GREEN-LIGHT revolution

If I went back to who I know God to be and the nature of His word, (For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth and making it bear and sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; So will My word be which goes forth from my mouth; It will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it. You shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace. Isaiah 55:10-12 NASB), I realised that I must have the wrong perspective. God has actually planted an oak tree in my heart, that has different properties to the apple or the pear tree, but they are nothing less, and I haven’t got a bad deal. God hasn’t forgotten His word, or denied my desires or dreams, He IS fulfilling them, HIS way, in HIS time.

I am also so aware of “creating an Ishmael”, by snatching for myself what I want NOW, rather than waiting for the fulfilment of God’s promise. If I would only look to what He IS doing (rather than what I perceive I lack), and as I am thankful and choose to live in gratitude, joy and peace, I start to see more of His plan and purpose, and realise that my heart is more satisfied than I ever thought it could be. He really is the strength of my heart and my portion forever, and I can TOTALLY trust Him. Those who hope in Him will never be disappointed. I can CHOOSE to be happy. I can CHOOSE to thank Him, and I can CHOOSE whether I am going to walk in the realisation of my hopes and dreams, or wallow in self-pity or disappointment.

We are also called to “walk by Faith, not by sight” 2 Corinthians 5:7 NASB. I forget that sometimes and get frustrated or angry that I can’t see! But then I ask Him to give me the faith to keep walking, and He always does. I’m so excited for what God has for my life, and for yours, because we’re loved by an incredible God, who doesn’t settle for good – He gives us BEST.

Going green!

Catherine

Hello again! I'd like to introduce my 2nd guest blogger in the week. This lady has taken a special place in my life. She regularly serves Jubilee in worship leading, and she has encouraged\challenged\ and listened to me as the ups and downs of living in another country had me all over the place!

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Hi, I’m Catherine, a 25 year old Zimbabwean, living in Cape Town. I have had the privilege of getting to know lovely Martha Lee during her time here in Cape Town, and here I am sharing with you ladies from the other side of the world!

I’d love to share with you part of a season I’ve gone through this year. As long as I can remember, I have had ideas of how my life would turn out – the career I would end up in, the house I would live in, the man I would marry, the children I would have, the exploits I would do for God, then to add to the ideas or dreams, are prophetic words I have had over my life that have led me to believe certain things would happen in a certain way and in a certain time. Today, I don’t think one of these things have worked out the way I had envisaged. Were these ideas and dreams wrong? Or were they right, but God has got it wrong and disappointed me? I have seen that there have been many similar stories, feelings and questions amongst friends in my community, and the disappointment, disillusionment, offence and frustrated longing made me come to God to find His Truth about it all. I know that He is ALWAYS good, that He has plans to prosper us, not harm us, give us a future and a hope, that He always keeps His promises, and that He is a Father who gives good and perfect gifts. I asked God to show me what was going on, and this is what I felt Him show me.

I saw that He has planted in each one of us a seed, loaded with potential for life, fruitfulness, abundance. This is like the dreams, the promises, the prophetic words over our lives. Just as a seed is planted into the dark soil, out of sight, so with us, it often seems that after the dreams or words are spoken, they seem to “die” and we’re left wondering what that was all about. The glorious reality however, is that underground, the seed does die, so that germination can take place, and the life inside can be released and slowly push its way to the surface. We then get all excited, looking at little shoots poking through the soil, and think “I’m going to have an apple tree, JUST like hers” (looking at someone else’s life that has worked out the way you think yours should), or you think, “I KNOW this is a pear tree, I’m SURE of it – it’s what I’ve always wanted”. However, as the little shoot grows taller, gets some leaves, you compare it with the stages of the other apple or pear tree and think, “hang on, this isn’t right! What’s going on?” And so the process continues, with a looking, a longing, a frustrated, even jealous comparison with those around you, or the ideals you’ve held onto so tightly for so long. Unfortunately in this time, so much energy is spent in looking elsewhere, comparing and feeling disappointed, we fail to see what is emerging in our own hearts and lives. And here is the challenge….

(to be continued)

Going Green!

Catherine

As I sit and reflect today, I have been back in South Africa almost as long as I was in India, four and a half years. Matt celebrates his twentieth birthday this week. Our transition wasn’t easy, but we can honestly say that God had already walked in all our tomorrows, and met us there. His thoughts and ways are so much higher than ours (see Isaiah55v8&9). I could never have imagined what He had in store for me. I came to realise that He used India to shape me, change me, and then planted me here to help pioneer something new - health care His way - starting with the heart lessons He had taught me far away.

And His promise of flowers has been happily fulfilled. God has surrounded me with wonderful women, each a beautiful flower. They have become special friends, daughters, sisters, forming a community of love, a safe place in which to grow in God. We meet to pray together, share life together, encouraging one another to love Him with all our heart and soul and strength. We cry together, laugh together, and have wriggled deep into each other’s souls where we sharpen each other (see Proverbs27v17), seeing God’s skilled surgical hand at work in our broken and wounded places, bringing healing and wholeness. We in turn are able to reach out to others – the lost and broken, fellow believers needing encouragement along the way, the outcasts of society, the misunderstood…We celebrate life, delighting in our Beloved and the fellowship of His people.

