing. I have met and I have touched survivors of human trafficking and their stories and realities are so hard to hear and hard to process that their words and experiences keep you awake at night. But it’s reality. Just this past week over 120 young girls were abducted in Nigeria, over 70 of these girls still have not been found. These precious young girls are used and sold as sex slaves. They are moved across borders, they are force-fed drugs and they are held against their will and against all odds. It is truly a reality that cannot be fathomed or explained in words, so let me rather issue you with some statistics.


·        1 -2 Million people are trafficked each year (UNICEF)

·        Half of the children who are trafficked each year come from Africa

·        Most trafficked victims are girls between the ages of 5 – 15 years.

·        Studies show that South Africa is one of the main countries for human trafficking

·        Before July 2013 there existed no legislation in South Africa, to protect victims of human trafficking

·        There are up to 10,000 child prostitutes in Johannesburg.

·        Up to 1,000 girls are trafficked to South Africa from Mozambique each year.

·        The Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga and Limpopo are the main “recruitment” areas for victims of human trafficking.


While some would celebrate freedom today, I urge you all reading this to think about the reality of the quote I placed above. When one individual is enslaved – we are not free! I am often asked about human trafficking and what can others out there do to help. Firstly – pray! Pray for the victims, pray for their lives and for their hearts, pray Yeshua’s Love will find them and pray for their freedom. Act, there are a number of organisations working with victims and survivors of human trafficking, find out about what is happening in your country and in your area. Reach out, Touch – we are all so different, use what God has given you to make a difference. If you need to do personal research then do it – perhaps you can share about this plight around a coffee table with friends. Write a blog post about it, share with your kids about it. Donate! To safe houses – even clothing or bedding, feminine products, sanitary goods – anything. Host a speaker from a safe house or organisation at your church or in your community. Do something with your woman’s group – learn about it, speak about it and pray about it.

Tonight I saw the most beautiful sun setting in the sky – the clouds looked like an angel. I sat with my family around the table and ate a warm meal, thanking God for all that I have and while I watched the setting sun draw back in to its sleepy shade, I knew that somewhere right now some young girl or young boy has not seen the sun in years and may never see the beauty in the setting sky again. May our hearts do all we can for those who are enslaved, we can be the William Wilberforces and the Harriet Tubman’s of our generation, but it’s up to us to do more. (I would love to hear from you – what you have learned about human trafficking and what are you doing to make a difference!)

Jesus means for us to go and find and rescue the screaming, because we are fearless and faithful. He means for us to awaken from the dream and go in to the darkness... Christine Caine, Undaunted...

Friday 25 April 2014

Five Minute Friday Post - Friend

Okay, so this week I decided to link up with the Five Minute Friday people and do their five minute challenge on a one word prompt. The Challenge is to write for five minutes non stop, no grammar checks, nadah! The prompt for this past week is Friend... I must say I found this one hard, like a block but then it hit me...




Friend. When I think of friend I think of You. Yeshua

Your words capture me, encapsulate me, you get me, you see me, you are never trying too hard to hear as you do to hear me. I love You, my Friend. The Friend who sticks closer than a brother, closer than a mother, You are Saviour and my friend. 

I love you dear friend. I am first a servant because that’s covenant, it’s not automatically rushing in and trying to walk where angels fear to tread! It’s about the process – servant, friend, child, bride. I call to You, Your words fill my heart, You get it dear Friend, Saviour, King. When I think of You, it’s You, the place I lay in and Heal, Your wounds big enough for me – that’s true friendship because you will never have an ill word to say about me, You will always love me. For what is true friendship but that a Man lay down His life for His friends..... so You laid it down all for me, my Everlasting Enduring Lover and Friend... Yeshua

Monday 21 April 2014

Five Minute Friday Post - Glue

Okay, so this week I decided to link up with the Five Minute Friday people and do their five minute challenge on a one word prompt. The Challenge is to write for five minutes non stop, no grammar checks, nadah! The prompt for this past week is Glue... Here is my link up! 
               ________________________________________________________________
Somedays my hubby is the glue that holds me. The hug that helps me find my little pieces, so that I can get them back together again – like a child that has thrown the puzzle pieces across the floor and needs to put them all back in the box because they went too far. My hubbys hug is the glue  that keeps me sane sometimes. The cold glue that eases off my skin. The glue of God, that was given to me when I cannot physically feel the Love of God. He is the glue that helps press me back in to my moulded form, the me that I am. The tendency is to feel bad but then I realised that it is a lie, because that’s what our relationship is about – its about sticking one another back together again, with the intimate glue of devoted, righteous, holy, heavenly love. That’s what its all about. The glue. It keeps me together, keeps me going on and coming back to me. I put my hands together in silent prayer and say thank you... that God came and showed me love in the person I call mine...

Tuesday 15 April 2014

Learn to bow, learn to change... a butterfly taught me how...

We have a huge butterfly farm close to our neighborhood out in the country. Truth be told, I have never visited it nor do I intend to anytime soon. The idea of butterflies sitting all over me is not very appealing, coupled with the fact that I usually scream and swot anything that jumps on me, putting me and a couple hundred butterflies together, is hazardous to the butterflies! Nonetheless I love butterflies, I find myself staring at them like a 5 year old, wide-eyed and super interested. I love butterflies and I love the lessons that nature teaches us. God is super smart in how He puts everything together. Our blood can (and should) teach us, the trees can (and should) teach us, the birds, the leaves, the grass - EVERYTHING it can (and should) teach us. Lately, I have been thinking about the butterfly and its monumental strength. That's right, the strength of a butterfly is monumental and its got much to say to us believers in Messiah.... here's how....

