Thoughts for the New Year.

January 8, 2022 Gwenyth Leave a comment

As we enter this new year of 2022, many thoughts come to mind. The main one being that the only certainty for this year is the uncertainty that we finished up with last year! Plans for this year can’t be made with any certainty, as we don’t know when what freedom we have, will be clamped down on again. Our clubs and gatherings that we have worked so hard to start and keep going are now in limbo. Rules are being put in place constantly changing things that we thought we knew we might be able to do. We hear of things happening in other countries, and know with a sinking heart that it will only be a matter of time before we too, will be bound by the same things.

But all is not lost! The sun will still rise each morning, giving us a brilliant promise of another day! Plants in the garden will still grow and flower, amazing us with their brilliance and beauty. God is still on His throne, and His promises still stand….He said, “I am the Lord, I change not!” His Word, the Bible, still stands true and nothing can alter that. His people can still look back on their experiences in life, and see how He has worked for them….nothing can change those memories! So let’s remember these things and look upwards instead of downwards and take heart to keep going.

If we do not have these memories, remember it is never too late to start our journey with the Lord on our side…all we have to do is to ask Him. He has said, “Those who seek Me will find Me!”, and He will never turn down a sincere and repentant person. Once we have done this, then all the rest of this life’s uncertainties that we face this year, will fade into insignificance, and we will be able to go forward into 2022 with confidence!!

Random Devotional Thoughts

Beauty out of Dry Ground.

December 19, 2021 Gwenyth Leave a comment

I have been growing amaryllis lilies in pots this year. A friend who was moving away from the district gave me several of these beautiful plants of hers which I had always admired, and I didn’t want to miss a minute of their beauty. So when the flowers began to come, they were brought in to the living room so we could watch them open and develop.

It always amazes me how such beauty can come out the same soil….how do these plants know when the right time to grow is? How do they know when to send up their flower shoots? Yet each year, we could almost set our clock by them! We have a lot of a certain type of cherry tree that grows wild around our town…how do they know when July comes and that it is time to begin to flower?

There is the Belladonna lily that follows a regular pattern too…every year without fail it sends up long stalks from the ground with its flowers of either pink or white. There are no leaves around this flower stalk and it stands up stark and naked on its own. After two or three weeks, the flower dies down, and the plant is dormant again until about July when the first leaves start to appear. It is a very luxurious looking plant, quite handsome in fact, and fills the empty gaps in the garden. Then about October the leaves start to go brown and die down, and the whole plant goes to sleep. In fact, if you didn’t know better, you would think the plant had died! But when the next February comes, the whole cycle starts again!

The creativity of God to put these patterns into the plants He has designed, is amazing! When we stop to think about it, everything He has made is amazing. Mankind is no less amazingly made, and it is a lesson to us to look for the hidden talents that each one of us has, and to use them for God’s glory. No matter what our surroundings are or the environment we are in, there is always something we can thank Him for. As the Bible says, “Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31)

If you think that you don’t have anything you can do, we can ALL give praise and thanks to Him for what we see in His creation around us!! (Philippians 4:20)

Life Lessons

Fragmented!

December 9, 2021 Gwenyth Leave a comment

Our government has decided in its wisdom that gatherings in general (and churches in particular) are not to meet in numbers greater than twenty-five for unvaccinated people, and one hundred for those who are vaccinated. This means that for a lot of organisations, the people have had to look at how to divide their gatherings and yet keep the overall unity of the whole group together. This is no mean feat, as people tend to gravitate towards those they know best, and hesitate to join those who they don’t know so well.

But we need to look at the wider picture, and think of some positives of such a move. Firstly, it gives us a chance to get to know other people better…there is nothing like a small group to activate conversation by asking questions and really listening to the answers. Then others who may irritate us somewhat, give us a chance to exercise Christian grace and patience, and to look beneath the surface of remarks we may not agree with. There is one thing to remember….always look at the half cup of drink in front of you as being half full and not half empty!!

Then again, there is the prospect of road blocks facing those who travel over our holiday period, and the frustration this will generate….another time of exercising grace and patience!

So whatever our particular test will be, let us remember the wider picture and learn some benefit from it, rather than just grinning and bearing it ungraciously!!!

Random Devotional Thoughts

Famous Last Words!

November 24, 2021 Gwenyth Leave a comment

We recently watched a documentary made by a very well known person towards the end of his life. He had everything this life would promise us….fame, money, and a massive business behind him. But, he had received the diagnosis of terminal cancer. Now he had to face the prospect of leaving all this behind. He had nothing to look forwards to as he did not know God.

