Start Your Year Nobly

The New Year-2017

Already this year has been jam packed full of various and diverse intense emotions and situations.
One of the highlights has been partnering in a 'Daniel Fast' with my church, Shiloh.

A Powerfilled Start.
Every year, Shiloh church undertakes a 21 day fast from the 10-30 (inclusive) of January. A  'Daniel Fast' is typically characterised by plain fruits and vegs and no 'pleasant' food, such as wine (alcohol), meat, bread, pasta, rice, sugar, caffeine, maybe dairy ( at least , this was mine).  I didn't entirely exclude dairy, but had very little, and I also included some seasonings and sauces. 

The idea is, at a time of fasting, you spend more time committed to the Word and prayer and seeking God. It is a powerful discipline to participate in, on whatever level you choose to do so. Some people fast from social media, TV, sports Tv, electronic games or devices, particular activities, or places. It all depends and it is between you and God.

So tomorrow is the last day, and it has been a ride!
The first week week a nice sliding into more time in prayer and reading and some prophetic insights. The second week brought a surge of a sense of power and authority in the Spirit. This third week has brought drama and circumstances and opportunities to lean on what was provided through weeks 1 & 2.

Second Month and Moving right along!

And now, with the fast concluding, I am preparing for changes that require such a depth of drawing on all that I perhaps hadn't even fully processed, plus all that I consciously picked up along the way. I guess you could say that I was given some theory and now I have to walk it out. Or swim it out, coz I feel thrown in the deep end!  And this is how the Bible teaches us to gain a fuller understanding of what we hear.
Philemon 1:6 and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ. ESV
This, and many other similar verses, let us know that as we actively share and communicate our faith, we actually grow in to a deeper knowledge of what we have through our faith In Christ Jesus.

Only God knows how our hearts work and what it takes to really prove us in His Word. His love for us, if we allow Him, will lead us through various training, so that we are able to stand in times to come. The Spirit inside us is an expert at guiding us into the Truth He wants us to know, and provides us with the perfect places to implement it. No wasted or unnecessary learning here! No years of study before gaining experience. Oh no! It is line upon line, precept upon precept. Learn, do. Hear and heed. Put it into practice. 

Ready or not! 


Nobody Does it Better.
It's important to appreciate tho, this is strict training and it is for a purpose. To make you strong, firm and steadfast. Your labour in the Lord is not in vain. Life is not going to wait for you to get ready. God preapres us for what He knows is headed our way.

Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. I Cor 15:58

We do ourselves, and potentially others, a great disservice to resist the lessons  and opportunities God provides because they will enable God to work through us in the lives and circumstances in which we are soon to find ourselves.

Sigh! And yet, even knowing all this, it is still hard to simply surrender.

Much as my heart wants to please God and trust Him in everything, this smelly flesh wants to rise up, taunted by distractive and devilish devices that draw me from the real purpose and heavenly perspective to focus on emotional reactions and natural reasonings.

O, how I hate falling for that stuff and giving the devil such satisfaction!

But here's the thing:

                                                                                  We Are Not Alone

You, we, cannot do this on our own. We cannot do it at all, actually. Mastering the art of surrender unto Him is the only way we can "do all things through Christ who strengthens me". Phil 4:13

Being FULL of His word, and Spirit so that we can say:
"It is no longer I that lives, but Christ who lives in me" Gal 2:20

And you can't just pull that out of your hat in an emergency! This is something that has to be practiced day in and day out. It is a learned response, a training and maturing in the righteousness that you've become in Jesus.

It is the little foxes that spoil the vines  (SS 2:15). He that is faithful in little will be faithful in much (Lk 16:10). Every thought, word and deed is a seed for life or death, blessing or cursing.

