What's in your Toolbox?

Have you ever reacted to a situation in the spur of the moment to then realize that instead of solving the problem quickly, you just seemed to make a bigger mess? Or the moment where you did nothing because you had no idea at all what to do? Let’s take a moment to look into the behaviours of the subconscious mind. When a situation occurs and we have a split second to react or respond, our mind reaches into an invisible toolbox that holds all the tools that we have learned through life. The toolbox has inbuilt compartments or sections to store tools in (or may remain empty if never stocked). Sections will include family, relationships, work life, parenting and a whole number of drawers and compartments that are accessed from time to time (driving, shopping, school etc).

Humans were made to be highly relational. Original design was for babies to be born and raised in a family. We learn by imitation. That goes for relationships too. Sometimes when we learn something, it’s like a shiny new tool in our tool box. Other times we inherit an old broken tool. If all I received from my parents was a hammer, then I will approach every situation looking at what I can use my hammer for. Too bad if something needs to be cut down to size… It doesn’t matter how diligently I use my hammer to cut that thing down, it’s not going to do a very good job and will probably leave a mess. Too many of us think that we can float our way through life and as long as we love Jesus then everything will be alright. I’m curious as to how that’s working out for you…

Building a house takes more than a hammer. Building a relationship takes more than love. Love should be your power, your energy source, but you will still need a range of tools to build an effective relationship. Tools like trust, assertiveness, patience, understanding, romance and negotiation are just a few that you will need. If you didn’t get these from your parents or significant role models in your life, then there are trained counsellors and coaches that can help you, but you can also go straight to the SOURCE. Take a moment and ask your Heavenly Father for more tools for your toolbox. If your earthly parents delight in giving you good gifts, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to you!!

Pictures within pictures

If you’re like me, and have been in church your whole life, then it’s likely that, just like me, you have heard many references to us being the ‘bride of Christ’. This statement was confusing to me because, well, I was ok being Christ’s bride, but I felt sorry for the guys in the church that they had to marry a man. I know now that the church(as a whole body of believers) is the bride of Christ, not us as specific individuals, although in being part of the bride, there are obvious instructions and benefits that come with that role. For as long as I can remember, I have not heard a specific sermon on being part of the bride. I mean, I’ve heard plenty of sermons that are about being part of the ‘body of Christ’ and are usually prepared and given around yearly offering times or church working bees. If I appear to be a little cynical, please forgive me – these may simply intersect coincidentally, but usually I leave with the bitter taste of attempted manipulation in my mouth.

Anyway! On to the real point of this blog. Over the past year I’ve been exposed to teaching on topics that I haven’t previously heard, and to be honest, make a lot more sense than the messages I have heard in my childhood on the same verses. Although I understood the bride of Christ analogy, I didn’t realise that the parallels to Jewish weddings ran deep. I want to walk you through the process, because it’s blowing my mind right about now!

Jewish men and women would live with their parents until they got married. When a man wanted to marry (or his father deemed him ready), his father would send out a servant to find a suitable match. We see this in Genesis 24 when Abraham sent out a servant to find Isaac a wife. The bride would be chosen. John 15:16 says “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain.” We have been chosen by the Father to be a bride for the Son.

The man would then need to meet this woman and be prepared to pay the bride price, or dowry. “We were bought at a price” (1 Cor 7:23) – the highest price. Jesus gave His life so we might live with him, in His land and His house. In 1 Cor 6:19-20 we are reminded that “your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

After the bride price had been discussed and agreed on, there would be a betrothal ceremony. The bride had been chosen, but she had the final say. She had a right to refuse. We often say that God is a gentleman and will not force anyone to accept Him. This too is illustrated in the marriage analogy. The man would offer his potential wife a cup of wine. If she drank it, she agreed to marry and if she poured it out or broke the cup then she refused the man. Every person has a choice of whether to accept the betrothal of Jesus or reject it.

If she accepted then they would share the cup of wine – and then would share a second cup of wine months or years later during the wedding ceremony. In Luke 22:20 Jesus told his disciples that “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for you” and in vs 18 told them that he will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the day he would drink it new with them in His Father’s kingdom. The disciples would not have missed the frequent wedding hints that Jesus kept throwing out to them.

