Last night

Last night Dan, Dusty, Phil, Jeremy, Joanne, Kristin, Naomi and I headed to Sharky's (in Hillarys) for dinner, before going to the Nodes, which is a beautiful place overlooking Hillarys. At the Nodes we met Siobhan. We had an awesome night of fellowship, especially seeing Naomi and Joanne are hapas like me. I felt like i was with my cousins!

Picnic at McCallum Pk

Dan, Kristin, Jo, Johnny and I went on a picnic last night. It was so lovely. I felt really at ease with them all. They are all like brothers and sisters to me. Praise God for great fellowship ;-)

Juliet's shoes

Getting Joshua's clothes ready

Mum's first grandson

This is Joshua at 12 weeks old, getting ready to enter the world in July 2008.

Outwitting Marshall

For the last week or so, Jassy has been on heat, which has been really frustrating because Marshall has been racing aroudn the house trying to mate her. It was, therefore, absolutely hilarious to find her in the bath tub one night. We have all discovered that Marshall is unable to get to her when she is in there! She climbs in there every night to have a break from him and to catch a bit of sleep ;-) What a clever dog. In the meantime, Marshall just sits beside the tub waiting for her to climb out. Haha

Victory-filled year

Today i received a letter in the mail saying i had been accepted into Victory Life Bible Training Centre for 2008. It wasn't all that big a surprise, seeing i did an interivew yesterday morning and it was a very positive experience .... and also, the day before, i felt God speak to me in a dream.

The dream occurred in the early hours of New Year's day - what a day to tell me! I had been contemplating my future and trying to discern what the Lord's will was for me this year and then i had this dream in which i felt without a doubt, that God told to do it. I know it's not my own will because i hate studying and i have never wanted to do full-time bible college, especially not for a whole year. When i quit my job last year, i thought i was quitting to go into an elite job in the private sector ... not so!

So, this was my dream. I was in a massive building, that was sort of like a very fancy renovated heritage-listed concert hall, with many rooms. The place was absolutely breathtakingly beautiful with very high decorative ceilings, grand marble staircases, sparkling floors, chandeliers and at the time, there was an awards ceremony taking place with thousands of people sitting in a very huge hall, listening to speeches. Somehow, i found out that i would be receiving an award and that someone had arranged for me to receive a lovely bunch of delicated long-stemmed flowers! Upon hearing the news, i looked down and realised i was in some very shabby, dirty clothes, perhaps the sort i would paint in? I felt this deep feeling of dismay come over me. I knew i could attend the ceremony and receive the award, but i certainly wasn't dressed the part.

So i hurriedly began to search in boxes at the back of the hall for some more appropriate clothes. I moved from box to box and as i did so, the floorboards creaked and a few people in the audience turned around with very irritated expressions on their faces. I could feel the tension rising within me and a feeling of anxiety coming over me as i realised i didn't have much time to find something. I began to run around the venue and as i ran up grand staircases and around the periphery, i caught glimpses of this huge audience from different vantage points, all waiting expectantly for the end of the ceremony for the presentation of awards and the recognition of success.

Then i felt the Lord say that He wanted to bless me, but i had to go through a time of preparation, being trained and equipped and I felt as though He said i could go now as i am and enter into what He had for me, but i would not be well-prepared. Rather, it would be better if i went to bible college and received what i need to in order to be at my best. I suddenly realised the benefit and importance of devoting my year to Him and putting aside my dreams and desires for a year and obeying Him.

So the very next day, i drove to Victory Life Centre, filled out an application form and they asked me to attend an interview on the spot with Ps Ginny. We had a wonderful chat and we both felt a deep peace about it. I got my confirmation today.

The number seven is symbolic of completion and the number eight is symbollic of new beginnings. How funny that i should end my career after 7.5 years in Government in 2007 and start my next cycle of pressing into God and learning what His purpose and plan for me is, in 2008.

Over the last few months, i have had a lot of people tell me how great bible college is. In fact, at almost every service, i have walked in and sat randomly with people, only to then find they they had attended bible collage at Victory Life Centre. Every one of them said it was the best time of their lives - they had amazing fellowship and just soaked in God's presence every moment of every day. One of the pastors, Marika, sent me a message just two weeks ago saying she was praying one morning and felt that it was God's will for me to do bible college. At the time i dismissed it, because i had my own selfish desires.

