Goodbye Govt

Today i waved goodbye to 7.5 years in the public sector. I don't think it has fully hit me yet that tomorrow i will officially be unemployed. I actually feel a deep peace about it because i know it is God's will and that He has something better in store for me, though i have no idea where it is, other than in the private sector somewhere.

My farewell was amazing. All day Sunday i agonised over what to say in a farewell speech and then i came up with an awesome lot of words to say. This workplace was by far the best work place i have ever been in - filled with really friendly, warm, caring staff who all seemed to love me. I have never been in a work place that was so peaceful and where no one disliked me. I s'pose that's what made it so easy to be myself and to give a confident speech. I could have stood there for ages in front of them all - i told them all how special they were and i really meant it.

I feel as though this year has been a year of preparation for me, a time of training me and equipping me and i told them that they had imparted knowledge and wisdom to me, which i will apply to future work and to new projects. I just love them all so much. It's so easy to love nice people. Every day between 10.00 am and 10.30 am all staff stop for 15 mintues to have mornng tea in the conference room. I intend to go back and hang with them there sometimes. No other work place i have been in has had a room where staff can all just sit and drink a cuppa together. I love that.

What was really funny is that about a week ago Hermie, my beloved office colleague, came to me and told me she had collected $67 for me and asked me what i wanted. Then we snuck out of work separately one lunch time and met up in the City and bought it together. What a blessing. No one has ever been so thoughtful. She actually negotiatied with the sales manager right in front of me, which resulted in him giving her a $20 discount on a top-of-the-range hydration sports backpack!!! It's called a Camelbak and it holds 1.5L of water and you can use it for jogging. Because of the discount, we had $27 to spend, so she bought me a little "hotman", which is a pot holder shaped as a man. It is just gorgeous. Below are photos of me and my new gifts, then some staff mucking around with my little guy (Louis, Hermie, Michelle and Pina). Boy they crack me up ;-) haha

Busy busy busy

The week gone by was just as crazy as the previous one. Monday to Friday i worked during the day, but then the nights were busy too.

I started out with Monday night prophetic classes, which are always a bargain for $15 for about three hours worth of wisdom and practical application of teaching. Rod & Kerrie had spent the day praying for their Monday night students, asking God to speak to us all... so that's why all day i couldn't stop singing "Nothing is impossible - He holds the world in His hands" ... i even sang those words loudly as i ran to and from Jacobs Ladder on my lunch break! At the class, Kerrie got us to sit next to someone we normally wouldn't talk to and draw the first thing that came to our minds after se prayed. I sat next to the worship leader, Lisa and saw a hand with a globe on it, cos that's what i had been singing about all day. Well, the lady i was drawing my piccy for had the exact same vision a week ago, so she felt that was a confirmation for her!!!

For me, Lisa saw a vision of a flower with wiltered leaves, but then the season changed and new petals grew and the flower blossomed and emitted a beautiful fragrance. Then her vision zoomed out and she could see the flower in a beautiful garden and lots of people were coming to admire the flower and smell its fragrance.

Then for another lady, Lyn, i saw a kitchen and it was warm and inviting with the aroma of fresh bread in the air and fresh flowers and home brewed coffee on the table. There was a rug under the table, a window and a little song bird singing outside the window. I sensed it was very dark outside, but not from the night sky, but, rather, in contrast to the spiritual atmosphere in this beautiful kitchen. I felt the kitchen was symbollic of the lady's kitchen. She told me that people who are rejected by other groups and people are forever dropping into her home, people with depression and illness, people who are troubled and broken and although her kitchen is not clean and orderly, these people are always welcome and leave with peace in their hearts... perhaps with a song in their hearts ;-)

For me, Lyn saw a river with garden banks on either side. She said she sensed i was standing on the bank, but that God wanted me to be in the river and swimming upstream, rather than with the current. She said she could then see me swimming and as i swam little seeds were planted and trees grew and many people drew near. Then she said she could see me travelling from group to group and nurturing many people, like a hen nurtures its chicks. She said she felt God wanted me to travel and not stay put where i am. Interesting .... i haven't felt a need to travel, but i'll put it on the shelf for future reference.

Oh, how i loved that exercise.

Tuesday night i went to prayer group. I was tired and my friends weren't there, so i just sang for an hour in tongues and then nicked off at 9.25pm for an early night.