In addition to the bride price, which was paid to the father, the man would usually bring a gift for his betrothed. It was often something valuable that he could leave with her so that she would remember him while he was away building a home for them. In our day we have an engagement ring, in those days it might have been a ring or a coin or something, but for us – we have the Holy Spirit. Jesus left earth to prepare a place for us, but he said he was leaving us with an advocate, the Holy Spirit, and with Him are the gifts of the Spirit.

After the covenant was sealed and written in triplicate (one for the groom, one for the father and one for the Synagogue) the couple were officially married, but the marriage would not be consummated until the man came back to claim his bride. The contract was legal and binding and the couple could only separate if the man filed for divorce – the woman had no say in it. The man would then make a speech that might include sentences such as: In my father’s house there are many rooms, and I will go to prepare a place for you. And when I have prepared a place I will return to receive you to myself, that were I am, you will be also (paraphrased from John 14:2-3). The first time I heard that I had tingles running up and down my spine!!

The bride would then return to her house, with her bridesmaids, and wait for her husband. She was now betrothed. Married. Set apart. It was up to her to stay faithful. She would wear a veil on her head to indicate she was no longer available. She would often light a lamp in her room at night to ensure her husband knew where to come to get her. This is illustrated in the parable of the ten virgins (Matt 25) where only five had enough oil to attend the wedding ceremony. It was the bridesmaids’ job to ensure they had enough oil to keep the lamp burning in the window, and to prepare the bride for marriage.

When the groom had finished building his new house (at which no one would know the exact time except his father) he would gather together his groomsmen and his family and they would parade through the streets to collect his bride. He would often come in the middle of the night, unannounced apart from the trumpeting sound of the shofar and the joyous shouts of him and his friends. Hopefully he would find his bride excited and ready to be taken back to their new house to start the seven day wedding celebration.

The imagery created all throughout the gospels would not have escaped the ordinary Jewish citizen. As the bride of Christ, we are waiting with anticipation the day when our groom will come back to get us, but in the waiting there is a stewardship that is expected, a diligence in following Jesus’ commands. The Bible is so multi-faceted that we are all at one time children, servants, friends, bride and disciples of Christ, just to name a few! Part of the joy of relationship with God is finding out what each of these roles look like for us as individuals and as a whole body of believers. It’s a mystery and a journey but if we seek Him, we will find Him. Even though I’ve found Him, there is so much more of Him to discover that I find myself, in the words of Heidi Baker, fully satisfied and ravenously hungry.

Will you say yes to Love?

Many times when I sit and reflect on other time periods in history I try to imagine how I would have lived in that time and place and how much I would have loved to be one of the ‘game changers’. I don’t know about you, but I would often imagine myself giving Martin Luther King’s speech, of being Rosa Parks on that bus, of being one of the houses that smuggled refugees during the holocaust. There is so much within me wanting to make a difference. Wanting to see lives and society changed. And ultimately it’s not even about me being recognised for it - it’s more like me knowing that my life wasn’t a waste.

Let’s face it. We get between 0-100-and-something years on this planet. I have no idea why some people die before they are born and other people smoke and drink their whole life and live more than 90 years. It doesn’t match up. But then I’m looking through the wrong lens. Life is not fair. It never has been and it never will be. If life was fair it would also be predictable. And as much safety there is in predictability, there is no anticipation or excitement. I, for one, would rather live a life that was unsafe and unpredictable rather than one that is the opposite. Why? I have a number of reasons. But I wonder what type of life you would prefer?

We are all made to make a difference in this world. No exceptions. But the interesting thing to note is the difference between those people who know they are made to impact the world and those who are either unaware of this fact or choose not to believe it. I teach a group of 10-12 year olds who all believe they are on this earth to make a difference. In 11 weeks we will be taking about 22 of these children to the capital of America, Washington DC, to play their part in making a difference. These children are going to visit congress and encourage their nation’s leaders; they will be standing on the steps of the United States Supreme Court praying for those women and children affected by abortion; they will be playing their part and making a difference. And the best part is – they know it! There is a fire in their eyes and they know they are going to affect change. It’s one of the most thrilling things to witness. If they are igniting change at this age – they’ll be unstoppable through university, in their jobs, with other parents at their kids’ schools… The possibilities are endless and I’m excited!!

