Its Christmas!!
I'm so over snow right now! Its pretty and awesome but treacherous and sneaky! It's been a difficult Christmas week. The first snowfall saw our pipes freeze and no heating for a day and night. This week for 3days and 3 nights we had a freezing house. It was pretty miserable by the end! We ended up in forestside and tescos for heat and were fostered for an evening by the Thompsons! Once heating was restored we kept it on fulltime to thaw the igloo cottage out! Christmas Eve morning - oil ran out and once emergency oil was poured in the pipes were frozen! Despite working at them again, they froze later that evening. on the plus side we got to drag a mattress down to the living room and woke up on Christmas morning, sat up and opened presents! Magic! Having retreated to the Brown parentals for a few days, their lack of water meant a trip back to the cottage where we found the pipe cracked in the boiler and oil spurting out. Those prayers for let the oil flow......!
Why do I share all this? I despise those who moan incessantly and realised that this had taken up our whole week. I was snappy with my husband and then laughing uncontrollable the next day to feeling sorry for us the next and wondering when was it all going to end!! Through it all, I've been asking God to open my eyes to see the lesson to be learnt here. I know it seems cheesy Christian of me cos afterall it was the snow's fault, but I'm determined to become a better, stronger person and I need/thrive on learning about my own responses and what God is doing in me. Or wanting to. I knew that on the 3rd day we would have heat again but then we ran out of oil and now a pipe is burst. We then get handed a cheque for Christmas which covers the new oil. On Christmas Morning I was praying and singing carols (in my head as Andrew would not wake up!) and just the words from hark the herald angels sing keep coming back to me. 'Born to raise the sons of earth, Born to give them second birth.' Like, wow!
We, whilst being tried and tested and responsible for creations and possessions of ours, do not have to fill our time, effort and thoughts with these things. It has brought us nothing but grief and worry and conflict. But to be heaven minded can only bring life. To give everything up to Him and to TRULY let go and TRUST rather than pray and hold on to it all brings life. Fellowshipping (!) and sharing life with people than speaking worry and ills INCESSANTLY (not not at all) brings life and freedom. He was born to raise us, born to give us second birth. WE ARE ALIVE! Jesus came that we may have LIFE and life ABUNDANTLY.
I'm thankful because I can't do it in my strength.
Glory to the New born KING!!!
Why do I share all this? I despise those who moan incessantly and realised that this had taken up our whole week. I was snappy with my husband and then laughing uncontrollable the next day to feeling sorry for us the next and wondering when was it all going to end!! Through it all, I've been asking God to open my eyes to see the lesson to be learnt here. I know it seems cheesy Christian of me cos afterall it was the snow's fault, but I'm determined to become a better, stronger person and I need/thrive on learning about my own responses and what God is doing in me. Or wanting to. I knew that on the 3rd day we would have heat again but then we ran out of oil and now a pipe is burst. We then get handed a cheque for Christmas which covers the new oil. On Christmas Morning I was praying and singing carols (in my head as Andrew would not wake up!) and just the words from hark the herald angels sing keep coming back to me. 'Born to raise the sons of earth, Born to give them second birth.' Like, wow!
We, whilst being tried and tested and responsible for creations and possessions of ours, do not have to fill our time, effort and thoughts with these things. It has brought us nothing but grief and worry and conflict. But to be heaven minded can only bring life. To give everything up to Him and to TRULY let go and TRUST rather than pray and hold on to it all brings life. Fellowshipping (!) and sharing life with people than speaking worry and ills INCESSANTLY (not not at all) brings life and freedom. He was born to raise us, born to give us second birth. WE ARE ALIVE! Jesus came that we may have LIFE and life ABUNDANTLY.
I'm thankful because I can't do it in my strength.
Glory to the New born KING!!!