Assurance

Psalm 95:1
O come, let us sing for joy to the Lord.
Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation.

I was reading this passage in my devotional today and I was thinking about all the different metaphors Jesus uses for Himself, when I put some of them together I get the following picture:

Me standing in the cleft of the rock (Jesus is the rock), wearing the armour of light;

• the helmet of salvation - Jesus provides my salvation, 
• the breastplate of righteousness - Jesus is my righteousness,
• the belt of truth - Jesus is the truth,
• the shoes of preparedness to preach the gospel - the good news about Jesus,
• the shield of faith - faith that Jesus will keep His word, according to the great and mighty promises recorded in the Bible,
• and the sword of the spirit - the Bible, the Word of God and revelation of Jesus.

We are only given two tasks, (everything else is the how):
       1.  to proclaim God's goodness to us.
       2.  to stand firm, to resist and overcome temptation.

So with our feet planted firmly on the rock, our sure foundation we declare the wonders of God's mercy, forgiveness, love and redemptive, transformative powers. And when the winds come and the water rises and temptation tries to sweep us away we stand firm in the knowledge that God will not allow is to be snatched from His hand (John 10:28,29), that He will use His rod and His staff (Ps 23:4) to keep us in His way. (John 14:6)

The Devil Flees ...

James 4:7-8a (KJV) Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.

I have always thought that the reason the devil flees in this passage is because as we submit and draw closer to God and God draws closer to us, that the devil flees from the presence of God, that he can’t bear to be where God is.

Recently however I have been thinking about stories where God/Jesus and the devil were in the same place and the devil did not flee. E.g in the wilderness where the devil tempted Jesus for 40 days, on the cross where the devil crucified Jesus, when Moses was resurrected the devil stayed and argued over the body, the devil is shown in heaven with God in the first few chapters of Job.

So questions:

1. Is it possible for the devil and God to both be actively working in someone’s life at the same time?
2. Why does the devil flee when we resist him?

 Answers must be supported by scripture!!!!!

Clothes and Other Girly Stuff

Note: This post has been a couple of days in the growing, please put any inconsistencies down to that.

I've been meaning to put these up for a while - pictures of the skirts I made to come to AFCOE and of the tops I bought. So today instead of reading and summarising a chapter from the book Evangelism, I took pics of the aforementioned clothes - which side tracked me into trying on everything in my wardrobe .... So after that venture which was rather fun and enlightening (I really should get rid of a few things but I'm enjoying the bagginess...) I finally got back to finish this blog entry!

Some of you may remember my anguished cries of "but, I haven't worn a skirt in ten years!" when I was accepted to AFCOE and realised it would mean some major wardrobe changes. This necessitated a couple of shopping trips with Heather, (thanks :-D) and after trying on about a million skirts I came to the conclusion that I must be differently shaped than most american women - more bum, less waist! The only things that came close to fitting looked decidedly matronly. So it was decided (by me) that I was going to make some skirts. Now I must say that I did honestly consider colours - truly! Only I pragmatically determined that black goes with all the tops I have (since all my pants are black too) and so I would make three black skirts.

Here they are:

1. This little number is very plain; long, black, kind of boring but very comfortable. Has the redeeming feature of a kick-pleat at the back.

The kick-pleat.

2. This skirt is not at all boring. Technically I think the material was supposed to be used for cushion covers. A light taffata type fabric that has lots of little beads sewn in a geometric arrangement giving it the puckered look. Very uncomfortable if sitting on a hard surface, so I try to know what I will be doing for the day before I wear it. So far it has been reserved for Sabbath - the pews at church have cushions.

Has been sewn to be reversible and I left the edges of the seam bare so that they will fray (I did stay stitch about a cm in from the edge so the seam is not in danger.) Also left the hem as the salvage because I like the look it gives.

One side of the fabric - notice all the little balls? Those are the beads that have been wrapped in the fabric and then sewn around to make the puckered effect. (Not by me.) They are quite hard.

The other side of the fabric has a nice soft puckered effect.

3. This skirt has not been worn much yet - it is rather warm to wear. Probably because it is technically from the drapery section of the fabric shop - but I loved the pattern woven into it. I made this one also as a simple straight skirt, instead of hemming it (too bulky to fold) I sewed a ribbon around the raw edge at the bottom which gives a lovely effect. and also put a small split on the right hand side. Just so it was a bit different in style from the other two.

The pattern ...

 with a side split and a ribbon for a hem ...

This is the first top I bought ... I like Blue!

The second top, it has a curious pleated texture which falls very nicely when it is worn - doesn't look so good on the hanger.

This top they gave us when we arrived at AFCOE - it is a lovely royal blue colour which doesn't show well in the picture, and that is its only redeeming feature. I've worn it twice and have decided that the only way it will be worn again is if I have nothing else left clean in my wardrobe!!













Other girly stuff ....

I brought some more hair dye yesterday to cover the large amount of whites that are beginning to appear.... Here is the box - so Mum can see the pic and be assured I'm not going too dark - yes I know you like me blonde ... but I like me brunette! Plus I HATE re-growth and this is close enough to my real colour that I don't get a line as it grows out - well except for the whites ...










What else ... Shoes...

