No signal

I have just had an amazing five-day holiday in Criccieth, North Wales with the coach tour operator KM of Chesterfield. (I would recommend them). We left on Monday morning and arrived in the afternoon, after having a lunch break. The hotel, George 4th was welcoming, the staff were courteous, pleasant and friendly, nothing was too much trouble, and the food all week was excellent. During the week we visited Portmeirion, which is so colourful, if you love walking, which I do, there are plenty of walks but if not there are cafes and shops and of course you can explore the village. 

The famous TV series, The Prisoner was filmed there, fortunately no huge bubbles appeared to stop us from escaping. I thoroughly enjoyed my time there and took lots of photographs to aid my memory. We then went onto Porthmadog for a look around the harbour and the shops, and me being me couldn't resist the Costa cafe. Back then to the hotel and a very tasty evening meal.

The next day was our own to do with what we pleased and I went up to Criccieth castle in the morning (more photos), the views were wonderful, it was a little windy up there so not a good idea to go near the cliff edge, but I did enjoy exploring the castle and taking in the views. 

After lunch I had a walk along the beach, I can't resist the beach, rain, snow or blow. The clouds hung low on the distant horizon over the hills, I so wanted to get a decent picture of it but I'm afraid my hand shakes to much when I zoom in and I didn't have a tripod, never mind maybe next time. The air was fresh and crisp and I set off with renewed vigour to take in all the sights, sounds and smells of this wonderful piece of coastline. The water coming down from the mountain suddenly appears from the side of the wall and flows into the sea, lovely clear water.

Thursday saw us set off to Porthmadog again for a ride on the steam train, we had to wait just over an hour when we got there and so I decided to look around again, unfortunately it teamed it down with rain and I got wet through. I went in the train station café for a hot drink and to try and dry off a little, this I believe is where I left my lovely large scarf, by the time I realised it was missing it was too late to do anything about it. I always enjoy a ride on a steam train, I think it’s because I went on them as a child. We saw a lot of sheep all very well cared for, Phillip Keller in his book, Lessons from a Sheepdog, and other books tells the reader quite a lot about rearing and looking after sheep and I remembered some of the things he said as I saw all these sheep, and how to spot a good shepherd and a bad one by the state of the sheep!

Friday morning we had an early start back, but not too early that I couldn’t have one last walk along this wonderful peaceful shore.

All in all it was a wonderful experience which hopefully I will be able to remember and treasure for quite a while. But there was just one drawback, which most people wouldn’t have bothered about, it was the mobile phone signal, and internet signal. Although I did find it hard I did manage occasionally to get on line and let my family know that I was well and having a wonderful time. I thought about this, technology is wonderful but it does let us down. But I can honestly say that in all the time I was there, there was never a time when I could not reach my heavenly Father. I do not have to rely on man’s technology for that or even myself, I rely solely on the Holy Spirit, who helps, leads, comforts, and disciplines us. There is not a time in the day when we get a busy signal, or an unavailable signal, God our heavenly Father is the same yesterday, today and forever and He neither slumbers nor sleeps, the psalmist David said: Psalm 139:7-10

Where can I go from Your Spirit?

Or where can I flee from Your presence?

If I ascend into heaven, You are there;

If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.

If I take the wings of the morning,

And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

Even there Your hand shall lead me,

And Your right hand shall hold me.

Live in the present, looking forward to the future.

I thought about having a memory blog, I would post a photo each day, with a memory attached to it. I reconsidered, I already have my photographs which help, and my lovely family remind me of different things, and the fact that I see traits of myself and other people in them which triggers memories. And of course not forgetting my lifelong friend Linda, she remembers our days for me. Whilst it is so lovely to be reminded of things, and so lovely when something triggers a memory within me, it is not good to live in the past.

I wonder if I will read this in a couple of years’ time and wonder why I did more blogs than usual in a short space of time. (It is because you are not well Hillary, your voice has gone and you have time on your hands that you don’t usually have.) hahaha.

We need to live in the here and now and enjoy the time we have together with our family and friends while we are still altogether. For some people as they get older all they have is their memories, and when they start to fade it is so hard for them and their families.

