RESTORATION

There is no one alive who hasn't suffered Hurt, Pain, Humiliation and
Frustration.  
I don't know why I am writing about this today? Or maybe I do...
Yesterday I had the wonderful privilege of being visited by three special ladies.
First came my daughter Daniella, bouncing into the house with her usual vibrant self, coming to share with mum.

 Then I received a phone call from Lynn, 'would I like a visit?' She came bearing a meal and prayers.
Finally Dawn, another sweet lady came.... another two meals, and much sharing.

I can look back over the years and remember times of need when no one came.
When I felt alone and deserted.

As people read what I am writing, many could never imagine, what my past has been, or what I have come through... Much I have blanked out because of the pain.

We all have a story to tell. 
All of us walk through life hopefully learning lessons and gaining wisdom.
Becoming Better and not Bitter.
Wisdom only comes by realisation and understanding. 

Many feel in times of desolation that God is punishing, or that He is not there, He simply doesn't exist.
Yet if God did not allow us to have a free will of discovery we would never experience the trails we do..
We would never learn to pray or come before him..

"For when we are weak, He is strong."  2 Corinthians 12 :10.

We would never understand the joy of having restored, all the devil has taken from us.


"And I will restore to you, the years the locust hath eaten."
Joel 2:25

  Granddaughter Shiarn (Daniella's) running free with her chooks.


                                                       

Who Am I ?

Do you ever wonder this?
Have you ever felt lost and think, what does my life mean?
If you knew the story of your life in advance, would you
 rush ahead or give up before you began?

Think about this, just for a moment.....

"For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord,
Plans to prosper,
Not to harm you,
Plans to give you a hope and a future. "
Jeremiah 29:11

Now that's encouraging...
And yet, you may say while reading this, I can't see the light at the end of the tunnel.... its all just too hard..

Me at 3.

We were not a rich family, my father returned from the war, shell shocked.  I was born the second youngest of five children. My father became incapacitated when I was eight, my grandfather died not long after....
My mother went to work, and we learned from a young age, that life was tough.  The best part of all our hardships was belonging to a church family. The old tin Lizzie, driven by our minister, came regularly to pick up my younger brother and I each week for Sunday School.... 
What a joy that was. Riding down those dusty country roads singing chorus's at the top of our lungs, and learning the accepting love of Jesus Christ. 
I met and married my first husband when I was very young.
My mother was against it. We were unevenly yoken, she said...
And through much hurt and pain, I learnt she was right.

Pictured with my first child, daughter Femia.

When you are young you think you know it all.

I was no different.

I married into a different culture and to a man who I loved dearly, yet one who denied the Lord.

When I walked away over thirty years later, I was a broken mess.

Yet today in wisdom, I thank the Lord.

I know if my marriage had been different God would never have come first.

And in time, I was to come to realise how...

"He turned my mourning into dancing,

and my sorrow into joy."  Psalm 30:11

My younger daughter Daniella, with five of my grandchildren when small.

From left, Antonio, Luke, Kirra, Elyshah and Joel. 

 Today, Joel, Luke and Elyshah at Nanna's.

Because of what I have come through, and what I have come from,

I know first hand that God's promise above is true.

Today all of my children have a faith in God, and all of my grandchildren have grown up in Him.

My eldest granddaughter has married a Christian man.

They are both at Uni studying teaching and plan to be Missionaries.

My youngest granddaughter Shiarn.

My youngest grandson Izaiah with cousin Shiarn.

Their road to travel has just begun.

There will be good times and not so good. 

But if they acknowledge the Lord in all they do, the blessings will flow.

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart,

And lean not on thine own understanding.

But in all thy ways acknowledge me.

And I will make straight, thy paths."

Proverbs 3: 5-6

                                                 SO TRUE !!!








 

Sepia Family

I am the baby in my mothers arms and this photo was taken after the war in the late 1940's.

At this time we lived in a housing commission (government) home in Canley Vale NSW.

My father was a return soldier from the second world war and it had taken a toll, something he never got over. He'd served in the Middle East and on the Kokoda Trial in Papua New Guinea. He never lost his English accent and I can still hear the way he asked if a "pot o tea" was ready. He'd laugh and say, everything good in life was Buckshee (free).  

