Paul Botha

SPLASHES OF…HOPE!                                                                                                                  28^TH JUNE 2013

 Hello dear Yahweh Sisterhood  J     Did you think about your name,  and has knowing how special  even   your   name   is   to   “Abba Father”  made a  splashing    impact on your  psy – che  …  ie.  your mind/your soul?      I sure do  hope  that was your experience, and that it made you feel real good!!      Don’t ever forget how precious you are to Jesus!

  I’ve been thinking about  sheep  lately!    I suppose having my granddaughter,  Kayleigh,  married into a  4 Generations sheep farming family in New Zealand  got my mind going in that direction, for one thing.      I’m sure she never  thought she’d be wearing pink flowered gumboots and be cleaning under the tails  [Ooh yuck!]  of sheep  one day in her future,  or this being  included in God’s plans for her life!     

Journeying with Jesus brings many unexpected  surprises,  believe me!       She’s a Dance & Drama Teacher, amongst other artistic things, so cleaning sheep etc. is not all she does with her life!  J    Another reason is that my granddaughter, Rebecca, brought a smile to my face as I recalled her version of a story I told one evening about a shepherd and sheep, when she was around 6 years of age.   This got me taking a closer look at Jesus, Who declared Himself to be “The Good Shepherd” = John 10 : 14, so I searched out some good stuff to  splash  hope  and encouragement  into your heart today.     I need it too!    

So here’s “the story” :  In his sermon a preacher related  how a  really   good  Shepherd   takes  care  of  his  sheep.     Apart from leading them to good pastures,  springs of fresh water, and peaceful places of rest, he also keeps  a keen eye out there for predators who may sneak in and steal a sheep, or a lamb;   He also knows how to deal with young  wayward sheep!      The sheep know their shepherd’s voice, and they  follow  him,  but when he has a “rebel” sheep who keeps wandering away and “doing its own thing” where it could be in danger, he has to take what would seem to us to be  drastic   action  for the  ultimate  good   of that sheep.     Sometimes then, he has to take that little one and break its leg!   Ouch!    That’s harsh!    What now?    Well, he picks it up,  gently carries it close to his bosom,  and there it stays until that little leg is completely healed.      All  the  while,  that  little sheep  is  as  close  as  a  heartbeat  away  from  the Shepherd,  hears his voice clearly,  and then the day comes that he puts it back with the rest of the sheep.    From that day on, that sheep  never  strays away from the rest of the sheep,  and listens out for the voice it has become so familiar with,  and  “obediently”  follows   the   shepherd.          Makes you think, doesn’t it?!

I had to smile when I thought back to Rebecca telling her mommy that story, as she was so taken with it, but what stuck out for her was the breaking of its leg, except that she told her mom  [who was not at the meeting that night] that the Shepherd breaks  all  the legs of that wondering sheep!     As you can imagine, I had to set that record straight fast, and explain it carefully to a 6 year old, so that she was not – ever! –  afraid of  JESUS =  our  Good  Shepherd!

Sometimes the Good Shepherd has to “take us in Hand” too,  and seemingly deal quite harshly with us,  until we learn the life lesson of obeying  His voice,  to follow Him  only,  and accepting that  HE   always  knows  what’s  best  for  us!

I love reading that  Jesus  calls  Himself  a  Shepherd . . OUR  Shepherd  –  **please read =  John 10 : 1-16,  26-29..     It’s not demeaning for Him to call us  Sheep!      Sheep are defined in the dictionary as being  “meek” ..i.o.w. “Humble”.      Jesus  Himself was  very humble!       Did any of you ever hear, or say, as a small child, the prayer  “Gentle  Jesus,  meek  and mild,  look upon a little child”… ?         Doesn’t that make you think of someone as  anything  but  harsh  and  gruff  in  their mannerisms?     So, I picture a child  – or myself!  –  cuddling up in the lap of   Gentle Jesus,   and  that sends  such warm   splashes   of peace  washing all over me!     It brings to mind the wonderful   ** Psalm  23,   which puts  the   hope   back in ones heart,  don’t you think,  ‘cos He knows   where   He’s   leading  us,  and  how  to   take  us  through  those  dark, dangerous  places  and  bring  us into good pastures where  our  souls  get  restored.    