But he was still able to leave some good advice which we would all do well to take notice of. He said that even though he had reached the pinnacle of his business world, and could employ anyone he wished to do his work, yet no-one else could bear his illness for him. He said that once good health is lost, it can never be regained.

None of his possessions gave true happiness….his big mansion was still only a place to keep him dry and warm the same as a pensioner’s cottage did….it did not give happiness, and there was still the same amount of loneliness when on your own.

His $300,000 car still had to travel the same road as a $30,000 one, and still take as long to get there, up and down the same hills to the same destination. His expensive watch still told only the same time as a cheaper one, and neither could hold time back. It didn’t make any difference if he drank a $100 bottle of wine or a ten dollar bottle, the hangover was still the same! If you fly first class in a plane or economy class, and the plane goes down, it is the same end result!

Some advice he gave to parents was to train children to know true happiness rather than to strive to be rich. People matter more than things. There is a big difference between being a human being, and being human! We are loved when we are born, and we are loved when we die, but what about the years in between?

Money does not buy happiness….true happiness comes from within, from the joy that the Lord gives when you seek to know and follow Him. The richest man who has ever lived, who started off well, but seemed to end up poorly was King Solomon who said, “Vanity of vanities, ALL is vanity”, and he would no doubt echo the words of the man in the above story.

The thing we would do well to remember is that the Apostle Paul who knew what it was to suffer, could say “Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, Rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4)

Life Lessons

What’s over the Hill?

November 10, 2021 Gwenyth Leave a comment

We have been recently watching some documentaries of the early explorers of Australia, and how they wanted to explore this new continent that they had settled in. Sadly, some of them lost their lives in the process, and all because they went into the trip unprepared for the conditions that they found. They thought that by travelling with camels which were used to dry conditions that they would be safe enough. They made their way over the thousands of kilometers of trackless desert, only to lose their lives on the way back through the heat and lack of food and water.

Yet, if they had only known it, there was enough food in the desert if they had only known where to look for it. The river that they explored had an abundance of creatures in it that they could have eaten, but they weren’t aware of it.

It reminds me of how we flounder along in life at times hungering for the truth, and yet not able to find it because we are looking in the wrong places for it. Or maybe we aren’t prepared to search in the right direction because of some preconceived ideas that we have. The explorers didn’t fancy the idea of looking in the river for something to eat because they weren’t familiar with the things that lived in it. So even though they were desperate for food, they perished because of their lack of knowledge.

So let’s make sure that we aren’t looking for spiritual satisfaction in the wrong places through ignorance or preconceived ideas. Jesus Christ said that He is the Way, the Truth and the Life and that no one can come to the Father (God) except by Him. He is more than a mere name or word to be carelessly used, but is the source of all truth and life. Not only that, but He is able and willing to reveal Himself to all who sincerely look for Him.

Morning Musings

Reflected Light…

November 2, 2021 Gwenyth Leave a comment

The other morning while taking my early walk just as the sun was peeping over the hill, I could see a distant house that we never normally noticed. But just at that time of the day, the rising sun caught the windows facing it, and the reflected light was almost blinding. A bit further on, a closer house also caught the sun’s rays on its front windows. The thing that impressed me was the fact that there was no light in these windows of themselves at all, they were merely reflecting the sun at that time.

It brought to mind the story of Moses in the Bible how that after he had been in the mountain top with God receiving the ten commandments for the people, his face was lit up with the light of heaven on it. It was too bright for the people to look at it and he had to wear a veil over it until the brightness had faded somewhat. Then there is the account of how a man called Stephen was arrested for preaching about Jesus. As he spoke in his defence, members of the council saw that his face was shining like that of an angel.

You might think that this was just in Bible times, but we heard of an elderly Christian gentleman who we knew, who was in hospital recovering from some heart trouble. One day, one of his friends went to visit him and asked the nurse where they could find him. She said, “Oh in the room just along there….look for the man with the face like an angel”.

I wonder if people could say that about us? Or do we have a hard expression on our face when in repose? I often find myself so busy thinking about my own affairs that I hardly see other people and just march past them! It takes effort to think of others and give a smile to lighten their day. If we practiced that more often then perhaps people would see Jesus in us too. This is how we should be….little reflectors of His great light.

Stories for Teens

Be Sure Your Sin Will Find You Out!!