When I was five the family purchased and moved to a small acreage at Horsley Park.

My father built on to the four roomed house adding two extra rooms.

My mother cooked on a fuel stove which also served to heat the home (poorly).

Me.

Mum sewed all our clothes on her treadle sewing machine.

That's another good memory.

It hummed along and she sang...Toora Loora loora...or some other song.

She was always singing in those years. Later she played the church organ until her finger became too stiff. Now it's the harmonica.

Mum is 92yrs old now.

Pictured here with my granddaughter Shiarn.

Luke 12:22

Then Jesus said to his disciples:
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear.
Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes.
Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them."

Yes we made it! and the best heritage my mother imparted was a love and desire to follow Jesus,

Children are of the Lord. 'Sepia Saturday.'

I know this photo isn't as old as most posted on here, but it is the original colour.

This is my daughter Daniella at age 9 months.

She looks apprehensive, not sure what was going on.

 

This is her again, grown-up and married with  to little boys of her own.

                                                                              

And an old fashioned look of these two same little boys taken by my elder photographer daughter.

                                                                    

Elyshah Liam is on the left and Antonio Elijah on the right.

Both boys are almost six feet tall today and tower over their mother.

Antonio, Daniella and Elyshah.

I am a proud mother and grandmother.

(just wish the boys wouldn't straighten their hair)

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.  Proberbs 3:5-6



                                  

HAPPINESS IS: Receiving The Happiness Award......

   

Oh My Oh My !!!
What a Blessing...

Dearest Sister Ann Marie has bestowed 'The Happiness Award' on me.
Please visit this dear Sister at http://franciscanlife.blogspot.com/

This is wonderful encouragement, to laugh at life and see the bright side of everything.

A friend of mine passed away recently from cancer.
Her name was Carole.
I went to visit her husband Michael yesterday to see how he was coping.
At first the talk was serious.     
Then he opened up and told me about his 6 year old grandson sitting beside him at the funeral.
The discussion there went something like this..
"Is Grandma in the box?"
"Yes, Sammy, she's in the box."
"What's she doing in there?"
"She's resting.  God let her come down from Heaven to look at everything."
"Can she see us Grandpa?"
"She sure can, she's looking at us through her photo on top of the box."
"Is she happy Grandpa?"
"Yes Sammy, see how she is smiling, she is very happy...
When all the singing is over, she will go back to Heaven."
We rejoiced together at how he was able to convey God's love to his little grandson.

Carole had chosen all the Hymn's and songs to be sung at the funeral and again at the crematorium.
Her last choice was, "Always Look On The Bright Side of Life!"

I can almost see Carole smiling as I write this.
So, in memory of a true Lady, who even at the end wanted others to be happy..
I pass on the Happiness Award.

I had to choose 5 sunny people for this.
It is to go to Bloggers who truly have 'Happiness' in their heart and pass it around to share with others.
As per the example of my friend Carole, they always look on the brighter side of life.

The choice was not an easy one.
As...you are all winners in my eyes!!

1.  http://livinitupinky.blogspot.com/
2.  http://kleiindehandvandepottenbakker.blogspot.com/
3.  http://therantingsofachristianhousewife.blogspot.com/
4.  http://cassandra89.blogspot.com/
5.  http://chattycrone.com/

LETS KEEP ON MAKING THE WORLD, A HAPPIER PLACE.

Beautiful Carole, a true Proverbs:31,  Woman.

Can You Pass The Love Test?

A LOVE LAB?

In 1986, Dr. John Gottman joined the University of Washington Department of Psychology and started the Family Research Laboratory


This received funding from the National Institute of Mental Health throughout it’s operation. The physiology laboratory, often referred to as the “Love Lab,” was where couples were screened, interviewed, and observed.


The Lab used video, heart rate monitors, and measures of pulse amplitude, jitteriness and skin conductivity. This information was coded using the Specific Affect Coding System (SPAFF) and techniques of math modelling to assess relationships and predict their pathways. The Lab combined a video data bank of hundreds of couples interacting at different time points in their relationship.

The data surveyed could evaluate whether or not couples had the love combination to sucessfully remain in a relationship together.

WATCH THE VIDEO BELOW TO UNDERSTAND THIS FURTHER.