I am the Light of the world!

Mandy, Christine, Betty in Lichfield Cathedral

Give thanks to God for the light has come
a light in a dark stable
a light for darkened lives
a light which shines in every place
the light of eternal truth

Give thanks to God 
for the truth has come
truth that challenges the proud
truth that lifts up the lowly
truth that brings justice and hope
the truth of eternal life
Peter Trow
Taken from Shine On, Star of Bethlehem
Copywrite Chritian Aid 2001, 2002, 2004

In John, we read that Jesus spoke to his disciples saying, “I am the Light of the world. He who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12) 

2 Clean Christmas jokes!

1 Christmas Spirit
It was just before Christmas and the magistrate was in a happy mood. He asked the prisoner who was in the dock, 'What are you charged with?'
The prisoner replied, 'Doing my Christmas shopping too early.'

'That's no crime', said the magistrate. 'Just how early were you doing this shopping?'

'Before the shop opened', answered the prisoner.

2 Father Christmas Calls

Alex was five; all his Christmas presents were always signed, 'from Father Christmas.'

A little while after Alex had opened all his presents on Christmas morning, we became aware that he was looking quite down in the mouth for no obvious reason.

'What's the matter, Al?' I asked.

'Ummmm, 'replied Alex slowly, 'I really hoped that you and Mummy would give me something for Christmas.'

Nativity paintings...do you have a favourite?

Nativity paintings...do you have a favourite?:

In my Father's house, Corrie ten Boom

Two weeks ago, I ordered that book, In My Father's house written by Corrie ten Boom on Amazon and it came a few days ago. I was over the moon because I knew it was going to be a great read. And it is! 

10000 reasons, Bless the Lord, O my soul!

Such a beautiful song of praise by Matt Redman

10000 reasons
by Matt Redman
(with Lyrics)

Be encouraged!

My God shall supply

all your need

according to his riches

in Glory 

by Christ Jesus

Philippians 4:19

Christian actor Hugh Jackman's interview.

When actor Hugh Jackman takes on the role of Paul in the upcoming biblical epic Apostle Paul, he’ll be performing material that he’s already intimately familiar with. In an interview with Parade magazine this fall to discuss his role in Pan, Jackman opened up about his marriage, his career and, notably, his faith. Asked about when he knew he would become an actor, he told the magazine, “I’m a Christian. I was brought up very religious. I used to go to different evangelists’ [revival] tents all the time. When I was about 13, I had a weird premonition that I was going to be onstage, like the preachers I saw.
Read more here 

Picture copyright click here.

All the people greatly rejoiced!

Nehemiah 8
9 And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, “This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep.” For all the people wept as they heard the words of the Law. 

10 Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” 

11 So the Levites calmed all the people, saying, “Be quiet, for this day is holy; do not be grieved.” 

12 And all the people went their way to eat and drink and to send portions and to make great rejoicing, because they had understood the words that were declared to them.

Who was John Wycliffe?

http://www.prbm.com/interest/biblesenlang1.php

John Wycliffe (1330 - 1384) was a scholar, preacher and social reformer in England who wanted to make the Bible accessible to the common people instead of just the few scholars and clergymen who could read Latin. 

Wycliffe cared deeply for the poor and common folk and railed against the abuses of the Church. The Church owned over one-third of the land in England. Clergy were often illiterate and immoral. High offices in the church were bought or given out as political plums. But the problems went even deeper. Wycliffe, a devoted student of the Bible, saw that some of the doctrines of the church had departed from biblical moorings. Based on his study of the Scripture, John wrote and preached against the teachings about purgatory, the sale of indulgences, and the doctrine of transubstantiation.

Even John's highly placed political friends deserted him. Church authorities had him banished from his university teaching post at Oxford. But his exile turned into a kind of liberation. Some of his students joined him at the parish church in Lutterworth. There they undertook the monumental task of translating all the Scriptures into English, working from a handwritten Latin translation that was over 1000 years old. And they continued John Wycliffe's practice of training "poor preachers," known as Lollards, who took the Word out to the common people across the land.

Find out more, click here!

Christmas celebrations in the Kerygma bus!

Ems baked a delicious ginger house!

