The Worry Box that has a Flip Side

Does anyone else have a worry box? No? Well, allow me to explain.

About 3 years ago, I came across an idea that I decided to put into practice in my life. The idea was this.

Get yourself a small box of some sort. It could be a jewellery box or a trinket box or simply a small Tupperware container. The box is not important.

Each time you feel yourself worrying over some issue, take a small post it or a slip of paper, and write your worry down on it along with the date.

Be as specific or as general as you like, but make sure you understand what you’ve written, for future reference.

After you’ve written your worry down, hold the piece of paper in your hand, and stop for a moment, taking time to pray over it, asking God to take your worry, your anxiety, your fear, casting all your care on him and then simply LET IT GO. Drop it into your box and close it up.

Now, the difficult part. Try not to let your thoughts stray back to that particular worry. It’s been given to God. You don’t need to take it back.

What I find is that as I write down one worry, another springs to mind, and then another and another. And pretty soon, I’ve written and prayed over more worries than I anticipated.

I’m so glad God is big enough to carry all my burdens. And yours too. He doesn’t have to put down mine, in order to pick up yours. He can hold them all.

Psalm 55:22 - Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.

1 Peter 5:7 - Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

Isaiah 41:10 - Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

There are countless verses in Scripture that teach us to give God our worries.

Over and over, we read of God’s promises to us as we put our faith and trust in him.

God promises rest for your soul- Matthew 11:28-30

God promises to guard/keep your heart and mind -Philippians 4:6-7

God promises to be a firm foundation-Psalm 61:2

God promises peace-John 14:27

God promises never to leave you- Deuteronomy 31:8 

God promises to uphold you- Isaiah 41:10 

God promises to renew your strength- Isaiah 40:31

For me, the tangible, visibleness of an actual box, with actual slips of paper in it, is a reminder to me of God’s goodness to me and his ability to keep his promises.

And the act of physically letting go of the slip of paper, letting it drop into the box, helps me to visualize handing it over to God. Opening my hand and letting go.

I haven’t written many down of late, and not because I haven’t had any worries, but simply because the box was in a less prominent place and had become forgotten. Which has now been remedied!

But tonight as I sat at my desk going through emails and doing paperwork for our business, the thoughts began to creep in and fears started swirling around my head, threatening to overwhelm me. And God, in his goodness, brought my little box back to mind.

As I reached for it and slid back the clasp, opening it to reveal a myriad of multi-coloured post its, I began to casually pick up a slip at a time and read what was written. Reading over my worries didn’t cause anxiety, they caused a heart of worship and praise to rise within me as I rejoiced at God’s answers to my prayers.

There were so many worries I had written down, that God had miraculously come through and answered.

From concerns over finances, to knowing whether to sell our house, to worries over new grandbabies being added to the family and whether or not my daughters could cope with the added stresses, to a very scary and very real battle with cancer that our oldest daughter had to face, to my increased workload due to our business growing, and then the fears when it all fell apart and we were faced with months of uncertainty.

One after the other, I praised God for the blessings he had showered upon me and my family and the answers he had given and the grace he had shown in abundance.

I’m beginning to think that my little ‘worry’ box should also be called a ‘praise’ box!

(And yes, I did add quite a few to its contents, praying over them as I went.)

Not only do I need to bring my cares to Jesus and lay them at his feet, but I also need to come back and praise him for his answers.

Ephesians 5:20 - Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;

Psalm 34:1 -I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

Don’t forget to thank God for his goodness to you.

We all have worries. We all have anxieties. We all have fears. We all struggle with peace. We all struggle with feeling overwhelmed.

We are encouraged to come boldly to the throne of grace and find the help we need.

Hebrews 4:16 - Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

What a blessing it is to know that we can come boldly to the throne. We don’t need to be intimidated by what in ancient times was considered a forbidding place of sovereign authority and judgment. No, we are able to approach the throne boldly, at any time, with any worry or care, with fearless confidence knowing that we will be welcomed by our Saviour.

As his children, we are welcome any time. There is never a time his arms are not open wide, waiting for us to come and receive comfort and assurance.

If you’re worries are getting you down, if you’re struggling with your thoughts and you can’t seem to let go of something, try making yourself a ‘worry/praise’ box.

When the worries hit hard, write them down. Drop them in. Let them go.

Then periodically, go back over them and spend time praising God for his wonderful grace, love and mercy.

Replace your worry with prayer. Make the decision to pray whenever you catch yourself worrying.

Yesterday is too heavy. Lay it down. Today is too difficult. Lay it down. Tomorrow is too unknown and fearful. Lay it down. Give it to the Lord.

Give your cares to him through prayer and make sure you pair it with thanksgiving and the peace of God will wash over you and will keep you.

Philippians 4:6-7 KJV - Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

 

Turn your worry box into a praise box!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Little by Little

 

Have you ever stopped to think about how little things add up? Or how little habits grow? The decisions you’re making today, are determining the future you.