Life was meant to be lived, not simply endured. For too long now the church has been living a safe, ineffective existence because they’re afraid of being tainted by the evil in the world. They’ve been separating themselves for decades because they’re afraid of change happening to them. I no longer am interested in such a representation of my friend Jesus. That’s not how he lived and it’s not what he died for. Yes, the human race is fallen and depraved. I get it. I see the news and hear the reports. But here’s the best part!! Jesus didn’t die only to give us a ticket into Heaven – which is unfortunately the message of Christianity that has been booming for as long as I can remember. He came to give us life! His life! He died in our place and therefore everything that was his is now ours if we choose to accept it.

Jesus was the biggest revolutionary of all time. He changed the course of the world forever. He empowered women (if you read your Bible properly you will see this), he healed the sick, he broke the rules that were burdening the people, he offended the powerful (let’s use wisdom here…haha) and he befriended the sinners. He showed us what his father is really like. God is love. Jesus changed the world with a new perspective of love. And if you, like me, have been adopted into this family of love, then it’s our responsibility to keep on with our family’s mandate – Love God and Love Others. It’s simple but not always easy. But the smallest act of love can have a ripple effect so much greater than we could ever know. Will you say yes to Love?

Is Heaven the End Goal?

I’ve had something milling around in my heart for maybe the last twelve months that I have only now begun to start to verbalise and chew over. It’s something that I wish I had have known growing up, but I am also thankful that I have a full life ahead of me to live out in a manner worthy of the One who gave it to me.

As a follower of Jesus, I have always accepted that He was crucified as in innocent man to pay the death penalty for all mankind to create access to God the Father and, on acceptance of this gift, eternal life in Heaven. And while this is true, it’s not the whole story! But for too long, it’s been the only story that our world has been exposed to. Why, even this week we had a tract slipped into our mailbox asking, “If you died today, are you 100% sure Heaven will be your home? You can be, if you…” The message this tract is sending is that the goal of Christianity is to convert poor, lost sinner souls to get an A+ when we reach those pearly gates. Please don’t get me wrong. Jesus died so that all may know the truth and come into communion with the Father – but it doesn’t stop there!!

Let’s go back to the beginning. Adam and Eve. God’s prized creations. Why were humans so special? Because we are created in God’s image! Not even the angels can claim that. God trusted Adam so much that He commissioned Adam to name all the animals that had been created. Just think on that for a moment. God invited Adam into the creation process. They co-laboured. God’s original intention for man was to co-labour with us in creating. Wow. It says in Romans 3:23 that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. What does this mean? That we were destined for glory!! You can’t fall short of something that you weren’t on track to receive! God’s plan for humankind was to dwell in His glory. However, a well-known couple messed that up for us (though I’ve pondered the fact that if it wasn’t them – would it have been someone else…) which meant that we fell short of our original purpose and were separated from our life source – the Father.

Fast forward a few thousand years and we have Jesus. Jesus who was both fully man and fully God. He came to earth as a baby – born of immaculate conception to not be bound to the human heritage of sin passed down through the male line – and grew up to be a miracle working, kingdom bringing, Pharisee offending man in the Middle East. The last verse of John tells us that if all the miracles of Jesus were written down that even the whole world would not have room for the books that were written. Now, I understand that this is most likely an exaggeration, but even so, that still leaves a lot of room for miracles!

All throughout the gospels, Jesus refers to a Kingdom not of this earth. He also rewrites the law to point to a renewed relationship with the Father. The [Mosaic] Law was ruling the Jewish world at this time, but Jesus had actually come to earth to fulfil this [Mosaic] Law and prepare the way for the Father’s new covenant with mankind (Matt 5:17). Jesus became our example of how we can live when in right relationship with the Father. He became the standard. We, as his followers, are called and empowered to live a life like Jesus! You see, this is the best part about God our Father – He’s a great Dad! He made a way for us to become righteous, and in that righteousness have access to all that Jesus had access to!! But how do we know that? It tells us in Romans 8:15 that we are no longer slaves [to sin] but have received a spirit of adoption as sons [and daughters] of God. If God truly sees us as his children, then we have an inheritance equal to Jesus! Now, of course, I’m talking about the standard access we have to the Father and the gifts of the Holy Spirit etc – not to be confused with our reward in Heaven or the favour we have with God.