I think i would have spoken to at least about 30 ex-students so far. Many said that they couldn't help but hear God's voice so many times because they were so immersed in the Scriptures every day. Others said their lives were turned inside out as God led them through inner healing in all aspects of their lives. They said they formed special bonds with their bible college mates and learnt invaluable skills.

My friend Justin, who i used as a referee, said when he did bible college many years ago, he learnt how to deal with difficult people in the work places he subsequently worked in. He said that was one of the most valuable lessons for him. He also learnt a lot about team-work. He cautioned me though, to be selective in who i shared personal things with. He said one of the greatest blessings for him was when the college director (he went to Rhema and Tabor bible colleges) took an interest in him and committed to helping him become all that God has intended for him. Mum is warming to the idea.

I haven't told many people yet.... still getting used to the idea of full-time study and hanging out with students again, living cheap, trying to make each dollar stretch as far as it can so i don't have to work.

The day Rhys came to church

Last Friday, i got a message through Facebook from my friend Rhys, saying he wanted to catch up because he was in Perth for a few days. He lives in Melbourne now. I know he isn't into church at all, but i suddenly had this bright idea that i would invite him to Victory Life Centre..... and to my utter amazement, he said "why not"!!!

I rang him up Sunday morning to see if i could pick him up in time for the 10.30 am service, but he was in a hangover state, having been partying hard and drinking til the wee small hours of the morning! He was in no state to go to church in the morning, but he said he was going to a party at 2pm and would take a break from the party to come to church. Fat chance of that happening, or so i thought! I sent him an SMS at 5.30pm saying "don't forget about church", seeing he said he would prefer to drive himself there.... then at 5.40pm, he asked where i was, because he was at church early!!!

As soon as i saw him, he jumped up and gave me a big hug. It was my old buddy Rhys, brought forward into the future some six years since i saw him last.

We sat right up the front. During praise and worship, he looked around with sheer curiosity and he said the musicians were very good and that i had a good singing voice. During this time, Margaret Court decided to get the church to pray in tongues - Rhys said he had never heard of this before, but just went along with it all. It really cracked me up watching him, because he saw me clapping, so he started clapping, then when there was a song about surrending our lives to God, everyone lifted their hands up, so he did too. After about 3o mintues of clapping, he said he was tired of clapping....

Then Margaret talked about the gift of prophecy and i explained to him that it was sort of the Christian version of a clairvoyant, except that it was God speaking through us. Margaret then said we were going to do something a bit dfferent this time. She asked everyone to pair up with someone they didn't know - there were strictly no friends to be paired together. Rhys freaked out a bit, then an old lady said she waned to be my partner.... i said "but Rhys needs someone". No sooner, had i said that, then a BIG Samoan guy appeared and said to Rhys "you, come with me". The look of terror was in Rhys' eyes as he obediently followed the guy right up to the front of the church. He turned around and i poked my tongue out at him ;-P haha

Margaret then said she wanted everyone in church to pray in tongues for their partner and after five minutes to prophecy to them - saying whatever it was that we felt God was saying, even if it was just one word. My old lady partner said she felt God say He would make me as bold as a lion and then she had a vision of a fine-toothed comb and said she felt the Lord was saying i would be able to comb things in the spiritual realm with greater discernment. How interesting.

When Rhys came back, he said God spoke to him about forgiveness. It turned out that six years ago, his sister's boyfriend was murdered by a Samoan guy and since that day, he has held an intense grudge against all Samoan people. However, he said that when this guy started to pray in tongues for him, it melted his heart and he realised he had to let go.

Later, he said he really enjoyed the service. He was surprised the church didn't mention sin, apart from the time when Margaret recalled a story about an old lady on crutches who had had a person come up to her in church and tell her she was not healed because she had sin in her life. Margaret rebuked the lady for saying such a wicked, ungodly thing. Rhys was very impressed.

Afterwards i drove Rhys to the Bellisimo restaurant where we had pizza and turkish bread and coffee..... and where i paid the $29.10 bill because Rhys was grumbling about not having any money and i couldn't be bothered arguing. He was very appreciative. Urrrggghhh - i guess it was just one isolated incident. Once in six years!!!

I stole these piccies off his Facebook account. He plays in a band called Fourth Floor Collapse, which is really famous... just do a Google search and you'll find HEAPS of stuff on them. They have won a lot of awards and recognition for their music. Unfortunately, I don't like his music cos i feel that the singers mumble and sing ungodly lyrics.... but he can still be my friend and i know God loves them all ;-)