Illusions

Dear Lord,

You know I was eager to get advice and had been looking forward to it - and I was greatly disappointed. I had an illusion that her advice would save me and bring some understanding but it brought condemnation,more frustration and a bitter taste of failure. You have seen it before; me trusting in people to make things right. And you have seen the disappointment more than once before also.

So I’m just placing this in your hands again Lord, and ask for help more than ever.  I value the wisdom of people you send in my way but first of all I need you to lead every step of the way and I need to trust your guidance even when there is only silence.

In this case it isn’t easy to see the answer to all my question marks. I’m looking for a solution and I would appreciate if you gave me a sign what to do or where to go or where to find an answer.  

Protect me from becoming disillusioned and give me patience to believe there will be an ending to my problem.

Despite my disappointment in man  you have never disappointed me, dear Lord. You are trustworthy no matter what happens and I'm so grateful for that.

In Jesus name

Amen

Thankful

Dear Lord,
I just want to thank you again for reminding me at work that I had to take the otoscope with me when going on a house call. The small miracles in the every day life are so precious to me and I really need you by my side every minute of the day. So I ask for guidance and protection and reminders also this day and that you will protect and guide the people I pray for and all the Readers who eventually stop by  this blog.
In Jesus name
Amen

Hope and despair ...

 

Dear Reader,

It started out like an ordinary Saturday with a visit to town and a flea market. After that we went to a garden center for a cup of coffee and I was going to look for some flowers. I had promised to buy a Clematis creeper to my daughter in law E and managed at the same time  to fall for three more plants before leaving. I called E to hear how she and my son was doing and she answered in a sad voice “Keeping up”. Her sadness had to do with the disappearance of one of their beloved cats; Lelle. He had been gone for 9 days and now they feared he was dead.

We decided to make a visit and be a distraction from all the thoughts about the cat and what could have happened to him. During our stay we did some weeding and planting and had a good time together and of course we talked all the time  about Lelle.

-          Let's ask God to find the cat, I said

-          You cannot imagine how many fervent prayers I have sent up to God morning and evening. And I have asked myself what he wants me to learn from this, she said.

When we had done most of what we had intended to do and started planning to go home E. asked my husband to take all the weeds we had gathered to the compost because she was afraid there might be snakes there. He took the wheelbarrow and started towards the compost when he suddenly stopped and called out :

-           - Look! Over there! Lelle!!

We had speculated that a fox had taken him, he had been run over by a car, he had become trapped somewhere, and many other negative option and now he was sitting on  the well cover as the most natural thing in the whole world  after 9 days.

There were open arms and many hugs and lots of food and "candy" and  then a report  to compassionate friends who had supported the search: He is home!!!  And peace was restored.
The cat was obviously happy about meeting “mom” again and all the attention, but had no idea what all the fuss was about.
Grateful prayers were sent up to Father in Heaven who answered the prayers; despite our negative outlook for Lelle.

Late at night and back home, my husband told me that when he took a walk to the sea with our dog , he stopped and sat beside the beach for a while. Out of the blue he said, the words just came out:

-          -  Please; Fix the cat!  

As soon as the thought had left his mind he felt warm inside as if he knew things would work out really well; but when he saw the cat on the well cover he still could not believe that the answer to his short prayer was right in front of him. He had to look twice before calling out to E.

It was an ordinary Saturday with an unexpected happy ending of the day; because although we had tried to encourage and comfort E, that God could bring Lelle back, in our hearts we had already buried the cat.

So what can we learn from this story? Isn’t it a waist of God’s time to pray for a missing cat? No I don’t think so; because I am told in  Philippians 4:

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

(I wonder how many times we bury the answer to our prayers before getting the answer)

 Sincerely yours,Ida

Idiot!

Dear Reader,

Teaching about Anger

²¹ “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder,^[a] and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ ²² But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause^[b] shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire.

 Hm… When reading these verses I recall a scene on a parking space a couple of weeks ago. We were waiting for other cars to leave before my husband started to back out of the bay. When he is almost out of the bay a man in a car behind us starts his car and reverses it towards our car and is inches from a collision. I’m yelling “Stop” but of no use because the driver can’t hear me. The man just turns the car and give us a grin, puts up his hand and off he goes.

What an idiot!!!

That statement was followed by my strong belief that drivers of that particular “trade name” were dangerous drivers; because most of them have confirmed my preconception that they don’t know where the car begins or ends; and most of the time they “own” the road or wherever they turn up.

But in the back of my head the verses above surfaced at the same moment I yelled “Idiot” because the Holy Spirit was right there and reminded me in a split second of them.

Jesus took anger seriously don’t you think?  I had been in danger of the fire of hell with my “idiotic” remark?

