Grateful for December and for 2022.

Thanksgiving for answered prayer in Dec 22 and for the whole year!

A beloved friend sent this quote in her Christmas greetings to me:

Nicht die Glücklichen sind dankbar. Es sind die Dankbaren die glücklich sind.

Sir Francis Bacon

It is not the happy/blessed who are grateful. It is the grateful who are blessed/happy.

Sir Francis Bacon

This is so very true. May we live our lives in gratitude every day, because His mercies are new every morning, and He loves us with an everlasting love!

Our God desires that we share our lives, our love, our hearts, minds and bodies with Him and that we go to Him in trust with ALL our concerns and desires.

When we do this, He rewards us with great joy.

But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

Matthew 6:6

And I shall praise Him openly again today, and give all the glory to Him, who hears our prayers.

Though I am already singing praise and thanks for a blissful day and for prayers answered this week, now it is time for me to also look back on God’s faithful answers to prayer over December.

For December 2022, I thank my Father God for:

The privilege of giving financial Christmas gifts to the charities most on my heart.

For orchestrating my appointment to sort out the few medical issues I needed to understand, and for healing me Yourself, with no disruptions.

That J. was strong enough to make the best of circumstances and to head for new pastures where he was well received and blessed. For the lovely family who welcomed him.

For the blessing of one day-a-week working in a pre-school this half-term – for the lovely team and children.

For the birth of a new healthy grandson.

For the birth of M. & P.’s new baby and the family reconciled.

That the staff meal at Punch-Bowl was a success.

That 4 friends accepted the invite to come to our carol service.

That I was blessed to meet the B. family and S. at the reunion.

That on separate occasions, H. and J. both agreed to engage in prayer ministry with me for the work of healing you were doing in me.

For the miraculous transformation in sowing and reaping immediately visible afterwards!

That S. made good progress to get the room empty and order the insulation boards, which all arrived in good time.

For a great Christmas send-off at Chatterbox.

For the privilege of helping M. and the ability to get it all done in good time.

For the inspiration and strength to persevere, decorate, give, and to go the extra mile.

For Your gift of great JOY!

For a glorious family Christmas – of gatherings of family and friends, sleepovers and fun with the grandchildren and loved ones.

That You provided for me to give appropriate gifts and to provide good food and supplies for all the guests.

For new volunteers at the shop.

That I was able to attend M. and M.’s funerals.

Lord, throughout 2022, every month You amaze me with Your faithful provision and Your faithful answers to prayers.

When I look back over 2022, I see only blessings and favour.

Truly, goodness and mercy will follow Your children all the days of our lives.

No matter what circumstances the world may confront us with, Your children rest in perfect peace!

To all my beloved readers – to you – I pray the blessing of Almighty God over you and your loved ones, over your hopes and your dreams for 2023.

Know that He is Emmanuel for you this year and He is the lover of your soul.

Have grateful, blessed, fruitful 2023.

Remember, remember to give thanks for November

Remember, remember to give thanks for November

I’m sorry for being late in giving my hearty thanks for all of the blessings and answered prayer acknowledged in November.

It is my honour to give glory to God by telling of His goodness and faithfulness, both in the large and small details and concerns of our every-day life.

For November I give thanks in particular for:

For a great party with family and friends and lots of interactions and fun.

For reminding me to live in the moment and embrace fully the life that I have.

For helping me to minister your love to C.

For a special day remembering my baptism of 38 blessed years ago.

For healing and turning around my relationships with L. and E. over these weeks.

For all those mobilised women at ‘The Orchard’ and for showing me Your heart for the injustice of systematic spiritual attack against ‘woman’.

For a powerful and honouring send-off and thanksgiving for Your daughter, T.

For giving E. a new home and for a swift move and transition.

For P. and D. coming as guests during the month and for fun, days out and quality time together.

For an easy, painless trip to the dentist!

That the Christmas staff booking and order is all complete and sorted.

For orchestrating many necessary agent visits and getting the boiler fixed – and that meanwhile, S. had spare heaters to lend me.

For another blessed Ablaze lesson.

That there have been applicants at last for the vacancy in the pre-school.

That C. has recovered well and is home again.

That I managed to re-watch and make notes on all 27 course videos through the 2 months.

That S. has made good progress in the room and cleared it out.

For beginning to teach me to recognise your voice.

For the lovely Christian nurse I saw at the surgery and Your presence for us to encourage each other.

For the privilege of doing some prayer ministry with C. and Your blessing in that.

For the encouragement of Holy Spirit in our second joint service.

