My Journey of Faith

We read in scripture - Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. 

But what if we don’t have that confidence. We want or need to see it – a Crisis of faith 

I was born the third of four children in a Christian family going to church every Sunday. I was baptized as a baby and after asking Jesus into my life at fifteen I confirmed that baptism in a special service at the Presbyterian church I call our family church in Wellington, where we were married and I still go to when I am down there. 

Being a Christian was just a part of who I was and I realize over the years listening to other people’s testimonies, I have been truly blessed with my upbringing and love in our family. 

Numerous times in our married life my faith has been the only thing that got us through difficult times.

I felt extremely fortunate to work in our church office here for thirteen years but in 2019 I felt God say it was time for something new. I had spent the first twenty years of my life growing up so to speak. The next twenty years married and raising our five children, then twenty years working part-time as we became empty nesters. I felt God say it was time for ‘me’ time and that the next twenty years were to be spent with Harry and just enjoying our later years together. I handed in my notice to finish work in September and looked forward to what was in store. 

In 2020, three months after I had retired, I lost my sister to cancer in the January after her diagnosis in late October a month after I had retired. We all had to deal with the start of COVID and then my mother died in August. A few weeks later our Pastor John died, someone who I had worked closely with for five years and formed a close friendship with, sharing many thoughts, ideas, frustrations and concerns, and a couple of other friends passed away. 

I found myself being angry. If God is love as the Bible says, this didn’t feel like love. 

I prayed for the recovery of my sister, and we all prayed and believed John would win the battle, but they didn’t. Some of us had “visions” of healing for John, but it didn’t happen. 

So, what were we thinking? 

Imaginations? 

Wishful thinking? 

What was the point? 

Our Parish Chairman had said during John’s illness, “God tells us to ‘pray without ceasing’ “– so why did we all pray when it wasn’t going to actually happen. I believed it would happen – but it didn’t. I believed it was God’s will for John to live and that he would be healed and it would be a miracle. 

Sure, I know we all die eventually and I am at peace with my mother passing. I understand that ‘badness’ gets into things and it turns rotten so they die, it was just that it all happened in quick succession … and we had prayed….

What I didn’t understand is belief in God. 

How do we know that Jesus is God, was crucified, died and came alive again to then go into heaven?

It’s written in the Bible but, 

How do we know the Bible is true? 

I wanted to know, I kind of wanted to believe but how do I find the true facts.

I seemed to come into this space of being lost while in Wellington. 

I had been with Dad just on a month after mum’s passing to sort Mum’s clothes and other bits and pieces, on Dad's request, and to see Dad so overwhelmed with his grief; me having to leave and him not wanting me to, I was wondering where was the peace of God when he believed and needed it most. 

As I drove home on my own, I stopped to rest beside lake Taupo to have some fruit and just let myself relax a bit for the last part home. 

I watched the birds, the water, the lone bare tree and that’s how I felt. 

Alone, exposed and lost. God talks to me through nature and especially bird life. 

As I pondered, I didn’t feel God was there; I didn’t feel His comfort and I wondered if it was all true. 

By the time I got home, unpacked and ready for bed I was completely overwhelmed with it all and I cried, I sobbed and I just felt the weight of it all come upon me. My husband Harry found me and just held me and put me to bed. 

I was very low. 

I stopped going to 8.00am service. 

I stopped doing KFC church. 

I stopped going to mainly music 

I didn’t think I could be an elder. 

I stopped doing a lot of things… 

I emailed our Parish Chairman to say I wanted to withdraw from everything, maybe even Tirau Church, and he rung and asked why. I said I don’t know what I believe any more and he asked me to come and talk with his wife and him. 

We talked and they spoke the words we all speak about faith, believing and all that… I knew all that, but I wanted proof. 

They said read the Bible and let God talk to me. 

But I wanted truth. 

I wanted someone to physically show me and give me proof that God, the Bible … that it was all true. 

They prayed and I started a journal - a journey to find God. 

When you have been a Christian for a long time you just have the Truth fed into you and it’s trapped in there. 

