Quality time with Jesus

Wow... it has been a while since I've posted anything on here - life just gets pretty busy sometimes, I guess. And I've never wanted to post anything on here just for the sake of putting up a post.

Lately, however, I've been thinking and reading about God's affection for us individually, and for us as the church; the body of Christ. It is good to focus on the theology of the gospel, as it is through the gospel that our minds are renewed and we are transformed into the likeness of Jesus. But in focusing on the theology, it can be easy to forget the significance and nature of our relationship with God. Because that's just what it is: a relationship! Whilst sorting through a box of old papers and mementos I've kept through my walk with God - notebooks, scribblings of great bible verses and quotes, notes taken from sermons, and prayers written from the heart - I came across a quote I pulled out of a book I read years ago by Joanna Weaver, 'Having a Mary heart in a Martha world':

"What an amazing thought that Christ wants to spend quality time with me. 

That he looks forward to our time together, and misses when I don't show up... 

A relationship doesn't just happen. It has to be nurtured, protected, and loved."

How true this is! When I compare this to my marriage with Marty (which I'm comfortable doing, because it is biblically a reflection of the church's relationship with Jesus), I suddenly understand the importance of time spent with God. I know that Marty and I struggle and we feel distant when we haven't had enough quality time together in a while. We will make it a priority, and even turn down invitations to hang out with other friends, or attend parties, if it means we can have that time to build our relationship.

Time spent with God is important - we know that - but to think about how much God wants to spend time with us transforms it from a duty ("I should do it...") to a delight ("I get to do it...").  It is no longer another item on the to-do list, but instead becomes something I get to do each day. We get to sit in the presence of the God of the universe, relating to him as our heavenly Father! We can pour out our anxieties, our pain, our joys, our grief, our hopes and our dreams to him, knowing not only that he cares, but also that He has the power to do something about it and He knows - with infinite wisdom - what is best for us, even when we don't. We know that when we open God's Word, it is living and active, and God can speak to our hearts directly through the words on those pages, if only we will stop and listen for a little while. And we know that when we delight ourselves in Him, he will give us the desires of our hearts, meaning he will transform our desires so that they align more perfectly with His.

What a joy it is (and I hope it will continue to be) to spend time in the presence of our Creator and sustainer.

A lovely weekend

I've started on making a dress based on the one I found online last week, but it still needs a little bit of work before it's finished. Our dining table is currently covered with piles and piles of fabric, trims, buttons and pattern pieces, all ready to go and waiting on me finding the time *sigh*. Meanwhile, I did get the chance to put together this little number on Saturday afternoon, and I think this is the one I'll give to Lydia. It seems to suit Clare's (my sister-in-law's) taste. 

It's very sweet.

For Mother's day, Marty decided to make scones to take for afternoon tea when we visited his grandma in hospital. There are two things I don't cook in our house - pancakes and scones - and it's because he does them so well!

I forgot to get a photo of them completed with jam and cream because we were looking forward to eating them too much! These will have to do...

Hope you had a lovely weekend!

Revisiting our priorities

The sunset on the way home from Wagga Wagga

Sometimes what God wants for us can be very easy to discern - he very clearly tugs on our heart strings, giving us that 'gut instinct' that what we are choosing is the right thing to do. But other times... I don't know... he seems to withhold from us, like a wise parent, knowing that the process of deciding will be more beneficial for us than the outcome of the decision itself. That's what God seems to have been doing for us lately. And while it is completely frustrating in the short-term, coming out of the other side I can see His hand at work.

To keep it concise, Marty has been in a very stressful work situation for the past 9-10 months, and a move to regional NSW has sounded very appealing. He was offered a great job in Wagga Wagga, and was due to go to a final interview today at 11.30am. We went down on the weekend to have a look around, get a feel for the area and see if it's somewhere we could see ourselves living. By the world's standards, everything was fitting into place and it was a very simple decision to make. We could have bought a 3 bedroom house on a half-acre block; he would've had a 25 minute commute to work through beautiful countryside; and we would've had a much more relaxed pace of life. Just what everyone wants, right?

But having this all laid out in front of us meant that we were also given the opportunity to refine and crystalise what our core priorities are. I like lists. And so I found it most helpful to make one of what our top priorities are, and we came up with this: 

1) God, and serving him with our lives

2) Our marriage

3) Our family

4) Our friends

Once we had done this, I realised that they are all people-centred priorities. Owning a house and living a comfortable life don't even make the list! And God never commanded us to do either of them. But he does command us time and time again to love people, and I think that's a love-in-action kind of love. God has given us so many excellent opportunities at this point in our lives to minister to individuals around us, and to move now - for us - I think would be to throw them back in God's face, saying that we'd rather the kinds of opportunities that fit in with what we think ministry should look like.

