If ever you worshipped..

Good morning dear ladies..

sending a little musical encouragement for all the loving and hard-working mothers out there today!

Sometimes it's hard to feel the blessing or worth of the many things we do for our family,

but if we choose to see the hum-drum daily service we offer them as
our act of worship to God,

we'll discover joy and find contentment and deeper purpose in it all.

Shifting our perspective off our own comfort and needs, in order to care for others is a sacrifice of love.

As godly wives and mothers, we are used to "doing" for others and hope that we do it with grace..

but we also know that it can sometimes wear us down a little bit.

God understands!

Relying on His help and appreciating the opportunities He gives us to 
 serve Christ through serving our loved ones

is a powerful spiritual key which can turn our grumbling into gratitude!
It blesses and strengthens us and greatly pleases our Lord!

And even if they don't tell us quite as often as we'd really like to hear it, deep in our hearts we know our family truly does appreciate us and everything we try to do for them.
That in itself is a sweet reward!

After all, we don't take care of them just so as to get constantly complimented on it, but simply because we love them so very much.

Isn't that what makes it all worthwhile anyway?!

Yeah! ...I knew you'd agree  :-)

***

Thank You!

"Thank you!" to all the lovely ladies who prayed for my friend's MIL this week.

She is very grateful and remains calm in the knowledge of God's over-riding will for her life.

With the help of surgery next month, it is now hoped that her remaining days will be extended to perhaps one or two years instead of just a few months.

We pray in faith knowing that our gracious God hears our cries and is moved by our petitions.

His grace and mercy know no bounds!!

love..Trish

Your Cross

Dear friends,

Lent begins this week on Ash Wednesday, and I feel drawn to take some time throughout this liturgical season, to meditate on the meaning of taking up the cross in daily life. 

I will be posting some reflections which might be a little 'different' to what you may be used to, but never-the-less, I hope you find a blessing in them!

love & grace..Trish

*

Take Up Your Cross

Written by Pope John Paul II  August 22, 2005

"I invite you to reflect on the conditions that Jesus asked of those who wanted to be his disciples:

"If anyone wishes to come after me", he said,

 "he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me" (Lk 9:23).

Jesus is not a Messiah of triumph and power. In fact, he did not free Israel from Roman rule and he never assured it of political glory. As a true Servant of the Lord, he carried out his mission in solidarity, in service, and in the humiliation of death. He is the Messiah who did not fit into any mould and who came without fanfare, and who cannot be "understood" with the logic of success and power, the kind of logic often used by the world to verify its projects and actions.

Having come to carry out the will of the Father, Jesus remained faithful to it right to the end. He thus carried out his mission of salvation for all those who believe in him and love him, not in word, but in deed.

Love is the condition for following him, but it is sacrifice that is the proof of that love.