That S. and J. were both in church!

For the blessings of reconciliation and tangible growth in S. and their team.

That A.B. is well enough to return back to phased-back-to-work.

That A’s count is back up high enough for chemo to no longer be necessary.

For a whole, peaceful day to myself.

That 8 guests persevered right to the end of the Alpha Course and that You worked in every heart and life there.

When we look with gratitude, we see the creation in all it’s glory.
I often take photos of the sky, but that wasn’t my photo – I don’t know who took it, but it is stunning!

How many blessings can you count this week, or even today?

Do you write down specific prayers and remember to look back and give thanks for the ones that your faithful God has answered?

You will be amazed if you do!!

April thanksgiving blossoms

April thanksgiving blossoms

Magnolia blossom in Newstead Abbey gardens

As the daylight hours lengthen, the trees bloom and flowers burst out, my heart sings, refreshed and delighted:

Blessed be God forever.

I praise Father God for His unfathomable love, that He would want to save a wretch like me!

Thank you for calling me, choosing me and equipping me, and this precious reader, with quality seeds to sow and for all the subsequent growth, blossom, fruit and the harvest in our lives.

Blessed be God forever.

I thank God specifically today for all the fruit and answers to prayer during April.

That S achieved grade As and has blossomed during her time in the school.

That S finally wrote his article.

For all the families blessed by the 2 weeks of lunch-club over Easter and for all the amazing volunteers. For your faithful provision for this.

For the opportunity to bless 3 special people and to celebrate their birthdays with them.

For the creative ideas for the Sunday School lessons and great tasks to do with my own grandchildren too.

For the beautiful liturgy of the Easter Triduum, the opportunity to enter into it all and the rich revelations and blessings that came from it.

For my new Saturday volunteer.

For opportunities to bless specific S, E and J with a cuppa and a welcome in the shop.

For sorting out the upcoming weekend that I was unaware needed fixing.

For introducing me to new bloggers through the FMF community.

For other opportunities to grow relationships and connections with the beautiful people you have put in my life – for each one of them, family, friends and passing acquaintances – I am truly so gratefully delighted.

Thank you that I can bring their prayer requests to you and you answer those prayers.

Blessed be God forever.

For saving H in the accident, for sending the right people to get the van out of the ditch and for him still not missing the ferry!!

Thank you for S and those others who have said they will come to the banquet.

Thank you for leading me to the right counseling course and for opening that door and a place becoming available.

For providing for this.

That my presentation event was not cancelled, but went ahead and was successful.

For all your help preparing the material and for giving me Your peace, so that I could deliver the material.

Thank you that I even sold 2 paper copies of the book and made some lovely connections at the centre.

Lord, I am so grateful to You that I no longer feel the need to run away and hide – from You or from anybody.

For Psalm 139 and all the truths therein.

Thank you for Your faithfulness to me and Your great patience and mercy every day of my life.

That You know me better than I know myself and yet You still love me.

That You are my HOPE and my Healing.

Blessed be God forever.

Lord, I thank You for answering each of those specific and general prayers. Let me never take You for granted or forget all that You do for each one of us – that You care for those that we care about.

What were you grateful for during April?

September Windfalls

September windfalls

I apologise for having neglected the weekly blog, but the monthly blog must not also go amiss.

No matter the business, the stresses and strains of life; no matter the hardships or even the challenge of un-answered prayer, there is always time, always joy, always delight in acknowledging the constant blessings and the constancies of God’s love and mercies, which are new every morning… and at the day’s end, God is still there!

A Pete Greig video left me with a helpful image of a microscope and a telescope – often we are peering through the microscope, focussed largely on our own concerns and bringing our burdens and needs to the Lord – for we are instructed to do so, by Him who ever lives to intercede for us before the throne of God – but when we take out the telescope and look up at the heavenly realm our perspective shifts… We don’t look up at the heavenly realm and say “Aren’t I important!” or “Poor me!”, No, we raise our sights and praise the Creator God and Father for who He is, in all His majesty and power and we magnify Him, not ourselves.

What we focus on, we magnify.

So I want to magnify God again for the answered prayers and windfalls of September and to remember that God is good, all the time, even when I do not understand.

I thank God for:

A good weekend together with my closest childhood friends.

That the changeover went smoothly for my babies and school and home is all good.

That S and I had another blessed week in London and both managed to accomplish much.

For inspiration and help with my writing.

For perseverance, courage and growth in my relationships.

For five good breaks away this Summer and for cover for work for each of them.

That S finally inspired to write his article.

