Yvonne and Owen

In Launceston a few weeks ago it was a joy to meet with friends from Hobart! I am lonely up in Launceston. I cried when I couldn't find them at the place we were supposed to meet! It all ended happily ever after though, as we did find each other!

Yvonne diagnosed me with homesickness and recommended some remedies, which I have not yet followed. I have been at home for a week though, which helps. It was a great blessing to go to my own church last night, even if I did have to leave earlier than I wanted to (my cough was bad).

When I met with Yvonne and Owen in Launceston, we spent most of our time talking about the Bible's teaching on money. I think we agree that Christians should be extremely generous, but we should also save and care for our families. As usual in our conversations though, we got to this point via many seeming disagreements that were not really disagreements. Yvonne and I always seem to come at things from different angles and get lost somewhere in the middle. Isn't it great that we're still such good friends? Yvonne says that it is a testimony to the power of Christ to unite us. We agree about far more than we disagree on, and our "disagreements" have become something of a joke.

Yvonne is passionate about the world's poor. She recently did a post on fair trade chocolate and cocoa.

Here are some verses that seem to go well with our conversation in Launceston:

"The fruit that your soul longed for has gone from you, and all the things which are rich and splendid have gone from you, and you shall find them no more at all.

"The merchants of these things, who became rich by her, will stand at a distance for fear of her torment, weeping and wailing.

"and saying, 'Alas, alas, that great city that was clothed in fine linen, purple, and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls!

"For in one hour such great riches came to nothing.

Revelation 18:14-19a.

I can't wait to meet up with Yvonne again in the North!

Read more...

Kindly Thwarted

How kindly God has thwarted me,
so that I might learn to glory in disappointments.
Robert Murray McCheyne

Since reading Kimi's post Prayer, Healing, and Trust, I have been planning to write about my own experiences in this area. Firstly, I would like to share a few scriptures that have impressed my heart in recent weeks as I've thought about this topic of faith when God does not answer our prayers the way we would like.

O LORD God of hosts,
How long will you be angry
Against the prayer of your people?
You have fed them with the bread of tears,
And given them tears to drink in great measure.
Psalm 80:4-5.

Return, O LORD! How long?
And have compassion on your servants.
Oh, satisfy us early with your mercy,
that we may rejoice and be glad all our days!
Make us glad according to the days in which you have afflicted us,
The years in which we have seen evil.
Let your work appear to your servants,
And you glory to their children.
And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us.
And establish the work of our hands for us;
Yes, establish the work of our hands.
Psalm 90:13-17.

"For my name's sake I will defer my anger,
And for My praise I will restrain it from you,
So that I do not cut you off.
Behold I have refined you, but not as silver;
I have tested you in the furnace of afflication.
For my own sake, for My own sake, I will do it;
For how should My name be profaned?
And I will not give My glory to another.
Isaiah 48:9-11.

Read more...

Focusing on prayer

Recently, if was a blessing to receive a long comment on my blog from my friend Kerri who is a missionary in Bolivia. Kerri shared some of her experiences with prayer in response to my post Prayers, large and small. I thought other people would benefit from it, and I doubt you're into scouring my archives for new comments, so here it is!

I feel like I´m learning a heap about prayer at the moment - and that I have so much more to learn! A couple of thoughts to share that I have been thinking about or finding helpful:

Super-slow Bible reading. Saturating myself in the text, imagining the scene/concept, becoming the people in the text. Meditate on each word. For example I was doing this with psalm 103, and really visualing and putting myself in the pit described where my sin puts me . . and then imagining God reaching into the pit, drawing me out and ´crowning me with love and compassion . .´ feeling the sense of ´youth like an eagle´ that is described. It´s almost impossible not to spontaneously praise God and from this I find my prayer flows so much better

Kerri's experiences in this regard remind me of what was said about George Whitfield in Forgotten Founding Father.

Whitefield poured over the word of God, reflecting, using commentaries, and praying over every line and word, “making every statement a request and melting the passage into his soul.” He did this every morning, savouring and storing God’s word.

Due to this, later in life Whitefield could preach forty of fifty times a week without having time to prepare. He “could quote long passages of Scripture for his dramatic recitations.”

I often find that reading scripture leads me to pray about what I am reading. However, I am often reading fast. I have a Bible reading plan that goes through 4 chapters every day. However, I do find that I often want to go over the passage again. This can be a good time to put into action Kerri's "slow down and visualise" recommendation, and it has helped when I have tried it.

Kerri also shared about fasting, something I often think and read about but never do!

Fasting is something I´ve thought about a bit but not really done but my thoughts are – it´s not the act of fasting that helps us, its partly that fasting is a sin-finder – irritability, resentment etc that arise that we put as due to hunger are already there but surface when they are not masked by us satisfying our physical longings. We can find and confess seedling or hidden sins like this. Maybe we can extend this – in general I am too easily satisfied by food or other pleasurable activities. Time taken purposefully sacrificing something I enjoy in order to set this time aside for God teaches me to have my longings fulfilled by God and Him alone. NB even married couple are instructed ´not to deprive each other (of sex) except by mutual agreement in order that they can devote themselves to prayer´. Are we so easily satisfied by worldly pleasure that we don´t long for God like we should?