I guess I’m the only one who has been in this situation and acted so thoughtless. Or am I not?

I congratulate you if you have better control over your temper than I have; and I will remember my lesson Matthew 5: 22. 

I also have to work on the last of the fruits of the Holy Spirit; self-control.

And for you who haven’t the slightest idea what I’m talking about here is some home work for you:

Galatians 5:22-23
But the fruit of the Spirit is

love,

joy,

peace,

forbearance,

kindness,

goodness,

faithfulness,

gentleness and

self-control.

Against such things there is no law.

Well…I had better work on them all.

Sincerely yours, Ida

You are not alone ...

Dear Reader,
The eye remembers more than the ear so I hope you will remember the Beatitudes with the help of the previous embroidery pictures.

I have been in many church services and when the preachers have allowed the Holy Spirit to lead their sermons, there has been a moment of recognition in my heart to the message. As if God was speaking directly to me; giving answers to my hidden questions and all those “Why” that had piled up like road blocks before me. 

On the Sermon on the Mount Jesus gives comfort and truth to each and everyone in the audience; and Jesus also confronts a major lie that the devil always whispers and works hard to make us believe: “You are all alone”.  

In this sermon Jesus assure us that we are NOT ALONE. He has a solution and a promise for every situation and HE KNOWS what we are going through.

I need to understand you more Jesus.  Explain to me what it means to be a child of God. Am I ever going to change? I need you to be with me every second of my life.

-          You are my child and you belong to my Kingdom and I have promised to be with you always. Pray, ask and knock and it will open up  to you.

God, this pain burns so hard in my heart and I miss my loved ones, my life, my ……..and my own self stands like a huge concrete wall  before me … Can you understand that? 

-          I’ll walk you through this pain; hold on to me; I endured pain on the cross and it was for you; I Know! Trust me! Take one step at a time.

Lord, I wish I could give the right answers when I’m ambushed by sarcastic comments from my co-workers; hurting comments from my husband; unjust critic from my boss; but I keep silent. I look at them and wonder if you ever will have a chance to talk with them about sin and salvation. What could move their hearts? I will pray for them because you told me to, but also give me true love for them. I can’t do this on my own and you know I fail in numerous ways but please give me your heart for them

-          I didn’t speak either. When I was falsely accused and beaten I held my tongue but they knew they were already convicted of their sin when they spoke against me. Leave them to me and I will deal with them in due time.

-           

God, do you see the life I live; the people I’m confronted with every day? Do you see corruption, lies, abuse, neglect, injustice? How am I to live as a Christian in all this?

-          For each day I will give you strength. For each day my Word and the Holy Spirit will guide you and you will be filled by the power of the Holy Spirit to endure. You are in this world but you are not of this world. And I am with you always.

I’m sure you have other examples where Jesus assures you  that you are not alone. He knows our everyday struggle and we can lean on him for advice and guidance. There is no better friend than Jesus!

Sincerely yours, Ida

Beatitudes 8

¹¹ “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. ¹² Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Beatitudes 7

^{Matthew 5:11} “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. ¹² Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you"

beatitudes 6

Beattitudes 5

Beatitudes 4

Beatitudes 3

Beatitudes 2

St Petersburg Chamber Choir: To Thee We Sing (We Praise Thee)

"Тебе поем" П.Г. Чесноков
Петербургский камерный хор 

Close your eyes. Fold your  hands together as in prayer.
Give God 3minutes and 31 seconds of your time and focus only on him.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

Know your scripture and use it.

Dear Reader,

I have a tiny little problem with Matthew.  Compared to the other gospels I feel like Matthew is “crackling dry”. I have read somewhere that the gospel of Matthew is talking especially to the Jews and Luke and Mark is more for the gentiles and John kind of talks to everyone. They are written in different mode and tone and with special themes:

Matthew always referring back to the Torah, the Scriptures and the Prophets;

Mark and Luke focusing on the miracles and on special details like special people and spectacular events and

John is to me the poetical and deepest gospel. All this is my perception but I’m sure you may have other alternatives.

But back to my tiny problem. I have listened a couple of times to Matthew and I thought it would be easy to pin down the special verses I was talking about previously. But no; I’m kind of stuck here in too many options. Where do I begin?

Well I have to start somewhere so the first thing I have noticed is that Jesus knew his scriptures:

 “It is written”,” Have you not read?  “It is said … but I tell you” “Today the word of the Prophet is fulfilled…”  Jesus knew his “Bible” and he used the Word of God in his everyday life.  This reminds  me that I ought to do the same. Be familiar with the Word of God so that it will flow in my mind and heart whenever I need it in my everyday life. 

I bet Jesus also quoted at times Psalm 119 verse 105:

Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.

Sincerely yours, Ida