brave

eas·y /ˈēzē/
Adjective
Achieved without great effort; presenting few difficulties.
Adverb
Without difficulty or effort: “we all scared easy”.
Exclamation
Be careful: “easy, girl—you’ll knock me over!”.

There are many wonderful words I could use to describe my son, Adorable, wonderful, advanced, clever, determined, OUTRAGEOUSLY-GOOD-LOOKING, etc (You probably saying ‘Easy, girl, what’s with the bragging?’ {do u see what i just did there?}, so I won’t put you through too much more proud mommy jabber ) But, easy. Easy is not one of them. He was colicky from day 4 and has bad reflux, and so posed many difficulties and it has taken A LOT Of effort to get him to stop crying and it still is taking huge amounts of effort to get him to stay asleep.

But then i read the definition of easy again and i was like, ‘well i suppose you could use ‘easy’ as an adverb for him’ (Quick side note, I don’t know if it really is grammatically acceptable in South Africa to say ‘scare easy’ as in the definition above, but what the heck it aids my blog.) um, so yes, you could say ‘he wakes easy.’

So there maybe my son can be easy after-all!

Then Jesus said, ‘Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.’

guilt noun \ˈgilt\

1: the fact of having committed a breach of conduct especially violating law and involving a penalty; broadly : guilty conduct
2 a : the state of one who has committed an offense especially consciously
b : feelings of culpability especially for imagined offenses or from a sense of inadequacy
3: a feeling of culpability for offenses

Guilt. I never really knew what it felt like until i became a mom. Now I battle with it daily. Is is my fault he doesn’t sleep? Maybe if i hadn’t been so eager to recover in the first week of his life, he would be more settled? Am i doing everything I can for him? Am I ignoring my husband more now? Shouldn’t I be ministering more to the students? My temper is shorter Because I am tired, always tired, from a true lack of sleep. So i guess my guilt is 2b.

I am grateful that Christ addressed my guilt on the cross, therefore I can lie it down at His feet again, and again and again. Really. Must. Stop. Picking. It. Up. Again. I know it is done, I know it is dealt with.

Grateful for that.

How about you? Have you ever struggled with guilt? Was it real? or like the definition was it from a sense of inadequacy?

‘Whoever believes in him is not condemned’

Truth is a person.

Jesus says: “I am the way and the TRUTH and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”.

Truth is not relative. He’s absolutely my relative.

So I’ve been thinking a lot about reading, and how we seem to lose our ability to read properly. I have noticed myself losing focus so quickly. I used to be able to read for hours and hours, and really enjoyed it. The last year or three I’ve noticed that I read less books, I tend to not finish books (which would have been unheard of for me a few years back) and I read several books at a time, instead of focusing on one.

I believe this is due to the information overload the internet delivers. We’ve become information-hungry junkies, and because of the high volumes of material to get through, we read faster and with less focus, skimming through any form of text. They even teach you how to skim read now. I know I’m starting to sound a bit old-fashioned now, but sometimes old-school is cool.

I recently listened to Pastor George Stormont talking about Smith Wigglesworth. Smith Wigglesworth wasn’t the most literate person around, and hence would only read the Bible. But that doesn’t seem to have been such a bad thing at all! History tells us what an effect that had on his life and ministry.

The way Internet is making us lose our reading skills is even affecting my Bible reading. All too often I notice myself having read an entire passage, without having taken in anything!

So I’ve been trying to read less other stuff, and more of the Bible. I started with cutting out some media consumption. I used to read online newspapers a lot. For some odd reason I thought I needed to know about everything happening all the time. I really haven’t missed it at all, and I must say, I don’t think I’ve missed anything either.

I found this nice test/survey that you can do to test yourself on how well you are aware of your royal blood as a Son/Daughter/Prince/Princess of God. It’s not really so much about the result as being honest to yourself and asking these questions. They’re really good questions that will make you think.
I found it on Kris Vallotton’s (from Bethel Church) website. Go check it out here:  http://www.kvministries.com/index.php?page=Prince-Pauper%20Test

Our fast-paced society drills it into our systems, that we always have to get stuff done, and be efficient, and not waste time. This microwave meal culture tells us that time is money. And hence, we treat our time spent with God the same way. I agree that we shouldn’t waste any time, as our time here on earth is already so short, but time spent with our heavenly Dad is not time wasted – this time is Honey.  How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Psalm 119:103

I’ve always found, that the more time I waste spending intimate times with God, the more Glorious His presence becomes! I think our Father honours it when we “waste” our time on Him, like the lady who “wasted” her expensive perfume on Jesus. Isn’t it great how God’s economy just works differently?!

Why stay in the R of SA?? It’s a question many people have been/are asking
themselves. In my case, with a Dutch passport, the world is my oyster.
So why stay in the R of SA?
The last few years have seen a trend of South African’s leaving the
country for supposed “greener pastures”. The reason I say “supposed”
is because often those greener pastures might not be as green as you

think. As this is a bit of a sensitive subject, I want to add a disclaimer to
this post: I might use some generalisation and the things I say don’t
necessarily apply to everyone.

But I have been saddened by how many people have left this beautiful
country. Not only because it can’t be good for the general growth of
the country, but also to see so many families spread out across the
world – I’m sure you can relate to this. Personally – three of my
siblings live in Europe, and my brother and sister in law in Canada. I
really do miss them a lot.

I think it comes down to one thing for me – calling. I feel God has
called me to serve him here, specifically in Cape Town. The sad thing
for me is that so many people making decisions on whether to stay or
not, don’t base those decisions on calling, but on other things. I’d
love to say that I can understand it if people move because they don’t
feel safe, or the instability of the country. But unfortunately I
can’t. I’d love to say that I can understand it if people move because
of better job opportunities or career paths. But unfortunately I
can’t.

I believe we should base our decisions on the calling that God has for
our lives. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do
good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.Eph2:10

All countries have their own set of problems. And, using the common
church lingo, if you’ve found the perfect place, it won’t be perfect
anymore because you’ve arrived. Other countries might lead us to a
more comfortable life-style, but last time I checked, following Jesus
doesn’t mean living a more comfortable life. In fact, the Bible says
things like “take up your cross” and “die to self”.

What do you think? Would love to hear from some people what their views are.

I AM

I AM
Even though I was, I will be…
I AM

I AM I AM I AM I AM I AM I AM I AM
I AM Don’t put me in your box. I AM
I AM I AM I AM I AM I AM I AM I AM

I AM, Neatly packaged to accomodate Me in YOUR world view. I AM

? I AM. Has it ever occurred to you that it is I who decides who I AM ?

I AM
Taste and see that I AM good.

Could it be that I AM bigger than your tea spoon sized bites ?

I AM
Even though I was, I will be…
I AM

? I AM, Too good to be true ? Maybe.

I AM
Come and drink
I AM

I AM
There’s an endless supply of I AM…

Just don’t settle for scraps!

I AM
Even though I was, will you let me be…?
I AM

Some years back people used to wear arm bands with the letters WWJD on it, reminding themselves What Would Jesus Do in the situations they would find themselves in. It’s a great thing to think about. It helps us live the life Jesus would have us live.

I came across a very interesting website. It’s a gallery of photos taken by a fasion photographer, depicting Jesus in the 21st century. It’s a very challenging and beautiful photo series. Go and have a look at http://www.thejourneysproject.com/Gallery.aspx

Love.