The super-talented Erin of Rag and Stone was so sweet as to bestow upon me the Liebster Blog Award -- yay! thank you Erin!
The Liebster Blog award is given to bloggers with fewer than 200 followers. The rules: 1. You are to thank the giver, the person who awarded you the gift. 2. Reveal your 5 blogger picks, and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog. 3. Copy and Paste the award on your blog. 4. Hope that the people you sent the award to, will forward it to their 5 favorite bloggers.
So here are my five picks (and with all that talent out there, this wasn't easy, let me tell you):
... and new goodies in the shop! Decorative animal figurines in yummy colours to brighten any room in your home. Who doesn't want a lilac sheep! These handpainted sweeties -- and others! -- will be in the shop tomorrow (or the day after :).
The smile that flitted across Arthur's face was a faint one, and instead of following Mr Irwine's playful lead, he said, quite seriously – "Yes, that's the worst of it. It's a desperately vexatious thing, that after all one's reflections and quiet determinations, we should be ruled by moods that one can't calculate on beforehand. I don't think a man ought to be blamed so much if he is betrayed into doing things in that way, in spite of his resolutions".
This past Thursday, the railway system here suffered a massive breakdown during rush hour, affecting over a hundred thousand passengers, and trapping some one thousand passengers in the four trains that had stalled. The trapped commuters were stuck in the carriages for hours, with neither sufficient light nor ventilation; some even broke the train windows with a fire extinguisher to let air in. Passengers reported the heat, stuffiness and chaos, the crying of uncomfortable babies -- all of which one can easily imagine with dismay.
The wondrous part for me is that the kids and I were actually heading home on the train that day, exactly during that time. I remember standing with B, pressed in by the crowd, thinking, "O fine, it's rush hour" (thankfully, a kind man had given up his seat to Ro, who had fallen asleep).
But miraculously, our train ran fine, and, except for one hard, sudden lurch, we got home safely. It wasn't till the next morning that I learnt of what had happened and how narrowly we had escaped it.
Naturally, the breakdown has been a hot topic in the news, and this morning it was a topic of discussion at our family breakfast too. As my mother left the table, still marvelling at how we'd avoided that situation, she repeated what she had said to me the day before: "Thank God He took care of you. We really have a lot to be thankful for".
Of course I agreed, and was about to leave the table too, when my cousin -- who isn't a Christian, or might perhaps best be described as agnostic -- said, "Why do you all say things like that? So, 'too bad' for those other people? You thank God for taking care of you; the 'flip side' of that would be that God did not take care of them".
"That's not what it's about," I started to say.
"No of course it's not," he snorted. "It always comes to that. But you know me, I think logically first" (the obvious inference being that we God-followers don't).
I was so perturbed by what he said, or the very fact that he was saying it, that I couldn't seem to decently organise my thoughts and words. "God uses different situations to teach us different things," was sort of what I feebly came up with. "His care for us doesn't always show in the obvious ways we immediately think of".
I realise I don't have the eloquence even now, away from the source of perturbation, to properly explain God's hand in our lives. And I realise that delving into this could lead to profound, unanswerable questions about evil and suffering and so forth, which I won't, and can't, get into.
But to thoughtlessly, contemptuously, say that God is uncaring -- based on superficial evidence, and without any in-depth knowledge or experience of God -- is simply too much for a Christian to ignore. "Why thank God for some random, meaningless circumstance?" he was in essence saying. "Why thank God for anything really?"
What my cousin said reflects the views of many secular people I think; the belief that God doesn't really exist, and if He did, He's distant and indifferent; that it all really boils down to luck or fortune or whatever it is you want to call it.
Well, I think that there is some degree of randomness in life -- stuff happens -- but God's character, His goodness and love, are certain and unchanging.
I don't know that God actually caused the breakdown (in this case I'd be more inclined to blame human error), but I believe He used it, as He does all trials and tribulations, to some good purpose.
How can our small, finite minds ever fully comprehend God's purposes and plans? We can't, but we can trust to His goodness and His love. Romans 8:28 says, "We are assured and know that [God being a partner in their labour] all things work together and are [fitting into a plan] for good to and for those who love God and are called according to [His] design and purpose" (italics mine).
Perhaps there were people that day who got a lesson in patience, or fortitude, or kindness, or facing their fears. Perhaps there were people whose faith needed to be strengthened, or whose pride needed to be humbled. Perhaps human flaws like carelessness, irresponsibility or greed had to be exposed. Perhaps it was all for the good of just a hundred people out of the thousands, or perhaps it was just a handful, or perhaps just one.
