Monday #8 music and psalm 91...

Psalm 91 is one of my favourite psalms, a very personal psalm which carried me through the darkest of valleys. The other day my husband shared with me a music clip of the psalm sung in the style of a Gregorian chant, and it was beautiful, simply beautiful. 

The four siblings who sing Psalm 90 and 91, have been blessed with God-gifted voices which harmonise perfectly. Here's a little about them....

"The members of the Harpa Dei choir are four siblings both in blood and in spirit. The music they present here is primarily intended to glorify our Heavenly Father, and to collect the richness of the musical expressions that the various peoples created in response to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ into this world. Most of the pieces are traditional liturgical songs presented in the language in which they were written."

I thought today we could all sit quietly and just listen, allowing this small four-piece choir to minister. I'm also praying that the beauty of this piece lifts your spirit, especially if your world is a bit chaotic, sad or wearying right now.  

Some seasons are fun and full of life, laughter and activity; in other seasons we may need to hibernate a while and let God hold us in His perfect care until we are fully rested and refreshed. Whatever season you find yourself in at the moment, God is with you, and His Word, which is alive and powerful (Hebrews 4:12), will always speak into your life. 

"I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress, my God; in Him I will trust." Psalm 91:2

Be blessed,

Monday #7 do not grow weary...

 

One morning in 2017, whilst studying the book of Galatians, my attention was held by this verse in chapter 6…

"And let us not grow weary of doing good for in due season we will reap if we do not give up." (Galatians 6:9)

I could sense God pressing His finger on my heart and whispering in my ear -

"This is for you, memorise it, come back to it, trust Me in that promise." 

A few months later I drew up this design and stitched it slowly, reminding myself to hold HIS words of life close, especially as it had become very clear that I needed to live out that verse in real time. We may all be challenged at some stage in life by people or circumstances which drain every ounce of goodness, thus depleting our reserves and leaving us mentally, physically or spiritually exhausted. We might decide to give up if things have gone too far, walk away, or withdraw from life and hide at home for a season, and sometimes that’s a healthy thing to do, because when we’ve been emptied, there’s nothing left to give. 

For some though, this season may not have the option to step aside, so for them, climbing into God's lap is crucial, possibly life saving...but in due season, if we keep an attitude of goodness and not bitterness, God will fill us again, and we shall reap from His goodness, care and love.

When we’re exhausted, and life adds more concerns to what we’re already carrying, we may get cranky with those closest to us, and perhaps find ourselves hosting a pity party which serves a platter of bitter thoughts and plays lonesome tunes of ‘woe is me’. Gosh, I have thrown myself quite a few of those parties over the years, and they never end well…until I bow my head, repent, and invite God to pick me up and carry me in His ever so strong arms until things settle and I am able to walk on my own two feet again - and friends, He Who is gracious, merciful and forgiving, always, always, picks me up, for when I humble myself, He is quick to respond.

The situation may not yet have changed, but through Him, I have changed, and my heart is kind, caring, desiring to good once more, for I believe that in due season I shall reap a harvest if I do not give up.

 

My prayer today is that if you have found bitterness creeping in, or you’re planning a pity party, that you are able to push past those feelings and keep doing good, finding your rest in Him, handing over your problems, concerns, loneliness, needs, misunderstandings and all those things which weigh heavy on your heart, humbling yourself before your Heavenly Father, and trusting Him to carry you lovingly and deliberately through this season because your heart is right once more.

God has said - "And let us not grow weary of doing good for in due season we will reap if we do not give up." – and that’s exactly what He means.

If you'd like to stitch this pattern, please accept it as a free gift from one sister-in-Christ to another. Use the link below to download it. 

DOWNLOAD the pattern

Bless you heaps,

Monday #6 - the small things...

 

It's been another difficult week within our family, with lots of sickness, weariness, and the inevitable spiritual attack when I open the blog for prayer requests. All Blossom's children have been to the doctor, and she herself was brought down by a nasty virus. My husband was quite unwell all weekend and I struggled for a few days with another tummy bug and dizziness.

But it was also a good week, one where more prayer than usual made it's way to the ears of God, a week where although the body could not do much to stay on top of things around the home and garden, the heart and hands were lifted high for my loved ones and for every prayer request left in the comments last Monday, and every email which arrived needing prayer. 