Now  don’t   Ewes   all be   sheepish   okay?  J  . . For the   shear   peace of it, you  go  curl  up  on   Shepherd  Jesus’   lap tonight and let Him   splash  His  awesome love  all  over  you  as  you  read  these  two  terrific  Chapters!  

Bleating joyfully in  HIS  Sheepfold!

Love and hugs to you,

Rose

SPLASHES OF…HOPE! 21st JUNE 2013

Hello dear Sister Soldiers ☺ I’m sure you have all, at one time or another, thought about the many strange names in the Bible, haven’t you? I know I have! Especially when so many of them are ridiculously difficult to pronounce!! Where did they even find such names I ask myself?! And then they almost all appear to have plausible meanings and good reasons for such names! Obviously there’s more to “What’s in a name?” then than meets the eye!

What about your name? Have you ever thought much about why your parent/s gave you your name, if it isn’t a traditional family name? Did you ever ask your mom, or dad? Do you know the meaning of your name? Was there a time when you disliked your name? I thought about my name a lot, and for a very long time I didn’t like my name at all . . Until the day I heard God speak my [full] name in an audible voice, in a vision, that changed me in many other ways as well! When you have an unforgetable “encounter” with God you are forever changed!

I’ve discovered, from the O.T. Biblical accounts that there were no randomly given names; They were given “on purpose!” Take poor ol’ Jabez for example = 1 Chron 4 : 9-10 – Vs. 9 : “Now Jabez was more honourable than his brothers, and his mother called his name Jabez, saying “because I bore him in pain”.

First we note that he was an “honourable” man. . .so I wonder why his mother didn’t think of giving him a name depicting this good characteristic, instead of focusing on the fact that he caused her pain in childbirth?! I mean, isn’t it a given that all women experience pain in childbirth?! I almost want to say “That’s just SO unfair!” …And I am of the opinion that Jabez wasn’t too “peachy keen” on his name either!

Look how he speaks to the Lord in Vs. 10: After asking God to “bless” him, to “enlarge his territory”, that the Lord’s “Hand would be with him”, that God would “keep him from evil”, he adds that he “may not cause pain!”

Maybe his mother constantly reminded him about the pain he caused her! Being an “honourable” person [ of good character and highly principled ] he was probably a real gentleman, even sensitive, and it would have hurt him to hear this especially when it wasn’t really his fault!!

So perhaps God also felt he “deserved a break”, being the compassionate God that He is! Is it any wonder then that “God granted him what he requested”!?

Then there’s “John” = Luke 1: from Vs. 13 – 17 the Angel Gabriel laid out the instructions concerning John, who was thus named before he was even conceived! And Saul – still so named in Acts 12 : 25 before his conversion – who became Paul – after his conversion = Acts 13 :13, the great Apostle to the Gentiles. Again there’s nothing random concerning either John or the Apostle Paul.

And what about Anna? Her Name means “Grace” and it could not have suited her more! How well the Lord knew that! Nothing random about her name either!! We pick up on her story in = Luke 2 : 36-38 : She was a prophetess, an 84 years old widow who lived and served in the Temple, and “testified to all who looked for redemption in Jerusalem” about Jesus [our Blessed Redeemer!] being the Messiah.

Aren’t you splashed with good feelings right now about your name, knowing that it wasn’t “just a name”, but rather a specially chosen one for you?! And more importantly, Yahweh sisters, GOD knew what your name would be even before your parent/s did! No “slipping through the cracks” for you sisters, there’s nothing random concerning you either from God’s point of view! Although scores of others just happen to “share” your name, it nevertheless is uniquely yours, and it suits you!!

And God “called you by your name” and said about you “you are MINE” = Isa. 43 : 1. I hope you are getting this, and feeling special to God! Please don’t let anything, that may be negative in your life or your circumstances right now, bring you down to the point of feeling unworthy or of no value or use to God. For a great Splash of Hope, dear favoured by God sisters, I urge you to read and agree with the Psalmist in Psalm 139!