Worms go in to a cocoon and stay there, we see a simple cocoon on the outside. But on the inside a miracle is taking place. The worm is metamorphosing in to something beautiful, namely a butterfly. I will use the Monarch butterfly as the example for the lesson I am learning and trying to convey. The cocoon is commonly called a chrysalis, the worm will stay within this chrysalis for 2 weeks.


Can you notice the seam of gold and the flecks of gold on the chrysalis itself? Once the butterfly is ready to emerge from the chrysalis it starts stretching the area just above the band of gold- this process can take hours. The butterfly struggles to free itself from the chrysalis and once it does, it is left with little energy. Let's pause for a moment and consider how these elements effect the lives of us as believers. Just this week I have spoken to a number of brethren who feel that Yahweh is leading them in to a new time and a new place but with it has come an intense struggle, a battle and a fight. I can vouch for this place, its a real place. The butterfly in its cocoon has gone from being a mere worm in to something beautiful. Inside the chrysalis is everything it needs for its new beginning, there is life giving liquid, warmth and a perfect climate for its change. The thing about this place is that, the environment inside is perfect however if the butterfly does not emerge it is never really free (this reminds me of the Israelites in Egypt, some did not want to leave Egypt at all!). If we never ever really take our freedom and cross the very scary sea and claim our freedom on the other side, then we just remain slaves comfortable with the life we know. We have to emerge from the comfortable place in to the new thing. Not only do we (like the butterfly) have no idea about the climate awaiting us beyond our chrysalis, we have to force ourselves battle by battle to overcome so that we can emerge and show the world our beauty. I find it incredibly amazing how this chrysalis is lined with Gold. Father has been speaking to me so much about the cracks of gold within us. In our weakest places where we are broken and vulnerable - His Glory of Gold holds us and mends us. At this seam of gold, the butterfly marks its first touch. God's Glory is the glory which holds us together and helps us emerge from our place of struggle. It is in fact often God Himself who puts us in the struggle. We have to struggle out of our places of current comfort. These places are not bad - Father put us in them as well, just as He made the worm. But we were never intended to stay in last years seasons, we are intended to expand as our life expands. 
Lets go on.....


When the butterfly finally emerges from the chrysalis, its journey has just begun. As it emerges, it is at its weakest. It sits on the chrysalis shell, head bowed and feeling weak and it must wait for the fluids to pump in to its wings, because its wings remain soft and it is unable to fly. As it waits it at its most vulnerable and weakest. I am repeating this statement because it applies to us too. Being birthed in to a new season or in to a new place is never easy, in this place we are at our weakest. We have to wait for the leadership of Father's Holy Spirit to fill out our wings so that we can become all we can in that season. The trick is to wait and remain humble, meek and don't forget to lean. To lean upon the arm of Yahweh, humbly we wait for Father's strength to course through us, until we are fully able to stretch out our new found wings and take our freedom flight. The butterfly can teach us much about the life we are called to lived - its a struggle, its a status change, its a decision to take freedom over the pain of staying a scrawny worm. Its about learning that strength is not our own, it comes through the humble leaning on the arm of God until we are able to fly. In essence we truly are like the Israelites of old, we have to decide. We entered the world as slaves (to sin and death) and we had to decide are we going to stay in that place or are we going to emerge through perseverance and strain in to a place of freedom. May you find strength for the journey and if you are currently in the chrysalis or trying to emerge, hold on and keep going - we waiting for our breakthrough. It's coming soon... 

Monday 7 April 2014

Grow the Trees

Copyright Michele Neethling - thank you Michele for sharing this with us! Please find Michele Neethling art school and studio on Facebook.

(In my previous post down below, I mentioned the testimony I heard of the man who hid in a banana tree to save his life in the Rwandan Genocide. This is a piece I wrote for the Genocide.. While I was posting this, I realized how for many the trees they hid in saved their lives and how for me, there was a Tree that saved me too. That tree was called the Stake of Messiah Yeshua (Jesus Christ) May that Tree grant us comfort in the midst of the suffering of this world! )


Grow the Trees  

I clung to her as screams broke out like blood around us.
The sound of terror and pillage roared about us, when would it end?
I clung to my sister as we stood in the clutches of a banana tree;
we stood high above the ground but scared.
Day after day time passed so quickly all the while I watched my sister grow weary.
I reached for her chest daily but she was not like mama – there was no milk in her breast
and mama was dead, the milk of life now dry in her chest.
I curled up high above the ground, curled up tight in to a banana leaf.
Eventually though, sister grew too tired and she fell out that tree,
I felt my eyes grow big but I had no other reaction, I was too weak.
I watched the mean from the opposite tribe carry her away laughing and peering up in to the tree.
I held my breath, within the leaves – they did not see me but I held my breath so I wouldn’t scream.
That was Rwanda, 1994.
I was a child, hated and despised because of my heritage and different tribe.
Now I am a mama, supposedly free whose feet now tread on a strange South African land littered with mean, unkept streets.
I am a foreigner, to me they are the strangers and I still see what I saw before
the animal soul behind men’s eyes, they hate me.
They jeer at me because I belong to the opposite tribe,
to the tribe called “women.”
I take to the streets still holding my breath
only now I am naked like Adam and Eve
no banana leaf to hide me.
I see brutality in the bare, naked streets and as I walk I can only but whisper,
“God please grow the trees.”