By that I mean even when I was choosing to need evidence, God used all that was inside me (the Holy Spirit) to take me on this journey. 

I was having a personal battle really. All that was in me was there, but I was not wanting to believe it. 

A Crisis of Faith 

Now to start with, I needed confirmation that there is God. It’s all very fine to believe in the Bible but there needs to be a starting point. I asked Harry if he believed there was a God, ‘Do you believe in creation?’ His response was, “It didn’t just happen”. And with most things this man of wisdom was right. 

Even if the evolution theory was true, it still had to evolve somehow. Something or someone had to start it off. It didn’t just happen. 

God 

In my mind I set out believing, that I had chosen not to believe – like I am deciding that God has to prove Himself to me, as if to say “If you are really real – God – then I need you to do something.” Maybe a loud voice, maybe a vision or appearance. I didn’t know what, but I found myself wanting Him to do something. 

The Parish Chairman had suggested I read Psalm 119 so that was where I started and I found it echoed how I felt. 

25 I am laid low in the dust; preserve my life according to your word. 

27 Cause me to understand the way of your precepts, that I may meditate on your wonderful deeds. 

28 My soul is weary with sorrow; strengthen me according to your word. 

29 Keep me from deceitful ways; be gracious to me and teach me your law. 

33 Teach me, Lord, the way of your decrees, that I may follow it to the end. 

34 Give me understanding, so that I may keep your law and obey it with all my heart. 

35 Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight. 

36 Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain. 

37 Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word. 

38 Fulfill your promise to your servant, so that you may be feared.  

So I prayed

See I thought I didn’t believe but I still did what was second nature and I prayed. 

I sat in silence waiting – and nothing profound happened. But still those thoughts came in to my head. Pieces of scripture, things we are told, but I wondered is it God or is it just me recalling all that I knew.

As I said, one thing with being a Christian for so long is we are fed by the reading of scripture, we are encouraged by people’s faith, testimonies, sermons and good books, songs and YouTube clips. And with the Holy Spirit in us that is all stored up without us really realizing it. Then when we need it, the Spirit brings it to mind. 

So, if we decide to not believe it any more, it shouldn’t keep coming to mind to remind us, should it? 

But I couldn’t help it constantly being recalled to me. It’s like it won’t let me break away, I now know it was the Holy Spirit. 

I realised that God is a creator God, so He does exist. 

But what about the Bible? I didn’t know. 

I supposed because it tells us about the creator God it must be true, but how do we know? How can you trust it without proof? 

Then I find myself wanting to believe. Everything I’ve read and can recall in the Bible comes to mind – telling me. So, do I just believe? … because it’s the thing to do? 

The next time I went to church I was really hoping to hear something that would firm everything up for me but it was a quest speaker and he was speaking to the rest of the congregation not me (so it felt) and I left desperate to get away and home, but not before "R" wanted to hug me and pray, and "M.1" followed me to the car saying she wanted to catch up with me. 

Once home I felt safe and txt "M.1" 

"M.2" txt to see if she could come and see how I was and I said no. Hmm, "M.2" had other ideas and appeared. She listened and prayed and held me while I cried. 

I wrote in my journal that day, “I just felt so sad and lost again. I realize I wanted to hear – what I wanted to hear, but didn’t (at church), but what ‘did’ I want to hear. That God is real, because…. Not just because the Bible says, because who says the Bible is true. I just didn’t know it anymore – what is true? 

What IS true? 

I decided to google Christianity – what is it? 

Wikipedia said: 

• Belief in God the Father, Jesus Christ as the Son of God, and the Holy Spirit 

• The death, descent into hell, resurrection and ascension of Christ 

• The holiness of the Church and the communion of saints 

• Christ's second coming, the Day of Judgement and salvation of the faithful 

A BBC page said: 

Christians believe in justification by faith - that through their belief in Jesus as the Son of God, and in his death and resurrection, they can have a right relationship with God whose forgiveness was made once and for all through the death of Jesus Christ. 

Justification by faith – a person can achieve salvation only through faith and reliance on God's grace, Dictionary.com 

It all came back to Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. 

 

Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. 

