Thoughtful...

“Somehow he [Tim] gets thoughtful sitting by himself so much, and thinks the strangest things you ever heard. He told me, coming home, that he hoped the people saw him in the church, because he was a cripple, and it might be pleasant for them to remember upon Christmas Day, who made lame beggars walk, and blind men see.”–Charles Dickens (A Christmas Carol)

It makes me think, as it also appears to have made Tiny Tim think, about the reason for this season. Yes, it all came about because of the birth of The One who makes lame beggars walk and blind men see. I wonder, if the Son of God had not been born on that day, some 2,000 odd years ago, what state would the world be in now. That could bring on a long debate, depending on one's point of view…

Tiny Tim's attitude to his "crippledness" is a lesson that I, for one, should learn from. How often do I feel sorry for myself when life throws challenges at me? Surely those challenges should cause me to remember who it is that can help me overcome them - Jesus.

Along with Tiny Tim, I leave you with the hope that you will find it “pleasant to remember … who made lame beggars walk and blind men see”.

No Matter What...

I always wonder why it is so easy to believe what people, the world says and not what Scripture says. Well, maybe not for others, but I have to confess that it is so for me!


The world says, "There is no God".
The world says, "It's a load of rubbish".
The world says, "You are crazy...god is just a fairy story!".
The world says, "He is just a crutch for those who are not strong enough to manage their own lives".


And so the list of what the world say goes on and on.


No matter what the world says, Scripture says...


¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
   in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
¹¹ and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
   to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:10-11 (NIV) (words in bold emphasised by me)


If God does not exist, why are so many of those naysayers celebrating Christmas?


Thank you my God and Saviour for giving us such a joyous time of year!

Linking up with Shanda for On Your Heart Tuesdays

Encourage...

As I said in my previous post, written over two months ago (!), I have been discouraged about this blog. However, that is not the only thing...I have been feeling discouraged generally in my spiritual life.

There, I have said/put it into print! That is quite a scary thing for me to do.

Do you ever feel...God is just "not there"?  Do you ever feel that you do not seem to be improving in your character at all?

Well, I do. Then...little things happen and one of those for me was coming across Shanda's blog. Amongst other things she has a blog hop "On Your Heart Tuesdays", where she encourages others to share their thoughts, feelings, how God has been working in their lives. So I decided that this is the kick start I need :)

Let me back up a bit and explain that, for various reasons, I have been away from home for several months. As a result, I have not been in regular fellowship with my Bible Study group and friends.

So often, I feel guilty that I cannot keep going without the spiritual support of others, then I remembered that several times in Scripture we are exhorted to encourage each other. We are not meant to go it alone. One of the advantages of today's technology is that there are many Christian bloggers out there.

Thank you, Shanda, for being one of those encouragers out there.

 ¹² See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. ¹³ But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. ¹⁴ We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end.  Hebrews 3:12-14

Persevere...

I had been thinking about closing this blog. I have been discouraged, wondering if there is any point in keeping it. I have also been wondering about my motives in keeping this blog. Is it because I want people to "notice" me? Do I want their accolades? Or do I really want to encourage those "out there", if that is possible?


I checked my blog today, after quite a long time of ignoring it, with the intention of closing it down and then this Scripture came to mind -


...And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. Hebrews 12:1


So I thought...Let me give it some more time. It is too easy to give up, at least for me it is. Our walk with Christ is all about perseverance and not giving up. I think sometimes persevering with seemingly unimportant things in our lives is part of the discipline of following the Lord. 


So I hope that in persevering with this blog, whether it is read by others or not, it will help me in my very wobbly walk with my Lord and Saviour, Jesus.


P.S. How funny...after I first published this post I saw that the Scipture in the sidebar was Hebrews 12:2!!


A picture...because I do not like to post a blog without a picture if I can help it :)

Obadiah...

I have just started a Precepts study called "Spare Your People, Lord".  It is a study on two of the minor prophets, Obadiah and Joel.

Over the next few weeks, I will share my thoughts and what I am learning. These are my personal thoughts and not, necessarily, those of Kay Arthur, who authored the study.

I have done a couple of Kay's studies before and am in awe at what God teaches her. She is passionate about encouraging people to dig into Scripture. If you have not done any of her studies, I encourage you to find out about them.

Saying that, this week's study was on the book of Obadiah. This book is only one chapter in length and, to my shame, I had never read it before!

Oh my goodness, was I convicted about pride and arrogance! That has been key for me this week - beware of arrogance and do not gloat over others' misfortunes, even if they are doing ungodly things; even if they "deserve" it. Ultimately, the Lord God is in control and He will judge people and the nations.

The encouraging thing for me is that it is not too late to repent of my sins. The Lord wants me to come to Him in humility and He wants me to return to the path of obedience when I wander away from it (which is pretty much every day!!).

Trust and obey.

Blocked...

If you look back to see when I last wrote a post, you will see that has been three weeks! I have felt, and am still feeling, totally blocked.

I feel blocked creatively, inspirationally and in my communications with God. The cause of all this is unknown to me. Maybe it is because the general situation in the world is unstable and unpredictable (end times??). Maybe it is because I am in need of a break from Lagos - we expats are a spoilt breed here in Nigeria; most of us have chance to go away at least three times a year. However, since my better half has been pretty much self-employed, we do not have the luxury of "free" air flights, so I have not been out of here since January. Sad, I know, as most people in the world do not even get one holiday a year! Anyway, back to possible causes of my block - maybe another reason is that I am hoping that we will retire next year and move to our yet-to-be built home in South Africa. So many of our good friends have already left and I am really finding it difficult to feel settled here. I am longing for the future and not living in the moment.

Note to Rachel: Live in the moment!

This morning when I looked at my blog I saw that today's verse is Hebrews 13:8.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. (NIV)
For Jesus doesn't change—yesterday, today, tomorrow, he's always totally himself. (The Message)


How comforting it was to read that. The world may change, my world may change, but God does not change. No matter what I am feeling, God does not change. He may feel far from me; I may feel far from Him, but He does not change. I have to believe that and trust Him, no matter what my feelings or circumstances are. Jesus, God, is ALWAYS the same.

Devote...

Recently I have been reading through Colossians and have reached Chapter 4. For several days I have not been able to get past v2 which says:-

"Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful."


The key words for me are - devote, prayer, watchful, thankful.


Why can't I get past this verse? Hmm...obviously God is saying something to me!

Am I devoting myself to prayer - methinks not! Ok, God is telling me to do so.

A definition of devote from the Oxford Dictionary is:
To give one's time, energy etc to somebody or something.

The definition tells me that prayer requires time and it requires energy. Why is it easier to devote my time and energy to watching tv, taking photographs (that often takes a lot of energy!), doing puzzles etc etc, whilst prayer, Bible Study and spending time with God gets put on the sidelines?

That is a hard question to answer. The answer would reveal my selfishness, my short-sightedness and my weakness. Surely I am not those things?? The stark reality - yes I am. Of course, I also know that there is an enemy who makes sure that there are things to distract me from devoting myself to prayer.

I cannot work and strive to suddenly become a devoted prayer warrior, but I can begin by asking the Lord to place a desire in my heart to do so. As with any discipline in life, I can also start with small steps, even if it is only devoting 5 minutes a day to prayer.

Now I am going to write out this verse on a card and keep it next to my chair where I sit and watch TV!