WAG 2016

Women and God weekend at Hayes Conference Centre in Swanwick Derbyshire was a weekend of fellowship, fun and foliage!

I have written a blog on the spiritual inspiration I received from the weekend and you can read about it here: accessorise!

It truly was an inspiration, encouragement and challenging. The ladies and hosts were friendly, helpful, and kind, it was lovely to meet new people. This was my first time at such a conference. The first session on Friday was Be blessed! And after the evening meal session 2 was Add Hope! After which we went to watch the Disney film, Inside Out, I thoroughly enjoyed it, it made me stop and think!

Aside from the worship and prayer times there was also fun. We learnt to play the ukulele on Saturday afternoon and managed to play a couple of Christian songs. I think we hit all the right notes, but I’m not sure they were in the right order. However we played at the worship on the Sunday and I believe the Lord was pleased to hear our praise played on the stringed instruments. Saturday afternoon we also learnt the art of book leaf folding and made a heart in the old discarded Salvation Army songbooks. 

They have new ones now so it was good to put them to use. There were other crafts in the afternoon but I didn’t go to this, I was pacing myself.

I did however go down to the lakes for a walk, it was raining but it was so peaceful, and as the rain refreshed the ground so my soul was refreshed thinking on the words of the Lord from scripture, and talking to Him in silent prayer. I had taken my camera so I also got some lovely shots of the foliage and the wildlife, insects, butterflies, birds, waterfowl, it was so lovely. 

 I didn’t manage to get a shot of the fish as it came out of the water to eat the insects skimming the surface, I’m just not quick enough. I did however get a lovely shot of a blackbird collecting the family’s dinner, 

they sure would have been well fed, as were we. The food was delicious, and cooked well, and served well, the staff were courteous and helpful.

Saturday evening was a hoot. First we were entertained by the Appalachian Feet First Dance Troupe, which to me looked like a mixture of line dancing, clog dancing, and river dance ;) 

we were then invited to learn a dance, I think I must have shuffled up my feet because I kept getting the steps wrong, but we enjoyed it none the less. After which came the Auction with Major Val Mylechreest as the auctioneer and an excellent job she did too, very entertaining whilst raising money for the Helping Hands Appeal, wonderful.

We sang some wonderful songs over the weekend in praise and worship to God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ and we give Him all the glory. I pray the army officers and helpers who worked so hard this weekend may continue to be a blessing to others as they seek to serve the Lord. God bless you.

Chosen by God

Tune Be Thou My Vision

Chosen by God – I am loved as His own,

A daughter of God – by my name I am known.

Each morning your love comes as fresh as the day,

It guides me and guards me as I walk in Your way.

Gentle, compassionate, patient, meek, kind;

Wearing Your loveliness true life I find.

Accepting of others – I choose to forgive

So in Your great mercy and peace I might live.

Called to be holy, I seek now your grace,

Help me more fully Your will to embrace,

Show me how living for you sets me free,

As I surrender my all just for Thee.

The Nearness of God

I was walking to church on Sunday morning and I passed workmen laying telephone cables. I think it's a shame that people work on Sundays, I do appreciate that some have no choice such as doctors, nurses, our armed forces etc, but how sad that people have to work when really it's not needful. That isn't however what I was thinking about as I continued on my way it was all the miles and miles of cable there must be, and mobile phone masts, satellites in space and all the rest of it just so that we can talk to one another. And if we don't manage to have a conversation that way we can always text or email, what happened to popping round for a cuppa and a good old chin wag? Ah well that's progress.

But do you know I can talk to God anytime of the day or night and the server doesn't crash!!!!

The nearness of God and the Lord Jesus is amazing, He is not too busy to listen, He doesn't forget that you've asked Him something, and He doesn't cut you off because you have upset Him. God wants us to communicate with Him, we call it prayer, praise, worship etc. Whether we are happy or sad, joyful or sorrowful, whether things are going right or wrong, God wants to hear. He also wants us to listen because He has things He wants to say to us and sometimes He speaks directly into our hearts, sometimes through a sermon or a song, sometimes through other people or situations but always He speaks to us through His written word, the Holy Bible.