I’m also reminded of the scripture in 1 John 4:17 that shows that as he is so are we in this world (italics mine). Right now Jesus is glorified in Heaven. And this verse tells us as he is so are we… Paul also tells us in Romans 8 that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead actually lives in us when we have received the gift Jesus gave through his death and resurrection. There is no difference between the Spirit that lived in Jesus and the Spirit that we invite in. That’s definitely a ‘selah’ moment to think about and dwell on.

So. What did Jesus actually die for? To give people a ticket to Heaven? We need to change our perspective. Heaven is not the goal. Heaven is simply a [great] consequence to accepting Jesus. The goal is to live like Jesus did. The goal is to make sure I am making the most of the gift Jesus paid for. The goal is to love our neighbours with such an unselfish love that they see the Father. Our goal is to end suffering through the power of the gospel given to us by the Holy Spirit. Our goal is to break the yoke of oppression and bring the truth – because it’s only the truth that will make people free. So let’s commit to bringing the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so that Jesus will get his full reward!

A True Friend

It’s leading up to that time again. Goodbye. Throughout my life I’ve had a significant number of key goodbyes, as well as many more interim goodbyes. My first major goodbye was leaving my home town of Melbourne to live in New Zealand when I was just shy of 21 years old. I didn’t know how long I’d be gone for. I said goodbye to my high school friends, family friends, and family. And I was welcomed into New Zealand by other friends and a surrogate family. I was there for 7.5 years and made deep friendships and connections.

My next significant goodbye was leaving New Zealand to go back home to Melbourne. All of my adult life, thus far, had been spent in NZ. The people in my life were close friends and had become family, and it was hard, but time to move on. Not long after I moved back home I felt that I should live in Indonesia for one year to teach at a new school there. Along the way I met incredibly awesome people and in a short time had formed lasting friendships despite the short term visit. And now, after nearly 9 months of growing and learning together, yet another significant goodbye is imminent.

So many people in my life have impacted me on various levels. And it’s amazing how something so simple as a Skype conversation can immediately bring you and them so close again. All of a sudden it’s like you never left. It got me thinking about friends throughout my journey of life. How much I love and adore them. And in those moments where insecurity comes knocking at the door – I choose to partner with the truth.

I am reminded of one friend in particular. He’s actually one of my oldest friends. I met him when I was about five years old, I think. He came to my house on a sunny day – I still remember it. We would go all sorts of places together. I didn’t always specifically invite him because I knew he’d come anyway. After a while though I didn’t hang out so much. It became the kind of friendship that if I needed something, then I knew I could ask him for it and he’d be happy to give it. I knew the kind of things he liked to do, but I’d really only hang out when it suited me. There was also a long period of time where I assumed I knew what he liked and so I did those things but I didn’t really enjoy it so much. I knew that he wanted to be friends with all my other friends too, but I wasn’t sure if they would understand him. In hindsight, it was probably because I didn’t fully understand him either. You can only truly know someone when they share their heart with you and you with them. Trust is built through love and vulnerability, and for that there needs to be time spent together.

I didn’t really spend much time with my friend. Oh, I thought I did. But only now am I beginning to understand how he truly connects with me. I’ve got other friends who also know him, and for a long time I was trying to be friends with him the same way they were. I figured that if I copied them, then he’d feel more fulfilled in our friendship. But really, what kind of a friendship is one out of obligation? I was too task-oriented to understand how I was hurting both of us by not being myself. Ahh… Being myself. What does that even look like? Who am I? These are questions most graduating high school students ask themselves. I’m grateful that even through my somewhat nonchalance in high school, my friend came closer to me at this time. My parents were going through a divorce at this time and I was so blessed to have close friends who stood by me and strengthened me. But it was still my faithful friend who was the one whispering truth into my heart the whole time. It was he who reassured me it was nothing to do with me or my siblings. It was my dear friend who led me to forgive them, and thus freeing myself from the pit of self-pity or bitterness. Although my world was changing and moving – my friend held me close and grieved with me. No judgemental word has ever passed his lips.

