Surprised by prayer and fasting

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I have been a Christian since I was in my 20's. It has been a journey so full of the unexpercted and so marvelouslly full, more than I could ever, ever have dreamed or imagined.  

One of the aspects or experiences of the Christian life that I had not entered into was that of fasting and praying. Praying yes. but fasting.... well it was not really ever something I had engaged with, both interlectually and physically.

Many religions fast. In fact it is about to be the Muslim time of Ramadan and this week I had a chat to a nominal Muslim who was sharing her experience of fasting with us. For her, it was not linked at all to anything spiritual but rather to health and well being.

That is not why I decided to fast.

Towards the end of 2013, I began to feel that God was laying on my heart to fast. Doug and I have some very big things we were really praying for and trusting Jesus to help us with.  I chatted to two different  people, one who fasted a great deal in life and the other who did not. I was gradually persuaded in my head that fasting and praying was something to enter into.

 As 2014 dawned, I began a Beth Moore Bible study with a fab group of woman. The Daniel study began with a fast. Once again that pull from God to step up.

At the same time, a group of friends were and still are going through some big trials. And so, we decided to fast and pray and cling to Jesus for these very big things we were all going through, together. We joined and fasted through weeks that lay ahead together, bearing each other up in prayer to Jesus.

We have a social meadia group chat box and we encourage one another via this media.

It has been a wonderful experience. The denying of food, for a time, joined deeply with praying to our great God who is our everything, joined with my sisters in Christ. well, this has been one of the many glorious times of my Christian walk.

Has God answered our prayers more or especially or in a new way. Yes and no. I know that my fasting actually adds nothing or subtracts nothing from my standing before God.  But it has changed me. It has caused me to pray more, love more and watch and wait all the more. God has moved in and amongst our little group of faithful women. He is busy causing us to trust him more and always and lifting our eyes off of our circumstances and back onto Jesus. I really have experienced a spiritual revival in a sense. This fasting and praying has centred Jesus in his rightful place, in my thinking, heart , attitudes, desires and hopes, trusting that God is busy at work in and through his people.

 Therefore, I have become a convert to prayer and fasting. it has become, a normal and natural part of my life. Thank you Jesus!

How to help an ADHD kid as seen through the eyes of an ADHD kid:)

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Last night while sitting chatting to my husband and our second son, Thomas, we began to have one of those fabulous conversations. You know the kind of conversation I mean. Those that are both fun and profound.

Both Thomas and Doug are ADHD and so this conversation was both full and brief. For those of you who are ADHD or who love those who are, will totally understand what I mean by this. Brief and full!!

Thomas began by saying he though that someone should make an ADHD school. I began to write down the few ideas that he thought would make a school great for ADHD kids.

Here they are.....

1. Posters on the wall that change every day. This would keep the classroom interesting all the time.

2. rooms that changed regularly. Not in the way that made people confused but that just made life at school more interesting. :)

3. during the lesson --- cut to the chase---- get to the point.

at this point Doug joined in and there was a lot of yes and oh   that would be great and that is so awful when the teacher .....

I just loved this. A sharing of the ADHD journey with dad and kid amongst the laughter and fun and will, some very valid points in my opinion.

the list goes on....

4. The teacher should never, ever repeat himself or herself - ever - ever....

5.ha.. a buzzer on the desk that indicated when the child has 'got'  point so the teacher could swiftly move on...

6. speed things up a bit... not so much so that too much homework is given:)

At this point Doug shared his love for watching you tube DVD because I can speed it up and listen to it double time.

Then we were done!!

Saying Goodbye

saying goodbye

Saying goodbye is part of life.  Nothing in life stays as it is.Some goodbyes are temporary while others are more serious and permanent. There is more than a hint of loss with a goodbye. This week we say goodbye to someone who has profoundly touched our lives. Mrs Linda Anderson. She is our grade 4 teacher and this year we are privileged to have her as Samuel's teacher.

We all feel deeply sad to be saying this goodbye. She is an exceptional teacher with insight, empathy and kindness beyond measure. She is wise in her dealings with children. when James was in grade 4 we also had her as his teacher. At the end of the year, she wrote each child a little, personal note. At the end of his school career at Sweet Valley, she wrote him another little note. Full of confirming, godly words. Of all the teachers in grade 7, James chose to give a gift to Mrs A ( as she has become known in our home).

We are blessed with a bunch of excellent teachers at our school but Mrs A we salute you as exceptional. We are" gonna miss you something arwful" BUT know that God is at work in all things and he will bring this bunch of kids through with their new teacher.

Thank you for your kindness and love; for all the chats and laughs and for your heart of deep compassion for people.

God bless you as you journey on with him towards eternity.

Bring Back Our Girls -- a metaphor

Bring Back our Girls!!!

These tragic words are the cry of many of us who feel and fear for the long term safety of the girls in Nigeria who have been stolen by the militant group Boka Harram. 

The shocking reality of these young teen girls is almost to horrific to mention out loud let alone think about it.

And yet, for these and for many, many girls and indeed women around the world, this fear and tragic out come of life is a reality.

slavery

abuse

rape

persecution

voiceless

femail genital mutilation

beating

 Slavery, trafficking  abuse and a lack of freedom of choice is real for far to many girls and women living in the 21centry. The plight of these lost stolen girls is heartbreaking as well as perplexing. I wonder how it is "we" the world who search for them can not find them. But, be that as it may, I pray for real and quick solutions to finding them and reuniting them with their families. Families who must be absolutley devistaed with grief and despair. I pray to for the long term healing of all that they are experiencing daily as they remain hidden from the world. I pray too that as we reveal in the shock at a group of men being able to snatch over 200 girls from a school and as yet, not be held accountable, we might step back and consider the many that these girls represent. 

