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Hugs from God

by Taryn on 04. Sep, 2010 in bible and christianity, book reviews, community of believers, family

It’s often in the midst of terrible suffering, hurt and pain, that God reaches out and meets our smallest need or our most humble prayer.  This has been Lerma’s experience.  And the experience of many throughout history….

I’ve just recently finished reading a moving true story of a woman missionary trapped in the Indonesian jungle during the Second World War.  Suffering the most horrific of diseases and from starvation, she and her fellow POWs lived in the shadow of death on a daily basis.  Evidence Not Seen chronicles Darlene Diebler Rose’s time of imprisonment. 

scripture It’s a deeply challenging book.  The easy pace in which it is written does not detract from the depth of emotion and story.  Reading how she remained firmly rooted in Him during this time; how she clung to Scriptures she had memorised, while feverish on the dirty floor of a Japanese prison; how she reached out to others and told her Japanese captor the gospel, so that tears streamed down his face … reading these stories can only inspire one "to live for Christ", knowing that "to die is gain" (Philippians 1:21).  

And, amongst the evidence of her faithfulness to God, is the overarching evidence of His faithfulness to her.  Even while suffering in a Japanese prison camp, she does not feel abandoned by God.  There is story after story of miraculous moments where God saves her mortal body time and again.  And then there are the stories of those small needs met; those humble prayers answered. 

Darlene relates stories of a torch (flashlight) that remained hidden and working the entire 4 year duration of capture – never ever needing a battery change, despite being used often.  She speaks of prayers prayed – a desire to know how her husband, imprisoned in another war camp, died.  When the friend she expects to hear the news from dies before he can relate the story, she is bitterly sad.  Yet, in the same day, God brings, through extreme circumstances, 3 individuals who could all relate to her their encounter with her husband in his dying days – answering her desire for knowledge and closure in ways greater than she could have fathomed.

It’s inspiring. 

And it’s heart warming.

For, while we know that God is all-power and ever-loving, somehow we’re still delighted with the little gifts he gives us on top of everything else.  Much like a small child when his Daddy unexpectantly scoops him up for a cuddle and a hug.

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Today, I got to experience a little of that firsthand.  I had made a pan of cinnamon buns last night.  This morning I thought that it would be something small that I could bless Lerma and her family with. I could always make another pan for our family later. Between errands this morning, I swung by her home quickly to drop it off.  It felt a rather foolish and small gesture, especially since I’ve not been able to see her yet, due to being sick with flu and then a cold.  But, clearly God had other ideas.  You see, I had no idea that she had particularly craved something sweet just that very morning.  I had no idea that her appetite had come back just recently.  And I had no idea that today and tomorrow are the only days that she has left before she starts her next round of chemo – when cinnamon buns will definitely not be a blessing!  In this little window period of good appetite, her humble desire was for something sweet.  And the same morning, God mobilised my lazy self in order to bring something sweet straight to her door. 

bamboo towelsSpeaking to my mother later, I found out that God has been doing quite a bit of this for Lerma!  Also, just recently, the family were discussing what to do about keeping the towels separate so that she isn’t exposed to more germs than she needs to be.  While they were discussing this, the doorbell rang and Di arrived at the door with food and two monogrammed handtowels.  "Do you do bath towels too?" they asked.  "Sure!"  And Di left that same day with an armful of towels to monogram on her embroidery machine. 

Small things.  Simple things. 

Yet, they are exhilarating moments filled with a sense of assurance, love and joy for our Father, our Saviour and our King.

They are… hugs from God.

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Repost: Patricia St John

by Taryn on 01. Sep, 2010 in bible and christianity, book reviews

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From time to time, I will repost some of my favourite posts from the past.  This post is an old post from July 20, 2008.  It comes to mind because I’ve just recently bought another of Patricia’s books, Star of Light, that I found at a great charity book store in Kirstenhof for R15.  Patricia St John writes beautiful children’s stories that poignant, honest and refreshing. 