In New Zealand this friend was someone I couldn’t do life without! I was finally free to figure out who I actually was created to be. In my teenage years I had picked up some lies about myself that were holding me back, and this new start in a new country with new friends allowed me to follow my destiny and my friend was by my side throughout the whole time. He led me to finding out about this amazing couple who are changing children’s lives at a phenomenal rate! He put me in a place where I was privileged to serve alongside these wonderful people and get a training that is second to none! He brought me into a workplace that allowed me to serve the children and earn money at the same time! Those years were some of the best in my life so far and I’m so grateful for friends with good connections!! It was in New Zealand that my friend revealed to me that teaching is my destiny. And he waited for the perfect time where I was ready to accept and choose this path because my whole life prior to that moment, I swore I didn’t want to be a teacher. And now teaching is what I love to do – it’s me. And he knew it all along but didn’t force me into it – he waited for me to catch up and see for myself the glorious joy in pursuing your destiny.

I watched friends get married, and being older than them and single for most of my time in NZ, disappointment and hopelessness came up to my front door. But my friend walked with me through this. He told me that he’s already been through this and he knows how to deal with these sneaky characters. He whispered the truth to me, and as I took a hold of these truths, fear and hopelessness and disappointment would have a hard time getting at me again because now I was armed and ready!! Not to say that they haven’t tried – but they don’t last long before they give up. My friend told me that there’s nothing more powerful than truth. I believe him. I’ve seen too many impossible things happen when the truth is applied.

And here’s some of the truth that I’ve learned over my 30 years of life on this planet. No situation is ever hopeless. Failure isn’t fatal – it’s just feedback – learn from your mistakes. Be yourself because that’s the most fulfilling part of living life. Don’t compare yourself to others – that’s just like comparing a banana to a watermelon. They’re both fruit but they’re completely different! My friend actually is God, who was born on earth so that he could experience everything humans experience in order to walk with them, grieve with them, laugh with them… Every emotion you go through – he has already faced, but he can do one better – he knows the truth that will set you free from the oppressive situations. He actually died on your behalf so that your life would be filled with joy and freedom! He died not so eliminate all sucky situations – but that you would have someone walking through them with you and for the redemption of what was lost.

Jesus never demanded that I change. He never condemned me for the times that I wasn’t reciprocating friendship. He never judged me for the times I made decisions out of fear. Instead he constantly whispered my worth and my identity to my spirit. He spoke encouraging and uplifting words that caused me to leave behind my fear or destructive ways and lift up my head and accept my identity as a child of God. Royalty. Identity. I have been frequently amazed at how gently Jesus speaks the truth, yet how violently the shift happens from destructive to constructive behaviours. Yet there’s a part of me that’s somewhat saddened, because if I knew way back then what I know now about Jesus then what heights would I have reached by now? And if I was believing characteristics about Jesus that Just aren’t true – then how many others are living with veils over their hearts? My deepest desire is that you, too, can know the Jesus I know. My friend who sticks closer than a brother. 

Akiane is the artist - Prince Of Peace, Age 8 (2003), © Copyright

Mission Trip = Completed!

The view out our window at the base house. The beach is about 20m away!

It all started in November 2012. The announcement came at school that we would soon need to select our mission trip options for April 2013. I browsed through the 77 different trips, both local, national and international, and scanned for the ones that stuck out to me. I decided that I wanted to go on a trip that featured work with children. This was my first mission trip and also my first opportunity to travel with a team, rather than only me or one other, and I didn’t want to push myself into the deep end! Our pastors had told us to pick trips based on what our hearts desired as opposed to what our bank balance reflected and I felt at peace about this and selected my trips. The trip I was selected for was my first choice – the island of Guanaja in Honduras, hooray!! This trip gave us the opportunity to partner with a couple who have been there for 8 years and planted a church there which started with only children and teenagers! Their original intent was to open a church to minister to drug and alcohol addicts, however, when they opened the doors – it was the children who showed up! Now, after some time has passed, many of the teens are now young adults and the children have become teens and the ministry is seeping into the homes through the witness of the children. These kids are the ones who are prophesying, telling people about what Jesus did for them, making powerful declarations that will affect their island and nation and bringing God’s love into their community. We were privileged and honoured to spend 8 days with these little powerhouses and we also had the opportunity to hang out with and pamper their mums.

