A Touching Story Given Away

Yesterday it was an unexpected desire for a real strawberry milkshake that took my mom, hubby and I out on an unexpected drive. I was longing for that milkshake and so we took the 15 minute drive out of town for that milkshake. I confess it was a long drive for a milkshake but I felt that I had to have that specific one. 
While I was drinking my milkshake and reclining comfortably on a couch-like chair, my mom and hubby ate huge waffles with ice cream and strawberries. People were all over the show, in and out, in and out when suddenly a woman walked in the back door with a big basket in her hand. I wondered at what she was carrying, she looked like someone carrying confetti out to guests on a wedding day. So I watched her as she walked, she smiled and stopped by our table for a little chat. As I peered in to her basket I felt like one of those little five year old girls with ribbons in my hair, shouting "it's a puppy!" The cutest miniature dachshund lie in the basket of blankets, snugly and sleepily. Wow my mom and I exclaimed (my mom has two dachshunds!) and we both asked about the dog. The lady seemed drawn to us and started sharing with us, as though she had to speak to us that day.

"I fell out of a four story building overseas" she said, "I fell on to my head and was in a coma for several months. If I was here in South Africa I would have been dead but overseas where I was, a team of seven specialists worked on me and I recovered."
I listened to her story and just stood breathless, we all connected in that moment. "Do you have any memory loss?" I asked.
"Yes I do, I cant remember short term. I was engaged as well but I cant remember it, I dont even remember the guy! We broke up 3 months before the accident - so you see what a blessing in disguise!" she smiled.
A blessing? I thought.
"I have moved in with my mom and am staying there, I dont remember much short term."
"So your life really is like that Vow movie," I added. "Well, dogs are good for healing."
"Exactly! That is why I got her, she is a part of my healing journey now and I am naming her after my childhood dog."

We said our final words and she parted, still holding her basket as though she was the flower girl, as though she had to give it away or give something out.  My heart felt really moved and pained at her story, and at the trauma or impact of the accident which still lingers on her gait, on her form and on her face. I pray for her, I pray for her healing. Her positive attitude and gentleness really struck me and I wonder today at the beautiful power of our stories. Our life stories can seem so painful at times, so unnecessary, and yet someone else's story can impact a stranger. Our circles in life cross sometimes for just brief moments but our impacts can last longer. I sometimes feel we go out of our ways on the roads of life - both physically and spiritually, so that we can encounter or hear something that is meant for us to hear. I am grateful to God for the stories that I have heard from the people I was meant to meet. Some stories pick us up and others leave us down. I like the stories where God picks us up and allows us to see His Love touches, His Grace and even the resilence He gives to the Human spirit so that we can survive and ultimately thrive.
 May your story be one that picks others up - even if it is a painful story, because of Gods Grace and His Love that flows through it. Never underestimate the power of your words or of your story! That lady whose brief moments were spent sharing with us, really did transform her in to a flower girl - with something beautiful to give out. Some of our stories are cut in to hearts, others may be flowers or appear like vapor bubbles blown on the wind. But ultimately when they are seen in the right light and given over to the Healing Hand of God, they have the universal ability to be confetti that we throw over others - confetti that we give away, for others to give away, and so the circle continues..
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Five Minute Friday: Tell

Five Minute Friday Post!
Start!

God tells us so many things. So many things that are beautiful, so many things that are real, that are beautiful, that are raw.

God tells us:

-          I am swift to forgive

-          I am slow to anger

-          Abundantly Kind and Faithful

-          Abundantly True and Merciful

He tells us:

-          I am a righteous God

-          A Judge of truth

-          A doting Papa

-          A Loving Father

-          And Disciplining Dad

He wants to tell us:

-          Open Your eyes and see what My hands have made

-          Open Your ears and I will tell you of things I have planned

-          Stop running from me, run to me, stop running away from what You think I don’t see

-          I am all you need, this running is making you tired

He longs to tell us:

-          You are a pure and spotless bride

-          Come and inherit the Kingdom of my Father

-          Well done my Good and Faithful servant, well done!

The truth is that our ears are too deaf and our hearts are so untouched by Gods unfathomable love that we cannot hear most of these things and if we do not get ourselves sorted, we won’t hear any of these things! God has so much He wants to tell us, but He won’t share His Glory with the unholy or the profane. It’s time for a cleansing, time for a clean up so that our ears are unblocked to hear the things most unspeakable from an unfathomable, awesome God!

Stop!

Linking up with Kate Motaung 

God Loves the Animals!

Five Minute Friday: Fill

Five Minute Friday - a time to write, a time to be real, no checking just plain truth. Glad to be hooking up with Kate Motaung from now on, who also shares some South African flavour!
Start!

