I love blogger but it has issues.  It does not want to send me my emails.  It does not want to notify me when your blogs are updated.  It spits comments & now...NOW it will not let me post pictures. Consequentially [yes, blogger there are consequences to your actions *sigh*] I have shifted house.  Yet again.  Sadly I could not keep my old user name but it is still the same old Ganeida.  So if you would all kindly update your links.....Gratias. Here is the new one.

Summer salad.

With the advent of summer we are eating more salads.  Doesn't everyone?  Only having grown tired of the regular offerings I went on~line looking for something both tasty & filling.  This ginger~soy rice salad is exceptionally yummy.

How it's going.

Both the Hebrew (Nebrah), and Greek (Proph) used for prophetess means (female preacher). (Young's Concordance, Pg. 780.)



Several years ago I was chatting with the Lord, as you do, & the Lord gave me this scripture:

The word of the Lord came to me, saying,

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,

before you were born I set you apart;

I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

Sad to say my initial reaction wasn't even:

“Ah, Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to ...

Instead I laughed.

I live on a tiny island: 17k long X 3 wide at its widest point, population under 3 000.  Seriously, Lord?

When I realised the Lord was serious about this I went into denial.  And the Lord just kept thrusting this scripture at me until I reluctantly accepted that it was so.

I quietly flipped.  I knew nothing about New Testament prophets.  I did not, never had, belonged to a church that had a 5~fold ministry.  What I read was not particularly helpful but when the Lord calls He also euips & so I found myself at Rhema Bible School.  This was still not particularly helpful ~ at least as regards the prophetic.  It was however helpful in grounding me in dealing with the charismatic.  I know it's weird but seriously people this whole house was operating in the charismatic gifts & totally clueless.  Absolutely no idea.  How could we?  We did not belong to churches that taught on this.

When I asked the Lord [as you do ☺] why I was in Rhema His unequivocal answer was *Preaching & Teaching*.  Ok. *sigh*  I pottered along, just trying to be obedient, struggling with the extroverted elements of the charismatic that made me cringe & the Lord waited patiently.  Firstly He showed me how the use of Tongues could help me centre more quickly allowing me to hear from Him more accurately ~ & yes, I know some of you don't go there.  All I can say is the proof's in the pudding & it works.  Then I got teaching on the anointing which helped me understand what was happening when I preached & how to flow with God's Spirit much, much better.  Then the Lord showd me how the Prophetic works for me in preaching & teaching because I always ask, always have, what the Lord wants me to say to His people.  And the change the Lord had me institute was to have my outline, have my scripture then leave Him room to flow through me so that in essence I was shining a light on the path the Lord would have His people walk. Whew! 

And I have found myself in a most amazing place.  I have a deeper awareness of God's Spirit within.  My love for my Lord & Saviour just keeps growing until there are moments when I feel like I am about to explode from not being able to contain it!  I am preaching with much more confidence, & authority.  Far less of me, far more of God.

And having gone to great pains to get me into school & headed where He wants me headed, the Lord also opened up preaching opportunities.  I have been getting 1~2 a month, some short, some full length.  Getting my research done while studying, travelling & evangelizing has not always been easy but being able to move more freely in the Spirit has really helped here too.  And the little church where I am ministering is starting to grow ~ enough that the Lord is speaking to me about the church preparing to deal with an influx.  You read here.  You've heard me blather on often enough  on this subject & I know it's the Lord's heart also.  It's one thing to get bums on seats.  It's another & different thing to get people saved but it is a whole 'nother ball game to grow believers to maturity ~ & that takes the whole church!  Working together. *sigh* 

It's not that I don't like people.  Truly it's not.  But I'm a Big Picture thinker.  Visionary.  I get frustrated when the people start lagging behind God's vision & I know I have to be patient.  So very patient.  Like God is with me. Yep.  Just like that.



Summer in the garden.

One benefit of summer was that each day we had more light to read by. ~Jeannette Walls

Peaches.

Nectarines.

Promegranate flowers; the promise of things to come.

FINALLY...!!!

This is one performance that just goes on & on but Queensland peeps, if you are interested, this show finally goes to air on the ABC this year. 

