Made for Joy

As we start a new year and think on our life path for 2012, there are some interesting thoughts in this excerpt from an interview with Alice von Hildebrand.

I hope you will take time to read it and ponder on your life choices for the coming year.

For 2012 the Lord has impressed on my heart to focus on these words "....neither poverty nor riches...." from Proverbs 30:7-9. 

Has God given you a verse or theme for 2012?

Wild weather in the bay.....

....I love it!!!!!

Christmas stories from Plough Publishing

Plough Publishing have some lovely christmas stories for children and adults here.

Why not take time to read some of them with your family.

A Christmas story

I subscribe to The Ranch newsletter and today this Christmas story came through. I would like to share it with you. I hope you will take the time to read it and be blessed!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On Bended Knee

Featuring an excerpt from the upcoming book, "Saint Nicholas: The Believer”

By Eric Elder
The Ranch

Back in the 1970's, a catalog company called Miles Kimball created a figurine that depicted a modern-looking Santa Claus, kneeling and worshipping the baby Jesus in the manger. Some people adore this image, while others loathe it, thinking that it's sacrilegious to mix Santa with Jesus.
But the truth is that the image of Saint Nick bending his knee to worship Jesus is closer to reality than most people might think. Not that Santa Claus was really there in Bethlehem when Jesus was born, but the real-life Saint Nicholas, upon whom our modern-day Santa is based, really did go to Bethlehem during his lifetime, back in the late 3rd and early 4th centuries after Christ's birth. Nicholas' visit to Bethlehem was one of the highlights of his life and a touchstone for his faith. (By the way, and not to confuse you with more Christmas stories, but a "touchstone” in the Bible was called an "ebeneezer,” which served as a physical reminder of a place where God did something memorable in someone's life. Hence the name of another famous Christmas character, Ebeneezer Scrooge, from Charles Dickens' story, A Christmas Carol.)
The reason I'm giving you this historical background about the life of Saint Nicholas is because I'd like to share with you another chapter of a new Christmas book my wife and I are writing based on the life of the original Saint Nicholas. I hope it encourages you to take some time this holiday season to "bend your knee” to the same Lord and Savior to whom Nicholas bent his.
The story picks up as Nicholas first arrives at the place of Christ's birth, a dug-out cave in the side of a hill in Bethlehem that was once used as a stable for animals. Nicholas has been brought to this place by three young children who make their living by guiding pilgrims in the Holy Land to the Christian holy places.
With that introduction, here's chapter 12 of our book-in-progress called, "Saint Nicholas: The Believer.”

Night had almost fallen when the four travelers finally arrived at their destination. The young boy Dmetri had led the others through the city of Bethlehem until they reached the spot where generations of pilgrims had previously come to pay homage to their Lord at the place where He was born. It was a small cave, cut into the hillside, where animals could have been easily kept from wandering off.

There were no signs to mark the spot. There were no monuments or buildings to indicate that this was the place where the Creator of the universe had unveiled His plan for its salvation. It was still dangerous anywhere in the Roman Empire to tell others you were a Christian, even though laws against it were so far only sporadically enforced.

But that didn't stop those who were true Christ followers from coming to honor the One in whom they had put their trust. Although Christ Himself taught His followers that they were to respect their earthly rulers, both Caesar and the Christians knew what the Christians would do if they were forced to chose between bending their knee in worship of Caesar, or bending their knee in worship of Christ. So the standoff between the Christians and the Roman Empire continued.

The only indication that this was indeed a holy site was the well-worn path up the hill that made its way into and out of the cave. Tens of thousands of pilgrims had already made the trek to this site in the previous 250 years since Jesus had died. It was well-known to the believers in Bethlehem as the place of Christ's birth, for it had been shown to pilgrims from one generation to the next going back to the days of Christ Himself.

As Dmetri led the other three along the path, Nicholas laughed, a bit to himself, and a bit out loud. The others turned to see what caused such an emotion. Nicholas had even surprised himself! Here he was, finally at the place where he had wanted to come for so long, and he was laughing.

