Carol’s Blog

Quizes

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I’ve just taken part in yet another quiz; I love them but I don’t particularly excel. Daytime television relies heavily on them. It is probable that our generation is more knowledgeable than any previous ones. Some people have a deep knowledge about one particular subject while others know many facts of general knowledge.

Quizes are everywhere. Most of our daily newspapers had a large quiz over the New Year. But we have to ask the question, what good is knowledge without wisdom? Where is our plain common sense and knowledge about the important matters of life. Knowledge is a cold, sterile thing while wisdom has a warm Godly glow. Cold knowledge can lead to wars, wisdom will lead to peace.

In the Bible a whole book is devoted to wisdom – Proverbs. The sheer volume of advice that is in these pages mean we sometimes gloss over them. Maybe each one would pay to be studied individually over a period of time. What about starting with ‘the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom?’Proverbs 9:10

Asking

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Does God get tired of hearing requests? So much of our prayers are for healing for sick ones, praying for the souls of unsaved friends or coping with our own small problems. But we are probably thinking of God through our human minds. The Bible tells us, ‘Your ways are not My ways.’ With our friends we are wary not to burden them with our problems, we need to remember they have problems too.

For any friendship to survive we need to have as near a 50\50 relationship as possible. It is so very different with God. He has no problems that we need to share. Philippians 4:6 tells us ‘in every situation by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.’ I do believe that He wants communication with us, like a friend He loves to talk with us, but I notice the small yet important phrase, ‘with thanksgiving’ As the hymn writer says, ‘thank Him for all that is past and trust Him for all that’s to come.’ Joseph Hart. One of my father’s favourite hymns was ‘Trust and Obey.’

Amazing Mazes

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As adults we will all have led children through mazes made of high bushes or walls. We will be following a certain pathway thinking it is the way out only to discover it is another dead end. Sometimes with our adult logic we wil be able help the bemused child but sometimes we are just as confused as they are.

Mazes sometimes remind me of life. All is going well then we hit a blank wall. Nothing goes right and we don’t know which turning to take. I think of people in the Bible who were perplexed, Abraham, David, the disciples and many more. For them life wasn’t a straight road, it had many twists and turns. Some of my friends are bewildered by unexpected events that have overtaken them. Things are not working out as they had planned.

What we all need is to put our hand into the hand of God. We aren’t wise enough, or tall enough to see the way ahead. God not only knows the way, He is the Way. In His love He will sort out life’s mazes for us. ‘My God knows the way through the wilderness, All I need to do is follow.’Jessica Fortenberry

Beneath the Surface

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A farmer friend of mine has a large bolder in the middle of one of his fields and had the great inconvenience of ploughing round it for about 20 years. This was the year he was going to get rid of it. He dug and dug and excavated until the rock wasn’t moving and he had a large hole in the middle of the field around it. By digging the hole, more of the boulder was exposed but like an iceberg about seven-eighths had been under the surface. How to get rid of it? He called for the help of his father, also a farmer who brought along heavy lifting tackle. As the machine was put into use, one chain snapped and then another. There is no end to this true story yet. The boulder remains in place, surrounded now by a large hole. Laughingly the use of dynamite was suggested; I hope it was a joke.

Is this a picture of our God? With our rose-tinted glasses we think we catch glimpse of Him through nature, the smile of a baby or the kindness of strangers. But do we see Him as He is, majestic, powerful yet tender and loving; the creator of the whole universe but caring about my tiny worries. When Moses met with God he had to cover his face with a cloth as the unbearable radiance of God shone through him. Psalm 29 tells us ‘The voice of the Lord is powerful.’ ‘The voice of the Lord is majestic.’

Jim Elliot

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I think today of Jim Elliot and his fellow missionaries who 67 years ago gave their lives in an attempt to reach the Huaorani tribe in Ecuador to preach the good news of Jesus. They had followed the great commission to the ultimate. From the point of view of the world it was a waste of five young lives. A waste of life or the ultimate obedience? It is not really possible for us to see things from God’s point of view. We are surrounded by seemingly unfair acts of injustice and persecution. It is recorded that there are more martyrs today than ever before.

I think of a missionary family my church supported when I was young, though being quite young I don’t remember many details. This couple served somewhere in Africa with their teenage daughter, who had a rare blood disorder. To support them we used to put our pennies into a large glass sweet jar, until the bottom fell out with the weight of the coins. But in fact the family had far bigger troubles. Some rebels came to their village to kill them because of their faith. They offered to save the daughter, but she said she was nothing without her parents, so they killed her as well. Being young myself I had many questions, which I suppose I still have.