I'm not talking only about the people who were actually there that day, taking, or working on, the trains -- I'm talking about anyone at all connected to the situation, however remote; anyone who has any sort of knowledge at all about what happened, like people who watch it on the news in another country for instance, even if it's a week from now, or a decade. Who can grasp how far God's reach is?
"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, says the Lord.
"For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts" (Isa 55:8-9).
Many of us are familiar with the story of Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha. One day the sisters sent to Jesus, telling Him that their brother was sick. But although the Bible says Jesus loved the three siblings, He did not go to their aid immediately. In fact, he stayed away until Lazarus finally died.
"When Jesus received the message, He said, This sickness is not to end in death; but [on the contrary] it is to honor God and to promote His glory, that the Son of God may be glorified through (by) it...
"Therefore [even] when He heard that Lazarus was sick, He still stayed two days longer in the same place where He was...
"Jesus told [the disciples] plainly, Lazarus is dead,
"And for your sake I am glad that I was not there; it will help you to believe (to trust and rely on Me). However, let us go to him" (John 11:4-15).
Jesus let Lazarus and his sisters go through their suffering. He did so for a purpose. I suppose He could have rushed to them as soon as he got word of Lazarus' sickness and spared them all a great deal of pain and grief, but He didn't. Instead He actually said "I am glad that I was not there; it will help you to believe (to trust and rely on Me)".
The way Jesus showed His love and caring was not in the overt way we would have immediately expected. But just because He did not answer their prayers in the patently obvious way they wanted Him to, does not mean He did not hear or answer them, or care.
We all go through different things at different times -- sometimes we're home free, but yes, sometimes we're stuck in a stuffy, miserable train. I think how we respond to those times, how we learn from them, how we use our faith, determines the quality and outcome of our lives, our levels of peace and joy.
Sometimes we have to go through the trials, like Mary and Martha, to see God’s glory, His power and goodness at work in our lives.
I don't think it's the natural "flip side" that God wasn't caring for the people who were caught in the breakdown. Besides the obvious care -- along the "thank God it was no worse" line, or "thank God we even have a transport system to complain about" -- there are often things which God delivers us from, which are never apparent at the time, of which we never know till later (or perhaps never at all in this lifetime). How often have we heard people say things like, "Thank goodness such and such happened, or I would have so on and so forth. I hated it at the time, but I'm so grateful for it now".
I think His providence is also manifest in the grace and strength He gives us to endure, to press on and press through. We live in a sinful, imperfect world; if our faith and hope are in Him, we can go through our trials peacefully, and with confidence.
His lovingkindness toward each of us is personal, and we are called to "thank [God] in everything [no matter what the circumstances may be, be thankful and give thanks], for this is the will of God for you [who are] in Christ Jesus [the Revealer and Mediator of that will]" (1 Thess 5:18, italics mine).
Becky came in soon after my cousin had left, and saw me sitting alone, looking troubled. She asked what the matter was, so I told her. And she said, "Never mind, he doesn't understand. Even if we had been the ones who had gotten stuck on the train, we would still have thanked God, and God would still have taken care of us".
Am I the only who loves this scene from Finding Neverland (from the start till about 03:20)? "That's not a diamond; it's just a rock"... wonderful... And that dog...
I find this email from B to my husband, who was away on a business trip (the whole thing was underlined, italicised, and in bold, by the way).
To: Daddy Subject: Dear Dad
Dear Daddy, how is your trip? Oh, he-he. Nothing! You sure... just look weird in those old Army pants that Mom shortened. (Ha-ha!) Boy, do you look weird! I have changed my name from Rebecca to THE Rebecca or THE Rock. Ooh... waffle coming up! (Gobble gobble) I was wondering what's going on in that... place. What's the place called? I have decided to not use Skype and start using the Internet to E-Mail u more! Dear Daddy, I am going to find out... oh, never mind! Hope you have a great time! Signed, THE Rock.