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Having just recently read her book, Treasures of the Snow, and her autobiography, I am now a big fan.  Patricia died in 1992 – leaving behind her a legacy of a life lived for Christ.  She is most famed for the wonderful novels and biographies she wrote – most especially the children’s books.  Treasures of the Snow and The Tanglewood Secret are just two of these much-loved stories.  She wrote these stories to teach and warm the hearts of the children under her care when she was a house mother for missionary kids in boarding school.  At the time, Christian stories for children were about dying orphans – not the bedtime reading she was hoping to enrich the lives of her students with.  So, she wrote her own.  And now the world over benefits from her skilfully woven stories, coloured with brilliant illustrations of God’s love and mercy for us; the reality of human struggles and the freedom there is in Christ. On reading Treasures of the Snow, I was taken with this beautiful and apt illustration of God’s redemption of us.  Too often we believe that we’re not good enough to even contemplate being in His presence or being His child.  We feel like we need to clean up our act and then come to Him for forgiveness.  One such person is found in the pages of her novel … a young girl called Annette, struggling with hatred towards a boy who hurt her brother.  The wise words of her grandmother explain so vividly just how it is God who does the work of changing us…

"If you hated someone you could not ask Jesus to come in, could you?" (asks Annette of her grandmother)

"If you hate someone," said grandmother, "it just shows how badly you need to ask Him to come in.  The darker the room, the more it needs the light."

"But I couldn’t stop hating Lucien," said Annette softly, fingering her long plaits thoughtfully.

"No," said Grandmother. "You’re quite right.  None of us can stop ourselves thinking wrong thoughts, and it isn’t much good trying.  But Annette – when you come down in the morning and find this room dark with the shutters closed, do you say to yourself, ‘I must chase away the darkness and the shadows first, and then I will open the shutters and let in the sun?’  Do you waste time trying to get rid of the dark?"

"Of course not!"

"Then how do you get rid of the dark?"

"Well, I pull back the shutters, of course, and then the light comes in!"

"But what happens to the dark?"

"I don’t know; it just goes when the light comes!"

"That is just what happens when you ask the Lord Jesus to come in," said Grandmother. "He is love and when love comes in, hatred and selfishness and unkindness will give way to it, just as the darkness gives way when you let in the sunshine.  But to try to chase it out alone would be like trying to chase the shadows out of a dark room.  It would be a waste of time."

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Sam and Joshua 1:9

by Taryn on 31. Aug, 2010 in Sam, bible and christianity, memorisation

Part of the Sonlight curriculum is Bible time.  We’re assigned a chapter or portion from the bible to read everyday.  We’ve also been assigned a verse to remember per week.  We started off the year well and managed to learn Psalm 1 off pat.  But then we faltered, stumbled and fell into the memorisation-less mire. 

Recently, I decided it was time we got going with it again.  I like the many benefits of having scripture memorised and really would like to make it more of a habit in our day.  If only I weren’t so fickle in the execution! 

To keep us going this time, I’ve written our memory verse up on our fridge and we’ve been practising it over our breakfast.  At random times during the day, I’ve been pointing to one of the kids and starting the verse for them.  They love these impromptu pop quizzes!  It’s quite cute watching their little faces screw up in concentration as they try to remember the words of an unfamiliar verse.  Sam has been particularly enthusiastic – he’s finally at that age when he can remember the verses well enough to say them on his own.  But he’s also at that age where his lispy voice, and his tendency to pronounce "th"s as "f"s make him come across as super cute!

We reviewed the last three weeks verses on video this morning.  Like most kids, performing for the camera brings out new levels of enthusiasm!  And in this case, that helps along the learning process!  Here is Sam’s rendition of Joshua 1:9 – unfortunately his sisters were distracting him quite a bit, so we don’t get the best idea of how he says it, which is really cute!  But, this is pretty cute too :)

Do you have some fun bible memorisation tricks or activities to share?  Please give us some more ideas or links!  We’d love to hear how you do things in your home!

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In case you didn’t know…

by Taryn on 29. Jul, 2010 in bible and christianity, family failings

This blog is written mostly by me, Taryn.  And me, Taryn, is a rather strange creature.  You see, this person that is me is possibly the most contradictory person I know. I’m not quite sure how to get around that, but that is how it is.  At the moment anyway!

