Wednesday

STUFF, STUFF and more STUFF! - A Dose of Encouragement


Isn't it lovely to receive presents?

In the weeks leading up to our son's wedding our house just filled up with wedding presents appearing day after day and week after week in the post.  (All this online shopping is fantastic now even for Wedding Lists.)









We have a room in our house we call the games room because there is a snooker table in the centre of it, but truthfully it should be called the


 "Where our 3 children, who have all left home, 
still store their STUFF"   room


because all around the room and under the snooker table are boxes & bags of all sizes and descriptions holding all the STUFF our kids wanted to keep but did not have room for in the small places they had been living in so far.


So my husband Fred piled the presents on and around the snooker table and this room became the


  "Wedding Present" Room


up until Daniel & Suzie returned from their honeymoon and came to take these gifts to their new home.






And then the snooker table was cleared again.

However!
There was still a corner of the room which we called Daniel's Corner where all his boxes of STUFF were.

The STUFF did not go when the presents went.
 (There was no room left in the car and the presents would have to be found a home in the house first)


His wife Suzie looked at us with suspicion every time we said


 "Daniel's STUFF" 


because she had never yet had a glimpse inside these boxes and was wondering just what would be unearthed when they were finally opened and what would she have to find a home for.

The problem was they had both been renting accommodation with friends since before they met and she thought that Daniel had brought enough "stuff" from there.

So

 Later "Daniel's STUFF" was to be taken and sorted and a home found for all the things from his previous years as a child, teenager and university student.


All of our family hold onto STUFF 

Even though we have moved house several times, having lived in different countries, and have done large clearances each time, we still have STUFF that has stayed with us.  My husband is always saying that we should just go through the kids STUFF and sort it out but I say it is not ours to decide on as some things we might feel have no value will actually be the things that have special meaning or memories for the kids.

I had said that I needed to do a clear out once again as we had been here in this house for 3 years then and there was definitely STUFF we did not need anymore.  So hopefully I can get myself round to doing this very soon.

I said that I needed to do a clear out once again as we have been here in this house for 3 years now and there is definitely STUFF we do not need anymore and hopefully I could get myself round to doing that soon.


I have also assured Fred that I can help him to sort through all his STUFF 
but he goes very quiet then.


Well the time did come later when Daniel and Suzie came to sort through Daniel's "stuff".


Some of the STUFF was thrown out as Daniel decided he didn't need it anymore, and some more of the STUFF was given to the car boot sale because it could be of use to others but there was still some of the STUFF that stayed with him because of the usefulness of the object or of the memories it holds.


But what about my STUFF?

Well I have been doing a Facebook Decluttering Challenge this year called



and this has been a good encouragement to get rid of more of the STUFF in our house.


Of course life would be more simple for all of us if we got rid of a lot of the stuff we still have in our houses but more importantly our lives would be simplified and of a better standard if we got rid of all that STUFF that stays in our mind and hinders us from growing each day as God would want us to grow.

  • All the things we remember that people have said or done that have hurt us.
  • All the foolish things that we remember we did in the past.
  • All the times when we spoke too soon,  or too late,  or when we shouldn't have spoken at all,  or when we should have spoken but failed to stand up for what we knew to be right.
  • All the things that we listened to from others which have led us in the wrong way instead of testing it by God's Word
  • All the things that we wished we had done but didn't.



Have you sorted through all the STUFF in your life?



All this STUFF needs to be thrown out.


           All the good STUFF needs to be kept.


                       All the other STUFF that truly helped us previously needs to be shared                                                                                          to help others now.



What are you doing with your STUFF?




Tuesday

The Discipline of Grace - 3



If you have not read my notes on the first two Chapters of

"The Discipline of Grace" by Jerry Bridges 

then you may wish to go visit those before continuing here.

GRACE 1

GRACE 2


Chapter 3

Again I thoroughly enjoyed reading this chapter and to me the emphasis was on justification and grace.

Bridges seems to be excited by what he is writing as he talks of our sin, the atonement by the blood of Jesus, justification through the death and punishment suffered by Jesus on our behalf and the grace of God in the forgiveness we receive.

None of this is subject to us but freely given by God and Jesus.

Several times Bridges writes "Preach the Gospel to yourself" which he admits will seem to be a strange instruction; but he goes on to clearly explain that this is the way to truly know and remember what Jesus has done for us and will help us not to be overcome with guilt (covered in first chapter) about our sin and the imperfect people we are.




While I was reading this I couldn't help but think on the sad comments that Steve Chalke has made about the death of Jesus and how mistreated he claims Jesus was by His Father God; 

so I must say here that

I am very thankful for a book like this one which clearly states the true reason for our Saviour's death and the goodness of our Heavenly Father.


I do agree with Bridges when he says you should "preach the Gospel to yourself"

Do you?



Do we preach the gospel to ourselves?


If this encourages you to read the book you'll find it on amazon for kindle or in paperback.


For other posts on this book see Links below:

Grace 1
Grace 2


                                                            











Sunday

Pondering the Psalms - Psalm 126


Each Sunday I am going to choose a Psalm and write down some brief thoughts on  it.