Believe God exists! Like Thomas I want to see. 

(Read John 20:25-29) 

John 20:25 So the other disciples told him (Thomas), “We have seen the Lord!” 

But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” 

John 20:29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” 

Thomas got to see, he even got to touch. Jesus even said those who don’t see but believe are blessed. Jesus had also said “Stop doubting and believe” (V27) 

Part of me just wanted to believe, but the other part – the part that was struggling and wanted to make sense of all this wanted proof. Proof that God is real – that the Bible is God breathed.

How did it come to this? As "M.2" had asked “When did this thinking come in? when did it all change?"

In my leaving my father and unable to help. 

I pondered all this and that I’d been wanting some huge revelation – a vision, a loud voice, a shaking or message. I realised I WANT THIS. In all my grief, my loneliness, my overwhelming despair, I wanted something to show me “He IS”. 

In the following couple of weeks God carried me through and showed me the Truth. Through reading blogs on the internet, listening to podcasts, reading the Bible I came to believe; God is real, the Bible is the truth and I have been saved by His work He finished on the cross and entered heaven to prepare a place for us. No loud voices or messages, shakings or bright lights but in the way that He has always shown me, He came through. 

I remember in the journal I finished with the story of the lost sheep Luke 15:3–7 and how God searched for me and carried me home. There was joy that I realized He would do that for me. 

Little did I know how much this whole experience was not just because of the low time I had fallen into and a need to know the truth, but it was to make me stronger, to cement my faith and that it would indeed save me. 

In March last year the first time God needed me to trust in Him happened when I was rushed to Hospital with Wolff Parkinson White Syndrome. 

Through a continuing series of circumstances, I ended up in hospital and had corrective surgery to laser burn off an electrical pathway in my heart that I had been born with but never had properly diagnosed. This although not a too common mistake was a straightforward procedure and I was home within less than a week. 

Since then I have posted a grateful post on Facebook every day for 18 months minus 3 or 4 days. I’ve since changed it to something that makes me smile 

Life ticked along and although COVID is still around, my dad has deteriorated I was comfortable in what I believed. 

Matthew 10:27 What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. 

Matthew 10:29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. 30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. 32 “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven.

Then Friday September 10th happened

Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome

As I mentioned in the blog post below I had a week in hospital in March with Wolff Parkinson White syndrome.

I had a time in Hospital in March after a Wolff Parkinson White syndrome, incident and correction.

Don’t worry I didn’t know what it was either before I was diagnosed with it.

In 1915, Frank Norman Wilson (1890–1952) became the first to describe the condition later called Wolff–Parkinson–White syndrome. Alfred M. Wedd (1887–1967) was the next to describe the condition in 1921. Cardiologists Louis Wolff (1898–1972), John Parkinson (1885–1976) and Paul Dudley White (1886–1973) are credited with the definitive description of the disorder in 1930.

The definition is: 

A syndrome in which an extra signaling electrical pathway in the heart causes a rapid heartbeat (tachycardia).  

The extra electrical pathway in Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome appears between the heart's upper and lower chambers and is present at birth. (congenital heart defect). WPW is the most common type of ventricular preexcitation (preexcitation: the impulses travel to the ventricle earlier than what you would expect them to if they travelled down the normal pathway through the AV node).

The atrioventricular (AV) node is a small structure in the heart, located in the Koch triangle.

The AV node controls the passage of the heart's electrical signal from the atria (upper chamber) to the ventricles (lower chamber). After an electrical impulse is generated by the sinus node (located at the top of the right atrium), it spreads across both atria (right and left upper chambers), causing these chambers to beat.

In saying that WPW is also fairly rare, occurring randomly in the general population, in about 1 to 3 per 1,000 persons. In the general population, men have a higher incidence of WPW than women do, and there is a higher incidence of multiple accessory pathways in men.

Symptoms most often appear between the ages of 11 and 50. The condition is discovered by chance during a heart exam. They usually aren't life-threatening, but serious heart problems can occur. Rarely, WPW syndrome may lead to sudden cardiac death in children and young adults.

