Friday 28 August 2015

FMF - Feeling a lonely Thread


Five Minute Friday Time, unedited writing for 5 minutes, let's Go!

The passed few days has been a labour internally, just not really been able to figure so many things out that seem to be stacked up on my plate. I lamented to my husband how I wish there was someone to just speak to who could offer refreshing and outside perspective on these many things that seem to confuse me at present. Yet I feel alone in making it through this place but today I realise again that everyone is navigating their streams. And it is comforting this evening, to read how so many people I know are living and walking out their journeys. Unique journeys that we all face, some with far stretching valleys and others with low - lying plains that scoop out on to the horizon. Alone, even across distances now that we see each others stories we are never really alone. We are part of this world, living and sewing our thread in to the tapestry of God's unique handiwork. I pray for the healing balm to make it through these crazy times where there is no clarity and only confusion. Alone, it may feel so but to know that we are all stopping by to wave hello at some time or another, this means we are never really alone. A blog post, a comment, an email, a smile, a friendly cashier or just a simple hello, it brings us in to that place again, to know we are part of this world and the place we inhabit can never be replaced by another! May you know that you are never ever alone, but part of something greater.

Linking with Kate M

Thursday 27 August 2015

The Prophesied Woman of Strength

Recently, I posted up a message that God gave me through the passages we call The Proverbs 31 woman. While I like to keep this blog separate from our ministry page, again there are just some teachings that are not only teachings but messages for the faithful. Messages for the warrior women of God and so I am sharing it here, and hope that if you are led to listen, that it is going to be impact you powerfully as it did me! 
 Proverbs 31 has become the pin up poster, the hallmark of the so - called "Godly woman." But what if it was fashioned for more, what if the picture of the woman in Proverbs 31 is not just about one woman, or even every women. What if it is a prophetic picture of the faithful in our generation. I submit to you, that it is! For too long, women everywhere have felt ashamed, disillusioned, confused and even disconnected from the modern day subservient woman that many proclaim as the Proverbs 31 woman. 

This teaching is a gem, a fresh spring of water, this is a message, for you and for me. For every woman everywhere. There is no such thing as a virtuous woman, in fact the word never existed in Hebrew and it never featured in the Bible until the 16th century. The Eshet Chayil, is in fact a strong, warrior woman of God who rises in the present darkness with a sword in her hand and the Messiah in her heart.

This message is for you woman of God, you were never meant to "play small" but to arise and stand strong, bold, fierce and powerfully tall. 
Come along for the Message....
This message features in two parts, this is part one : 

Proverbs 31 - The Prophesied Woman of Strength

Tuesday 25 August 2015

His Understanding and Love, all the same




Today was a hard day. My cat had to go for his check up and had to stay at the hospital for the day. When the time came to fetch him the vet told me that they had problems getting him out the cage because he was so hostile. When my husband and I finally arrived at the cage we saw exactly what the vet was talking about. Our cat had morphed into wolverine, ferocious and scary. It took us an hour to get him out the cage and I was crying. I remember the story my mom told me about the knee op I had back in 2004. It was my first operation ever and I was scared. The ligaments in my knee were severed so the surgeon reconstructed my ligaments from fibres of my hamstrings but when I finally woke up in the ward, I was thrashing. I remember not being able to feel my leg and in my anaesthetic – induced state, I begun pulling at the bandage on my leg while shouting and screaming. I was trying to rip the thing off, so much so that the nurses came and gave me one of those sedative injections in my bum. It didn’t work, so they gave me another and I was out but not before I glanced up in to my mother’s face, it was red and she was sobbing, shaking for her child. That was me today. Sobbing at the cage trying to convince my fluffy son that mom was going to take him home but he hissed, after all he is a cat not a human and he just doesn’t understand like we do and we can’t blame him.


When we finally got him home, my hubby sat with him on the floor and fluffy son was all over his dad. When I went near him he went for me. Somehow in his mind I was to blame. Yet I had no hand in anything that transpired, but I understood it, I am his primary caretaker, the one who rescued him from the pound all those years ago. I saved him from the death sentence that waited for him the very next day and he stayed by my side, nursed me through sickness and sadness. So why mom, why, why the vet and why did I have to stay there. I get it and he is a cat so he must be a cat, so I left him to rest and sleep while I processed. Processed the very long list of grief and pain that has now come up through this experience and in my woundedness that is pulled from one of the many layers that makes me a human being, I curl foetus – like up on my bed and sob and in that moment God is so close, in every breath and every molecule. And I ask, why God why, it hurts.


And then fluffy son walks towards me as I dry my eyes and make that yummy batch of muffins and I see him lick his lips with a newly developed habit. A habit that says I don’t want to eat out of a bowl anymore, I want to eat out of your hand mom. So I grab the cup of pellets and sit down on the floor and I feed him from my hand. And while the pellets slide across the floor, I cup my hands until my palms are upwards and form a barrier from where he can eat. And in that moment I begin to weep as I know that in every way my Daddy is never scared of the way I feel but even when I am upset or asking why from my primary care giver, He opens His Palm and from His Hand I eat.


