Searching for truth.

As I am a Christian, I have always known that there are several differences between what we believe about God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and Salvation; and what the Jehovah Witness believe.

Because of events of the last couple of weeks, I have once again been thinking about the differences between our doctrines. I feel very sad that people who love God, and have a desire to live for Him, and generally think that they are pleasing God, are actually living under deception.

Just take the name Jehovah for one thing. There is no J in the Hebrew language. The letters making up the name of God in the old testament sound more like Yahweh. That is the name for God that is more correct than Jehovah, yet the name Jehovah has become very important in the Jehovah Witness faith and in their bible translation.

Now if you really want to know what the names of God are, and the meaning of those names found  in different verses of the Bible, here is a link to a great resource…

https://www.gotquestions.org/names-of-God.html

So, I have been reading the New World translation and comparing it with the King James Bible. I have found words that are changed or missed out throughout the whole New World translation. I believe the King James Bible is a more correct translation, and I cannot understand why people of the jw faith, haven’t looked into the differences. Do they really want to follow the one true God? If they do, I am sure that a ‘thinking’ person would question what they are actually reading, instead of just blindly believing everything that they are told?

I have also found a great teaching on You Tube called ‘Jehovah Witness; beliefs, practices and errors. I found this video very informative. I am sure that if a Jehovah Witness follower would just dare to watch this video, they couldn’t help but question what they are doing with their life. So my challenge to you, any jw reader of my blog, do yourself a favour, and just have a look! If you are so sure that what you believe is true, what is the harm? God gave you a free will. The only one you should be worried about pleasing is God alone. The elders and leaders of the Jehovah Witness faith shouldn’t dictate to you what you can read or listen to. As I said I am a Christian, and have been for many years, and after looking into what Jehovah Witness’s base their doctrine on, I cannot believe that people belong to this group! So please, have a look at the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lE5KQHf8fX0&t=784s

But, you know what? God loves you and He loves you so much that He sent His son Jesus to die in your place. Jesus was the perfect sacrifice for our sins. Because of His death and resurrection, we can have right standing with God. We can be forgiven and washed clean!  All it takes is a repentant heart and the desire to become a true child of God.

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

John 10:9 and 10  that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

1 John 1:9  If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Romans 10:13 For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

 

 

Addiction!

This video is adapted from Johann Hari’s New York Times best-selling book ‘Chasing The Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs.’

This video came up on my Facebook feed and I found it so very interesting. I wanted to share it on my blog, to see if others may find it just as thought provoking and helpful as I did.

My opinion after listening to the video…

Loneliness and disconnection is horrible, and can have a horrendous outcome on a persons life. We all need to feel we are loved, we belong, we are accepted and we have a sense of purpose. Withdrawing into isolation from others is a reaction, and the alternative is the need to be proactive in a positive way. To turn your life around can be very challenging for those who already feel inferior, unaccepted and worthless. Extremely challenging for those who have already opened the door to addiction as a way of escape to the daily pain that life brings them.

A desire to change takes commitment, lots of loving support, choosing to be vulnerable, and also huge bravery! You can’t do it alone! Building new relationships with the right people is a huge step forward. Good counselling, loving family and positive friendships! But the warning I give is that we should never allow others to give you your self esteem. If they can give it to you, they can also take it from you! We are all damaged people. Life can be amazingly wonderful, but it can also be cruel! What we put into a relationship comes not only from our choice to be the best to another and love them totally, but also from our life experiences, good and bad. And we make mistakes! We are human and that is one of the conditions of being human!

Praise God He loves us unconditionally, and as we are! He never gives up on us or leaves us. In Him we are loved, belong, are accepted and our life has purpose 🙂 To have a personal relationship with God is solid! It’s like having your house built on solid ground. When the storms of life come, you can rest assured that your faith in this loving God, will help you stand firm. ‘For God so loved the world (everyone… even you), that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life (NKJV). We are all equal at the foot of the cross! Everyone! There is no bias!

I know there are lot of people that disagree with me about faith in God, but no-one can argue with the peace that I have from knowing who I am in Christ 🙂 I have no fear for the future as my life is in His hands 🙂 He is my hope for the future and my ever present help for today.

 

So Very Thankful!

I have had the most amazing year! It started with a trip to Palmerston North, New Zealand, for the birth of Robin’s and my fifth grand child G5 in February. Then in March came a trip to Sydney, Australia, for the birth of our sixth grand child G6. And following that in April our seventh grand child G7 was born in London. Yes that’s right! Three grand children in three months! How often does that happen?

In May I had another trip to Sydney to catch up with that lovely new grandson, as well as two sons, two daughter in laws and three grand children, including G6.

