Wednesday, October 30, 2013

I Stand Amazed

You know how you live your life day to day and it seems rather boring? Like groundhog day. Didn't care much for the movie mainly because it was just the same day over and over.

Some days I don't care for my life. It is so boring. Get up feed kids, take some to school, come home, clean, feed kids, put them down for a nap, clean, fetch kids, come home, feed kids some snacks, homework, cook dinner, put kids in bed, clean, sleep, repeat. It has been like that for a few years now and I must admit that as my kids get older and I am doing more things outside the home with them and without them, I feel as though I have achieved so much in this time of presumed mundanity.

In the over 7 years of being a mother and devoting and sacrificing my life for my little ones I realise it has been in this time that I have grown the most. Not only as a mother but as a wife and as me as an individual.

I have gotten to know who I am. But not only that, I have gotten to know who I am in God. How God sees me.
To be pretty much stripped of my identity while I have been everything to 5 people and so depended on for everything for so long, I had to lean on God. I had to learn to talk to Him throughout my day. To come to Him with all my needs and worries. I haven't always remembered to do this and sometimes I have gotten cross and had a tantrum and decided that I wasn't going to read my Bible or talk to God because of how I was feeling.
For a busy and tired mum it is really difficult to find the time and energy to have a quiet time alone with God to pray and read our Bible. But doing things like praying while driving the car, putting worship music on while you clean the kitchen and make beds or fold laundry, Bible apps on your phone while you breastfeed and things like this all help to put your focus on God. You might not see this time as very worthy or even glamorous but it is the most amazing job you will ever do. Mums you are leaving a legacy for generations to come. For the first 3 years of a child's life are spent with their mother, nuturing them, teaching them and growing them. It is time consuming and stretching but it is so so rewarding.

My eldest is now 7 and I can see the fruit come out of her that has been sown in her life when she was little. My second child turns 5 less than 2 weeks and my 3rd child turns 3. My baby is so close to starting to walk that I am starting to feel like I really don't want her to grow up just yet. I have gotten so used to having little children around me and in 18 months time I will have all 4 my children at pre-school or primary school for 3 days of the week.

I am excited about the new chapter of my life I am going in to. I turned 30 on Saturday and it was such a beautiful weekend and I felt so blessed. I have been looking back and seeing all the amazing and yet trying and hard times in my life and all that I have gone through but now I look ahead to the new things that this time has molded me to be and I stand amazed. I am so in awe and so in love with my Heavenly Father and all He has done, is doing and is yet to do in my life and in the lives of my family.

I am feeling strongly that I would like to take this blog to a new place and making it more. I am going to commit to writing once a week for the next while and see how that goes and maybe extending it to twice a week in the New Year if I can. I will also be moving my whole blog to something more user friendly and easier to read.
I have had so much on my heart in the last few years and it is only now that things are starting to come clear and I am being stirred up. The Holy Spirit seems to be calling me and I have to cross over into this new thing.

I want to speak into people's lives and bring them hope. I want to see people set free and changed and I want to see people equipped and on fire for what God has called them to do.

This is A Walk of Faith and Trust and I would so love it if you would join me on this journey that has been placed before me and that you will be encouraged by my testimonies and the words God gives me for you every Wednesday.

Until next Wednesday, please remember that you are worth more than the words in your head tell you you are. You matter to somebody and you are made for greatness and that greatness to exalt your Creator through all that you are.

Praise God for His awesome splendour, 
Praise the Lord for He cares for the poor in spirit 
and the brokenhearted. 
He lifts them out of the depths
and sets them on the Rock of Salvation.
He lifts their heads and 
creates a new heart within them.
He guides them and leads them
in truth and righteousness.
He never leaves nor forsakes them
and in troubled times He is forever near.
His Grace, everlasting and His love,
Never Ending
Stand in awe and be 
Amazed
For your God is Mighty
and in His might He will save
You
He will care for 
You 
and He will always
be there for
and near to 
You.
Be still and know
Hold on to His promises.
Stand and be Amazed.
by Tamryn de Laborde

Isaiah 61:1 “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me,
Because the Lord has anointed Me
To preach good tidings to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives,
And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Heart for the Broken-Hearted

Psalm 147:3 He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds.

I am sure we have all been through a time in our lives where our hearts were broken. A time in our lives where something has not gone to plan. Hurtful things said to us or overheard about us. Loss of a loved one. Someone in your life leaving you whether it being a parent, friend or a significant person in your life. Miscarriage. Losing your Job. Disappointments.

I love the verse above. I can imagine God being there in my times of heartbreak. When my heart feels like it is being wrenched from my chest. The sobs build up and I hold my breath and I feel as though my head or chest will burst if I keep it in any longer. I take a breath and the tears fall.
God heals our heartbreak. He sees what we go through and He bandages our wounds. He takes us into His arms and he carefully heals our hearts and wraps a bandage around our wounds. There is something so nurturing and caring about this verse. God doesn't just heal our hearts and send us on our merry way. He heals our hearts and then binds our wounds which to me suggests ongoing care.

I think this illustration shows us the Heart we are to have for others in our lives. We are to have a Heart for the brokenhearted because we know what it is like to be broken and hurting. We know what it is like to be poor in spirit.

I am reminded of when Matthew 26:6-13 About the woman who anoints Jesus with fragrant oil. In verse 11 Jesus says "You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me." I know Jesus is talking about His death on the cross here but re-reading the first half this verse He says you will always have the poor among you. There will always be those who are poor, be it financially or spiritually. Jesus told His disciples that they would not always have Him because soon after this Jesus was lead to the cross and died and was made alive on the 3rd day and was taken up to be with the Father 40 days later not before promising to send them a Helper.
Jesus shines through us and we have been given the Holy Spirit who stirs within us a Heart for the Brokenhearted and poor in spirit. The ones in bondage who do not know what it is like to be free.