Maybe you struggle with healthy eating habits, and you kid yourself into thinking that a coke a day won’t make a difference to your waistline. Or maybe it’s an addiction to social media, and you can’t see that a couple hours a day could affect your mental health in the long run.

Of the 1,440 minutes you have in a day, how many of them are wasted? How many are used to benefit others? How many are spent reading God’s Word or talking to him in prayer? How many are spent encouraging a friend or a stranger? How much time is spent being grateful, whether to God, or others?

Over the past few days, I have started thinking, and not just a passing thought, but really thinking long and hard about the way I use my time.

This thought process was triggered by a sermon I listened to online (which is often the case with the words and thoughts that rattle around in my brain and then flow from my fingers and onto the page). Anyway, the speaker was talking about our habits and how to set effective goals by making them too small to fail, because small things add up over time, and over time these little choices, little habits, eventually become a lot.

It got me thinking and doing a little maths to make it more real and explainable to not only myself, but I hope to you as well.

Firstly, I want to comment a little on our excuses.

Do you ever make excuses that you don’t have time to read your Bible or pray? Or maybe your excuse is that you can’t possibly read the whole Bible in a year or two years because who has time for that? Or maybe, like me, the idea of memorizing a whole passage is somewhat daunting and it seems so overwhelming, that you never begin and it never ends up happening.

Well, I want to share some good news with you.

The small choices you make today, the little decisions, the little changes you make, if done as consistently as possible, will add up. They will multiply.

There is a verse found in Zechariah 4:10 that I’ve heard thrown around a lot in relation to this subject, and although the context is a lot more involved, the first part of it does grab my attention.

Zechariah 4:10 KJV - For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the LORD, which run to and fro through the whole earth.

I realise that this is talking about the building of the second temple and in the eyes of many of the Jews, it was despised because it lacked the grandeur of Solomon’s temple. But I think we can also apply it to our small things.

I think that we need to remember that Satan despises and hopes to cause us to despise and make light of the little things. The little beginnings. Satan fears small things as he knows full well what God is capable of producing from these little things. He knows that God can produce greatness from baby steps. Little choices. Small habits that are headed in the right direction.

God has a way of taking our little and making a lot. He is able to multiply our meagre offerings into something amazing, and all glory should go to him.

If you don’t believe me, take a look at the story of the five loaves and two fish in the Bible. (Mark 6:37-44) Or David and Goliath (1 Samuel 17:41-49) Or the story of a little flour and a little oil (1 Kings 17:8-16). God can do great things with little.

Now, back to my maths and brain bending facts and figures.

Did you know that if you chose to exercise only 5 minutes a day, over the course of a year, you would have completed 1,825 minutes of exercise. That’s just over 30 hours of exercise in a year! And if you missed 25% of that, it would still be 22 hours! And that is only by doing 5 minutes a day!

It seems like so little, only 5 minutes a day, but that small amount, over a period of time, really does add up. And I’m sure it would be of some benefit.

What about if you decided that you would make a conscious effort to text 3 friends, once a week, just to be an encouragement. You would text a friend to let them know you were praying for them. Or possibly you’d share a verse of scripture that blessed you and you wanted to pass it on. Or maybe you could just send a friendly ‘hello and have a great day’ message.

Did you know that over a year, that would be 156 messages of encouragement you would have sent?

And when you think about it, how long does it take to send a short text? Not even 60 seconds, and yet you would have made a difference in someone’s life, just by letting them know you cared. 3 people. One message each a week, so little, yet so large an impact.

What about a topic very close to my heart these past few months? The subject of gratitude. If every day, you decided to write down 3 things, just 3 things, that you were grateful for, after one year, you would have written down 1,095 praiseworthy things. And if you missed 25% of the time, you would still have 821 things to be grateful for. Little time, great reward. (In another post, I hope to encourage you with the things I have learnt through study and personal experience, on the benefits of having a thankful heart)

Raise your hand if you find it hard to force yourself to read a book? You know, the things that are made of paper and cardboard, with print on each page that you physically turn, and bookmark and use as a paperweight?

I find it more and more difficult to sit and focus on a book when there is a phone right there, beckoning me to scroll endlessly, letting my brain jump from one thing to the next at the touch of a finger. But hear me out, it really isn’t that hard to read a whole book in a short amount of time. How do you do it? You do it in baby steps. Little by little.

If you read at an average speed, then reading 5 pages a day will take you approximately 8.5 minutes. That means, that you could read a 300-page book in just 2 months! And let’s say you got adventurous, you could read 6 books of that size, at only 8.5 minutes a day in one year! That’s not a lot of time spent reading in a 24-hour period.

I mean, how much time per day, do you spend on your phone going through your news feeds or social media? Hmm. More than 8.5 minutes, I’m guessing. So, in the scheme of things, setting aside a few minutes a day to focus on reading something other than news, could really accomplish some goals!