October 27, 2021 Gwenyth Leave a comment

You will find this story in the book of Joshua 10:1-27, 11:1-11…….(in the Old Testament part of the Bible)…..

News of the way Joshua and the men of Israel had conquered the cities of both Jericho and Ai had spread far and wide in the region that Israel was now entering.

The men of Gibeon got together and said to each other, “Have you heard what Joshua has done to Jericho and Ai? We’ll have to do something to make peace with him before he attacks us!”

“Yes,” said one, “Let’s pretend we’ve come from a far country with old worn out clothes and shoes and mouldy bread to make it look as though we’ve been on a very long journey, and ask him if he’ll make a treaty with us”.

“What a good idea!” they all agreed.

So a group of them got together, and dressed in old shabby clothes with worn out shoes, and carried their bag of mouldy bread over their shoulders and went to meet Joshua. When they found him, they told their story and produced the evidence….”Look Joshua, here’s our mouldy bread and worn out shoes. This shows how far we’ve come! Make a treaty with us,” they said. This is where Joshua slipped up. He should have said, “I’ll ask God first”, but he didn’t. He looked at the supposed evidence and believed what they said. “Sure”, he said, “We can do that!” So he agreed to make a treaty with them which guaranteed them to be protected by Israel, no matter what. They went away smiling and pleased with themselves.

Three days later the news leaked out, and the men of Israel found out that these people who had supposedly come from far away, actually lived right among them! The people of Israel heard what these people had done, and they started whispering among themselves against the princes and leaders who had made this treaty. They heard these death threats that the people were making. “We can’t do anything to them,” they said, “We’ve made a solemn treaty with them.” Joshua called for the Gibeonites to come to him. “You frauds!” he said, “You lied to us! You just live nearby! From now on, you will be our servants and do all our heavy work for us!” The other Israelis said, “Let’s teach them a lesson, the lying sods!” “No, we can’t do that,” Joshua said, “We’ve made them a solemn promise and we have to keep to it!” The Gibeonites didn’t mind, and said to each other, “At least we’ll be protected if we become their servants!”

In chapter ten, we see that is exactly what happened. The people of Gibeon started to prosper and do really well. Their animals all grew fat and big, and their gardens bore large crops. The other tribes round about them began to mutter….”Let’s get together and go and teach Gibeon a lesson! That will teach them to make peace with Israel our enemy!” The men of Gibeon heard these threats, and quickly sent a message to Joshua, saying, “Come and help us from these other kings. We’re your servants, remember!” This time Joshua remembered to ask God what to do. “Go and chase them out,” God said, “Don’t be afraid, because I’m going to fight for you!” So Joshua and his men travelled all night and came upon the enemy first thing in the morning. They didn’t know what had struck them when Joshua and his men started to chase them. They ran, and as they ran the sky got darker and darker, and God sent enormous hailstones on them. More people died with the hailstones than died in the actual battle!

This was the beginning of a great victory for Israel, and they took all the cities of the land one by one because the Lord fought for them (Joshua 10:42)

Morning Musings

Thinking Ahead

October 20, 2021 Gwenyth Leave a comment

We have been reminded several times lately how it’s been pretty pointless in thinking ahead and making plans…even from one week to the next. One weekend, we had got as far as packing our motorhome for a Christian Rally we were going to, only to hear about four hours before we were due to leave that the whole thing had been cancelled. Someone in our district had been diagnosed as having tested Covid positive, and as a result everything was closed down within a few hours! And it stayed that way for the next two weeks!

We’ve heard it said that things will never get back to what we considered to be normal….maybe we older ones have had the best years of life! But then, the younger ones will grow up in a world that knows nothing else and will become more adjusted to it all!

None of us likes change, but it seems that this will; become the new normal….changes all around us. When we look at the seasons, we are always glad when spring time comes and everything is fresh and green. The trees are covered in new leaves, and fruit for the coming season is setting on them. This is change with a capital C! The old is left behind with the winter chills, and the new gleams ahead of us full of promise.

Let us look at life like this….what lies ahead will be infinitely better than what we now know, and we can say, “The old has gone and the new has come!” So no matter how uncertain things are here for making plans ahead, we can say with confidence that “we know in Whom we have believed, and are persuaded to that He is able to keep that which we have committed to Him until that day!” (2 Timothy 1:12)

We know that we can have this confidence if we know God personally, and if we don’t have this assurance, let’s begin to read the Bible and find out how we can know these things!

Bible Studies 4 YOU!