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 :-)

Lawnmowing

Well today I set out to find a decent lawnmower, seeing Julz' bf had an accident on the wkd and cannot cut my lawn. I went to the local supermarket noticeboard and took three numbers down for guys offering lawnmowing services.

The first one, Terry from "Supa Cheap Lawn Mowing", was unwell and said he couldn't given me a quote until next week. Fair enough.

The second one, Brad from "Brads Lawns", came out and quoted me $50 to do a tiny section out the front and back - I thought that was way over the top and he was such a slimey guy with long feral hair and a course voice and I had already decided I didn't want this man to come to my house again.

The third one, Guiliano, took the cake for the slimiest, creepiest, grossest guy award. He had long slimey hair and his English was really bad. He asked me if I had any equipment, to which I said no (hello - he's meant to be the one offering gardening services!) and then he suggested pulling out the grass by hand and said he would make some calls and get back to me with a quote. He came back with a quote for $120!!! Then when I replied to his text saying my landlord already had found someone, he sent me back another message saying he would do it for $95. Urrrgggh, dream away Mr slime ball. As if! I definitely am not paying nay money to have some greedy creepy guy coming to my house to pull out my grass by hand!

So afterwards, I called Greg? from "Jim's Mowing". He said he will come out Friday with a quote. He sounded a lot more respectable, though only a face-to-face visit can determine that.

Oh Lord, please can you find me a decent lawn mowing guy who isn't greedy. The total lawn area is divided into two small sections - both about 2m x 10m. That's it! The job would take about 15 minutes max. How hard can it be? Mum's electric lawnmower cost around $15o. Maybe I should just buy one of those and do it myself :-)

In contrast to y'day, I had a great time with mum and Angelina today. Mum was in a wonderful, charming mood - glory to God.

Yucky day go away

Had a crappy day today. I was meant to take mum's car in for a service, but at church on Sunday Ps Judy asked if I could come into work because Stef (the guy who does the audio recordings) has been slacking off recently and forgot to tell me to burn the notes on to a CD last week and didn't make DVDs for the lectures either, which was meant to be done last week.

Anyway, so mum got really grumpy about me messing her around and I rocked up at work feeling annoyed that I had to reschedule. Then mum started carrying on about how the Church is abusing me and making me work more than I should and all this crap. I worked extra over the Chrissy holidays to create an electronic database so I could do my job more efficiently this year, but have not done any extra hours since then. She just didn't understand it was Stef's fault, not the Church's fault!

Anyway, so when I rocked up at the church, the door to the office I sit in, was locked, and I was told to go upstairs to get the key off Mary-lyn. Well she was also really grumpy and snappy and said she would get it for me later, cos she didn't have time then. Urrrgggh, so then I went back downstairs and was feeling annoyed that neither Stef nor Ps Judy were in the office yet.

Anyways, I finally got into the office and set things up. Then an older lady I work with rocked up and I started doing some of her work for her because she doesn't understand how to use computers. She couldn't even prepare a cover sheet, which merely had two words of text and one logo! Then, Stef rocked up late. Then I went home for lunch and to de-fume and this older lady rang me up at home to tell me her printer wasn't working (like I really care when I'm eating my lunch at home, or can really do anything about it!) .

When I got back to work, Stef's wife was there complaining because she was hungry and wanted him to take her to lunch, yet he couldn't because he hadn't finished the DVDs! I decided to then leave because I had done all that I could.

So I went op-shopping, tried on lotsa things, didn't buy anything. Then went to another couple of shops and bought some stuff. Then I went to mum's house and on the way bought her fish'n'chips, which she said she didn't want because she had already eaten (it was only 4.45pm!). She was particularly cranky too and told me Dave finally contacted her with a stressed-sounding email to say he was in trouble. She told me she had already disowned him as a son and would help him, but really didn't care about his situation. Then she started stabbing at the church again and how everyone is greedy and after your money there .... uuurggghhh

She is very bitter about churches and Christians. She has such a warped perspective due to offences she has embraced.

So I drove back to my house and would now like to make a hot cup of tea, spend time with my Maker and Lord and Savior, then go to bed and say goodbye to this horrible day.

I wonder where this day came from. I have not had a bad day in ages, like months!!!

My role in missions work

Well today we had to present a very interesting thing to the missions class, having just completed a 9 week missions course, called Kairos. We were asked to write a letter to God, asking Him what role He wanted us to play in missions.... then to hear His reply, and draw it in a picture and present it to the class. Then the class prayed for us and gave any words they felt God had for us.

Well last night I suddenly remembered I had not done my picture, so I sat down with my paint pencils and prayed. Then I started drawing the vision God gave me. It started with a rainbow, which Genesis 9:13 says is a symbol of the covenant I have with God. I told the class that when I take communion I think about this covenant I have with God that can never be broken, one which guarantees me blessings in every area of my life.

