💕Just a Couple More 💕

Dundee Beach Retreat

A few weeks back, I was blessed to 

be able to be one of the speakers at a

Ladies Retreat/Home-schooling Mums

Conference at beautiful Dundee Beach,

4 hours from Katherine. 

The theme of the weekend was this verse

Matthew 11:28

Come unto me, all ye that labour

and are heavy laden,

and I will give you rest. 

It was a blessing to attend my very

first ladies retreat and be asked to speak

and share with the ladies things the Lord has

taught me. 

There were 11 ladies, all in different 

seasons of life, but all like-minded and 

committed to serving and following the

Lord with their whole heart. 

I was able to share a lesson on the importance

of strengthening our relationship with the Lord,

 and the God-ordained order

for our relationships with others. 

God orchestrated things so well, that

all of the speakers' lessons meshed well 

together, despite not having talked to each other

about what we were going to teach on. 

They all connected and built upon the last one,

and this could only be the Lord! Praise God!

It was a blessed time of refreshing and sharing 

our lives and testimonies with each other and getting

to know one another, as most of us had never met before. 

God blessed us with beautiful weather,

and thankfully, cool air con in our cabins

to keep us out of the sticky Territory heat. 

We had a lovely lady from Darwin come and 

do us a high tea, where we all tried to play ladies.

 On the second night, just as we were

planning on having a sharing and singing time

on the beach, the rain came pouring down.

So, changing our plans, we enjoyed the rain

then headed down to the beach to watch the 

most phenomenal sunset ever!

Isn't it interesting how what we take as 

a disappointment, God turns around and blesses

us with a beautiful display of his awesomeness? 

The sunset was so amazing, that we all 

just stood there watching and marvelling

and praising God for his goodness.

 The colours changed with each and 

every minute and the light danced 

across the water, as the waves rolled in and out. 

It was as if the heavens opened and 

God's glory shone down.

And then, as the sun slowly set over the horizon,

we were delighted to watch a long strip of 

light slowly get smaller and smaller,

until the light was gone, and we headed

back up the beach to enjoy more fellowship. 

Psalm 29:3

The voice of the LORD is upon the waters:

the God of glory thundereth: 

the LORD is upon many waters. 

Calm in the Chaos

As I drove Chloe to work early this morning,

I marvelled once again at the beauty of God's creation.

The sky awash with colour. Pinks and blues interspersed with wispy, white clouds.

I came home, wanting only one thing. To commune with God in nature. To take time to sit and praise God for

 His creation and for His blessings.

Now, I don't live in the most appealing neighbourhood. I am surrounded by houses of every different shape and size and state of repair or disrepair. Overgrown gardens, weeds abounding, trees stripped bare of their leaves because of a recent prolonged stay of a colony of bats. Power lines criss crossing overhead.

But, as I sat on the verandah, reading and praying, I began to see calm in the chaos. I watched hawks soar overhead. I saw a pretty little kingfisher flit from branch to branch. A colourful honeyeater joined him on the power line for a chat. The sun made its way from the tops of the trees, down to the ground in a 

display of light and colour.

And my senses were not just overwhelmed with sight, but also sound. In the midst of the noise of a town waking up, cars passing by, dogs barking, people walking by, there were calming sounds. The call of various birds. The 'arc arc' of a crow. 

The wind whistling through the trees.

And somehow, in the chaos, came a calm. I find it amazing that God can bring peace and calm in the most ordinary places. I don't have to be in the middle of a desert, or climbing a mountain by a flowing stream, or making my way through a dense rainforest to feel close to God. These things are beautiful and definitely bring a sense of the awesomeness of God,

 but God can bring calm in the chaos.

All around us life rushes by and we are carried along by its rapid flow, not able to swim away from the swirling current, not able to take a breath, but God is there and 

He knows how to bring the calm.

The calm comes when we take the time to see beyond the chaos

and see the beauty that lies there.

When we stop and breathe in the sights and sounds and tune out of the chaos and into the calm, God speaks to us 

and shows us his greatness.

We know that God speaks in the storm. Sometimes he doesn't choose to still the storm around us, He chooses to still us. 

To quiet our hearts.

To bring peace despite the storm.

God has chosen to place me in the centre of a noisy and 'ugly' neighbourhood, but He knows that if I take the time, I can see beauty all around me. Maybe if I lived in a place of utter beauty, I would begin to take God's creation for granted and not 

look for those little glimpses of colour and light.

By living where I live, I have to continually look up. Up above the rooftops, up above the power lines, up above the tree level. And up towards heaven. A continual looking up. A looking to Him. Not living under the circumstances, but rising above them.

God can bring calm in the chaos and peace in the storm. We just need to still our hearts and open our ears and our eyes and let him show us his marvellous works.

Job 12:7 – 10

But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee;

and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee:

Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee:

and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee.

Who knoweth not in all these that the hand 

of the Lord hath wrought this?

In whose hand is the soul of every living thing,

 and the breath of all mankind.

“Oh, but surely, everything that comes from the hand of such a Master-artist as God has something in it of himself!.... There are lovely spots on this fair globe which ought to make even a blasphemer devout. I have said, among the mountains, ”He who sees no God here is mad.” There are things that God has made which overwhelm with a sense of his omnipotence: how can men see them, and doubt the existence of the Deity?” 

Charles Spurgeon

Grandma Goes Crazy

 With the Camera! 

The girls and I did a little photo 

shoot yesterday with Lydia and Miriam.

Now, 883 photos later, I have a LOT

of editing to do. But it was so much fun.

Here's just a couple 

New Baby!!

For those of you who don't already know,

we have a brand new, beautiful, adorable,

sweet, loveable granddaughter! 

Lydia Joy

What a blessing! 

Grandma had lots of Mimi time

over the past week,

and we had lots of fun staying

in Darwin together, being silly

and taking funny photos! 

Now that mum and bub and daddy

are home safe and sound, there's lots

 of cuddles going on by the Aunties and Grandma! 

Mimi is now the BIG sister and is very 

grown up, overnight, it seems. 

Psalm 127:3

Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD:

 and the fruit of the womb is his reward.