So true!

Season of blessings

Wow, how awesome is God. Today, my new boss rang me up and told me that they decided to waiver the two-month probation and just give me permanency straight away, even before I have started the job! I am so in awe of God. He obviously wants to bless me so much.

Car sticker

Bought this cute car sticker off eBay today 

Jobs are gifts from God.

Got a phone call last Friday to say the top applicant declined ... so the job was offered to me! Now I know for sure that I heard the Lord's voice the day of the interview ... get a job, buy a house and only then consider finding a spouse and having a family. Wow! By the time I get to the final stage, everyone I know in my age group will have finished having kids long time ago. Kinda sad really, but i know God has set me apart and has the most amazing husband He's set apart for me - no matter how doubtful everyone else is, I know that if He can get me the first job I applied for after five years of not applying for a formal job, then He can get me a great husband! Nothing is impossible for those who believe in the One who made the Universe!

So step one s complete now :-)

Fellowship

Praise the Lord for bringing me some lovely friends in this season. My housemate and I cooked a simple though delicious dinner for them:

• Garlic bread
• Pasta salad with sundried tomatoes, feta cheese and spinach
• Fresh green salad
• Marinated beef with rice
• Hot chocolate with marshmallows and ice-cream, caramel crowns and chocolate bullets for dessert

For those who have no voice

⁸ "Open your mouth for the speechless,
In the cause of all who are appointed to die.
⁹ Open your mouth, judge righteously,
And plead the cause of the poor and needy" [Proverbs 31:8-9]

This is the scripture that prompted me to speak up for the ones I love to bring about change. My heart is really aching today. 

Time to work

Well one day a few weeks ago, I just suddenly felt this intense desire to return to work, so I went on to the jobs board and did a search and up came this great-sounding job as an Executive Officer, so I started to do the application. It was due that day, like in a few hours! Ouch ... so I had no time to race to mum's house and grab my old applications. My CV was pretty much up-to-date - I just had to whip up the selection criteria. So that took a bit of memory ... I mean recalling what I did in the eight years I worked in Government before I quit my job, went to bible college for two years and then travelling overseas for two years! Lol

So i'm part-way through my application and I hear this commotion outside. I run outside and there's blood everywhere because Rex has attacked the pet reptile that has lived in the garden for 20 years! He's in Rex's mouth hanging and bleeding and so I tell Rex off, lock the boys inside with me and leave the poor reptile outside and text Viola to come home ASAP. How crazy .... that's int he middle of my application! Well somehow, I got it done and emailed it in.... but later looked at it and realised how crap it was. I left out so many important details and had a few typos. Not pretty, that's for sure. It really is a miracle I got an interview.

So anyway, I was going to do a few more applications, but for some strange reason I couldn't do them. They were all short-term positions elsewhere. All I could manage to do was this application for a permanent level 6 job. How bizarre, it wasn't like I really wanted anything permanent! However, as I started to prepare for the interview, I started dreaming about buying a little apartment somewhere and it's like old dreams were resurrected. So then I started preparing harder.

Two weeks later, I got a phone call to say I was short-listed for an interview and the lady wouldn't tell me how many were short-listed, just that they had been very selective. I think they probably interviewed half a dozen. Mine was an afternoon interview one week later exactly.

So then that made me a bit nervous, but I managed to shake off my nerves, despite them coming back to attack me many times! So then I studied long and hard every day up to the interview.

My goodness, what a HARD interview. There were no hand-shakes, no friendly warm-up questions, not many smiles and the room was so tense. The three panel members were all immaculate well-groomed blondes. They seemed very lifeless and felt stressed to be with. I felt a bit tense in their presence. They were so serious. I asked if they minded me drinking the water and they were like "sure, it's for you" and I said with a big smile: "it's not recycled, is it?" and they said "no" and I said "it's just because I did a microbiology degree, so I'm a bit sensitive about sharing drinks" ... none of them laughed. All so serious! Oh well, moving on :-) haha

So then the first question was nasty. It was a complex problem scenario that I had to resolve using my verbal, interpersonal and negotiation skills. Yikes. What a mean way to start an interview. Then proceeded nine more questions. The second question asked me to discuss a recent written report or policy I had done. Errrrm, well given I have not done any written reports in such a long time, I told them I unfortunately couldn't do that, but I did have a less recent report to describe. I didn't tell them it was from eight years ago, though they could easily find that out from looking at my CV!!! The last question was also nasty and threw me a bit, but something intelligent-sounding seemed to come out of my mouth. Far out.

