Dealing With The Death Of Parents

Beth’s blog about parents and death prompted me to write about my experience. My father died when I was 16. It was sudden and left Mom and me reeling with shock. I didn’t have brothers and sisters to turn to but Mom and I had each other. My mother died when I was in my 30s. Hers was a battle with cancer that went on over a few years. Like Courtney, I pretty well put my life on hold. I dropped out of bible study, church and everything else I’d been involved in,but continued to read my Bible and pray … Continue reading →

Change What You Can

We may not be always able to change our circumstances but we can change the way we view them. We can view life as hard and a drag, or we change our attitude to look for the blessings and positives in each day. While we were waiting for our move down to the South Coast, we were unable to change our circumstances. But we could change our attitude. Instead of resenting every moment of the delay, we used the time to draw closer to God and try to discover what the Lord wanted to teach us through the experience. It … Continue reading →

The Secret to Enjoying Life

My calendar this morning says ‘the secret to enjoying life is to be thankful for what each day brings.’ Are you enjoying life? If not, the fault could be that you are not looking to find the blessings in each day. No matter how bad things are there is always something we can thank God for. Here’s my notebook of 10 blessings from the last 3 days. 1. Church music practice this week was so good. We sang ‘Shout to the Lord.’ This song has a lot of meaning for me. The last time I sang it at church was … Continue reading →

Notebook of Blessings -part 2

Here is the continuation of my notebook of blessings. An orange browallia transplanted and given to me by a dear friend after the one I bought died. This one is healthy and growing so well in the pot near our front door. The way this plant reminds me of my Mom as she always had orange browalliasin the garden as I was growing up. The bible study group we are part of and the way it is growing in numbers as well as the way each of us are growing in our walk with God. For the studies we have … Continue reading →

The Problem With Over Confidence

Confidence in our abilities can be an asset. As Peter discovered, over-confidence can cause problems if we are not careful. When we look at John 13:31-38 as Jesus prepared for his coming death and shared the last supper with his disciples, we see God glorified through Jesus’ life, verses 31-32. Is God glorified by our lives? Or do we bring God’s name into disrepute by our behavior and words? Jesus would only be with his disciples a short time longer, verse 33. But since His death, resurrection and ascension, He can be with us each day. Are we conscious that … Continue reading →

How To Deal With Anger

Yesterday we looked at whether anger is a sin. I said it was not – or not always. But it can be, if we let that anger fester and do not deal with it appropriately. It’s what we do with that anger that’s important. One of our families.com members pointed out that not dealing with anger can cause other problems. Stress, depression, ulcers, heart problems, emotional and mental problems among other things could all fit into that category. So what can we do as Christians about inappropriate anger? The bible tells us ‘the Lord is ‘slow to anger and abounding … Continue reading →

Missing Teeth

I’ve heard of things ending up in strange places, but never as bizarre as this story which appeared in our local paper on Wednesday April 2. While swimming at Culburra Beach a woman took her false teeth, which were a little loose, out. She slipped them into the top of her swimming costume. This was fine, till a large wave crashed into her. Unfortunately she didn’t notice the false teeth had gone until much later. Without her teeth, she was restricted to eating soft food. But then a week later, someone found her false teeth and handed them in to … Continue reading →

Laziness – part 1 – in marriage

Laziness can be a seductive but deadly trait in just about all areas of life. It can be detrimental in our marriages, in our relationship with God, in parenting, in our service for God and our church life, in friendships and other relationships, and in our work situations. Starting with marriage, over the next few days I’m going to write about each of these areas of life. Marriage – It is easy when we have been married a while it become lazy and complacent and not bother to look attractive for them or to not make the effort to spend … Continue reading →

Getting it Wrong.

When you look at the bible, are you encouraged when you see how often the disciples got it wrong? I am. It assures me God won’t give up on me when I get it wrong, any more than he did with them. In Matthew 18:1 the disciples came to Jesus with the question, ‘Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ I wonder what answer the disciples were expecting. Whatever it was, I bet it wasn’t the answer they got. How often does the Lord answer our questions and our prayers in a way we don’t expect? Jesus called … Continue reading →

An Attitude of Gratitude

Newsletters can be a source of things to be thankful for. This morning three newsletters arrived in my inbox. I am thankful for each one and God’s timing in bringing them along today. The first was from the publisher Allen and Unwin. Although the subject was about writing, 4 Brainstorming Guidelines for Getting Ideas, the principles could as easily apply to counting blessings as well. Check out the guidelines and you’ll see what I mean. Then apply them to counting your blessings and developing an attitude of thankfulness. The second one titled ‘The Writing Life’ pointed me to the Paulo … Continue reading →