Now, let’s bring it down to our spiritual lives and our Christian walk. If you long to be closer to God and grow in your relationship with him, then spending time with him is a must!

We don’t grow spiritually by osmosis or some other strange process. No, we have to put in the hard work. We have to make an effort to dig into the Word of God, reading, studying, praying, learning, regularly in order to grow.

What if you spent time in prayer, each and every day? If you prayed, even for just a few minutes, every day, that’s 365 prayers you have lifted up before the Lord.

By praying daily for your husband, your children, that unsaved family member or that annoying co-worker, you will have spent hours of intercession over the course of a year. And just remember, that it’s really hard not to forgive someone, when you’ve been praying for them on a daily basis. If you’re having trouble with forgiveness or anger or bitterness towards someone, start praying for them consistently, and watch what God will do in your heart.

If you make time to spend a portion of every day with the Lord. Alone. Just you and him, communing together, learning from him, listening to him, in a year, you will have had 365 conversations with God. Whether it’s 5 minutes or an hour, and if you miss 25% of the time, that’s still over 250 times you will have spent in his presence, bathing yourself in scripture, speaking to him in prayer, learning truth from the Word.

If you don’t think that will make a difference in your life, then I dare you to try it and see!

Did you know that reading your Bible the whole way through, from start to finish, all 66 books, all 1,189 chapters, all 31,170 verses, at only 6 minutes a day, will take you 2 years to complete?

6 minutes a day. Not much is it? But it’s achievable. It’s too small to fail.

This year, I have made the decision to consistently and diligently work through a Bible reading plan to read the whole Bible in 2 years. I have started and given up many times in the past as I bit off more than I could chew. And as I like to do quite a few different things in my daily quiet time, I knew that if I could start small, by reading smaller portions each day, and make it an achievable goal, then I could, with God’s help, do it.

What if you could memorize just one verse a week? That’s 52 verses in a year! That’s the equivalent of a whole chapter or more, and all because of memorizing only one verse a week. This is also something I am working on this year, Bible memory. One verse at a time. Slowly slowly, not focusing on seeing it as a passage I’m learning, but one verse I’m learning and building on that each week.

I guess what I’m trying to say in this somewhat lengthy post, is that to make a difference in anything in your life, whether secular or spiritual, you need to start small.

Make your goals too small to fail.

If you try and take on insurmountable tasks, pursuing goals that are not achievable in the long run, then you’re just setting yourself up to fail.

But if you set yourself small goals, just a few minutes a day, just a few pages, just a small change in your habits, you’ll see progress. And that progress will spur you on to keep it up and stick with it.

Busy mother with little ones at your feet, overwhelmed wife with too much on your plate, working woman with a demanding career, single woman with a busy social life, whatever season of life you find yourself in, let me encourage you that it is possible to make a difference in your life and others by making small changes and setting achievable goals. You don’t have to take on the world in leaps and bounds. You don’t have to set unrealistic tasks.

Just take little steps. Make them so small that you are encouraged that you’ll be able to achieve it. It won’t seem so daunting and you will be excited when you are able to accomplish it. And then watch what God will do with your little. In his hands, he can make even the smallest effort multiply.

Start small.

Schedule it.

Stick with it.

God will bless your small beginnings. He will multiply your efforts.

Encourage yourself by starting small and seeing results. It’s so rewarding when you see your little efforts grow. As you cross off your list of Bible passages read, or you see your gratitude journal fill up, day by day, or those single verses you’ve memorized begin to make up a whole chapter, or your outgoing text messages of encouragement grow, or the books you’ve read start piling up, your heart is encouraged and you begin to desire more change, more growth.

Who is it you want to be in 2 years? In 5 years? In 10 years? The change starts now. The choices you make today are determining your future. What small habits are you putting in place now that will keep you grounded and growing in the future?

God has good plans for you. He wants you to seek him, pray to him, listen to him, serve him. He wants you to grow and prosper. He has an expected end for you and his thoughts towards you are good and not evil.

Jeremiah 29:11-13 KJV - For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

Start today. Make small choices that will impact your future. Make good choices. Wise choices. Start small and stick with it.

 

“Courage, my heart. Go on little by little, for many littles will make a great whole.”

Charles Spurgeon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How do you read your Bible?

Do you ever read the Bible and you find it to be tasteless and similar to cardboard in your mouth? Is it sometimes dry and hard to digest?

Wouldn’t it be incredible if we could read our Bibles, totally engrossed in every little detail, utterly absorbed in the stories, amazed and astounded at the truths we find there, hanging on every word and reading our Bibles was never dull or boring, ever again?

What if we could say along with the Psalmist…

Psalm 119:18 KJV - Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.

What if we saw the Word of God as wondrous? Marvellous? Magnificent? Delightful? Incredible?

