Good Morning!

           A gentle moment of sharing.

After one of the most difficult of Summers Australians have experienced for many years, this day last week dawned with sparkling brilliance without any hint of storm or rain.

It has been drought, bushfires and then storms with lightning strikes and rain that belted down.

I was facing the window when I witnessed something that was both beautiful but also took my breath away.     I could hardly believe it!

From out of the deep gully which is behind our house a thin ribbon of vibrating yellow/gold erupted and slowly drifted across the sky.    Gone in what seemed an instant I blinked my eyes. Gone!

However, during that same morning, single golden lights and sometimes small groups of yellow, drifted across our backyard.    I could clearly see now they were butterflies.  Tiny yellow/gold butterflies.

In the past I had seen these butterflies individually,  but never in this way.

I googled (aren’t we  fortunate sometimes to access information).   This is what I discovered.

Yellow butterflies as illustrated above are seen in various (usually rural)  parts of Queensland/Australia.   This variety, tiny and vibrant, can survive in chrysalis stage through very extreme and harsh conditions.    They are known to lay dormant for weeks/months, perhaps years,  until the right  conditions occur.

Sometimes a whole hidden colony will be born in the same instant and they fly forth and stream across the sky.

The weather changed again the next day.  I thought of them and hoped they fulfilled their life’s purpose.

Maybe again in my life-time, I will see again a beautiful shimmering light of gold against a blue sky.

Peace! Love! Joy!

What does the Bible teach?

                                                           What do you believe?

about………..

The RAPTURE OF THE CHURCH.

                                  For centuries there have been prophetic voices proclaiming the return of Christ.    There has been so much ‘stuff’ written and proclaimed that after a lot of wrong predictions etc and a lot of mis-information about the second coming and people becoming disillusioned and even dying after deception and power building by self-focussed people.

Because I did not have any teaching about the Rapture growing up and a lot of folk in my traditional church could give only limited answers. The whole concept of a Holy Bride for Christ was brushed off as fable.

The parable of the 10 virgins that Jesus taught is well worth contemplating in a 2020 world.     What section of the modern-day church could be not ‘ready’ because the oil (Spirit of God) has run out? Matthew: 25 1-13.

In our modern day world when whole sections of the Church appears more secular that intrinsically HOLY,  the idea of a remnant HOLY PEOPLE  (recognised because they are saved, born-again and covered by the Blood of the Lamb) being drawn out of the World to join the Saviour, before the apocalypse  so they will be joined with Him when He returns as King of Kings and Lord of Lords to judge the nations and the entire world,  makes sense.

What do you believe?

1 Thess 4 verses 13-18 certainly comes to life in our modern day.

I do not want you to be ignorant brothers, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope.

For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, we who are alive and remain  will by no means precede those who are asleep.

       The Lord Himself will descend from heaven, with a SHOUT and the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God.   The dead in Christ will rise first.   Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.  And thus we shall always be with the lord.

Who are the dead in Christ?     Who are the thousands and thousands who died before the Cross yet lived and died by THE LAW. ?    These are not the born-again in His Kingdom  ones, who went straight home to God, in the past 2,000 years.

This is the glorious thought that RESURRECTION first of the saved purified beloved, who have not compromised on the WORD,  and all the saved ‘waiting ones of God ie perhaps in the bosom of Abraham but not yet resurrected …………..all  are waiting for the fulfillment of  this Rapture (resurrection) event FIRST.

Then the King of Glory riding on a white horse accompanied by this great army of His People ….  ( Read in   Revelations.)

JUDGMENT on the Nations and the world.    Israel (the ones who were  not born-again into the Kingdom).Scales of blindness will fall from Israel’s eyes.

Then all the ‘left behind; will have time to ‘shake off the unnecessary’ and proclaim unflinchingly JESUS CHRIST IS LORD

AND THE GREAT

         I AM OF HISTORY. 

will without compromise. be

KING OF KING AND LORD OF LORDS.

Contemplate and find your answers.   What do you think?

Blessings! and Love.

(Don’t get caught up with concepts like pre Trib rapture and post- trib rapture.)           Lets’ all find our own answers.

My child-like answer.

The question was How Big is your God?

To answer this scripture by scripture, or from the perspective of theological study would give a lot of thoughts.