¨You, O Lord, are the thing that I long for
And yet, I´m not sure that I can bear the emptiness that this longing will involve.
If I really long for you then there will be no room for the clutter of a lot of other longings.¨ - author unknown

Read more...

The last shall be first

I am still sick, but today has been my best day since I came down with the virus on Sunday. God willing, I'll be back to work next week.

Susan's post on her experiences volunteering at a Vacation Bible School was fun to read. They reminded me of my experiences working with little children! Susan wrote:

"Isn't it amazing how selfish little girls can be, though? My crew was very well-behaved, but all (except one) of them were so self-centered! They each wanted to be the first in line, etc., and if they did something "good" they wanted everyone to know!"

I became tired of the children I work with trying to be first in line, especially one little girl. So one day after sport I told them that Jesus said "The last shall be first, and the first shall be last". I made them repeat it after me as we stood in line on the oval. I didn't quite know how to explain the meaning of it, but I was desperate!

They all still remember the verse, and know that it means we should not try to be first. They even quote it to each other. However, the little girl it was particularly addressed toward had a unique interpretation. One day she told me that "I picked up my drink bottle last, so that means I can be first in line now."

Susan also has some good discussion about teaching the gospel to children. I feel most inadequate at this, but I do believe their understanding has improved over the year. I try to talk to them often about how we have all done wrong things, and we all need to trust that Jesus died for our sins if we want to go to heaven.

Here are some more pictures of our crafts. Even while we do crafts, we talk about the Bible and God. Discussions about God are a natural part of our conversation together.



I made the anthill out of scrunched up newspaper with tissue paper over the top. Innovative, don't you think?

Another one of our creative displays . . .


This week I had planned to make hampsters, with wool for hair. The things you miss when you are sick :(. We'll have to do it next week.

Read more...

I came to the end

I really should be in bed right now, as I'm sick with a virus and having the week off school. I have been spending most of my time in bed. However, I've been planning to post something on this topic on this day for a while, and I can't resist!

For you have trusted in your own wickedness;
You have said, ‘No one sees me’;
Your wisdom and your knowledge have warped you;
And you have said in your heart,
‘I am, and there is no one else besides me.’
Isaiah 47:10

Today is the year anniversary of the completion of the last exam for my Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Journalism. It would perhaps have been more aptly called a Bachelor of Arts in humanism, with majors in feminism, post-modernism, and Marxism. The topics I have mentioned seemed to form a large part of nearly every unit I took.

For the first few years, I found the continual attacks on my Christian faith at university deeply disturbing. I was a new Christian with many other troubles in my life. I had previously been exposed to the pain of many sins through the experience of friends. I had also experienced the pain and consequences of my own rebellion. However, being exposed whole disciplines devoted to explaining, justifying, and propagating such rebellion was a new experience.

I quickly discovered that my mother’s teaching about the way worldly philosophies oppose God’s truth was correct, even though I had long scorned her wisdom. As Isaiah 47:10 says, it is possible for “wisdom” and “knowledge” apart from Christ to warp people, not lead them toward truth. Without faith, people soon find more and more ways to justify unbelief and to scorn God. They trust in their own wickedness, and see man as the centre of history and thought. The idea that ‘I am, and there is no one else besides me’ (Isaiah 47:10) is a blasphemous twist of the truth that “I am the LORD, and there is no other’ (Isaiah 45:6).

During my early university years, I chose some of my subjects based on how opposed they were to my Christian faith. I loved English at the Christian school I attended for three years from grades 10 – 12, so I had intended to major in English at university. However, the way we expected to analyse every text through the lenses of aboriginal studies, or feminism, or another ism, destroyed the pleasure for me. Lecturers would often make disparaging comments about Christianity.

Around half way through my second year at university, I became less sensitive to attacks on Christianity. I also did not worry so much if I did not have something great to say when issues impinging upon Christianity were raised. I still spoke out, but did not feel the same pressure to always have something to say. Lecturers could call Christianity “rubbish” and it would not hurt at all. When an English teacher read explicit sexual poetry during a lecture, it was not even surprising.

One of the few things that managed to shock me during my fourth year at university was a poem presented in a writing class. We critiqued each other’s poems in this class. A young woman, who always arrived heavily made up, presented a poem that was an explicit description of prostitution. She then told us that it was about herself. Jesus’ teaching on how to treat prostitutes suddenly seemed more real than ever before.