Some cases of WPW are inherited. Parents who have accessory pathways may pass them on to their children. One paper suggested the incidence of preexcitation in first-degree relatives could be as high as 5.5 per 1,000 persons. About 7 to 20 percent of patients with WPW also have congenital defects within the heart.

Common Symptoms are

• A rapid, fluttering or pounding heartbeat
• Dizziness or light-headedness
• Shortness of breath
• Fatigue
• Anxiety
• Chest pain
• Difficulty breathing
• Fainting

It can begin suddenly, lasting a few seconds or several hours, during rest or exercise

Cause

The extra electrical pathway is caused by an abnormal gene that connects the atria (upper chamber) and ventricles (lower chamber), allowing electrical impulses to bypass the AV node. This detour activates the ventricles too early and also transmit electrical impulses from the ventricles back to the atria disrupting the co-ordinated movement of the electrical signals through the heart, leading to changes in the heart rhythm.

Tests

• Electrocardiography ECG
• Holter monitoring – 24 hours +
• Electrophysiological studies – treadmill test.

Treatment 

This may involve the use of medication or a catheter procedure to stop the irregular heart rhythm (arrhythmia), a procedure known as ablation. Thin, flexible tubes (catheters) are threaded through blood vessels to your heart. Low-voltage, high-frequency electrical energy at the catheter tip are heated to destroy (ablate) the extra electrical pathway causing your condition.
In rare instances, an electric shock may be used to restore a normal rhythm. (cardioversion) 

WPW syndrome may also be called preexcitation syndrome.

Apparently, I have had Wolff Parkinson White syndrome diagnosed before but I was never told, or don’t remember.

I have never been one to play much sport and in fact when I did do things like go for long walks, especially going uphill, I would feel exhausted and have heart palpitations that I thought was just an indication of being unfit. Running was never a strong point either and I longed to be able to go for a jog but it was just too much effort.

My next post will be about what happened to me.

Encouraging The Younger Women

I’ve been researching some things for a blog post about using a planner and so have been checking out a lot of my pinterest ‘pins’ to see what I can learn for what I want for myself, but also to help with what I wanted to share.
What I found in every link to a weblog of some sort was that the people seemed to all be female, but most of them were also young enough to be one of my daughters.

It surprised me a bit as I was thinking how come these young ladies know so much at 20 or 22 etc.

I realize that living in today’s world is so much faster and more up-to-the-mark than it was in my younger years. For one we didn’t have computers nor did we know anything about the World Wide Web. Cell phones were bricks if you had one and keeping up with everyone was either by a landline telephone or letter!

Now there are times when I wish we were still like that - a slower pace in life, less demands on our lives and the constant need to be up with the play with everything. Like a lot of us it would be nice if people looked up from their phones or away from their desks to talk face to face but really that’s a whole other issue.

Mind you I wouldn’t have this blog and you wouldn’t have come across it either!

I especially looked at the beautiful photos of all these young ladies and thought to myself ‘would people be put off by seeing an old lady posting on her blog?’ and, ‘how would she know what the younger generation are wanting or looking for?’

God spoke to me from a piece of scripture in Titus 2 about the older women teaching the younger ones

Titus 2:3-5 Tree of Life Version (TLV) 
3 Likewise, older women are to be sanctified in demeanor—not backbiting or enslaved to much wine. Let them be teachers of what is good, 4 so that they may train the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, 5 to be self-controlled, pure, managing their household, kind, submitted to their own husbands, so that God’s word may not be dishonored.

I saw then that it was me He was asking to step into the place of teaching younger women. A lot of them won’t have their mother or grandmother near or even with them anymore so they will look to someone like me knowing that I have been through the tough things and come out the other side so able to base my thoughts on genuine experiences.

A man was praying for me the other day and he said he saw a vision of my hand reaching up to a blind on a window and the sunlight was just slipping though the gap and on to my hand. He said this was God starting to use me in a new way to shine His light on others.

1 Timothy 5:2 The Passion Translation (TPT) 
Honor the older women as mothers, and the younger women, treat as your dear sisters with utmost purity.