Go on… do it before this day is over, and experience God for yourself! He’s waiting there for you!
“..For I am called by Your Name, O Lord God of hosts” = Jer. 15 : 16[b]

God dearly loves YOU … and I do too!

Rejoicing Rosemarie
xoxoxo

SPLASHES OF…HOPE!                                                                                                    14^th JUNE 2013

Well my dear Sister Soldiers here we are on our life’s journey, already halfway through  June!      And life,  if I know it well enough by now,  in my 69^th year,  will be as “predictable”  as I expect it to be in that  some of us  will have had a jolly good week,  and others will have felt like the bottom of their world has fallen out,  and slap-bang in the middle of an horrific hurricane-like situation!     Right?

So  how  can  we  take  God’s  Word,  if we look back at last week’s  Splashes..  of a ‘life  of  living  in  His  favor’,  and  not  feel  the  doubts  or  unbelief  creeping  into  our  souls?    How   do  we  not  begin  to  feel   hope-less  instead  of   hope- filled?    +++ The purpose of my   Splashes of..HOPE   is to encourage you, and help you to keep on ‘doing life-God’s way,  so I remind you that Jude vs. 2  exhorts  US  to be   “..building yourselves up on your most holy  f a i t h..”   which means that   WE   have to do something about it. . . BUT GOD J  has given us  His  Holy  Spirit,  our Helper,  Who  will  be  just  that  to  us  if  we  let  Him!!     And I know you will!     So, my dear strong Yahweh Sisterhood, will you determine in your heart that you will never give up on GOD, no matter what!   Okay?  Good!

Now  let  me   splash   you  with encouragement,  enough to restore your   hope,   not  only  with  a  few Biblical  examples,  but also from one of my long-time favorite Authors = Joni Eareckson Tada = as I share some of her  story  with  you.        +++Therefore, today’s  splashes..   will be longer than usual, but I feel it’s necessary.

Can we even begin to imagine what it must’ve been like to live in a time when Kings had the ‘right’ to throw you into a den of lions?    That’s what happened to Daniel  = check out Dan. Ch. 3 for his story.     BUT  GOD’s   favor  was on him and even though     **GOD  did  not  stop    them from throwing him into the lion’s den,  but God made sure that HE shut the mouths of those lions so tight they did not even as much as  lick  him!!  J    And what about those 3 young Hebrew young men who were tied up and flung face down into a fiery furnace because they refused to give in to the command to worship other gods or idols = Dan. Ch.3 tells you their story;      Once again,  although     **GOD did  not  stop   this from happening to them, HIS  favor  was over them, and even more than that…I get goose bumps just reading   verses 24- 25!  =“Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished;  he rose in haste and spoke, saying to his counselors, “Did we not cast  3  men, bound, into the midst of the fire?”    They answered and said “True O King”.  “Look” he answered I see  4  men,  loose,  walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt,  and the form of the fourth  is like the Son of God”.          Wow!      What do you think of their stories dear sisters?

** GOD  did  not  stop  the bad  things  from  happening,  but  He  had  His eyes  on  them  every split  second,  and  long  before these things ever happened,  He  knew  how  He  was  going  to  rescue  them!   He’s  your  God, isn’t He?     So, if  you  have ‘landed’ in a ‘scary’,  or bad place lately,  hold  fast  to  your   “most holy  f a i t h”  and wait for your Rescuer….at exactly the right time He will do it!!     I promise you that…and He does too!!

Because we are so “human” I find that we are usually impacted by “real life” stories, as we can relate more easily to them than we do to Biblical events, no matter how dramatic these are.    This  is  where  I  bring Joni’s  story  into  today’s  Splashes  and  I  hope  it  will  encourage  you  in  your   f a i t h   journey…..

Some of you may not ever have heard of her, some of you may have but not read any of her books and devotionals, but in 1967 at the age of 17, Joni dived off a raft into shallow water in a Bay and broke her neck.   She has been in a wheelchair ever since, and is a quadriplegic, unable to move or feel anything below her neck.   And what had she been praying and asking God, before the accident?   “What do you want me to do for you”?    Did she ever think God’s plans for her were so huge that the only way He could accomplish them was if he allowed her to become totally disabled?   I bet not!