With Child-like faith and the spiritual understanding of life journey.   Also entirely WORD focussed.

My answer is.      God is so BIG …..the description defies human ability from our finite brains to comprehend.

As a child I offer this as my simple answer.     God in three PERSONS…….ONE GOD.              The Father whose realm forever was and is today the HEAVENS. The SON – the BRIDGE with His Life to join all humankind to God through His Sacrifice.    Come unto Me.   FOLLOW ME!          a BLOOD-SOAKED WOODEN BEAM.

GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT – ever GOD.    GOD IS SPIRIT!  (there is no bearded man in the sky.)   Even cultures who needed to find the way to God through Christ believed in the SPIRIT IN THE SKY.

God the Holy Spirit breathed LIFE on the earth.   He breathes life TODAY.

But in the unseen world of the spirits, ie ghosts, demons and evil beings.   Who is the visible one for all of them.        I AM – God the Holy Spirit.

How big……….I cannot adequately define but in my heart this I KNOW.    On my own I would never be fit to face a Holy God.  But, I believe Jesus made THE WAY.

My God is FATHER, SON, and HOLY SPIRIT.        God big enough to be known and seen everywhere.    One DAY not lots of KINGDOMS.     One day only ONE.   THE KINGDOM OF GOD (ALONE AND EVERYWHERE)

MAY YOUR KINGDOM COME 

YOUR WILL be done!

a-men.

Good Morning!

           Divine Love always brings with it Beauty as a second pursuit of the human soul.

Love never gives up.    Love cares more for others than for self.    Love….puts up with anything.   Trusts God always, always looks for the best, never looks back but keeps going to the end.                          1  Cors. 13:4 Msg.

May our goals today and into the future reflect our desire to live in the Light of God’s Love and seek after beauty.

Blessings and peace.

Good Morning!

Time brings maturity of our physical.  Externally we share in the progressive age process. Inside, we believe as Christians, we are being changed into something ‘better’.

        A simple incident showed me……. I still have a long way to go.

          I knocked over a small tray of very tiny craft beads.   Working on a delicate project, the beautiful face of a Persian cat is emerging one tiny bead at a time. (This was a Christmas Gift from a granddaughter).

Beads spilled EVERYWHERE -across the floor – all through the fibres in the mat at my feet.   Later, I found some had fluttered into my shoes and onto a nearby shelf.  These beads are very small.

They are a challenge to work with.   I need a magnifying glass to see them clearly.

With maturity and poise I stood up.   I stamped my foot and loudly shouted ‘OH POOP!’ and burst into tears.

(My 6 year old self would probably have applauded).

I thank God I do not have a vocabulary of vile words but in that moment of frustration it sounded as if I shouted them ALL.

David helped me as with pan and brush we rescued most beads.   It took a long time for me later to separate them from clinging finite specks of dust and carpet fibre.

I share this with humour today to encourage us all.

We are indeed a work in progress. 

We need to keep travelling with the Lord.   We must look higher for Divine Inspiration.

But!

It is often the ‘little’ things that will reveal our need for His life-long maturing.

His Presence with us ensure that He will not give up.   He will keep working on us.

Blessings and Grace to you and yours today.

Life is a journey.

L I V E !!

Information overload is the problem of our 2020 world.

The media happily processes each day, each minute, a constant barrage of information, news. Phones, computers all churn out ‘stuff’.        We must CHOOSE for our own personal wellbeing what we NEED TO KNOW – (for the health of our whole person). Anything ‘extra’ keeps us informed but does not need to be taken ‘internally,  but must be   RELEASED PRAYERFULLY only if the subject is important.

As Christians there is only ONE thing vital we absolutely NEED TO KNOW.   We need to KNOW our God.    Really know Him.   Know the fullness of our relationship with Him.  Christ has made the Way for us who are saved and ‘born again’ to have intimate relationship with God on High as our ‘Abba’ Father.

One thing I will ask of the Lord, this is what I seek.  That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of Him and seek after Him in His Holy Place.     Psm 27:4

    I have a very personal and deep affinity with this story.

The artist had shown his picture in a small local gallery where the simple image of balloons soaring into heaven was loved by locals and children.   A large art Gallery asked  permission to display the painting in the City.    Children and passer-by’s stopped.  They all loved the picture.