What if we could pour over God’s Word with intense curiosity and interest in finding just what each passage meant and how it applied to our lives? What if we could become so engrossed in our reading, that it was hard for others to get our attention, so focused were we on the words jumping off the page at us?

You know, we are often just like that with things in life. Whether it be a hobby, or a TV show, or a person or the beauty we find in nature. We can become so focused that everything around us seems to fade into the distance. But when it comes to God’s Word, we find ourselves distracted.

This year, I have become determined to memorize more scripture. As a child, I learnt many passages from the Bible, and thankfully, because of the age at which they were learnt, they have pretty much stayed in the recesses of my memory and I’m able to quote them, somewhat accurately, even 40 years later.

Fast forward a few decades, and it just isn’t as easy anymore to commit verses to memory. But God is good, and I believe that if we truly want to do something that he encourages in scripture, then he will help us to achieve it.

And so, I am a few verses into Psalm 119. It’s a slow process, but progress is being made.

I love this Psalm because of its focus on the Word of God. In all the 176 verses of this Psalm, we only find a handful that do not mention the Word of God, the law, judgements, precepts, testimonies, commandments, statutes. It is an absolute treasure trove!

Not only do we read of the importance of God’s Word, but we read of God’s attributes. His righteousness, truthfulness, faithfulness, trustworthiness, unchangeableness, eternality, purity.

I read recently that we tend to gravitate to one of three ways of reading the Bible. This particular writer stated that we either read the Scriptures inquisitively, inspirationally or imaginatively. And what we really need to do, is to read with all three of these perspectives.

Now, I’m not someone who fits in a box. I don’t like to colour inside the lines, but I am very interested in deepening my relationship with the Lord and digging deeper into the Word in order to gain knowledge and understanding to better live my Christian life, and if I can be shown a different perspective that will help my spiritual growth, then I’m all for it.

Let me explain a little about the three ways mentioned in order to get a better handle on this new thought brought to my attention.

An inquisitive reader loves to study the Bible and research all the details. They love its ability to instruct and train everyone to live Godly lives. For me, I love to look up the Greek and Hebrew words, trying to understand the true meanings, as they are often different than what we suppose. Don’t get me wrong, God’s Word is for correction and instruction in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16). The Bible is our instruction manual but if that’s the only way we look into God’s Word, we can miss the beauty and wonder of the stories we find in its pages. The Bible is not only knowledge to change our minds, but also to change our lives. And often, the stories have the ability to help with that.

Let’s move on to the inspirational Bible readers. They love to read the Word of God as a source of encouragement and often use it to lift their spirits. They read it as inspirational, and they enjoy the way it meets them right where they are. And yes, God’s Word is inspired, God breathed, and it is a very inspirational book. But if we are only reading it to get encouragement, we may miss out on great theological truths that are imperative to our Christian walk. The Bible does lift us up, the Psalms are full of precious promises that help us in difficult times, but it should also ground us in the faith. We should be learning to graduate from milk to meat in our spiritual diet. (Hebrews 5:13,14)

An imaginative Bible reader enthusiastically sees the Bible stories come alive. They read with excitement, imagining the setting, the people, the tale as it twists and turns. If you could read their minds, there would be an epic storyline rattling around in there, full of excitement and adventure. Now, I love to be imaginative when I read the stories of the Bible. And I especially love to teach them to children with all the excitement they deserve, but if we’re only imagining the stories in the Bible, we could miss the straightforwardness of the text and the message the words hold.

So, what kind of a reader are you? From what vantage point do you approach the Bible?

These three ways, and I’m sure there are others, are all important and need to be used when reading the Bible. But we need to be like the Psalmist when he asks God to open (uncover, disclose, reveal, discover) his eyes so that he can behold (consider, pay attention to, shew regard to) the wondrous things that are in the Word of God.

Psalm 119:18 KJV - Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.

God loves to show us truth. He loves it when we have a holy curiosity for his Word and a hunger and thirst for the pages of Scripture.

Sometimes God teaches us his truth through seasons of questioning, on our part, where we desire to know more of what the words mean and how they relate. Other times he reveals truth through a time of meditation on his Word, a time where we are inspired by the words as they speak to us in our time of need. And at other times, he reveals truth by letting our imaginations run wild and the Word comes alive in vivid, high-definition colour and surround sound.

All three of these ways, inquisitive, inspirational and imaginative are valuable in the way we come to Scripture. We need a holy curiosity as we read the Word of God. We need to ask the hard questions, we need to be comforted and inspired and we need to use our imagination, without taking anything away from the beautiful words we find on the pages of our Bibles.

We need to read our Bibles with an eager desire to learn. We need to read with passion and interest. We need to be on our way to heaven with curiosity about what we’ve read and a fire that won’t be quenched. A fervent, excited, engaged mind, always wanting to read more, know more, learn more. We need to have such a love for the Word of God that we can’t go even one day without opening its pages to reveal the truths that lay in front of us.