When I consider the life of Job, I realise that God doesn’t need us to know all the answers. Our finite minds couldn’t comprehend the answers. Most of us will not have to go down the road of Jim Elliot, but in the words of the hymn which was a favourite of my fathers, Trust and Obey.’

Trust

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‘When we trust God, life will not break us.’ When I read these written words, my heart rejoiced. Like all of us I’ve had times when life has nearly broken me. I remember one time when I paced my bedroom saying to myself over and over again. ‘I will not be broken.’ I was 42 and was nearly overcome. I am now more than twice that age and do you know what, I wasn’t broken, God pulled me through.

Since that time I’ve become a published writer, overcome various health problems and am able to witness of God’s faithfulness to others. I’ve moved house five times, retained my old friends and made new ones. That’s not a bad record of God’s faithfulness.

God has been with me all the way, leading, guiding, loving. Sometimes I have been more faithful than others; sometimes I have strayed a little and taken my eyes off Him. But unfailingly God has been there, He has never waivered.

Lockdown Memories

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Covid is still around in our country and indeed around the world. Sadly many are suffering with the long term covid effects and it is still necessary to take precautions. As recently I was thinking back as to how I coped, I wondered how we all got through that period. Maybe it was because we didn’t know how long it would last, or did that make it worse? How we longed for normality!

I found solace with my camera as well as occasionally visiting a couple who were my bubble. I’m pleased to say I never broke any rules but when allowed I visited many of my friends and photographed their gardens. I later had them printed and it is now fun to look back on these photos and see how these gardens have changed.

Outside the house where i then lived was a large tree which I photographed through every month of the year. It helped me to realise that the months were passing and God was still in control. Looking back through all these photos I have mixed feelings. I can no longer go back my much photoed tree, but have new trees where I am now. I do wonder how we survived and trust we will never have to go through that trauma again. I thank God for His provision of the beauties of nature.

Enjoy

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I always seem to be beating myself up at my failures. I don’t pray enough, I’m not as close to God as I should be. There are times I don’t read the Bible enough. There are some days I seem to have got it all together and others I fall apart spiritually. My trouble is i rely on my own strength and am not guided by the Holy Spirit. That gives me yet another reason to beat myself up!

So I haven’t made any New Year resolutions, rather I’m making one big one, I will revel and enjoy the love of God. Today I will look and enjoy the tiny daffodils just showing their heads. As I wait for my bus I won’t get impatient but enjoy the sound of the bird song and maybe stand in the weak January sun. Perhaps at some point I will see a baby I can smile or a harassed mother who can receive that same smile.

Today is a day for enjoying God. No guilt, no recriminations, just pleasure in the presence of my God.

Purpose

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As we have now entered into the New Year I wonder what the purpose of my life will be over the next twelve months. We all know the futility of making New Year resolutions. I believe they fail because they are so often self-centered. ‘I will lose weight,’ ‘I will spend less,’ or even ‘I will give more to charity.’ Any New Year resolution must be God-centered. It probably would be wise to ask God to write the list!

What does God have in mind for me this coming year? He alone knows when the difficult patches are coming and where I will need His extra care. It is in God’s provision when there will be sunny days and we will be full of rejoicing. It could be that illness will be looming on the horizon and to have lost too much weight would have been harmful Maybe there will be some heavy expenses coming and having saved money it will be useful.

How can I make resolutions about the future when I don’t know what the future will bring? I will leave it in God’s safe hands.

Baggage

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As holidays are again on the horizon we can all recall being in the departure areas of the airports. As we’ve walked in we’ve been trailing our cases and bags behind us. Our progress has been slow, hampered by our luggage. We wonder why we’ve packed so much, it now seems more heavy and cumbersome than when we started. Then we’ve joined the queue to dispose of our bags. Having conducted our business we’ve happily watched the cases disappear as they’ve travelled down the chute.

Suddenly we feel free. We can wander off to buy a coffee or browse the shops. We can speak to other travellers or watch the departing planesFreedom from our burdensome baggage is a relief.

Yet we all have a tendency to carry around emotional baggage. Guilt and worry about the past can drag us down; anxiety and fear about the future can become a burden. Yet we have a loving Father who longs to care for all this for us. We can enter the New Year ‘burdenless.’ We are not asked to carry our heavy spiritual loads, they are too heavy for us. Jesus said ‘Cast your burdens on me.’