Angel Gossip!

If you’re reading this then this is all about you (even though it’s about me too!).

Did you know that there is a whisper going on in heaven, a rustling among the angels? The word is out on the golden streets and rumours are being circulated from angel to angel. There is a definite buzz in the heavens today and the news is spreading like wildfire! Where did the word begin I wonder? Who is it that all the angels are whispering about??

Oh my! They’re talking about me! They say the King of kings told them, Jesus! They say they saw Him rejoicing, He was dancing with joy, He couldn’t stop talking about ME!! What did He say I ask? “Jesus said that you are beautiful, totally perfect for Him, that you are lovely. Oh and He said that when you sing to Him, His heart starts to beat faster with an overwhelming love for you. He told us that He cannot stop thinking about you, day and night, night and day YOU are on His mind!” I couldn’t believe it, Jesus said that…… about me?! Are you sure it was me that He was talking about? After all, this is Jesus we’re talking about! The Beautiful Saviour, the Glorious Lord!

“That’s not all He said,” the angels whispered, “Listen to this! Jesus told us that you are the one He wants to be with forever, you are His bride and He is your bridegroom. He says He has so much He wants to tell you, things He has never told anyone else, deep secrets, the secrets of His heart and He won’t tell anyone else, only you, because He loves you. He told us that He has so much for you, so much for you to do together, places to go to, exciting plans. He told us that He has blessings for you, gifts! Surprises around every corner! Flowers, sunny days, rainbows, colours, perfume, everything He can think of just to enchant you! He tells us He loves it when you laugh and clap your hands with delight when He blesses you. Then He told us that He simply loves to watch you, He is enthralled by you, He said you have the most beautiful smile, contagious laugh, you are just lovely. It’s funny,” the angels said, “He just can’t stop telling us about you…… I think He must be in love!”

As a bridegroom rejoices over His bride, so will your God rejoice over you. Isaiah 62:5

Image : Yozz

God in a Box?

Try and picture it for a minute – God in a Box, now try and picture it again without laughing!! The King of Kings, the Great I AM, the Creator of the Universe, the one who hung the stars in the sky and created you – in a Box? Totally absurd. The problem is as His children we try to put God in a Box all the time, now it’s no longer funny.

Recently I have noticed that we put God in a Box regarding our finances. The phrase that comes out so often is “No, we can’t afford it.” Even when it is something so important – “We can’t afford it.” As soon as those words have come out of your mouth the subject is dismissed and whatever you “couldn’t afford” is never done and not thought of again!!!! What happened to “For nothing is impossible with God”? I prefer the phrase “How can we make it happen?” As soon as you say that phrase the lid of the box flips open, your mind starts working and God starts talking! What a partnership – God instructing and you listening and of course doing!!! That’s the way to make those mountains move!

Let’s stop putting God in a box (and ourselves at the same time) and change the way we think. Let’s become doers and not grumblers, “I can’t, it’s impossible, we can’t afford it” and start saying “How? How Lord shall we make this happen, what can we do to help?” Let’s take a few risks, a couple of chances, have some faith. You never know – it may surprise you what happens when He jumps out of that box!!!

I am so grateful for such a wonderful family, vacations together, laughter, sunshine and of course Jesus!

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow."
Melody Beattie

I Double Dare You

Isn’t it funny how sometimes transition seems to become a way of life and not just a moment when you move from one season into the next! That really is how life has felt like for the longest time. We always seem to be moving, changing, transitioning. I have always said that I love change but I think that perhaps I love change when I am the one in control of where we are going and what we are doing next. So often I have said “Oh – I’d love to move house, move cities, move countries, Lord – we’ll go ANYWHERE!!!” Right now I feel like an expectant mother waiting for the birth of her baby, I don’t know when it is going to happen or what it is going to be just that it IS coming! I’m feeling uncomfortable, am not enjoying the waiting (even a little whiny!) I KNOW God is about to do something new, I know whatever it is it will be great because I trust Him – ever been there?? Did you ever feel like God was saying just take a step, but you weren’t too sure and because you couldn’t see what you were stepping into were worried that He was saying “JUMP!”?

Only the other day I was reading about Peter stepping out of the boat (Matt 14:22-33) when I realized that Jesus dared Peter to step out in the middle of a storm. He didn’t wait until the winds had died down, until it was all peaceful outside but when all the elements were raging about them and the rain was thrashing down! Peter dared and Peter walked on water! I think perhaps I can dare and I can walk on water too and as long as I keep my eyes fixed on Jesus there won’t be a chance of sinking! I’m pretty sure if I “JUMP” He will catch me. I’m not going to wait for the peace to come or even the “right moment”, I’m going to do it when He says GO!

On Father’s Day Hannah made her Daddy a card and on it she wrote that her Daddy was ‘daring’. The same day when Anthony gave his Dad a gift it was a bottle of aftershave called….. wait for it….. “DARE”!! Wow – a Double Dare. For the last month I have heard the Lord say “Take a risk”, I Double Dare You, JUMP!!!!!” I know it’s gonna be good, stupendous, breathtaking, magical, like bungee jumping! Problem is you have to jump first – trust. When the moment comes I AM going to do it, I AM going to dare and I AM going to step into the new thing that God has for us. Would you JUMP if He told you to? Would you take a risk and walk on water? I think you should, I think it would be fun!

Zimbabwe Memories

Now that I’ve started taking this trip down memory lane I find there are so many more things I want to remember! Things peculiar to Zimbabwe that only a Zimbabwean would understand and either laugh at or cry at. Like going on my bicycle down to the shops and buying marshmallow fish or a fredo for a tickey or a packet of Willards chips that “make music in your mouth” – tomato sauce was my favourite. And then there was chicken flings, Cashel Valley Baked Beans – “we are, we are, can’t you see, the best baked beans in Zimbabwe!” That funny pseudo French man who sang “Have a nice day with Bon Marche!” Being lifted up by Tanganda Tea, and in the intermission at the Movies – “Get yourself an Ice Cream Now!!!” Sandaks, those funny plastic shoes that everyone wore! Biltong, beersticks, borewors and melktart of course, the best ingredients for a braai. That wonderful ZimSun Ad “ooooohhhhh won’t you stay just a little bit looooonger, ooooohhh please, please stay”. The smell of Lifeboy soap or Dettol!

I remember going and spending hours in the sun at the Mount Pleasant swimming pool and being too scared to jump off the really high diving board! Riding my bicycle everywhere, hating my horrible, blue school uniform – remember having to wear garters with your socks! Manual labour and the prefects study – a place where I spent way too much time on a Friday afternoon! I remember when it rained the ditches on the sides of the road would be full of water, at least 3 feet deep and we would go splashing in these huge puddles of water with the steamy smell of rain all around us! Remember the fruit trees in your garden?! Guavas, mangos, naartjies, plums, avacados (if you can call avos fruit), I remember our avocado trees used to have so many avos on them that they would fall and rot on the ground. Now I have to pay a dollar for an avo and they are teeny, tiny things! We had granadillas climbing along the fence, gooseberries, dustyberries, Mexican apples – I could go on and on. And the flowers!! Jacaranda trees, flamboyants, beautiful golden acacia trees and the heady smell of frangipane flowers. Do you remember the cosmos flowers growing wild in the vlei or along the road, and the balancing rocks on the way to Nyanga. Wow! What wonderful memories we have, surely we were the most blessed of people to be raised in Zimbabwe!