Bring back our girls has a far wider reaching cry than simply those in Nigera.

 God have mercy on us.

The fun we have - holidays in Cape Town - 2014

It is holiday time again!

I love to spend time with my boys doing things we never get to do. We plan some things that do not cost a great deal and try and spend some time with each other and with some friends too.

This morning we spent time with Georgi and Sven at Rondevlei. It is a nature reserve in the Western Cape. It included the vlei or wetlands in the local area. We saw chameleons, 2 mongoose, 2 tortoises, pelicans and many other birds, hippo tracks but no hippo, a said snake but we could not see it, beautiful flowers and spiders, and insects. 

It is an outing well worth it. It costs R12 for adults and R6 for children.

This is our Thomas. 

Thomas loves to move and be active. He is a great sportsman. His fab fav sport right now is squash. He is driven and dedicated to learning all there is to learn and put it into action.

This holiday he is enjoying a three day hocky clinic and squash lessons. 

The Science centre was one of the places we visited.

 The things of science and wonder. We had a fun time with some good friends.

 Spending time with family is an unusual treat for us as we live a great distance from nearly all of them except for the lovley Jones family. Worcester here we come!!

 The evolution of man!!

 Nutella for breakfast!!

The beautiful Cape!!

Thoughts on : When our child is faced with dissapointment.

This world , with its focus on success and triumph, will offer its share of dissapointments. Our children are not immune from this. As with most of the difficulties of being a good enough parent, I find the hard, painful dissapointments of some of the trickiest and personally painful. 

This new week at school began with tears and dissapointment. 

Holidays were over and school is back on. 

The reality of this is no small thing for any ADHD child.

One of our sons has a strong competative aspect to his nature. This is a good thing for him for various reasons. But it also means that he sets his aim very, very high and sometimes he does not reach this target.

Dissapointment is a constant friend when sometimes striving fails.

I am learning to hold his dissapointment with tenderness and care. I am learning to help him feel it and grieve it and thats ok. Today, again, I found myself on my spiritual knees before the Father asking for  the right words..... for wisdom. 

Today again I found myself being able to offer those real words of life. I held them out to our precious son and watched as he listened and drank. 

I talked about the reality of dissapointments that this life has in store for him. I reminded him that God has a plan for him and that plan is good and perfect. That sometimes God allows these dissapointments so that we can hold the things of this world lightly and we can cling to HIM with all we have. 

Jesus is our treasure above all things.

It is painful for me to see his wounded soul and knwoing that there is absolutely nothing I can do to prevent or stop the pain. 

And yet the pain and heartache is ALL in the safe and loving careful planning and care of God.

But I can share Jesus and I can pray.

and these two things are not nothing. They are everything.

So today again , like when he was a little boy, I picked him up and held him near and whispered words of love and comfort from my heart to his. Once again , I shared my faith and my saviour and once again I entrust him to the God who will never dissapoint. 

Ever!

Reduce - reuse- recycle?

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Global warming.

Climate Change.

Recycling.

Saving the planet.

Saving the environment.

extinction.

endangered.

These are some of the words that our children are exposed to on a regular basis. In South Africa we often have news stories which revolve around the demise of the Rhino. 

Any nature programme worth its salt will have a slot on how the environment is in danger.

I often wonder at the impact that these messages of doom and gloom have on our children. Do they feel empowered to "do something" or do they feel it is all just pointless. Perhaps is seems too far into the future for it to feel real. 

We often chat in our home about the probable rise in the sea level and what that would mean for people living right next to the sea side. 

From the Christian world-view stand point, we understand that we, man, woman and children, are placed in a custodian position over the earth. We represent God on earth and are to keep order over nature,  We understand from scripture that we have indeed messed up. 

This is not the popular world-view which has a more yin and yang idea with man and nature in balance.

The truth still stands. Man is responsible and capable of changing the way things are in relation to the environment.

I see it as a must. We must try and do what we can to contribute in a good way.

We must do something.

This weekend we had a frank discussion around recycling. 

We recycle as a family but I was saddened that my boys did not really see the value in recycling. 

What is the purpose? 

We separate the plastic, paper and tin things and take them off to our local dump. The stuff is stinky and messy. 

I have written about our local dump and how great the recycling section is. 

There are people to help unload and sort out the recycling that is brought there. 

As if in answer to this I stumbled across an excellent article in a local magazine. This article juxtaposed the act of recycling and exactly what it achieves in the South African context.

As I read it I recognised Gods Grace again.

We learned together that by collecting bread tags  we can help make a wheelchair. Many recycled plastic bottles are used to make useful things. 

By recycling  water bottles we reduce the land fill space.

We read about the jobs created for people in the recycling industry. Last year alone R422 million was injected into the local economy through the sale of recycled goods.

The recycling industry is a growing industry. It is proving to be working well and solving some of the problems of the environment.

We are avid readers of the magazine Popular Mechanics. We love to read about the fantastic ideas people have in tackling the issues around the planet.

It is encouraging and a great reminder that man has the ability and will to do the right thing. Man is able to change the way we live now and create a brand new, sustainable way of living.

For us, at home, we press on with our tiny recycling commitment knowing now that it does make a difference.

We know that in all things God is at work and so trust him and do what is right.

Reduce - reuse - recycle!