Why We Worship 25

I am taking time each week to ask myself 

"Why we worship"

We are coming to the end of our series based around the attributes of God.

Next week will be the last one to be contemplated.

So this week I want to look at something that I really only started to think about in the last year or so.

Of course we have always thought of God as the only true God.

But here I want to think about God as God the Most High God meaning that He is Sovereign over everything.

He is in control in every situation.

So there is nothing or nobody (not even ourselves) that should come before God in all aspects of our lives.

Yes that is hard because most aspects of our lives we can quite easily say we are handing over to God but it should be all aspects of our lives.

In everything we should put God first.

In every day nothing should dethrone Him from being the King, the Lord of our lives.

All reverence must be given to God.

All honour must be given to God.

All glory must be given to God.

All worship must be given to God.

Is God the MOST HIGH GOD in your life?

Do you give Him all the worship?

Make Good Use of What you Have - A Dose of Encouragement

Each day when I sit at the computer in my study I will at some time turn my head to look out of the window beside me.


Now the weather in Northern Ireland is not that hot and sunny and when we do get good weather it is limited to a few days now and again during May - August.  Although as I am writing this the sun is beaming down into my back garden which is the view I have from my study window.

We are also known for our rain (although we do not get any more in the year than Delaware or Belgium - I know this because those are the other two places we have lived in and I did a bit of research - it just seems like it).


So you may be surprised to find out what is sitting in our garden since May last year (not this year).


This is the view that I have from my study

Yes those are two white PVC sun-loungers sitting in my garden.


And Yes they have sat there for over a year because we are rather lazy and didn't bother to put them away and also because we got a new BBQ last year (we used it twice) and some extra chairs to match our table so the BBQ and the chairs are now taking up the space in the garden shed where these two sun-loungers and their matching 6 recliner chairs used to be.  We gave the chairs and cushions to our son and daughter in law so that they could have something in their garden shed.


Now the point of this is that those two sun loungers always make me think of the chairs and the chairs always make me think of our Sun Room in the house we lived in, in Belgium for over 6 years.

You see when we got to Belgium we had a Sun Room but no furniture to go in it so I thought well we will probably buy a sofa for it.

But also when we got to Belgium we had garden furniture but no garden shed to keep it in and the garage was under the house so it was just not feasible to expect Fred to go down to the garage every time we would want to sit out in the back garden.

So we just sort of started off by putting the garden chairs into the Sun Room.  It was very convenient to just open the door from the Sun room to the garden and lift out whatever number of the chairs we needed.  It was so convenient that they stayed there for the whole time we lived there and we never bothered to buy proper furniture for the Sun Room.

So then you see we could say we just "made do" with what we had for the Sun Room.  

BUT

I spent many happy Monday mornings there sitting on those chairs as I prayed specifically for our kids.

Many evenings were spent sitting on those chairs with family visiting from the UK.

Many evenings were spent sitting on those chairs with other visitors from all over the world.

Many very happy occasions were spent on those chairs as our church homegroup met in our home for pot luck dinners.

Our homegroup was like our family away from our homeland.  Most of the group were from other countries having come to Belgium through work etc.  These were the people of all ages who met together on a weekly basis to worship and study God's Word together.  These were the people who looked after each other in all sorts of ways when we had no other family to turn to. These were the people who shared each others joys and heartaches and prayed together through the deep desires of our hearts.

No-one ever asked why we had garden furniture in that room.

So you see NOW I don't think of us just "making do" in all those years;

  NOW I actually think of it as "making use of what we had" 

and

   it being a "good job".

We had people of every class of life in that room and every single one of them happy to sit on those chairs.  That room was always full of smiling faces and I am thankful for the great memories that were created there.

Sometimes we are tempted to think that what we have or what we can do is not good enough for God.

Sometimes we think we need to go do something someone else has done, or something that seems to have more effort put into it, or something that is more noticeable as being a unique act of outreach for God.

Sometimes we think it isn't good enough just to use what we already have and that we would just be "making do" and not doing enough.

If we think like that we can overlook or miss the opportunities 

God has put in our path.

If we think like that we can always be worrying about getting things perfect before we speak, or act or even pray and read God's Word.

If we think like that we may even be disobedient to God who has already given us the talents we have that we are not stepping up to use.

BUT

 If instead we simply ask God to guide us as to what He would like us to do, who He would like us to serve, and where, how and when He would like us to do so and make the talents that He gave us available for Him to use through us we will be in His will.

So the next time you think you are just going to have to "make do" with what you have either in belongings or in the talents and the gifts that God has given you (or as you may think the not so good as other people's talents and gifts) then think of my garden furniture in my Sun Room.

Remember that you can make use of what you have and use it wisely for the benefit of yourself and of others.


Be thankful for what you have and that you are not "just making do".


God wants us to MAKE GOOD USE of what He we have because it came from Him.

Help! This Blogging Thing is not Easy!

You could end up pulling your hair out over this thing called BLOGGING.

AT THE START
 you think it's all about getting a

set up and big query is

Blogger or Wordpress?