... she had dark blue eyes and kept her skin lily pale, and her hair was wonderful, and untouched by bleach or powder; fair and thick and uncurling, yet full with a natural ripple... extract from The Fair Hair of Ambrosine
He must have been a god of fishes, for there was nothing else near that island but a monstrous fish... extract from Florence Flannery Halfway up he paused, suddenly wondering who had thought to leave the light. "Not my lady wife – not my royal Countess," he grinned. Then a sudden pang of horror almost sobered him. Jane had never forgotten to put a candle in the hall. extract from The Housekeeper
... the long rays of the lamplight showed him pale, haggard... with tumbled fair hair and a torn shirt under his mantle, and at his wrist a ragged bunch of hemlock thrust into his sash. extract from Kecksies
While he was holding it under the candle flame and gazing at the whiteness of diamond, pearl, and enamel, the masked man repeated his words. "Now will you come?" extract from The Adventure of Mr John Proudie "I was very busy hiding all the china – but one set they got – a Crown Derby tea service…" "With one plate missing!” cried Martha Pym. "I bought it… I was wondering if you’d found it –" "I hid it," piped Ms Lefain. extract from The Crown Derby Plate
I have always felt a strange interest in this picture... I was always fascinated by the dress of the lady. This is of dark-green... an uncommon colour to use in a portrait and, perhaps, in a lady's dress... extract from The Avenging of Ann Leete
As she turned, she half-stumbled against a chair, caught at it, and noticed, hanging over the back, a skirt of peach-coloured silk. extract from The Scoured Silk
all extracts from The Bishop of Hell & Other Stories, by Marjorie Bowen
Ooh, I just learned of this "Cyber Monday" tradition thing! Many lovely Etsy shops are having sales for the next 24 hours or so -- go check if that item you'd been longing for in your "Favourites" is on sale now!
And I decided to have a Cyber Monday sale myself! Just visit the shop and enter code CYBER11 at checkout to get 15% off shopwide :)
I'd been wanting to write about this for a long time now, but when this next thing happened, I felt strongly in my spirit that I really needed to share this with everyone.
Well firstly, if you've read my blog at all, you'll know that one thing God has been dealing with me on, and helping me to overcome, is worry. Worry had become pretty much a habit with me, an instinct almost, so it is with immense gratitude that I say that God has really brought me far in my journey of conquering it. And as Joyce Meyer likes to say, I'm not where I need to be yet, but I thank God I'm not where I used to be.
So yes, sometimes I do have "moments". Or perhaps more precisely, "bouts". Much, much fewer than before though, thank God. Well, it was during one such bout that I cried out to God for revelation on what I needed to do to overcome worry. And God brought this phrase to my mind: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness".
The more I thought about it, the more I realised, with increasing clarity, that yes -- seek God first, seek His way first, and everything else will fall into place.
The whole verse is "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matt 6:33).
I looked up the verse in its greater context and it was this: "Therefore I tell you, stop being perpetually uneasy (anxious and worried) about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink; or about your body, what you shall put on... who of you by worrying and being anxious can add one unit of measure (cubit) to his stature or to the span of his life? ...
"But seek (aim at and strive after) first of all His kingdom and His righteousness (His way of doing and being right), and then all these things taken together will be given you besides".
It came upon me with greater clarity than ever before that, as it says in Col 3:2, I needed to set my mind -- and keep it set -- on what is above (the higher things), not on the things that are on the earth. In other words, to put God and His way first. If I kept my mind on God -- His goodness, His faithfulness, His love -- then it wouldn't have the room or inclination for worry or fear or negativity.
So well and good -- I embarked on actively seeking, or putting, God first. And truly I tell you, it does, it really does, enable one to enter that wonderful peace of God, that peace that surpasses understanding. And God does take care of the rest.
But it has to be active of course, it has to be a continual, conscious, concerted effort. And if you've ever battled any sort of bad habit or addiction, you'll know that it's not something you have victory in overnight; you can still have those "moments" and "bouts". But thank God that He transforms us bit by bit, "from one degree of glory to another".
And so I kept on praying about it, and, in that amazing way God has, I was led to that "next thing" I was talking about. He somehow put it in my heart to go look up "Andy Stanley".
Now if you don't know, Andy Stanley is the senior pastor of North Point Community Church, Buckhead Church, and Browns Bridge Community Church. He also founded North Point Ministries, a worldwide Christian organisation. I certainly didn't know all that -- I had to Wiki it just now.
I didn't know anything much about him at all in fact, beyond having briefly seen him once on some Joyce Meyer broadcast, and even then I didn't really take him in. But on this present occasion, I felt in my spirit that I really should go look him up on Youtube, and more than that, to look up the words "Andy Stanley worry".
