About me?

 I received this award from Rhonda, another dear sweet Blogger.
Thank you dear heart... 
 http://joybug56-denimlace.blogspot.com/

There's not much to tell about me...
I was born three days before Christmas, so my mother named me Crystal.
She thought it went well with our surname of White... and she still thinks this.
Have to love her...she meant well. 
How I was teased at school and how I hated the full name.
I got, Snow White (my hair was blond), White wash, and Mary had a little lamb. 
My second name of Mary was after an aunt and second aunt.

For the rest..... my testimony is:

"It's no longer I that liveth, but Christ that liveth in me."

 

Always: Forgive and Love others.

                                                                      It heals you as much as them.

Old Man Emu

 Every time I look at my photo of Ray and our little dog Monty with the Emu I have to laugh.

 We were staying in an outback Caravan Park where an emu roamed.
I thought it belonged to the owners, so told Ray we needed to keep an eye out that Monty didn't take after it.
Ray isn't used to the antics of emu's and let Monty off his lead.
Immediately our little dog took off, chasing the big bird.
Around a shed they raced, out of sight while Ray and I watched, horrified that we'd be asked to leave the park.
Next thing Monty comes running for his life, with the tables turned....
The emu was chasing him at full speed.
Monty ran behind a stunned Ray and myself, diving under the caravan for cover..
Gosh we laughed!!


I went off to apologise to the Park owners.
"Oh, he doesn't belong to us," they reassured.
"And don't feed the thing or he'll be knocking on your door day and night."
Well, it was too late. Ray had already fed it and now we knew who'd been waking us up!


Poor Monty, he kept well away from that big eyed emu in future...
There is was no way, he could out run one of them!

Australian school phone answering machine message

Hi, I shared this with you a few weeks ago, but something went wrong, and the message failed.
I hope you all get to hear it this time.
What a crack-up.....
This High School is here on the Sunshine Coast of Queensland.
I don't know if it was real, it may have been? And good on them if it was.
Australians don't beat around the bush, they say it for what it is.
Hope you have a good laugh.

The Flame Tree

 This tree is called the Illawarra flame tree, or flame kurrajong.
It is a member of the Jacaranda family. 

And a native to the forests of eastern Australia, it grows to about 15 metres (45 feet) tall.

At present  trees are blooming all over our town.

Some are saplings while others  flower on only part of the tree.

The one in this photo sits on council land at the side of the cemetery on the way to Ray's golf club.

I have never seen one as happy or healthy....

The first of December heralded summer in Australia.
And  with the trees flowering everywhere I am beginning to feel a hot bush Christmas in the air.


Last year was a solemn time for all due to the floods.
This year it seems will be very different.

Only..

My son Peter will be working away, hundreds of miles from home.   
He is a coach captain to the mines in far North Queensland. 
The rest of us we will be thinking and praying for Peter not to be by himself on Christmas Day. 

The holidays are a joy for many,  yet a sad time for the lonely....

"Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, 

for such sacrifices are pleasing to God."

Hebrews 13:16

Finishing this blog

Thank you to all who have followed and enjoyed this blog but my health is too poor now to be able to maintain it. My main blogs such as

http://goldenagepaintings.blogspot.com/

will continue but I must cut back on what I can do - though I still love sharing some lovely images.

Oliver Knott presents aquatic plants for Malawi and Tanganjika

Self Confidence

 

Self confidence all comes from the thoughts in our mind.

I am sure all who read my Blog and my comments on theirs, will think I am a very self confident person.

Well, this may surprise you, because I am not!

It's taken me years to build up confidence.

And still I have times of terrible self destruction in my mind.

WORDS...

Our Words to our self..

And the Words of others to us!

Can do much to destroy our self esteem and confidence.

In my first marriage (over thirty years) I was constantly told I was stupid.

So much so, that I believed it.

  and I sometimes still tell myself this, often aloud!!

Then I have to remind myself, WHO I am in Christ.

And that God loves me,  just as I am.

In His Word.....and His Word is truth, 

He tells me He lovingly formed me.

“And yet, O Lord, you are our Father. 

We are the clay, and you are the potter. 

We all are formed by your hand.” (Isaiah 64:8)

I was formed by God's hand, now that can make me feel better!

By this I know, I am not so bad after all. 

Sometimes our thoughts are completely wrong.

Our mind can run away, thinking something that is not true.

When this happens I/you/we, need to ask ourselves.

"Where is the evidence to what I am thinking?"

An Example:

A friend doesn't call you, so YOU THINK they don't care.

*When the truth is, they have problems of their own and they are waiting for you to call them.

You attend a new church and not many, or no one, come to greet you.

So you feel unworthy, unwanted.... and walk away, despondant, never to return.

*INSTEAD, you could walk forward and introduce yourself to those around you. 

Proverbs 23:7 says..

"As a man thinketh in his heart, so he is."

We think with our feelings, and our emotions. So that's where the devil attacks.

In our most vulnerable place. 

He wants us to feel unwanted and unloved.

He wants to reduce our self image, and esteem.

He wants to take away our confidence, that we are beloved of God.

"For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood,

but against principalities, 

against powers, 

against the rulers of the darkness of this age,  

against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places."

Ephesians 6:12 

When I get down in spirit and my thoughts are misconstrued. 

I speak scripture aloud because I know it is the Sword of the Word..

I know that if I resist the devil, he will flee from me.

"For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God 

for pulling down strongholds.

2 Corinthians 10:4

Because...

"I have been crucified with Christ; 

it is no longer I who live, 

but Christ lives in me; 

and the life which I now live in the flesh 

I live by faith in the Son of God, 

who loved me and gave Himself for me."

Galatians 2:20

AMEN

Refresh your soul.....God loves me/you/us.