No Compromise

There arent too many things in life that get me really really really frustrated. BUT this is one of them. This bumper sticker i have seen heaps and heaps around lately on people's cars. i have also been seeing things in my life, like chinese 'good luck' stuff, fortune cookies, astrology etc etc. this stuff is a 'normal' part of everyday life. i think what frustrates me the most is that this stuff is not from God. magic doesnt happen, astrology is a bunch of rubbish where someone decided they could put everyone in this world into 12 different categories and tell them how their life is going to be that month. luck is for pagans! (TWC people will get that one!). so why do i see so many Christians around thriving on stuff like horoscopes and fortune cookies? hasnt God called us to live a life of no compromise. when we compromise the little things, its only a matter of time before we start compromising the big stuff. and why do we put ourselves in this spot? i dont know. my mum, whom i love dearly is often a bit 'oh ok, whatever. everyone is different and we have to respect what they believe". i have a level of respect for everyone on this planet, but i dont believe that respect means that we go along with what they believe or we accept what they believe!!! One thing i have learnt is you can respect someone, without respecting their lifestyle and their choices.

I remember reading recently in John about Jesus overturning the tables in the temple because people had turned the place of worship into something that it shouldnt have been. I want to be more like Jesus. i want to speak up against the stuff that i dont believe in. I dont want to offend people but a Christian life always comes with having to offend people every now and then. I want to be that person that isnt afraid to speak up!!!!!!!

I know this stuff that i have mentioned seems a bit trivial, but it is whats on my heart now.... sorry i havent blogged in awhile. i dont really have any motivation to blog, cuz i dont know whether ppl actually read it.

Birthday

So this time last week i was celebrating my 20th birthday. it was an ok day, but it was cool to ponder my life for the last 20 yrs.... i have been through so many years of just wishing i was someone else and thinking i am not very important in this world. God has been changing this perception for the last 1.5 yrs. My parents a few years ago told me that my mum had an IUD in, which is to stop u from getting pregnant but its that horrible one where if u r pregnant, when they take it out, u r supposed to miscarry if u did get pregnant. But God must have really wanted me on this earth cuz here i am!!!

But the cool thing is, is that i heard more of the story last Friday. Apparently while mum was pregnant (she didnt know she was til like 20 weeks!!!!), she had 2 bone grafts done. they took one of her ribs out and put it in her cheek cuz she had a bad accident a couple yrs prior to that. but then it got highly infected, so they had to take another rib out and do another one. so while she was pregnant with me, she had x-rays (which can kill the unborn baby), had 2 operations and was on heavy pain killers.... but i was a fighter from the start. God created me this way. i survived, i was completely fine, even after all that.

When i was 2, i was riding my tricycle through the house on the 2nd storey and i rode out onto the verandah and i fell off my bike and fell 2 storeys into our backyard. i landed in this ditch my dad happened to dig a couple days prior and there was concrete on one side of the ditch and grass on the other. nothing wrong with me!

its amazing to see how God wanted me soooo much on this earth and he stopped at nothing for it to happen. Satan came to rob me of life before i really had a chance at life... BUT IT DIDNT HAPPEN. makes me wonder what God has planned for me in the next 60 yrs of my life!!! exciting stuff!!!

Giving

In my devotions for the past couple weeks, i have been reading Corinthians. The leadership team for our new night service are reading it together. a chapter a day. Its been really good to read. This week we have been Reading 2 Corinthians 8-15. I have been really challenged this week with giving. it has come up numerous times in the readings this week and its been pretty convicting.

2 Corinthians 8:7,8: Since you excel in so many ways—in your faith, your gifted speakers, your knowledge, your enthusiasm, and your love from us[c]—I want you to excel also in this gracious act of giving.
I am not commanding you to do this. But I am testing how genuine your love is by comparing it with the eagerness of the other churches.

2 Corinthians 9:6-10: Remember this—a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop. You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.” And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others. As the Scriptures say,
“They share freely and give generously to the poor.
Their good deeds will be remembered forever.”
For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you.


Since being back in Australia i have been struggling with giving. I have been giving weekly in church, but i have found it a struggle to give and i dont give as much as i could. I think what the problem is, is that i feel that since i have lived in the slums for a year and lived with no money, its like God owes me something. and its a bit of selfishness. its my money, so i am not gonna give it back to God. i have had a whole year with no money. this theory is wrong and God was convicting me of this.

So I just hope and pray that as the church we will be the generous givers we are called to be.