In August five of us left New Zealand for Poland. We had a wedding to go to! Second son  was getting married to D2 and nine family members were travelling over for the celebration. That meant I was meeting up with C1 and grand daughter G3, and C4 and D3 from Sydney, as well as travelling with Robin, Judy (my sister), Len and niece Teresa. And, we were meeting little G7 for the first time!

We stayed in Poland in a Palace! It was a fabulous place. Somewhere buried deep in my blog (around August 2014) is a picture of the palace. The wedding was amazing!

From Poland we went to Czech Republic, Hungary, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia, Bulgaria and Romania. This was all part of an ‘Insight Vacations’ tour called ‘The tour of the Balkans’. It was a marvelous experience and fully covered in previous blog posts as well!

After the tour I flew to London (alone) and arrived on the 15th of September. The rest of my family who did the tour flew back to New Zealand. I have had the most amazing three months here looking after my grand daughter G7 while her Mum and Dad went to work. And I have made the most of that time! I have connected with a local Church and the super friendly people there by attending some Sundays, but also by taking G7 to their playgroup most Friday mornings. It has been great! I also took G7 to the local library most Wednesdays for music and movement in French! I loved it, and so did Sophie. That child just rocks to every beat of music with a huge smile on her face!

At every opportunity I went into London to ‘Hillsong London’ church and I would spend the whole day wandering around the popular tourist spots in the city. I spent a couple of Saturdays in the city as well so I could see everything! I have thousands of photos! I also took G7 into London and met up with C2 and D2. After work we explored London by night. So completely different than during the day. The lights and sights are superb!

From the 4th of November until the 26th of November, my sister Judy came over from New Zealand to holiday with me. The second weekend she was here we flew to Switzerland for three days. We stayed in Zurich and discovered the city. We also did a tour of wonderful Lucerne and then went up Mount Pilatus by the cog railway. Oh my goodness those places are a must to visit! I have loaded heaps of photos here on my blog as well. Go have a look and be inspired to go there yourself! You won’t regret it!

Judy and I also went to two shows, ‘Les Miserables’ and ‘Billy Elliot’, and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. We wandered through museums, shops, the winter wonderland and went on the London eye together. So many fun and memorable moments!

C2 and D2 also took me to Oxford, and then Judy and I to Winchester to see the Christmas markets there! So many wonderful, amazing experiences! And it hasn’t ended yet! On the 19th, C2, D2, G7 and myself are flying to Sydney and meeting husband Robin, daughter C6 and her boyfriend, who are flying the same day from New Zealand. We will all be staying with eldest son C1, D1 and grandchildren G1, G3 and G6. And eldest daughter C5 who is in Sydney already, waiting for us to arrive! We will be meeting up with youngest son C4 and D3 before they fly to New Zealand to meet D3’s family for Christmas. We will be having a fabulous Christmas in Sydney together! It certainly will be a time of celebration.

When I think of all that I have experienced this year and of the wonderful provision from God to be able to do it all (and an understanding, loving husband), I feel amazingly blessed! I feel so full from all of the most wonderful experiences and relationships in my life, and feel so emotionally satisfied and happy. Sometimes I feel like my heart could burst with  joy from all these experiences 🙂

Now I am not sharing all this to show off, or to make you feel jealous of me, or to make you think that I am perfect, have an amazing personality, a great character, are better than others and somehow deserve this life. I am human, I make plenty of mistakes and I fail at times, my life hasn’t always been this wonderful in fact it has had many troubles. I am only in this place at this time because of my gracious and merciful God!

Here is the reality of my life, and a little of my past and the sadness I have experienced….

In 1989, when I was 33 years old, I was living in a half finished house and I was solely paying the weekly mortgage payments. I was a single mother of four young boys and I was supported by the New Zealand Domestic Purposes Benefit, which was barely enough to survive on. My ex-husband had left me and the boys and he wasn’t making life easy. I was continually under pressure to ‘hold it together’ for the sake of my children especially when their emotions were also in a mess. They couldn’t really understand the changes that had happened in their lives, and to be honest neither could I.

Emotionally I was a wreck! Not only was I suffering huge rejection from my ex-husband, but I also felt rejection from those who thought I was somehow not worthy of their friendship any longer as I was now a solo mother. I had lost the title of being a wife and had also lost status in society, as I was now officially on a benefit! Some women couldn’t associate with me any longer as somehow I became a threat to them. As a single lady, I was seen as available, I could maybe attract interest from their husbands (even though I had four children). From men, they felt it would ruin my reputation to be seen with me? Of course, having suffered the devastation of a broken marriage I wanted to go break another marriage and cause damage in their life as well! Really? And being a single women with four children, it actually hurt to be with couples and see their happy family, knowing our little family was broken and suffering.

