Hi there, welcome back to our first link up for 2017.This month’s topic is…

WHEN YOU’VE BEEN LET DOWN

Have you ever been let down?? By friends or family??

It’s a tough thing, especially when you come to the realisation that you don’t mean the same thing to someone as they do to you.

How do we deal with disappointment and  hurt. I know we’ve talked plenty on forgivesness and taking our thoughts captive and we know that forgiveness is imperative to our faith walk.

But… when we’ve been let down by someone we love how do we deal with it.

I think the important realisation for my husband and myself is that when we have put certain people up there in our thinking (on a pedestal) and then something happens and they let us down we are devastated.

There is no person that we can or should put on a pedestal, because man is man and man being man they will sin and let us down and hurt us and if we are being honest with ourselves we can hurt others too, so the important thing is to take our reliance off of people and only rely on God.

We need to be close to God and then when the hurts come we can give them to him in prayer and supplication, asking for His forgiveness and a heart to love those who have let us down.

Here’s another thing… what if that person that let you down and hurt you isn’t sorry or doesn’t care, how easy is it to forgive when there is no reconciliation?? I know for me I find this terribly difficult and need to be constantly working on my attitude and my heart.

We are going through some stuff at the moment and we have been terribly let down, but the key is taking our thoughts captive, giving them over to God and asking Him to bless them and us.

Now as we all know this is easier said than done…those conversations that we have in our head or that we mutter about all day rule our hearts and we need to stop it and concentrate on God.

A good friend of mine has been memorising scripture, big amounts at a time and has found this the best thing for stopping the thoughts that lead to worries and disappointment. She said that as soon as she wakes during the night she recites the scriptures in her head and that is what she focuses on. What a great idea..

Wouldn’t it be great if the first thing that came to mind was scripture and not the issues we are facing.

There are so many scriptures that we could focus on, the Lord’s word is such a gift and tool for everyday life. Here are some I found that are so comforting.

Nahum 1:7 – “The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him.”

Zephaniah 3:17 – “The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.”

Psalm 91:14-16 – “”Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call on me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.”

Psalm 23:1-6 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows

Revelation 21:3-4 – “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

What a blessing the Word of God is in our lives, let’s make sure that we immerse ourselves in it, and use it as our comfort and shield.

The most important thing is God NEVER lets us down.

So how do you deal with disappointment and being let down by those you love???

I would love to hear from you this month on this topic and if you don’t have a post to link up please leave me your thoughts in the comment section, I need all the help I can get.

Also please forgive me if I delete your post if it doesn’t relate to our topic for the month.  Please feel free to pop over to our Good Morning Mondays Link Up each week if you have something else you would like to share.

Have a great month and I look forward to hearing from you.

Blessings to you all xxxxx

An InLinkz Link-up

You will find me linked up at some of these great blogs.

Welcome back to our monthly link up…

Once again I wonder where the last month has gone. Time is passing and I think that each month it will be the status quo.

Our last months topic was on CONTENTMENT and I am thankful for those of you who stopped by and linked up or left me a comment. I am still working on CONTENTMENT, but I think like most things in my life, it is a work in progress.

This months topic is…

TAKING OUR THOUGHTS CAPTIVE

and just as I was contemplating this topic for the month, I was challenged on it.

Isn’t that just the way… We had an issue with an extended family member that left us very disappointed and here I am needing now to put this topic into practice.

Why do I need to put it into practice??? If I don’t I will allow this problem to build up in me and I will find myself thinking on what has happened and I will be having conversations in my mind about what I would have liked to say.

Now don’t get me wrong, we should try and reconcile the issue as well and we have taken steps to do this but that doesn’t stop my mind ticking over. It’s that spaghetti brain I guess and the way I am wired.

I first picked this topic after discussion with a dear friend of mine and some scripture that she shared with me.

Philippians 4:8-9  Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.  The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.

There you go whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure… etc etc MEDITATE ON THESE THINGS.

Now at the moment I am struggling to mediate on anything other than the situation that we’ve been challenged with and truly, it isn’t honouring God to be thinking the way I am.

