God is Big

So a little bit of background. We have this family in our church, all involved in our music team and very talented, non more so that the middle child (not quite a child now, hes like 16 or something). We will call him B, so B is very talented guitarist and used to play in our youth band and the church band. long story short, a few things lead to B disconnecting from church life about a year or so ago, although he still calls in occasionally he is lost in some pretty dodgy stuff at this point. So we have a new(ish) leader in our team who after B called into church one day really felt called to pray and interceed for B regularly so he did.(even though he had only breifly met him)
A couple of weeks go by and that particular leader is driving and stops to pick up a guy who was hitchhiking, and the guy turns out to be B. Odds of that in a city of 1.4 million, not like they both live near each other or anything because they dont. Totally Gods divine appointment. God is amazing.

its the little things

They say its the little things that count... well its the little things that can ruin your day/week as the case may be. Ridiculous isn't it. Our kids are whole and healthy, we have great jobs, and youth and church are going AWESOME. Yet i still find myself feeling nearly defeated today. Not quite, but nearly.
I have lost my phone which doesn't seem like much but we dont have a home phone and so now i have no means of contact with hubby, and when working opposite shifts that can be really hard,not to mention having no contact with the outside world while he is out on shift, and add to that the holiday photos that I havnt been able to download yet and the 50 a month plan i will have to keep paying, on top of a new one if I have to replace it. Oh and I couldnt sleep before my night shift tonight because I couldnt find anything else in my house to use as an alarm.
Add to that, that we backtracking a bit financially which comes with its own stresses, and the fact that my 2 year old has picked this week to be the most defiant little thing on the face of the planet, refusing to stay in bed, or do anything she is told for that matter, and makes for a not so enjoyable start to the week. Every time i try to get it in perspective and get my attitude right something else happens.
Well i am on night shift, and am totally freaking out now because there has been a headlice outbreak (i guess you get that when you work with homeless people) so now instead of sleeping when i get home i will be doing washing and combing hair, making sure i have not taken a little 'bonus' home form work with me.
I prayed for an insightful relevant devotional time on friday and i was lead to scripture about how the enemy aims to wear down those that oppose him and in my bible there was a side study about the scripture and how to deal with the enemies relentless effort in ruining your effectiveness through hindering your day to day life.
So it is by the little things the attack has come and one little thing God showed me that will mean i will only feel nearly defeated.

movin to the country...gonna eat me alot of peaches

i dunno if they were an Australian band- they were called the presidents of the USA or something like that but they sang this song
wait let me see if i can find a clip...
PEACHES
there you go. So this song has been in my head for like the last 2 months.
So this is how my life took a dramatically different course, leading me to be unable to get this song out of my head. 5 years ago i married i man...a tradesman with a pastoral gift and leadership abilities. We served in the youth group and we ran the youth group. We became the youth pastors and I figured we would pastor eventually, full time. Maybe he would pastor a church and I would use my social science degree and social work experience to set up a ministry for the down and out, maybe teenage mums, maybe drug rehab clients maybe all of the above... this was my plan.
Well since we got married anyway. My original plan was to serve with the leadership of my old church in a paid ministry role, but then we got married and he didn't feel right about moving to my church...in hindsight I see that That was my comfort zone, not Gods plan, but i left my friends and spiritual family and everything i was aspiring to then, and well 5 years later it is like de ja vu(figuratively speaking, coz I don't really believe in that kind of thing).
I have a job and a plan and dreams, and i really don't see how any of it fits with where we seem to be heading now. I am discovering what really is meant by walking by faith. I have a peace about all the decisions we have made leading up to this point. Now we need to decide where we are going in just 12 weeks time.

When D signed up we(I) was convinced we would do country posting MUCH furthur down the track and D would work local to our church, my work,family, friends, our lives. Then came the nearly perfect compromise, a country posting just 45 minutes from where we live now. i could still be involved in ministry and wouldn't have to work because of the country pay perks. Then that did not work out as they are not going to take on a Probationary officer. Now i cant seem to backtrack with D and country seems to be the only thing being considered...hence...this song.

I am quite emotionally attached to my church, my ministry and youth group. It is such an exciting time and I am finally finding the time to connect with new leaders, i know that leaving is going to be devastating for me...again. All the reasons i have to stay though are my own selfish ones. I don't feel like we are meant to stay, in fact i think God has been very deliberate about moving us out at a time when others will HAVE to step up and out of their comfort zones. I just doesn't seem to make it any easier though...
I will part II this post later with my thought about where we are going.

Perspective

The words of a 9 year old from Uganda resounded with the perspective and wisdom that western children/teenagers/young adults and even some mature adults lack. At 9, having endured a horrific life of neglect, hunger, poverty and sickness he had a clear vison for his life and declared that he was blessed and God loved him... how is it that this little boy with nothing feels so amazingly blessed to have been taken in and have a bottom bunk bed to share in a room with four other boys, living with little more than the basics of life, and young people here in Australia struggle with self pity and depression and are so melancholic because in thier abundance ,all is not as they wish it were. Dont get me wrong i know life isnt perfect and some people here endure tragic circumstances, but many don't. They complain because daddy didnt buy them a car even though their brother got one, they complain because they cant eat out this week, they complain because their parents are a bit strict or they have too much home work, and deal with it like thier life is over, some are depressed because they dont know what they want to do with thier life, without realising the massive blessing that choice is.
I have complained because i cant afford to buy a rug that matches my lounge decor or because i dont get my hair cut as often as i should. WHAT?!?

i read somewhere that you will never be happy with what you have until you stop wanting things you dont have.
How free these children seemed, to be satisfied just to have their basic needs met and to have hope of a future.

thats all
www.watoto.com

A catch up post

I have been meaning to post for about 2 weeks and there has been so many athings to post about but just not enough time, so now i am going to play catch up and post a little from/about each thing.