And lo and behold, up came a bunch of videos that had been uploaded by North Point Ministries, and the first on the list was entitled Why Worry. Well hello Pastor Andy Stanley!!
I listened to all three parts, and I have to tell you -- coupled with my earlier revelation, his messages really really spoke to me. I didn't know he was such an inspired, eloquent speaker. And funny too! I love the way he manages to bring the Bible home to us in this present age, such that it loses that distant, foreign quality it sometimes has. I'm so so glad I was led to search him out, and I wanted to just share some of his insights -- perhaps they will be helpful and transforming for you too.
Well the video in this post is part 2 in the series, which was particularly meaningful to me, but really, do try to listen to all three parts. Part 1 can be found here, and Part 3 here.
In part 1, Pastor Andy starts with Matt 6:24: "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will stand by and be devoted to the one and despise and be against the other. You cannot serve God and mammon (deceitful riches, money, possessions, or whatever is trusted in)" (italics mine).
"The thing you worry about the most," Pastor Andy says, "is the thing you are most devoted to... the things that you worry about reflect your core devotions...
"Jesus says, 'I'm not discounting the importance of any of [the things you worry about]... the reason you're so worried is because you're so hyper-focused, and your devotion goes with your focus, and your emotion follows your devotion, and it's just a big mess and you're in a tailspin...
"'OK, [Jesus says], so if you don't like my plan... then go ahead and get hyper-focused on what about what about what about what about, and what if what if what if what if, and if it can't, and what if I dont... go ahead and get like super hyper-focused on all those things, and then ask yourself this question -- am I helping myself'?
"Let me ask you a dfferent way -- can you, by worrying in this now, bring certainty to the next now? Can you, by worrying today, create certainty in the next day? No.
"If I've done all I can do in the now that I do have some control over, can God be trusted in the next now that I have no control over? If so, I'm not going to worry. And I'm not not going to worry because I know whats going to happen -- I'm not going to worry because I'm trusting the only One that can do anything about tomorrow".
In Part 2, Pastor Andy considers v32 in the same chapter: "For the Gentiles (heathen) wish for and crave and diligently seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows well that you need them all".
"You don't stop worrying by trying to stop worrying," he says. "Part of the problem is -- and if you don't understand the problem you'll never embrace the solution -- it's a faith problem. Your faith is small. You've not allowed your faith to go the next step. You've not even followed your faith to its logical conclusion".
Particularly impactful to me was this: "If you're so stressed out and bent out of shape over all these things that you can't get to anything else, you're so distracted -- you're acting like people who don't even believe there is a God. You're living your life practically as an atheist.
"The issue is your devotion," he says. "The solution to worry is redirecting your devotion". And this is where that wonderful verse 33 comes in.
"But seek first... in other words, what you have been seeking first is the wrong thing, what you have been extraordinarily devoted to, is leading you to the valley of worry...
"Jesus says, 'I know you're freaked out, and I know you're worried... you don't stop worrying by trying to stop worrying. you stop worrying by exchanging devotions...
"You say, 'that scares me to death'... well, there's another option -- just worry. [You think] 'If I open up my hands and offer God everything, what if He takes it?' Well, what do you think is happening right this minute? Why do you think you're so worried? Because you can't control it anyway".
In Part 3, Pastor Andy shares some inspiring lessons from the story of Elijah and Jezebel which can be found in 1 kings 19.
In it, Jezebel threatens to kill Elijah "by this time tomorrow", and the prophet panics and flees -- despite having just killed several hundred Baal prophets by God's power. Afraid, Elijah runs for his life into the wilderness, where he tells God he has had enough and just wants to die.
"Isn't it amazing," Pastor Andy says, "how today's worries can erase God's past faithfulness". It is so so true. He tells of a couple who wrote him a long letter detailing how God helped them through their adoption difficulties -- he says he told them to keep a copy of that letter so that when some future incident arose which caused them to worry and doubt God's faithfulness, they would have that letter to remind them. Perhaps my own posts here serve a similar purpose.
"We're simply to do what we know to do today, and we're to trust God with tomorrow," Pastor Andy says. "And when those whispering voices come, and when all of a sudden your mind begins to go down the trail of worry, and you begin to make a decision that's going to take you off-centre -- that's when you need to say no, no, no, no, no -- God, I've done all I can do today, I'll see You in my tomorrow... I am going to walk into tomorrow confident that my God is with me".
