Friends

The Lord Jesus gave us the principle of a true friendship: "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you." (John 15:13-15). 

"Can two walk together, except they be agreed?" Amos 3:3. Friends are of like mind. True friendship is a relationship that is entered into by individuals and is only as good or as close as those individuals choose to make it. A friend is someone whom you can be yourself with and never fear that he/she will judge you. A friend is someone that you can confide in with complete trust and a friend is someone you respect and that respects you, not based on worthiness but based on a likeness of mind.

Jesus is the pure example of a true friend, for He laid down His life for His friends. What is more, anyone may become His friend by trusting in Him as his personal saviour, being born again and receiving new life in Him. THAT IS TRUE FRIENDSHIP!

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We were just watching a video of our time spent in Rutlands with some very special friends over the christmas period. Oh, how I miss those lovely times with friends and families! That said, I am thankful for the friends God has brought into our lives and for the wonderful blessing of their friendships. Perhaps at times, I do not try hard enough to be a good friend but please do be patient with me because your friendship means so much to me.  

*****Broken Within but Complete in Him*****

'He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, "He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in Him will I trust."' Psalm 91:1-2

Valentines

Happy valentines day! Are you having a great time today? How many valentines cards have you got? Are you at home now? Having fun at home. Love Alyssa.

Do you not know?

'Do you not know? 

Have you not heard?

The Lord is the everlasting God,

the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He will not grow tired or weary,

and His understanding no one can fatham.

He gives strength to the weary

and increases the power of the weak,

Even youths grow tired and weary,

and young men stumble and fall;

but those who hope in the Lord

will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles;

they will run and not grow weary,

they will walk and not be faint.' 

          (Isaiah 40:28-31)

Tired? I am. I think we all are. The girls are officially on holiday although we've still had to get up early for their ballet and tap lessons in Leicester this morning. Surprisingly, they didn't complain and for that, I am thankful. What can be worse than feeling we are forcing them to take up dancing lessons? Alyssa has finally decided (after 2.5 years of being at the dance school) that she does like tap and ballet. Ha... and just when we thought we could pull them out of the dance school because of Alyssa's lack of enthusiasm!  

I am so glad Daya managed to find my sunglasses. Phew, phew, phew and phew again! Thank you so much, Daya. You brightened up my day again!  It's okay that it's muddy. At least it's still intact!

Today is Valentine's Day. Did you know that this day was originally a pagan festival that was renamed after an early roman christian named Valentine who was martyred for refusing to give up christianity? He died on the 14th February 269 A.D. Interesting, huh, how this has since been churned into another money-making business? In any case, Happy Valentine's Day, all!   

It's weird looking out of the kitchen window.  4 snow stumps now sits at the back of the garden surrounded by the greenest grass. Our snowpeople's heads have either fallen off or melted leaving only evidence of the winter snow that hit UK a week ago...

*****Broken Within but Complete in Him*****

'He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord "He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in Him will I trust." Psalm 91:1-2

The Present

Each day is a gift from God. Will I use it well today? 

Too many 'what ifs' and 'if only'. Strange how we often wonder what life would be like or how things would be 'if only'... 'If only' things were the way they used to be; 'if only' he/she was here; 'if only'' I had not made those decisions; 'if only' I knew; 'if only' I was well; 'if only' I didn't have to take all these drugs; 'if' I could feel no pain for just one day...

Truth is, if there is no pain, there can be no healing; if there are no mistakes, there can be no forgiveness; if there is no sadness, there can be no joy. If we were all perfect, Jesus wouldn't have to die on the cross. 

A friend I haven't seen in a while shared her pains with me a few days back. Not the kind of pain I have, but a deeper, more searing pain. A pain in her heart, her soul. A pain that makes her soul cry out day and night. A pain that no drugs can numb and no doctors can take away. The worst kind of pain that can be inflicted on a person is the pain caused by another. A pain so prevalent in this day and age. A pain that can only truly be healed by the touch of our Lord Jesus Christ.  

There are many things we can be thankful for. It is so easy to forget to count our blessings each day. A friend said something which we thought was very wise: 'that if we spend all our time fretting and worrying about things we do not have, we will miss out on enjoying what we do have'. Well, it was something along this line anyway.... but how absolutely true this is. So, I should really be thankful that I can do housework, that I can do school runs, I can enjoy my time with our 2 precious little girls etc.

Ooh, last day of school today! 2 weeks with no pack lunches! YAY!!! 

Finished reading THE SHACK today. It's a really good book and a worthwhile read. Helps me look at life from another perspective and made me rethink things. 

*****Broken Within but Complete in Him*****

'He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, "He is my refuge and my fortress: my God, in Him will I trust."' Psalm 91:1-2

Inspired...

He says to me, 'Come to me, all you who are troubled and weighted down with care, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)' 

This morning I read Gillian's blog for the first time. She is my 16 year old niece and I am especially fond of her. I didn't know she had a blog until Er-Ge pointed it out on Facebook. I was blownaway by the depths of her sharing - so stoic, so mature and moulded by God's great and amazing love. Needless to say, I am inspired by what she has done and is doing with her blog... so here I am, still trying to figure out how this works. I am hoping that perhaps this will be a good outlet for me to express my life's joys, pains and struggles. Sometimes it's also hard to put things into perspective when thoughts are all jumbled up in our heads so maybe, just maybe, this is another way of setting my thoughts straight. 

To Him who made me whole, I am eternally grateful.

*****Broken Within but Complete in Him**** 

'He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, "He is my refuge and my fortress: my God, in Him I will trust."' Psalm 91:1-2