As my life situation is changing I am looking forward to this new chapter in my life.
So with this in mind I was spurred on to actually post more here.

In The Life Of Me.

A little while ago one of my daughters set me a challenge on Facebook to:

Day ? in the life of me. 
Seven days, seven photos, all Black and White of everyday life.
No explanations.
Challenge a friend everyday.
Today I challenge....

Now it could possibly be a sort of chain letter like what used to be sent out in years gone by.

A chain letter is a message that attempts to convince the recipient to make a number of copies and pass them on to a certain number of recipients. The "chain" is an exponentially growing pyramid (a tree graph) that cannot be sustained indefinitely.

Common methods used in chain letters include emotionally manipulative stories, get-rich-quick pyramid schemes, and the exploitation of superstition to threaten the recipient. Originally, chain letters were letters sent by mail; today, chain letters are often sent electronically via email, social network sites, and text messages.

But as it really is up to the person challenged, as to whether they take on the challenge and no-one is being threatened or hurt by participation or not, I thought I would give it a try. At least it gave me an excuse to share a bit of my life instead of just other topics of info.

And then I thought I would share it on here with the coloured pic and a bit of info ... just to show I wasn't tied to it and its demand!

so...

 Day 1 in the life of me. 

Seven days, seven photos, all Black and White of everyday life.

No explanations.

Bible reading in the morning.

Day 2 in the life of me. 

Seven days, seven photos, all Black and White of everyday life.

No explanations.

Work (Must have deleted the coloured one of above)

Day 3 in the life of me. 

Seven days, seven photos, all Black and White of everyday life.

No explanations.

 Unfortunately I must have deleted the colour one of these.

It's taken on the road back from a Lay Ministry training day in Otorohanga

Day 4 in the life of me. 

Seven days, seven photos, all Black and White of everyday life.

No explanations.

KFC Greeting table - Kid's Friendly Church, Sunday Mornings.

Day 5 in the life of me. 

Seven days, seven photos, all Black and White of everyday life.

No explanations.

Milly in my exact favourite spot - I always have to move her
and she gives me 'that look'!

Day 6 in the life of me. 

Seven days, seven photos, all Black and White of everyday life.
No explanations.

The view from my favourite spot (above)

Not the exact photo. I seemed to have saved the black and white ones but not the original.

Day 7 in the life of me. 

Seven days, seven photos, all Black and White of everyday life.
No explanations.

Baking, Jam and Walnut Muffins, Chocolate Caramel Square,
Lemon Loaf in the oven, Pumpkin Soup defrosting and
bread crusts to dry as the oven cools down for bread crumbs.

Once again not the exact photo. I seemed to have saved the black and white ones but not the original.

And after posting these I had realized that each day really is the same, but occasionally with something different like a course or visiting family or friends, errands and shopping to make them differ, but it is all good.

My Mum used to ask me each time she rung on a Saturday morning, how my week had been and I'd say "Just the same."

Now I could have given her details of everything I had done that week but sometimes she just didn't need to know.

She used to respond with something like "A bit boring then" and after awhile it got to me and made me ponder what my days and weeks were like.

It occurred to me that I was happy with how they were as I was open to anything happening over the week that would be different no matter how little and so I would respond to her comment, "No, not boring or I would do something about it." 

After a few weeks she wouldn't say that any more.

But I did like the way my weeks were pretty predictable and I could arrange things around that. It meant that there weren't unpleasant surprises and there was a sense of rhythm in my day to day life.

But now at 89, my mother sits in her lounge chair at their home day after day with not much happening apart from her daily care by others, and although that is fine and she doesn't seem to want to do anything else when I ask when I visit, I wonder if she comprehends a sense of boredom. 

I hope that if she does she will take up the offers of others to do something and if not she is content in just sitting and pondering.

In the News

As I have mentioned in an older post I work in our church's office in Tirau in the mornings, Monday to Friday. My position is office manager and entails all sorts of things.

