proverbs31-woman.com

Hi everyone, thank you for visiting this blog.  I’m so sorry I haven’t updated here for awhile. Some of you who read my other blogs will know what’s been happening in my life but for those of you don’t, we sadly lost a daughter at the end of September and life has been very hard.  I know that God is with us but it’s so hard to remain joyful and thankful when inside you are hurting and asking lots of questions as to why?  Maybe God will let us know that in the future but perhaps we’ll never know until we meet him face-to-face.

So family life has changed and we are still adjusting to those changes.

But with the other things in my life it’s almost like nothing has happened – how can the world continue on when we’ve had such a devastating event in our lives?  It’s a really strange paradigm to be in and those of you who have lost close family members will understand what I mean I’m sure.

I have been putting together another book this year called “It Happened By Design” and it’s a series of God-incidences from a number of contributing authors. Had I been the only author I would have held off till the new year to publish it but because I’d promised the other authors to get this out before Christmas I still went ahead with it, although it was delayed for a few weeks.  I know they all understood and were patient with me.

The new book is now available online to order in Australia or at Amazon.com and there is a book launch on Monday 1st December for the Amazon.com promotion.  Why not pop over to that site to check it out?

Proverbs 31: 20 She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy.

Recently I received a phone call from my church, asking if I would make a meal for a family who had members unwell and the mother had been in hospital.

This is the first time I’ve ever been asked to do this by any church I’ve belonged to.  I felt both honoured and pleased they asked me.  Perhaps it’s because I’m always seen as a very busy person and I am, but I have the privilege of working for myself in my own home office and if I want to take time to do something for someone, then I can.  I answered ‘yes’ without hesitation and set my Outlook reminder to 4pm that day so I could go out into the kitchen and prepare an evening meal for this lovely family that my husband and I have begun developing a friendship with over the past few months.

When I delivered the meal I didn’t want to stay long and intrude on the family but I was invited in to chat with the husband and wife for a short period of time. They were delighted to see me and very grateful for what I’d brought them and acknowledged they knew how busy I am.  That brought us to a conversation about my business and how things are progressing.  And then Janet said something that I later repeated to my husband and didn’t fully comprehend until I said it.  She said ‘Some women return home to escape from the outside world.  You returned home to reach the world’.

Graham and I discussed this comment and he mentioned that he felt that Janet often had very insightful comments.   It is true that through my business, my writings and through speaking at churches and seminars that I have reached many, many people and yet that had not been my goal or my intention when I first came back home to work over 14 years ago.  I was fed up with the corporate world and I was anxious to be home for our 5 daughters.  But God has turned that into something really special.  All those years of experience, trial and tribulation have brought with it lessons I can share with others.

Our senior pastor has been preaching a series on ‘church without walls’ and I can truly say that through my working at home, and in sharing with and caring for others online I have truly reached out beyond my own walls.  Puts a whole new slant on the verse above doesn’t it?  As you’re reading this right now it means you have internet access.  How many people do you think you can reach and touch through the ministry that God has planned for you?

A gift to you – this song gives me goosebumps every time I hear it and every time I sing it. Something special happens when you give voice to this song. I’m assuming you’ve heard of Darlene Zschech but if not, here is your introduction to her. Enjoy!

That’s what I used to be told when I was young.  I guess I was always a dreamer and I know I was definitely a loner.  Being on my own for hours on end never bothered me.  I entertained myself with books and with my writing – I was always writing, even as a young child.  And my dreams would take me to places that I could only dream about.

My parents did not have a lot of money and with 4 children in the space of just over 5 years and only one income in the household, it meant that we did not get to travel much and only in our own state.  We never went without, don’t get me wrong. Our home was filled with love, we were always fed and well clothed.  Mum sewed and cooked and kept house and did everything a mother should do. She was always home for us kids and we never came home to an empty house.

However I remember things that were said at school, at friend’s places, and in our home that made me feel I shouldn’t be hoping, or dreaming, or expecting for bigger or better things in my life. That I shouldn’t get my hopes up.  And I found as I got older that I was the one in control of my own life, my hopes and plans and dreams. I kept reading books that would fill my mind with what could be and I determined to learn more and more.  My grandmother told me when I was aged 14 ‘the day I stop learning is the day I die’ and I determined I would always keep learning.

Verse 26 tells us ‘She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue’ and I want to encourage you to think about what you say to and around your children. Do your words and actions tell them not to get their hopes up? Perhaps it’s not even your own children but kids who hang around where you are on a regular basis.  You can’t take back words you speak and it’s so easy to say something in jest but for it to be taken to heart in someone else.

I don’t know who it was that told me ‘don’t get your hopes up’ but I can tell you I carried that phrase with me for almost 30 years.  And it was only because of a very kind couple who took my husband and I under their wings, and fed us with motivational tapes and books, and took us to listen to people who had fascinating stories to tell, that my hopes did rise and that I learned I could take action and make something of my life.  That is was up to me and it had nothing to do with how I grew up, my own personal circumstances, or how rich or poor I might be.  It had to do with how I responded to things and the decisions I made. And I learnt not to tell my own children ‘don’t get your hopes up’.  Instead I encouraged them and shared with them, and told them to go for their dreams and you know what? They are!

hopes, dreams, don’t get your hopes up, wisdom, instruction, Proverbs 31:26