MY ETERNAL LEGACY

When I do my family tree for people, they always tell me how interesting it is.  There is Dad, my two Mums, two sisters, 4 step sisters and 1 foster brother.  Of course they are all grown up now, with families of their own, and I now even have some great-nephews and nieces. I have been blessed, as unlike many step families, we haven't had any real problems, except maybe a little jealousy and hurt sometimes. At one stage in my life,  I really struggled with jealousy, as one of my step sisters loved to monopolize my step mother's time. As a child and even as a young woman, I too craved my mother's attention. My attempts to reconcile with my sister, many years later, led to a misunderstanding and a rift between my mother and myself. While on our recent holiday, we had a few little incidents with family that I have to say, because my husband and I are such sensitive people, were a little hurtful. We went down to Sydney to spend some quality time with our son and our ...

One of the mottoes that has kept me going over the years is: "ASSIGNMENTS FROM GOD ALWAYS INCLUDES ENABLEMENT".  I am not sure where I found it, but I have discovered that it is similar to Rick Warren's `SHAPE' teaching. "Whenever God gives you an assignment, He always equips us for what we need to accomplish it." *1 I am not sure what my assignment for 2013 is yet, but I do know that I have run out of excuses and it is time to except "His call", wherever that may be. "Abraham was OLD, Jacob was INSECURE, Leah was UNATTRACTIVE, Joseph was ABUSED, Moses STUTTERED, Gideon was POOR, Samson was CO-DEPENDENT, Rahab was IMMORAL, David had an affair, as well as other FAMILY PROBLEMS.  Elijah was SUICIDAL, Jeremiah was DEPRESSED, Jonah was RELUCTANT, Naomi was a WIDOW, John the Baptist was ECCENTRIC, Peter was IMPULSIVE and hot tempered, Martha WORRIED a lot, Zaccheaus was UNPOPULAR. Thomas had DOUBTS, Paul had POOR HEALTH and Timothy was TIMID....

There are many things we know about Asaph, the Psalm writer, that we can glean from scripture. He was David's musical director and he wrote Psalm 50 and Psalms 73-83.  He was also a Levite, brought up in a God fearing and God serving family, a home of faith. "And the Levites who were musicians - Asaph, Heman, Jeduthan, and all their sons and brothers - were dressed in fine linen robes and stood at he east side of the altar playing the cymbals, harps and lyres..... they raised their voices and praises the Lord with these words: "He is so good! His faithful love endures forever!" 2 Chronicles 5:12&13 He was at David's side through all his failures and tribulations.  After the death of David he becamed disillusioned with the new king, David's son Solomon. "Solomon built shrines for all his foreign wives for use for burning incense and sacrificing to their gods. The Lord was angry with Solomon, for his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God o...

"O Lord, you alone are my hope. I've trusted you, O Lord, from childhood." Psalm 71:5 Over my holiday I have been meeting up with family and friends, and looking at some old photos. I have been reminiscing about those, who from childhood, have helped me keep my hope and trust in the Lord. Of course there were my parents.  Although I can't remember my mother, my earliest memories are of sitting at my father's feet with my sisters.  We would listen to stories from the Bible and other stories he told.  Later, I remember my stepmother on her knees, praying every morning for each member of our family There were also my Sunday School teachers, pastors and mentors; always there with words of encouragement from the scriptures.  Unlike David, the author of this psalm, as a youth I did not fight any lions or bears, but I did have my own `giants' to fight - my own bullies,  depression and anxiety. Like David, who later battled many other `giants', as I...