One day the artist was approached to put the painting up for sale at an auction.  A bit  reluctantly, he agreed and went along to see what happened.  To his surprise the painting was popular but suddenly it became more than a picture it became a ‘competition’ from wealthy investors and folk with $’s and possible gains and greed rising.    They began to haggle and fight.   It became violent all over the wanting of the work as a POSSESSION.

The auction was stopped at the artist’s request and resumed again on the following Saturday.     This day the violence became worse.    The beauty of the painting was completely swamped by the burning desire for ownership.

The gavel dropped. The sound resonated as an unprecedented  amount of money was yelled to the exuberance of excited crowds.

There was a sudden jolting sound.   The painting began to slowly rise through the top of the frame where the unmistakable sound of a shredding machine started up.   A bit at a time the painting was drawn upwards.     The artist took a picture and told the gasping people.

God inspired my art work.   This painting was about Him and His Sacrifice and His Calling of human spirits to eternity.   I loved it.     I appreciated it for what it was.

              I knew I would rather shred my God-given Gift than let it become a property and not LOVED.

The photograph the artist took was published in the local paper.  It had the heading…..GOING!   GOING!    GONE!…………         The byline by the photographer read…….One day that too will be the story of my life.   I know where I’m going.   Do you?

Blessings in this day.   If the people and the bears and the stories I write are not loved this is what I would like to also do.

God loves!   His People out of love for Him will share so their Gifts too may be LOVED!.

live!

Good Morning!

       On Wednesdays and Sundays it is normally my joy to write a blog entry.    I usually have many inspirations during the week.    I often dream my blog.   Today I woke up with ‘nothing to write’.

                        I asked the Lord ‘What would You have me write?’.

His gentle answer ‘Die to self.’   Concentrate on Me. Worship ME!

LOOK UP!

       Came to me as a gentle breeze.

I did not see the image illustrated above but a cloudy sky and patches of blue.

I looked for my own picture of sky but instead found this one.  It was  labelled Heavenly 1.

Look Up! Beloved.  May you find Him in unexpected ways.

LIVE!

   Morning at Wineglass Bay, Tasmania.

           Today is part of a collection of days compiling my life.   There are memories and future hopes.   Today on its own is a special day.

Mark Twain wrote

‘There have been only two really significant days in my life.   One was the day I was born.    The second was when I discovered why I was here.’

In Joshua 24 v 15 ‘Choose this day whom you will serve.’  Jesus said FOLLOW ME!.

On the calendar on this 26th January, it is celebrated as Australia Day.

Happy Australia Day to all.

      This day is special on a personal level because it is a day of unmarked time to live.

If you are a believer ask yourself the simple question.  Is my heart and life RIGHT before
God?

What if this  is my last day on earth?   Am I sure  where my spirit will spend eternity? or

what if this day is the beginning of  something NEW?

What if it’s just another day?

It really doesn’t matter.    The important thought for today is that it is another new day of LIFE.

          REJOICE IN IT! 

IT IS SPECIAL

After this climatically difficult start to our summer here in Oz, the stories of bushfires, loss of vegetation and native animal lives abound.

On Monday morning, after weeks of drought, and then two days of refreshing rain a visitor came to our property.

He was the largest kangaroo I have ever seen. I was born in this state, yet,  It was the first time  I have seen a massive gray animal like this one.     He stood looking at the house from 1/2 way up the hill behind it..   Occasionally, he would graze on the shoots of new green grass.

I was not quick enough to get a photo so had to do some on line research.    This animal I saw was not only massive but had one completely pure white shoulder and paw and his stomach area was also pure white.

What I discovered was encouraging and brought Hope to my heart for the survival of this unique animal.   He was beautiful!

It is an EASTERN GRAY KANGAROO.    (its coat can vary from a rich deep gray to lighter tones and even patches of pure white.)   Apparently through the years some folk have reported viewing pure white marsupials.

Although the photo above is not mine, it may give some small idea of what I actually saw.      His white patches shone in the sunlight and I gave thanks to God for renewed Hope that perhaps our small property here can still be a refuge for many animal species.

Have a great day in all you are planning.

Blessings!