Wednesday night i joined about 50 people for the young adults group at Victory Life Centre. It was awesome. Lana talked about how we are like gold, how God is like a miner who digs through muck and dirt to get the nuggetts, which are then put through intense heat in order to be refined and made beautiful. Then Lance said how when we go through trials, we should bear in mind that God has to give the devil permission in order for us to haveto go through suffering and it would only be so He can see our love and loyalty to Him. Then a beautiful girl, called Angel, prayed for me. I tld her i had just resigned and didnt know where i was headed. She said God will bless me for my obedience.

Thursday night i slept early - i was exhausted!

Friday night, i went to Elisha's beautiful art exhibition and then Ali's 30th b'day. On Saturday, i cancelled a Chrissy party with my Monday night prophetic friends because i was just too tired to go.

Today i went out and bought stuff for my farewell morning tea tomorrow, wrote Chrissy cards to my work colleagues and put them on their desks as work, then came home and wrote a farewell speech. I have done so many farewell speeches it seems!!!

Ali's 30th Bday

Window in the Sky - Elisha's Art Exhibition

KIDS IN CHURCH

3-year-old Reese:
'Our Father, Who does art in heaven,
Harold is His name.
Amen.'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A little boy was overheard praying:
'Lord, if you can't make me a better boy, don't worry about it.
I'm having a real good time like I am.'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After the christening of his baby brother in church,
Jason sobbed all the way home in the back seat of the car.
His father asked him three times what was wrong.
Finally, the boy replied,
'That preacher said he wanted us brought up in a Christian home,
and I wanted to stay with you guys.'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
One particular four-year-old prayed,
'And forgive us our trash baskets
as we forgive those who put trash in our baskets.'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Sunday school teacher asked her children as they
were on the way to church service,
'And why is it necessary to be quiet in church?'
One bright little girl replied,
'Because people are sleeping.'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A mother was preparing pancakes for her sons, Kevin 5, and Ryan 3.
The boys began to argue over who would get the first pancake.
Their mother saw the opportunity for a moral lesson.
'If Jesus were sitting here, He would say,
'Let my brother have the first pancake, I can wait.'
Kevin turned to his younger brother and said,
'Ryan, you be Jesus!'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A father was at the beach with his children
when the four-year-old son ran up to him,
grabbed his hand, and led him to the shore
where a seagull lay dead in the sand.
'Daddy, what happened to him?' the son asked.
'He died and went to Heaven,' the Dad replied.
The boy thought a moment and then said,
'Did God throw him back down?'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A wife invited some people to dinner.
At the table, she turned to their six-year-old daughter and said,
'Would you like to say the blessing?'
'I wouldn't know what to say,' the girl replied.
'Just say what you hear Mommy say,' the wife answered.
The daughter bowed her head and said,
'Lord, why on earth did I invite all these people to dinner?'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Getting ready for an awesome Chrissy again

I am so stoked. A beautiful lady, Jayne, and a crazy welshman, Alun, from work are gonna do the Mission Australia lunch with me this year. In addition, my friend Daniel, who i reconnected with through Facebook recently, is also gonna help out - so my four places are now taken!

I was really touched by the fact that quite a few people from work said they would love to help out if they hadn't made other plans already. Some said they'd organise a family dinner next year so they could help out with the lunch next year ;-) Awesome. I reckon there's a divine purpose for Jayne and Alun doing it with me. Neither know God, so it's a start! Praise God.

Wrapping things up at work ...

What a week!

I started this week with a pretty bad attitude towards work, just didn't feel like being there on Monday. Then people from church asked me to do some graphic design work for them, which i did, and it ended up consuming most of my work time, leaving very little time to do actual work-related stuff.

Then i went to a prophetic class on Monday. What was amazing is that Rod and Kerrie had spent the entire day praying for our evening class. God told them every person who was coming and gave words to them to give to us - well everyone received one except three people.... still, 50 prophetic words and being advised about who would be attending, was pretty amazing!!! God told them that i was entering into a new season of preparation and that God was going to teach me to hear His voice. I knew that already. One thing they did say though is it would be a time of refinement. When gold and silver are refined, they go through intense heat - that hurts. I am not looking forward to the refining process. Anyway, for some reason, i felt really alone on Monday night, despite being surrounded by people. Funny how you can feel like that sometimes. I guess cos they were all so much older than me and people i don't know well.