As I was reading this morning, this quote of Laura Ingalls Wilder caught hold of my thoughts...

“It belittles us to think of our daily tasks as small things, and if we continue to do so, it will in time make us small. It will narrow our horizon and make of our work just drudgery. There are so many little things that are really very great, and when we learn to look beyond the insignificant-appearing acts themselves to their far-reaching consequences, we will ‘despise not the day of small things.’ We will feel an added dignity and poise from the fact that our everyday round of duties is as important as any other part of the world. 

And just as a little thread of gold, running through a fabric, brightens the whole garment, so women’s work at home, while only the doing of little things, is like the golden gleam of sunlight that runs through and brightens all the fabric of civilization.” 

Laura Ingalls Wilder

My dear Blossom, who is wife to Ross, mummy to three children ages 2-6, mistress to two pug puppies, a full-time homemaker and cottage-business owner, has had constant health trials for the past eighteen months, and due to this has gone through weeks at a time when only the bare necessities of homemaking are being accomplished. She's her harshest critic, and too often beats herself up about the house being in chaos.

But she forgets all the little things, the life-giving little things, which day by day are carried out within her home. There's the generous love she pours out on her babies even when she is barely able to move her body, day and night without restraint...all in the name of loving devotion. She forgets that God is watching her sacrifice, and to Him, those little loving things mean more than all the dusting or mopping or scrubbing an ordinary day can hold. 

During these times simpler meals are made, children are still bathed and read to, clean clothes are folded and put away, the floors are swept, mummy hugs are forthcoming and in abundance, and very importantly, her ears are open to hear every little voice sharing stories, concerns and needs. 

Homemaking overflows with seasons, and those seasons can be many and varied - illness, convalescence, babies, unemployment, financial distress, retirement, separation, moving, visitors, family unrest...every homemaker will experience seasons of all kinds through their lifetime. 

Some seasons we have plenty of energy to keep our homes sparkling and tidy, our tables overflowing with tasty nutritious meals, our spirits high and our attitude confident. Other seasons we can barely manage to keep things afloat, and it's during those 'other seasons' that too often we can feel as though we're failing as homemakers, believing those 'little things' we still can do have no real value when compared to the big things we did before. 

Perhaps we should step back and look at the season we are in today? Let us consider all the little things which are achieved in slower seasons and not despise them, but rejoice that we can do them. In seasons of abundance let us give thanks that we are able to accomplish more, and perhaps offer to help someone who is struggling. 

Whatever season of life you are homemaking in right now, consider every little task as having just as much value as those bigger ones we once believed were more important. For in the big scheme of life, it's often the little things which end up mattering the most after all. 

Bless you always,

Monday #5 a week of prayer...

 

Sharing my faith, devotion to Jesus, and love for God's Word over more than decade, has made me privy to many hundreds of prayer requests through comments and emails, and lately, since beginning these Monday devotions, there has been an increase in those requests.

The more I pray, the more I sense God calling believers who read this blog to spend a week holding each other in prayer. Not everyone has a godly family support network, or even a truly bible-based church network to go to for prayer, so over the next seven days I'd like to open the comments for those who have need of prayer - and I invite all believers to drop back each day and pray for them. 

In some of the darkest seasons of my life, when I am down in the valley and barely managing to put one foot (or one word) in front of another, an email will arrive from one of God's praying women, whom I have never met, to say, "Jennifer, I just wanted you to know that God put you on my heart and I've been praying for you." Knowing the Father has called a small network of women from all over the world to pray for me or my family, women I do not know, women who have no idea of the circumstances we face...friends, that is a beautiful gift, a miracle, an act of obedience to God and an act of love towards a sister-in-Christ.

Just as the Holy Spirit has called me many, many times to pray for people, especially in the stillness of the night, rarely ever explaining why I need to pray, but just urging me to lift those precious souls before His throne (for God knows why), so we do not need to know all the details if one of you need prayer and do not want to say anything more than -

"Please pray for my family/child/husband/parent/health/provision/work/situation/marriage/addiction..."

- for the Father knows you, He knows your needs, and He will hear our prayers and petitions on your behalf. 

I will pray for you, dear ones, and if you want to stay anonymous, that's fine...leave only the first initial of your name if you like. Many of my readers are also believers who will gladly pray for you, so if you're in need, let us hold you in prayer. 

