A Well Watered Garden

Bureaucratic red tape required me to request his last hospital records. We received the envelope yesterday and as much as we said we would not open it, we did. Words cannot describe our feelings as we scanned the detailed reports... It was a time to make a choice again. Our gracious God had already gone ahead and prepared me to receive this package. Over the last week or so I had been receiving emails from griefshare.org describing heaven. As I wept over those detailed doctors notes and relived the horror of that day, Our Heavenly Father gently turned my mind to heaven. Heaven is for real and this is how I know: It is a physical place . Acts 10:1-11 says: And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11  and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” In the Revelation of John we get a b...

It is with a heavy heart that I have been reflecting on the life of my Papa and all the lessons that he taught me over the years. He made it his mission to point me to Christ and to the word of God. And, by far, one of the greatest lessons he tried to instill in me was to have a heart of thankfulness and praise. ..regardless of the situation. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says “ Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” And so today, I would like to tell you how thankful I am: I’m thankful that my heavenly Father blessed me with the best earthly Father a girl could ask for….always loving, always forgiving, always kind, always compassionate…he always had my best interest at heart. The bible describes God as “the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness”. It was so easy for me to comprehend God as having these characteristics because my own dad emulated these so well to me ...

     As a child some of my favourite memories come from playing with my dad. In many ways I think I was the little boy he never had. I would play lego, build knex, play with trains, and race my remote control car with papa. I would watch the world cup with him, go to soccer games, and play badminton in the backyard. Papa always made me feel so special and cherished, I would love trying to be just like papa building IKEA beds with him, and learning how to work a power drill. I got to be his special helper every time we had to fix something in the house. In my eyes Papa could do anything.     As I got older, I learned more about Papa’s character. He was the first to discover truths about Jesus Christ and God used Him to lead our family towards truth and salvation. When I came to faith it was him and my mother who sat me down and explained to me John 3:16 “for God so loved the world, He gave His only son, that whoever believes in Him shall not die bu...

May 7th is fast approaching and I am going through a range of emotions. Remembering "the phone call"...everything went downhill after that. Police car at the door, clinging to my girls, to my Pastor, my church family and friends, praying, flat out on the floor of a room in the Hospital ER - God was silent. The answer was "no" The door was shut, slammed in my face. I had never encountered this side of God before. I remember my "charmed" life before this when I could praise Him for His goodness and blessings to me. Of course I have encountered "no" before - but it had always seemed bearable. There was always a way out. This was different - irreversible, unchangeable, Julius was gone. Never coming back, No time to say "goodbye." I often say "God is good". I know He is Good - His Word tells me and I have seen and tasted His goodness. The Psalmist says : Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refu...

Today is Good Friday. I am choosing to think back some 2000 years ago and not to last year. Both are painful - but the meaning of what happened at Calvary is the only way I can face my future and so I am making a choice. If I dwell on last year when Julius was by my side, serving in Church, visiting friends, watching The Passion with the girls, I descend into despair. If I choose to look back to Calvary, I have hope. It is the reason that I live and breathe and have the desire to wake up every morning to do what I do. It is my strength. my assurance. The Gospel Changes Everything says the song by Meredith Andrews. Yes it does for sure. What has it changed for me? It has brought me from darkness to light. 1 Corinthians 1:18 "   For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God," It is my daily protection . In Hebrews 6:13 God tells us: "Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be ...

 I have not been able to visit my garden for a long time it seems. A season of dryness, of exhaustion, burdened with the mundane chores of life. I have also been dreading getting into the month of April. So many big days - my birthday. My daughter's birthday. Somehow the month of April of last year is very clear in mind. Very tender memories of Julius and us four together. He was so excited about bringing our daughter home from University. Our nest was full again and so was my heart. It did not take long for all of this to change. On the 7th of May my heart tore apart.  Like Job I have asked the Lord: "what is my strength that I should wait? And what is my end that I should be patient?" Job 6:11 God did not give Job an answer, and He does not answer me either but He does not give up on me.  In ways that only I can understand He graciously began once again drawing me back to write, only this time He took me to another garden. I have been camping here fo...

On my journey with Jesus I camped in Luke 9 this past week. Jesus is making His way to Jerusalem. It is nearing time for Him to go to the cross. He knows full well what this is going to be. Luke describes it: "When the days drew near for him to be taken up he set his face to go to Jerusalem."  Jesus was determined to accomplish what He had come to do - no matter how difficult. The prophet Isaiah tells us that He set his "face like a flint." 50:7.  Loved one as you look at Jesus, are you filled with that same resolve? To set your face like flint and press on? When trials come do you ask God to take them away? Of course we can ask Our Heavenly Father to take our trials away. We can bring all our prayer requests to Him - He actually knows our desires and requests better than we do. He loves us and He cares deeply. For some though this is not a request you can ask for. The deed is done - it cannot be reversed. Julius is gone - not even God is going to ...