So, before this blog gives you any false impressions know this…

  1. I love organic foods and products.  I hardly ever use them. I will tell you exactly which organic foods company I prefer.  But my orders have lapsed due to expense and laziness.
  2. I think eating healthily is important.  But last night I had TimTams for supper.  My kids had fish fingers and chips.  And that is not completely uncommon when Craig is away.
  3. I am increasingly convinced that vaccinations are filled with ingredients that are more harmful than helpful for our kids.  But I worry about whether I am making the best choice by not vaccinating our youngest.  I will speak strongly against childhood illness vaccines.  But I am not against parents making their own choice and I feel scared of hurting their feelings by my uncomfortable-with-vaccines stand.
  4. I love homeschooling my kids.  But some days I feel like packing them off to school.  Other days I worry I’m not doing a good enough job.   And while I love homeschooling and I’m glad we’ve made that choice for now, it’s a choice that we’ve chosen to do for the first 3 grades of school, with the aim to reassess at the end of foundation phase.  While we may continue homeschooling after that, we may choose not to.
  5. And, while I write glowingly about the joys of homeschooling, I’m not a militant Us-Against-Them homeschooler!  I think that there is value in mainstream schooling and oftentimes I miss the things that schools offer that my kids do not get at home.
  6. I enjoy baking.  Two years ago we managed to do it once a week.  These days the kids are lucky if I manage even a birthday party bake.
  7. I think homemaking and looking after one’s husband and kids in tangible ways is admirable and good.  But, I am fortunate enough to have a wonderful 3-4 times a week housekeeper who has taken over 90% of the housework, freeing me up to homeschool and blog … and be lazy.  Some weekends see my husband being the prototypical homemaker while I “recover” from the week.
  8. I have read dozens of parenting books in my short parenting life and have loads of opinions. I usually fail at every ideal I’ve ever had.  Inconsistent? Check. Shouting? Check. Lecturing? Check. Lazy? Check. I hate these failings of mine, but I’ve yet to dramatically change them to the point of perfection.  Hmm, why is that?  Perhaps because only the one who is the I AM is perfect!
  9. I believe strongly that a wife is to respect her husband and allow him to lead the family even if he sucks at it.  Yet, I step on my husband’s toes almost daily, infringing on his right to lead and disrespecting him embarrassingly often.
  10. I love being social and hanging out with friends.  I am terrible at organising play dates and coffee chats.  I am energised by small groups and also crowds of people, yet I am such a homebody that I can be at home alone pottering around with the kids all week and only realise on Friday that the last time I drove the car was Monday.
  11. I think exercise is fantastic. I love running (well, not always!).  And my daily agenda includes morning exercise and bible time with the Lord.  Sadly, it’s more often than not that that particular part of my day is not accomplished.
  12. I blog about a new idea or practise in our home:  From new Bible verse-learning ideas to my bread-making enthusiasm.  I don’t generally blog about when that new idea has fallen by the wayside or I’ve grown too lazy to see the action through. (Yes, my bread machine has been woefully underutilised this winter!)
  13. I enthuse about life, products, people, things, my family, my ideas, God and more.  I get excited about stuff easily and I love to share it.  But, in my excitement, I can sometimes seem boastful.
  14. I think that telling people about Jesus is so important.  But I wuss out of that more often than not. :(
  15. I come across, too often, as authoritative, together and uncompromising, when all too often I feel weak, uncertain and emotionally fragile.

The only thing that is certain in my life is that over which I have no control.  Romans 5:6-8 outlines exactly what that is…

6You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

So, while I really suck at being consistent, I know that it is He who keeps me from falling.  And it is He who will shape my children, because of and in spite of our parenting.  And, at the end of the day, it’s not about whether I can bake bread from scratch or consistently wake up at 5am (wahahah!) to have a decent quiet time and exercise time.  It’s about glorifying God.  And we can most glorify Him when we are most satisfied in Him.  And, while I inconsistently work on that, I know that no matter how often I fail, Christ has already died for my sin and is waiting, arms open wide, to welcome me Home.

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If Jesus dying for your sins sounds awesome or crazy or foreign or ridiculous or just plain dumb, check this site out to get the full picture of why God thinks it’s the most important thing ever. It’ll take just 5 minutes.  And, I reckon, 5 minutes isn’t very much time to find out more about a rather weighty claim that could potentially have an eternal bearing on your life.

(Finally, I’ve switched off comments on this post, because I really don’t want to perpetuate the idea that I’m looking for admiration or praise.  Thank you for those who have been encouraging.   I really appreciate it and it helps to give me some balance and perspective when I’m in the thick of second guessing myself constantly.  However, for those for whom this blog is a big stumbling block, the encouraging comments can come across like praise – and that kinda defeats the purpose of the post.)

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