I told them how I had a revelation that God will restore (7-fold) everything that the devil has stolen from my life and that this equates to A LOT of blessings. Since I had this revelation in Bible college, I have been claiming these blessings through Malachi 3:10 (I give tithes and offerings, so in exchange God is opening up His floodgates of Heaven and pouring out for me such blessing I do not have room enough to receive it) and in accordance with Ephesians 3:20 (exceedingly, abundantly above what I can ask or even imagine) and that all these resources have been poured into my hands (money, clothes, food, toys, medical supplies cos I have medicos in my family).

I told them that I see a waterfall of blessings being poured into my cup and that my cup is overflowing (Psalm 23) with blessings. I believe that God wants me to be a wise steward and redistribute these blessings, guided by prayer and intercession, to different people and projects.

So this is where my missions contribution comes in. I drew a sign pole with arrows on labels pointing to different directions. I explained how money may be sent to some places, but in other cases, the leadership is so corrupt that other types of resources are more appropriate (e.g. toys for an orphanage, or food, or clothes, or medical supplies, etc...).

Then the other contirubtion I see myself making is also to do with prayer and intercession. I see myself wielding the Word of God like a sword (Ephesians 6:17) to clear away boulders, obstacles, hindrances and using the Word of God like a lantern to illuminate the path so it is prepared for other people to establish their projects.

So in summary, my prayers would be a tool for tapping into the supernatural reservoir that God has and then guiding and directing the resources that come from God, to people in need. My gift of intercession would help support and clear the way for missionaries and missions projects.

Then the class prayed for me and Andrew said that Joel 2 came to mind and that I didn't need to fear about losing out on restoration. Helen said she saw the gift of intercession in me assisting missionaries and their outreach to different people groups. Rinna said that I am a great leader and that she saw my words empowering many people. Ps Judy had a vision of a mighty river and said it was full and gushing with boldness and power and that although there would be boulders and things coming against me, nothing would stop me. Nathan said he saw a servant's heart in me, reaching out to people and said I'd be surprised at the results.

Wow, what a great exercise that was.

A very special day in which we did our hair the same as Angelina!

Bella's 1st birthday

Such a gorgeous little girl. It was obvious that Erik and Lori went to a HUGE lot of effort for their little girl's birthday. They had a pink and green theme with professional invites, a basket full of Italian chocolates with Bella's piccy on them to give to each guest, table cloths, flags, balloons, lollies, napkins and an exquisite cake al int he pink and green theme to match Bella's pink and green dress. Wow, in comparion, Angelina'a 1st birthday was so plain!!!

A lovely afternoon

Yesterday, Tammy and Natalie came over for a yummy lunch I made them. I fried up teriyaki marinated chicken with cashews, mushrooms, spring onions, parsley and garlic and rolled this mixture in puff pastry and served the little parcels with a fresh salad and passionfruit/apple juice. I was really grateful for their company.
Recently, I have felt a need to be much more selective over the friends I spend time with and these are two top quality friends who made the cut :-) Nat is a beautiful friend I have just made through college, while Tam i have known for almost two years also through college, but I work with her every Sunday night in the VLC bookshop.

After lunch, we joined Grunde, Julz and Angelina to see a movie with free tickets that Julz scored through work. It was the movie called Up, which was shown in Subiaco at a private viewing for GPs and their families. It was a cute kid's movie.

I think Nat and Tam were quite chuffed to attend. I know I was. We all got a choice of either free popcorn or a choc-bomb and a soft drink, and were given a bag filled with items promoting Hollywood Private Hospital at the end. GPs get lots of little perks.

CEED

Last night I attended a seminar and dinner for previous and current scholarship students from UWA. I really enjoyed going, though initially I felt very out of place because the place was dominated by men, because engineering projects have taken priority in the scholarship program. The venue was the UWA Club, which was very high-class and glamorous. Anyway, one speaker who impressed me was a young man called Samuel Cleary because he acknowledged Jesus as his Lord and Savior .... like at this very prestigious even filled with very senior secular executives and professionals from a wide range of backgrounds! Wow. I was deeply encouraged.

So, I decided to go and talk to him, however, I couldn't seem to interrupt him to talk to him because he was engaged in a deep conversation with some old guy. Anyway, I went back to the seminar room early cos I just felt so out-of-place and didn't feel like talking to any unfamiliar men. After sending a text message to a friend, I looked behind me and there was this guy, so I said to him that I liked the way he acknowledged God and that we served the same God :-) He asked me what I did and I told him I did a CEED project years ago, but was at Bible college now. He asked which one and I told him VLC.