In response to their inquisitive looks, Nicholas said, "I was just thinking of the wise men who came to Bethlehem to see Jesus. They could have walked up this very hill. How regal they must have looked, riding on their camels and bringing their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. For a moment, I pictured myself as one of those kings, dressed in splendor and riding high atop a camel myself. Then I stepped in some sheep dung on the path. The smell brought me back to the reality I'm nothing at all like those kings who visited Jesus!”

"But,” said Ruthie, "didn't you tell us that the angels spoke to the shepherds first about the baby Jesus, and that they were the first ones to visit Him after He was born? So smelling like sheep dung may not make you like a king, but it makes you even more like those who God brought to the manger first!”

"Well said, Ruthie,” Nicholas replied. "You're absolutely right.”

Ruthie smiled at her insight. Then her face produced another thoughtful look. "But maybe we should still be like the wise men, and bring a gift with us before we go in. But what could we bring?” The thought seemed to overtake her, as if she was truly concerned that they had nothing to give to the King of all kings. He wasn't there, of course, to even receive any gifts, but still, she had been captivated by the stories that Nicholas had been telling them about Jesus along the road. She felt she should bring Him some kind of gift.

"Look!” she said, pointing to a place on the hill a short distance away. She darted off the path. Within a few minutes she had returned with four small, delicate, golden flowers, one for each of them. "They look like gold to me!”

She smiled from ear to ear now, giving the other three their gifts that they could bring to Jesus. Nicholas smiled, too, thinking to himself, What difference does it make really whether it's gold from a mine or gold from a flower, when everything we have comes from Him anyway?

With their gifts in hand, they reached the entrance to the cave and stepped in.

Nothing could have prepared Nicholas for the strong emotion that overtook him as he entered the cave.

On the ground in front of him was a makeshift wooden manger, the type of feeding trough for animals that Jesus could have been lain in on the night of his birth. The manger had apparently been placed in the cave as a simple reminder of what had taken place on that spot. But as simple as it was, the affect on Nicholas was profound. His emotions welled-up inside him and he began to weep. What started as a trickle soon turned into a flood.

One minute he had been laughing about sheep dung and watching Ruthie pick flowers on the hill, and the next minute, he found himself on his knees, weeping uncontrollably at the thought of what had taken place on this very spot.

He thought about all that he had ever heard about Jesus: how He had healed the sick, walked on water, and raised the dead. He thought about the words of life that Jesus had spoken while here on earth, words that still echoed all these years later, yet had the weight of authority as if spoken by the very Author of life itself. He thought about his own parents who had devoted their lives to serving this man called Jesus, and who had given up their lives in doing so, just as Jesus had given up His life for them and for us all.

The thoughts so flooded his mind that Nicholas couldn't help but sob with deep, heartfelt tears. The tears seemed to come from within his very soul. Nicholas also felt another stirring deep within his soul, a stirring like he had never felt in his life. It was a sensation that seemed to call for some kind of response, some kind of action on his part, but what? It was a feeling that was totally unfamiliar, yet it seemed unmistakably clear that there was some step he was now supposed to take, as if a door were opening in front of him that he knew he should walk through, but how?

As if in answer to his question, Nicholas remembered the golden flower in his hand. He knew exactly what he was supposed to do. And he wanted more than anything to do it.

He took the flower and laid it gently in the wooden manger. It wasn't just a golden flower anymore. It was a symbol of his very life, offered up in service to his King.

Nicholas knelt there for several minutes, engulfed in this experience that he knew, even then, would affect him for the rest of his life. He was oblivious to everything else that was going on around him. All he knew was that he wanted to serve this King, this Man who was fully human in every sense of the word, yet clearly divine at the same time, the very essence of God Himself.

Nicholas had no idea how long he held this position. It could have been minutes. It could have been hours. All he knew was that he wanted to stay in this position for the rest of his life--humbled before God and worshipping His presence. From that moment on, whether he stood up and ran or slowed down and walked, sat down and rested or laid down to sleep, he wanted to do everything on bended knee, with a heart that was bent towards serving his king.

As if slowly waking up from a dream, Nicholas began to notice his surroundings again. He saw Dmetri and Samuel kneeling on his right, and Ruthie doing the same on his left. Having watched Nicholas slip down to his knees, they had followed suit. Now they looked at each other, and at Nicholas and the manger in front of them.

