a drop in the ocean

'Do not let loyalty and faithfulness forsake you;bind them around your neck,write them on the tablet of your heart so you will find favour and good repute in the sight of God and of people.'
There was a boy standing on the beach amongst hundreds of star fish that were being washed up by the tide. One by one he was throwing them back into the sea. An old man came past and said to the boy. 'You will never make a difference, there are too many.' The boy kept throwing them back,one by one and again the old man said. 'you will never do it, you will never make a difference.'
The boy picked up a star fish and threw it into the sea and looking straight at the old man said; 'See, I did make a difference to that one.

Think of your day, of your week. Who has God placed before you and remember to focus on the one before you in the moment.

Mother Teresa said:
So I begin....I begin.
I picked  up one person. Maybe if I hadn't picked up that one person I wouldn't have picked up 42,000.
The whole work is only a drop in the ocean but if I don't put one drop in the ocean will be one drop less.

Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Anne,servant of the Lord.

Blessed assurance

' Jesus, all beauty,heavenly and earthly,in you is wondrously found to be;  none can be nearer,fairer or dearer than you,my saviour are to me.'
 Sometimes we look for assurance of the presence of God. We know he is there but we just need that little confirmation, an Ahaaa occasion. Its a bit like having someone sleeping near us at night, we know they are there  but are assured by their gentle breathing. Sometimes the presence of God will come through nature, for me its specifically the blue wrens. Sometimes it will be a beautiful view across the countryside, over the ocean or through the stark arid desert. Sometimes it will be in the quite and stillness and sometimes we can't miss it when God reaches his hand  through the clouds at sunrise, and spreads his fingers and blesses us with his presence in soft light mingled with morning mist.
Heading to work today with challenges?
perhaps facing surgery
perhaps in the labour ward
perhaps fare welling a soldier for overseas service
perhaps feeling anxious or alone
perhaps just needing reassurance.

Look about  a moment,it only takes a second for the light of Christ to reveal himself anew.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Anne,servant of the Lord.

The glory of God

' The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.' Ps 19:1

It is so amazing how God works when we are aware of his presence in our every day life.

I sense this and feel it often and on one particular occasion I remember being in a rural setting where kangaroos and birds of many varieties were in abundance and as I sat on a granite outcrop at dawn, half way up a hill,I surveyed a panorama of deep blue rolling mountains,distant ones snow capped,green hills and rabbits almost at my feet and God graced me with a brier bush full of blue wrens.
I wrote in my note book: Today I have been blessed at the start of the day with a chorus of kookaburras and I have been amongst God's treasures. For me he opened the lid of his treasure chest and let a few come out,just for me and as I was thanking him in a breathtaking response he gave me one more of his treasures, a beautiful purple orchid,so nice, so delicate amidst the granite and brier.

 I thought of the all powerful,mighty God who created rugged mountains, who can also create in contrast, a delicate, breathtaking,beautiful orchid. Little do we realise sometimes that the glory and the power of he who made the universe lies hidden in a flower.
Today when you look at God's mighty, awesome creation, pause at a beautiful flower and see God's love and a message from him, just for you.

Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Anne,servant of the Lord.