Christ in you, the hope of glory

As part of an assignment for the subject on the Book of Colossians, I had to write a paragraph about Colossians 1:27 - what it means to me. Funny how last week I couldn't think of what to write, but today it all just came out. This is what I wrote.

This verse reminds me that I am never alone, that I have a greater power inside me than anything I can face in this world, and because of this, I am an overcomer, more than a conqueror and strong in the Lord in His power and might. I do not need to yield to fear because Christ in me fills me with so much love that it conquers all fear. He is my comforter, advocate, teacher, helper, intercessor, strengthener and standby. I am sufficient and complete because of His presence in me. I have perfect peace because He is Jehovah Shalom, the God of peace who dwells within me. I have a permanent bodyguard and friend. He helps me to see situations and people through His eyes and gives me the right words to say and pray. He guides me along paths of righteousness. Because He lives in me, I am dead to sin and alive to righteousness. In Him, I have fullness of joy and hope in every trial and confidence that He will lead me into the future He has for me.

Care group

Well my break from Facebook didn't last long, cos I had to organise a group photo for my care group at college and I wanted to share it with everyone and Facebook was the best means of sharing it. Here are a couple of shots we took. Kellie and I are in a group with five guys - two locals, one Korean and two Africans.

Word of encouragement

This morning as I was praying for my friend's vision and the dreams and desires God has placed in her heart for her future, I was overwhelmed with emotions and tears were streaming down my face. I heard the Lord say to tell my friend to not be discouraged, that the things she is believing for will come to pass and to trust in Him. I was so hesitant about giving her the message. I kept typing it out on text message, then cancelling the message. Then I went to sit down and just felt a burden to send it to her, so I did. I just said that I don't know why but I was overwhelmed with emotions while praying for her and I just wanted to let her know that I heard the Lord say not to be discouraged, that it would surely come to pass and to trust Him. I felt so silly sending it because I was thinking what it she was feeling fine ... but I know those tears were not for me.

Well, she replied saying that the last two days she has been totally overwhelmed by negative emotions and she had to pray and ask God to bring them under control. She said she had had a dream that Joyce Meyer came and told her not to be disappointed and to keep speaking out words of faith. My message contributed to her feeling God's love and encouragement so strong. Praise God. Wow, what a difference a message from the Lord can make! I pray I will always be obedient to share whatever I feel God has given me to say to people.

Happy again

I went on a big run yesterday on my own. It felt so good! Praise God my muscles are feeling good and my face is back to normal. Gonna be a beautiful fine and sunny spring day today. PRAISE THE LORD.

This is a piccy of Angelina that I took on Wednesday morning - definitely one of the best shots :-) This was just before she hurled Elmo off the ledge.

Sore calves and a raw face

On Sunday, Kristin and I went for a run in Kings Park and did a couple of rounds of Jacobs Ladder and took lots of silly piccies, like the ones below. I am sooooooooooooooo sore now :-(

And afterwards, I had some allergic reaction all over my face and it was itchy and dry, so I went through some drug samples from Julz and covered my face in Hydrozole, which is an anti-inflamatory anti-fungal cream .... however, it stung my face and so I quickly washed it off. Then I used a soap-free cleanser, only to then see it had expired a year ago!!!, so I quickly washed that off. Then I put on some Elocim, which is a steroid cream and also an anti-itch substance. That only made it worse :-( Booo hoooo... so I took it all off, then just put some moisturiser on, which is for sensitive skin, but the fragrance in it, made my face red and painful.... so by the time I got to church to serve in the bookshop, my face was red and lumpy. Before I went to bed, I cleaned my face and covered it with savlon, mum's favorite.

I woke up feeling much better, so before I left for college, I put on some more of that moisturiser I used before.... big mistake! By morning tea time, my skin was extremely dry and itchy :-( In the evening, Julz brought me over some gel that burns patients use and which needs to be applied as a thick layer then covered, in order for it to be effective..... so after putting on a 5mm thick layer, I taped up my whole face with porous skin tape and went to bed! ...I woke up feeling much better, and this time wise enough not to try the moisturiser. This time I tried a bit of Angelina's nappy rash cream ... which was ok, apart from the fact it turned my face white and left filmy streaks across my face. Anyway, got through another day at college and stopped by the baby section at the local supermarket. There was another type of nappy rash soother, which said on the label could also be used for adults, so I bought it! Praise God, it seems the best one so far :-) I am sitting here feeling worn out from all this drug sampling!

Anyways, on a brighter note, here's the piccies from Sunday.

New mentor

This is my new mentor. She is 68 and a pastor and teacher at church. Funny who God connects us with in the Spirit realm. I told her about all that has been concerning me and all that I'm doing about it in prayer and I was pretty touched to see tears in her eyes. She was obviously pretty moved by what I had to say. She wants to catch up once a month for coffee.

My friend's vision for her involvement with Missions

It's really interesting how God links people in the Spirit. I have made friends with this beautiful girl at college and have felt led to pray for her regularly and call those things which be not as though they are (Romans 4:17), for her dreams and desires to come to pass.

While I was praying for her one day, I felt the Lord say to ask her to do a similar thing to what we did in the Missions unit and then use her piccy as a prayer tool to intercede for her. Her vision was amazing! Today, I went and got it laminated and I had it on the dashboard in the car while I was driving and as I started praying for her, I had this weird feeling inside that somehow the Lord's plan for my life involves some overlap with her vision! As I was feeling like the Lord was saying that to me, I felt His presence come all around me and I found myself weeping. I know that did not come from me!!! How interesting.

Prophecies and words that people have spoken over me were flooding my mind and if that really is the case, then it really does make a lot of sense that we've become friends. I love her personality, really sweet, gentle and beautiful chick. I can't wait to see all her dreams and desires fulfilled. God is awesome and faithful and it is so great to have this prayer tool to rejoice over in hindsight when it all comes to pass, just the way she desired it to.

Funny thing is, she used my little bride and groom piccy, cos she lost a piccy she had found on the Net of two rings to symbolise marriage. Haha, she's not really after my husband :-)

Lawnmowing creeps cont...

Well, the guy from "Jim's Mowing" came and unfortunately, he was just as dodgy - quoting $90 for the job. What a rip off .... but PRAISE THE LORD I no longer have to worry about any of them because when Julz told her bf, he was apparently disgusted and decided that despite his injury last weekend, he would come and mow it all for free this morning and once a month in future for free! Oh God is so good! Glory to God. The freshly cut grass almost ministers to me. I feel so much better looking at it :-)