So then Geoff started asking me all about the missions work I did overseas and my travels. He seemed really fascinated. I enjoyed telling him. He also gave me a second chance with the first question I struggled with. He asked me if there was anything I would like to add from my work experience to demonstrate I had the skills they were after. Boy did I have a lot to say! lol I whipped out my pole-to-piller example and then talked about people who rang up and complained about underground power and how I sold the benefits to them, by pointing out the fact that they were only paying a fraction of the cost for underground power and that the benefits far outweighed any negatives. I told them even I was convinced by the end of my time there about how wonderful underground power was. I got a half smile from the professor on the panel.

I asked a couple of questions at the end and then gave them my pre-planned summary statement. I really do think I could do this job well. I know it would be intense, but I know I could do it. I think God has prepared me to do it. I left with a pounding headache, that dissipated after I did a bible study with Yoona and prayed in tongues for an hour. So I think someone on the panel was feeling like that and I picked it up :-( These people so obviously were not Spirit-filled. When I left, they closed me out of the room and no one walked me out. I actually got in the lift and the lady in the lift asked me what floor I was after and I told her ground floor, and she goes "we are on ground floor" ... oh, silly me :-) In my walking around, I lost my bearings.

Simon said last night that Joel Osteen talked about a job he went to where there were executives on the panel and they told him the other applicants all had better skills and experience, but they just felt to give the job to him and didn't know why. He said that was favor. Oh, I like the sound of it! Yeah man, bring it on. Well at the prayer meeting yesterday, I had Ps Anne tell me she was praying for me at 1:30pm and I know that I was also covered in prayer by Brisa, Tri, John, Lill, Hannah, Silke, Ps Judy, Yoona and my mum! Amazing. With that prayer coverage, how can I not have special favor to get the job :-)

I have no idea when I find out. Hopefully later, rather than sooner. I need time to complete my studies.

Praise God for my time in South Korea

Totally stoked to have a wonderful friend from South Korea now living with me. She was in my cell group in Yoido and is in love with Jesus. Sometimes I come home to hear her playing on the piano and worshipping God. It's the most beautiful thing to listen to. This is her on the left.

Last night she asked me if i would like to do a bible study with her. I was like "sure" ... but really was not sure how to go about it. I chose the passage - 2 Chronicles 20. She just said "ok, lets spend 15 to 20 minutes reading it alone and meditating on it. Then lets share what God said to us through it". Wow, so easy!

Well God spoke me a lot through it. In the start, Jeshoshaphat had a vast multitude of enemies coming against him (comparable to my overwhelming family problems right now). His response was to set Himself before the Lord and seek God's face in prayer and fasting. Wow. I have been fasting a lot lately. I had never noticed he fasted before.

In verses 6 to 9, he starts proclaiming who God is and how awesome he is. I mean He made the world, right, and nothing is too hard for Him.

⁶ And said, O Lord, God of our fathers, are You not God in heaven? And do You not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations? In Your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand You.

⁷ Did not You, O our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham Your friend?

⁸ They dwelt in it and have built You a sanctuary in it for Your Name, saying,

⁹ If evil comes upon us, the sword of judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house and before You—for Your Name [and the symbol of Your presence] is in this house—and cry to You in our affliction, and You will hear and save.

Wow!!! Then just as i've been saying in my heart "I don't know what to do", it says in verse 12 "we do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon You". He has a conversation with God and tells Him how he is feeling. Then God speaks through someone to tell Jeshoshaphat not to worry:

15 Be no afraid or dismayed at this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God's. 

Thank you Lord, what a revelation. He bowed his head and worshipped God and then even before he saw any victory whatsoever, he thanks and praises God. He assigns people to sing and worship the Lord and while they do this, then God sends ambushes against their enemies. Basically, He fights the battle for them - all they do is thank and praise God. Wow!

Then not only does God give them incredible victory, but He blesses them financially with more resources and gain then they can even carry! AND instills such a fear of God into their enemies, that there is subsequently peace all around.

I was astounded that Jeshoshaphat was only 35 and then proceeded in leadership for 25 years. So after trusting in the Lord to win his overwhelming battles through prayer, fasting, seeking direction, praising and worshipping God, seeing an INCREDIBLY huge victory come into fulfilment, He proves worthy and faithful and steps into his ministry.

I really needed that message. How good is God.  

Good morning

Went to Silke's house in Bayswater to pray this morning. It only took me 30 minutes to get there, so I arrived at 6:45am. As I parked the car, I suddenly heared this loud THUMP and got such a fright to see little "Kitty" on my windscreen. She is a new mother of six super cute babies - now all about 5 weeks old. Animals can be so funny sometimes.

My second Korean wedding

Really excited I got to go to Jun-Mo's wedding last night with Simon & Hannah, and Beverley. The whole service was in Korean - all the words, songs, speeches - the mothers all wore the traditional Korean outfits, we ate Korean food and most people mainly spoke Korean! Lol, what a night! ... but i enjoyed it very much.

I wore one of Viola's lovely dresses and it fitted me perfectly.

Travelling the nations

So this is my beloved pillow bear that I bought in Walmart in Mexico City, Mexico for 60 pesos (which is less than $5 Aus :-) His name is Solomon and so far, he has travelled to Australia from Mexico in September 2010, then to America in April 2011, then to Australia in September 2011, then to South Korea in December 2011, then to Australia in May 2012 and now has just moved into a new home in Marmion! We are now living with two wonderful people, two dogs, one cat, four birds and an aquarium full of fish. It's totally awesome. We moved in two weeks ago. Let the great times roll! These are the cute friendly dogs we live with.

Swing time!

This is my little niece (now 4 years old) pushing her little brother (now 2.5yrs) at the kiddies playground in Kings Park last week

Back home

Well after four and a half absolutely AMAZING months in South Korea, 
I am back home. I was so busy I didn't do any blog entries! So just for 
a quick summary:

Handong Global University, which is a Christian university in a fishing 
village called Pohang (country area) paid my return airfare, meals, 
accommodation and gave me a salary to teach Korean 3rd graders 
on a winter English camp. I flew out of Perth on Christmas day last 
year on a 33 degrees Celsius warm summer day and into Seoul on 
Boxing Day on a MINUS 11 degrees Celsius FREEZING cold winter 
day! So crazy. It was a relatively quick flight - just two planes: Malaysian 
airlines to KL, then Korean air to Seoul. Easy. 13hrs in total including 
one-hour in the airport between flights.

Well I was pleasantly surprised to meet 15 other international teachers 
who had also been recruited to teach English. They came from England, 
America, Canada, South Africa and The Netherlands. Nicest people ever.

The first month of teaching was tough and it was definitely God's grace 
that enabled me to teach five classes a day. I really don't know how I did it. 
I sang, danced, taught balloon art, played silly games, bribed the kids with 
lollies ... whatever it took to kill the time. I had no clue as to what i was doing 
most of the time and got horribly sick, as did all the other teachers because 
we were grossly overworked. Well the work itself was not hard, but what was 
hard was the incredibly full-on schedule that included meetings up to midnight 
some nights and then having to do lesson plans after this!

Having never taught in my life before and having no clue as to how to prepare 
lesson plans, i was more reliant on prayer and grace than the others, i'm sure. 
I definitely has fun though and the other teachers were seriously the nicest 
bunch of people and the most amazing people I have ever met in my life. 
I loved them all to bits, despite all our differences. They were great.