Psalm 119:97 KJV - O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.

I want to be like the Psalmist who not only asks for open eyes to behold wondrous things, but I want to have a love for the Word of God, and I want that love to drive me to read more, memorize more and meditate more.  

God grant me a holy curiosity, a taste for your Word, so much so that I crave the delights it holds. Let me not be satisfied with a quick reading of a few verses in a hurried quiet time. Help me to meditate on them, dig deeper, be comforted and helped by them and stand in awe of the beauty and wonder I find in the treasure that is your Word.

 

Psalm 119:92-93 KJV - Unless thy law had been my delights, I should then have perished in mine affliction. I will never forget thy precepts: for with them thou hast quickened me.

 

Find Beauty in the Small Things

Please allow me to share a little of my musings with you.

This morning, as I walked down the driveway, pulling behind me two wheelie bins full of rubbish for their weekly collection, enjoying the worship music playing from my phone, breathing in the humid air that was growing warmer by the minute, I began to take notice of the little things.

With the wet season upon us, the grass and weeds along the driveway have become overgrown, and with the increase in growth, I see splashes of colour as I walk. A tiny yellow flower peeks its head above the untidy blades of grass. A small white bloom cries out to be noticed in amongst the ground cover, hidden by leaves and small twigs. Tiny little mushrooms pop up out of the red dirt, forcing their way through the gravel and stones that line the driveway. The grass is going to seed and in doing so, produces lovely tall stalks of hairlike purple and white ‘flowers’ that sway in the breeze.

It took me a lot longer to walk back to the house as I had to stop and take photos of these little things. Appreciating God’s creation through photography is a passion of mine, and often these miniscule displays of his power and love are overlooked.

But today, I stopped and knelt down to get a better view, marvelling at the detail. Each blade of grass, each tiny petal, each little leaf, dripping with the morning dew was a reminder of God’s goodness to me and the beauty he sees in the small things.

Often in life, we ignore the little things. We don’t take any notice of the mundane, the everyday, the ordinary. We gasp in amazement at the impressive, the extraordinary, the things that cry out for our attention. We are delighted by the sight of a brilliant red rose in full bloom or a jacaranda tree with its purple flowers cascading down from its branches, leaving a mesmerizing carpet of colour in its wake. We stand in awe of a roaring waterfall, or a magnificent snow-covered mountain top.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m all for getting excited about the awe inspiring, the grand, the enormous, but I love to find beauty in the small things.

Sometimes, we neglect to appreciate the ‘lesser’.

Now, I’m not just thinking about flowers and vistas here. I’m thinking about people. The people in our lives.

God sees beauty in brokenness. He sees beauty in humbleness. In smallness.

Often, we wish we were more like someone else. Maybe you feel overlooked in your job or in your position at church. Maybe you feel like you are just a tiny cog in a big wheel, and you feel kind of useless. You’re just a small thing. A small part of the big picture.

You don’t have an ‘upfront’ job. You work behind the scenes.

You are just a tiny flower in a sea of grass. Don’t be deceived into thinking that your tiny bloom is insignificant. You may be small, in position, in character, in personality, but you could be just the colour someone needs in their life.

You may feel like you’re not making a big difference in the scheme of things. But from little things, big things grow. Without the little things, the seemingly insignificant jobs, the small contribution you think you are making, there wouldn’t be any big things to be amazed at.

We often overlook people who do the little things. We overlook the quiet ones, the introverted, the behind-the-scenes workers.

But God sees their worth, and he sees your worth, whether you are an out and out extrovert or a quiet soul, content to hide in obscurity.

We all have a place in God’s will and if we can find that place, and be content in that place, desiring only to obey him and follow his leading, we will find true joy and happiness.

The old saying goes, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”. And it’s true. What may be beautiful to you may not be beautiful to another person. And you know what? It rings true with God too. God doesn’t have the same concept of beauty as we do. If a person and their calling is beautiful to God, then it is beautiful, no matter what the world thinks.

If God sees beauty in it, then it fits his concept of beauty and who are we to say any different?

We often think that the small things, the tiny creations, the quiet people, the little jobs are not important, but we are so wrong.

God knows and sees every minute detail. He knows how many hairs are on your head. He even sees the value of a tiny sparrow.

Luke 12:6 KJV - Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God?

Luke 12:7 KJV - But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.

Matthew 10:29 KJV - Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.

We read an interesting passage in the book of Zechariah.

Zechariah 4:10 KJV - For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the LORD, which run to and fro through the whole earth.

This is referring to the second temple being built, which in the eyes of some of the Jews, was despised because of it’s lack of grandeur. They had seen the former temple and were not very appreciative of the new one as it wasn’t as grand as the old one. We even read of weeping among the people because of its smallness.

