Restoration House

So I write this with a happy heart! Our offer was accepted and the biting of the nails worth it. God granted us favor and the vendors accepted an offer. It's the type of house I have always dreamed of but thought would be  out of my reach. we have an amazing God that loves to bless us. I stood in church this morning, as I prayed I would, and was able to testify that God has provided! I look back now and see that God directed our paths and made the way possible. I now have a very tense few weeks as we push through the sale of our house and the purchase of a new one under auction conditions. I did have some panicky moments and started to think of all the things that could go wrong, what if our mortgage application is refused, what if our buyer pulls out, what if....


God said to Joshua be strong Be courageous you will inherit the land, I will be with you. Like Joshua we are in unfamiliar territory. Keeping our eyes on God looking at him over the unfamiillar surroundings will ensure our success. Just like Peter  when God commanded him to step out of the safety of the boat and walk on the water. As long as Peter kept his eyes on Jesus he was fine the moment he took his eyes off Jesus he started to sink. Our test these next few weeks is to keep focused on God and his promises. Committing our ways and plans to him and he will make sure they succeed.


Restoration house is an exciting time for me and my family and through it we want to bless everyone who comes through the door. As I  wrote in 2010 'A big house suitable for all my family, filled  with joy hope and love' I want it to be somewhere people can come in to and experience Gods love and grace.


Tomorrow is an important day mortgage application and survey on our property for the buyer...more nail biting no doubt, but hopefully no panic and I face forward staring into the eyes of my Father, the all powerful God. He has brought us this far and will ensure he finishes what he has started. And in the words of the preacher this morning God invests a lot in us, a lot more than the deposit we have invested, his reputation is on the line to and he will work everything out for the good.


I look forward to collecting the keys to Restoration House....


ps then maybe I shall invest in another set of acrylic nails! 

A Man's heart plans his way but the Lord directs his steps

So as I write this blog I am sitting biting my nails (having pulled off the acrylics yesterday!) chewing my lip and basically being a nervous ball of energy. A very similar feeling to this time last year. 
This time last year God spoke very clearly to me about restoration. I had to work through what that meant I had my ideas but God directed my steps and what it did mean was the restoration of my marriage. I remember very clearly when God promised me he would restore my marriage, I remember going and putting on my wedding ring as some kind of symbol. At the time I did think am I crazy? I remember the conversation in the car park of the swimming pool that I had with my estranged husband and the look on his face when I said I think we have something worth repairing and worth fighting for...oh and I remember the hug he gave me and the affectionate kiss on the head that filled me with hope.;-) He didn't say yes but he didn't say no and that was enough to hold onto. Anyway I digress...


So yes here I am in a similar situation. After finally having an offer on our house it has been a mad panic to find a suitable property. Our son has a progressive disease and we have to look into the future and to how the house will accommodate his needs physically. So we have found the perfect house its in the auction and  its crazy but I did feel God directing our steps towards this. We have made an offer in the hope they will pull it from Auction. Now we have to wait. The house is partly renovated and we would need to do some finishing off, some restoration. There it is that word again restoration! Could it be that after everything God said to me in 2011 and everything he did restore to me in 2011, could it be that this will be his smile on us his favour 'Restoration House' 
Towards the end of 2010 I wrote out my thoughts on wallpaper with a couple of very good friends. We rolled them out before God and we prayed. The first thing I wrote was restoration, the second thing I wrote was a big house suitable for all my family, a house filled with love hope and grace, a house where people could come and gain strength. That is still my prayer and still my desire. I pray above all else that I have truly delighted myself in God and that his thoughts have truly become my thoughts and therefore my thoughts will be established and he will give me the desires of my heart.... 
Restoration and Favour ... 


PS really need to get my nails done now! ;-)
I found this simple prayer

Under Offer

Finally

So finally after four years, three estate agents, a handful of viewers and three price reductions there is now a sold sign! I cant begin to tell you how excited I was. Only this time last year God spoke very clearly about restoration and happiness and to give him a year and then the second week of the new year we had a viewing which led to an offer. Coincidence or God-incidence? 
Did God want me secure and happy in where I was before he led me forward? Yes he probably did. 
Did he want me focused and listening to him so he can direct where we go? Yes he probably did. 
Or was it that the housing market is picking up and people are looking at this time of year, new year and new start etc... to be honest after the year I have had No probably not. 
My little lad who has a very simplistic faith prayed before the lady came for the viewing. His prayer was simply this 

"Please God let the lady love the house." 

Her words were at the end of the viewing 

"I Love the house"

God incidence or coincidence  you decide.... 
All I know right now is we have a sale proceeding and we are moving on...


PS Am I panicking about where we will move to.....probably ;-)


Small World v Big God

 

God is good and gets gooder every day

So I survived Christmas! No one got poisoned, choked or puked. I'd say my first Christmas dinner was a success. Actually it was more than a success it was great!