And when Pilach was finished eating we took a silent walk out on to the veranda beneath the most beautiful still sky and then he decides its time to go inside. As he walks in he begins caressing his face on the coffee table with a smile on his dial. He looks up at me as if inviting me in and I bend down and begin stroking his little face and he rubs even harder. Seems I am forgiven, because when I stop he glances upwards and begs the question, where are you going? Then he stares up at the couch and I know what that means so I lift him on to my favourite red blankie, my Yeshua blankie and there he rests and eats just one more time from my hand and we finish with a kiss on his head, like so many times before. And in the turmoil and grief of my feelings, My Primary Caregiver and Father loves me still the same and His heart burns with passion as He kneels down as I open my heart and invite Him in to all this pain and grief, and in a deep understanding He teaches me something I cannot explain.


Sunday 23 August 2015

How does Her Shadow look to you?

My husband and I decided to watch a movie that was recommended as a colourful, funny sort of comedy. So we decided to watch it. I am not the kind of person who watches movies I know nothing about, I don't like wierd stuff, violence, nudity, or strong language which rules out most movies. So when this movie started getting a little wierd we turned it off. But not before I caught a glimpse of the very real reality that millions of Indians live with, everyday. True I am no stronger to the stories of the dalits in India. I taught Indians English and have a soft heart for the Indian people, but seeing it again on tv, somethng just really stuck with me. Though it was a movie portrayal of a woman simply washing the floor, it was more then real. It was what faces millions of men, women and children everyday in the poorest communities in India.

Have you heard of the Dalits or the Untouchables? The sanskrit word Dalit means broken, oppressed, crushed. Dalits were considered by upper castes to be outside the Hindu Varna or caste system. They were considered as Panchama or the fifth group, beyond the upper caste proposed fourfold division of the Indian people. This discriminations and outright injustice, and untruth has resulted in the enslavement of millions. Today, many dalits are sold and trafficked for child labour and for prostitution.

I do not wish to debate the state of the caste system or the state of the many dalits that commit crime etc but what I do wish to debate, is the value of human life and the very real fact that each of us are hand made by a Loving God. Each one of us is special, Yeshua shed His blood for every single person on earth and that fact overrules the cruel caste system embedded in false religion. 

Our Messiah died for the broken, the oppressed and for every single person on this planet, so that we could know how truly valuable we are. Tonight in prayer, the suffering in India was again laid deeply on my heart by the Holy spirit. I cannot ignore this and do I not wish us to be ignorant rather let us pray together for the suffering tonight. This scripture like a Booming Voice screams out in my heart, let justice roll on like a river and righteousness like an ever-lasting stream.


Let us then gather by the river and let the hurting know, 

He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
    and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
    nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by mankind,

    a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
    he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
Surely he took up our pain
    and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
    stricken by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,

    he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
    and by his wounds we are healed.
Isaiah 53: 2 - 5 

The suffering of this world looks desperate but I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that because One Man came to earth, spread His Palms and shed HIs blood, we can know joy and we can know peace. May the "untouchables" of India come to know that there is a God who lives who longs to touch their lives in the deepest way possible, His name is Yeshua Messiah, Jesus Christ...

Wednesday 19 August 2015

Truth be Told, breaking out the mould

The passed two months away from my blog, resting and seeking Yeshua in the quietness and peace has been a time of deep reflection. Highs and lows will always be there but when one discovers more of themself, then its truly a blessing. I truly love this King and love the fact that daily He gathers me in to His arms, yes it's true - no day looks the same, some days we are tough other days we need that gentle embrace. What a journey.

Logging back on to my blog this evening for the first time (save for a handful of hasty posts) awakened me to face a number of things that I have been turning over in my thoughts. Thoughts that Messiah was listening to and allowing me to  think about and meditate on. In many ways I have faced the fact that I almost got lost in the world of space, unable to truly recognise my own authentic self on a blog I call my own. In real life, away from the computer screen I am always just me. I love being just me! Online, I find that while I can be myself, questions arise like how much should I share on here? And can I really speak the truth without some crazy lunatic jumping down my throat online. True, social bullies are eveywhere and tonight afresh spending time talking to God about this has resulted in Him and I now turning me over in to a new direction.

The great thing about my life is that I am always growing, never staying the same. I dont want to be a mossy rock, God always rolls up His sleeves and works on me. The reasons why this blog begun has changed over and over again. Truly now more then ever I can declare with sincerity, that I now know my over arching mandate and I cannot and will not choose to ignore that very thing that God has cemented inside of me. I am here, alive today to call the women of God to arise, lift up warrior arms and carry their sword in to battle, to form part of the army of God. It has over the passed year, become a clearer reality in my glasses of life. It has become something I have had to grow into, I have a strong personality and a deep life story and my husband and I have taken many punches and heavy blows to declare the messages of God. Yet we are so passionately in love with Yeshua that He bandages us, helps us, consoles us and loves us in to new health. I am now determined to continue on the glorious road set before me. I want to call you woman, to seek the ever lasting God and to become all you were created to be! I have also realised that I have not found too many other linkups out there who share the same passion and outlook and being part of many of these link ups has not always been positive for me. This I need to step back from and focus on being all I can be in this brief moment of space, in this window period we call a blog. I am tired of feeling tied down, I'm a new moth emerging from the chrysalis, yey good on me.