As you can imagine being a church, Christmas is a busy time. One of the things we do is give out Christmas Love Boxes to people we know in our town that have had a bereavement through the year, a hard time in any way or worked very hard in some area and we as the church just want to bless them at this time of the year. The boxes are made up with basic grocery supplies and as many typically Christmas themed items we can obtain. People in our parish contribute to the 'store' throughout the year and although we give out food boxes to people during the year as we are aware of the need, the end of year boxes are a big 'drive'. Over the last three years the Lions of Tirau have also given us some boxes of items they have collected from their members at monthly meetings.

One of the wonderful aspects of my job in the business of the season is to deliver these boxes that a group of people have helped to make up. We have in the past given out 8 to 10 but with the help of the Lions that number has increased over the last few years and 2011 saw us blessing 17 homes in the town.

One of the local 'free' newspapers The Matamata Chronicle did an article on this project and it was published this week with a photo of Mark Sutherland, the Tirau Lions President and myself.

Unfortunately the photo in the article hasn't saved with the newspaper link but they emailed me a copy.
And as it says some people are completely overcome with emotion when they receive these 'gifts' but I too am filled with joy at seeing and knowing how we have contributed into their lives at this time of the year.
It is indeed better to give than to receive

Acts 20:35 

In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’

Where I Work

After a month’s holiday I have returned back to work and there have been lots of things to catch up on but I am getting there. No-one seems to have filled in any records or other requests that needed dealing with so I have had a few full on days

I thought I would share a little of where I work as I sometimes comment on it.

I work in the Church Office as the Office Manager and so I do many things for the Vicar, other members of the church leadership and church members, and I am most often the first point of connection for people making contact with the church, through phone calls, emails, visits or letters through the mail.

I work Monday to Friday from 9.30am until mid-day and although there are a few basic things I have to attend to each day i.e. answering and checking phone messages, receiving and sending emails, sorting through the mail, opening up the hall complex and checking for damage, unlocked doors etc you never can tell what a day will unfold.

Sometimes it is exciting with lots of requests, visits and messages and others can be very quiet which then gives me time to catch up and tidy up around me.

Some days can be very stressful and demanding and I may even end up working late, coming back in later or taking it home with me, but generally I love it.

This is the church viewed from the road at the north driveway and looking to the left you can just make out the far end of the hall complex, where the office is.

The office is situated in an alcove next to the Vicars office.

Inside it is not a large room by the time you take in to consideration that the computer and photocopier are just to the left of this photo. When the Youth Worker was in here too with their desk it could be quite cramped.

I have moved things around a few times to try to hide most of the cubby holes that look 'cluttered' and allowed myself a view to the door where ever I work.

I have been encouraged on numerous occasions of the good I provide for the church and its people, so I know that for now this is where God wants me to be.

Mumsey Has Returned

You didn't know she had been away did you?

Well I don't me - Mumsey....

I mean MUMSEY.
When we purchased my little car my hubby decided to get me a personalized number plate.
He was utterly pleased with himself when the one "MUMSEY" had not been taken already and 'snatched it up', so to speak.

However it wasn't quite so cute a while back.

A few weeks ago, on a wet afternoon, I had stopped in a parallel car park to pop out to the post box, to post a letter and parcel.
Just before I was to get out of the car and zoom around the front, so I would not get too wet while I ran my errand, the four wheel drive wagon in front of me just backed up two car parks and straight into the front of me.
The back spare wheel squashed my bonnet and the tow bar crunched into my bumper.
The guy got out straight away and apologised saying he didn't see me, then proceeded to say he didn't even look!!
He said he would pay for all the repairs and we exchanged names and numbers.

I posted my mail and sat in the car for a moment gathering my thoughts.
All I could think was that if I had been a couple of seconds quicker getting out of the car, I would have been between the two vehicles.

dent on the bonnet and the bumper above the "M"

 He was most concerned and rung home before I even got home to check I was all right.

We went to our insurance company and they arranged for the repairs and said I would have no penalties so would keep the 'no-claims bonus'.
MUMSEY went to the panel beaters and the paint shop. She was away for three days and I had a rather nice larger car to get around in for a few days.

Now MUMSEY is home and looking very nice actually.
Not only can you not see any of the damage but all the little stone chips from other vehicles driving in front of me have been fixed as well.
Very smart she is.