Joy, Sarah and Brian

Tonight, thanks to Colin and his team, the youth in Hixon had a great Christmas celebration. There were games, a quiz, gifts and carols. We all had a great evening! We had party food and delicious deserts. One of the game had a twist, somebody would call out a card, i.e. the queen of club and if you had it you could retrieve a gift that someone had, but it was not yours because somebody else could get it back ...so those gifts were only yours at the very end of the game! The children were very excited and keen to get their gifts back, the most popular were those, funny big plastic glasses, chocolate orange and a big box of chocolate bars (I can't remember the name now, oups!)
Have a lovely evening and God bless you! Remembers the Lord loves you so much, He is a loving Father and is looking after you. :)

Oats and chocolate bar!

Oats and chocolate bar. 

Just waiting for my oats and chocolate bar to set in the fridge.  Here is the recipe I followed and I found it pretty easy to do.
I was inspired to bake them when last week, a colleague, Sacha gave me one of her own breakfast bars and told me that she got the recipe on the Nigella Lawson website. And sure I found the recipe but I did not have all the ingredients. It'll be for another time.

Fixing our eyes on Jesus

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Hebrews 12:2

Fixing our eyes on Jesus, our beautiful Saviour who died for us,  is something that I should do all the time. I'd like to say, yes I do that Time after time, I wish I had fixed my eyes on Jesus, our saviour full of compassion and gentleness and also our King. So why not?

1 - I get distracted. When an annoying situation arises, instead of giving the burden to my Lord straight away, I try to sort it out myself on my own efforts..needless to say that it does not take long to realise that it is not working and none of it will be sorted. In fact, time after time, the Lord has shown me that it's only when I quit and i ask him to help me that the mountain disappears, for His glory. Just like that, yes but let us not forget the timing! In the Lord 's timing!

This takes us to number 2.

I forget about the timing. Essential, crucial. The Lord's timing is not ours. Why? well because we are not living in our final Kingdom. Though we are heirs with Christ, we are still in the world. 

3 A question of faith. Have you noticed that on some matters, we do not have any doubt, whereas on others, we are not sure at all. At the same time, someone in your family or among your friends will feel very different about the same matter. Their faith will be stronger than ours. Why? They believe what they read in the Word of God, they take it in their hearts and it's theirs forever. Not only that, they share it with us. It is so encouraging to meet godly people like that. You can tell they are on the rock. What they say does not move and they can explain it to you. When they say, the Lord is moving in this area of my life or in this town, you believe them. The Lord is at work in your life. Do you know it? Are you aware that the Lord is moving people, He is transforming others and all you have to do is to respond.

If you were in the valley of shadows, wake up, look forward, the time is coming when beautiful things are going to happen in your life, in all areas of your life. Trust in Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith. 

Have a blessed week-end in Jesus-Christ Amen.

Alive in Jesus

All Around Me"

My hands are searching for you
My arms are outstretched towards you
I feel you on my fingertips
My tongue dances behind my lips for you

This fire rising through my being
Burning I'm not used to seeing you

I'm alive, I'm alive

I can feel you all around me
Thickening the air I'm breathing
Holding on to what I'm feeling
Savoring this heart that's healing

My hands float up above me
And you whisper you love me
And I begin to fade
Into our secret place

The music makes me sway
The angels singing say we are alone with you
I am alone and they are too with you

I'm alive
I'm alive

I can feel you all around me
Thickening the air I'm breathing
Holding on to what I'm feeling
Savoring this heart that's healing

So I cry
(Holy)
The light is white

(Holy)
And I see you

I'm alive
I'm alive
I'm alive

And I can feel you all around me
Thickening the air I'm breathing
Holding on to what I'm feeling
Savoring this heart that's healing

Take my hand
I give it to you
Now you own me
All I am
You said you would never leave me
I believe you
I believe

I can feel you all around me
Thickening the air I'm breathing
Holding on to what I'm feeling
Savoring this heart that's healed

Was Jesus countercultural?

The Parable of the Tenants

9 He went on to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard, rented it to some farmers and went away for a long time.10 At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants so they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 11 He sent another servant, but that one also they beat and treated shamefully and sent away empty-handed. 12 He sent still a third, and they wounded him and threw him out.
13 “Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my son, whom I love; perhaps they will respect him.’
14 “But when the tenants saw him, they talked the matter over. ‘This is the heir,’ they said. ‘Let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 15 So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
“What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? 16 He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others.”
When the people heard this, they said, “God forbid!”
17 Jesus looked directly at them and asked, “Then what is the meaning of that which is written:
“‘The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone’?
18 Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.”