Ezra 3:12-13 KJV - But many of the priests and Levites and chief of the fathers, who were ancient men, that had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice; and many shouted aloud for joy: So that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people: for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the noise was heard afar off.

I’m so glad that God doesn’t cast us aside when we accomplish small things. He knows that there can be power in seasons of small things. These are often times of growth and preparation for bigger things to come.

The Devil fears the small things, because he knows full well what great things God can do in them and bring out of them.

When we have a desire to simply put one foot in front of the other, serving where God has us, in the job he has us in, whether big or small, he will bless.

I teach a small Ladies Bible Study, and I write a blog with very few followers, and although I have a passion for women’s ministry and I long to share with a larger audience what God teaches me through his Word, in order that more women will be encouraged in their walk with Christ, he has seen fit to keep my field of influence small. He has chosen to place me in a position where size doesn’t matter. He wants me to be content with the small things. The small beginnings.

In the words of a song, “I’m just a nobody, trying to tell everybody, all about somebody, who saved my soul!” 

I’m just a tiny flower in a world of overgrown lawns. A little, insignificant bloom on the ground beneath a bed of colourful roses.

But, as long as I trust the Lord and let him lead the way, lying content in his will and in his care, I don’t have to be concerned about the world’s view of me. If God sees beauty in me and my calling, then that is all that matters. He sees grandeur in small things.

Not everyone is called to be a brilliant Flame tree or a golden Cootamundra Wattle. Some are simply called to be tiny splashes of colour in a patch of grass. Ready and waiting for the Lord’s timing, when he reaches down and gently takes us from where we are and adds us to a beautiful bouquet to be used in his service.

So, when you take time out to stop and smell the roses, don’t forget to take notice of the tiny flowers too. Make the choice to purposefully look out for the little things. Be intentional in seeing the beauty in the small things.

Small things are important to God. There is beauty in the little details.

You’re worth doesn’t lie in how ‘big’ you are, it lies in who you are in Christ and how he sees you. You may feel like a minute, broken, colourless flower, but God sees you as a magnificent rose in full bloom. He sees right past your brokenness. He sees a new creation. A redeemed child of God. Chosen, loved, forgiven, and precious in his sight.

You were created in God’s image. You were created for a unique purpose.

You are who God says you are!

 

 

 

 

 

What if your upset plans 

are part of God’s plans?

 

Sometimes I’m sure the Lord has a sense of humour. He looks down at us, running around like busy little ants, merrily planning our days activities, possibly without any thought of what He would have us do, and He steps in and throws a spanner in the works, totally upending all our plans and turning them on their heads. He wants to change our perspective just a bit, so that we have to rely on Him and trust Him more than we have been.

It's amazing what a change in focus does for our mental, physical, emotional and spiritual state. If the upset plans force us to focus on him, he will give us the strength to bear it.

He gently, or sometimes not so gently reminds us that He is in control and that although we feel that we can’t handle the chaos that swirls around us, He is the peace in the midst of the storm. He is who we need to cling to when we’re overwhelmed.

Psalm 61:2 - From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

Bad days have a way of reminding us of what is important in life. We tend to think that our nicely laid plans that we have jotted down in bullet point form in our daily diaries, the alerts and reminders on our phones are just the way our day should go. But this is where we’re wrong! Yes, it’s great to set goals and we should. But let’s not be so determined to achieve them that we forget who is in control. Heads up – it’s not you!

There’s a word I want to remind you of. Surrender. Yes, only 9 little letters, but put them together and they hold great significance.

Surrender means to stop resisting and submit. It means to give up or hand over. It means to relinquish possession or control of something, and to give up in favour of another.

Do you see where I’m going with this? We have to learn to surrender our strategy, our plans, even our goals to the Lord. Instead of planning out our day then praying our plan to the Lord, we need to pray that He will show us His plan and that we will learn to be content with exactly how He orders our day.

Before you open that diary or that calendar on your phone, close your eyes! Sit before the Lord, pray about what He would have you put into your day. Rest in who He is and His faithfulness.

I’m finding that I need to leave a lot more room in my day for the Lord to reshuffle. If my days plans are so cluttered that there is no room for more, I’m going to end up disappointed. Because not only does it become like one of those slider puzzles where you only have one spare space and limited moves, but God sometimes has to throw some pieces out to make room for His move.

We have to stop resisting. We have to submit. Like I’ve said before, it’s a lot more comfortable to come to God with our plans in open hands then for Him to have to pry them out of our tightly closed fists.

We need to surrender, and we need to trust. By trusting God, we begin to relax and wait on Him in faith, knowing that His ways are perfect.

Psalm 18:30 - As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him.

Isaiah 55:9 - For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

I love the words to this beautiful song, based on this verse in Isaiah, that reminds me that God is in control and his plans are so much higher than mine.