That S free to travel around in Romania, despite restrictions.

That C and B successfully produced 2 great videos.

That A’s bloods showed that her cancer is now in remission!

That C begun University and is inspired and has risen to the challenge.

That J’s PHD has begun and all is well.

That first 2 prayer groups chez moi peaceful, blessed fellowship and tech improving.

For all the opportunities to serve.

Above all I thank you, not just for doing the things I have asked of You Lord, but for being God, for choosing to be in relationship with little me and for working with us, Your precious children, in this life on earth – for being Emmanuel, God with us – for coming to dwell in our hearts – being Jehovah Shammah – and for the assurance of Your presence. Though Satan should buffet and trials may come, let this blessed assurance be mine… It is well with my soul. Lord, where You are in the boat, no matter the storm, it is well with my soul.

Your Love endures forever and whatever happens, whether I understand or not, I know that You have me in the palm of Your hand.

Blessed be God forever.

Spend some time looking through the telescope today.

Dreams

I have been reminded again about some dreams that the Lord gave me over a year ago already, but they are still fresh today. As I recalled the dreams I felt they would be an encouragement to share them with you. The following dreams are all from one slumber. I have another to share, but will do it in a separate post, to avoid making this one too long.

It has also encouraged me to begin again my dream diary, as I would like to receive more dreams from the Lord. I’ll explain the simple process of the ‘dream diary’ in the next post.

06/10/19 – Recalling the dreams:–

[a- I went to church feeling very tired. I was asked to go out and be with the children doing Sunday-school, but really I would have preferred to rest in the service and in God’s presence and hear from God… But I went with the children, feeling a bit disappointed, unsupported and taken for granted. A young man also came out with us and He did everything. He was ‘like’ Jesus and the children and I were completely comfortable and relaxed with Him. I sat down at His feet and rested in such incredible joy, as He did everything so beautifully and I felt almost smug – dead chuffed that I’d made the best choice to come out and be with the Master – that I wasn’t just getting His words, but getting Him in person!!

b – Next He took me out to a big house – not all that spectacular from the outside – nor seemingly at first glance from the inside, almost tacky, though it had an amazingly grand staircase that fanned out at the bottom, wide and inviting – the hallway was round and simply stunningly white and gold and silver, both cozy and intimate, yet vast and unfathomably expansive… We were greeted with gentle, welcoming familiarity and warmth and I was tempted to stay and look around – all around the sides appeared single beautiful spiral rope ladders going to individual rooms and I wanted to go up, it was so pretty and warm… the joyful hostess said I was welcome any time, that she had already prepared me my own room to stay whenever I’m ready, but my guide was reminding me I had things to get on with still and was being distracted. I felt so happy, but surprised and reassured to see that I had a perfect home waiting for me after all.

c – Then we went back outside and some children were gathering and were waiting for this man… We went through the streets, picking up others – like the Pied-Piper – attracting children, waifs and strays and many curious individuals. There was such joy on this adventure as we meandered through the streets, singing and laughing. We came to the side of a busy motorway, behind a big barrier, and on this side a great number of trestle tables had been set up into one long table, lining the road. A feast was being laid on the table and we were all seated. There were snow-capped mountains in the background, so I got out my camera to capture this amazing scene of the outdoor feast, the beautiful people and mountains behind… As I stood back to look in the view-finder, I saw masses of demons swirling and racing around, all around the road and trying to get under the table and between the people; I was shocked! I took a few photos, but the demon spirits were not visible on the photos, only through the lens – but I showed others and they could see the spirits through the camera lens… I knew that The Lord had “prepared a table for me, in the presence of my enemies”.

d – We had the most amazing feast and then got taken from there in a car – I was looking out of the back window as the sky and surrounding areas became very heavy and threatening-looking – I could see forked lightening over the beautiful snow-capped mountain and a rainbow appeared as if to halo the scene – it was impossible to photograph what I saw, but I said “God is really showing off over there!”]

Today I will resist giving my own interpretation of my dream, though to me it was beautifully obvious. I have been reminded of this dream, and blessed by it, on countless occasions since.

In my next post I will share another beautiful dream from the Lord, and I will also share some tips on how to keep a simple dream diary, for any of you who would like to begin remembering and receiving your dreams. I hadn’t been remembering my dreams until I began this process, so don’t be discouraged. It can be done. God is so good.

My church jokes that “your old men will dream dreams and your young men will see visions” That makes me an oldie, but I’m happy to receive anything and everything from the hand and heart of my Lord.

Maybe you have had a dream from God that can be shared to encourage others too?