My passion lies in this, in the sword God has given in to my hand, to say and to speak from my heart the authentic message just there, in only the way He wants me to say it. We are all unique and I want you to be who you are because you are a unique part of the puzzle that God is building. Just recently I was nominated to be part of a leadership series on empowerment for women globally. I am honoured that God did this, as I have no idea how this big business woman and philantropist actually found me but tomorrow I am getting in my golden chariot, and travelling 100 kilometres. So that I can sit in a film studio and nervously share my message of empowerment for women globally. For young women, to empower them to be who they were created to be. I will smile at a stranger and remind myself not to look in to the camera when I say "leadership has nothing to do with age, it has to do with the ability to rise in passion from discouragement, rejection and pain. It is the ability to discover within the God dream, the purpose only you were created for and to believe, in yourself and to be kind..." 

This is my passion and I want to share it with you friend and I have a voice, its time to use it on here and everywhere else, I'm a warrior of God let's roar together..

Saturday 8 August 2015

Book Review - Chapter of the Heart

I was recently asked to write a book Review on a very unqiue book written by Jewish women sharing their life experiences. It is called Chapters of the Heart.


 The messages of the Book really were enlightening, so for the complete review click over to here!

Friday 7 August 2015

The Memory Project - Passing the Baton on to my Creative Friends

When I stumbled upon the Memory Project a few months ago, I never realised how Yeshua - ordained it truly was! But when I read the first few lines about it, my heart burned inside of me, I knew I had to be a part of it. The Memory Project is a project where Art students create portraits for youth around the world who've been neglected, orphaned, or disadvantage.

You receive a portrait picture in the post and you paint the precious little boy or girl on the picture. These are sent to the memory project and delivered by hand to the child you have painted. These kids are orphans or have been removed from their homes and placed in care homes or orphanages so that they can have a better life. When I contacted the Memory Project for more information, Ben the founder was so enthralled! Never before had a South African volunteered to be a part of the project and so great was his enthusiasm, that I shared my involvement with my art class and 3 more students joined up with me. That evening I sent our names off to the project and waited excitedly to receive the pictures of our kids. When the pictures finally came I prayerfully opened them and waited for God to show me which one I was to paint. "R" was my little girl that the Holy Spirit prompted me to paint and so the journey began. 

Painting this portrait was a wonderful journey but seeing the picture in the hands of "R" was the cherry on the cake. Here she is, holding the painting I made for her...


I really want to share with you all, the value and joy of being part of this project. I have signed up for the next quarter and there is still time for you to do the same. Giving these children something that can encourage them and tell them they are valuable is something truly amazing. Nothing can buy that! And the fact that someone is a distant country made something just for them is truly priceless.
Head over to the site and find out more! If you have kids you can do it with your kids, if you have a art school, you can do it together. You dont have to be a pro, in fact this was my first portrait I ever painted! I am handing the baton over to you, I hope you will join! The Memory Project Website

And I'm still here - FMF

FMF Post - Five Minute Friday and it's a special weekend for me too!! GO!



It was a perfect day, cold but beautiful. I remember it perfectly, not because it was magical but because it was heavenly, God ordained. She curled my hair and every movement felt calm and peaceful. She layered my face with make-up, true I'm not a make up girl but she made me shine. 
I arrived at the hotel and entered the hallway, they had made a mistake on our room and for that I was handed the keys to the presidential sweet at the Mount Nelson Hotel, the grandest hotel in Cape Town. Only God could ordain the presidential sweet, bigger than our house, it gleamed with marble and creams. Getting dressed pearls and lace felt like a vintage movie,(except I was wearing pants) then it was time and I wondered should I be nervous or calm. I felt a mixture of both but as I walked in to that room to sign our ketubah before the ceremony I was calmed. You. You stood draped in your taliet, ready with a very shy smile. I walked towards you led by both my parents, mom and dad who both had an equal part in my upbringing and as I stood drinking the cup with you underneath that Chuppah, I had no idea how difficult married life would be. Now as we celebrate our anniversary, I savour Gods sweet whisper to forget the former and look to the new. We have learned to live in a marriage of equals, both with a destiny of individuality and a destiny of a couple. We have the same place in the body and we cry out with a warriors cry, yet we are so different and bring uniqueness to the life around us. Here we are, still going on, you are my best friend and as we have learned so many times, we are together because iron sharpens iron. Happy anniversary most beautiful hubby and may God continue to lead us and cause us to shine! (Isaiah 60)

STOP!
Linking up with Kate