Then Tuesday, i carried the same bad attitude towards work. It's just that our project is finshed now and all there is to do is tidying up, things like printing and filing and cleaning my office. It's hardly mentally stimulating stuff.... so when i got asked to do more church stuff, i did it... using up all my "work" time for "non-work" relating stuff. I must admit, i did feel a bit guilty, especially seeing i claim to have high work ethics in my CV! Then Tuesday night, i went to the Without Walls prayer meeting. I sang in tongues loudly and for ages. Loved it. I had a bit of fellowship time, then left.

Wednesday morning i chucked a sicky, cos i figured i still had a bad attitude towards work and it was better i redirected my negative energy to doing more constructive stuff. I ended up going to a healing meeting with church. I spent the two hours just bawling my eyes out as little flashbacks from my childhood seemed to enter my mind. I remembered the graduations i had where i was the only kid without parents to attend. I remembered Saturday morning netball where the other kids parents and siblings came to cheer them on. I had no one. I remembered milestone birthdays that came and went without any celebration.... all because mum was always too busy and dad left when i was very young. My heart was just so broken. A lady prayed for me and said she sensed i felt very alone, despite being in big crowds and surrounded by people.... so i told her the flashbacks i had had and she said that was why..... i obviously was having a bit of inner healing that morning. Then i skipped home group on Wednesday night cos i felt exhausted from pouring out my soul that morning and emptying my eyes of all those tears. The guys in home group just don't understand. They all come from great families.

Then Thursday i went to work, but hardly worked. I was feeling really fed up and didn't want to be there. I think i did about half an hour worth of work. Some of my time was spent writing a resignation letter, which i emailed to my substantive employer. Boy that was a big decision letting go of my finanicial security in order to trust God to show me His will for my life!!! I had an early night Thursday and didn't go to the Women's meeting i said i'd go to.

Then Friday, would you believe i chucked another sicky!!! Well, the thing is, when i leave this job and my employment with the Government, i will lose over $10,000 worth of sick leave that has accumulated over the 7+ years i've been in government, so i didn't feel bad about taking the day off ;-) haha Then Friday night i went to Wendy's house to discuss the Tent Crusade and my role. Only Dan, Elisha and i rocked up. Kai-seen made us some delicious fish ball, snow pea and noodle soup, which was awesome. Then we got totally loaded with stuff to do - basically all the duties divided by three and handballed to us. I couldn't wait to escape .... i felt way too burdened with duties for the tent crusade. So i followed Dan to a prayer meeting, that only started at 10.30 pm!

Friday night passed and we were still at the prayer meeting. I was so grateful i went though because there were the most amazing little prayer warriors in that meeting. A young guy, Dave Hack, played his guitar and sung us beautiful church songs as we just lay there and soaked in the annointing of the Holy Spirit. Then there was Steven and Joanne - two Eurasian siblings with pastoral parents, then Clare Wagner, Phil Scrim, Dan and I. I was in awe of how fired up these guys were in prayer. Their hearts were so hungry and thirsty for more of the living God. I left close to 2am feeling inspired and deeply at peace. Being in their company just drowned out my bad attitude and sorrows from the earlier days.

Then Saturday, i dragged myself out of bed to go to Clayton's 30th birthday. There i made friends with Daniel and Louise. Daniel is a woody, just like Clay, while Louise is a nursing student. We clicked well and i told them about my poo-swinging adventure with Marshall and how i was gonna eat lunch with the Chief Justice and all sorts of garbage. I can really talk non-stop sometimes ;-) I also chatted with Michael, an exercise physiologist, and Dan, who was at the prayer the night before. I half chatted to Relle, Ali and Cate later as well, not much though.
















The piccies are of Dave & Kristian, then Relle & Cate, then Mike, Dan, Clayton and his sister.

Then i went to a 25+ social event with the guys from Victory Life Church. I went in knowing no one and came out knowing heaps. It was absolutely awesome. I met Cameron (a lawyer), his beautiful gf Sedi (HR person in an engineering firm), Bronwyn (Office Manager for Cameron), Rochelle & Jane (two model-like entertainers who work on luxury cruises singing and dancing), Marika (a pastor and daughter of Margaret Court), Janice (a soon-to-be Bible college student), Wayne (wharf worker), Craig, Simone (works at Centrelink), Bellara (engineer), Allia (a muslim lawyer), Sharn (an engineer), ...can't remember any more names, though that is pretty amazing i remember so many!!! I left pretty early with an outflux of people. I think it was around 10pm.