Do you know of anyone who is hurting today and needing a friend to comfort them and pray for them?
We usually go through our week and are so busy with what we are doing that we can forget to look around us and notice those who need help and encouragement.

I think that is what makes time with God during our day so important. It helps us to stop and focus off of ourselves and back onto God. In this time we can ask God to bring a name of someone who needs encouragement and prayer. Sometimes all it takes is a phone call or an invitation for coffee.
Stay at Home Mums are the perfect people to go and visit others and encourage them. Take your babies and toddlers with you and go and help an elderly lady. The young are such a joy to them. I have done this. I have taken my kids to funerals and hospitals and people's homes who have needed a cuddle and the laughter of a child to heal their hearts.
I feel sometimes God speaks to my daughter's and often when we are in the car driving from having just dropped either one or both of my older girls off at school/kindy my 3rd daughter will say to me "I don't want to go home lets go visit that lady" Yes I would make my way over unannounced or if I know they will not be home we say a prayer for them that their day will go well. But the times we have gone to visit our friends have been greatly blessed and encouraged.

My encouragement for this week is to take time to find out who needs your love and understanding this week. I will be doing this too.

Enjoy the rest of your week and I pray that if you are hurting that you will be comforted and your heart will be healed from someone close to you.

I am thinking about putting up a way for you all to contact me if there is anything you need to ask or if you have something you want to talk about. So maybe a Facebook page and an email account. Comment below if you would like me to do this.

God's richest blessing for you all.

xx
Tamryn



Thursday, October 10, 2013

Who You Are!



Women how amazing we are and yet how much we put ourselves down. The scale we stand on tells us we are not good enough. Magazines and TV tell us we are not good enough. When we stand and look in the mirror what is the lie we tell ourselves?

I read some of the comments on YouTube about this video and most women are really touched and set free by this video but then there are a few guys on there that say it has to much 'You Are' in it and not enough 'He Is' and that it is an evil message. But I do not feel this. I think it points to the Creator in every way. God made us strong and capable and awesome. He created us to fulfill His good purpose. He created us to nurture and love. We were created with large hearts to open up to others and meet their needs. Don't let the enemy tell you are not good enough to make a difference and to serve your God.

I watched the movie One Night with the King which is the story of Esther. Hadassah the Jewish girl who was taken from her home with other virgins in the kingdom. She hides her identity as per her uncle's instruction and take on the name Esther.
One by one, after a year of beauty preparations, they come before the King and present themselves to him. When it is Esther's turn comes the Bible says Esther 2:17 17 The king loved Esther more than all the other women, and she obtained grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins; so he set the royal crown upon her head and made her queen instead of Vashti.

Vashti was the Queen but when summoned by the King to come to a banquet she refuses and so the King sent her away and decided to find for himself a new Queen.

Esther wins favour with the King, not with her outward adornment but with her inward adornment. God loves you and has found grace and favour in you and has set a royal crown on your head and you are His daughter.

If you read through Esther you will read how she hears of a plot by a man named Haman to kill all the Jews. This greatly upsets Esther and her people plead for her to reach the King and ask Him to spare them. In order for Esther to do this she has to go before the King unsummoned. To do this was death to anyone who the King does not hold out His golden scepter to.
Esther had to step out and do an amazing and courageous thing to save her people. To do what God has called her to do. He put Esther in that time and place for such a purpose.

We have all been put where we are now for a purpose. We are all called to do something great for God. I believe that we are all equipped for more than to just live and die. We are called to rise up and gather up our skirts and run in to what God has for us.

You are good enough and capable. You are so much more than you tell yourself. Do not let words of society or your thoughts that pull you down tell you any different.

In Christ I am so much more. I love what God sees in me. I love that He sees all my faults and all my wrong and all the really stupid things I say and do and He lifts me up out of the dust and decay and sets my feet on the Rock. He doesn't just put me on the sand He puts me on a sturdy Rock that will not shift with the changing winds or move with the crashing of the waves.

Ladies do not sell yourself short with the lies that you have to what men can do in order to be something in this world. We were not created to be men. God created men first and saw that it was not good that they be alone and that they would need someone to complete them. We were created to COMPLETE not COMPETE. This is not a competition. We are all unique and special and are created for the very purpose of serving God and glorifying Him with the gifts He has given us.

Men, you are awesome. Look at you. You were created to lead your family. You were created to stir up nations for Christ. Take up the mantle of authority and lead. You can do it because it is what you were created for. You were created for outer strength and gumption. You were created with the ability to seek out purpose and walk in it. You are the back bone of our nations. The protective structure for our hearts.

Women, you are awesome. Look at you. Look at the uniqueness of your body and of your soul. You nurture within you the smallest of all humanity. You birth the new. You are discerning. You are the only one that has your husband's heart. You cry, laugh and smile with ease and beauty and grace. So special are you to God. You are doing an amazing job. Don't strive to be who you are not. No river flows uphill and against it's natural course. If it does it only causes destruction. When humans try and change the course of a river the river will always try and get back to it's natural course. You were meant to flow with ease, grace and beauty.

So go be who God created you to be and don't listen to lies telling you anything different. Shoulders back, stand up straight and take that step into all that God has called you to be.


Until next week, have an awesome weekend and be blessed.