Love Feast and LBSC ending.

This is the sky right after LBSC officially finished. Those clouds, wow.

Little Faba, our classmates baby. She was everyones favourite and we passed her around constantly. I mean just look at her beautiful face. 

This is Martin and Emily. They were our contacts in South Sudan and did LBSC with us. It was amazing to see them again and we love them very very much!

I know these are very random pictures but thats ok. They are all from this past Friday. We had our last day of LBSC and then celebrated in the afternoon with a Love Feast picnic style. We went to a campsite place beside a lake near here, laid out a bunch of blankets, and feasted on potjie. Potjie is a traditional South African dish meaning small pot. Ours was for many many people so it was actually a very large pot and it was extremely delicious. It was very much like a stew served over rice but had many vegetables in it. I loved it! I tried not to eat too too much because right after we all headed back to Bethesda house for desert and there were red velvet cupcakes and brownies and malva pudding and well, I ate happily.

Jason and I are just so happy. It is sad that our school is over and that many of our new friends have left for home but the joy we are filled with knowing we aren't leaving this beautiful place is abundant. We get to stay! We get to continue with Bethesda! We love our friends and family at home but we also love our friends and family here and feel so at peace knowing that this is God's will for us. For now, this is our place and we honestly wouldn't want to be anywhere else. We would not have thought just over two years ago when we got married that we would be living in South Africa but God's plans are so much better than ours. There is a verse in Romans 12 that talks about being transformed so that you may know what is the good and the acceptable and the perfect will of God for your life. We could have done many things and all probably would have been ok and God would have been in them but being here is the perfect will for God for our lives. It's the best.

Hope you all had a good weekend! We are a bit more free now so Skype will be easier. Send me a message and we will set up a time and catch up!

Flowers and a Quote

Just a little post to say I am sorry I haven't posted anything in the longest time. It has been the busiest few weeks but our Leading By the Spirit school is coming to an end this Friday and I will have ample time after that to post pictures and other things. Until then enjoy these lovely flowers, I am loving all flowers these days and notice them everywhere, and this quote from a book I love:

It seemed too, that the wild flowers were also singing the same sort of song, only in yet another language, a colour language... that could only be understood by the heart and not by the mind. - Hannah Hurnard, Hinds Feet on High Places

30 Hour Prayer

   
This week for our LBSC we did a 30 hour prayer. It was amazing. We specifically prayed in different groups for Muizenberg, Muslim men/women/children, and Egypt/Libya/Syria. We all didn't pray the whole time but signed up for shifts during the 30 hours and made sure there were constantly people praying. We had to do 8 hours each and they were so good.  So we prayed and planted seeds and painted pictures and sang songs and declared scripture over the nations. It was mighty powerful and I am looking forward to seeing headlines in the upcoming newspapers of God changing these places for their good! There was so much hope poured out for these nations and God clearly has redemptive purposes for each of them. That's who He is, He redeems! Cheer Him on as He works in these places, Come on King Jesus!

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“But now hear, O Jacob my servant,

Israel whom I have chosen!

 Thus says the Lord who made you,

who formed you from the womb and will help you:

Fear not, O Jacob my servant,

Jeshurun whom I have chosen.

 For I will pour water on the thirsty land,

and streams on the dry ground;

I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring,

and my blessing on your descendants.

  They shall spring up among the grass

like willows by flowing streams.

 This one will say, ‘I am the Lord's,’

another will call on the name of Jacob,

and another will write on his hand, ‘The Lord's,’

and name himself by the name of Israel.”

Isaiah 44: 1-5

Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people.  And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord.”  Ezekiel 37:12-14

Last Nights Sunlight

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, 

or with the breath of his hand marked off the heavens?

Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket,

or weighed the mountains on the scales

and the hills in a balance? 

Isaiah 40:12 

The sunset was absolutely so so beautiful I had to share it with you all. The pictures don't do it justice but I am sure you can see the beauty of the sky and the reflection in the watery sand. Jason and I decided to go for a quick walk to the beach because it had been such a full day and we wanted to take in some of the fresh ocean air. That's one of my favourite things about Muizenberg. Anytime I need a break I just walk to the beach take a few long deep breaths and I am good to go. The Nova Scotia in me loves the ocean. 

