Month November - Dealing with Stress

The time we reach November many of us are stressed and tense.

And there are still far too many things to do.

God, you know me so well that I don't even need to tell you how anxious, tense and stressed I am at present.

Like Job, I feel as if my life is hanging by a thread;

I am exhausted, irritated and worn out. I neglect my quite time,

because there is so much to do..

Please help me to live one day at a time.

I now want to come to You with all my anxiety and tension and lay it at Your cross.

Thank You that You are always there to carry me.

I need Your courage and power so much today - please give me inner strengh that You promised in Your word.

I want to hold onto You,

Please give me peace -You are my peace, Lord.

Thank you for your reassurance that You will help me.

Lord, please forgive me for all the times I was upset because my selfish plans didnot work out.

Make me willing to fall in with Your plans for my life.

Forgive me for trying to be such a perfectionist and thinking that I can manage everything myself.

Make me calm and content to just do my best.

Thank You Lord. 

"Nina Smit"

Time is Love - Love is Time

Life is all about love.

Life without love is worthless.

You must love the Lord your God with all you heart.. This is the first commandment.

Secondly, love your neighbor as yourself.

I want to make sure that I spend time loving you and loving other people - because that's what life is all about. Don't wast this day - Why should God give you another day if you're going to waste it?

Time is the most precious gift because you only have a set amount of it.

You can make more money, but you can't make more time. That is why the greatest gift you can give someone is your time, therefore the best way to spell love is T-I-M-E.

The essence of of love is not what we think or do or provide for others, but how much we can give overselves.

'Attention' says, "I value you enough to give you my most precious asset - my time."

Whenever you give your time, you are making a sacrifice, and sacrifice is the essence of love.

You can give without love, but you cannot love without giving.

"God so loved the world that he gave his only Son".

The best use of life is love. The best expression of love is time.

The best time to love is now.

"Rick Warren"



Gratitude and to say "thank you".

When picking flowers, we find that the rarest ones are always the most sought after.

Gratitude is like a flower that opens its petals under the caress of sunlight, thus unfolding its hidden beauty.

We take for granted so much that we received that we no longer even realise that we are receiving many things. People like saying gratitude costs nothing, However, say "thank you" can cost you quite a bit of effort and trouble. We so much fear becoming involved.

You need to empty yourself, to become open and expectant, to realise that you truly need others.

To pray is to give thanks because we realise that we play a role in contribute to a better world and a more beautiful mankind.

Thank You, gracious Father, for the many who have taught me to believe in gratitude, therefore, I say thank You that I can move, and that I can walk, and that I can see, and that I can hear and that I can speak.

I thank You.

To live in gratitude is to gradually come to the understanding that God Himself is our gift.

God is to be found wherever we serve.

Gratitude is the simplicity of the heart.

Singleness does not mean Rejection - Purpose

I am single for sometime now and one day I sat down and thought about my past life, difficult times and heart-aches I have experienced as a single person, even my childhood came upon  and an emptiness filled my heart. I always felt singled out when birthdays, social events, etc; comes up. The assumption that because you are single, you lack purpose or direction, is emotionally unstable, sexually frustrated and unfulfilled and there's always a stigma around you.

I sat down and started to weep for a long time and then became very quiet. I wanted to allow my true feelings to surface. In that moment for the first time, I knew that God had  become my emotional shield, my protector and my strong tower of defense and I was free to express my true self.

Perhaps in your own life, certain wounds have caused you to build walls and put up smoke screens. Perhaps the pain of separation or divorce has caused you to stop being genuine with others.

Every time you're around someone,  particularly the opposite sex, you put on a mask. It's not the real you. It's a protective shield to keep you from ever being hurt again.

God has taken you wounds and frustrations from multiple rejections and borne them so you may know healing, wholeness, release and freedom to love again in  Him.

God is saying to you today that you don't need those defenses any more. You don't need those masks.

You have got a better one - the Lord Himself.

He is calling you to take those hurts and release them to him. God wants you to lay the wounds of that divorce, the anger of loss in widowhood, or the frustration and pain of multiple rejections that you may have experience in the single life upon Him and you are complete in Him.

God has taken your wounds and frustrations from multiple rejections and borne them so you may know healing, wholeness, release and freedom to love again in Him.

Every person - whether single, married, or divorced is a complete person with abilities, talents, skills and promise. When you use your abilities to glorify God, He will purify you bless you beyond comparison.

God has a place and a purpose for you!

Don't Blame Others for Your Sins

If you keep on thinking of excuses for doing wrong, you dishonor God, and consequently don't succeed in glorifing Him.

When God admonished Adam for alowing Eve to tempt him into eating the fruit of the tree God forbade them, but Adam was ready with an excuse: "The woman You gave me brought me the fruit and I ate it".

 (Genesis 3:12) "What Adam is in effect say is that his sin is actually God's fault because the woman God gave him is the reason why he ate the fruit.

It is never God who is responsible for ours sins, but alway us ourself. After all, we were born sinful. When we confess our sin, no 'buts' are allowed at all. It is much better for us to recognize, admit and sincerely confess it before God, and to undertake not to sin again in future.

"by Nina Smit"

Lord, I am sorry because I have also shifte the blame for  my sins onto others. Help me to be aware of my sins, to confess every one of them before You and keep me from sinning again, so that I can glorify You.

       Amen.

Werke van die Here is Groot

Vandag is my hart vol lof en ek wil dit opdra en die Here loof

Psalm 111

Met my hele hart wil ek die Here loof, in die samekoms van die opregtes

in die gemeente, Die Werke van die Here is groot, almal wat daarin vreugde vind,

dink daaroor na.

Sy dade is vol majesteit en luister, sy trou staan vir atyd vas.

Hy sorg dat Sy magtige dade nie vergeet word nie.

Genadig en barmhartig is die Here. Hy voed die wat Hom dien.

Hy hou sy verbond altyd in stand.

Hy het sy volk die krag van sy dade laat ervaar.

Sy Naam is Heilig, dit wek ontsag.

met die dien van die Here;  almal wat dit doen, het ware insig.

Die roem van die Here hou altyd stand.

Amen!

Purpose in life

Lord, I want my purpose in life to be glorify You in all I do.

When I see Your creation, I become so intensely aware of Your glory and majesty.

I want to give You credit for all my achievements.

I want to trust You fully and I am willing to give up my own honor.

I also want to glorify You through all my suffering because it helps me to understand Your suffering better.

I praise You for the promise that that You are preparing for me that I will one day share in Your glory.

I want to praise You in my prayers by leading people to You.

Father, forgive me holding on to the past. Help me to start thinking differently and make peace with it today.

Thank You for speaking to me. Help me to recognize and obey Your voice and ignor the other voices in my life.

Amen.

Poem by Russell Kelfer:-

You are who you are for a reason

You,re part of an intricate plan,

You,re a precious woman or man.

You look like you look for a reason.

our God made no mistake.

He knit you together within the womb,

You're just what he wanted to make

The parents you had were the ones he chose,

And no matter how you may feel,

They were custom-designed with God's plan in mind,

And they bear the Master's seal.

No, that trauma you faced was not easy,

And God wept that it hurt you so;

But it was allowed to shape your heart

so that into His likeness you'd grow.

You are who you are for a reason,

You've been formed by the Master's rod,

You are who you are, beloved,

Because there is a God!!.