The waves of emotion that had washed over Nicholas were now washing over them as well. They couldn't help but imagine what he was experiencing, knowing how devoted a follower he was of Jesus, and what it had cost his parents to follow Him. Each of the children, in their own way, began to feel the same love and devotion well up in their own hearts.

They had watched Nicholas lay his flower in the manger, and now they wanted to do the same thing. If Jesus had meant so much to Nicholas, then they wanted to follow Him as well. They had never in their lives experienced the kind of love that Nicholas had shown to them in the past three days. Yet they also realized that the love that Nicholas showed them didn't come from Nicholas alone, but from the God whom Nicholas served. If this was the effect that Jesus had on His followers, they thought, then they wanted to follow Him, too.

On bended knees, each of the three children lay their golden flowers in the manger, too, and with the flowers, their hearts.

If Nicholas had any doubts about his faith prior to this, they were all washed away now. Nicholas had become, in the truest sense of the word, a Believer.

And within minutes of giving his whole heart and life to Christ, he was already inspiring others to do the same.

Although this story is fictionalized to show what it might have been like when the real-life Saint Nicholas first visited Bethlehem, the truth is that Nicholas was so touched by his visit to the Holy Land that he decided to stay for several more years. He took up residence just a few miles away from the place where Jesus was born. Nicholas then returned to the Turkish city of Myra on the other side of the Mediterranean Sea where he lived out the rest of his life as the Bishop of Myra.
Nicholas was already such an important figure in the life of the church during his lifetime that when Emperor Constantine's mother eventually visited the Holy Land, she not only had a church built over the spot where Jesus was born, but also over the spot where Nicholas had lived. Both locations still have churches standing on them today: the Church of the Nativity, where Christ was born, and the Church of Saint Nicholas, where the believer Nicholas lived.
When I visited Bethlehem in 2009, I, too, was incredibly moved when I saw the spot where Jesus was born. Even though the church that stands there today had been destroyed and rebuilt many times over the centuries, it remains the undisputed location that was first shown to Constantine's mother in the 4th century as the birthplace of Christ, and likely was shown to the pilgrims before that for the years between His lifetime and hers.
Knowing that the Son of God, the Creator of the universe, first touched ground within walking distance of this spot was awe-inspiring to me, too. It caused me to bend my knee in humble adoration, for no one has impacted my life on earth more than Jesus, and no one will impact my life eternally more than Him. My desire to bend down and touch the ground was not out of reverence for the "spot” on the ground where He was born, but for Who He is and all that He means to me in my life.
Just like Nicholas, my life has been so impacted by Christ that I've dedicated the rest of it to serving Him, too, with my whole heart and in whatever way I can. One day, the Bible says, every knee shall bow in the presence of Christ.

"Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place
and gave Him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-11).

As for me, I'd rather not wait for that day. I'd rather do it now, bending my knee to Him, willingly and wholeheartedly, with the rest of my days still ahead of me to serve Him. I know that He loves me and will always guide me, direct me, and lead me in ways that are absolutely the best for me--regardless of how they might look to me at the time. Faith like this is not blind. It's faith in the One whom I have already seen in my heart and who has already done so much for me, dying on my behalf, and giving me a new life in return.
As Christmas comes this week, I'd like to encourage you to take a few minutes, even right now, to "bend your knee” to this King of kings, this Lord of lords, who has come to earth and has given up His life for you. Take some time to worship and adore Him. Offer Him the gift of your life this Christmas, completely and wholeheartedly surrendered to Him. Like Nicholas of old and many other believers both past and present, let's come to Him this Christmas to worship and adore Him. In the words of the famous Christmas song:

"O come all ye faithful
Joyful and triumphant,
O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem.
Come and behold Him,
Born the King of angels;
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord.”

Will you pray with me?

Father, thank You for coming to earth as a Man, and giving Your life to us in the form of Jesus. Thank You for the model He was to show us how to live our lives, and the sacrifice He made so we could live forever. Help us to worship Him this Christmas season in a special way, on bended knee and with hearts that are bent towards You. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Koinonia community

I have just receive this newsletter from Plough Publishing about a visit to the Koinonia community.  I thought you might enjoy reading it here.

And the Koinonia website is here. I am looking forward to reading more about it.