I need to take hold of my thoughts – take them captive and bring them into the obedience of Christ.

2 Corinthians 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

I need to focus on what is good and lovely and pure and I find, especially when I start having conversation with people in my head that God convicts me and I stop and I pray for those people. I ask God to bless them and prosper them and give them good health.

But… I fail so often and fall into my old ways, mainly I think because they are so comfortable. No one wants to bless someone who has hurt them, it’s not always an easy thing to do, but it is important to give our whole lives and all our thoughts to God.

God is our “go to” in all situations and unless we are actively taking our thoughts captive, God stops being our “go to” and becomes our “sometimes” or “whenever it suits” and we become our own “go to”.

How do you handle TAKING YOUR THOUGHTS CAPTIVE???

How do you focus on Christ instead of the problems and issues in your life???

I would love to hear from you this month on this topic and if you don’t have a post to link up please leave me your thoughts in the comment section, I need all the help I can get.

Also please forgive me if I delete your post if it doesn’t relate to our topic for the month.  Please feel free to pop over to our Good Morning Mondays Link Up each week if you have something else you would like to share.

Have a great month and I look forward to hearing from you.

Blessings to you all xxxxx

Welcome back my friends to our monthly…

This month’s topic is on

CONTENTMENT

Well another month has passed and I’m not sure where the year is going. It is nearly November and Christmas will be upon us before we know it.  I wonder, am I content with all that I have achieved this past year and am I content with my life.

The dictionary definition of CONTENTMENT is:

A state of happiness and satisfaction.

Then there is that scripture:

Philippians 4:11-12 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger abundance and need.

Are we content in whatever situation we are in?? That certainly takes some thinking on.  I know I am content when we have all our bills paid on time, but that doesn’t always happen and I know that I get edgy about it.  Then there is the scripture below from Hebrews…

Hebrews 13:5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

God tells us to be content with what we have, resting in the knowledge that He will never leave us and never forsake us.

Our message at church last week wasn’t exactly on contentment but on the fact that whatever we are going through – God knows and He is in control.

We sit behind Mr H and his family in church and I wonder if I was in his situation (drying from cancer) would I be content.

Now I’m not big on holidays or stuff, we live a fairly frugal lifestyle and this suits us very well, so I don’t really run after those type of things but there are so many things I still want to teach the children and so many things I want to do around the farm with my husband.

Sometimes it’s money that stops us and sometimes it is time, but we need to be content with the fact that we can only do what we can.

After our big butchering weekend where our son-in-law, daughter and family were down and our no 1 son home, we’ve gained a greater insight into what we really do have.  We have a wonderful supportive family whom we love dearly. We have 3 grandchildren and 1 on the way and I’m not even 50 yet. We have very little money but God has blessed us so much more abundantly than we could ever have dreamed possible.

So I guess the only thing I should be discontent with (if anything) is the time I spend in God’s word and in prayer to Him.

Matthew 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Isaiah 26:3 You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.

And some more encouraging scriptures…

Philippians 4:19 And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

1 Timothy 6:6 Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment.

1 Corinthians 7:17 Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches.

Really I have nothing else to be discontent about. If God is for us who can be against us, should be enough encouragement to be in a state of happiness and satisfaction. I guess we should live in a state of eternal perspective, and stop looking over the fence at other people and their lives.

Romans 8:31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

So what does contentment mean to you??? I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic and please any posts that you have can be linked up below.

Also remember if you don’t have a post relating to the topic just drop me a comment, I would love to hear from you.

Also please forgive me if I delete your post if it doesn’t relate to our topic for the month.  Please feel free to pop over to our Good Morning Mondays Link Up each week if you have something else you would like to share.

Thank you to everyone who stopped by last month and linked up.

Have a great month and I look forward to hearing from you.

Blessings to you all xxxxx

An InLinkz Link-up

You will find me linked up at some of these great blogs.

Welcome back everyone to our next….

This month’s topic is….

