shining lights

'No one after lighting a lamp hides it under a jar or puts it under a bed.' Luke 8:16

Tomorrow is the day we remember the apostles Phillip and James,both were martyrs, killed for what they believed. They stood their ground for Christ even in the face of death.

I was talking to some fellow Christians about how we let Christ be known in the work place and am really astounded that in a country such as ours we are not allowed to talk about our Christian faith in our places of work. To do so causes you to lose your job. I was even more astounded to hear their submission to this. There are more ways to share our faith than just words.

Its tricky and challenging to work out ways to overcome this but it can be done.

Several students and their teacher walked past me at school yesterday and at the top of his voice one student calls to me for all the world to hear, 'Hello God's person.' What could I do but smile and just as loudly say hello.

This verse has stayed with me all my life since childhood. 'Let your light shine before all people.'(Matt 5:16)

Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Anne

Have you seen God today.

' One day Jesus was praying.....when he had finished one of his disciples said to him.'Lord, teach us to pray.' Luke 11:1

One of the greatest most powerful, most humbling experiences we can have with God is those occasions when we find ourselves and him alone together and he says, 'Here, a gift for you.'

These moments can come in a flash :

When I sight a tree of brilliant autumn colour......and there is just me and God.

or when I the see the fog weaving its way through valley and vineyards .....and there is just me and God.

Gifts from God as he stands right there with you, handing them out one by one .

Gifts that stay with you in memory to bless throughout the day .

I love these gifts. Its like having something special in your pocket, you put your hand in and pull it out again be blessed by God's presence.

'When we are gifted with an awareness of 'God's' presence in prayer we savor the gift.

we let God hold us and carry us, as the sea holds and carries a vessel. (anon)

Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Anne

Prayer calling

'And all the peoples behold his Glory.' Psalm 97:6

There are so many things that draw us to prayer.

It might be a candle.

It might be the call of a bird.

A glorious frosty morning.

A cobweb draped across the wire on the fence.

In Melbourne recently, at the Ignatius Spirituality Centre ,I discovered many things that drew me to prayer but amongst them was a glorious flower, one I had never set eyes on before. It covered a Hakia bush, it drew my breath away, it drew me to prayer.

Richard Cabot says:

When beauty overwhelms us,

we are close to worship.

Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Anne

The Lord is with us always

'You are with me;Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.' Psalm 23:4

We know this, we know that God is with us always yet we so often doubt that solid Christian fact.

Yesterday I was driving home from beautiful Tumut and I was taken by everything about me.

The glorious autumn colours of the poplars and claret ash trees.The deep green of grass from recent rain.

The town from a high advantage point bathed in early morning mist and sunlight.

The valleys and rolling hills

Water filled dams on the farms

And I pause to watch a farmer, way off to the left of a large herd of sheep, commanding his kelpie to bunch them up and bring them down from high on the hillside, to the pens.......just magic!

I had a strong sense that God was so present, the overseer of all that I saw....overseeing with love and protection and creativity. It was a comforting, peaceful sense of the presence of God and I drove the highway with an unseen passenger and a huge sense of 'wow!'

May you know, always, that God is present, he is there when we clearly know it, and when we feel he isn't. He is with us.

Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Anne

Give thanks always

'I make all things new.' Rev 6:4

The first thing that strikes me is the absolute quiet of the dawning of a new dayand I hear the words of God.......'be still and know that I am God.'

Then there is the morning choir and at the moment its a duet between two warbling magpies just calling in the dawn with a smile on their faces. (can magpies smile?) and morning has broken.

Then the words out of the early morning darkness......' I am the light of the world.'

With these thoughts on board I move into the new day and I have a true sense of who I am.....of purpose.... and are charged for what the day may offer.

Galatians 2:4 says:

'Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work YOU have been given, and then sink yourself into that. '(NCV)

Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Anne

a thousand colours is your face.

'There's a hush of expectation, and a quiet in the air and the breath of God is moving in the fervent breath of prayer...' TIS 276

Sometimes there is no greater peace and assurance of the love of the risen Christ than in a glorious sunrise or a glorious sunset as God's paintbrush streaks the sky. There is something there that speaks to us of God, of his love, of his continuation with us in our day or his presence with us in the dark night.

As I think of the sunrise,tipping the mountain top with a ray of yellow light I recall the opening lines of a hymn we sang in church 'There's a light upon the mountains, and the day is at the spring where our eyes shall see the beauty and the glory of the king.'

All through life we experience our own personal sunrises and sunsets, darkness and light and like the dawn which always comes, so to does the love of God and we know that deep from within our very being we 'praise and serve a risen saviour.'

Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Anne

Easter

' He is risen........Alleluia!'

How magnificent to worship a living God.

I have spent several days this week in the Ignatian Spirituality Centre in Kew, Melbourne, where I have been attending a conference. All about me within the centre is the Ignatian spirituality expressed in art and many crucifixes in various shapes and forms decorate the walls. Every time I looked at one of the crucifixes I found myself reflecting on the suffering of Christ on Good Friday

.........and it wasn't until I saw, standing all alone, a large plain wooden cross.......empty of the Christ ..............that I had a great sense of freedom and liberation.

I thought of the promises Jesus made:

'I will never leave you.'

'I will rise.'

'This promise is for you and for your children.'

God has done what he promised.

You can almost see Jesus standing outside the tomb fist punching the air and voice shouting an almighty 'YES!"

Its so true isn't it that the resurrection of Christ is the AMEN to all his promises.

Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ

Anne

Good Friday

'It was nine o'clock in the morning when they crucified him.' Mark 15: 25

O the love of Jesus,

O the love of Jesus,

O the love of Jesus.............it washes white as snow.

Grace and peace on this Good Friday

Anne