Marty came at it from a different angle. He felt that it was important to ask what our situation would look like from an outsider's perspective (Christian, of course). What - in our situation - would faithfulness to God look like; faithfulness in work, in relationships, in finances, in home life, in our marriage..? If we were able to remove ourselves from our circumstances and look at it objectively, what path would be most God-glorifying? [I love how God guides each of us differently, but brings us both to the same conclusion. I guess that's one of the joys of marriage under Christ. He unites two different people by his Spirit, and uses us to shape and refine one another through times like these.]

Don't get me wrong. We've had lots of friends move away who are very godly, wise and mature people, and I am confident that God is using them to influence people where they are. But for us I know that God wouldn't want us to cut short the relationships we have been cultivating with particular people who need to know him, for the sake of meeting our own selfish desires. It has been one of those big life-decisions that could have gone either way, and yes, God will use us wherever we are, but he has also blessed us immeasurably in so many ways. We are trusting that he has been guiding us this far and that He will continue to guide us as long as we seek after him.

Marty showed me this passage on Saturday, and it was when I read it that I was completely at rest with what we had decided to do.

"Do not love the world or anything in the world. 

If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 

For everything in the world - the cravings of sinful man, 

the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does - 

comes not from the Father but from the world. 

The world and its desires pass away, 

but the man who does the will of God lives forever.

1 John 2:15-17

Lydia Nicole Francis

I'm an Aunty! My sister-in-law Clare (Marty's sister, not Aaron's wife) gave birth this morning in the wee hours of 2.53am to a baby girl called Lydia Nicole Francis. She weighs 4.15 kg and is 54cm long. We are told that they are both doing well and we can't wait to meet her! I'll post photos soon. Now to hunt for the perfect present...

Where the heart is

Over the past couple of weeks Marty and I have been forced to reevaluate our priorities, to the point where I've actually quit my job over it.

I've been working in sales for 5 months and have had to work most weekends, meaning that I have seen less of Marty than ever in our relationship, and have seen my parents and friends so infrequently that I feel very distant. It is a good job and pays well, but I was starting to reconsider how important it is for us to buy a place to live, and at what cost to our relationship with one another, with others, and with God? With a roster that consumes my weekends and is very inconsistent and unpredictable, I haven't been able to commit to many things outside of work, and ministry has been ineffective (if not non-existent).

So we committed it to God in prayer, and thankfully he answered quite quickly and with a 'yes', not a 'wait'. I got a call last week from the art director of Hi-5, where I completed my design internship last year, asking if I'd be available to fill in for her costume and props designers who are unable to work on this season of filming. It is the exact position I know I'd be happy in, and I'd get my weekends back! The only downside it that it is short-term (3 months) and we will have to find something afterwards. But God provides. I know he has something in store for us.

This decision to take the job has caused us to trust in God and not to put our trust in the 'security' of owning a home. It means that we will have more time to invest in relationships, which are more eternally significant anyway. Praise God for his provision, and amidst that, his desire to teach us to fully trust in Him.

And here's to a fun three months ahead!

Being There

I've heard it said (it was probably at the cheesy end of a movie) that 90% of being a good parent is simply showing up. I think its the same of marriage. There are inevitably going to be times in marriage - when things go wrong, when one of us stuffs something up, or when one of us receives some terrible news - when there is nothing you can say... you just have to be there for one another. It's in these times that words cannot express sorrow nor can they heal wounds. We just need to know we're there for one another. Sometimes silence can be more soothing than any words, as long as there is a hand to hold in the darkness.

Its in these times that I realise most clearly that I cannot be everything to my husband. Only God is powerful enough to soften his heart, to comfort his weary soul, and to carry the burdens he no longer can bear. Only God can make a difference to the future of such circumstances, and give him assurance that there is indeed hope ahead. These are the times when I can do nothing else but fall to my knees before our Heavenly Father and commit everything to Him in prayer because I have nothing left to offer.

I’ve been reading a book lately that I borrowed from my mum, entitled ‘Disciplines of a Godly Woman’ by Barbara Hughes. It has given me a lot to think about, and encourgaged me to pursue a deeper relationship with God – That’s definitely a good sign that it’s a decent christian book!

Last night I read a chapter on character, in which Barbara discusses the place of television in our lives. Television is all about image, and falsifies life; it depicts a warped view of reality. Since it is so dependent on images, it draws us away from being able and willing to relate to the Word of God, which is so prominent in God communicating with us. She quotes cultural observer and critic Kenneth Myers, “A culture that is rooted more in images than in words will find it increasingly difficult to sustain a broad commitment to any truth, since truth is an abstraction requiring language.” Quite insightful.

So Marty and I went through the week’s TV guide and highlighted the shows that we particularly want to watch, agreeing that the TV will remain off for the rest of the time. Instead of sitting in front of the idiot box, we spent last night sitting across from each other on the lounge, reading our books. It was lovely sitting in silence in each other’s company… not needing to say anything, but just enjoying being together.