Then today i dragged my tired self out of bed and went to Without Walls to help with the kids program at 10am. There were about 20 kids aged between 6 and 12 years old. Pretty cute. I was impressed with how wel behaved and generous the kids were. Big difference between kids from saved and unsaved families. These were all from good Godly families and knew their bibles well. After the service i gutsed some lunch before sitting on the grass and teaching a bunch of kids how to make balloon animals. I was among the last to leave the church at close to 3pm! I was so tired and my fingers were hell sore after tying and twisting so many balloons! I got home, fell asleep until about 6 pm, and missed the 6pm Victory Life Church service i was intending to go to. Agggghhh, what a week.

Tent Crusade

These two flyers were designed for the same event, the first one by my friend, Daniel, the second by me. Another friend of mine said she thinks they appeal to different audiences - she said Dan's gives the impression that the event is for charismatic Christian adult professionals, whereas mine gives the impression it's more of a family event, with an emphasis on entertaining children. I deliberately simplified the language to make it appear more inclusive for people who are not from Christian backgrounds. I think it's hilarious we came up with such totally different creative designs.

Dan did his up using MS Word, while I did mine in MS Powerpoint!

Chrissy dinner at Jenny's house

Went to Jenny's house last night for a beautiful Christmas dinner with the Forerunner girls. I think it was the best night we have had together. There was just a real sense of peace, unity and warmth in the atmosphere and I felt really at ease, despite making the decision recently to make Without Walls my spiritual home. Phil and Jeanette, who head up Without Walls, are like spiritual parents for Forerunner and oversee the leadership team and there are lots of events that Without Walls runs, which are atended by Forerunner people, so i don't feel like it's a huge decision. It was more an acknowledgment that I feel that Without Walls is meeting my needs more and is the place i'd say is feeding me the most. I absolutely adore the people in Forerunner though. They will always be very special to me.

Here's a collage I made with the piccies from last night. There were 12 of us in total, which was a great number for dinner. The last piccy is of Elyse. I just reckon she has really kewl greeeennn eyes, hence the large piccy ;-) haha

Rivers of living water

Surprise!

On Thursday, I took young Marshall for a walk. In contrast to most days, I decided to take him a little further past the uni campus that's just near my house and down to the riverside. Just as we walked near the uni, a huge group of students poured out of a lecture theatre and headed towards us. I was quite intrigued seeing so many people all at once, so i paused for a brief moment. Marshall, on the other hand, appeared totally disinterested and instead, started to inspect someone's garden.

Just as the first few students made it to where we were, Marshall decided it was a great time to demonstrate his remarkable skill of emptying his bowels quicker than anyone I know. Within a few seconds, he had deposited four massive piles of poo in the middle of the footpath ... right in front of the students where they were about to walk. With all the recent notices around our area of the $2,000 fine for leaving souvenirs behind, I had no choice but to quickly pull a plastic bag out of my back pack and clear his gifts off the footpath ... nothing like the aroma of fresh, hot, moist GIGANTIC pieces of poo, not to mention the thrill of humbling myself to pick it up.... There were no rubbish bins in sight, so I had to carry it with me.

No sooner had we crossed the road carrying our delightfully transparent big bag of poo, a magpie decided to torment us with wild screeches and savage swooping. Because my 60kg boy was on the lead in one hand and my other hand was holding the poo bag, I was unable to pick up a stick to defend us, so I had no choice, but to start swinging the bag of poo, like a lasoo, around our heads. We power-walked as best as we could down the entire strip of the uni in this super hero fashion. If the excretory process hadn't caught the students' attention, my wonder woman action sure did! Fortunately, the magpie left us alone 10 minutes later. By that time, all the students had disappeared.

We finally made it to the river, where I gratefully threw the poo bag in the pet poo bin.

Gold Coast

This is the amazing house that six of my home group friends and I will be renting for one week in March next year when we go to the Gold Coast to attend Todd Bentley's Downpour Conference. With one married couple, we worked out that if we use the den as a room, we will all get our own bedrooms ;-) Kewl bananas. It works out to be $370 per person for the week, which is not bad for luxury accomodation.

Supernatural Conference

Last night I went to Perth Christian Life Centre (at 3 Rangeview Place, Canningvale) to see Dr Bernard Blessing, a guy with an amazing testimony who God is now using in a very powerful way. He was born in Africa to a prostitute mother, who he was forced to part with to live on the streets. He begged to survive, then was taken into the homes of various people, who h cleaned houses for and in return, lived in their garages. He was mistreated, beaten and abused beyond all understanding by many people and eventually locked in a garage and left to die with an open bleeding wound, when God had mercy on him and miraculously healed him and delivered him from his unjust circumstances. God brought him a wife, who had no womb, but then was miraculously healed to bear a child (who he named “Miracle”), but then, was taken from him in a fatal car accident. The depth of his suffering is beyond comprehension, but God has taken his tragic life and turned him into a powerful tool, who ministers to many. Glory be to God.