It's not what I prayed for
It's not what I wanted
It's not something I understand
My circumstances seem so confusing
I'm placing it all in Your hands

 

Your ways are higher than mine
I want mountains to move
You want me to climb
So I'm gonna trust Your work, Your will, and Your time
Your ways are higher than mine

 

One day I'm sure
I will look back and marvel
At how You knew best all along
You see from Heaven
You know it's the hard times
That make my face steady and strong

 

Your ways are higher than mine
I want mountains to move
You want me to climb
So I'm gonna trust Your work, Your will, and Your time
Your ways are higher than mine                    R.M.

 

Now, I’m not writing this post to boast because I have arrived. Oh no! Far from it. I often have days where I’m dissatisfied with God’s order and I pout and stomp my foot in a childish tantrum, hoping that He’ll change His mind and do things my way. But the older I get, the more I learn about God, and the closer my walk is with Him, the more I feel I can surrender to His will and His way. I trust more. I love more. I rest more. I rely more. I surrender more.

There are going to be days where you feel beaten down, trodden under, pulled in every direction. There will be days where all your plans go awry, and you want to throw up your hands in despair and just give up. But it’s on these days that you need to trust God more and cling desperately to Him, resting in His arms and relying on His strength to get you through.

He really does know what lies ahead and he is the best one to be organizing your day.

Our lives are so full and so busy but remember that the speed at which we travel is not as important as who is in control of our travel.

Let go of the reins, and let God take control. You will never be able to experience real peace until you fully surrender to His will.

Only then will a calm descend upon your soul. A peace that you know could only come from God. You’ll be able to take a deep breath and sink into His everlasting arms, content in knowing that He will do what is best for you and He will give you the strength you need for whatever your day brings.

Listen for his voice. Let him order your days. Obey him. Wait on him. And he will guide you.

Isaiah 30:21 KJV - And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Is your sock falling off 

and what are you doing about it?

 

Do you ever have one of those days where you walk around like everything is fine, but deep down inside your shoe, your sock is falling off? And no one knows it’s falling off, but you can feel it and it irritates you. You shake your foot, hoping that by some miracle your sock will magically rise above your ankle, and all will be right again. Or maybe, you reach down and give your sock a little tug. A half-hearted tug, you’re not really trying, just hoping. And all the while, your sock is slipping further and further down inside your shoe, making your life miserable, uncomfortable, unbearable.

Okay, let’s make an application out of this amusing, yet truthful little anecdote.

I had one of these days just yesterday. As I went about my business, delivering my freight around town, loading and unloading boxes, struggling with heavy bed frames, gym equipment, plumbing supplies and everything else under the sun, I feigned friendliness. I smiled as I handed the goods over, making conversation about the steamy weather, or the rain or how heavy an item was etc. But down deep inside, my sock was falling off.

Something just wasn’t right. I didn’t feel happy, although I put a smile on my face and made pleasant conversation. My mood was downright miserable. I was discontent. Frustrated. Tired and grumpy. I was snappy with my husband for no apparent reason, and it seemed things just kept going wrong. I dropped things, forgot things, had to double back and forth, wasting precious time and no matter how many times I shook my foot, that sock remained in its downward spiral into the depths of my shoe.

It didn’t seem to make sense. I really had nothing to be so miserable about. I had started the morning with my usual cup of tea and toast and enjoyed getting into God’s Word, studying, memorizing, taking notes, spending time in prayer before I headed out for the day.

Okay, so my day did take an unexpected turn in regard to the job description for the day, as my planned half day turned into a very long and full day. But it was nothing that hadn’t happened before. In fact, it often happens.

I just couldn’t shake that miserable, depressed feeling. And as inevitably happens when I begin to feel this way, I started to experience anxiety welling up inside. And then came the whispers. “Look at you. You’re spiralling. You’re going to be back where you were 4 years ago. You are worthless. You thought you were so good, being able to rise up from the darkness and live and breathe again, and now look at you!”

I tried listening to worship music, my favourite playlists, but to no avail. Music almost always works to soothe my soul and bring peace and comfort and ease my mind when it’s in turmoil. But today, it just wasn’t working.

That sock of mine was hanging on to my foot by barely one toe. Slipping. Slipping. Slipping.

Now, some of you may say, “It’s just hormones”. And yes, sometimes that is true. But I knew it was more.

As I searched my mind for what may have caused my inner turmoil and all-round miserableness, I started to remember an adversary of mine, an enemy of every Christian. The Devil.

We are reminded in scripture that the Devil loves nothing more than to devour us and to bring us down.

1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

As I struggled to find answers and make sense of my bad attitude and depressed mood, I thought about my morning devotions.

At the beginning of this month, as is my custom, I sat down and wrote some goals for the year. Some of these have to do with learning a new skill or improving and mastering a skill, others have to do with keeping in touch with people in my life on a more meaningful basis. But, quite a few of my goals are spiritual ones.

