Matthew ...

A picture speaks a thousand words ...

There is absolutely nothing like the feeling when one of your children has made the decision to live for Jesus. It was a very proud and exciting moment for all of us. He's such a special boy and we know that God's plans for him are perfect!

His Poppa baptised him, which made what was already a very special and important moment, even more significant.

This week has been kind of 'nuts' ... I'm not really sure why, but it seems that the last several weeks have passed by me in a whirlwind and whilst I try to grab onto something to put the brakes on and slow things down, anything substantial to hold onto in order to achieve that end, alludes me!

All my children are growing up so quickly ... I just want things to slow down so that I can enjoy them at home longer!! Although Matthew has assured me time and time again that he's never leaving home and he's never getting married!!! We'll see how he feels in 10 or 12 years time!!

I'm thankful for Matthew because, at the moment, while Joel and Benjy are entering new phases, Matthew is constant and happy in the phase that he's in. Actually, I'm not sure he really wants to leave this stage of his life, he seems really quite content. However, the inevitable will happen and he, too, will move on.

When my children were little, and even when they first started school, it seemed that I would have them home forever and they would stay little forever. Alas, this is not to be. The ways of God have ordained that my children must grow up and move on!!!

In the last few weeks, I have picked up a preschool information pack for Benjy, bought shirts in readiness for Joel to start High School next year, picked a language for Joel to study next year and submitted it to the High School, submitted book packs for Matthew and Joel to their respective schools ... and the list seems endless. Not to mention the end-of-year excursions ... Joel is off to Big Splash next week with the year 6 group and Matthew is off to the Phillip pool and ice skating!! Joel has his year 6 graduation assembly next Thursday and graduation dinner next Thursday night!

2008 is coming to an end and there is preparation for 2009 to be done. So we leave one year behind us and look forward to new beginnings, new developments. Some things are uncertain, such as the global financial crises, the situation in Iraq/Iran/Afghanistan, the war on terrorism etc. But we can be sure that our God is faithful and He will NEVER leave us nor will He forsake us!! He is my Peace, my Joy, my Rock, my Shelter, my Strong Tower ... He is everything I could ever want Him to be and sooooo much more.

He is faithful!!!!

And He is Almighty God and worth getting to know, love and serve!!!

Jeremiah

Lately, I have been reading the book of Jeremiah, and I must confess that I did not really expect to find much encouragement from the book of the weeping prophet. I must say that I have been so pleasantly surprised. Whilst God is grieved and angry over the way His people have forsaken His ways, even to the point of denying that He exists, God illustrates His magnificent character and His awesome ways. I love the way these particular scriptures just jump out at me while I am reading this wonderful book of the Bible.

For example, there is a scripture in chapter 5 and verse 22 which demonstrates the power of God when He asks "Fear ye not me? ... will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it?" He goes on to say that even while He has the power to control the elements, He cannot control His people.

Another scripture in chaper 6 and verse 16 says "... Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls ..." That is not the complete verse but it is a promise of God that if we walk in His ways, that even in troubled times ... as it must have been for anyone that wanted to live for God ... we can find rest.

There are sooo many good scriptures (I know - the whole Word of God is good!!) ... I will try and share them on a regular basis.

Actually, as I am reading through Jeremiah, I am reminded of the days that we are living in and the stubbornness of men's hearts. There is one scripture that talks about how men select the wood and the tools and make a statue and then worship it!! When I think of the global financial crisis and how men's dreams are coming down around their ears, I realise that they have placed their faith in the wrong thing. They have made the money, they have built their lives around it, they are worshipping it, but it's all coming to nothing. Sure, we need money to live, but we know Jehovah Jirah and His ear is not deaf, nor His arm short that He cannot save and deliver!!!

We live in a day of great anxiety for those whose trust is not in the Lord and in His ability to set us free from this world. He longs for us to come back into His presence and to experience the rest He so yearns to give us. And He is so faithful that if we come running back to Him, He will open His arms wide and embrace us. I am also reminded, while I am reading Jeremiah, of a father whose heart is broken. All He wants is for His children to repent and live righteously as He has shown them, then He will make everything good for them again. I guess the prodigal son would have known the loving forgiveness and mercy that was extended to him by his father when he realised how far he had fallen. We can know the same mercy and forgiveness by our Heavenly Father.

I am so often so tarnished by the dirt of the world ... I hear of the things happening around me and I begin to think about a plan of escape. And then I remember God has the perfect plan for me, all I need to do is trust Him. As Kylee said in her blog, He is in perfect control!!

He's such an awesome God!!!