My ex husband played the blame game often (of course it was all my fault), and I developed the habit of needing to defend myself both to him and to the many he had convinced of his innocence, and to our past friends. And I’m not saying that I was completely blameless, but I was completely faithful!

Divorce leaves behind broken lives! And it can take years for those lives to be restored. And even when you think you have it sorted, something happens and before you know it, you find yourself back in the middle of an emotional crisis again! And as a survivor, you do get yourself back on track eventually, but it is a process, believe me. And I have fallen many times over the years. I am a whole lot better than I was, but it is still very sad how deep rejection, or the feeling of being unappreciated, can wound the very soul of a person! It’s also very sad to suffer at the hands of those who have never experienced the hardships of divorce and all that goes with it, and they cast you aside when you show any degree of weakness in your emotional life. I take hurts very deep, and have reacted upon that hurt spirit, rather than see myself as God sees me… totally loved unconditionally, and totally understood. And, I have had prayer and ministry for the brokenness, and I believe that God has helped me incredibly. The upsets from the past come further and further apart now and are much less severe.

As you would know (if you have read ‘About me’ here on my blog) I am a Christian. I know the love, value, acceptance and belonging that comes from receiving Jesus as my Lord and Saviour.  I know peace and joy, and I live a very rich and fulfilled life. I’m not saying that if you become a christian, you will have problem free living. I haven’t had life easy as a Christian, but I have a God who says ‘Cast your cares on me for I care for you’. And He never fails to bring comfort and joy. Yes… it is well with my soul! That doesn’t mean that the echoes of the past don’t come back to haunt me, and that you forget the events of the past, but with God’s help you can forgive and the memories are much less painful.

Many years ago a lady came to me in church, and said that she felt she had a scripture for me. It was Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Well I think God has blessed me with the reality of that scripture for a few years now but even more so in this year. Yes I am so very thankful for the wonderful year I have just had and I thank God daily for it! And I am so thankful for my wonderful family who I get to share this life with. And, I am also so very thankful for the friends I have, who have stood by me and loved me no matter what, and still encourage me to be the best me that I possibly can 🙂

I love you all xoxoxo

I wonder what God has in His plans for us in 2015!

Isaiah 61:3 To bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of dispair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendor.

It’s Easter!

Every morning I read ‘The Word For Toady’. It’s a devotional book that I receive every three months from Radio Rhema, New Zealand (RBG). For each day there is a scripture to read followed by a little message that explains the scripture a little further. The explanation is written by Bob and Debby Gass from UCB International.

Now I have been receiving these books for approximately 20 years! How do I remember to read it, you ask? Well, I have it sitting on a shelf in my toilet, and when I go to the toilet first thing in the morning, I read my ‘Word for today’. Too much information….you say… Well it works for me! Hehe 🙂

This morning is the 18th of April, and it is Good Friday here in New Zealand. The title for today’s reading is ‘You get another shot’, and the scripture for today is…

‘…”Lord, remember me when You come into Your Kingdom”…Jesus said… “Today you will be with Me in Paradise.”‘ Luke 23:42-43 NKJV

And the further reading today just touched my heart, and I want to share it with you.

Author Charles Swindoll writes: ‘If ever there was a deathbed conversion, that was it. The thief lived his entire life a sinner, a hoodlum…in no way did he prove himself worthy…so what had he done to receive eternal life? What did Jesus accept? Faith – simple, unadulterated, unproved faith in Christ. That’s all God requires and all we can offer. The snapshot of Jesus’ life the thief saw convinced him He was the Son of God.

Their dialogue teaches us three important truths: (1) No one is ever too far gone. Think of someone you’ve written off… ‘Oh, they’ll never come to know Christ. I’ve tried everything…he’s never going to respond’. When you’re tempted to think anyone is beyond the reach of grace, remember the criminal on the cross. (2) Your real message is your life. Socrates once called words ‘stupid things’. When your life draws the attention of lost people, you have sufficient proof to back up the words you use. When you let God do the work in their lives, and yours, you’ll be amazed how He brings the appropriate words. (3) All God requires and accepts is simple faith. If you’re working hard to earn your way into the Kingdom…you’re on the wrong path. Think about it – how many works will be enough? When salvation is by faith, all the work and all the glory are God’s.

Never doubt your acceptance into His family when you come His way. The thief didn’t doubt…He didn’t have to make any promises. He believed with all his heart, and was saved.’ You can be too!

