A great reminder!

This post is from CJ Mahaney's blog. I thought it was extremely appropriate, given my sense of feeling overwhelmed yesterday.

In All thy Ways by CJ Mahaney 25/11/2008

My tendency is to charge into the day intent on getting stuff done, attacking my to-do list motivated by self sufficiency rather than by humble dependence upon the grace of God revealed in the gospel.

And given the active presence of pride and self-sufficiency in my life, it is imperative for me at the outset of each day to devote time to humbling myself before the Lord and acknowledging my dependence upon him for all that awaits me.

As I devote myself to this spiritual discipline, the words of Proverbs 3:5–7 frequently inform my meditation and prayer:
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. (ESV)

Alongside my open Bible, I find the exposition of these verses by nineteenth-century pastor Charles Bridges in his commentary on Proverbs to be helpful and insightful. He writes:

Let our confidence be uniform. In all thy ways acknowledge him (Proverbs 3:6). Take one step at a time, every step under divine warrant and direction. Ever plan for yourself in simple dependence on God. It is nothing less than self-idolatry to conceive that we can carry on even the ordinary matters of the day without his counsel. He loves to be consulted.

Therefore take all thy difficulties to be resolved by him. Be in the habit of going to him in the first place—before self-will, self-pleasing, self-wisdom, human friends, convenience, expediency. Before any of these have been consulted go to God at once. Consider no circumstances too clear to need his direction.

In all thy ways, small as well as great; in all thy concerns, personal or relative, temporal or eternal, let him be supreme.

-Charles Bridges (1794–1869), from A Commentary on Proverbs (Banner of Truth, 1846/1968) pp. 24–25.

Overwhelmed

I'm feeling a little overwhelmed at the moment with all that I have to do at this time of year. Lots to organise, lots to get done and not a lot of time to do it in. Yikes! I'm trying to remember this verse:

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven." Ecclesiastes 3:1

A great idea...

Just quickly - have a look at this post from Dana about creating a Jesse Tree which is a great way to teach little ones about Christmas.

A sheep in wolf's clothing?

We have the most gorgeous dog. She is so gentle and friendly. But she does the most ridiculous thing with her teeth when she is focused on her ball. She starts looking vicious - she gets her teeth out and her focus does not leave that ball. She could fetch all day. Crazy dog.

New fabric

I got some new fabric on Saturday...not sure yet what I'm going to do with it. I bought some brights (aquas, hot pink - when I took the photo it looks more blue), which should be fun to use. And I bought quite a lot of the pink fabric with flowers on it. It is really sweet, would look great in a single bed quilt for a little girl. Oh, and I thought I would post one more photo of the progress on the Christmas aprons for the Gingerbread House Construction Party next Tuesday night. They are coming along nicely I think - mind you, it is a very simple design.

Motivate me Monday

During this week I started a blog and joined the 5am club. It has been a big week! You don't know what the 5am club is? Head over to Sarah Mae's blog to find out. It has been a joy to be involved in this, in so many ways. I think it is great timing too.

Even though the club has '5am' in the title, I have been rising consistently at 6am (mainly because my schedule allows me to have an 'extra' sleeping hour at the moment) the last few days. The main reason for this is to start the day off in God's word and prayer. And what a blessing. I can sure relate to what Paul said about "...the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." When I hear that alarm my first reaction is to hit snooze and not worry about my quiet time, or that I'll fit it in later - but often that is not the case.

The trick I've found is a quick prayer to God to give me strength and energy and perseverence to get up out of my warm bed. That feeling of extreme tiredness soon fades and I do feel really thankful in getting up and spending that time with the Lord - before the rest of the day rushes to a start.

I'm reading through Leviticus at the moment (in a Bible reading plan) which has been a bit of a struggle, but the 5am girls have helped me stick with it. I found Lisa's email particularly encouraging this week - she shared Psalm 112:4 - Unto the upright there arises light in the darkness; He is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous.

Despite the difficulties that we are facing at the moment, it is so amazing and not to mention comforting, to know that Jesus is our light and that He indeed is gracious, compassionate and righteous. Have a good week. :)

Sunday

Sometimes I can get discouraged when I'm trying to tell others about the amazing power of the gospel. I feel like it's not getting through. I teach 15 year old girls at a Christian high school - (not all the families are Christian) and I have them twice a week. It is sort of like two one hour Bible studies. Sometimes they respond well and it is really exciting, other times I feel like it has no impact at all. I heard this scripture in a sermon a little while ago, and it was a fantastic reminder, I hope it is for you too - whatever your circumstance.

"Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain." 1 Corinthians 15:58 (ESV)

Some of my quilts

I've made a few quilts over the past six years, mainly for other people. Here are some of them.

I made this one for my husband - before we were married - it is quite simple, but we use it a lot.

This was one of my first quilts before I really knew what to do! It is super cozy and I love the colours.