19 The teachers of the law and the chief priests looked for a way to arrest him immediately, because they knew he had spoken this parable against them. But they were afraid of the people.

Don't be afraid to talk about your faith with you Muslim friends!

You can also pick up a copy of his New York Times bestselling book, Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus. Many Westerners are confused about Islam, somewhat fearful of Muslims, or simply uninformed about the relationship between the Islamic and Christian faiths. In turn, many Muslims are hindered by cultural, intellectual, and theological barriers from understanding, or even rightly hearing, the gospel of Jesus Christ. Throughout his story Qureshi provides a compassionate yet powerful apologetic for Christianity over Islam, with an emphasis on relationships and love. Appendices by popular scholars and experts provide further information for Muslims to consider and for Christians to reference in spiritual discussions with Muslim friends. Engaging as a story and useful as an apologetic resource, Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus introduces readers to a powerful story of the clash between Islam and Christianity in one man’s heart and of the peace he eventually found in Jesus.

Longing for love, forgiveness, peace

Words cannot express the sadness in my heart after hearing about the atrocities in Paris last night. They reflect utmost hatred and a spirit of revenge characteristic of tit for tat behaviour totally in contradiction of love, forgiveness and peace.Tears, numbness and despair as I think of the pain and heartache felt by all the families who have lost their loved ones on this battle field for freedom and free will.

28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

How do you rate your blog!

How do you rate your blog? This question may not so important for authors who have a passion and will keep on writing no matter what people think about their blogs. However one cannot deny that the thought could be niggling at the back of your mind!
So how do you find out? After trying a few others, I discovered a website called nibbler. All I had to type is  the name of my blog and the result was great...and free of charge. It also gave me advice on how sort out the weak points ...which I am in the process of doing...slowly...with a smile :)

Be joyful!

Romans 12:12. 

Be joyful

Because you have hope.

Be patient

When trouble comes

and

Pray at all times

The apostle Paul reminds us that the one reason to be joyful is because we have hope as through Jesus-Christ we have peace with God (being justified by faith Romans 5:1). Somehow, life brings trials and tribulations of all sort whether they affect us personally or our beloved ones, including our dearest friends. How can we be joyful then! Well, trials refine us for the better. Comes to mind theses verses in Zecharia 13: This third I will put into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, 'They are my people,' and they will say, 'The LORD is our God.'" 

What should we do when we are tested ? 
Grumble? certainly not (I fail the test miserably then).
Be patient! Waiting on the Lord who knows what's best for us is advisable. This is hard enough to do! It takes time to accept a situation that you don't like and/or you don't understand. If this situation is self-inflicted, you may feel even worse. 

The prophet Isaiah 40:31 reminds us of a distinct advantage if we follow this advice!
But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

Ultimately, talking to our Father in heaven (praying) who listens to our cries is the answer!Notice the phrase 'at all times' not just we are hit by unfortunate circumstances or various troubles, but when we sail by fair weather! Knowing that God loves us and is watching us, we experience complete peace and we rely on Him fully. 

War horse, the film

Tonight, my hubby and I decided to watch this remarquable film, War horse. It is set during World War I and it describes the beautiful bond between a young man named Albert (Jeremy Irvine) and his loyal horse, Joey. Albert's dad, Ted decided to buy the horse at an auction even though he needed a shire horse for the farm. As war starts, Albert and Joey are separated when Albert's dad sells it to a British lieutenant so that he can pay the rent. The two horses are deployed to Flanders where the unit is mowd down by unexpected machine gun. A very sad scene and the German seize the horses. Though I loved the film, some scenes are very moving and I got somehow emotional. 

If you haven't watched it, here is a link on youtube!

Peace with God

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have Peace with God,
through our Lord Jesus-Christ,
Through whom also we have access by faith into his grace
in which we stand,
and rejoice in hope of the glory of God
Dear friends, have a blessed Sunday.