Christians on the other hand have a wonderful future to look forward to. We are not to look back on our Christian life and wish we’d done it differently, wishing we had been more like famous evangelists. Or looking back proudly thinking how well we have done. No, Paul says we are to press to the prize that is before us. We are not to cling to what has gone. I can just imagine what a boss would say at work if we just sat there thinking that the work we did last week will be sufficient to carry us through our working life, no need to do anything else look at what I already achieved. 

There is a wonderful message in this link from Jack Hayford, 

Pressing Toward the Mark

Don’t live in the past, Live in the present. 

Don’t look back to the past look forward to the future.

Unforgettable

I wonder how many people reading this remember the lovely song sung by Nat King Cole, Unforgettable? I was thinking about this this morning mainly because I have a problem with my memory which isn’t just down to old age, (I wish it were) actually it is the after effects of two strokes I survived 12 years ago. I not only have problems with my short term memory, (I don’t recall putting my purse in the fridge!!!!) But I also struggle with the long term memory problems too. There are a lot of things I do remember, but unfortunately there are a lot I don’t. I envy people who have the ability to recall wonderful stories from their childhood, and their children’s childhood. I love the Google photo assistant that comes up most days with photos from ‘rediscover this day’. Over 10 years I have taken approximately 60,000 photos, I am sure many people would think that ridiculous but when ‘rediscover this day’ comes up and I scroll through the photos wonderful memories come tumbling through my mind like water cascading over a cliff and for those few brief moments I have such a pleasure. Sometimes the memories will stay for awhile, other times they are gone again as fast as I’m scrolling. 

I was musing over all this and a thought came into my head, 

does God ever forget me? 

No, he doesn’t.

Does God ever forget?

Yes, He does but He chooses to forget. 

What does He forget? 

He chooses to forget our sins when we repent, 

He will not hold them against us. 

Isaiah43:25 

“I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins.

Am I unforgettable in Gods eyes? 

Yes, I am, because I am a recipient of His grace.

Rough Path?

As I recently shared in the previous post (Wet Shoes, Old Wreck, and Flies!) I went on holiday with my daughter and son-in-law and their two little dogs Juju and Sammy. One end of the beach at Camber Sands was really fine sand which was so lovely to walk on, the other end was harder to walk on because it was mostly pebbles especially when the tide was in.

I thought about this, and how as we take our journey along the path of life we all long for a smooth pleasant path. Sometimes it is but for most of us the path is not easy to walk on. We have so many problems in life, financial, health, family, work, all kinds of things make the path of life hard to walk on, and we wonder were we can get some relief. There are times of joy, and happiness, moments snatched from the ordinary humdrum of life that we manage to make special and precious, and how we cherish these moments and long that they could last.

Romans 3:23

Before I became a Christian I found life could be hard, I had so many pebbles and rocks in my path that sometimes I wondered if I could continue to walk this path. Abuse, divorce, death of my son, and oh so many other things that made the journey hard. But oh, those lovely precious moments with my family and my friends. Snatches of happiness.

Then my life changed, Jesus called me and I answered. He forgave my sins when I repented and I gave my life to Him. Did the path become lovely and smooth then to walk on? No, I didn't suddenly become immune to life's problems but because I'd been forgiven I was released from the bondage of sin, it no longer had a hold on me. I was free from guilt and shame, I had a joy in my heart that the world couldn't offer, a deep down joy that stays with me no matter what my circumstance, no matter how rough the path, no matter how big the problem it doesn't take away that joy. It doesn't take away either the peace I have because this joy and this peace don’t depend on my feelings, or my circumstance because it comes from God.

John 14:27

Am I perfect? No, so sometimes I will sin, sometimes I will fail God but God is faithful to His word and forgives and pardons me when I repent and turn to Him. My path is still not smooth but now I have a guide and helper, one who will not let me down, someone who is always with me in the darkest times as well as the best times. 

1 John 1:9

Jesus said to go to Him and He would give us rest for your weary soul

Matthew 11:28

Is your soul weary, are you heavy laden with all of lives problems, are you weary of your sin? Give it all to Jesus and let Him help, guide and sustain you along life's journey. Believe me you'll never look back and long for the old path that you trod without Him. I was a sinner then without hope, now I’m a sinner saved by the grace of God with hope.