Then later, he came and chatted to me outside the dinner room and I ended up sitting with him. He told me how he went on exchange as a student to somewhere with a name like Slovacia? I dunno. Anyway, and that he goes to a Catholic church and has four younger siblings. He is 24 and the other are all two years apart. One is a physio, one is on exchange to somewhere else, ...ummm, oh I can't remember, but clearly they were all academic, following after his parents. He was so confident and I just adored him. I felt very at peace sitting with him. He was so intelligent and interesting and a very attractive guy who didn't make me feel stupid. It was interesting to meet an obviously devout Catholic who loved the Lord, despite there being huge differences in the way our churches operate and some differences in beliefs, for example Catholics pray to Mary. In my denomination, we see Mary as an idol, because we pray directly to God.

On the other side of me sat Julia who was my old uni buddy that I did honours with. She married a guy I went to church with and introduced her to. They are still happily married some seven years and two children later. I could not believe she has been in the same job for ten years!!! She now earns $70 K, which pretty low compared to government salaries.

Anyway, very interesting night. I also spoke to Laurence Spencer, the previous director of the program, who is a Christian and introduced me to a Tanzanian man called Godsave.

My team

Well, every term at college, we are split into teams and recently we have had to do many different exercises as a team. One of them was to do something that would make the college smile, so I got all my team members to come in, put on one of my wigs and smile for a group photo! I cannot believe they all submitted to my leadership. Haha ...and it was truly amazing that everyone came in on the same day, cos usually there are absences..... so here is the shot we had taken yesterday. It is now up on the church noticeboard.

Bible college camp

Well I survived another camp and didn't end up sleeping in the mass dorm, praise the Lord! In fact, I got to stay in a cute little chalet with three lovely girls, all around the same age. I couldn't have asked for better housemates for the weekend. Here are my snaps...

Path of righteousness

Sometimes it is really hard to stand up for what is right. Yesterday, I returned to the classroom early after morning tea to pack up my things and take them upstairs to the auditorium where we had out next class. However, upon arriving, I discovered that some guy in the class had gone through my things, found my assignment and was sitting there copying all my answers onto his blank assignment sheet. When I asked for it back, he got really annoyed. What a sneaky thing to do! Anyway, I responded in love, but then later asked Ps David for his advice on how I should have responded.

Boy, I didn't expect a volcano to erupt from him! He was so angry. I have never seen him like that. He said it was not only cheating, but stealing and said it was equivalent to the student stealing my purse! He was obviously enraged and I told him I was reluctant to say who it was because I felt awkward about some other incidents I brought to Ps Judy's attention earlier. Anwyay, he said I should speak to Ps Judy because it was her subject and she also got very angry and insisted I tell her who it was. Urrrgggh, so I did. She threatened to tell the guy's gf. Then we also discussed her class and I told her how the "discussion" times end up being opportunities in which all the students who have not done the assignments just copy what the others have written and I asked her what the point of her subject was, given this is what the other students did. Boy, she got madder and madder. I left her fuming, feeling very uncomfortable.

Then today, despite saying how uneasy I felt about the whole thing, Ps Judy and Ps David made a big point about correcting the students. They pointed out that cheating on assignments and stealing demonstrated a lack of integrity and may result in international students losing their visas and being sent home. They also stressed that a person offering their assignments to others to copy was just as bad as those who copied others' work. I could sense Luke's discomfort and felt his glare on me after class ... I removed him from my friends list on Facebook. Definitely don't want friends like him. What a jerk.

Missions work in North Korea

Wow, I just sowed $973.70 into some missionary work being carried out in North Korea, a region of extreme persecution toward Christians and missionaries. I can't say who I made the contribution to, but I do know that it's a reliable source and a ministry that will be blessed. Big deal for a student - but I just felt like doing it after all the talk we have had recently about sowing seed into the Kingdom and supporting people who go out on missions trips that we don't feel personally called to. It would be a hard place to go into, that's for sure. I pray God never leads me there! One day though, I know I will go on another missions trip and I think it will be an Asian country. Recently, I have felt this grwoing desire to go on one and I know it is definitely not my own desire.

Reflections

Seems like so much work to do in 3rd term of 2nd year college. One really interesting unit I am doing is on Angels and Demons. I'm sure everyone has had some experiences with one or the other or both, regardless of whether they're a believer or not. Some of the African students got up in class last week and told us about experiences they'd had first hand of people who were demon-possessed. When the teacher asked if they were scared, they said no and were so casual about it because they see that sort of thing all the time in their culture! Wow, I don't think i'm in a hurry to go to Africa.

Funny thing is though, I feel as though a desire is growing within me to do a missions trip soon. I was just talking to two girls in first year and both of them want to do a missions trip too. One sugggested East Timor, but the proposed trip has been cancelled. I dunno, East Timor is not really my passion, but I am thinking an Asian country maybe. It must be God because I know I wouldn't want to do it in my own strength.