 CURSE OF THE GOTHIC SYMPHONY Sunday 30 December @ 10.15pm
Randall Wood/ Australia/ 2012/ 82 mins

Other states I'm not sure about & if you're overseas, sorrow & all that.  ☺

A Variety of Wildlife.

You know you're less than urban when this amount of wildlife lands on your doorstep in a matter of days...

The tree snake that lives in the creeper outside the door....

A good sized mud crab....

Mullet....

The friar bird nest outside Dino's window.  Let's hope that this year they don't raise a cuckoo....

Butter~wouldn't melt~Marlow

Who brought home this Striped Marsh Frog so gently, for Star.  Not hurt at all & Star released it back into our garden.  The link will let you listen to its call, which we * hear* so constantly all year we no longer actually hear it!

Graduation

Dream no small dreams for they have no power to move the hearts of men.”~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The proud parents.

The flag ceremony.

The class of 2012.

Our pastors, Patsy & Tony, Cameneti, our Dino & the school Dean, KAren Workentin.

The Graduate.



Whew!  Everything is whirling into end of year madness ~ but at least certain things will then stop.  

This week I had the school's homiletics class ~ which means I had to present something because Rhema is all about being a doer of the word, not a hearer only.  This would have been less of a problem if I were not also  preaching on Sunday ~ which would be less stressful if Dino was not graduating on Saturday....& we also have a seminar on the Thursday & break up on Wednesday.  Meanwhile I have been sitting up till midnight to co~ordinate the last of Star's work ~ the last time ever I will have to do this so a bitter sweet moment.

Always prone to panic attacks where no panic is necessary I was just a tad upset as the homeletics class was the only class I had approached with any semblance of confidence, boosted by the fact most of the class had hit a bigger panic button than mine over *public speaking*!  Not me.  I minored in drama at Uni.  If nothing else I was confident in presentation, though after a week of the Dean's bracing comments on what to do/not do I decided ignorance was definitely bliss!  Anyway, having gone to the Lord in a panic He reminded me I had been rehearsing this testimony for weeks in my head & it was just a simple matter of putting some scripture to it.  I was pleased with how it went.  It is far more nerve wracking to speak before a woman who has spoken around the world to large audiences than our little island congregation.  Dino did his today ~ very good though inexperience meant he didn't finish as he wanted having misjudged his time. 

I have Friday at home ~no classes~ & though we will go over for church as usual I will at least be able to use that day for Sunday's preparation.  I have been getting a regular spot each month, enough to keep me in practice, not enough to overburden me while I am in school.  I realised today how blessed I am to be getting that regular practice.  I am *performance hardened* as Star would happily inform me.  It's not that I don't still get nervous, because I do, but I know how to deal with it.  It is not debilitating.  I know how to engage with an audience.  What I have to watch is how I feed of the audience! lol

I am looking forward to Monday when all I still have left to deal with is is Star's singing.

Liddy has Blogged.

Liddy has Blogged.

Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some unto honour, and some unto dishonour. ~2 Timothy 2:20

I believe I mentioned [at some point] that a great wrenching was taking place.   Somewhere in the foggy recesses of my mind it has occurred to me that vessels are cleaned before use, scoured even.  It's not painful so much as leaving one feeling raw, tender & far more exposed than one likes.

Garrulousness is a wonderful camouflage.  People think they are being told things when in reality all that talk is just a think smoke screen.  Sadly, so far as I am concerned, smoke screens are unacceptable to God. *sigh*

Anyway what we have been...not so much discussing, because that suggests a 2 way conversation, more the Listen up & shape up robust pep talk I get when I'm being flakier than usual....aspects of the anointing.

The anointing. *sigh* Even Christians don't share a common language.  Certain terms mean different things to different people.  Mention Baptism in the Spirit & one lot rhapsodizes about tongues while the other lot declares No Such Thing!

Anyway....

If you don't believe women belong in the 5~fold ministry just bear with me.  I understand your arguments so you don't need to reiterate them here.  Been there, done that.  Over it.  The fact of the matter is not about doctrine.  It is about relationship.  The one I have with God.  When He says Jump I might quibble for a bit but we both know that in the end I will jump.  How high, Lord?