I wanted to start and finish a 2-year Bible Reading plan. I wanted to work on memorizing certain passages of scripture. I wanted to work my way through my ever-growing stack of books on all sorts of subjects to do with my Christian walk.

I had begun rereading a book on the way our thoughts affect us and was excited at what I was learning and this time, taking copious amounts of notes to cement it into my brain.

And just that day, I had decided to add another thing into my morning devotion time, which meant rising a little earlier in order to achieve it.

Well, now into the middle of January, I had consistently read my allotted passages for each and every day and I had been faithfully taking notes and finding myself excited each morning at what God would show me through his Word and what I could share with others as I write and teach other like-minded women with a desire to learn.

As I went back over my morning and over the goals I hoped to achieve in 2023, I began to see my mood for what it was.

I am not always the quickest learner, and I didn’t realise until it was brought painfully to my attention.

Now, I know when you read what I am going to write next, some of you may think I’m a little eccentric, or weird, or just plain strange. But, in the past, through my months of depression, I had experienced many episodes like this, and I suddenly knew what it was.

But not before I was made painfully aware.

As I loaded my trusty trolley back into the ute, I reached down to raise the very heavy, steel dropside of the ute (which is broken and doesn’t function the way it should). As I did, the whole side fell off it’s hinges and came crashing down onto the top of my foot!  (I’m sure it was the one the sock was falling off)

It was not a pleasant experience, but I managed to bite my tongue, and not yell aloud, not wanting to frighten the lady who had just gone back into her house with her prized possessions.

And this was my epiphany. My moment of great realization. I saw my mood and the reason for it. I saw it as a direct attack of the Devil.

And boy oh boy did my hackles rise. I snapped. If I could have shouted aloud, I would have. But inwardly, I shouted with all my might “That’s it Devil! No more! You want to fight? Well, you got yourself a fight! And you’re about to bite the dust! I have God on my side!”

I realised that the Devil had been taking notice of my morning devotions and my consistent early rising in order to spend time with the Lord. And there is nothing the Devil hates more than a Christian who is striving to walk with the Lord and obey his voice. He hates the Word of God going into our hearts and minds. He hates a passionate Christian. He hates a praying Christian. And he will do anything he can to bring them down. He will use whatever lies he has to, in order to do it.

John 8:44 - Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

Now, I have nothing to boast in. To my regret, for years I wasted precious mornings not spending time in God’s Word and it is only by his mercy and grace that I am able to do it now, and the marvellous work he has done in my heart through many hard trials.

But I know from past experience that the Devil loves to weave his little lies into my thoughts and those thoughts become actions, hence the bad attitude. Our thoughts truly do affect how we behave.

Well, once I realised I was under attack from the Devil, I may have told him in not so polite terms just where he could go, and remind him he was already defeated and then I found my ‘fighting song’ in my playlist and played it over and over as I tried to sing along, trying not to let the tears stream down my face, as I still had deliveries to make and thought it best not to be a slobbering mess. But I did manage to sing the words with much force and passion, although shaky and out of tune.

Promises in scripture began to come to mind and I repeated Philippians 4:8 to myself, reminding me of what I should be thinking on. What is True. Honest. Just. Pure. Lovely. Good report. Praiseworthy. Virtuous.

And as I did, my spirits began to rise. The sun came out and chased the dark clouds away. I began to find a spring in my step. And that sock, well, it was well and truly pulled up!

Now, in case you’re wondering, was I able to keep my spirits up all day? Well, the pain in my bruised foot was a constant reminder of the Devil’s attack, so that kept my fighting spirit alive, and with God’s help and his Word in my heart, I made it through the day in a much better frame of mind.

But after a night of sleep and another early morning start, the fight began again. But this time I was ready. And as little things started to go wrong, and the clouds threatened to darken the sky, I was able to hold my head up, and shout the Devil down.

And, if you were my neighbour, this morning at about 7.30, you may possibly have heard me shout, aloud this time, “Not today Devil. Not today. You’re not gonna win today!” I didn’t even let him get a foothold. Not even one toe!

So, can I encourage you, when you feel under attack from the Devil, and you begin to believe his lies, open your mouth, shout him down, quote scripture to him, play your worship music loudly in his ears and make sure he hears you singing with all your might songs of praise to God.

Don’t let him get the Victory. He is already defeated. God has already prepared a place for him and his angels and he will get what he deserves.

You are a Child of God. You are an heir. You are not worthless. You are made in the image of God. You have a Heavenly Father. Satan can never take that away from you. You are held in God’s hand, and it is an Almighty hand, from which no one can take you!

Pull that sock up and keep it there!

Replace thoughts of worthlessness with reminders of God’s goodness and love to you.

Rejoice in the victories God gives you.

Shout in praise that you are an overcomer and God is on your side!

 

Romans 8:31

What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?

 

Psalm 47:1

O clap your hands, all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph.