Tea Time

I’m Having:~

A Rosehip and Hibiscus tea with one sugar, that my son has made for me in my insulated stainless steel cup.

I’m Feeling:~

Elated -

• As my husband has cleaned up all of the autumn leaves from around our home.
• My son has achieved the standard of writing that we were looking for.
• The housework is nearly completed for another week.

and

• My husband’s pain is managed well, now, thanks to a new doctor who was willing to go the extra mile.

On My Mind:~

• My husband’s knee – his pain is much more bearable since we saw another doctor last week, and his quality of life has improved dramatically.
• Our new church building – praying that building will commence soon.
• Homeschooling – sometimes we see learning occuring, but at other times we see a jump in progress that both amazes and astounds us. Praise God that He knows the learning is taking place!

• The independence of Christian schools in South Australia is under threat, after a new Directive B4 was approved after Parliament rose on 8 December, 2009, which reads:

The Family First party is strongly opposed to this new directive, and already, FAMILY FIRST has received a complaint from a Christian school that was told to pull down a poster from their classroom that didn’t meet this requirement.

This is unacceptable, and a serious threat to the freedom and independence of our wonderful Christian Schools in South Australia.

What you can your church or school do?

FAMILY FIRST is steadfast in its opposition to these new rules, and will move to revoke the rule in the next session of Parliament.

1. The South Australian State Election will be held on 20 March, and FAMILY FIRST is asking for your support. The most important thing you can do is help us with your vote – to ensure that   FAMILY FIRST Member (Robert Brokenshire) is  re-elected to the Upper House of State Parliament to fight this new rule.  Along with Dennis Hood (who is not up for re-election this year), this will give us the numbers to challenge the new rule.
2. Please send this message of concern on to your church and school mailing lists so that more people are aware of the concerning new rule.
3. Volunteer to hand out How to Vote cards on Election Day (March 20) for FAMILY FIRST at a polling booth near you. If you are willing to adopt a polling booth for the entire day, or even if you are just able to help for a few hours, please leave your details with the Family First Secretariat (8265-9442).

Thank you for stopping by to enjoy Tea Time with me, and to Ruth from Celebrate Friendship for hosting this wonderful meme. Please drop by to see other wonderful Tea Talks. Hooray – I finally posted Tea Talk on a Thursday – I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me!

Do You Know how to Crochet?

A man and woman had been married for more
than 60 years. They had shared everything.
They had talked about everything. They had
kept no secrets from each other except that the
little old woman had a shoe box in the top of her
closet that she had cautioned her husband never
to open or ask her about.

For all of these years, he had never thought
about the box, but one day the little old woman
got very sick and the doctor said she would not
recover.

In trying to sort out their affairs, the little old man took down the shoe box and took it to his wife’s bedside.

She agreed that it was time that he should know what was in the box.
When he opened it, he found two crocheted dolls and a stack of money totalling $95,000.

He asked her about the contents. “When we were to be married,” she
said, “My grandmother told me the secret of a happy marriage was to never argue. She told me that if I ever got angry with you, I should just keep quiet and crochet a doll.”

The little old man was so moved; he had to fight back tears. Only two
precious dolls were in the box. She had only been angry with him two
times in all those years of living and loving. He almost burst with
happiness.

“Honey,” he said, “that explains the doll, but what about all of this money?
Where did it come from?”

“Oh,” she said, “that’s the money I made from selling the dolls.”

A Prayer…….

Dear Lord, I pray for Wisdom to understand my man;
Love to forgive him;
And Patience for his moods;
Because Lord, if I pray for Strength,
I’ll beat him to death, because I don’t know how to crochet. (Now this is me – perhaps I need to learn!!!)

I received this story, as an email, from a good friend of ours, and it was just too good not to share. What about you – do you know how to crochet?

Worldly Things

Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 1 John 2:15

If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. John 15:19

What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s. 1 Corinthians 6: 19, 20

For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. Ga 1:10

What do you wear? Is it important? Are the things that you wear the latest fashion, jeans maybe, or the latest miniskirt? What does God think of the things of this world?

We are told, as Christians, that we are set apart for His service, and that the world will hate us, regardless of what we do, so why do we seek to become more like the world with our dress – both male and female?

We should always aim to please God in all that we do, and to dress in a manner befitting the honour and glory that God deserves. We are called upon to be lords and ladies of the King of Kings – does our clothing reflect His glory, or are we more like prostitutes and pimps?

We are told in the Bible that we are the temple of God’s Holy Spirit, and as such we make up the church. What does God see when He looks at us? Does He see a people set apart for His service, seeking to please Him, or does He see a people seeking to live in the world, wearing what the world wears and living in the way that the world lives? What sets us apart from the world?

Why Footprints Diary?

Footprints is a very special poem to me, as it is during the most difficult times of my life that I have felt Jesus’ presence the most. He literally picks me up and carries me through the tough times, and it is only through my faith and trust in Him that He carries me and shelters me from life’s storms. He is literally the wind beneath my wings, and I feel honoured that He considers me worthy of carrying me. This version of  Footprints in the Sand, written by Margaret Fishback Powers is my favourite version – there are others, but this one just speaks to my ♥, as the flowing words are very similar to the King James Version of the Bible .

This poem has been especially poignant and relevant just recently, as we have had friends of ours in hospital – Gwenda, our friend from Tumby Bay and my mum. They are both out of hospital, now, and I praise God once more for answered prayer. Things were more than a little hectic there for a while, but our God never lets us down. He is always there for us, as long as we take the time to rely wholly and solely on Him. There were times when I thought that this blog was no more than a pipe dream, especially when I had to edit about 75%  of the posts that we imported, as they weren’t displaying properly, but God promises that He will never give us more than we can handle, and that He will never leave us nor forsake us. It is through these times that He has carried me … once again, and I’m sure that it won’t be the last time!

Our God truly is an awesome God!