I faced up to one of my fears and went shoe shopping. Brought two pairs after visiting about 10 shoe shops (Did I mention I HATE shoe shopping?) One in a nice pair of court style shoes with a heel - Yes I said heel, about an inch high - don't all die of shock ... lol. And then it suddenly struck me that since I'm not teaching chemistry any more and there is no risk of spilling corrosives on my feet, I can get shoes that don't reach to the ankles, so I got a cute pair of Mary-Janes. Only problem with that is now I have tan lines on my feet ... no I will NOT post pics!

Shopping in California ...

Got to a shopping mall last week - wandered around and didn't buy anything except lunch - Thai, the noodles were sweet! Disgusting!!! Who makes Thai with sweet noodles?? Americans apparently...

Anyway I did get trapped by one of those secret mineral cleanser people - I thought I had successfully avoided making eye contact as I hurried past only to discover that they are now working in teams, one distracts you into not looking in their direction while another one plants their-self directly in front of you, then you have to either walk over the top of them or stop, or if you have the dexterity of a ballerina you might still manage to get away - I don't. Before I could stutter "I'm not interested" in a commanding/surprised tone she had wiped out a pot of something and was rubbing it into my arm, telling me that the crud appearing was my dead skin cells, trying the scare tactics. I waited till she had finished cleaning my arm then announced in my best teacher voice that "I won't be buying anything, thank you" and made my escape with one arm now crud free and the other still cruddy, bearing testimony to the products effectiveness. I would just like to say that it is a big con because within about an hour both arms looked and felt exactly the same again!

This shopping mall was almost completely inhabited by clothes shops, shoe shops, and random junk gift shops. There was one chocolate shop which I virtuously avoided! Not a single actually interesting shop - no bookshops, craft shops or science toy shops, couldn't find anywhere to get a manicure either - not that I was planning to, just was surprised that there were none. Even hair dressers were in short supply. I did however find a Pumpkin Patch! (For my American friends - if your still friends after my prior noodle comment... Pumpkin Patch is a children's clothes brand from NZ, which I spent a lot of money in a few years ago when my lovely niece and nephew were a little younger.)

I think that is all the girly stuff I have to tell ... except, I did discover cherry flavoured prunes, I don't like them.

The Holy Wild

A few years ago I remember sitting in my safe lazyboy rocker in my safe lounge room, surrounded by the products of my safe job, reading the book 'Your God Is Too Safe' by Mark Buchanan, it covers the idea that most Christians live safe lives in 'Borderland' following a safe God that we have remade in our own image, a God who makes few demands on us and who offers little in return. But, if we are willing to step out into the 'Holy Wild', to put ourselves into the hands of the Living God, who is not safe but is good, we will have great demands placed on us, and we will receive great blessings. (Click here for a more thorough review.)

I remember wishing I had the courage to make that step out of Borderland and into the Holy Wild. I think I even prayed about it. Then I continued with my safe little life.

At the end of last year when I was struggling to decide what to do with 2010, after my year of running away from real life, I had the sense that I was choosing between returning to my safe life or stepping into the Holy Wild. I could go back to my teaching job, buy a house, settle into a mortgage and do lots of good helping students and work for God in a predictable safe way. Or, I could resign, cast my life into God's hand and step into the Holy Wild. I don't think either decision would have been wrong, they just represented widely branching paths my life could take. I did not have peace with either option and eventually was able to take another years leave - which was a miracle in itself, and I needed the letter from the school confirming that I was on leave to get my visa to come to the US. So essentially I postponed the decision.

My first Sabbath in the US (I've told that story before) the speaker who impacted me so much used the illustration of being on a tandem bike with Jesus in the front and you behind, and He says 'just peddle' and your off. Through all sorts of scary places and you can't see where your going because Jesus's back is in front of you filling your view, but you trust Him, so you peddle. To me this sounds just like the idea of the Holy Wild. (In fact it might even have been used in the book, but its been a few years since I read it and I don't remember.)

After I got my acceptance to AFCOE I had many moments of doubt, God definitely seemed to be leading and was filling all the small needs on my list, but there were a couple of major ones He didn't seem to be touching. I started to think about going back to teaching in 2011 and making lots of money and I spent a few days participating in some wishful thinking. One day I was reading from my daily devotional book and the verse was "And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." Luke 9:62. I was totally looking back and even considering turning back. So that night I emailed my principal in NZ and said that I did not think that I would be back to teach next year but that I could not resign officially because of my immigration issues.  Then I wrote my resignation letter and saved it to my desktop.

Yesterday I realised that since my immigration issues are settled there was no reason for me to not send in my official resignation anymore. And the letter I had written was sitting on my desktop starring at me. Then the day started and I put it out of my mind. Last night I got an email from my principal, asking 'did I know yet what I was intending to do next year?' and including a form I had to fill in for the MOE (Ministry of Education - government department in NZ.)

So, I took my courage in hand and I wrote an email of reply and attached my official resignation letter and clicked send. And the internet connection didn't work. I had to go up to the lawn in front of the cafeteria to get a working connection - felt vaguely anticlimactic!

My resignation has been sent so now I am officially in the Holy Wild. Feeling a little scared but I know God will take care of me based on the sooooo obvious way he has led me in the past. However I hope He shows me soon what I'm going to do next year.