Getting there...

I'm about halfway through sewing up the blanket.  See the pile of ends in the top left of the picture, cut off after weaving in!

Now for the fun part....

I have an order from a lady for a crocheted lap blanket. I've done all the 'circles in a square' and now for the fun part....NOT!!

Sewing them all together and sewing in all the ends!

Lynda's christmas letter...

Thought I would publish my christmas newsletter here that I have just emailed to family and friends.  Disregard the bit about looking at my blog...because you are obviously already here :o)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A year by the sea.....

Hello family and friends :o)

Not doing christmas cards this year (to save on postage costs) but wanted to send a christmas email to you all.

To just update you for those with whom I haven't been in touch for awhile:

Have been here at Stanley (by the sea...) for a bit over a year now having moved here after spending 12 months in Brisbane with Marnie and Denver.

It's been lovely to be back in cool climate Tassie, although the north easterly winds here in one of the windiest parts of Tasmania seem to be a major cause of my headaches/migraines (we're into our 4th day of them at the moment...winds and headaches!).

Kerry and I are still working on a financial settlement, but things seem to be finally progressing and I am hoping all will be finalised early next year and enable me to buy a small home of my own. I am thankful for the lovely furnished apartment (overlooking the sea) I have been able to live in while waiting.

My days seem to be kept busy with an hour early morning walk on the beach most days, attending church and a ladies bible study once a week, co-ordinating a charity knitting group once a month and other day to day matters.

I have recently joined the community craft shop in Stanley and work (on a voluntary basis) in there a couple of times a month. I am also seeing the results of my labours as some of my knitted and crocheted items are beginning to sell.

I also correspond (snail mail and email) with many ladies here in Australia and also overseas and I see this as a ministry of mutual encouragement.

If you would like to catch up on some of my doings and see some photos of the area where I live, here is a link to my blog that I try to update regularly, so take a look every so often to see what's happening on the little island:

http://takemehomecountryroads-lynda.blogspot.com/

The picture at the top of my blog is of myself and Natasha's 3 littlies when they visited early this year.

And speaking of visits...it looks like most of the family may be here for a visit over christmas/new year.

I wish you all a wonderful christmas, and may you know the blessings of the Lord now and always....

love Lynda xxx

crocheting and reading

I had some leftover wool from other projects, so I crocheted some squares...

Then I edged them with 2 rows of crochet in some grey wool/alpaca yarn I had...

Don't know what I'm going to make them into, but while I think about it...I'm reading Philip Yancey's 'What's So Amazing About Grace?'
I started it awhile ago, but got side tracked with other reading material.  I'm enjoying getting back to reading it...

Lee Francois sermons

I use to listen to Lee Francois sermons from Willingdon church in Canada. He has since started a new church called Crossridge and I've just discovered they have uploaded lots of sermons.  He is a really good preacher.  I've just listened to the first sermon.    The link is here.

And a link to their general sermon page is here.

Looks like I'm in for a feast of good listening this week. I'd encourage you to enjoy some good listening too!

Lemon tea cake...yum!!

Made this lemon tea cake today. It was delish!!

The recipe is here.

knitting and reading

I'm knitting a diagonal baby blanket...almost finished!

And reading this delightful book about Beatrix Potter.  I so enjoyed the recent Miss Potter movie, and really enjoy reading anything about Beatrix.

 The book has some lovely watercolour paintings...

and interesting old photos....

I do so like the way she dressed...all those long skirts and tweed :o)

cooking

This morning it was too windy and the tide was too high to go beach walking, so I
made jam drop biscuits instead.

The recipe I used is here.

sunset over Stanley

book bargains

Picked up some book bargains at Vinnies (op shop) today.  These old hardcover children's books for 50 cents each.  They were printed 50 - 60 years ago.  They will go in the  'grandchildren library' ...but I will read them too!

Then I went to the library and borrowed these craft magazines.  Now that I have a sewing machine....I am looking for ideas to sew.  Looks like it will be a busy weekend :o)

Bread

I've been looking for an easy bread recipe for awhile, and yesterday I found a recipe here on Sarah's blog.

So this morning I made it...and it was delicious...which is unfortunate...as it means I will eat more of it than I should!