So I was going to post a triumphant New Years Day blog full of things like, this is the year, bla bla bla. Thought that was a bit ridiculous as I am rubbish with resolutions and I would have failed them all by the time the week was out. So here we are the 11 January, Happy New Year! I am now trying to work out what 2012 will involve where it will take me and where it will take my family.
So as I look back at 2011 I still stand amazed at what has happened in my life over the last 12 months. This time last year I was heading for divorce, my 10 year marriage ended in 2010. My children travelled back and forth from mummy to daddy's .  I look back to my journal (before I had a blog) and I read things like, turnaround, testimony, miracles, restoration. I read sentences such as 'By the end of 2011 God is going to give you a testimony you are going to have to throw your hands up in the air and say only God could have done it.' 
God spoke to me so clearly on 1st January 2011 and he gave me another chance, he said give me a year. He told me he was going to bring restoration. Here I am am at the start of 2012 having listened to that still small voice and here I am throwing my hands in the air and saying Only God could have done it...and most importantly here I am going into my 13th year of marriage to the father of my two beautiful children! 


ah its clichéd but its true, as my dear Father says  God is good and gets gooder every day! 


PS my New Years resolution was to keep my blog updated....first post of 2012 on the 11 Jan, mm failed that one then ;-)

Five more sleeps

So five more sleeps before the big day arrives. 

Christmas has arrived big style in my house this year! For the first time in my 33 years I am responsible for Christmas dinner and whats worse not just Christmas dinner but Christmas dinner with the mother in law. 

I have made list after list, I have even googled Christmas dinner shopping lists, and its amazing what I have found. On one website I came across a step by step planner and a timetable on what needs to be done when. This disturbed me as the preparation and planning starts in November. Oh well if I live to tell the tale it will come in useful next year.

I do however have a nice timetable for the next five days, it includes the important things like getting my nails done and a visit to the hairdresser, need to get the priorities right. Somewhere this week I will fit in shopping, work and wrapping but if all goes pear shaped I will have nice nails and hair. 

In the midst of all the panic, stress and, I hate to admit, the commercialism lies the reason for Christmas and at sometime this week I hope we reflect on the miracle of Christmas, the reason for Christmas. I wonder how much planning went into that first Christmas, I know there were no Google for lists that's for sure. But there was a plan, the greatest plan ever, a plan that began before the beginning of time and that ends in eternity. The plan to save us. A plan made by someone far greater than you or I, someone who doesn't crack under pressure but someone whose heart breaks when his children turn away. God had a plan he gave his son we know the story Jesus in a manger, the shepherds, the wise men, Mary, Joesph and it goes on. But Christmas doesn't end in the stable it just begins there. 

I read Max Lucado's daily posting this morning, he talks about no room in the inn. There was no room for the couple and the baby maybe they felt like we do on Christmas Eve that mad rush, the panic. But what about the room in our lives, just how much room do we give to really think about the miracle of Christmas. we may not give God that much room in our busy lives but he has plenty of room for us, plenty of time and he waits. 

So my challenge to myself this week is to make room...not just time for the shopping, the beautifying, but time for me and God, time to listen, time to be still. As in the carol Holy night Silent night..all is calm! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRSSsNbF29I

Think about it...

PS All may not be calm come Christmas day and I have to say I have a new found respect for my Mother...:-)

Don't doubt in the dark what you have seen in the light

On Sunday I was reminded how often we 'forget' ..I know how often I forget that's for certain. Personally I am referring to Gods promises, the good things he has done for me and all the hope that I have. Oh its easy to remember these and 'rejoice' over these things when the going is good, when lifes path is smooth, but the moment I hit that bump in the path, or enter that tunnel I seem to loose grasp of everything I know. I am a bit of a stress head at times, I think it comes with being so anal :-) I like to know the ins and outs of everything and I just HAVE to know how things will pan out. Sometimes I look too far ahead, not good when having a son with a  progressive illness, but I just need to know. But what I NEED to sometimes is take a step back and remember. So when life gets a little bit crazy and a little bit fraught, when I am in a tunnel rather than on a mountain dancing, I need to listen to that still small voice of calm ..yep within this manic red haired girl, there is one, and I need to remember the promises and the hope.

I did this this morning in the car, I shut out the craziness of the traffic announcements, the radio ads and the general noise, I didn't check Facebook when stuck in traffic. I just sang and during that 30 minute commute into work I remembered God, the lover of my soul, who has set me on a solid rock, up and out of the crappy clay!!

Ah I will still use my lists, my excel sheets and my google calendar to keep my life organised, probably much to my husbands dismay, but I will learn that above all things, above the greatest organisational tools I can use I have someone in control, who has promised me more finances than my excel sheet shows, more time than my calendar allows and more hope and promise than anyone can ever deliver.

Take some time..remember  and don't ever doubt in the dark what has been seen in the light.
oh and one last thing, in the storm always look for the rainbow and in the dark look for the stars......

SO!!! here I am a blogger!! I have absolutely no idea what I am doing, or what I am going to write apart from my Blog title which is Me, God and the olive tree. What on earth does that even mean? Well it was a sentence that came into my head one very hot and sunny evening whilst I was holidaying on a Greek Island this year. Sat outside our apartment reflecting on my life, as you do, pondering on the greatness of Gods grace, thinking of all the things that had happened and how things had changed. whilst considering all of this I was scared..scared I would loose that intimacy that God and I had built up, I just wanted to sit there in the presence of God..hence Me God and the Olive tree..


So from very humble and simple beginnings the blog is born.