Standing on the promises of Christ my saviour.

A drought is upon her waters, and they shall be dried up: for it is a land of graven images, and they are mad upon idols. Jeremiah 50:38

We have rain ~ steady, drizzling, mizzling rain; the sort of rain that soaks into the thirsty ground & washes the world bright & clean. I have been checking the rain gauge. Over 3" now & it is such a blessing. It is so needed. My big gums, the saplings that rejuvenated after we built our house & have watched grow into big sturdy trees, have been drought stressed for months & I have lost some of my smaller water dependant shrubs.

This is the first year my Illawarra Flame Tree has flowered. It drops all its leaves before producing a spectacular show of red flower which is a little hard to see in the smaller pic but one click & you should get a better idea.

As I listen to the steady drip of rain I am reminded that the world will never be destroyed by flood again as it was in Noah's time. Next time it will be by fire. That is a terrifying image. Then my flibberty~gibbert mind wanders onto all that lies unseen in the spiritual realms & the raging war that can sometimes be felt but is very rarely seen & I wonder what victory has been claimed that we have rain because I have lived here a long time & I know certain spiritual truths about my beloved islands.

I know that like many isolated communities it has attracted its fair share of misfits, rebels & downright weirdos as well as those of us who seek a simpler, less fraught, Godlier lifestyle far from the consumer driven society of the mainland. Small island. Smaller community. There are Pagans & witches amongst us, astral travellers invading where they have no business to be, those who are merely ignorant of spiritual things & those who scoff but the warfare can be felt & sometimes at its peak we wonder what on earth is going on because we come under attack from every direction imaginable.

Hey, I'm a Quaker. My desire is to walk cheerfully over the earth seeing that of God in everyone but ~ sometimes I have to question what god they are serving. Warfare is so not my thing but having done what I can I cling to Ephesians ~ Having Done All, Stand! Ephesians 6:13-15

Stand. No, I'm not good at evangalizing, taking the attack to the enemy. I don't see the point of debate because simply, I am right, you are wrong. God is God & nothing anyone can say will change that by one wit or iota. Serving? If I must, but seriously, my kids eat here only because they have no choice. I am not the Martha sort & though I manage the practacalities of running a large household we are always barely a step away from disaster. Give me the knotty problems, ask the unanswerable questions, ponder the imponderables & I am right there because that's what I'm good at. I can research & build an arguement that rests solidly on fact. I can spot a flaw in an arguement. I am empathetic to the hurt & suffering in other peoples lives & my children all assure me they get the stubborn streak in their natures from me. These are my strengths & when all else fails the very least I can do is stand.

I know that my redeemer lives. I know His sheep hear His voice. I know that He has overcome the world. However it looks, however it seems, He has overcome the world. I know He will come again in glory. He makes it to rain on the just & the unjust, the believer & the scoffer & for that I am grateful. These are the firm truths I can stand on, nothing me dismayed. I don't think I need to shout it from the rooftops. Not everyone is going to like me. Not everyone is going to agree with me. Not every Christian I come across is going to see things my way but that's ok. All I have to do is stand. By God's grace that is more than enough.