My decision was based on
1. My son's blog was on blogger and so he could help me.
2. Our Church Website (which I help with) is on Wordpress and it drove me demented about how when I typed something in and then looked at the page neither the spacing nor size of font ever seemed to be what I had intended and pictures just seemed to go where they wanted to go and not where I tried to place them.

So I chose Blogger.
Then now over a year and a half later my husband tells me that the blogging template in wordpress might be easier to work with than the website template.  Thank you Fred for helping me sooner!!!!

Then my son tells me that there are ads on Wordpress that the blogger will not see on their blogs, so I would not be happy with that.




NEXT
after you have the blog set up you only think you have to think about what content you will put in your posts. When you get settled in to that you have to decide how often you will post to your blog.

But you haven't really got to the main hurdles yet because if you wanted to start a blog you must have had a good idea as to what the content would be and how much inspiration you have leads to how often you post.  Not necessarily!  But let's say yes you know your content and have decided how many posts each week and you have the ideas.

Then you realize there are not very many people reading this blog because even though the "whole world" can get use of the internet not everyone has discovered your blog among the millions of others.

What do you have to do to get it seen out there?

THAT'S WHEN
we start posting on facebook and twitter, provided we already have accounts, if not we have to start learning to use these sites.  Lots will even make a page on facebook to get likes and hopefully blog followers through that as well.

Everyday you need to post and tweet your blog.

So your computer will never look like this!

NEXT
you hear people talking about "oh you need to be in circles and so that means you need to get on Google Plus and it you are like me you have held out for some time because you don't really want to have to learn something new at the moment because you are rather busy with everything else.

But eventually you give in and you are then hooked into gathering people up to be in your circles and getting offended if people do not put you in their circles.


AND THAT'S NOT ALL
you have to be pinning all the time because by now you have heard that everyone should know that Pinterest is the best place to get traffic to your blog.  So your nice little pinterest boards which you had set up for your own interest now have to not only cater to you but be attractive to others so that they will follow lots of your boards and then see the pins linking to your blog and start to visit your blog and then like it because it is as attractive as your pinterest boards and then they will come back often to your blog.

Oh and then you should gather Instagram followers as well - but I definitely drew the line here and Instagram is staying personal for me.


AND THAT IS STILL NOT ALL
there are communities on google plus, groups on facebook, special Pinterest boards for groups of bloggers, and then something called Stumble Upon which I have neither stumbled upon or went looking for (yet).


AND OF COURSE BY NOW
1. you have discovered that your blog post should be full of very good pictures so you need to go take masses of photos

#BigBlackWedding

and adapt them to use on your blog

or find places on the internet to get free pics.

or start learning to create your own pictures

2. you have heard of the words "blog hop" & "linky" and you decide to google this and then your life is never the same because not only do you have to join in with loads of these but you find all these other blog posts on these linkys that you want to read
     

  3. you have realised that you are getting more comments than you thought you would but that takes more of your time because you have to read them and answer them.


BY NOW
you have wondered why you started this in the first place because it looks like it could take over your life and you have to be careful in conversations with others or else you will talk about blogs you have read and what you are doing on your blog too much.

AND THAT IS WHEN
you find out that other blogs with less traffic than yours are making money and everyone in the groups etc. are talking about sponsorship and ads and promotion and you have to take the big decision

DO I MONETIZE MY BLOG?????

I never in all my life thought I would use the word 

MONETIZE

BUT

Why We Worship 24

I am taking time each week to ask myself "Why we worship"

This is Trinity Sunday

                so there is no doubt as to what we should consider today.

This is often a difficult thing for us to comprehend.

I actually think it is harder to explain the Trinity in words than to believe it in your heart.

We have a Godhead which is:  

3 in 1  and  1 in 3

God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are mentioned often in the Bible.

They have different roles which means that we are never alone, are always under the blood and we can bask in the Father's Love.

I think it is wonderful to be included in the Father's love, be cleansed by the blood of the Son and have the Holy Spirit teach and guide us. 

In our church one of the things I love the most is the fact that we end each service with the Grace, extending this blessing on each other as we leave.

I think it's wonderful to have the Father's Love, be cleansed by the blood of the Son and to have the Holy Spirit teach and guide us.



Do you think of The Trinity when when you mention God or simply God the Father?

Organising The Medicine Cabinet & The Smallest Room in the House

My husband Fred had Food Poisoning which we presume he got in Azerbaijan on a business trip or on the plane on the way home.  So because of this and because of some medical type things I discovered in the garage last month it made more sense to do the back toilet first this month as that is where our Medicine Cabinet is.

Yes it is as simple as that; sometimes I need to be flexible.


So I started by creating my TOILET OVERHAUL list
on the iPad Pocket Lists App which now looks rather different to before in both the icon and the content.

Pocket Lists App

Unfortunately this week I had to take that drastic step of updating to ios7 and if you read a certain post from last year you would know that this then was a very sad week for me, but it had to happen as without it I could not update some of my apps.


Isn't the screenshot so bland compared to previous ones and so pale as well?   Rotten update to this app.

Well as you can see above even for such a small room I had 18 items on my list.

No way this room would be done in a couple of hours!