Samuel when God first spoke to Him didn't realise it was God he thought it was Eli, once Eli realised that God was speaking to Samuel he instructed him on how to reply. 

1 Samuel 3:10 And the Lord came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak; for thy servant heareth.

Not only did Samuel listen to God but he also obeyed Him even though what he had to do was not a pleasant task.

Whatever we have to do or say for the Lord we can be sure that He is nearer to us than our very breath and He won’t let us down, He will enable us.

No matter what we go through He is nearer than our very breath and He will help us and sustain us. How wonderful is our God.

The Appearance of Evil

Two things happened over winter that have stuck in my mind. The first incident was when as I was coming home from church, I wasn't far from home when I had a TIA (mini stoke), I clung on to a wall to steady myself and waited until I felt better before just going round the corner to my home. A gentleman was walking towards me when this happened and looked at me in a rather strange way, he didn't ask if I was alright, he didn't offer any assistance at all but looked rather in disgust. I can only surmise that he thought I had had one to many drinks and that I was finding it hard to walk in a straight line. Needless to say I did get home safe and sound and rested.

The other incident was when I was going for a walk after the bad snow storms, the snow had actually gone what I didn't know was that there were patches of black ice on the Greenway just past the bridge at Marehay. As usual I was going at a steady pace, best foot forward and all that, and as I came off the bridge down I went, I didn't see the ice at all, I had noticed someone walking their dog behind me but they were a distance away. There was no way I could get straight up I had gone down with such force it had rattled all my poor old bones, so I decided I would just sit and wait and if help didn't come then I would try to get up. I noticed at the side of me that something had fallen off my camera in the fall and as I stretched out to retrieve I heard someone shout, "sit still we're coming". How lovely someone was coming to my aid, I did as I was told and sat still till they arrived to help me up. Apparently they hadn't seen my fall but had noticed that someone was just sitting in the middle of the path but what struck me was that they didn't make a rash judgement but were prepared to help. These two incidents made me think about how as Christians we view other people and also how they view us.

We are not supposed to judge people the way the world does, and we are not to judge the people who are in the world but show them the love of Christ, but there are times when we have to make a judgment but it is not our job to condemn but to help. Galatians 6:1 Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. We should not be into finger pointing we never know what will befall us, but we should pray and guide them through the scriptures, 2 Timothy 3:16  All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.

The first incident reminded me of how we Christians appear to the people of the world, or more to the point how we should appear to the world, Paul in his epistle to the Thessalonians wrote, 1 Thessalonians 5:22  Abstain from all appearance of evil. So not only are we to abstain from evil, but we are not even to give the appearance of it, the gentleman in the first incident had no idea I was ill and appeared to make a judgement that I was a little worse the wear for drink, (I do hope I have not misjudged him). We should be careful in our speech, in what we listen to, watch and read, we should be careful not to laugh at course jokes etc. Our whole attitude should be one of grace, that you may say is a tall order but we are as the scripture says to grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus. And with the help and guidance of the Holy Spirit we can not only give the appearance of holiness but be holy.

The most Wonderful Time of theYear

In the words of Johnny Matthias, It's the most wonderful time of the year. And it certainly has been for me and I am so grateful. It all started way back at the end of November 2014 when I was invited to go on a Turkey and Tinsel holiday to Cromer by a friend, all paid for! You can read all about that here: Happy Holidays I had put up my decorations before going so that my home would have a Christmas welcome when I got back. Just over a week later and I was off again this time to Willersley Castle for Turkey and Tinsel which you can read about here: Listening to the Owl's Song which is in two parts.