I also replaced 2 cups of the white flour with 1 cup of wholewheat, 1/2 a cup of spelt and 1/2 a cup of rye. It is very quick and easy to make.

If you make it, let me know what you think.

Community craft shop

Took my turn in the craft shop today...and actually sold one of my hats!!!!  I thought you might like to see some pictures of inside the shop.

this and that

Hello everyone - decided to rejoin you all in blog land. Not sure how long for, but here is a bit of a catch up on what I've been doing:

knitting a zebra for one of my grandsons



crocheting hats for the craft shop



knitting bedsocks/slippers for the craft shop



trying to decide whether to knit or crochet a shawl (I decided on crochet!)



and buying a sewing machine

Finished...and started!

I finished this lap blanket I've been working on



Unfortunately I ran out of one of the colours and had to use some blue to finish the round



And this is the project I'm working on now. Multi coloured circles in a granny square




I am edging them in 2 rows of light grey although it almost looks like white in the photo

Charity Knitting

I've been sick with the flu, so haven't posted for awhile, but here are some pictures from our charity knitting day last week.



Some of the ladies and their knitting





A nice warm blanket for Mission Without Borders in Eastern Europe




Some baby hats for the hospital in Brisbane

And so it grows...

Have been working on the blanket as you can see from the picture below. This picture show the colours more acurately than in the previous post.

my head is feeling better now, although I still wasn't too good earlier this morning, so didn't get to church, but watched BBC's Songs of Praise on TV instead.


Now I am going to have a bowl of my home made chicken soup for lunch and get busy on my crocheting again.

One for the boys

I had the light blue yarn...and I was given the light and dark green...so I bought the dark red, mid brown and dark blue yarn yesterday in our Post Office cum Wool Shop.



I've started crocheting another granny square lap blanket in 'boy colours'...not with anyone in mind, but I like to have a couple of blankets on hand to give as the need arises or for charity.

Have been plagued with migraines/headaches the last few days, so it will be a quite weekend of sitting and crocheting I think.

Sunday Sermon

The sermon I've just listened to is here.

Click on the 'Download MP3' at the bottom of the link page to listen to it too.

A Pleasant Sunday

This morning I went to church. The church is the smaller building on the right, and the hall on the left is where we go after the meeting to have a fellowship cuppa...in the little kitchen at the back of the hall.



It's cold and rainy here today...even though I am cosy and warm inside my home. This afternoon I decided to make some date scones...and then ate 3 of them!!




And now I am going to sit and listen to my 'sunday sermon' and knit some more on the beret I am making. I have a brown one (which you can see in the picture) that I have been wearing to church, but decided to knit another one with this variegated yarn I have. I did knit a scarf with it awhile back, but decided I didn't like it, so undid it all. I think I am going to like it knitted up as beret :o)

Joanna Weaver - books and blog

These books that I ordered arrived in the mail today



I have read Joanna's first book 'Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World' and look forward to reading these.

I also searched out her blog and see she is doing a series of post on 'A Year With Oswald Chambers' and I think I will join her. You can read about it on her blog here.

And if you'd like to know more about Oswald Chambers, you can read about him here.

Another one finished!

Just finished this lap blanket last night.

Sunday Sermon on Monday

A very good sermon from Willingdon Church in Canada...listen to it here.

The Post Office Shop

I was 'talking' to some friends in the US telling them about our wonderful post office and all the things they sell and they said "our post offices aren't like that!", so here are some pictures...just to show you...

This is our post office...come on in...



Cards for all occasions, and a counter for if you need to write things...



More cards, and the main post office counter on the left...




And the wool!!!...not many post offices sell wool too! PM Lynda ( that's post mistress Lynda, not Prime Minister Lynda)..she and I have the same name...same spelling too :o)...is still stocking up the wool shelves. She use to have a haberdashery store before moving to Tasmania to be a post mistress, and has brought lots of her stock with her. It's exciting to see what new things she has on display each time I go in.



Post cards and embroidery threads...



Pattern books...for knitting, cross stitch and other handcrafts...



I said to Lynda "you can't fit much more in here!"..and she said "you'd be surprised!!"...

Oh yeah...and you can buy stamps and post letters and parcels too...but that's just a side line :o)