Life has been very blessed in the Conradt household lately. Dont get me wrong, not all roses or anything, Gods grace has just been all over everything, you know?

Grace has been loving her ballet lessons, and even though she wont show us what she is learning i have caught glimpses of her walking with toes pointed forward, and practicing controlled breathing. Oh and i find it highly amusing trying to put her whole like 8 strands of hair in a little bun :)

We have been SOOOOOO blessed by the course we are doing- Growing Kids Gods Way. It is the same as the books babywise/childwise that I read and doing the course and the group support has been so positive in reinforcing my commitment to doing the best I can for our kids. I am so loving the boundaries and the respect and honour that it instills in the kids.The structure in our dayand limits to her social freedoms have all but cured J's little (more like chronic) biting habit, just have a peak at how well te girls are getting along now...

Don't be fooled though, they still try and push it. Jaeda's new battleground is holding out on saying 'ta'. She has missed out on dinner once, and now it only takes me reaching to take which ever non-appreciated item it is from her and she will say 'TA' or sign 'please' like crazy. I wonder how long before she quits trying it...Ah the joys of discovering we have a will.



We have just started a star chart which Grace gets for leaving 'blanky' on her bed. Once blanky is making absolutly no day time appearences we will start with night times. It is time for the blanky and by default the thumb sucking to go. I feel a bit sad for my big girl though, she really loves that thing. I mean she hugs it and says bye when she leaves the house and hugs it when she gets home... I know! my kid is a little cuckoo but what 3 year old isn't in some way? I would let her keep it until she was 40 accept it triggers the thumb sucking and i said 3 was where i would draw the line on that... I have even gone past that because i feel so sad taking her lovey away but she is going to ruin her teeth! Good thing Jaeda's fingers are getting too big to be comfortable to suck so i am hoping her little habit will resolve itself.

I have to say the behavior has actually been very good when you consider the copious amounts of chocolate that have been in abundance in our house lately, mostly thanks to easter but also thanks to Carly... you so didn't have to share, but thanks a heap anyway, saved me eating my kids easter chocolate :)

One thing i was going to post on was Good Friday. A lovely lady from our church (known to my kids as Mrs Kho, as titles are one of the respect for elders principles we have been talking about in growing kids but more on that later) invited some children from church to her house for a morning tea. With help from her eldest daughter, the kids participated in a 'surprise' easter story where they each choose a couloured egg from the carton which contained a symbol such as bread, a rock, coins, a cross etc which represented elements of the easter story, they talked about it all, then went on a clue hunt to find bits to make a craft which turned out to be an easter memory verse on a 'scroll' and then did a egg hunt. t was such a beatiful morning and all the kids ages 3- 13 were involved and had a great time. I wish i had taken photos but i was so absorbed in watching the kids learning and have so much fun i forgot.
Grace didnt forget she had stashed an egg from the hunt in her bag and silently got into on the car trip home, at the end of which i found her like this...



And lastly, a little testimony of God at work in little ways...
On Tueday last week I was lying awake considering(as i often do) all the things God has spoken to me about- through prayer, prophetic words from people and his word. One thing, at least at one point, i was sure was one of the things i was called to was preaching the word. When i first moved to my husbands church just before getting married I was asked to speak a few times and did the main message once, and then nothing- like from god or church. When i would get asked to speak previously usually God had been stirring up a word in me for a few days so i often new it was coming... but nothing for a while, until tuesday, i was thinking, Lord is that something that was for then (as then myself and my husband were running our youth group virtually single (couple?) handledly so i had to preach at least every second week. So Wednesday, I get the call, can you speak on communion on Sunday... sure- the bible says to be prepared in season and out of season so I will never say no. Lord i will take it that it is not something you want me to let go of entirely just yet. So anyway i pray and get this scripture and work my whole message from the scripture. Sunday comes i give the message and totally forget to give the scripture- reading or reference, don't even realise. i sit down and Ps pete starts his message which ties in beautifully with the worship songs and the communion message and roughly halfway though, ps pete quotes this scripture his word just reminded him of but cant remember the reference- so i read it from the top of my communion message notes. The exact "forgotten" scripture, Col 1:15. GOD is Good, not that it was super important that the scripture was shared because the heart of it was already, but God in all His greatness and wonder, cared enough to show me that He was still going to use me to share His message by confirming to me that i was hearing from Him.

He is my provider

My husband and I believe that God requires of us that al areas of our lives are submitted to Him to allow Him to work freely in them and we strongly believe (and have experienced) that when we submit our finances to Him, through tithing and being obedient in where He guides us to sow, he provides and blesses us.

Back in my new christian days our church had a one off 'first fruits' offering which was 1 weeks wages equivelent. i felt that although i only worked a few hours a week and altough i really needed more income at the time, God was calling me allow Him to be in control of my finances. So i putin my first fruits and the next night I had a shift at work. The rosters had changed and i had extra shifts tha meant every week i had what i had put in that offering extra, down to the cent. God had multiplied my offering 52fold, as i then made that amount extra every week.

t's no secret that times are tough, particulary for those in the building and construction trade. They dont loose their job and get a severence package, and virtually every one in the industy is effected in a slow down. The rates drop, the hours drop and the work dries up, so the wage that has been supporting our family has halved lately.

So i prayed and put out a facebook status and wihin a week i had a casual job, and now two weeks into it i have ben offered and have accepted a permanent postition.

It is evenings and nights and it works out to only a few hours away from the girls each week, nad those hours can be with thier Daddy, itis great work and because of the field comes with other financial govenment tax cuts and things. All in all it is too perfect to not be the divine prvision of a loving God!