We had our Carol service on Sunday which was lovely and Alec spoke on Good News of Great Joy which you can read in our 'Thing on these Things' page on our church website, Ripley Elim. Then Christmas day arrived and I was picked up by my son-in-laws parents and we all went off to Emma and Mark's for traditional Christmas dinner, with a game of racing reindeer afterwards,

 we couldn't do it on the track because Juju had chewed it up!! 

I had a lovely time it was really relaxing, well for us guests it was anyway, Mark and Emma had certainly worked hard. 

Boxing Day all our family gathered at Sarah and Adam's for turkey curry, wonderful, yet more lovely food and good company, Huey and Noah my grandchildren showed us all the gifts they had had for Christmas and we had yet another game from the crackers this time racing penguins, again we didn't use the track but let them loose on the table, great fun. 

I went to Emma and Mark's afterwards as I was supposed to be going out with them to Mark's gig. However it started to snow and we just didn't realise how bad it was until later so I decided to go home. Hannah and Phil came to pick me up. Someone was stuck in front of us and so Phil got out to give them a hand and push them, unfortunately our car then decided it would go it alone and started to travel down the road, Phil was soon back and in control, phew.

After that I decided to go back to Mark and Emma's, as they were only round the corner I walked there. Phil and Hannah slowly made their way back home. I stayed with Juju, Emma's Chihuahua, she just kept wanting to go out and play in the snow she’d never seen it before, but it was coming so thick and fast I thought she’d disappear!! She thoroughly enjoyed trying to catch the snow I kept throwing, she obviously wasn’t feeling the cold as much as I was. 

Mark and Emma made it there and back to the gig okay, but they had some hair raising moments. The following morning everywhere looked so beautiful, Emma had to go to work and Mark, Juju and myself walked with her and then I went for a bus.

Not a problem catching one, just a problem getting up them there hills in Belper, three attempts up Chesterfield road and then the driver managed it, not a problem until we came onto Whitemoor estate and up another hill, four attempts but there was no way the bus was going to make it, so back he went and I got off on Chesterfield Road. I decided to walk the five mile home it took about two hours, of course I had to stop to take photos. It was a glorious day and I thoroughly enjoyed my walk. 

A buffet tea at Emma’s on Sunday completed our Christmas festivities.

 I have to say it was one of the best, 

thank you to my lovely family, 

I am so blessed.

Happy Holidays

I had a phone call on Sunday 16.12.14, was I busy next week if not would I like to go on a five day holiday absolutely free. I don't think I have ever packed a suitcase so fast, I met up with my friend June in Ripley and the coach arrived just after 9am to take us to Cromer in Norfolk. This was going to be exciting I think I can count on one hand the number of times I have been on a holiday. ( I don't count a week away to visit relatives, which I have done a few times). We arrived in Cromer around four and went in the side entrance to our hotel which was lovely, June and I were on the second floor next door to one another. 

The room was lovely, the food was excellent as was the service. And then the next day I saw the view from the table we were seated at in the dining room, the sea and the pier, wonderful. 

I hadn't realised when we arrived that the hotel was on the sea front.

 The Hotel De Paris 

We had two days of going out on trips and every evening there was entertainment which was really good. The first evening we had Norfolk's very own singing pig farmer, Nigel Adams. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves. June and I disappeared during the bingo it wasn't quite our thing. We went down every evening bar one, the second evening the entertainment was not our cup of tea at all, his sense of humour left a lot to be desired which was a shame as he was a good keyboard player and singer.

We had a lady the following evening Stacy Collins and a gentleman on the last evening Tony Barker who could sing, play the guitar, saxophone and everything in between I think. They were all really very good.

I was thrilled on Thursday to see surfers, how my camera clicked :)

I also walked up to the lighthouse

 The sea and the scenery was quite breath taking.

As I said we had a couple of trips, first a whole day out calling at three places as we toured the Norfolk Broads,  the last one being Wroxam which boasts the countries largest village store,  Roy's stores It was quite a shopping experience. The following day we had a couple of hours in Great Yarmouth, were we were entertained by this street entertainer from Manchester.