And I feel my own self in MUMSEY again.

Grandchildren

I started knitting this for my second grandchild when my third daughter was pregnant. When our granddaughter arrived her mother didn’t really want this set so I have finished it and put it away for another grandchild and knitted something else for our grand baby girl.

We are blessed with five children - Theresa, Jennifer, Sarah, Daniel and Katrina. Two have already married and so grandchildren are bound to be numerous even if not all have children. However I hold on to the words from the bible

Proverbs 17:6

Children's children are a crown to the aged, and parents are the pride of their children.

Psalm 128 A song of ascents.

1 Blessed are all who fear the LORD, who walk in his ways.

2 You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours.

3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your sons will be like olive shoots around your table.  

4 Thus is the man blessed who fears the LORD.

5 May the LORD bless you from Zion all the days of your life; may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem,

6  and may you live to see your children's children.

Peace be upon Israel.

These are our first grandchildren, Ryan and Evelyn, who we love dearly.

All scripture is from (New International Version)

Bearing Fruit for God

I was catching up on some Bible study today and even though what I was reading was from an April study it so seemed to fit for me now, as often is the case. It was from The Word for Today from Rhema Broadcasting Group 
It was titled "Are You Bearing Fruit" and started with the scripture from Genesis 1:28

God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground." 

God said be fruitful. Jesus says the same thing in John 15:16

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.

part of the study said...
...you should be focusing on your character, your eternal rewards and the building of God's kingdom, not your own short-lived agenda...whether you've fallen into the dirt or just settled for living beneath your potential, God won't throw you away. He will lift you, cleanse you and help you to flourish again.
 
I believe that I have a purpose in God's eyes to be an example and encouragement to woman and mothers to be confident and sure in who they are as a woman, wife and mother. I often share with those around me and have brought my daughters up with examples of these things and I have often been complemented on the way my girls are building their homes in what some would call the "old fashioned way".
At times I have wondered how else I can extend what I know to other woman. Starting this blog to give somewhere my daughters could come to find one of my recipes or other things, I realised I was opening it to anyone else. I thought, 'this is a way I can share to all who check in.' It has developed into a modern way of uplifting, encouraging and witnessing to the world of my faith, God's love and the role of motherhood and being an obedient wife in God's eyes. Its not just for me because even when I have gone it will still be here.

The study then went on to say
"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.- John 15:1-3
Without periodic pruning a vine will only produce a fraction of its potential harvest. Vineyards have only one purpose: to produce grapes. Energy spent on anything else is wasted...To make room for the kind of abundance Christ redeemed you for, He will cut away the parts of your life that are draining precious time and energy from what's truly important to Him...He will even risk you misunderstanding His methods. His purpose for your life requires the cutting away of bad habits and attitudes, wrong relationships, lesser priorities, and anything that distracts you from your highest calling. 

I have found over the last year I spent far too much time on facebook playing the games and other silly computer things, then I wonder why I don't have enough time in the day. Often I will on the computer until late and then tired the next day. Some of my past friends have often been very demanding asking me to call round and then the time turns in to gossip sessions. These are stealer's of time and a lessor calling. I realise God wants to prune them away and I look forward to the blessing he will give in their place.

I pray that you will be encouraged by reading this and know your importance to God

All scripture is from (New International Version)

Who is Mumsey?

I am a 54 year old mother of five cherubs (children) aged 19 to 33. Two are married and I have three grandsons and two grand-daughters. My husband and I have been married for 35 years.
[edited September 2013]
I have often been told I have a lot to offer to both the young and old. My cherubs who live away from home often ring, txt or email for advice.

You see I am a home maker at heart although I work part time in our church office. My mother and grandmothers taught me a lot of what I know and I realise that for many, especially in these times, they do not or have not had this privilege.

So to pass this on to whoever wants it or just to jolly you along I have decided to start a blog.

Up Date: 2019 
I have handed in my notice at my job in the church office and will finish in two and a half months
I am now 60, been married to hubby for 41 years and we have five cherubs, and now eight grandchildren.