Today I'm looking at Psalm 126




This is one of the shorter more well-known Psalms



This Psalm falls into two parts:


V. 1-3
Surprise at the change of events
Rejoicing by the children of God
Acknowledgement by onlookers
Proclamation by the children of God


V. 4-6
Expecting more from God
Proclaiming the joy that is still to come.




Surprise.
Are we prepared for the great things God will do among us, or is it all a shock when it happens?
Sometimes we get used to not seeing our prayers answered straight away and can get into a state of asking but not totally believing and expecting daily.


Are we prepared for the great things God will do among us?


Rejoicing.
Do other people notice how we are rejoicing over great answers to our prayers and what has been happening to us?
We need to make sure others can see just how God is working in our lives.






Acknowledgement.
It is wonderful when others can see and admit that the events in our lives are ordered by God.


Proclamation.
Do we say and proclaim what God is doing among us?
Others need to see the way we know the hand of God in our lives and also how joyful we are because of it.


Expecting.
When we see God working we are encouraged to look for more of the work of His Hand on our lives and the lives of others.


Proclaiming.
We know the goodness of God and we know what He has said He will do, so we can look forward to further rejoicing and we should encourage others by reminding them of this.






It is not always easy, we do not see our prayers answered immediately and in exactly the way we would hope for.

Sometimes there is distress, anguish & sorrow as we pray for others 
and as we try to witness to them.


Tears of :
sorrow for sin
sympathy with others
tenderness in prayer.



But

there will be harvests of joy after the sorrow


We need to encourage others that there is joy after the sorrow


because 


those who sow in the tears of godly sorrow

shall reap in the joy of a sealed pardon
& a settled peace






Wednesday

The Day Autumn Arrived - A Dose of Encouragement


I know I wrote a post previously about


but it seems that in September each year (the start of Autumn I suppose) we really do notice all the spiders coming out of their hiding places.





So we get quite used to the fact that they are there for a while.



However just this morning I really was reminded of the spiders in a very different way.


Just look at those webs.






I know they were obviously not made overnight but I hadn't noticed them the previous few days.

Today however there had been a bad fog overnight which lasted until quite late in the morning and as it cleared this was my view in the patio.


The webs stretched all around the gate and the fencing (even some over the bushes)





and they were linked to the patio table and chairs as well.





They made a beautiful pattern between each fence post and also between the patio table & chairs.




I stood in amazement wondering how I had not noticed these webs before, so many of them, and then I realized that they would normally have been difficult to see from inside the house (and I had been inside for a week ill with flu).


Today however was different.

They were so noticeable because the icy fog had left a kind of glistening effect on them.

But

A short while later they were no longer noticeable from the kitchen window.


They had needed this special effect to make them stand out clearly and attract my attention.


We also need a special effect to make us stand out as followers of Christ.


We need a special effect to make us stand out


God has given us His Holy Spirit to produce good fruit in our lives and catch the attention of others, not to be directed to us, 
but to Jesus.


In today's world more than ever we need to allow the Holy Spirit to work through us and draw the attention of the rest of the world to our loving Saviour because that is the job of the Holy spirit and our job too.







So let's think of the arrival of this autumn frost as a sign to remember that God will use His Holy Spirit to make our lives beautiful and attractive to others so that they will say they hadn't noticed that before and want to find out more  -  about Jesus.




Monday

Northern Ireland Barista Championship 2015 - Xtra Special Day


This weekend saw the Northern Ireland Barista Championship take place in Belfast.

Yes I know I love Coffee but not so much that I would be interested in this event

EXCEPT

that my son was taking part on behalf of Common Grounds Coffee Shop of which he is the manager.

Now Daniel has worked in other coffee shops and has trained but now that he is a manager he is not doing the actual manual work every day of the week because of the many other tasks that fall to him.

So off he went on Saturday for the first round of the challenge.

He even missed his favourite football team Tottenham Hotspurs win against ......  well some other team - I'm not a football fan.

He had some tickets and I would have loved to have been there for this event but I was ill.

Yes - An Xtra Special Day for our family and I'm stuck at home with a throat infection.


You can imagine our excitement when he messaged later in the day to say that he was through to the final on Sunday.

We were delighted that he had got through to the final and more people will hear about the good work of Common Grounds.



On Sunday

He was the first one up of the 6 for the final.




His wife Suzie was there with him and the credit for these photos go to her.

As you can see from the pic above he was on at 11am.





No idea what they had asked him but no doubt he was having a bit of fun with them as he did not think he stood a chance of winning.





Apparently cameras and notes were important and everything focussed on how Daniel made the various coffees.


So Suzie messaged us with some pictures and then of course the other 5 baristas had to make their coffees.



We were making a late Sunday Lunch when the message came just after 4.15pm




HE WONNNNNNN!!







So proud of our son 
and of 
Common Grounds Coffee Shop


If you have not read my other post about Common Grounds and their charity work 
and their Suspended Coffees 
then click HERE



Why not use this twitter link to let others know about the good work of Common Grounds


Great coffee, great charity at Common Grounds Belfast


Sunday

Pondering the Psalms - Psalm 32


In this series I am going to choose a Psalm and write down some brief thoughts on  it.