I am so ready to fill, to start newness and to fill. Fill our photo albums of memories with new things, with new life, with new being. We sat beneath the umbrella with lanterns gleaning bright - I love all you did for me and all you will still do. No one knows the path we paved to get here, no one knows and thank God that is true or else it wouldn't be ours alone. Tonight we lit the lanterns and we watched them go - one blue, one purple - one for you, one for me and we stared until we could see them no more. Its time to for something new, time to be a new kind of full because we are emptied out of the old. It's time for God to fill our petrol tanks and light up our tyres beneath the monster trucks that we are, He has set us on that race track pulled back and then let us go - it's time. For the wounds and all that was of so many and so much to be erased, it's new. It's time, God's time and I am expectantly full. We take hands - the three corded strand not easily broken, and we run in to Gods Plan and into His wide Hands, He smiles and laughs, His silly children we are. He is the One who has done it all and in to the future He will do more - I love you my hubby, I love you my Daddy! For this day I rejoice - the day God chose to make two one, happy anniversary! 
Linking up with Kate Motaung

Being Real

As my husband and I were driving home this evening, I was lulled in to the beauty of the dark grey sky and thinking of how far God has brought me and how truly amazing He is. My husband turned the radio on and we tuned in to a Christian radio station which we hardly ever listen to. Two women’s voices floated across the airwaves. The guest on the show was a gospel singer who started sharing her testimony on the radio. She spoke about her divorce and how locked up she was in her own life. She shared that God convicted her about the walls she had around her and although she was involved in women’s ministry for many years, she was never truly real about her struggles or about the pain she was experiencing in her life. When she finally became real about her own pain in her own intimate times with God, she could start becoming real with others about it. Her story and her words really resonated with me because it is something that Father has shared with me in the past too but on a larger scale. He shared with me that women need to get real about themselves and about their lives. So many times because of our own hurt and mistrust, we struggle to connect with one another. Now I want to wave a flag of caution here as well, I do not think that you should share your troubles and sorrows that are intimate with everyone, I believe that only where God leads you should you share, but being real is another matter altogether. Being real is admitting to the good things and the bad things. It’s about being able to say – this was hard, or that was bad, or this is good or I am struggling in this place. It’s about being real about the good things too. It's bot about airing all the laundry, it's about being authentic and original.

There is an image that stayed with me from the very first time I saw the movie Frozen. It’s the image of Anna after her parent’s funeral. She is sitting on the one side of the door, while her sister Elsa is on the other side. Both are hurting. Both are scared but neither one can see each others pain or know each other’s fears, because they have locked each other out of their worlds. They are both stuck behind closed doors. But both are devastated. How can we reach out to one another if we cannot know each others pains? How can we expect others to help us if we won’t first let them in? Our hearts tell who we really are and only our hearts can tell the stories others do not see. Our hearts reflect our very beings and our hearts are often the very thing we have a problem showing.

Again, I am talking here about being real with others; I am not talking about sharing with everyone and leaving your heart unguarded, because the Bible tells us that we need to guard our heart before all things because it’s the source of life. We need to guard our hearts because many people wont understand what is inside, especially if you have walked a road of cost to get to where you are today, it’s not about being silly with it, it’s about being real. Stop pretending, stop telling lies about what you are hiding, stop trying to pretend you have the perfect world if your world is actually falling apart. Stop shrugging off your pain if you are really hurting and most importantly of all, stop being “un-real” with the One who made you. We often try so hard to keep it all together when God just sometimes needs us to be real; in fact He wants us to be real with Him all the time. He is not afraid of the pain or the shame, or the unforgiveness or the failure to change, He knows it all already. How awesome is that – and He stills accepts us nonetheless. I want to be real, I want to be the authentic me I was created to be. Realness is beautiful – we cannot hide behind our closed walls and unopened doors. Maybe you need to get real with your husband, or with your family, or with your neighbour or even your dog, whomever, wherever – let’s be real, let’s be authentic, stop trying to hide and let God come inside – be the real you, you have a story to tell that the world needs.

Shalom!

Trip to Ghana

My husband and I  just returned from an amazing trip to Ghana.Even as I write I find that I am unable to communicate or put in to words, the experience that God led us through. I do find however that I am drawn to write about a few touching moments and whatever else comes out, on my blog.
Arriving in Ghana, we were greeted by lots of bustling hustlers but thankfully we were picked up by the driver of the church where we were ministering for our 10 day visit. Driving out and on to the streets, I was blessed with something I often long for - seeing something for the very first time. Seeing something, particularly a place, for the very first time. I often long for that experience and there I was, in the midst of an answered wonder - praise Yeshua.