Due to the size of the island there is no work for the men. This means they have to find work on the Cayman Islands, or on fishing or lobster boats, or the mainland of Honduras. This means that often, through no other choice, children and wives are left behind as their fathers and husbands find work. Marital unfaithfulness is rife, and the children know it. I had a conversation with one of the 14 year old girls and she told me that one day she wanted children, but she didn’t want to get married. She’s seen the devastation left in families when the men leave.

I had a little culture shock when we arrived
because of how much it looked like Indonesia!

One of the positives to this island is that due to its natural habitation, there is enough food for everyone. They live by the sea and can catch food for themselves if need be. Everyone is family and pulls together to make life work. The only reason people would go hungry is if they were too lazy to get their food. This means that there are no orphans or abandoned children – no street kids. If something happened to one family, then they have other family members who would take their children in etc.

Graham's Place (my view from my beach lounger!
Unfortunately even lying on the chair didn't
stop the sandflies from biting!!

We spent 4 days total in transit. We took a 4:00am bus from Redding to San Fransisco then a flight from San Fransisco to Houston where we changed planes to catch a flight to San Pedro Sula, Honduras mainland, and made it to our hotel around 11pm! Then the next day we took off for a 4 hour van ride to La Ceiba where we took a tiny little chartered flight over to the island of Guanaja. There were 15 of us on the trip and there were only 2 spare seats on the plane!! Following our arrival to Guanaja we then jumped on the ferry to get around to our little island of Savannah Bight – a 50min ride and we arrived at our lodging around 4:30pm!! Crazy amount of travel for 2 days!! On Sunday we had our first special treat – a trip to Graham’s Place – which is a private owned island that’s been made into a resort. It was such a necessary break after all that traveling! We could relax on the beach chairs or hammocks or the pier. That night was the second of a few special treats on our trip – dinner with their church community. The food was plentiful and delicious!!

The little jetty about 10 mins
walk from our base house.

One of the rock pools in the river on
the forest trek we did on Saturday.

Walking the rickety walkway over
the super boggy marshlands.

Throughout the school week we set up programmes for the primary and secondary school kids. There was only 1 school in the village which meant that the secondary aged children go to school from 7am-12pm and the primary school children go from 1pm til 5pm – and the same teachers teach all day!! In the evenings we had 3 days of ministering to the mums in the community with facials, back rubs and manicures – many of these women had never painted their nails in their life!! We also affirmed them in their roles as mums and as women and empowered them to be who God created them to be. On the fourth night the boys took over and had a men’s night with the guys who are still in the community and some of the young men who are fresh out of school.

Friday saw us treated once again with a trip out to Clearwater Paradise Resort where we were able to go out snorkelling and relax in the hammocks and enjoy the tropical weather. Lunch was included and very delicious – including home-made vanilla ice-cream and some yummy no-bake almond joys!!!  Saturday were more ministry days and church in the evening on Sunday with some slots of street ministry dotted all over the show.

Some of the team on our Saturday trek.

Megan and I were praying for this man’s knee and we saw his face as the pain noticeably lessened and he was able to walk on it with no trouble! But the most amazing things to see were the transformations in people who we were interacting with every day! One 20 year old young man started out teasing our team in Spanish (despite his private school education English) and stayed on the outskirts of any events we ran yet on our final night he offered to be a translator for our team who was preaching at church!! Julie was doing her best, but translating is difficult at the best of times – and this young man stepped up and hit a home run! Another man was cooking for us and there was a misunderstanding between him and his assistant and drunken words were exchanged and threats to families and therefore our cook needed to spend some time in the jail, but after two days of receiving food from his employers and having visits and prayer, he did something that was previously against his character – he gave up his grudge and forgave the misunderstanding and was at church the very day he was released!! This has never happened before! Another one of our women had been too wounded from her previous husband to fully trust a man again, despite living with a good man for at least the last 7 years but after our ministry to the women and her exposure to the presence of God, she announced on Sunday that she was finally ready to trust her new man and get married!! Another young girl who had been taken advantage of at a young age felt the love of God through inner healing and forgiveness and is now filled with hope for her future!