University was not all bad. There were many things to be grateful for. Each week I attended the Christian group and heard great talks on the Bible. The preacher worked through whole books of the Bible. I was also able to socialise with other Christians. In third year, I began a pro-life group on campus and we were able to hold seminars and discussion meetings. We also held a stall on clubs and societies day. Some classes also had enjoyable or useful aspects. In Political Science I enjoyed learning about different political systems, history, geography, and political theory. Journalism taught me many writing skills. I also appreciated learning to interview people.

It took me four and a half years to complete my degree. I found it difficult to study with constant back pain, so I studied part time. I lived at home, which was a blessing. At my graduation, I knew only two people. Many of those I had met at university graduated before me, as the degree is only three years full time. One of the people I knew was the woman who’d told us she was a prostitute. We talked about how exciting it was to graduate, and the journeys we’d taken to get there.

I am not sure if doing a degree was the best thing for me to do with those four and a half years. I’ve certainly enjoyed life more, and learnt more too, since finishing. Teaching young children is a great learning curve! I have also begun new hobbies, and pursued my own reading and writing interests. However, I know that in God’s providence my Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Journalism was not wasted. If nothing else, it has made me a stronger person with clearer ideas about what I believe. I am grateful that God led me through it, and by his grace I came to the end.

Read more...

Homeschooling is no Saviour

There were several girls near my age in our small homeschool support group. I was friends with most of them, partly due to lack of any other choices for friendships. When I look at what has happened to these friends, it is saddening. Fornication, suicide attempts, anorexia, witchcraft, self-mutilation, drug and alcohol abuse, wild parties, bisexuality, single parenthood, and adultery spring to mind when I think of them. I once participated in some of this. I do not like to think of or speak of those times.

I have chosen to write about this because I believe some people have unrealistic ideas about what homeschooling will do for their children. I am an unashamed advocate of Christian education. I passionately believe that every child born into a Christian home should be taught about God all day long, not placed in educational institutions that deny God. The Bible says that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom and understanding. How can places that deny God also promote true education? I would argue that they cannot. Children need to be in a place where sin is dealt with biblically, and Jesus is pointed to as the solution. They should not be "educated" in a place where sin is celebrated, seen as the normal way to act, or covered over.

I do not believe other Christians are 'in sin' if they consider it good to send children to places where God is not acknowledged, but I also think their arguments are without merit. Some argue that the children can be evangelists, yet they simultaneously acknowledge that they do not even yet know if their children are converted. This seems like a contradiction in terms. How can a person of dubious or no faith be an evangelist? If a child is well grounded in the faith, and has a demonstrated ability to stand up for it, that may be a different matter. Until a child has reached that point, parents and schools need to disciple them to reach it. This should include teaching on how to evangelise others.

Unsurprisingly, I have not always felt this way about Christian education. Seeing what happened to my friends, and my own rebellion against God, caused me to oppose it for some time. Now, my support of Christian education is informed with a healthy dose of reality. Education of any form is no Saviour. Humanists teach that it is the way to better people, a better society. Yet the decades following the implementation of their plans for compulsory, government funded education should demonstrate that they are wrong.

Some people homeschool because they believe they are removing their children from sin. This is a grave deception, and shows a lack of understanding of the human heart. Sin begins in our hearts, not in our surroundings. Christian homeschools and institutional schools, with their understanding of man's nature and God's remedy, are simply better places for dealing with this sin. They can never be Saviours from sin. Teachers there can point children to repentance and apply God's word to their lives. If teachers there do not have an understanding of these truths, they will not be effective. Our greatest danger is not from our surroundings, but from ourselves.

Months ago I greatly appreciated what Spunky Homeschool had to say about being realistic homeshcoolers, and focusing on God:

"Just in the past few months adultery, divorce, and suicide have all touched our local homeschool community. Homeschooling is not the salvation of our culture. Jesus is. Homeschooling will not make a family successful. Jesus does. Homeschooling will not keep a child from rebellion. Jesus does. Homeschooling will not keep a marriage strong. Jesus does. And the minute, I think that homeschooling will do any of these things, is the day I begin the slide toward defeat. Homeschooling will not build a successful family any more than a hammer will build a successful house.

Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it. Psalm 127:1

Don't expect homeschooling to do what homeschooling was not designed to do. So if you find yourself, as I often have, in a panic because you think you are not meeting the standard of a "successful homeschooler". Think again and give up the "mythical standard." Don't compare yourself to those around you. Fix your eyes on HIM."

Read more...

I've decided!

I have decided on this photo for my wall, Some of those who voted in this post swayed me toward it. It was Yvonne's eloquent explanation that swayed me most:


I go for no.3, it looks more natural than no.2 - it has the balance of the formal grown-up clothes on your nephew but in a natural, relaxed child position. So overall, number 3 results in maximum cuteness (and less like he's been forced into the clothes and made to stand there!)

I did not want the little guy to look forced into clothes and made to stand there! I've been known to change my mind though, so who know what will really end up on my wall!

As you can see, I've also updated my blogger profile with this picture. The other picture looked far too much like summer as I sat here blogging dressed in wool!

Read more...