During our stay at the church overseer's house, I met a little baby named Emmanuela. I am not particularly fond of babies, partly because I have not had any experience with them and partly because I dont have children of my own. One morning however, I walked in to the kitchen for breakfast and the daughter of the house Debbie was holding this 4 month old bundle in her arms. I looked over at this scene, smiled and said oh she is cute! Debbie immediately asked "do you want to hold her?" and without waiting for my reply, she thrust Emmanuela in to my arms and there I was. I must have looked really awkward because I felt awkward and strange, like I was Baby in dirty dancing carrying a watermelon. But Emmanuela was so calm and so happy, that she was like easing me in to this whole baby ordeal. The next day I was standing outside on the veranda when Debbie came again with Emmanuela. The local women in Ghana carry their babies on their backs and I asked "can I carry Em on my back?" Now this really enthralled the family and swiftly they were tying a scarf around my back and little Em was merrily enjoying her ride. What a joy!! Everyone came outside and was clicking away on their camera's, even the passers in the street downstairs were looking up at this crazy white lady trying to carry a baby on her back. Needless to say, I became quite attached to her, as she literally fell asleep on my back and over the 10 days stay I played with her and just watched her sleep away. She is such a good bambino and such a bundle of joy!

One of the other highlights on the trip for me, was preaching at the women's monthly meeting of local churches in the city. I was invited as the guest speaker and God gave me an amazing message to share. I just love our King. As I stood among the hundreds of ladies who had gathered together (they all wore white as a symbol of unity) I just stood up and cried. The Holy Spirit led me to speak about slavery and then to get in to the message of shame. The message of Hagar and how deeply God sees us. The evening was deep beyond words and at the altar call, women came forward for personal prayer and blessing. I am so humbled at what I learned from the women of Ghana. They are so strong and so beautiful. They are a people of honour and of worth. I must add that Ghana is making headways in the area of gender equality, I met some amazing female pastors who disciple men and who lead congregations. The new generation of women are getting education even university degrees, whereas in the years gone by, education was reserved for the very wealthy.

I met some really amazing people in Ghana, I love the young people I had the privilege of bonding with. The young people are hungry for God, they have a fire to change the nation and the world for Yeshua. They are unafraid and many of them are doing radical things for Messiah. God really blessed my husband and I because we lived for 10 days with the people of Ghana, we were accepted and we were gathered in, we became family and we became one in Messiah. We held hands to pray, we exchanged gifts and life stories. We exchanged blessings and words of encouragement and we exchanged the Love of God for one another.
This trip was ordained from the beginning of time and I am so thankful that Father took us to Ghana and changed us through our experience. It is a joy to be on the mission field, to be fulfilling the great commission, to be encouraging and loving and being loved and being changed by the Gracious King. These are just small highlights from a very big trip and I am including a picture of myself and a precious daughter of Ghana named Rejoice. On our last Sunday at the central church, I heard Father tell me to take along a purple scarf with me to church. As I sat in the chair I saw the worship group on the stage and my eye fell on a girl in purple. I waited till after the service until eventually I found the girl in purple. I cannot tell you what happened in those moments but I can tell you that Rejoice is one of the most beautiful young ladies I have ever met and I want to honour her in her calling and in her gifting, to be all she can be for the King by putting up a picture of us together after the service.

Nyame Shrow! May God bless you!

Five Minute Friday: Begin

Five Minute Friday time to share one last time over at Lisa Jo's. To share our hearts without interruption, without pause or correction. Here goes!
Start...
Begin, I hit a blank with this word. I dont like the word begin, I often find  my beginnings happen in the middle of something - in the middle, now thats a phrase or word I can connect with. But beginnings aren't necessarily a starting point, because think about it, often when you start something new - you have been prepared for it long ago, so in essence you not beginning but you are carrying on. There is a wonderful moment where we begin - like the day you got saved, it was a beginning but now you are traversing your high seas to enjoy the middle, until you run in to the end and then essentially you never reach the end because you in fact have been prepared for the beginning of Heavens sight. I have this sense that when you walk a path with Yeshua (Jesus) your life is a wonderful pathway of doors, opening and closing. What may feel like a beginning is in fact sometimes something wonderfully in the middle, because God was using years to prepare you for the "new" thing. It is my conviction that we begin once - at the day of salvation and we are made new daily on our journey, but the steps of this journey lay on top of each other - they are progressive, cumulative and this should give us hope! because we once begun, now we are working daily to enjoy the middle until we reach the end, which is a new beginning.....
Stop!

I amuse myself at what comes out sometimes, praises to Yeshua! Today for the last time I am linking up with
Lisa Jo