Making Peace at Christmas

I passed a couple who were pulled over in their car yesterday, they were having a full on barney and at least were sensible enough not to fight and drive, shortly after the four wheel drive in the lane next to  me nearly ran up the car in the front's backside because he was yelling at his kids in the back.  The little boy closest to me turned and looked forlornly out of the window.  I thought here we are, silly season has arrived.  The rushing, spending and shoving that we get caught up in, taking it out on everyone within the blast radius until we finally arrive hot and frazzled at Christmas lunch,

and explode all over the relatives we don't see from one year till the next.  Kind of makes me wonder if this really captures what God had in mind when he out of His great love for mankind sent his only very loved Son into the World to save us, and saving us is exactly what we need.  The good news the angels declared was peace, and yet when we look around there is little peace on the outside, someone once told me that at any one time there is at least 25 wars in progress, somewhere on the planet, so world peace is probably not what Jesus was talking about.  It is hard to get two people to agree on anything, so getting 7 billion of us to is probably out of the question.  But, if I can encourage you to just stop for a moment, and take a deep breathe.  Allowing God's love into our life changes us on the inside, and while we may never see the 'World Peace' the beauty pageant winners are talking about, you will have the peace that the Angels were talking about at that first Christmas, so long ago to the Shepherds, that peace that comes on the inside and passes all understanding, that makes you be able to move about calmly in the middle of the chaos, and hopefully be able to share that peace and love with the next frazzled person who asks you why you are calm and not going crazy like the other mortals.  God bless you this Christmas, and remember, the next time you are tempted to do more than you are physically capable of right now, remind yourself that we are celebrating Christ's birthday and that He wont care if you buy fruit mince pies instead of baking them yourself.  Merry Christmas xx Evie

I believe in Miracles

clipart from PhilipPhysics-contact force

Miracles are fantastic to read about when they happened to other people a long time ago, but, don’t you love it when God does a miracle for you unexpectedly in your own life.  When our four children were young we were travelling back from a holiday at night by car and were on the last leg of our 13 hour journey, four children sleeping peacefully in back and our alternator decided to die, leaving us with no head lights, it was one o'clock in the morning.  We pulled in at the small roadside garage still an hour and a half from the Perth City outskirts.  My husband got talking to the driver of the only other car in the place and he agreed to let us follow him down to Midland where we would then have to go our own way, to wherever we lived in the metro area.

We were stunned by what happened next and reminded of what an awesome God we serve, when the two men continued to talk and we discovered that out of the one and a half million people who live in the City of Perth, and of all the suburbs and of all the streets he could have lived , God had sent us a Good Samaritan, who lived a couple of hundred metres from where we did, in the same suburb of Kelmscott.

Psalm 91;14  The Lord says “I will rescue those who love me, I will protect those who trust in my name.” (LB) 

God seldom rescues us in a way we were expecting, but, He does promise to rescue those who love Him.   When the Israelites were backed up against the Red Sea with the Egyptian army pounding down on them with their chariots and horses, Ps 77 (LB) says God made a path for them no one knew was there, parting the waters for them to cross to safety. 

Remember, all things are possible with God (Matt 19:26), expect great things from Him, no matter what it is you need rescuing from in your life, He will never leave you or forsake you (Heb 13:5).  Expect that He will make a path for you that you never knew was there.                                                                                     

Who told you you were naked

At a women’s retreat the speaker was telling us about her son who was quite small, who had been teased at school about his size, they had always tried to make him feel good about himself, no matter what his size.  She said to us, I asked Him “who told you you were naked” “who made you doubt yourself”.  It made me think that most of us are succeptible to the enemies attempts to make us ineffective.  We come into the Kingdom of God often from horrendous backgrounds,  filled with self doubt, low self esteem from growing up with out ever being encouraged.   The enemy knows what buttons to press, to drag up some of that old low self esteem.  The only way to overcome the doubt is to renew our minds, with God’s word, till we come to the place where we believe we are new creatures, that all things are new, that we can do all things through Christ, and see God work in our lives to the point where the Voice of the Holy Spirit is louder that any other in our life.

For some of us that journey takes longer than for others and most of us could write a book about the trip, maybe I will as soon as I believe I can do it.