I have been challenged by my own weaknesses and vulnerabilities, which have become glaringly obvious in close relationship with others (it’s so easy to hide our true selves when our relationships don’t go deep!), and have learned that pride blinds me to my own sin and brokenness. It has taken courage to allow others into my heart, but it has been so worthwhile! I have learned to be loved and to love in ways I hadn’t dreamed possible. I have learned that selfless GIVING (I mean MUCH more than finances) is the way of life in God. After all, God so loved the world that He GAVE….everything. He calls us to love like that too.

And I have learned that surrendering to God’s ways completely - without trying to interpret what should happen, when, where, with whom – brings so much peace and so much joy. To me (who loves surfing), it feels like I’m floating blissfully in an ocean of God’s grace. It just isn’t worth trying to live any other way! Life in Him is truly more than we could ever ask or imagine (see Ephesians3v20&21). It really is a thrill to partner with Jesus, my Lover and my Friend.

Going green!

Caryn

Hey gals! Well, if you remember, I have currently spent the first part of 2010 in Cape Town, South Africa! In that time, I have met some incredible people and have gotten a much bigger understanding of how God is building His Church! I'd like to introduce to you one of my guest bloggers for the week, Caryn. This lady is incredible--she is the doctor at the health clinic that Jubilee runs, where I have volunteered at during my time here. She grew up in Cape Town, and spent 4 years as a missionary in India before returning to Cape Town. This lady has some serious wisdom, and I have learned whenever she is talking to LISTEN because God almost always teaches me something through her! Not only a doctor, she surfs, hikes mountains..I'm not sure if there is anything she doesn't do! So enough from me, enjoy!--Martha

Reflections on transition

A battle raged inside me as I walked along the familiar mountain path in the Himalayan foothills. I was leaving. Grief rose in my throat to choke me, and I tried to think of something good to look forward to. But all I could see was loss - loss of my Indian Family, loss of the beloved community of multinational friends who had willingly given their all for Jesus, loss of a job and people and place I loved…

I looked up the steep ravine to my left and stopped in awe. An explosion of colour – hundreds of glorious flowers, of every shape, size and hue – greeted me, overwhelmed me. And gently a familiar Voice spoke His love and hope into my heart, reminding me of a promise given almost a decade earlier – “You shall enter a season of flowers”. It had been spoken in a time of sadness, as my young son, Matt, and I waded through the aftermath of divorce. Matt was now 15, having spent the past 4 and a half years happily growing from child to man in a foreign land, while his mother served the people as a doctor in a mission hospital. After months of deliberation, counsel and prayer, we had decided to return to our native South Africa so that he could spend some time living close to his dad. I was so grateful that Matt and I would still be together, enjoying a treasured friendship, but struggled to relinquish the dreams held in my soul for half my lifetime.

India had been my focus for so long, had crept into my heart and I into hers. God had clearly led us there, providing all we needed miraculously, keeping His promises to replenish all we had left behind for His sake (see Mark 10v29&30).

As God reminded me of His promise on that beautiful mountainside, He began to prize my fingers off my own plans and schemes, until I was freefalling….into His tomorrows, His love, His grace, His purposes. In those years in India, through challenges, tears and joy, I had come to know Him as kind, altogether good. And now it was time to walk in the reality of that knowledge, into an adventure of uncertainty.

What did the future hold? I didn’t know, but I knew the One who held it, and that needed to be enough for me.

(to be continued….)

Going green!

Caryn

Given the options, the 2nd one is looking more appealing at the moment--so I think I'll let my heart and finger tips run with that for the day:

"Sow a thought, reap an action.
...........................Sow an action, reap a habit.
.....................................................Sow a habit, reap a destiny."

I use to be really scared about a lot of the thoughts that would cross through my mind... and for a long time I had difficulty deciphering whether the thoughts in my mind were just passing through (invited/uninvited), surfacing from my heart or entering into my heart.

In the last 9 years that I've been following Christ, He's uprooted [and rooted] NUMEROUS thoughts in my life. I've noticed that many of the thoughts He's uprooted have been vine-like, starting from one major root--then sprouting and sprawling into other little roots; all continuing to grow until I'd let Him remove them.

Have you ever experienced God hands in your life like that?

The recent one He freed me from is one that I'm not sure what to call except figure it out. Now, I'm not saying that it's bad to desire knowing great and unsearchable things, because I've come to understand with experience that God GREATLY delights in us discovering more of Him through what/who He's created. This kind of figure it out that I'm referring to is one that's motivated by fear. A fear that when I stopped to listen, was saying things like... "If you don't figure it out, you'll be ...

• unhelpful, unprepared, useless and unwanted.
  
• a disappointment because you should have known better.
• stupid because you didn't figure it out.
• a bad friend because you should have seen it coming.
• hurt from being taken off guard.
  
• an embarrassment to others, and yourself.
• in the way, an inconvenience.
• a hindrance.
• a failure.

