Faith HOPE and love

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1

Hope of the cold winter passing is the emergence of the green growth of the spring bulbs as they push their way through hard soil towards the sunlight and warmth and hope is the sweet perfume of the Daphne flowering at the front door, heralding Spring.

Hope is the bow in the sky full of colour and joy following the rain reminding us of God's covenant with his people. All these signs and more assure us that we can put our hope and trust in God. They fulfil our hope that God is  faithfully and loyally with us so why should we ever doubt when we don't see signs of hope for they too will come.

Grace and peace  from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Anne, Servant of the Lord.

                                                Daphne - the hope of Spring.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ

 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all.(2Corinthians 13:13)

Charles Dickens said: 

How can we tell what coming people are aboard the ships that may be sailing to us now from the unknown seas.

What a different changing world we are living in, Everything 'Coved pandemic' consumes our lives and actions. Every day is different, unpredictable, uncertain, difficult and lived in caution and in many places, fear. One thing I am so grateful for is my faith, and I pray in yours,  is the strong presence of God in my daily life. In the valleys and the mountains God is there  stabilising my world with this lovely familiar blessing we call the grace.

Peace to those who are far off and peace to those who are near.

Anne, servant of the Lord.

                                                        Peace.

 

Pray to the Lord of peace.

 Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. (The Lord's prayer)

For time immortal prayers have gone to God from all corners of the earth. Prayers of the faithful and in hope and trust we lay them before him. We know prayer makes a difference, we know prayer changes things but sometimes we can be in a place of doubt. I read this lovely fable which you may know:    'Tell me the weight of a snowflake.' a coal mouse asked the white dove. 'Nothing more than nothing.' came the answer.  'In that case I must tell you a marvellous story,' the coal mouse said. 'I sat on a branch of a fir tree, close to its trunk, when it began to snow. Since I had nothing else to do, I counted the snow flakes settling on the twigs and needles of my branch. The number was exactly 3,741,952. When the next snow flake dropped on the branch - nothing more than nothing, as you say - the branch broke off. The dove, an authority on the matter since Noah's time, thought about the story awhile and finally said to herself: 'Perhaps there is only one persons voice lacking for peace to come about in the world.'  

May the Lord of Peace himself give you peace at all times in all ways.

Anne, servant of the Lord.

                                                                 fir tree - peace.

Joy and deight

 Behold what manner of love the Father  hath bestowed upon us. 1 John 3:1

I think it is fairly obvious that if 'the Father' had not bestowed his love on us and called us children of God  then the wonders of the world would be somewhat obscured. With his love, so much around us is given to us - freely.  I reflected on this as the day broke and along with it the chatter of 5 or 6 King Parrots filled the air with excitement as they landed and began feasting on the beautiful flowering native bush outside my window. The sight reminded me of the title of Macrina Wiederkehr's book, 'A tree full of Angels.'  How blessed are we to know the manner of the Fathers love even in the ordinary things of life.

Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Anne, servant of the  Lord.

                                                            Ready for breakfast!

The glory of the rainbow is a splendid gift.

 I have set my bow in the cloud and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Genesis 9:13

When the rain stops the rainbow shows it is finished and  if you look for the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow you will never find it because the gift is not at the end of the rainbow but the rainbow itself. Its a  gift of  atmospheric beauty, the colours of the bow, and of God's promise to us to never flood the earth again. That's the treasure to be found in a  rainbow and the joy when seeing one.

I love this passage of scripture from Sirach 43:11 Look at the rainbow and praise him who made it: it is exceedingly beautiful in its brightness - it encircles the sky with its glorious arc - the hands of the most high have stretched it out.

                                            A splendid gift

He is here

 God is with you. 1 Samuel 10: 7

I suspect , in a corona virus ridden world, and in our own personal world, there well may be a few cries going up, 'Where is God?'

It is so easy to lose hold of the fact that God is with us in all things and at other times there is a great unquestionable  sense of his awareness. Think of your day, the ups and downs, the blessings and curses and pray today to hold onto what Samuel knew, - 'that God is with me.'

George Macdonald said: Few delights can equal the mere presence of one whom we trust utterly.

Jehovah - Shalom. The Lord is peace

Anne, servant of the Lord

                          Prophet  Samuels tomb and national park Israel.

Dark is not darkness at all

 And your right hand shall hold me fast. If I say surly the darkness shall cover me and the light around me become night even the darkness is not dark to you; The night is as bright as the day for the darkness is as light to you. psalm 139: 10-12

 These are some thoughts I shared with an elderly lady who was full of anxiety and darkness was overtaking her.  I said: How often have you been scared of the dark? I can recall as a child running down a dark corridor to my bedroom where there was a light on. I can recall waking up in the night terrified of the dark and hiding under the bedclothes frantically pleading with God to be under the bedclothes with me. I was scared stiff!!  Then as I grew older and God filled my life more and more I felt such fears leaving me. Even when I was doing a mine rescue at Coober Pedy and I would be  down a very, very deep mine shaft to rescue a fallen miner, sure I was scared of the dark but not terrified, because I had learnt to reach out for God's hand in times of need.

When fear and uncertainty creeps into the 'dark of life' stretch out your hand to God and feel his light filtering through to your fingertips, filtering through the darkness.

 Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ

Anne, servant of the Lord.

                                     Hold out your hand and feel his light filtering through.

Touching lives with love

 There is no one like you to help.  2 Chronicles 14:11

One way we are known as Christians is by our actions and how we live out our lives and that  brings to mind the saying that actions speak greater than words.  I read of this conversation after a person, a passer by,  helped an older man pick up his  spilt bag of groceries from the pavement.  He said: 'You must have been a cub scout ' and laughingly came the reply, 'No, just a Christian.' 

Well we could pray daily: Heavenly Father, help me this day to use what you have given me to touch  another life  with your love.

Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Anne, servant of the Lord

Christian love.

A curious feeling

(Jesus said)  I will never leave you nor forsake you. Hebrews 13:5

Faith is a fascinating thing. Its not a sense, or a sight, or a reason, but simply taking God at his word. Its an absolute belief and trust that God is with us at all times. I read this little yet profound story which said: After a long and trying march over Antarctic mountains and glaciers a South Pole  explorer said to his leader. 'I had a curious feeling on the march that there was another person with us.'

God never leaves us nor forsakes us.

May the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in all ways.

Anne, servant of the Lord.

                                     Even in the wilderness he is with us - (the road to Jericho)