As soon as I walked into the church, I could feel the anointing in the atmosphere. It was so uplifting and I felt a real peace about the place. The worship time was powerful and the message was great, but what really amazed me is that God gave Bernard the names and details of many people in the room and as he called them up one by one, they came up to the stage and confirmed the accuracy of his words. Many were miraculously healed. I listened as an old guy told about how his knees were so injured he had previously not being able to walk up steps, like the ones he had just climbed to get on the stage. Another guy said he had had chronic back pains and so it was pretty touching to see him bending over and stretching in ways that a person with back problems could never stretch. Every person testified that they just knew they had been touched, with many saying they had felt a warm touch in their injured limbs or backs or hearts or lungs, etc… I had tears running down my face as I listened. I was just so deeply encouraged.

Bernard is on again at 7.30pm tonight, tomorrow, Tuesday and Wednesday all at the same venue. The place was absolutely packed with people standing in the foyer at the back, so it’s worth getting there early! Praise God.

Farewell to two office chicks

Went to Rigby's today to farewell two beautiful girls that i have worked with this year. Jo started shortly after me and is headed to a Project Officer job at Rockingham hospital. Eloise has only been with us for about fourth months and doesn't yet have another job. Pretty sad to see two young ones going, but hey, not long before i leave too.

New Mayors, Presidents and Councillors

Had a really long night of work last night, which extended into the wee small hours of this morning cos I was doing a bit of work for the Electoral Commission. We had a mighty task of processing all the results from the recent local government elections, which took place across the State. My job was to process emails from the returning officers who had used a program called “Count WA” and then to enter them into the Electoral Management System so our IT gurus could then upload them onto the website.

We processed about 60 local government authorities’ results, which involved filling about 210 vacancies for councilors, mayors and presidents. It was actually a lot of fun. I was put into the boys team – working with three young blokes – two of whom were the sons of managers in the office. We had a really great time, joking around a lot and making the most of our very long shift together. I think the biggest council was the City of Perth. I had to do a ring around close to midnight to find out where some 20 or so councils were at because we hadn’t heard from them. A few of them said they were no where near finished with counting ballot papers. I think the last person left at about 4.00 am. I wasn’t keen on hanging around. I think a lot of the people just wanted the overtime pay, but I figured my sleep was more valuable. Money isn’t everything.

Anyway, here are some shots from the night, starting with the three blokes I worked with.

My beloved office

I will soon part with this beautiful office.

Engraving at Kings Park

Tribute

This post is a tribute to the ex's in my life who helped to shape me and make me the way i am today (not sure that's such a good thing!) :-) It is very weird thinking that i could be married now, maybe with kids, but definitely in a very different life to the one i have now. I had the opportunity to marry four of them.

When insults had class

"He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire."
-- Winston Churchill

"I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure."
-- Clarence Darrow

"He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary."
-- William Faulkner (about Ernest Hemingway)

"I've had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn't it."
-- Groucho Marx

"I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it."
-- Mark Twain

"He has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by his friends."
-- Oscar Wilde

"I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play; bring a friend... If you have one."
-- George Bernard Shaw to Winston Churchill... followed by Churchill's response:

"Cannot possibly attend first night, will attend second, if there is one."
-- Winston Churchill

"I feel so miserable without you; it's almost like having you here."
-- Stephen Bishop

"He is a self-made man and worships his creator."
-- John Bright

"I've just learned about his illness. Let's hope it's nothing trivial."
-- Irvin S. Cobb

"He is not only dull himself; he is the cause of dullness in others."
-- Samuel Johnson

"He is simply a shiver looking for a spine to run up."
-- Paul Keating

"He had delusions of adequacy."
-- Walter Kerr

"Why do you sit there looking like an envelope without any address on it?"
-- Mark Twain

"His mother should have thrown him away and kept the stork."
-- Mae West

"Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go."
-- Oscar Wilde

Lady Astor once remarked to Winston Churchill at a Dinner Party, "Winston, if you were my husband, I would poison your coffee!" Winston replied, "Madam if I were your husband I would drink it!"