A 'moelleux' or gooey chocolate cake

As winter is at the door, here is a treat you can take to your friends, for a social or eat by the fire with a hot chocolate drink of course. Here are the ingredients, 
200g sugar
200 g butter
80 g flour
150 g sugar
200g chocolate. I used one bar of milk chocolate and another dark 80%

Instructions.
Preheat the oven at 200 degrees
Add 4 table spoons of water with the chocolate and melt in the microwave
Then melt the butter
Transfer the butter in the bowl where the chocolate is then add the 4 eggs taking care of folding them one by one slowly into the mix. Then add the sugar and the flour.
Transfer in your tin and cook for 30 min. It should be gooey in the middle. Drop me a comment if you have another recipe that you can recommend!

The promise of the Spirit through faith!

A working holiday!

Though we are on holidays, at the end of the day we are pretty tired. We knew that we had lots of things to sort out here and as the days go by, there is a time to relax and a time to work physically. We enjoyed the company of our friends who came to visit us all the way from Limoges and Bordeaux! Also, we managed to have a break most days sitting down at the terrace of a cafe in the center of Civray, meeting up with our expat friends and basking in the autumnal sun. We love walking by the Charente river and biking to the house and back to the campsite. Time to work physically, I must confess that Steven did all the hard work, mowing the lawn seemed to be a Herculean task, then trimming the palm tree seemed dangerous, finally treating the wood was messy. I battled with ivy and wasps that we find in the kitchen. We can't figure out where they come from! We had an appointment with the Edf engineer to sort out our outdated French electricity meter and he gave us another appointment as there was so much to do. As we can't be there, our neighbour kindly agreed to be around. Choosing a cooker was easier once we found But in Ruffec, the equivalent of |Comet. Finally, we spend another hour with 'our' chosen electrician double checking the details of the 'earth wiring' renovation..

Tuesdays and Fridays are market days and we bought some pink garlic, pink pears and goat cheese. 

Here are more photos. Have a blessed evening. 

Walking by the Charente at dusk

Goats by the edge of the campsite of Civray

Un grand creme s'il vous plait!

St Nicholas Church in Civray

Rabbits don't like the rain, true or false?

Dear friends, I have been posted a few videos on my You tube channel, do visit and comment. If by any chance you like what you see, you may want to subscribe.
Let me know the url of your You tube channel and \I will visit it too. :)

Looking for mushrooms near Ruffec

Pruning the palm tree

Pruning the palm tree

The christian barber

The Christian Barber

here was a barber that thought that he should share his faith with his customers more than he had been doing lately. So the next morning when the sun came up and the barber got up out of bed he said, "Today I am going to witness to the first man that walks through my door."

Soon after he opened his shop the first man came in and said, "I want a shave!" The barber said, "Sure, just sit in the seat and I'll be with you in a moment." The barber went in the back and prayed a quick desperate prayer saying, "God, the first customer came in and I'm going to witness to him. So give me the wisdom to know just the right thing to say to him. Amen."

Then quickly the barber came out with his razor knife in one hand and a Bible in the other while saying "Good morning sir. I have a question for you... Are you ready to die?"

Tidying our house to be!

Dear friends, we have been very busy those last days looking after our house in Civray, south of France. First Steven had to mow the lawn or should I say the 'field'. It was a big job because the grass and weeds became thick and long, in fact it took him ages to do one part of the garden and now we are waiting for some good weather to do the rest.
Then woodworms; we knew that there were some in the shelves in the basement so Steven bought the gear and the spray in England, getting ready for the onslaught!
...later
the lawn s been cut, and the woodworms hopefully exterminated
I battled with the ivy only to realise that this poor bush was really struggling under the sap sucking ivy so we were wondering if it was worth 'saving' one of the main branches was covered with thick layer of ivy all around it..
Hope you are having a blessed day..
A few photos

We went to Ruffec, a lovely town not far from us and on the way back we stopped in a wood full of sweet chestnuts trees and we had great pleasure to pick them up, they were pretty easy to open up and we were grateful to the Lord for this unexpected bonanza.
Much love. N.

Why do you spend so much time on Facebook...?

Well, it could be for fear of missing out! Whenever I don't go on it, I hear my hubby or my daughters telling me something they found on it...sad I know but why not.
The only problem is you need to sort the weeds from the good crop!
Tonight here is a gem that my hubby shared on his profile!
So if you like the following message, would you share it? 

An amazing week!

Dear friends, I hope that your week went well. What did you do?

I have spent most of my amazing week doing those:

- getting up early, not fun! It would be fun if I went to bed earlyish but as don't, I feel exhausted...still I love going to work and I can drive to Leek now without the satnav! 

