Tag Archives: PLANS

Diaries of the Heart

BROTHER LET ME BE YOUR SERVANT…

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Brother, let me be your servant.
Let me be as Christ to you.
Pray that I might have the grace
To let you be my servant, too.

We are pilgrims on a journey.
We are brothers on the road.
We are here to help each other
Walk the mile and bear the load.

I will hold the Christ-light for you
In the night time of your fear.
I will hold my hand out to you;
Speak the peace you long to hear.

I will weep when you are weeping.
When you laugh, I’ll laugh with you.
I will share your joy and sorrow
Till we’ve seen this journey through.

When we sing to God in heaven,
We shall find such harmony
Born of all we’ve known together
Of Christ’s love and agony.

Brother, let me be your servant.
Let me be as Christ to you.
Pray that I might have the grace
To let you be my servant, too.

 Copyright © 1977 Scripture in Song/Maranatha!Music

This song was one of the ones we sang last week at church. It really is amazing how you can sing a song for years and years and I suppose appreciate it but never really understand all the verses until God has you in a place where you need to really HEAR the words.

This song really brought tears to my eyes, especially the first verse. The whole song is a tribute to Christian brotherhood (family) and what we should be to each other and how we should care for each other but the last two lines of the first verse really hit home.

Pray that I might have the grace
To let you be my servant, too.

Oh believe me it is so easy to help people and to be the one who loves to give and care for others but when the boot is on the other foot it is a very humbling experience.

I have really had to think about how I allow people to serve me and actually whether I do so with grace and humility.

To have people filling our freezers and caring for us in various ways is such a blessing, but one that I find difficult.

Not being able to do too much has made me feel like a burden, not only to my most wonderful dear husband and children but to our friends as well. I am not used to being looked after physically and I sometimes feel I could have learnt this lesson somewhat easier, but God knows and God is in control and although at times I wonder “why me”, I know deep down that God’s plans are greatest and He only has good plans for us.

One dear friend sent me a text the other day to encourage me, these were her words:

You are being an agent of blessing to your family (as hard a it is when you are such a giver). You’re allowing them to be blessed by serving. I love the way God works, all upside down. Soak in the blessings!

What wonderful words of encouragement and with the song we sang on Sunday my eyes have been opened to how I allow others to bless me.

I don’t want to inhibit other people when their desire is to care for me and love me in whatever way they can.

I pray, Lord please give me the grace to allow others to serve me, so in turn they can be blessed.

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

Diaries of the Heart

LIFE IS LIKE A JIGSAW PUZZLE

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Since our no 2 daughter has been away skiing with her older siblings no 2 son has wanted to do some jigsaw puzzles.

I had a box of 10 that I bought from the op-shop (thrift store) ages ago that had never been opened, they are quite lovely and only 300 – 500 pieces each, so not too big.

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We have already completed two and we are now onto our third one. As I was sitting placing the puzzles together it came to me that life is just like a puzzle.

When God opens the box of our puzzle and He spreads the pieces out and puts them all the right way round, our life is beginning.

Then God being God He probably doesn’t need to do the border first (like I do) but let’s just say that He does.

So as we piece the border together we see where we are coming from, what family we are placed in.

As we grow the pieces are placed and they become denser with each year that we age.

Each little puzzle piece holds a bit of the bigger picture of our life story.

Some of these pieces are filled with pain and sorrow, some are filled with longing. Maybe the piece that finishes off the picture of our future life partner is a long time coming. Maybe we have our husband or wife and the piece that is our children seems to take forever for God to place, or maybe not at all.

As I was doing the puzzles I was convinced at times that there must be pieces missing because I just couldn’t find the exact ones I was after, the exact colour and shape for what I needed.

There is a great guarantee in our life’s jigsaw puzzle and that is that God never looses any pieces, He has them all in front of Him. Sometimes He has to put pieces in later because of our own choices making it difficult for Him to complete His plans. Sometimes our plans take over and then we have to wait for His perfect timing on placing the pieces exactly where He wanted too.

That being said, the puzzle will one day be complete and I pray that my husband and myself will be in His word and placing ourselves and our family in the right position so that He can place the puzzle pieces without us getting in the way.

Jeremiah 29:11  For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

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Joshua 24:15  And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

 

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

 

Diaries of the Heart

REMINISCING AND GOAL SETTING

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This afternoon we decided to go for a drive, get an ice cream and have a look around some of our old haunts.

We haven’t taken a Sunday afternoon drive for ages and it was really enjoyable.

We went and had a look at the biggest wind farm in the southern hemisphere which is about 30kms away from us and close to where my husband grew up. This wind farm is made up of 140 turbines and is quite a sight to see.

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This afternoon before we went for a drive we were outside looking at where we are going to hopefully plant fruit trees and berries this autumn.  Where we want to cut back some old cyprus trees and prepare the soil and fencing.  We have had pigs on the plot and they did their job of digging it over.

I  really enjoy these Sunday drives, actually I really enjoying any driving with my husband. It’s one on one time to talk and discuss our plans, what we have done, what we want to do and what others are doing that may be good for us to try.

During our drive we drove past the farm my husband grew up on.  All around it was land that belonged to his family and before we sold we were the last surviving family members on the farm.  It was really hard for him to put out the for sale sign.  He had mixed feelings and I am sure he especially felt like a failure.  I suppose for me I looked at it as new beginnings, of owning something that was ours and not something that we took over.

It was good to drive around the old place and see how the trees that he direct sowed were growing and remembering that he knew how to do that and that we can do it where we live now.

We discussed how we used to grow broccoli for the export market for the Japanese and what would be happening if we still lived there. Our No 1 son (19 years old) thought about how good it would have been to have grown up there and to own it now.

We also discussed that in hindsight it wasn’t our fault that we had to sell up, we had other family members to look after and care for then and they were more important than our dreams.

I don’t think that if we were still there that we would have the same ideals and opinions as we do now.  Having sold and moved and bought and sold again and then rented we have learnt so much about what God wants for us and how he wants us to live.

The years have at times been hard, just like everyone has hard times but God has truly blessed us and brought us back to a place where we own our own land and we feel so very happy to wake up every morning where we are.

So although things could have been different and we could still be “big” landholders, God didn’t have that plan for us, but His plans are perfect and that’s what we feel right now.

Psalm 18:30 As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him.

And my husbands favourite scripture:

Matthew 6:26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

My husband always says that we shouldn’t worry about our future because God has got it all worked out, all we have to do is sit back and hang on to Him.

Blessings to you all.

 

This post is linked up here…

Fellowship Friday