Today I'm looking at Psalm 32








I'm looking at this Psalm in 6 parts:



V. 1-2
Here we are told who the "blessed" are





V. 3-4
Here we see the condition we have due to the guilt of sin


V. 5
Here we see how to deal with sin


V. 6-7
Here we see the only one we can turn to


V. 8-9
Here we learn how God will look after us & guide us when we turn to Him


V. 10-11
Here we have the great example to end with







The Godly Man.
Basically those who are blessed are those who no longer are condemned by sin.
It refers to openly sinning and also sinning in your heart or spirit.



The Ungodly Man.
Before we renounce our sin our condition is dead to spiritual things.
So we need to know how to deal with our sin.
We need to be responsive and willing to turn from our sin and not be stubborn like a mule.



Is our sin covered in the right way?



God.
We need to know that God is the only one to turn to when we are ready to repent & renounce our sin.
Then we can be like the Psalmist who ends with a note of Praise and thankfulness.









The one things we must not overlook is dealing properly with our sin.

Changing our life from 
ungodly 
to 
Godly.

Only Jesus is the one who can take our sin and give us His righteousness.












Wednesday

The Day I Spoke like an American - A Dose of Encouragement


We lived in America in the lovely State of Delaware for 3 years, 1992 - 95, while our three children were young. 




Wherever I went I was conscious that if I spoke like an American then I would not have strangers come up to me and ask me to "Say Something" just because they just wanted to hear my accent.







Often we heard the differences in our accent and pronunciation compared to the way Americans speak.

Coming from Northern Ireland, UK, we were  I was determined to say the words the proper British way like garage and not ga-raase, tomato and not tomaayto, aluminium and not alummmminum etc.   


I was pretty good about this! 


Truthfully

           I was pretty stubborn about this.



However, you cannot live among Americans for long before you pick up the accent. 

 When we returned to Northern Ireland our daughter aged 8 was referred to as the "American Girl" by her classmates at school for quite some time as she took longer than the rest of us to drop the accent. 



The Kids & I at the Grand Canyon


On the way home from America we had a layover in London for a few days and while there we headed into a McDonalds for lunch one day.  I'm not a very picky eater but I do not like all the sauces and pickles you get on the burgers & they never get it right in America when you say you don't want certain things in it so I had spent my time there perfecting the way to say the word "plaaain" like I was a real American so that the servers in places like McDonalds would know what I was saying.  

This time in London I reckon they can get my order right as they will understand everything I say so I don't have to think so hard about it.  

So I'm trying to order a bacon cheeseburger with only lettuce and tomato & guess what happens when I get to the tomato bit? 


I say tomayto instead of tomato.

3 years of saying it properly in America and as soon as I get back to the UK out comes the American pronunciation. 


What was wrong with me?

Needless to say, I have told this story numerous times because I can laugh at myself.

     
Then one day in 2012, 17 years since we had returned from living in America I had to revive my American accent.  


Why was this?  

I wasn't speaking to American visitors or even to other foreigners who have learnt their English by listening to American films, TV programmes and pop songs. 
(we met many people like this while we lived in Belgium)

No, I was sitting at home trying out my new iPad.  

I was doing a test on the voice thing to see if it really would write down what I said.

This was the result: 

          I said   
             "So from now on I want to take all my notes by voice"

         It wrote  -  So Canion I want to take all my notes bivoice

          I tried the same phrase again
                         So from now on I want to take all my notes By Voice

          It wrote  -  Abigail.            seriously???????????????
          
Once again .....

       and it worked!

                    So from now on I want to take all my notes by voice


It worked that time because I used an American accent
          
           Conclusion:

                     The iPad works best if I use my American accent"


For a machine to understand me I needed to talk the way it expected me to talk, 
the way it was programmed to understand.


It worked that time because I used an American accent  


All of this made me think about how we speak to people. 
 

Sometimes we just speak out not thinking of how we phrase something or the tone of our voice because we are talking to our family or someone we are very close to.

Other times we are conscious of our voices and words when we are talking to someone new or people we feel we need to be careful with so that they understand exactly what we mean.

We got very good at speaking more clearly and slowly when we lived in America and in Belgium because people from Northern Ireland tend to speak very quickly.

During the past year I took a short course in teaching English as a second language and I am now even more conscious of my pronunciation.







Then there are the times we talk to God.


I am so glad that God hears us 
  • whether we whisper or shout, 
  • whether we can find the right words or not, 
  • whether we even speak something out 


and that God knows 
  • what we are really sorry about, 
  • what we are worried about, 
  • what we are care about 

We can be thankful that our language does not have to be perfect for God to hear and understand and undertake for us. 


He knows, no matter how we try to express ourselves.


However God does wants us to to be truthful from our hearts.


In Psalm 51:6 the Psalmist says 


"Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts:"



How can we have this truth?

The Psalmist goes on to show he knows the answer in the following verses and then acts on this knowledge he has by praying specifically to God. 





     
Oh that we will be like the Psalmist 
and 
know the answer 
but 
also act on it.