His ways, my ways....

So since the last time I wrote on here, the Lord has been speaking to me quite a bit about quite a lot, yeah, quite a lot...

Yesterday, I was taking a Bible Class with the amazing Pastor Ron and he was speaking on...yes, authority!, yeah, I know, I had the same reaction!!! :-) I could write a book on why I have struggles with authority and would probably have some good points in there, but as I sat through the class yesterday, I heard some stuff that well, as my friend, Natalie would say, 'smoked me!' :-)...I will share some stuff...

" Jesus chooses to submit the Father! "
I mean if the Lord, Jesus Christ, King of Kings and Lord of Lords with the name above every other name not only in this wold, but also in the one to come!!! (whom by the way I absolutely love!!! :-)), chooses submission, then, yeah, you know what I'm trying to say...

"the attitudes we have towards authority always show the attitude we have toward God." HMMMMM!!!!!!!!!

"Spiritual maturity is often measured on how we react when asked to do something we don't want to do."

"partial obedience is rebellion."

"Obedience is a sacrifice of our human flesh and will to please God"

So, yeah, the class was pretty great, and those 'clips' give just a 'glimpse'.

random picture to keep the attention of those who, like myself, experience minor ADD! :-PMe and Nondumiso, she's great!!!,and I love my green and purple hair!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I guess God is continuing to show me that His ways are higher and better;and I have a lot of unlearning and re-learning to do( I don't think I'm alone in this)...you see, I have reasons (that make sense :-)) for the way I think.... One would think that after reading A Tale of Three Kings (one of the best books ever!!!, seriously) I would have this whole submission thing down, but I don't...I've not had the greatest leaders to submit to( my mum is awesome, though!!!!), they've been either passive and couldn't care less, or fake and completely insincere, and this includes Christian leaders (not everyone of course, I have had some amazing leaders, but they are relatively few...) so anyway, I came up with this system of 'figuring it out on my own'. I am pretty pro-active and not a fan of waiting around for silly 'leaders' to get their act together, but wait, another 'clip' form yesterday's class,

"the issue is not whether or not the authority is perfect; the issue is that the authority is God's choice." ooohhh, yeah, again, my ways vs His ways...

I am not at all a pro at the authority thing. I am more naturally rebellious(it just seems more exciting sometimes, I blame Jack Bauer!! :-)). I have a truck load of reasons why I shouldn't 'trust' authorities, I have been known to say, "If you can't take the time to be my 'friend', you have NO business telling me what to do!!!"...but you see that's me, that's 'my ways', and right now I am on this thing where I am hungry for His ways, and ready to let go of my own...It's so cool how He has wooed me to this point. I know(because He has loved me in a way that i have never been loved before, with a perfect, perfect, did I already say perfect love!!!!) that whatever He says is best, I just know...and of course it'll be really hard and crappy sometimes, and I won't always understand(which is not one of my favorite things!),but you see this King has won my heart and greater than every obstacle I am going to face on this 'journey' is the love that I have for Him!!!!!!....a love that makes obedience more than just a sacrifice...


More purple and green hair... :-)

hmmm

Yesterday's gone
Tomorrow's waiting just ahead
Each one like a bookend
Holding up this moment

Right here is where I am
Where you are
Where we can stay...

As long as we want
As long as we choose
You don't have to say anything
This moment is ours
There's nothing to lose
Don't even think too much

Just inhale...and take it all in...

Why I wake up in the mornings...

and do what I do...

"For an answer Jesus called over a child, whom he stood in the middle of the room, and said, "I'm telling you, once and for all, that unless you return to square one and start over like children, you're not even going to get a look at the kingdom, let alone get in.

Whoever becomes simple and elemental again, like this child, will rank high in God's kingdom.

What's more, when you receive the childlike on my account, it's the same as receiving me." Matthew 18:3-5 (the Message)

Awareness…

The past few days, well actually the past couple of weeks for me have centered around that word. Things have been brought to me attention, leaving me with the question, “What can I do to help/improve/fix this?” Most of these things are not ‘new’ to me, they have just been brought to my attention in a ‘in your face’ kind of way. It’s like the poor and needy we ‘see’ around us all the time. Well, it would be quite different if one of those ‘poor and needy’ people came to your doorstep and just stood there. I think it would make you ask, “What can I do to help?”

I remember reassign the book “In His Steps” in high school. Pretty much the pastor of a ‘well-to-do’ church challenges people in his congregation to ask in every situation , “What would Jesus do?” and when it is revealed to them what Jesus would’ve done in that particular situation to do just that. The rest of the book is filled with stories of great transformation as individuals choose to walk ‘in His steps!’ I loved that book!! It spoke to the part of me that comes alive in the face of a challenge…I guess right now as I am made keenly aware of certain situations all around me, I should ask, “What would Jesus do?”, and as it is revealed to me what the Lord would do in that particular situation, do just that!...