You may be feeling all alone right now, overwhelmed by life circumstances, too ill or weary to reach out, and perhaps unable to put into words the extent of your distress...that's okay. He really knows, and we don't need to. Just write, "I need prayer", and we'll be praying each day over the coming week. Even if you're not a Christian, don't think you cannot ask for prayer...our God loves you and wants us to pray for you. ((((hugs))))

I pray for God's hand to be shown clearly upon your life, for His will to be done, for His love to sustain you, and for supernatural HOPE to fill every empty space in your heart.

Let's be an army of prayer warriors this week, my dear sisters (and brothers) in Christ, praying for the needs of those we have never met this side of heaven. 

In Christ alone our hope is found,

Monday #4 times of rest...

 

There's a few viruses running through our family at present and dear Blossom is suffering the worst, but praise God the children are almost recovered.

She's had many sleepless nights tending to their tummy ills, fevers and head colds, all the while experiencing the worsening of her own health. 

And isn't that the way of motherhood? With every ounce of reserve, we summon the strength to care for our young ones, and as soon as they are on the mend our own bodies succumb to exhaustion and/or sickness. In those seasons of mothering, or caring for anyone with high needs, when our bodies give up and our minds struggle for clarity, we must seek out stillness and rest.

Depending on your situation that may be easy to do, or it may be quite a challenge, but I do believe that when we offer up our exhaustion to the Lord, that He will show us how to rest, how to refresh, and how to be restored. 

David's 23rd Psalm is like a river of peace, flowing gently through my mind, when I am in need of help for a weary and anxious soul. Sometimes I have been so unwell, so over-worked and sleep-deprived, that I sit down and let the tears fall, unable even to speak, but as the sobs subside my heart is soothed by singing an old hymn that I learned as a teenager at school, The Lord's My Shepherd. We would sing it at many Friday school assemblies, and if not this hymn, we would sing The Lord's Prayer. How blessed I was back then to learn such hymns in a public school...for I have never forgotten them, and the Father uses them to lift my soul time and again. 

If you have never heard this hymn, take time to listen and be rested in your soul today...

As my singing comes to an end, more tears fall, but they have become healing tears, thankful tears, surrendered tears...for He is right there with me, and I know that I can let go and allow Him to carry me until my body and mind are rested, and I am able to go about again - though at a much slower pace for a few days. 

If you are weary, sweet one, take time to surrender all, and let His Words of life be a healing and refreshing balm to your own soul. Don't rush through the day if there's no need to, stop trying to cram as much as you can into the daylight hours and thus leaving yourself shattered by day's end. 

Jesus warned us not to worry ourselves about what tomorrow would bring (how easily we can forget that) and He said this for a very good reason. Today has enough...be in the present. God will be there tomorrow if we have a need or concern or trial.

Today, there are many women rushing from one thing to another, filling their hours with a list of accomplishments in order to gain praise or appreciation from others, or just because they want to feel better about themselves. Naturally we need to care for our homes and families, but leave time for the most important relationship in your life - God - as well as times of rest and refreshment. 

Many of the nastiest health issues women battle with these days, have been known to stem from pushing their bodies (and minds) too far. Dear one, don't push beyond your abilities, strength or capabilities. There's no medal worth it. If you need rest, then rest. Spend time in your Bible, sing to the Lord as you go about your day, and ask Him to direct your plans and show you how, in your own situation, to be refreshed. Don't let the world tell you what to do, and don't try to copy the life your friends are living. You, and they, are quite unique in every aspect of health and life, for God made you and I to be a one-of-a-kind woman.

Let His peace flow over you like a river today, and wash away anything that's not needed...for you will find rest for your souls. He may surprise you with what He takes away, and what He pours in, but you can be sure it's done with love, and to help us walk in strength and grace. 

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,

Nor 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."

Isaiah 55:8-9

“Come to Me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Matthew 11:28-30

Bless you always, dear ones, 

Monday #3 - rain, and leaving it all with the Lord...

We had many plans for our quarter acre when we moved into our very first purchased home in late September 2018, so over the next few months we threw ourselves into the garden with energetic gusto. But everything changed with the historic Townsville flood of January/February 2019. Much of what we'd accomplished was ruined, and all that energy we initially had was emptied out, as for almost two weeks we worked night and day to keep water out of the house. 