No way this room would be done in one day  -  all my time in any day is not going to be given over to housework and organising.


So armed with my cleaning kit and trusty steamer I got started.

I got the boring bits out of the way (you know the cleaning of the toilet etc.) and then it was time to reorganise the Medicine Cabinet and I just brightened up because those things are far more interesting to me than washing and cleaning and dusting and hoovering.

This is the Funwork part!



While I was rearranging I was of course checking dates of items and throwing out things and making out a list of things I would need to get to replenish my store.

I was pleased with it when I was finished because I took out some of the more bulky things and some other things that didn't sit so well on the narrow shelves and thought of somewhere else to put these plus the face masks that I had found in the garage (brand new provided by Fred's work but he had kept them in a travel bag in the garage).

So what was my idea for storing these things?

Simply to put them in the underused drawers and cupboards of the vanity unit in the same room.

You see this room is really only used for two things

          1.  Medicine Cabinet
          2.  Recycling

It is not really used as a bathroom because we have two ensuites and a bathroom so why need another one and have to always be cleaning a fourth toilet?


Up until now there was hardly anything in the cupboards and the drawers but that was going to change.

The drawers took some of those not too large items but ones that didn't sit so easily on the shelves of the Medicine cabinet

and the cupboard shelves took the larger health items.

There is also still some room for a few things I need to get like gel cooling pads. 

Then I decided to store the extra towels for this room in the vanity unit (brown top right), the toilet rolls went in there too as they had been in a basket but it has got rather grubby and finding out how to clean it is the first item on my ToDo list for this room now.

Of course I hope you have noticed the packet of wipes (green top left) which are very important in each room as you may remember from a previous post  5 Things to Make the Housework Easy  and the vinegar (bottom left).

Well after most of the overhaul list had been done it was

Then back the next day to finish off.

Things like cleaning the window blind and the light shade and the radiator were still to be done and sometimes these are the types of things that we can overlook so make sure you have them on your list and then you won't forget them.

And before I could do my inventory for this room I wanted to do the ToDo list.

It is not very long but does include a rather annoying thing.

 The people who owned the house before us had put up two hooks above the window probably to put up some kind of drape.   The walls are completely tiled (not absolutely ghastly but not as nice as all the rest of the tiles in the house) so this means they put up two sticky backed hooks.

But

why couldn't they have put up two hooks that were the same 

and

 at the same height?

So my main ToDo is to find out the best way to remove these hooks.


Any bright ideas?


If you have had to do something similar and are now an expert in this please leave me a comment to help me.

I you have noticed anything online that might guide me please leave me a comment.

I need help here!

     

Standing not Sitting - A Dose of Encouragement

     
  There is a seaside resort called Portrush on the northern coastline of Northern Ireland, which has a headland jutting out into the Atlantic Ocean.  This area is called Ramore Head and all along the shore are beautiful but rugged rocks.

         

When we were living in the State of Delaware in America many years ago we took a trip to visit seven of the north-eastern states; and there in the smallest state of Rhode Island, in the picturesque town of Newport, we found the same type of rugged shoreline as at Ramore Head.  

         We stood on the rocks, sat on the rocks, took photographs, and laughed in the breeze that was blowing in from over the ocean - we felt "at home" on these rocks.

            Perhaps it was because of these memories, that a picture the Lord gave me a few months later in church one Sunday morning, seemed to really touch me deeply.  

I saw a figure of a man, tall and dark, standing on a rock facing out over the ocean. Even though the wind was blowing strongly, this person was standing firm. 

I was sure this man felt secure as he stood on that rock.

              

There is only one rock that we can be secure on and that is the Lord our God.  

Several times in the bible we read that God is our rock. 

I like the personal touch in 2 Samuel 22 v 2 where David started his song of praise to God (after he was delivered from Saul) with the phrase:

                                    “The Lord is my rock”   

and also in Psalm 31 v 3  where he says

                        “Yea Thou art my rock and my fortress”.  (RSV)

          So what type of a rock is our God?  

Well in the picture I saw a large, firmly placed rock that gave a good foothold.  There was no fear of stumbling or sliding off; the rock was good enough for the man to stand steady and at peace in the wind. 

I believe that illustrates the type of rock our God is!  He’s dependable, solid, firm, sure and steadfast; we need have no fear of anything else when we have such a foundation to stand on.

As I considered the picture, I sensed the most important thing was that this man was not sitting, but standing on the rock.    He was standing firm, standing boldly, not being swayed by the wind; not sitting/crouching scared of the wind.  

In Ephesians ch. 6 we read about the armour of God, each part of it is important but Paul stresses three times that we must not only put on the armour but we must also stand

·         We need to be able to stand against the devil’s schemes v.11

·         We need to be able to stand our ground and after we've done everything else to still stand v. 13

·         We must stand firm v. 14             

            We are exhorted to stand not sit, perhaps because sitting might lead us to relax (let our minds wander and not be alert) when God is really saying:

                        “Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong.”

                                                                                                1 Cor. 16 v 13   

           

The man in the picture I saw definitely seemed to feel "at home" on the rock. 

Do you feel "at home" on the rock?

Are you putting all your trust in God?