It isn't merely by an act of your will. All such human effort will eventually fail. It is an act of your willingNESS and the result of the obedience that comes from your faith (Rom 1:5). Faith comes from hearing and hearing by the Word of God ( Rom 10:17). If we aren't in the Word constantly and consistently, we will have the infuriating frustration of knowing the theory but lacking the experience of it. We will have the talk, but not the walk to back it up. EMPTY. For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. I Cor 4:20 (But our power comes through God's Word.) Without which we become disillusioned and disenchanted because we thought God's word and the Name of Jesus should work like a magic charm and God failed us. 

No. The Bible is clear...JOsh 1:8

Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.

If we want to participate in the divine nature through His great and precious promises, and escape the corruption that is in the world caused by evils desires, we need to be constantly adding to our faith  (II Pet 1:4-9) Use it or lose it!

We have had a lifetime of being assaulted by the media and misguided people who know nothing of God's wisdom! (And consider it foolishness when they do hear it!) It takes diligence to overcome that with the Word. 

The Word does the work if we just seek to know God and what pleases Him by reading and studying, pondering...and DOING it.

Be blessed in your being a doer of the Word and not a hearer only , and so deceiving yourselves!

Now, that's NOBLE living!

Precious Gifts

T'is The Season!

Between December 8, when my eldest , Sarah Faye was born,  and Jan 18, when my second eldest, Parrish John, was born...is peak season for birthdays, festivities and special occasions. It is also the time, when typically, my rather large, and ever-increasing family comes together, reunion style. Although, it is not so common these days for ALL to be present, there is usually a good representation of most families. It is a wonderful tradition. New babies grow up knowing their cousins, second cousins and cousins once removed ( whatever they all are! lol), and us great aunties, aunties and grandmas get to all grow together with each passing year.

My heart aches heavily that I have missed three consecutive Boxing Day Reunions, but I can sincerely say that absence, in this case, is certainly making my heart grow fonder! Being compelled to want to somehow be with family for Christmas and not finding too many prioritizing it the same way, I felt dreadfully homesick/ And actually was a bit ill for about a week over the holiday peak.  So, the few plans I did have fell through anyway, which didn't help my soggy emotions, already fragile with being 'under the weather'.
Oh... and MUCH rain lol... so those little puns are quite appropriate too!

However, I went to the Candlelight service at Shiloh.. cried through most of it lol.
Then, I called home, and spoke to Sarah and Paulie in Queensland, Matt and Ben had Christmas with them too. And I called Mum's and there was a decent crowd there too. I had Parrish and Rachel send me photos, and i said a few hellos. I shared some words with Carol too and written exchanges with Deb in Tanzania... in short, I got some kinda family fix
CArol sent me this :)


And Rache sent me the family shot from this year, but for privacy purposes of those who may not want to be online, I wont post it.

Unless God wants otherwise... I do not want to miss a fourth Christmas at home. God willing, I will be there to see my family, all of them and enjoy all of them for that special day.

However, I was in a lovely spot and as I began to feel better, I savoured the physical, spiritual and creative space to find ways to enjoy my season.

 I had  been determined to have  some kind of Christmas this year, so bought a little, somewhat bedraggled tree and decorated it with lights and baubles...and the lights of course! My favourite decorations came via a friend, who found them in a garage sale...unique and individual, along with the stuffed toys...
This was part of my Christmas.
 Since I don't yet have my own home, I was so grateful for this place, as it was such a precious gift to be able to be in it at that time. ( We left there today)

 Apart from decor, I did a lot of cooking, which also made my heart very happy. It felt good to be being the wife in the home and as my energy returned, I busied myself more and more.

The image below shows my vegetarian lasagne, made with a lot of veggies, vegetable "mince", almond milk in the white sauce, with some regular cheese and some plain flour. BIG tray, like when I cooked for my large household. I really liked it...and you wouldn't know it wasn't mince. I could trick people with it, if I so desired lol.

In addition to cooking, I was finally able to get started on a gift for my eldest daughter, Sarah, a very belated 34th birthday...but sickness and logistics made it hard to get going with that. However, I DID complete it!!!! Yay!!! And sent it, but I won't post images here yet, coz she is yet to receive it and I want to keep it a surprise!