Art Outreach 07/11/2014

Today to end off a busy, full, full, full week the whole LBSC split into multiple teams to do outreach around Cape Town. I loved seeing everyone at dinner afterwards overflowing with testimonies and joy at what God did in the short afternoon.

I went with four other women to Kalk Bay to do live art and paint while someone talked and prayed with the people it drew in. Let me tell you something, people love art! So many came to us with questions about what we were doing and so happy about seeing art being done on the street. Pictures speak in a way words can't so having visual paintings being done of what God was saying about the town and people in it was very encouraging to many. We were able to invite people out to Awake, Bethesda's Wednesday night ministry, and pray for many others. Two people got saved which is incredible! It was lovely!

My painting was the one with the flower wave and I believe God was saying that He wanted to come softly and beautifully to people in that town and wash over them like a strong wave. So many people have heard about God but don't want Him because they have had their sin shoved in their face with judgment and harshness but God's heart is not condemnation towards people. It's love. He loves them! So I painted and prayed and asked God to come and refresh and wash over these people, drawing them into His gentle heart and allowing them to see His beauty leading to salvation.

I don't remember exactly why the other girls painted what they did but I'll add it later if I find out. I don't want to give the wrong description of their pictures.

Happy weekend!

Testimony 10/29/2014

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Last Wednesday night, myself and 4 other women went to a nearby market to paint pictures for people and encourage them. This market is beautiful and has long cosy benches surrounded by numerous food vendors so we found a seat in the middle, put out our art supplies, and began to pray for God to make people He wanted to encourage stand out to us. I felt very led to paint for a woman running a bakery but first God told me to go buy a cupcake from her, eat it, and then paint what it made me feel He was saying about her. I know, so random, but I did it and as I bit into the delicious cupcake instantly a picture of a childhood teddybear I had came to mind. It was a brown bear with a red ribbon around it's neck. So I started painting and the words came later. What I felt was that not only did her food make people happy by deliciously meeting the need of their allergies (it was a completely vegan, gluten free, sugar free, everything free bakery) but it also made them feel safe and wanted, loved and accepted like a favourite childhood toy. I felt like there was a big thank you for her from God in that because He was so happy she made His children feel so good. That He was saying, "Good job!" I wrote all of this down on the back of her picture but her stall was often busy with customers and I didn't want to interrupt so I painted another one and waited. In the meantime a friend I was with actually also had a picture for this same woman and went quickly to give it to her and encourage her. She was very touched and was fighting back tears and then moments later I went to share with her as well. She was double touched and so thankful for the encouragement. Both of our pictures were completely different but they reinforced each other and brought even greater depth to what God was saying. My friend's picture was of blended stripes and the interpretation God gave her was how life can have different seasons, some good some bad but when you step back and lookout the greater picture it all looks beautiful. Then I gave her my teddy bear picture and since no customers came I asked her why she had a stall for vegan food. This is the best part! She said it was because she was vegan and allergic to gluten and her son was celiac with extreme allergies and on that particular day it was actually 5 years since her son was diagnosed with the disease. It had been a hard day for her thinking back on the journey they had been on since his diagnosis and how she had come to open this food stall. Her eyes welled up with tears as she told me how proud she was of her little boy for dealing so well through all of it and how she had been discouraged thinking that her food was not making much of a difference even though it took so much effort. She said no one ever told her she was doing a good job and that she just kept working because she had to make a living. She gave me the biggest hug while I blessed her and said everything we said was from God, that He sees her and knows what she needs. She even gave me two brownies she made because she was just so thankful and wanted to bless me too. They were made from chickpeas and seriously two of the best brownies I have ever had, ask Jason, it's true. Encountering her made my heart so full! God is so good that out of the literal hundreds of people in the market he chose her to get two words of encouragement because He knew what she needed on the day she needed it most. He is actually so so good!

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Something I really want for this blog is for it to be a place of testimony. A place where God is glorified through sharing of His goodness and His heart for people. It is not about me, I am just a tool or a vessel to bring His love. Don't marvel at me or the people in these stories but at God who does amazing things because He unendingly loves people. He goes above and beyond for us all the time and He already sacrificed His life for us in Jesus. We are a people most loved.