There were two pump wells already installed, one in the front yard and one in the back, but they were old pumps and had never needed to work this hard, so my husband bought four new pumps, just before they disappeared from the local Bunnings shelves (and just before that huge Bunnings store went under water!) and then dug two extra trenches for the extra pumps and layered them with rocks, trying to keep the water which saw our yard become a rising sea, from getting inside. We had sandbags across the doors, but eventually the water came up through the floor in two rooms, and down through the ceiling at the rear of the house. The clean up was exhausting, and the mould in every room a sight to behold...but we fared far better than 1500 other homes which were afterwards declared uninhabitable. 

(above, in 2019, watching the water rise to the front door)

Every summer wet season since, I pray we never have to go through an event like that again. 

This summer's wet season has not given us an event like that, but there has been sustained rain over a longer period, with a few days scattered here and there of sunshine to help begin drying things out. The past couple of weeks the rain has been fairly consistent, and at night, very heavy. With four pump wells now dug and installed, four new pumps in place, all the pipes fitted to carry the flooding water out of the yards and into the storm drain out front, we thought we could breathe and just let everything do it's intended work...in fact a couple of weeks ago I was writing that the work hubby had done last May had made all the difference.

But the rain lately has come with a vengeance, usually all through the late afternoons and throughout the night, and one pump after another has failed. Standing by the back or front door many nights, around 1.30am, watching my husband, in shorts and wellington boots with a light attached to his forehead, in the thunder, lightning and torrential rain, pull apart a pump, ascertain the problem, clean and reassemble, then reconnect as he submerges it into the pump well once more and PRAYS...well, I can admit to being a bit nervous about how much worse this weather can get, and wonder if we're going to find ourselves in the same predicament as four years ago.

(2023 above - one of the pump wells, covered, in our back yard...)

(2023 above - inside the pump well...)

(2023 above - pipes run under the ground from all the pump wells and up to the pipes along the fence line. These pipes carry the water out of the yard to the storm drain in the street)

I can hear a critter in the roof, obviously escaping from the storms, but for now, hubby has no time to go up there exploring. He's still working six days a week, and when he's home he is working to replace or repair pumps, clear debris from inside the pump wells, and also digging out tree stumps from those trees he chopped right down early in January. He'd begun clearing areas to build new raised garden beds, and when the ground is sodden it is much easier to remove the stumps and root systems. 

(2023 above - some of the area we've been clearing to build more new garden beds)

(above - Harry is obsessed with catching lizards who run in and out of the exposed tree roots)

Last night was the worst so far, and we have barely slept, but he's gone off to work anyhow, always mindful of his responsibility to be our main provider under God. When he comes home tonight, if the rain stays away, he'll be out there clearing around and inside the pool, which has had to be emptied every day for a while now, but continues to fill with debris from the flooding waters which spill over into it, carrying dirt, leaves and branches along. 

So where am I going with all this??

The rain issues we're facing at the moment are just one of a few 'troubles' that seem to have descended this year, both in our own situation, and in the lives of those close to us. And it is so easy to find our minds scrambling for ideas on how to fix things, how to help those close to us, what to say, what to pray. For when a lot happens at once, or you find life to be like a trail of dominoes falling one after the other for a long period of time, anxious thoughts can cloud common sense, feelings of inability can dampen hope...but when we are in the valley, when we have exhausted ourselves and finally accept that crying out to God AND letting go of self's ideas and solutions, in order for ADONAI to take the reins and direct our path, then Hope floods our soul and lifts our heart as nothing else can. We need to make our requests known to God, and then leave it with Him, and move on with our day. 

I was reminded of this very thing last week when re-reading a book of blog posts by Mrs Sharon White (Homemaking for Happiness). She wrote about a time when prayers and worries were hard to bear due to the trying circumstances her family faced, and how she changed her attitude by keeping a prayer journal...

"At other times the prayers and the worries were so hard to bear...I would write down the prayers and the needs, and then get back to mothering and homemaking. I would leave it with the Lord." (page 75)"

(You can read that particular blog post of Mrs White's HERE as I'm sure it will encourage you.)

Making our requests known to God and then leaving those problems with the Lord, we can move on with our day and attend to other things, fully trusting that He is in control. If the Lord needs us to do something, believe He will prompt us through His Holy Spirit...but if there is no prompting, just continue with the next thing you would normally do. 