Apart from raising her up from “the ashes” of despair into a World-Wide Ministry and Author, she also became an accomplished artist song-writer and singer = ALL to the Glory of God and the extension of His Kingdom on earth!!     Once more  **GOD did not stop this seemingly bad thing from happening, but turned it around = Rom. 8:28 “All things work together for good…according to His purposes”.     And what’s more, when she was in her early 30’s she met a young man and they fell in love and, in spite of her situation, they got married, and recently celebrated their 30^th wedding anniversary!

At the moment I’m reading their book  “An untold love story” = a different kind of love story, which I find truly inspirational and very encouraging.   I doubt you would think of their marriage as “normal” in any way, when you consider a healthy, athletic, outdoors kind of man, who loves fishing etc. with a quadriplegic wife who has many and varied needs!   It would be very challenging and demanding on you in every conceivable way…and reading their story, it is exactly that!

Having a Nurse, and her husband Ken, do absolutely everything for her, daily, also in the night when she has to be turned a number of times, all this day after day, year after year, the same endless routine, it just boggles the mind!!    And on top of all this, 30 years later in 1997,  she develops chronic pain in her body that goes beyond anything she has ever experienced, leaving her wondering if it would  “swallow her up completely”!          Check out this list  :   PARALYSIS.    CRUSHING PAIN ON TOP OF PARALYSIS.    CANCER ON TOP OF CRUSHING PAIN.    RADICAL MASTECTOMY ON TOP OF CANCER.    CHEMOTHERAPY.    PHEUMONIA ON TOP OF CHEMO….AND INTENSE SPIRITUAL WARFARE WITH DARK, MALEVOLENT SPIRITS ON TOP OF IT ALL!         And then suffered a broken leg as well!!      Ken pondered over what someone had said about  “the Christian life becoming harder the further you go”!!     Joni  questioned :   “God, You are the One allowing this.  You are Sovereign.   That means You have screened this and decided You would allow it to touch me, hurt me, tear me up like this.   How can You permit this in addition to my quadriplegia?”     How could she go on trusting in Heaven among these  Splashes  from  Hell  she wondered?        Then she writes this,  in agreement with British Pastor/Author Alan Redpath,  who said  :  “THERE IS NO CIRCUMSTANCE, NO TROUBLE, NO TESTING, THAT CAN EVER TOUCH ME UNTIL, FIRST OF ALL, IT HAS GONE PAST GOD AND PAST CHRIST, RIGHT THROUGH TO ME.   IF IT HAS COME THAT  FAR,  IT HAS COME WITH GREAT PURPOSE”.        

Referring to our Sovereign Heavenly Father God,  Author Corrie Ten Boom said :   “NEVER  BE  AFRAID  TO  TRUST  AN  UNKNOWN  FUTURE  TO  A  KNOWN  GOD”.

What are you thinking / feeling right now?   Unless you e-mail me and tell me I will never know!!   I can’t even guess which way you’re processing the profound statement by Alan Redpath!     Two profound statements here, we would do well to remember them when we are in one of those  ‘bad’ places.

However,  Joni’s story isn’t over yet……and neither is yours . . .  or mine!!  J

Therefore I  splash  you with  hope  and encouragement by reminding you that because you are His, “you obtain the   favor  of the Lord = Prov. 8 : 35,  and  Psa. 30 : 5   assures us that  “His  favor  is  for  life”!!!

That’s enough to get us back on track and ready for a Friday doing a few of our favorite things isn’t it?   Off you go then….

With love and hugs to  “Daddy’s favorite” Girls!