Also, the devotional that I started for my younger daughter Rachel, whose 26th birthday was January 5, needed to be completed too. I wrote the last two chapters and once we got close to her birthday, I couldn't keep it secret any more! lol See she can get hers in digital version as well as hard copy, coz I want to bind the book for her myself. And I was beyond holding secrets by this point...altho, I am still holding out on Possum's!

I began Rachel's gift during Nanawrimo and was committed to completing it as soon as I could. I worked steadily throughout November, reaching about 30 000words but continued through December too, ending finally with roughly 44 050 words.  Then I added some 'personal reflection' pages... as it is devotional style, but in a story form. It is both a birthday gift and a pre-wedding gift. My second baby girl is getting married on Mar 10.

Then, I created a drawn cover, which I enhanced in Photoshop. When I thought about putting the book together,  I realised I needed a back cover too! lol
Writing the manuscript was the easy part!!!!

I had some many challenges to overcome , between four devices ( two US and two Ozzie), with and without various software...ugh!  that I ended up going to the printer at Office Max to just get a couple of copies for myself. Thinking I could come back and take my time (coz I was stressing over taking too long) to get it published via Createspace on line.

Even this presented several challenges for myself and the server at Office Max.. Janelle.

We eventually got two different version printed out that I decided to go with ... for Rachel's and my own copy. I had to take the pages home and cut them myself, which was ok, but I found myself TWO Chapters short in the version I wanted to bind for Rachel! Double UGH!!!!

With all the rain and a couple of full days, and still being in Oakland up until today, I have yet to return for the rest. Hopefully, tomorrow. :)

I am persevering!

What's missing from this back cover is my Noble Worx stamp.

I had that made up at Office Max as well. :) It gets put on all the things I'm making with the Word...cards, short stories...



Moving Day

As I said, we left the penthouse today.
We are temporarily in a hotel in Alameda-a space I don't mind.

Through my time at the penthouse, I did a lot of listening to some great preaching.. current favourites being David Wilkerson, of The Cross and the Switchblade and the man to whom his mantel as Times Square Church ( NYC) senior pastor, was given, Carter Conlon. And David Platt...LOVE the teaching God brings through that relatively young man from Birmingham, Alabama.

I have been in the Word more. Writing about it, praying more, and feeling the need to do so even more. This eve, I am starting the Daniel Fast, along with my church, Shiloh. It's a 21 day fast based on fruit and vegetables. That means an even greater focus on prayer and seeing God have His way, starting with me! :)

My intention is continue to cultivate my pleasure in pleasing God. I love the idea that when He thinks of me, His heart smiles because I choose to believe Him and trust in His Word. This is my focus, to desire above all things to please Him, through the obedience that comes from faith. Rom 1:5

I don't know how long we will be here, nor where we will go from here. It is nice to be back in Alameda and within reach of the shoreline-if the rain lets up-lol! According to my phone, it won't until Friday! Seriously, the place is quite water logged!)

Current Lingering Joys of the Season 

What I am enjoying at the moment is the pleasure of creating personal, Word filled gifts for the people I love. Dad's birthday just passed ( 8/1)and the first anniversary of his going Home to the Lord too, on Rachel's birthday, Jan 5. There is a bunch of birthdays before and after New Year, but two I want ot create gifts for, are Parrish ( Jan 18, he turns 33) and Larrie...our first wedding anniversary is on Jan 19.

For the other birthdays, I would like to send some of my handmade cards, and I do have some ready and almost ready :)
Ha! So much for selling them lol... I just wanna give them away!

And that is the lingering joy for me. God gave us an amazing, priceless, unimaginable gift- impossible for us to even comprehend fully- Jesus! Salvation in and through Christ.
And all I want for Christmas is for the heart that gave such a gift, to find full and unrestricted flow in and through me. Free to give and free to forgive because I freely received and have been freely forgiven.

This is the ultimate "Christmas Gift". Spread the Word. Share His love.

That's living the Noble life :)