Netball

Never in my 10 yrs of playing netball have i almost gotten into a fight on the court!!! it was intense!!!

it was the 2nd quarter of our game which just happened to be the last that night as we were playing half a game against 1 team and half a game against another. i was GS and the GK was my player. now for all my Canadian/ American friends, netball is NON contact. u cant lean on or push your players.

this GK was leaning on me, so i gave her a bit of a nudge. she nudged me back which is all fine, cuz it happens... sometimes u get a little pushy with your player. but while i was taking a shot where she had to stand next to me out of play for doing the wrong thing, she nudged me. enough so the umpire wouldnt see and enough to try to make me miss the shot. now that is low. i turned around and said "now that is just bad sportsmanship" and do you know what she did. she pushed me and said "well i am sick of your **** (thats a swear word)" it would have been a fight but i just ignored it and ignored her.

afterwards we went to talk to the umpires about it and this umpire who i know and who doesnt like me turns and says " if you were down my end of the court Lisa i would have given u a warning for swearing." i said "excuse me, i dont swear"

she said " i heard it come from your mouth" and i said "well i dont swear" she didnt believe me.

the almost fight was bad, but she took a blow to my character. that is a massive one. for those who know me, i cant stand swearing nor do i think its right to swear. i have integrity when it comes to that, so it was a massive blow! it sucked so much. i have learnt that assumptions arent always right.... in fact, they are rarely right, so you shouldnt assume at all. word of advice for people DONT ASSUME!!!!!!

needless to say, it was an interesting night of netball!!!!

LIFE.....

IS BUSY AND I AM TIRED.... WAY TOO TIRED TO BE OF MUCH USE TO PEOPLE RIGHT NOW.... THAT IS MY LIFE. OH AND I REALLY MISS MY CANADA FRIENDS. ESPECIALLY DENISE AND BECKY....

THAT IS ALL.

Words and people pleasing

So work has been super busy recently for me. me and my dad have been out fitting houses every day (we put on security doors and fly screens and vertical blinds onto new houses). my job is to take care of the fly screens and the vertical blinds... its really not that much and i am always sitting around waiting for dad. so i took it upon me to learn how to do the sliding security doors. and i did that, so now i can help my dad do them. i also took it upon me to learn how to do the venetian blinds. and i did that too. so all i cant do now is the hinged security doors. it gives my dad less work and me more. which is good. yesterday we were at Bremer Waters, a place where we fit... its like a retirement village. and one of the old guys said to me and my dad how i should just supervise and make him do all the work... and my dad said "oh she does that all the time"... i am thinking what the heck... i just learnt this stuff, help him out and he comes back and says that. it hurt, i aint gonna lie. i was so frustrated cuz its like he didnt even acknowledge what i do.

but then i remembered Galatians 1:10- Obviously, I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant.

so i prayed over and over again that i wouldnt be affected by what my dad said and realise that God sees my work and thats what matters. and God affirmed me in that. and we dont need 2 people pleasers working together. yesterday when my dad said, he was trying to look good and impress the guy we were talking to. and he did, by putting me down. so i am not gonna get upset and try to please my dad, cuz that wont happen... well he wont admit when it does cuz then he wont be pleasing others by doing that.

so the moral of the story is.... words are powerful, they can bring people up or bring people down. BUT even when people do bring u down, remember that u r out to please God and not people. so today really think about what you are saying and whether they are words of life or words of death!

Missing Canada

Ok so the past couple of weeks i have been thinking alot about my friends in Canada and missing them heaps. My friends in Canada know me soo well.... even better than most people here and they have seen me at my worst and at my best. That is what makes quality friends in my eyes. People who have a great love for me even when i am at my worst. So i have been missing them heaps. missing the hugs, the laughs, and just the time we always got to spend in each others presence. not just my session, but my 614 community, my New West community, my Cariboo community etc. so to all my friends, i cant wait to come over and see u... i love you all soooooooo much. big hugs!!!!

One other thing i have been missing about Canada is the war college in general. now i dont think i would ever go through war college again, it was super intense, but i miss the God times. My life has really picked up in Australia now and i am super busy. not as busy as i was in Canada, but i am pretty busy. the difference between my busyness in Canada and my busyness here is how much time i spend with God. in Canada, we were constantly chucked into classes to be with God, in the War Room to be with God, in situations on the street to pray to God. here in Aust, i dont get that opportunity. i have to make time and its hard. so i am really struggling with that.


On another topic, i went to my 1st funeral last week. it was a beautiful service to say goodbye to an amazing man of God from our church. Made me think of my friend Denneil and how it sucked that i didnt get to her funeral. i really miss her. God also spoke to me about life. life is short and if you arent a Christian, then you arent going to heaven. its a scary reality and it makes me realise we need to shine the light of God as if our life depended on it. cuz someone else's life depends on it.

And i am not at a stage where i am ok with death. i wanna live and achieve so much more, but i need to have more trust in God that when its my time, its my time. its not something i can control, so i just need to trust God more.