The kids on the other hand were challenging. I had some very naughty boys 
who became more and more naughty as time went by. I would be writing on the 
board, only to turn around and find that one had climbed up on the window sill 
or one had unplugged the heater and was riding on it like a bike! lol 


Then my little girls also required much grace. It was hard to balance good and 
bad behaviour in the class and i had one of the most, if not the most, 
challenging combination of kids possible. Actually, i think every teacher agreed 
mine were the naughtiest class :-)

So that was the teaching bit summed up in a very short commentary that doesn't seem 
to do my time justice. Oh well, another day :-)

Messages for the devil who is under my feet

The life of a Mexican missionary bear

Looks like my little Solomon (the yellow fella on the right) is about to head to South Korea with me. The uni just emailed us to say they cannot provide us with pillows!

... so this guy was born in Mexico, came home to Australia, then travelled to America to pick up some great prayer tips at IHOP with me, then came back home and now he's getting ready to try some kimchi and practice his korean on the locals. Oh my goodness. The blue fella belongs to Emily, who comes from America.

Another day with my favourite kids

Yesterday Annette sent me a text saying to drop around about 6.30pm. I really didn't feel up to it and said no, but then strangely enough, I suddenly felt led to go. On the way over, I felt led to buy a Family Feast dinner from KFC. When I got to her house, she told me Ps Alan and Angie were coming over. So we ended up jazzing up the dinner by putting it all in nice bowls and getting glasses out and so when they walked in, we had places set for them.

What an unexpected great night of fellowship. It ended with them all laying hands and praying for my next adventure into South Korea. I was amazed, Gabby started off by laying hands on me and saying a sweet prayer for God to make the kids like me. Ps Alan reminded me I am on a special assignment and God's Spirit has already prepared the way for me and set up divine appointments. Ps Angie prayed I would be united with the person God has chosen for me and Annette covered my family issues. Nice!

Despite a late night, I got up at 4.30am today and spent 2 hours in tongues before spending some more time praying in the understanding. Then Julz rang me up and I went over to her Floreat home and played with the kids, before bringing Angel to mum's house, giving her a bubble bath and reading her books and watching birds with her. When we went back to Julz' house, both Julz and Lars were asleep and continued sleeping about an hour after we got back. I had such a lovely time with Angel. Gosh I just love her so much! I like the way she just randomly tells me things she thinks are important like Malachi has a friend named Woody with a brown hat and she squashed ants at Aunty Nita's house.

Victorious breakthrough coming!

I was just reading some scriptures and came across this one, which seemed to leap out of the book. Suddenly, I remembered this was given to me as a prophecy just before I left IHOP-KC .... how interesting it refers to bars of iron and gates of bronze. God's going to smash them down for me as a testimony of who He is and how much stronger He is than every wicked work of the enemy. Glory to God!

Isaiah 45:1-3

New King James Version (NKJV)

Isaiah 45

Cyrus, God’s Instrument

¹ “Thus says the LORD to His anointed,
To Cyrus, whose right hand I have held—
To subdue nations before him
And loose the armor of kings,
To open before him the double doors,
So that the gates will not be shut:

² ‘ I will go before you
And make the crooked places^[a] straight;
I will break in pieces the gates of bronze
And cut the bars of iron.

³ I will give you the treasures of darkness
And hidden riches of secret places,
That you may know that I, the LORD,
Who call you by your name,
Am the God of Israel.

A day in my life

Rose again at 4:30am to pray for a couple of hours in the Spirit. Saw mum come out of her angry state she had been in for the last couple of days, praise God.

She told me she had a vision of Angel's little hand reaching out to her and pointing to a window with prison bars and two big iron gates. It deeply troubled mum, as she felt this was symbolic of the potential outcome of Julz' battles. Julz is being sued for $1.8M from a previous employer and so far, the case is not going well. Her lawyer suggested her best option is to file for bankruptcy. Mum thinks that's a terrible idea. I personally do not understand why it is so bad, given that Julz obviously has a shopping problem, subject to change, and this would prevent her from over-spending even more.

I know that if that was really a vision from the Lord, then it is something to facilitate prayer, not get all worked up over. Things that are seen are temporary and subject to change. God promised me years ago that He will perfect ALL that concerns me, not just a few of the things. A lot concerns me at the moment.