This is a double bed sized quilt. A friend of mine made one in pinks and whites and I absolutely loved it - so I tried it in blue and white. I made it a bit bigger by adding the flying geese border.
This one is a baby sized quilt made out of flannels. It is a really easy design (raggy patch style). I thought the frog fabric was so cute. I'm keeping this for our baby and think I'm going to keep it in the car for those journeys where they need something over them. I'm currently working on a pink one for a baby girl too. (Yep, I've made quilts for babies that don't yet exist...you can never be too organised, don't you think?!)

I made my niece and nephew a quilt of their own a couple of years ago. Joel's was pretty simple, I used robot fabric along with some brights. This was Casey's. I love it. It did take quite a while. I followed a pattern for most of it, but for many of the applique blocks, I did my own thing. The colours were great. I might have to do this one again one day!

More to come another time - I'll have to take photos of the other quilts that live at different homes!

It's the weekend!

Last night (Friday night) we went to our friends house (Ben & Kylie) and went to this gourmet pizza shop. It is in a lovely location and serves the best pizzas! They also serve dessert pizzas, which may sound unappealing, but they are magnificent! The owner regularly enters into international pizza making competitions and won in New York a few years ago. Now, that may not sound such a big deal, but coming from Australia and winning a pizza competition in New York is quite impressive!

Here is a picture of Kylie and myself. I'm on the left.




Also, I thought it would be fun to post a photo that I took earlier in the year to show you just how beautiful Australia is (or at least a part of it). Many of you in the US have been mentioning the first snow falls that have been happening lately in the lead up to Thanksgiving and Christmas. Well, it doesn't snow here at all (in this part of Australia anyway), but we sure do have magnificent beaches! The following photo was taken on Australia Day (26 January) this year at our local beach (about 10 minutes from my house). Australia Day signifies the date when the First Fleet from Britain landed in Sydney Cove on the 26 January 1788. The fleet carried many convicts, due to a few things that happened, including the American war of Independence, Britain needed a new place to send its convicts. And when you look at Australia on a map, it was the perfect place - we're one big beautiful island - obviously surrounded by sea! Anyway, I took the photo just as the sun was setting - my friend Camille was pregnant with her daughter (she had her three days later!) and the little boy is her son.

Reading a classic

Last night I started a new book, I thought I'd go with a classic. Yep, Little Women. I do remember seeing the movie (the version with Winona Ryder), but I don't think I've ever read the book. So, I started it. It's always nice to read a classic isn't it?

And for those mothers out there, if you haven't visited the Girl Talk blog, I highly encourage you to do so! They are posting this week about mothering (...to the glory of God). I could listen all day to Carolyn Mahaney on this subject - she is so wise yet incredibly humble. I love her quote from Wednesday's post:

"Faith toward God is the foundation of effective mothering. Success as a mother doesn’t begin with hard work or sound principles or consistent discipline (as necessary as these are). It begins with God: His character, His faithfulness, His promises, His sovereignty. And as our understanding of these truths increases, so will our faith for mothering."

I'm not a mother myself yet (but am hoping and praying that I will be very soon!), but I am so encouraged by this message.

Blessed is the man who makes the LORD his trust, who does not look to the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods. Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders you have done. The things you planned for us no one can recount to you; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare. Psalm 40:4-5

A new system and aprons to make...

Well, I love to cook - I'm not quite sure where that originated from. I didn't grow up in a family that spent a huge amount of time in the kitchen...but I absolutely love it. I think I like it so much because it is another outlet for me to be creative. My friends and family know me well and often for my birthday and Christmas I receive a new cookbook. So, my collection is getting quite large. Sometimes I enjoy just flipping through them, for no other reason than to see the lovely pictures of well displayed food and delicious ideas. But with this growing collection of recipes, I tend to forget which ones I've used and if they were good or not. So, I decided to try a new system - not very sophisticated, but easy. I bought a packet of the coloured star stickers and after each recipe, Craig & I will have a chat and rate it. Gold is for amazing, silver is for really good, blue is for good, green for ok and red for stop! (ie. never do again!) I'm even starting to write down little comments or changes to the recipes directly in the books. Some people may not like that, but I think there is something great about looking at an old cookbook of an older relative, seeing that it has been used well and even documented. It's like a little piece of history. Here's what dinner looked like last night, thanks Donna Hay!

Changing the subject now...in two weeks I have organised a 'Gingerbread House Construction Party' at my house for a group of girls from church. Usually we do this as a church event running over two nights where we see around 120 women constructing and decorating gingerbread houses to take home to eat or decorate (or both). This year we aren't having one at church, so I decided to throw my own party, although there will only be about ten of us. It should be heaps of fun. I decided last week that it would be extra fun to make Christmas aprons for all the girls coming, so when they arrive they see an apron on their chairs that they can wear and then take home afterwards. I've cut all the aprons out of a dark apple green coloured curtaining material, I just have to sew them now. I've got just under two weeks, so I have to stop procrastinating and get to them! Here's what they are starting to look like. More photos later.

Well, I've started!

I've been debating this for a while now, but today I've jumped in and started a blog of my own. I'm not sure where this is going to go...but hopefully it will be a fun journey! I had difficulty with the blog name, there are so many good ones out there - but one of my favourite Bible verses is Nehemiah 8:10 - "...for the joy of the Lord is your strength."