There are plenty of unfinished housed here too - walls but no roof!

Sometimes it’s easy to feel a little disappointed that we didn’t see legs growing out or blind eyes opened, or deaf ears hearing again – but I am just as excited to see a changed life however it comes! Whether it’s an inner healing or physical healing, the fact of the matter is that God wants you well! And it’s our job, as followers of Christ, to share this good news! To tell the world what Jesus did to make a way for our healing! Lives are forever changed through the love that was shared on that island for the 8 days we were there, in addition to the prior 8 years of work the Nelms have been pouring into their people!

If you don't own land, then you can build out over the water.

I want to say thank you, again, to all of those generous people who contributed to my mission fund. I actually could not have gone without all of your donations and it touched my heart deeply that so many of you would want to partner with me in this way! The Nelms’ are working on helping the island to start up a farmers’ market to help create revenue on the island, so for those of you who were partnering with me in prayer – this is a valuable prayer point. When the men are free to return, then transformation with begin in a big way!!

Where is your hope?

There's not much better than fresh new insight on an old problem. I was so encouraged by Steve and Wendy Backlund's message in school the other day that I decided it was too good not to share!

Hopelessness is a dark shadow that often manages to sneak into areas of our life without us knowing. It's not  easily recognised, and so flies under the radar much of the time. Oftentimes when we sit down and ask Holy Spirit to bring insight into areas of our lives that are suffering moodiness, depression, anger etc we can find that the root cause is hopelessness. 

Steve Backlund says that every area of our life that doesn't glisten with hope is believing a lie, and that lie is a stronghold of the enemy. A statement like this really gets you thinking. What does it mean to be loyal to a lie? It means to believe something about you, your life, or your circumstances that is not consistent with how God sees it. For example, I might (consciously or sub-consciously) I might believe that I am still single because I haven't been focusing enough on God, that he has held back my ideal man until my prayer life is sorted and consistent. Then because of that I plan to have routine and structured time with God so I can focus on Him and manipulate Him into giving me what I want because I'm giving Him what he wants. The reality in this situation is that God doesn't need us to do anything for Him to release His goodness to us. Just think on that for a bit... While we were still sinners - or for us in this day and age - before we were born - Jesus died for us. He took our place and made a way for us to be made whole. So God releases His goodness because that's who He is - He's good! His goodness is not dependent on our behaviour. When our paradigm shifts to understand that all God wants for us is His goodness to invade, then the lies in our life will be replaced with God's truth and hope can then take over the hopelessness.

Your hopelessness about your problem is a bigger problem than the problem!! There is always an answer - there is always a way out. This isn't cliche, it's not trite, it's not even positive thinking - it's the truth. As Christians, it's often easier for us to surrender our behaviour than our beliefs. We think that if we DO something that God wants, then it'll all work out ok. The trouble comes when our problem is actually on the belief level, because changing the behaviour is only like fixing the symptoms rather than fixing the cause. This is where the leap of faith comes it. Faith is believing in something we can't see. So even when everything about our situation looks hopeless, faith is choosing to partner with Heaven's reality and stepping out in faith in that direction. Our underlying belief always has to be that God is always backing us for our best.

Paul tells us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds - we call that repentance. I used to think that repentance was feeling really sorry for the sucky things I did and feeling remorse for grieving God and other people, which is true to a point. But too often we're actually just sorry that we got busted, or that a mess was made. True repentance is giving up the lie that we were believing that caused us to mess up and asking God to give us His truth in the situation. Repentance is renewing our minds which leads to transformation. Once we understand this principle we will experience the freedom that Jesus paid for on the cross. Joy will come back into our lives and hope will abound!

At this point in my life I can now see problems as opportunities to see how big my God is, and how much He loves to give us good things. He's not out there booby-trapping us to see how we react, or to test our character. That's not the behaviour of a good Dad. We are reminded in the Bible that God is so much more perfect and good than our earthly fathers, so if we are believing that God would behave in a way more terrible than a human father, then we need to repent (change our thinking) and ask Him for what His truth is. There are no hopeless situations. Ever. Remember that and your life will be changed forever.