Then I spent the next few hours downloading worksheets, flash cards and word search games off the Internet for Korea. I found a great sight prepared by an Australian dude who was teaching in South Korea, so he has korean words written under the English words and pictures - just brilliant. However, my eyes keep drying up, post surgery. Dr English explained that he severed my nerves, which affects my tear ducts and so my eyes are super dry and may be this way for three months. How am I going to cope in a dry winter in South Korea?

I feel a bit stressed about Korea, but I guess it's more my family that's putting pressure on me. Mum just gave me a lecture yesterday about how she doesn't agree with me going to South Korea. I just know though that I am meant to go. It was prophesied over me at IHOP and I feel peace in my heart about the decision, even though I have never taught in my life before and can barely speak Korean!!! So crazy, i know.

I also feel awful leaving the kids under Julz' care, when she is so obviously deprived of sleep and making bad decisions, subject to change. I know Grunde will walk out one day and never come back. I just sense that.

Today, I got a letter from the Citibank saying they had reinvested all my money I placed in a term deposit with them for one year. So frustrating because more than two weeks prior to it terminating, I wrote a letter to them and mailed it by registered express post (ensuring it got there two weeks before the end date) advising them that I no longer want to invest with them. Rather I would like to withdraw all the money and have it deposited in my Commonwealth bank account, so I could invest it in some shares. It expired last Friday.

Well, somehow the letter didn't make it to them (how, I don't know) and so instead of getting it put back in my account, they have hung on to it. It's a bummer because now I have to wait at least a week longer just to get my money back and that's a week of profit lost. I am leaving Oz next week, time is running out and it's one stress I don't need.

Then I try and change the pin number I got given with my new Commsec share trading account card. For some strange reason, the online option to change my pin, hasn't worked for me, despite trying in numerous times on different days. I ring up the customer service people and they were extremely unhelpful, saying I could neither change it on the phone or in person - that it simply must be changed online .... so I didn't manage to do it.

So anyways, I see this scripture and feel like it pretty much sums up how I feel at the moment.

2 Corinthians 4:8-9

We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed—

.... preserved and not pickled! That's what some guy on the internet added to it :-) haha

Breakthrough with fasting

Today I rose at 4.30am and spent a good couple of hours praying in the Spirit. I decided to fast all day - for reconciliation between family members and in their spiritual conditions. What a great day so far!

I drove to my sister's new rental house in Floreat (she's moving in shortly) and prayed for wisdom to be as wise as a serpent, cunning as a fox, bold as a lion and as gentle as a dove. Well I started reading Angel her toddler bible and got my sister to take over while I ducked out and moved the car. A little bit of the Word sown into their hearts - amen!

Then I looked after her kids while she ducked out to the shops. Well, unknown to her, I turned my unexpected babysitting time into a powerful time of prayer with the kids. Angel and I anointed her entire house with oil I bought at IHOP in KC :-) We prayed that a fresh anointing of God's Spirit would be poured into the house, which would break the yoke of wickedness and demonic bondage. We warred in the Spirit and released angels. Oh what an amazing time. Breakthrough is coming. God's Word NEVER returns void. He is faithful.

Subsequently, she caught me by surprise by handing me a lump sum of cash and a prepaid Mastercard gift card. I prayed over the cash and gave it to mum afterwards, and told her it was a peace offering from my sister. I'm sure that touched mum's heart.

Wow, God releases amazing blessings when we pray. If only more people believed in the power of prayer. It frustrates me how little my fellow believers pray. I guess I have a lot more motivation than most though, given my challenging family.

Ninth lot of Tim Tams to KC

Just sent my ninth package of Tim Tams to Kansas City, this time to a dear friend called MG who went out of her way to bless me by going to my old home in KC, collecting some of my mail and mailing it to me in Oz. Hopefully, it will arrive before I leave!

I also sent a Chrissy card to this dear old couple, Ken and Glenda, who are affectionately known as the post card pastors. I love their postcards - they are always so warm and friendly and ooze out God's love. I think that will be the only Chrissy card I write. It just seems like too much effort at such a busy time as this!