And you'll miss out on life! You'll miss it. You'll miss all the good opportunities, all the important moments, all things you could have had. You'll miss your purpose. You'll miss out on what God has in store for you...

Scary huh? To top it, because I had believed those lies over the years--the ways of figure it out portrayed me as a "know it all" as well as controlling, disrespectful, patronizing, self-sufficient, unthankful, unwelcoming, and I'm sure a number of other things that I've yet to realize.

It's hard to pin-point when exactly I let figure it out enter my life, but I do know it was when I was a little girl--and I most DEFINITELY know that since I made the choice to believe that God is BIGGER than figure it out, Jesus has set me free!

If you don't already own it, here's a promise God gave me years ago that I know He desires to give you as well:

'Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.' -Jeremiah 33:3 (NIV)

Going green!
Amie

Singleness... singleness.... singleness... Today is one of those days where I know I have plenty of stuff to post about this week, but what to choose?

Option 1: What it's like to be single and in a dating relationship. This option would express how I've found those two things can actually co-exist but only for so long. As one of my close friends told me years ago, "There comes a point in every relationship when you either break-up, have sex, or get married."

Option 2: It's been said that if we sow a thought, we reap an action; if we sow an action, we reap a habit; and if we sow a habit, we reap a destiny. This option would consist of 5 ways-of-thinking that I had believed over the years that strongly affected my actions, habits, and was leading me in a completely wrong direction.


What would you GREEN-LIGHT followers like to read about this week?

Going green!
Amie

Okay, girls. You know you've got one. It might be scribbled out in your journal or it might be a document hidden on your laptop under some inconspicuous file name like "2005 Tax Return." Or perhaps you've got it tucked away in the back of your mind; you've never written it out, but its existence is a reality. I'm talking about The List. Your numbered/bulleted/organized by order of importance list of qualities that your future husband must possess. Because a girl's got to have standards, right? Right?!

I have not only had a list, I've had multiple lists. I drafted the first one around age 18, and it included essential items like, "He must have icy blue eyes, coal black hair, and know how to play all my favorite songs on guitar." This list also happened to perfectly describe the guy I liked at the time...hmmmm. Anyway, I threw out that list and eventually wrote a new, more mature one. This list was all about how my dreamboat of a future husband would respect me, understand me, adore me. Then, somewhere in my early twenties, I switched from a list of qualities to a list of questions I would use to quiz all my potential suitors. This list was not only mature, it was theological. "How do you view the roles and responsibilities of husbands and wives? How would you describe the function of the local church in carrying out God's mission? If John Piper and NT Wright had an arm-wrestling match, who would win?" I had a formula: look for the right qualities + ask the right questions = awesome dude on bended knee with sparkly jewelry.

My evolving lists reflected some misunderstandings I had about relationships. First, I was relying on The List and not the Holy Spirit to guide me to the right guy. I thought that if I perfected the method, I could guarantee the results. I don't think that's true anymore. I am less concerned with methods and more concerned with learning to recognize the voice of my Maker. Through conversations with women whose marriages I admire, through talking to and listening to my Lord, and through observation of leaders I respect, I am carving out a profile of my future husband. It's not terribly specific at this point, but I am determined not to fill in the gaps myself, and slowly, a picture is forming in my mind.

Secondly, I used to spend a lot of time thinking about the kind of husband I wanted to have but not the kind of wife I wanted to be. When I listed out my expectations for this poor guy, I never once made a list of what I expected of myself. I believe God has a husband in mind for me, but the who/when/where is all in his hands. I can't make Mr. Right materialize; I do, however, have some control over how I spend my time between now and the day he knocks on my door. I'm praying that God will make me into a woman who will be a blessing to this man and our family. I'm asking God to help me prepare for the future, which he knows perfectly and I only know dimly.

If you flipped through my journal these days, there wouldn't be a list in sight (well, maybe a grocery list). You would find some quotes from the Psalms, some urgent prayers, and some old hymns. God is helping me learn to trust Him with my hopes and my heart. He knows what is best for me and has promised to do me good all the days of my life, single days and married days.

Going green!

Lynn Fleshman

Oh ladies!

Just a quick post to say HELLO and that you have not been forgotten! Apologies for the delay. It is default for us authoresses to post every Monday. Sometimes the life of a single lady can be VERY full.

Speaking of single and not-so-single, our sweet McKenzie is now a Mrs. McKenzie Sandusky!!! AND apparently there's rumor going around that if you become an authoress to this blog, you may end up in a relationship with some dudely-dude and find yourself skipping toward marriage... I'm not sure how I feel about that, but thought I'd throw it out there for a laugh...

In the meantime, here are some of my favorite books over the years (in no particular order):

1. Surprised by the Voice of God by Jack Deere
2. Hinds' Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard
3. The Life You've Always Wanted by John Ortberg
4. The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer
5. Desiring God by John Piper
6. The Peacemaker by Ken Sande
7. Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers
8. The Cross of Christ by John Stott
9. Safely Home by Randy Alcorn
10. NASB & ESV of the Bible

Going green!
Amie