FORGIVENESS

I have so many topics on my mind and I am finding it hard to choose which one to go with each month. I had another one in mind but then we had a great message at church this last Sunday that really struck a chord with me and how important FORGIVENESS is in our lives and especially to our Christian walk.

There are plenty of scriptures on FORGIVENESS and the overall necessity of it in our lives.

Matthew 5:22-24 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire. So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.

The Matthew 5:22-24 scripture really lets us know what will happen to us if we are angry with a brother and talks about reconciliation being the first thing to do.

It is really hard to say that we are sorry to someone else especially if we aren’t in the wrong.

My husband is absolutely awesome at this and I have witnessed first hand his desire to straighten things out and even apologising when he was right with what he did.

Matthew 6:9-13 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread.  And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

I feel it is so important to our health to forgive.  I have watched people’s health decline and I feel it is in direct relation to their unforgiveness. We can often become bitter and twisted and sick inside if we allow this unforgiveness to fester and take root, it is like a poison.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic and please any posts that you have can be linked up below.

Also remember if you don’t have a post relating to the topic just drop me a comment, I would love to hear from you.

Also please forgive me if I delete your post if it doesn’t relate to our topic for the month.  Please feel free to pop over to our Good Morning Mondays Link Up each week if you have something else you would like to share.

Thank you to everyone who stopped by last month and linked up, I also apologise for being a week late with this one.

Have a great month and I look forward to hearing from you.

Blessings to you all xxxxx

Welcome to our third ….

This months topic will be on FAITH.

Thank you to everyone who stopped by and shared on last months topic of PRAYER.

I must admit that this month has really sneaked up on me and I’m not as prepared as I would have liked, but I am going to have FAITH that you will all understand and forgive me on that one.

FAITH – what does it mean.

The dictionary definition says:

1. complete trust or confidence in someone or something
2. strong belief in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual conviction rather than proof.

There we go, do we have complete trust in God in every aspect of our lives.  Sometimes it is so hard to trust that everything will be alright.

Finances are a big one for me – when there is not enough coming in to cover what needs to go out. I know that when we pray about it, that God always supplies all that we need. Sometimes it just happens and it slips under our awareness and all of a sudden we realise what God has done for us – again, and again.

Do you remember me asking you for prayer for our good friend Mr H – he has cancer and he is now down to his last treatment, if this experimental one doesn’t work then there isn’t anything more the doctors  can do for him. If you get a chance I know he would appreciate your prayers.

I was talking to his wife about all this and naturally she was very upset. She wasn’t upset about where he was going, they have a strong faith that he will spend eternity in Heaven. She was upset that he was going to be leaving her and her children and she was facing her twilight years without him.

Matthew 9:22 Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, “Take heart, daughter, your faith has made you well” And instantly the woman was made well.

We spoke about healing and that we both believed that God could heal him, but her statement was “would I want to pray to keep him from Heaven”. Wow I had never thought of it that way.

To me that showed great faith that even if God took her husband she knew that He would also be taking care of her and helping and leading her through possibly the next 30 years without her husband by her side.

It seems to me to be so easy to say I have faith that everything will turn out right, words are so easy, but when the rubber hits the road do we actually believe it.

There is also the faith of believing although we don’t see which leads us to the “doubting Thomas” scriptures.

John 20:29 Jesus said unto him, “Thomas, because thou has seen Me, thou has believed. Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed.

We all know how that story goes, Thomas wouldn’t believe that Jesus had been there unless he saw Him himself. I guess that’s where the saying “I won’t believe it until I see it” comes from.

So where does that leave us, I guess it leaves us blessed, blessed because we believe when we haven’t seen.

Is that how you feel about your faith????

I am looking forward to coming together to discuss FAITH over the next month and I am also looking forward to reading your posts.

Also please don’t be offended if I delete your post if it doesn’t relate to prayer, pop over to our Good Morning Mondays Link Up each week if you have something else you would like to share.

Okay, let’s get to it…

Welcome to Darling Downs Diaries and our new link up

I have been wanting to start something new on this blog and I definitely wanted it to be something that God was involved in, up against gardening and cooking, which God is also involved in, but I wanted it to focus on Him.