And I found these guys sitting outside one of Roy's store in Wroxam I think they were waiting for their ladies to finish shopping, and persuaded them to pose for me, I'll call them Harry, Larry and Mo as I don't want to give away their names :)

The three wise gentlemen

Hear no evil

Speak no evil

See no evil

Not an easy task in this day and age, we're bombarded with sounds and vision that leave our senses reeling, but we don't have to deliberately put ourselves into a situation that is harmful to our spiritual life, June and I walked out of the entertainment on the Tuesday evening because it wasn't fit to listen too. Here's a command from God's word that will keep us protected from evil without having to cover our ears, mouth and eyes. 

Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.

All in all we had a wonderful time there are too many photos so I can only show a few and there are too many memories so I can only share a few but I do want to say a big thank you to June for thinking of me and Brenda her friend whose place I took as she was too ill to go. It was very kind and generous. 

Don't Forget Who to Thank

Last Friday was the Harvest Festival at my grandson's school, actually it was done at the local church. The children were wonderful, they sang beautifully, and spoke out their poems etc for all to hear, and were very well behaved. They were a credit to their mum and dad's and their school.

Class 3 did some Harvest poems and sang the Harvest Rock and Roll. Noah is in year 1 and they sang the Autumn Song, they had cut out leaves and put them on a band around their head they sang so well, I think there must have been some very proud mums in the congregation. Reception showed us their harvest pictures and class 2 sang Cauliflowers are fluffy, class 4 finished this part off when they sang the Harvest Samba.

Cabbages and greens, broccoli and beans,

Cauliflower and roasted potatoes, taste so good to me!

Apricots and plums, ripened in the sun,

Oranges and yellow bananas, good for everyone!

It's another Harvest Festival, 

when we bring our fruit and vegetables,

Cause we want to share the good things 

that we've been given.

I'ts another opportunity to be grateful for the food we eat,

With a samba celebration to say, 

thank you to God the Father. 

Golden corn and wheat, oats and sugar beet,

Fluffy rice and tasty spaghetti, wonderful to eat!

Coffee, cocoa, tea, growing naturally,

Herbal plants and all kinds of spices

Very nice indeed!

It was absolutely delightful, the children and the teachers had put in so much hard work.

The vicar gave a short talk, just a couple of minutes but he reminded us that even though we may get our food from the supermarket etc, it is God who has provided it, He created the earth and the plants and the season's and so everyday we should be grateful for His provision.

The money raised from the collection and the sale of harvest produce was to be sent to the charity Action Aid for a child in Pakistan who they sponsor in order that she can go to school.

The parents and grandparents had a chance to join in, we sung What a Wonderful World at the beginning, and Autumn Days by Estelle White at the end. 

Autumn days, when the grass is jewelled,
And the silk inside a chestnut shell,
Jet planes meeting in the air to be refuelled,
All these things I love so well

So I mustn’t forget
No, I mustn’t forget
To say a great big thank you
I mustn’t forget.

Clouds that look like familiar faces,
And a winter’s moon with frosted rings,
Smell of bacon as I fasten up my laces,
And the song the milkman sings.

So I mustn’t forget
No, I mustn’t forget
To say a great big thank you
I mustn’t forget.

Whipped-up spray that is rainbow-scattered,
And a swallow curving in the sky,
Shoes so comfy though they’re worn out and they’re battered,
And the taste of apple pie.

So I mustn’t forget
No, I mustn’t forget
To say a great big thank you
I mustn’t forget.

Scent of gardens when the rain’s been falling,
And a minnow darting down a stream,
Picked-up engine that’s been stuttering and stalling,
And a win for my home team.

So I mustn’t forget
No, I mustn’t forget
To say a great big thank you
I mustn’t forget.

I thoroughly enjoyed the whole event and the fact that I could join in, I love to sing praises of thankfulness to God, I hope you do too.