"If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me" (Lk 9:23).
These words denote the radicality of a choice that does not allow for hesitation or second thoughts. It is a demanding requirement that unsettled even the disciples and that, throughout the ages, has held back many men and women from following Christ. But precisely this radicality has also produced admirable examples of sanctity and martyrdom that strengthened and confirmed the way of the Church. Even today these words are regarded as a stumbling block and folly (cf. 1 Cor 1: 22-25). Yet they must be faced, because the path outlined by God for his Son is the path to be undertaken by the disciple who has decided to follow Jesus. There are not two paths, but only one: the one trodden by the Master. The disciple cannot invent a different way.
Jesus walks ahead of his followers and asks each one to do as he himself has done. He says: I have not come to be served, but to serve; so, whoever wants to be like me must be the servant of everyone. I have come to you as one who possesses nothing; for this reason, I can ask you to leave all riches behind which prevent you from entering the Kingdom of Heaven. I accept denial and rejection by most of my people; therefore I can ask you to accept denial and opposition from wherever it comes.
In other words, Jesus asks that we courageously choose the same path.
We have to choose it from our hearts, because external situations do not depend on us. In so far as it is possible, the will to be as obedient as he was to the Father and to be ready to accept the plan which he has for each person right to the end depends upon each of us.
"He must deny himself". To deny oneself is to give up one's own plans that are often small and petty in order to accept God's plan. This is the path of conversion, something indispensable in a Christian life, and that led Saint Paul to say, "it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me" (Gal 2:20).
Jesus does not ask us to give up living, but to accept a newness and a fullness of life that only He can give. The human being has a deep-rooted tendency to "think only of self", to regard one's own person as the centre of interest and to see oneself as the standard against which to gauge everything.
One who chooses to follow Christ, on the other hand, avoids being wrapped up in himself and does not evaluate things according to self interest. He looks on life in terms of gift and gratuitousness, not in terms of conquest and possession.
Life in its fullness is only lived in self-giving, and that is the fruit of the grace of Christ: an existence that is free and in communion with God and neighbor.
If to live as a follower of the Lord becomes the highest value, then all other values are given their rightful rank and importance. Whoever depends solely on worldly goods will end up by losing, even though there might seem to be an appearance of success. Death will find that person with an abundance of possessions but having lived a wasted life (cf. Lk 12:13-21). Therefore, the choice is between being and having, between a full life and an empty existence, between truth and falsehood.
"Take up his cross daily and follow me". As the cross can be reduced to being an ornament, "to carry the cross" can become just a manner of speaking. In the teaching of Jesus, however, it does not imply the pre-eminence of mortification and denial. It does not refer primarily to the need to endure patiently the great and small tribulations of life, or, even less, to the exaltation of pain as a means of pleasing God.
It is not suffering for its own sake that a Christian seeks, but love. When the cross is embraced it becomes a sign of love and of total self-giving. To carry it behind Christ means to be united with him in offering the greatest proof of love.
We cannot speak about the cross without considering God's love for us, the fact that God wishes to shower us with good things. With his invitation "follow me", Jesus not only says again to his disciples: take me as your model, but also: share my life and my choices, and stake your life for love of God and for neighbor together with me. This is how Jesus opens up before us the "way of life". Unfortunately, this is constantly being threatened by the "way of death". Sin is this way that separates a person from God and neighbor and brings about division and undermines society from within.
The "way of life" continues and renews the mind of Christ in us and becomes the way of faith and conversion. It is indeed the way of the cross. It is the way that leads one to trust in him and his plan of salvation, and to believe that He died in order to show God's love for each one. It is the way to salvation in a society often divided, confused and contradictory. It is the way to the happiness found in following Christ right to the end, in the sometimes dramatic circumstances of daily life. It is the way that does not fear failure, difficulties, isolation, loneliness, because it fills our hearts with the presence of Jesus. It is the path of peace, self-control and a joyful heart." 

                                                                         

"Love is the condition for following Him,

but it is sacrifice that is the proof of that love!"

To me..these words of John Paul II, mirror the relationship of a wife who gives up all to follow her husband.

As the betrothed of Jesus Christ..what am I willling to leave behind as I walk with my Heavenly Bridegroom?

                              

God alone is enough!

Let nothing trouble you, let nothing make you afraid.

All things pass away.

God never changes.

Patience obtains everything.

God alone is enough.

- Saint Teresa of Avila

Simply Ponder

Purity and simplicity are the two wings with which man soars above the earth and all temporary nature.

Thomas `a Kempis

When God Calls

God’s call doesn’t only come once when he calls us to our vocation. No, it comes over and over.
There is a moment when God calls you. It is as if he sends a note, as on a tuning fork, and it reverberates in your heart.

It might sound in the midst of a busy street, or in the depths of solitude, or on a train or airplane, or on a crowded city bus. But you hear it—unmistakably.

"Now!" it says. "Now! Arise! Go! Go to this place or that. Go speak to this person or that one. Go write this book or article. Arise and be reconciled with your neighbor. Arise and take the step for which I have been preparing you."

At this point, you hold on to your chair, symbolically speaking. The last thing you want to do is arise and go, because when God calls, he purifies through suffering the one he chooses.


If you follow him, you may be spit upon or have stones thrown at you—figuratively or literally. You may be called names, as I was when I tried to talk about racial justice in the Deep South during the 1940s.

But when you hear God’s call, it is more agonizing to sit still than to obey. Such was the experience of Jonah, of Jeremiah, and of many other prophets.

When you hear God’s call, whatever it is, there will be tremendous turmoil in you. You will feel as if you are being ripped apart.

This is the beginning of your journey inward, the moment of realization that the Holy Spirit dwells within you, as well as outside of you.

The moment when you hear God’s call is a moment of recognition, a moment of receptivity, and of deep openness. It is the moment when all we have to do is realize that we are creatures, and that it is God who is calling us.