- reading the Bible, this is a joyful time. I have also been pondering about memorising verses better  and as I was talking to my friend Lilly, she mentioned the 'writing' and 'reading' method. I almost dismissed it to start with because I have done that for a while and I am not sure it works. Then thinking about it again, I realise the time I spend on a passage is not repetitive enough, what i mean, is that instead of reading a passage on Monday and moving on, I decided that I am going to spend two or three days on the same passage i.e. last week, I practised on Galatians 5 and this week I am reading Luke 6..guess what? it works! 

- meeting up with my friends on the days I'm not working; that's great and I feel so blessed

- having great fellowship at Milwich village hall for another session of the Pilgrim course. 

-  baking brownies, I managed to do one lot following a recipe without butter or oil, replacing them by low-fat yoghurt (only 6% fat) and they came out nice and gooey. Let me know if you want the recipe! 

- looking after our rabbits, mainly stopping them from visiting the neighbours' garden hopping through a protected hedge! It's hard work, the minute you fill up a gap, they find another one!

-  listening to worship music on my YouTube channel and you may want to subscribe to my channel! 

- I've just added a Po.st sharing button on the right side of this blog. It was not too difficult! Sharing the good news using sharing buttons..

A prayer now, Abba father, thank you for the many blessings this week your pour on our lives lavishly. Though we don't deserve any by our own merit, you surround us with your tender love and you look after us day by day. When we fail, we cry out to you and you hear us and pick us up because you are full of compassion. We ask you to bless us and to protect us as well as our family and friends in the powerful name of Jesus, our saviour and redeemer. Amen.

Have a blessed week-end and good night. 

Let us give thanks to the Lord

Perhaps the most difficult thing to do in life is to thank God in difficult times. Ephesians 5:20 says we are to be "giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." 

Here are seven things that trouble may do to you and for you.

1 Trouble may bring a correcting ministry.

Hebrews 12:6 says, For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and chastises every son whom he receives. And Hebrews 12:11 tells us, "For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it."

2 Trouble may bring a deepening dependency.

Troubles bring us to Jesus so that we might depend more upon Him. The apostle Paul had a thorn in his flesh and he said, "For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me" (2 Corinthians 12:8-9). If your trouble causes you to depend more upon God, can't you realize why we are to thank Him for it?

3 Trouble may bring a confirming testimony.

Paul knew much sorrow and he said, "Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God" (2 Corinthians 1:3-4). If you didn't have tribulation, you wouldn't need comfort and God so graciously gives that comfort.

4 Trouble may bring an increasing maturity.

God's Son was without sin, but not without suffering. James 1:4 says, "But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing." The word "perfect" does not mean sinless, it means mature. The word "patience" means endurance. You're not going to be mature until you learn patience. And the only way that you can learn patience is to have something to endure. You don't sharpen an axe on a pound of butter.

5 Trouble may bring excelling glory.

1 Peter 4:12-14 says, "Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part He is evil spoken of, but on your part He is glorified."

How would you like the Spirit of glory and of God to rest on you? How would you like to undergo a fiery trial? But, you see, it is the fiery trial that brings the Spirit of glory upon you. Acts 6:5 describes Stephen as "a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit." While he was being stoned, the Bible says that his face shone like the face of an angel (see Acts 6:15). If your trouble causes you to know God's glory, shouldn't we thank Him for it?

6  Trouble may bring baffling mystery.

Isaiah 55:8-9 says, "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts." God will give you enough to know to obey Him. Friend, there are some things we may not understand and we don't have to understand them in order to thank God, because God is good.

7 Trouble will bring eternal victory.

Romans 8:18 says, "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." Paul was not saying the glory offsets the sufferings. Instead, he was saying that there's no comparison. What a day that will be when He turns every tear to a pearl! And then we understand that He has not forsaken us. Now since all of these things are true, then can we not give thanks in everything?

Did you enjoy reading this article written by Adrian Rogers, click here to find out more. Have a blessed week. 

Jesus, Holy and Anointed One

Jesus, Jesus
Holy and anointed One, Jesus
Jesus, Jesus
Risen and exalted One, Jesus
Your name is like honey on my lips
Your Spirit like water to my soul
Your Word is a lamp unto my feet
Jesus, I love You, I love You

I love this song written by Brian Doerksen!
.

Have a blessed evening.