So I decided to start another link up, come discussion forum for certain topics. At the moment the link up will run  for a month, beginning the 3rd Wednesday and that gives me time to get back to you and read your posts.

Also if you have no post to link up – I would love to hear your thoughts on the topic for the month in the comments section.

So this month’s topic is on…    WORSHIP

So picture this…

Each morning I wake at 6 am before the rest of the family. I spend an hour reading my Bible and in prayer before starting to get breakfast ready. I prepare breakfast with praise and worship songs playing on our CD player.

The children wake one at a time and always enter into the kitchen with a smile on their face and joy in their hearts – ready to face a new day doing their school and other chores.

We are in a constant state of worship as the day continues. We always focus on God and what He is doing in our lives that day. Scripture is always on my lips when I need to correct. I speak gently and calmly always.

Is that what your day is like???? Well the truth of it is mine isn’t, that above is just where I would love to be but in all reality I struggle to get out of bed on these cold mornings and I struggle to enter into a time of worship before we start the day and I struggle with my patience or lack of it with the children.

What I am really trying to work out is how we come to a place of worship in our home in amongst my own attitudes and the children’s. How do we put aside these things and the stuff around us to come close to God in our homes???

Then there is Sunday morning, that for me is another time where I question my ability to worship freely. By the time we get up and get everything done and get out of the house in time there are always frayed tempers and nerves. We are not good at going to bed early on Saturday night so that makes it even harder on Sunday morning.

We don’t even have little children, ours are old enough to get themselves ready and sorted. Sometimes it is just dealing with attitudes before we even step out the door.

We attend a liturgical church and I sometimes find this limiting in my ability to actually sit in God’s presence and worship Him and thank Him for all that He has done for me.  The service and liturgy seems to roll on and I can struggle with focus and not because of our children always, they behave really well in church, it is my mind that won’t sit still.

Now in all this I am not blaming my children or the church itself for my issues, I know that the blame lies with me and my inability to allow God to lead me to a place where I can just be with Him.

My husband had a minister tell him that the only time we worship God is on Sunday morning in Church. Now I know that isn’t true because it says in God’s word in…

1 Corinthians 10:31 Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.

Colossians 3:17 And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him.

Then I started to actually think about what does worship really mean.  The dictionary definition states:

Worship as a Noun: the feeling or expression of reverence and adoration for a deity.

Verb: show reverence and adoration for a deity.

Do I adore God, do I revere Him and do I do both these things as I teach my children, wash the clothes, cook the food and clean up????

So for this month I want to explore what you think Worship is, what it means to you, how it pans out in your daily life and then especially on a Sunday morning or whenever you go to Church.

How do you deal with the issues above if they relate to you and especially any scriptures that point us in the right direction.

I am excited about this link up and where it is going to lead us and what we are going to discuss over the coming months. I look forward to getting to know you all on a deeper level and look forward to sharing my heart with you all.

May God bless our time together and our thoughts, may they always point to Him.

Blessings to you all my friends xxxx

An InLinkz Link-up

PS: I asked a younger friend of mine what Daily Worship means to her and here is her reply.

Daily worship for me starts I think as soon as I wake, what is my view of the day? Will I still praise God even if I don’t feel like it. Will I have my quiet time the same as usual? Am I willing to put aside me and what I want, to serve and love others? (it is good to do things for myself, but I shouldn’t get into the habit of doing it) am I living my life in a way that is pleasing to the Lord. Do I give thanks in all things. Am I willing to go and follow wherever God is leading me that day. Of course there is prayer, singing, talking and just being with God it is all a part of worship. Are my thoughts and actions that of worship to God or are they for myself??? All these questions that I am constantly asking myself because I really struggle with honouring God with daily worship because of my sinful nature. The more I say yes to God the easier it is to say yes each time. Worship I think is being consistent in all that we do each day. It is not how much time or how good it was, it is having a time where you meet with God everyday and just be with him knowing that every moment spent with God is going to help you get through your busy day.

You will find me linked up at some of these great blogs.