Years ago I kept a prayer journal, and have recently begun slowly reading through it, a little each day (it is very full!), and two things stood out. Firstly, answered prayers and my diligence to pray them. Secondly, the unanswered prayers, and my lack of diligence to pray them. 

I wrote last week of the need for us to see God with big wide eyes, not small eyes, and to give all our needs, hopes and failings to Him in prayer, trusting He will answer at the right time, in the best way, in a holy way. These past sleepless nights of relentless rain and watching my husband at work outside in the stormy darkness, it has become easier and easier to pray, and then leave it with God, knowing He controls what I cannot.

Putting my trust for every circumstance in Him, knowing that should He need me to do something a prompt will come, and setting my attention to the everyday chores and rhythms of homemaking - the things that help create a sanctuary in our home - in the meantime...this is what walking in surrender and peace means right now. 

I can only imagine the many trials many of you are facing in life at the moment, because we each have our own story, highs and lows, and one cannot compare to another. Just as we are uniquely made, we have unique life experiences and relationships too, and what may seem hard to one person, may not be hard to another. Let us not judge or compare our challenges, but thank God for being right there with us in the valleys, never leaving us without help or hope...but let us also praise Him through the day, thanking Him for the things we see, as well as the untold things we will not know He has done until we meet Jesus face to face.

I'll write again in a couple of days with some updates from the sewing room, the kitchen and something fun to share....

Bless you heaps,

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Monday #2 - wide eyes...

 

How big is God to you?

Do you see Him through small eyes, eyes that shrink His ability to work in your life, eyes that cannot see clearly how great and wide and deep is His love for you? In your heart, do you believe He does not care enough about your needs, your grief, your lack, your pain, your unfulfilled hopes and prayers?

I have heard many people say (including a few in my own family) “Why would God bother with me?”, or “God won’t do anything about this”, or “It’s stupid to pray for that”…and every time they are looking at God with small eyes.

Years ago I looked at God with wide eyes, confident eyes; eyes that could not contain just how magnificent and wise and powerful and loving and faithful He is, and always has been. It was life changing. It happened the year I decided to re-focus my hopes and not give up on them anymore.

You see, there was a time when I would always believe God for small things, like a car park in the shade, or enough money to get everything on my grocery list, or for the rain to hold off until I got the washing off the line…I would always pray for stuff like that, totally believing He would answer, and He did! My husband would laugh and shake his head, but had to admit, God answered my little prayer.

But the big prayers? The ones which seemed so far out of reach that whole seasons would pass by and I would not be persistent to pray about them, rather, I’d accept they were too big, requiring a miracle beyond my faith…my faith in God if the truth be told.

So, what changed for me, what opened my eyes wide to see my big God? The Psalms. Especially the psalms of David, where he poured out his troubles, praised God to the highest of heaven, and described our Heavenly Father in a way that ripped the veil from my small eyes, so that I could see in panoramic majesty, the greatness of…

ADONAI Elohei Tzva’ot – the Lord God of Hosts

ADONAI Nissi – the Lord my banner and miracle

ADONAI  Shalom – the Lord of peace

ADONAI Shamah – the Lord is there

ADONAI Tzidkenu – the Lord our righteousness

ADONAI Tzva’ot – the Lord of Sabbath, Lord of heaven’s armies, Lord of hosts

ADONAI Yir’eh – the Lord will see it

If you’ve been looking at God with small eyes, my sister in Christ, open His Word and read from the Psalms, one after the other, and pray for the Holy Spirit to lift the veil from your understanding so that you can see clearly the greatness and majesty and power and love, of the God we serve, our ADONAI.

Open your lips to pray again those prayers you thought hopeless. I have many of them, and they’ve not yet been answered, but I know how big my God is, and I trust Him to answer every one in the best way HE chooses, because I am but dust and see through a glass dimly, but He sees all, knowing the end from the beginning, and all His ways are true and just and perfect. I surrendered long ago to His will, and that’s something my Nana taught me…”Jennifer, God willing it will come to pass.”