Like calls to like.  Every believer has the Holy Spirit in them.  Every believer has a gift & calling from God ~ & those gifts & callings are irrevocable.  Something happens when people know the gift they have from God & are operating in it the way God wants them to.  I've always been aware of it.  See I love God's word.  Talking about God & His word makes me supremely happy.  It makes the Holy Spirit within me sing for joy because part of His job is to magnify Christ.

Lately there has been a shift.  I am far more aware of what happens to me & around me when I go to preach.  It is far, far stronger ~ & at times it feels a little uneven.  It makes me a little uneven.  But all has been explained.  I have been mostly aware of the outer anointing because that is very tangible: physically all my ADHD ~ emphasis on the hyperactivity~ comes to the fore because the Spirit knows we get to talk about Jesus & He's always excited when we get to do that!  I can sense the presence of the Spirit descend ~ a combination of light & warmth & empowerment.  Hard to explain but I know exactly when it arrives.  Just as I know when it leaves.  Stronger with some messages than others.

What I have been less aware of because it doesn't manifest physically is the inner anointing ~ which is just the presence of the Holy Spirit within me.  I am aware of when the 2 unite.  It's like a spiritual explosion & there is great power to speak.  My job is to ensure I feed my spirit enough that the inner & outer anointing stays balanced.  

And because I am sorta flakey I thought this was something all Christians experienced pretty regularly because we all pray & we all minister in some capacity ~ or should.  I think I have been blithely making assumptions I shouldn't have.  

Do you remember at the end of Lewis' The Last Battle they are urged to come Further up & further in?  For me that is what the anointing means.  It's God's invitation to come closer, to come right in to the Holy of Holies, to nestle under his wings, snuggle right up against His chest.  Something happens in that place.  Who I am falls away & there is only Christ ~ & Christ in me.  From that place Christ can manifest through me to shed abroad the love He has for the world He died to redeem.  Yes, it is humbling but it is also exciting.  And there is great joy in it because I can feel my Lord's pleasure in doing His will.  It is from that place one begins to understand just what Satan has robbed us of, how much he has blinded even the eyes of the Believers.  It generates a holy anger to want help people reclaim all they have been robbed of.  It is the reason any gift at all is given, that the lost might be found, the found discipled, the discipled established & the established sent forth to further the kingdom of God!

The Proof's in the Pudding.

Great spirits have always been violently oppressed by mediocre minds. ~ Albert Einstein

I have a little confession; I've been worried about this year ending. 

 Is Star ready for the world?

More to the point, is the world ready for Star?  

What do you do with the child who, so it seems, has been born for just one thing & one thing only, when that thing is as intangible & illusionary as music?  What work will she do?  How will she make her dreams come true?  And if they don't, how will she cope?

And of course my ego is on the line too because I've been saying loudly for years how much better homeschooling is.  It seems I was right.  I should listen to me better.

Star let me know she wanted to do the Support~a~Reader program & volunteer up at school for their reading program.  I've done this so I know what the work entails but I was rather chuffed just the same.  I thought it showed initiative. I thought it would be a great learning experience.

No.  The irony has not escaped me.  It has not escaped Star either.

Because if there is one thing you can rely on Star for it is that she is never going to march to anything but her own drummer.   Unlike her sister, who also graduated from homeschool, Star had no interest in taking any sort of an exam.  She wasn't the least bit interested in having any sort of a bit of paper that declared her a competent student.  We all know bits of paper are important.  We all know bits of paper count.  I'm academically inclined so I fretted that my daughter was making a hard row to hoe but bottom line, she's the one who will pay the price.

All term Star has arrived diligently 5 mornings a week to read with the grade 2/3 class.  Mostly she has had to walk because the school bus, which she could catch is...well, it's a school bus: noisy, crowded bedlam.  And she walks home.  Sun, rain or wind.  She is cheerful, co~operative, helpful & willing. Oh, & punctual!  She gets up early for this! She has dropped the odd clanger.  Star & math have never been a happening thing but how do you forget that the ACT is a territory & part of Australia?  Only Star!

And school loves her!!!  Enough to start chatting paid work with her.  Enough to suggest she do her Teacher Aide course on~line.  Enough to ask her if she could teach some of the kids music.

Star's going to be ok.  If she can get enough flexible work to pay for her music we'll both be happy. 

Thank you, God.  Is this sorta how you felt when you sent your son?