After standing in line for less than 30 min...

I got my license card thing, so I'm now a 'legal driver'!!! Those that were with me on 'the road to getting a drivers license' appreciate as much as I do that this is finally done!!!!!!...

oh, yeah and I cut my hair, really short!!!!...check this page in bout a week for the purple and green do!!!...thanks Shelly! :-)...

He loves me!!!

“To You I give my life, not just the parts I want to
To You I sacrifice these dreams that I hold on to
Your thoughts are higher than mine…” Jason Upton

The past couple months the Lord and I have been on this journey of ‘release’. I thought I had released all there was to release, but I was quite mistaken!! He has used various things to bring me to the place where I once again can say,

“To you I give my future, as long as it may last…This is no sacrifice, here’s my life!!” Jason Upton...

...went out to one of the care points where we will be starting a new Mission of Mercy care point. We have two care points for which we have to do profiles through May and June. For those who may not know, this means that for the next two months I will pretty much have no social life whatsoever!! :-) The whole process of getting all this information from 300 children, organizing it, sending it to the US, etc can be quite hectic, and being the driven person that I am I can sometimes get carried away with ‘deadlines’ etc. Anyway, to day we went out to one of the new care points o do some set up stuff before we start doing new profiles. It was pretty chilled out and I got to hang with the kids and just look into their faces without the pressure of having to get all this information and get blah blah blah done!!! It was so refreshing… I needed it…here are some pics:…

Me and Banele, we got to hag out a little:

The kids singing…and the beautiful view behind them:

Loving candles, feeling fires... :-)

Let's just take a moment and talk about the goodness of God, I would like to... He is the perfect Father, Friend, and Lover of our souls.These are not just terms we use, they are truth, the truth about our God, my God.

He is the perfect Father- He gives good gifts(and doesn't take them back), He protects, guides and provides for His children (you and me), He disciplines and rebukes us as needed, He loves us!!!!!

He is the perfect Friend- He cares about EVERYTHING that concerns us. He wants to hear the details of our day, the fun, sad, and silly stories, He wants to laugh with us and cry with us. He wants to share His heart with us. He loves us UNCONDITIONALLY

He is the perfect Lover of our souls- He is absolutely, madly in love with you, with me!!He just wants you.He will not stop pursuing us. He is captivated by us, yes captivated by you!!!!! He wants you, you, you, not what you have to offer, not your gifts and talents, and ideas, He wants to love you like you've never been loved before. He sings over you, over me...He says about you, "All beautiful you are, my darling; there is no flaw in you." Song of Songs 4:7. Like I said, He is madly in love with you, with me!!!!

When I move to Joburg... :-)

Ok, so Jacci, Natalie, Julia and I went to Joburg for a couple days this past week...let me just start by saying that God and I are doing this thing or rather He is doing this thing right now where He is teaching me His ways and in the process getting rid of my messed up ways that i have thought were just fine...

ok, so Joburg it was so much fun, time out with the girls always is! :-) I didn't do much shopping, but did help Jacci get stuff for her house(and we found the best pillow ever! :-), and while trying on stuff for fun in Truworths :-) I found the cutest dress and jacket ever, seriously, so so cute, I am planning on going to Truworths and picking it up some time soon!!!...we totally met some really cool people most of who were Zambian (what can I say! :-)), there was Carol at the Christian bookstore, Patu, Brian( yeah Brian!! ;-)), and then really amazing Patty at Mug and Bean. She's Zimbabwean, she has a son and also lives with her younger brother. Her mother past away last month. She looked about my age. She was the sweetest girl! She told us how she loves the Lord and how He sustains her and stuff. We got her number and I'm sure we will become good friends...I just loved all the random people we met.- the non Christians and how we were able to share Christ with them; the believers and how they breathed life into us and us into them even if it was only for a couple minutes. It was just really good and refreshing...

I once again am thankful for the continuous work of my loving Heavenly father in mu life. I had a blast in Joburg because I had some awesome friends that He has so graciously provided...I kind of feel blah today(long story....), but I continue to be thankful for His goodness, He is good, He is good, He is good...

Oh, yeah the Joburg police were absolutely amazing, I'm talking 5 minutes and we were done with business. I love efficeincy!! I mean seriously, when I move to Joburg...:-)

random mandatory picture: Wentworth Miller is still hot!! :-)