Rose

xoxo

SPLASHES OF… HOPE!                                                                                                              24^th May 2013

Hello my dear Yahweh Sisters J       I do  hope  you are in a   good  mood  after a   good  -or relatively good-  week, and ready now for a splashing   good  week-end!   But just in case you’re a little short on feeling  good,  then let me get you started on a   good  footing!    And no, I’m not short on words sisters, in case you’re wondering what’s up with me, I’m here to dish up some   good  stuff to bless you with today!! J   Did I hear you say  “Good, I need it”?      Okay  good, let’s get going then …

There are so many  good  things that come to my mind, thanks to their being  282 Scriptures on this particular word, can you believe it?   And my big ol’ dictionary shows me 44 different ways in which we can use this word in sentences, in expressions etc. Wow!  I didn’t realize that until I did some digging this week!

So I asked The  Greatest Source  of ALL, to get HIS take on it, and exactly what   good  stuff HE has in store for us today…”And the Lord answered the Angel who talked to me, with  good  and comforting words” = Zech. 1:13.  SIGH!  I feel  good already, before He even tells us more!  I hope you do too!   

By now we know the   reality  of  rough  roads   as we journey towards our ‘Destination’, but we take heart ‘cos the Lord is “..good to everyone, and He takes care of all His creation” says Psa. 145:9.  And for many, if not all of us, who have  ‘fallen on hard times’  in various ways, here’s another stunning  splash  to wash away any doubts you may have that He won’t do what He says in…Joel 2:25 : “So I will restore to you the years that the ..locust has eaten”..Vs 26: “You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and Praise the Name of  the Lord your God, Who dealt wondrously with you,  and my people shall NEVER be put to shame”!    

Dear Sisters, soldier on,  God is a  GOOD God and keeps His Promises [ See 1 Kings 8:56, 2 Cor. 1:20], and if HE says so,  and also that  “All things work together for good to them that love God, to those who are the called according to His purposes” = Rom. 8:28, then He will see that it happens exactly as He says.  Yes, that includes the ‘bad’ stuff that comes with living in this world!    

Did you read/are you reading through Job? Don’t forget, okay?    I’m counting on you to follow through when I  splash  you with the   good  stuff from  The   GOOD BOOK!  It will do you the world of  good!!   “Knowledge is Power” – Who said that?   I don’t know, but I think it’s a   good  one, in the spiritual context!    Knowing  God’s  Word  gives  us  Power for living wisely and well, so says God!

But that’s only one part of the  good stuff!   It’s  not  all  about  us, remember!   What’s the  good of knowing all this and not  doing   good?   This is  “His purposes”  too.  That usually takes us out of our comfort zones and “stretches” us, with our time and sometimes our pockets too!    

By nature we are selfish, and so some of us need a  good ol’ “heave-ho” out of our  “I/Me/My”  safe havens, & into the  “good works” arena!   Dare we resist this?   James 1:22 says we should “Be doers of the Word, and not hearers only”.  That’s it then!    If it was not so, then  God  would not have  given  every  one  of  His  Children  “spiritual gifts”.  There are 6 Passages in the Bible that discuss these “gifts”.   

Obviously I can’t do more here than give you these Passages, and I  hope  that you will go digging in your Quiet Times, asking the Lord to reveal your specific gift/s for useful service in the body where He has led you,  for “His purposes”.    These are found in 1 Cor. 12,  Rom. 12:6-8,   Eph. 4:11 &  1 Peter 4:11.    God knows  HOW  and  WHY  He  “put you/me together”  the way He did,  so if  you’re  not  yet  HERE>> “GOD  planned  for us to  DO  GOOD  things and to live as  HE  has always wanted us to live.  That’s  why  He  sent  Christ  to  make  us  what  we  are” = Eph. 2:10 CEV  then, my  good  ladies, I think it’s a  good  idea to ‘confer’ with Him and make sure  WE  know the  WHY  and  the  WHAT  for a worthwhile earthly journey.   Are you  good  to go, and to do?    I do believe you are!

“Now,  my dear Yahweh Sisters, may the God of peace… make  you  complete in every  good  work to  do  His Will, working in  you  what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to Whom be Glory for ever and ever. Amen” = Hebr. 13 : 20(a) – 21.

I’m Splashing  goodness  all over you, with beeg hugs and much love,

And  good to go too!  

Rose xoxo