Lord, I pray for all my sisters reading this today, that You widen their eyes to see You as You are, in all Your greatness and goodness and wisdom. I pray that they pick up the prayers which they felt were too hard for You, or the prayers they felt they could not ask because they weren’t worthy, or the prayers they were told were stupid…I pray they open their hearts to You in complete surrender, in total trust, and in childlike faith, and that You, our great Father, will in some way let them know they have been heard today, even if those prayers are not to be answered quickly or in a way they hoped for. We love and adore you, and I offer this prayer in the name of our Redeemer and Saviour, Jesus, Yeshua Messiah. Amen.

Bless you heaps!

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New Monday posts...

This year I am starting something new every Monday morning - sharing thoughts from God's Word or a devotional, with hope that it will encourage and grow us deeper into our walk with the Lord. 

Today I was impressed to share a short personal testimony of how God can sharpen our character by revealing things we may not see in ourselves until His mirror is placed before us. 

“We all with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image.” 

2 Corinthians 3:18 

Many people will write about their ‘word for the year’ and in the past I have done that a few times, but in the last few years God has given me more of an instructive life-lesson to pursue each January, and by His grace those lessons have led me through valleys and up the mountainside with each passing month.

This year His still small voice came to me in the deep darkness of a sleepless late December night, “Jennifer, stop striving”, and as my old Pop would say, He hit the nail on the head. Friends, when God puts a mirror before you, and shows you what He sees in your life that needs to change, you really want to take notice, and ask for the Holy Spirit to deepen your own awareness of those corrections and how to bring them about. Ask for His guiding hand to lead you day by day through the months ahead until you have shaken free of those chains which bound you for too long, the chains you felt, yet did not know, were there by your own making.

I was reading My Utmost For His Highest this morning (January 23^rd) and found this to be another of the Holy Spirit's lessons with regards to the Lord’s directive to stop striving…

 “The most important rule for us is to concentrate on keeping our lives open to God. Let everything else including work, clothes, and food be set aside. The busyness of things (my striving) obscures our concentration on God…never let a hurried lifestyle disturb the relationship of abiding in Him. This is an easy thing to allow, but we must guard against it.” 

Oswald Chambers

I can tell you that this will be a life changing year for me, just as the years before have been, and already three weeks in, His instruction resonates repeatedly as I go about my tasks, almost pulling me back time and again. Slowing down, not just in mind, but in all that I do; for example - no longer rushing to chop all those vegetables as quickly as possible so I can fit more tasks into the day. In fact, the Father has reminded me of a lovely homeschooling mum whom I gave the nickname of "tomato lady" to make His point clearer.

When I first met Caroline, a minister's wife, the thing which stood out that day was how slowly she cut the tomatoes. In 2003 our family had moved to a new town, and once we'd connected with the local homeschool group, Caroline invited us to lunch. When the children and I arrived, all the kids went off to play and Caroline made us both a cup of tea. She pulled a bar stool up to the kitchen bench for me to sit while she went ahead and prepared the lunch. Over the next hour I watched her slice, mix, fold, pour, wash, simmer and bake...slowly, intentionally, the whole time consciously lifting her eyes to look at mine as she spoke, pausing from her meal-making tasks, unhurried and calm. That first lunch with her was twenty years ago and yet today, so clear in my memory, it could have been yesterday. Even the setting of the table, the meal itself, the conversation, the clean up...all unhurried. During the two years we lived in that town and fellowshipped with Caroline, her husband and children, never once did I see her flustered or rushed. She was always open to the Lord's lead in her day to day life, never lazy, assured that consistently doing one task at a time, and not rushing to or being distracted by another, would be what He required of her each day. Consistent, faithful, trusting in His example, that was Caroline.

Revisiting those years, pondering the many memories and their significance to my need to "stop striving" - they are lessons from long ago which the Lord is bringing forth this year that I should learn from and gather in with other lessons and corrections He will be teaching me. 

From experience I know that lessons from more recent years have already borne good fruit, the kind that doesn't leave you but becomes a very real part of your character...

Back in 2019, the Lord told me to "Use what you already have", and now, four years later, His words still echo in my mind at least once a day. That lesson completely changed my life, and is still changing it.

In 2022, His lesson was to "Be content with what you have", and I think over the past decade this has been the most profound change made in any year, a change which, once again, I am reminded of each day. 

Is there a life-lesson God has you addressing this year? I am praying we all find our lives more deeply hidden in Christ through 2023, that the change will be noticeable to others, and that when God places a character-mirror before us again in December, we will feel His pleasure because the evidence will be obvious. 

Bless you heaps!

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