Finding joy in the everyday

  The Lord is my light and my salvation;  whom shall I fear?  The Lord is the strength of my life;  of whom shall I be afraid?   Though an host should encamp against me,  my heart shall not fear : though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident . One thing have I desired of the LORD,   that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life,   to behold the beauty of the LORD,   and to inquire in his temple. PSALMS 27:1, 3-4 GOD is my strong salvation, What foe have I to fear? In darkness and temptation, My light, my help, is near. Though hosts encamp around me, Firm to the fight I stand, What terror can confound me With God at my right hand? James Montgomery ~oOo~

I have been watching some very interesting DVDs lately — my opinion entirely, you may in fact hate them — if that is the case, you can ignore this completely and have a wonderful weekend instead!! Casualty 1900s (2009) Set at London Hospital in the early 1900's— the ten part series portraying true medical cases, characters and events that took place at London Hospital based on records, nurse's ward diaries and police reports. London Hospital  was located in the East End, a poverty-stricken part of London, with no government funding the hospital was totally reliant on the wealthy (such as the Rothschild family) to fund it — at times the hospital board thought it would all have to close.  The hospital staff had to deal  with infectious diseases like syphilis, pneumonia and tuberculosis to shocking injuries of the times such as self-abortion injuries, victims of anarchist bombings and an East End gang member wounded in a shooting.  It tells the truth, rather than sho...

God is good (Ps. 119:68; 136:1). God loves me and wants me to have His best (Rom. 8:32, 38-39). I am complete and accepted in Christ (Eph. 1:6). God can be trusted (Isa. 28:16). God doesn’t make any mistakes (Isa. 46:10)!  God’s grace is sufficient for me (2 Cor. 12:9). My past does not have to plague me (1 Cor. 6:9-11). God’s Word is sufficient to lead me, teach me, and heal me (Ps. 19:7; 107:20; 119:105).   Through the power of His Holy Spirit, God will enable me to do anything that He commands me to do (1 Thess. 5:24). I am responsible before God, for my behaviour, responses, and choices (Ez. 18:19-22). The greatest freedom I can experience is found through submission to God-ordained authority (Eph. 5:23). In the will of God, there is no higher, holier calling than to be a wife and mother (Titus 2:4-5). Personal holiness is more important than temporal happiness. (Eph. 5:26-27). God is more concerned about changing me and glorifying Himself, t...

Are we now living in a society where we can no longer speak out if we profoundly disagree with someone's lifestyle choice without being called intolerant? In the last 12 months I have seen an increase in the push to legalise gay marriage (stories appear almost daily in the media) — encouraged by the Greens in Federal Parliament who are attempting to change state and territory laws that would result in the legalising of gay marriages.    If you support gay marriage rights you are considered to be “ pro-homosexual and therefore open-minded, kind and respectful ”, or if you do not support gay marriage you are seen as “ mean-spirited, homophobic bigot ” (quoted from the ABC “The Drum”). When did we reach this point, where, if you stand up and say “no, I don’t agree and this is why” you are seen as narrow-minded?  Even the church seems to be quiet on this topic as they don’t want to be seen as been intolerant against a monitory group.  They appear to be sitting quietly ...

Nick Brandt (1966 - ) British photographer I realise that last week’s “Art Wednesday”  and this week’s both cover wild life (in different formats), but I found and fell in love with the photography of Nick Brandt and just had to share them.  These are my sort of photos and I would just love to be able to take works as wonderful as these. They are simply AMAZING considering how he takes them. Nick Brandy started his career as a music video director and whilst in Africa fell in love with the wild life.  He now exclusively photographs in Africa, one of his goals being to record a visually poetic last testament to the wild animals and places there before they are gone at the hands of man.  His photography bears little relation to the colour documentary-style wildlife photography that is the norm. He photographs on medium-format black and white film (these are not digital photos) without telephoto or zoom lenses. (He uses a Pentax 67II with only two fixed l...

I am not into International Women's Day - which, in case you didn't know is today, the 8th of March.  I tend to find the whole concept along the lines of "look at me, aren't I great", or as the Helen Reddy song says "I am woman, hear me roar".   It is a feminist concept and has been used for the last 100 year to push the feminist ideal. But I thought I would use this day to remember our role as women and wives according to the scriptures and not as the world wants women to behave. As wives Wives , submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. . . Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.  Husbands, love your wives , even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;   . . . So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.  Ephesians 5:22, 24-25, 28 Even so must th...

Boys being boys - very difficult to get a photo with  them all looking normal - perhaps this is normal. Why do boys like sticking their tongues out?!?! This was taken at my son's engagement party on Saturday night - I didn't take many photos (Kathleen's aunt was the photographer and has promised to send me all those that she took).  The party was a delight - we all had a wonderful time. It was a very casual affair (my son nor his father like parties so it was a very understated party) with lots of chatting and nibbles. Even the music was quiet in the background (jazz), rather than the sort you have to shout over.  We all had a dance on the dance floor and most of us were very poor dancers!!  We all had left feet!! It wasn't even a late night, we were home by 10:30pm and in bed by 11:30pm. Me taken by my DH It was a cold evening and I wore a wrap for most of the evening. Indoors out of the wind was much nicer. This dress was SO comfortable and DH and sons really...