What is he calling us to? He is calling us to what each of us most deeply desires. He is calling us to a life that will bear fruit, for sterility is the most tragic thing that can happen to us. Remember the parable of the fig tree?
God offers us fertility. He offers us a life of unimaginable fruitfulness, because he offers us the possibility of helping him build his kingdom.

What is that kingdom? It is you and me, and the girl who takes drugs, and the alcoholic down the street. His kingdom is the lame and the blind, the lonely, and the jobless, the rich and the poor. It includes all human beings. It is the whole world.

The moment when you hear God’s call is also the moment of prayer. Not of long prayers, not of prayer as you or I might understand it, but something else, something so very simple: "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief." "Jesus, help me."

He is used to that prayer, and often it is not even voiced aloud. It’s a cry of a few words, a cry of agony, a cry for help, a wordless cry for clarity.

Behind these short cries, accented with pain or sorrow, or even with joy, lies the plea, "Help me to move on, to wherever you want to take me."

For the moment God calls is also the moment of choice. It is one of many such moments, for we will be called to choose every day of our lives until we die.

But the fantastic thing about it is our freedom. We are utterly free to turn back from this power that draws us on. We are free to loose ourselves from the bonds of a love that demands our total surrender. Nothing prevents us from saying no—nothing except God’s love!

We crave greatness for our lives, and God asks us to become.. little.
To pass through the door that leads to his kingdom, we must go down on our knees.
Catherine Doherty

Catherine Doherty is one of my favourite writers on spirituality. I hope this blesses you today.
joy in Christ..Trish

What Housework Is Really About.

     "Housework is really being about the work of God— praying, serving, praising.

And in these domestic chapels, God, The Very Person of Peace, offers Himself to the congregants..."

Ann has something beautiful to say to you.

Please visit and soak up her words - they will lift your homemaker's soul today!

And as she would say..

all's grace,

Trish

Max and Mum

Friends, I thought you might like to see this lovely photo my sister Barb just put on her blog today  :-)

My beautiful mother turned 94 last Sunday, and yesterday got to hold baby Max..her great-great-grandson!!

What a wonderful generational blessing for our family - God is so faithful!

joy in Christ..Trish

Baby Max is home!

Dad holding newborn baby Max 9 weeks ago.

God is great! Hallelujah!

Dear ladies, I have some very good news!

My tiny great-great nephew Max who was born so prematurely 9 weeks ago came home today!!

He has reached 2 kilos in weight and is well enough to be home with his Mum and Dad and big sister. Now he just needs to keep growing stronger and learn to feed with his mother.

Thank you to all the generous ones who prayed for him when he arrived so unexpectedly and so very small. My family appreciates everyone of your prayers and well-wishes  :-)

joy in Christ..Trish

The Guest

"I once heard someone say the entrance of the home mirrors the heart of the
one who keeps it....

guests are coming soon....

And so I start thinking about all this preparing to receive and how making ready the home is prayer..."

You can read the rest here

Prayer for husband

Dear friends,

could you please uphold my husband in prayer?

He injured his hand at work yesterday and has broken his finger and cut through the extender tendon.

As a man who's trade is cabinet and furniture making and restoration, he is very concerned about his work and how he can now fulfil his obligations to customers.

He will have his hand in plaster for at least 6 weeks.

He will be home today if the surgeon is satisfied with last night's operation to reconnect the tendon.

We are praying that all will heal well and that he'll have full use of his finger restored.

Praising God that he did not lose the finger completely-it could have been so much worse!

blessings to all..Trish

Prayer Request for baby Max

Dear friends,

could you please pray for my niece's grandson, who was born prematurely yesterday morning.

"Max Benjamin" was not due until next February, but was delivered 2 months early by emergency caesarian section.

He is a little fellow of just over 3lbs! He'll be in hospital for some time after his mother is discharged and goes home. I know, personally, how very painful it is to leave your new-born behind in a humidicrib with countless tubes attached to him for weeks. It can be frightening for parents who expected to be rejoicing at this blessed time - not sorrowing.

Pray for Alana, that she heals well and that fear and depression do not take hold !

Pray that my tiny great-great nephew will grow strong, and go home with Mum and Dad as soon as possible.

Whilst baby Max was arriving in one hospital, his great-great grandmother was in another :-(

If you could also remember my 93yr old mother Mavis, who had her hand operated on yesterday, I'd be very grateful.

I so appreciate all your kindnesses !

blessings..Trish