You too can read the ‘Word for today’ everyday. I will put the link for todays message below and then you can read each days new message via the internet…..enjoy

http://www.rhema.co.nz/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2638:you-get-another-shot&catid=65:the-word-for-today&Itemid=164

 

Church High Tea Garden Party

Every year in October-November we host a Huge Rhododendron Garden festival here in Taranaki, New Zealand. And our church decided that as we live in the area we should have our own garden party, and make it extra special by having High Tea as well. What a lot of fun! Sadly my Rhododendrons had finished flowering, but the garden still looked lovely, so I offered my place for the event. We had a couple of planning meetings, decided what each of us were making/doing, and with the date of November the 24th picked, it was all on!

20131127-153347.jpg
A single invitation
20131127-153433.jpg
30 made and approx 30 ladies came to the afternoon 🙂

I made some invitation for all the ladies and that sealed the day and time…Sunday the 24th from 2-4pm! I also made some centrepieces for the tables and a doily garland to look extra special.

A table decoration
A table decoration
Our decorated tables
Our decorated tables
Under the gazebo with a nice sparkling grape juice :-)
Under the gazebo with a nice sparkling grape juice 🙂
From the craft room to the gazebo
From the craft room to the gazebo

We invited a special lady to come along and share her fantastic fashion secrets with us. Irene is a beautiful Christian lady who has four grown up children. She has an amazing life story which she shared and then she presented us with many options of what to wear with one black dress! She was so inspirational and we all went home with ideas for transforming our wardrobes!

One way of dressing up the black dress
One way of dressing up the black dress
The little black dress!
The little black dress!
Amazingly Irene walked beautifully on high heels on the grass
Amazingly Irene walked beautifully on high heels on the grass
A red and black ensemble
A red and black ensemble
So pretty
So pretty
Irene looked beautiful and we were amazed
Irene looked beautiful and we were amazed
Thanking Irene for sharing her talent and life story with us :-)
Thanking Irene for sharing her talent and life story with us 🙂
Honouring Irene
Honouring Irene
Irene's creations
Irene’s creations

The food was the icing on the cake…haha! Listening to Irene and then chatting over a cuppa and a cup cake….nothing could be nicer 🙂

Listening
Listening
an enjoyable time together
an enjoyable time together
There's our Sue again
There’s our Sue again
Watching the fashion show
Watching the fashion show
Look at all the ladies :-)
Look at all the ladies 🙂
Mothers and daughters :-)
Mothers and daughters 🙂
Fellowship
Fellowship
Rest and relaxation
Rest and relaxation
Getting to know each other better
Getting to know each other better
time to chat
time to chat
Our set up
Our set up
Pouring our 'Champagne'
Pouring our ‘Champagne’
Time to eat
Time to eat
Our lovely Sweet Sue
Our lovely Sweet Sue
Doreen says her thanks you speech
Doreen says her thanks you speech
Listening
Listening
Pink vanilla cup cakes!
Pink vanilla cup cakes!
Such yummy food
Such yummy food
Chocolate eclairs and strawberries....oh my!
Chocolate eclairs and strawberries….oh my!
such a display!
such a display!
Yes.....we ate well
Yes…..we ate well
Smile ladies
Smile ladies

IMG_5885

And then look at the lovely ladies who not only helped to create the lovely afternoon, they also stayed until every last dish was washed.  Along with Doreen, Shirley and Erin were the most stylish helpers a gal could want!

Doing dishes in style :-)
Doing dishes in style 🙂

Concert for Christchurch

From 12.51 pm (the time the earthquake struck) until 12.51 am, New Plymouth St Marys hosted a concert in support of the people of Christchurch. Northpoint was given the time slot from 10pm until the finish. C5 and C6 were asked to sing some songs. You should have heard them!!! They were amazing 🙂 C6 played the guitar beautifully and their voices just blended together so well. I sat there feeling so blessed and so very proud. I am sure God has BIG plans for both girls! I just wish I had taken the video camera along so I could share them with you, but I didn’t, so I have attached links to a couple of videos of them playing around at home. Have a listen and tell me what do you think? Good or Great?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hysOqa4WJeM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xsz5uYWkpz8&feature=related

mainly music

WOW…another BIG morning at mainly music. Approx 35 families at each session. We had the parachutes out today and the children loved getting underneath and pretending to be bees with ‘Here is the Beehive’.

A reporter from a local magazine called ‘Close to home’ (I think that is what it is called) came along this morning. She took some photos and interviewed me about mainly music. I’m not sure when the magazine is coming out but she looked like she was really enjoying herself. I will post some photos when it is published.

mainly music is my passion! I love seeing the Mums/caregivers singing and dancing along with their children…and also seeing the children grow and develop confidence week after week. We do approximately 2-3 God songs each week and hopefully we are slowly introducing them all to a life of faith. I can’t imagine living life in this world without being able to ‘chat’ to God about each and every little thing! He is a God I can trust, He is my constant companion, and I know He loves me not matter what! I can cast my cares on Him for He cares for me!!!

Have a great day 🙂