small inspirations

Lately I have been listening to this Album by Sara Groves. It is not a new album, it was actually released in 2005... But it is new to me and one afternoon I was struck by the amazing lyrics of this song. Add to the Beauty

We come with beautiful secrets We come with purposes written on our hearts, written on our souls We come to every new morning With possibilities only we can hold, that only we can hold Redemption comes in strange place, small spaces Calling out the best of who we are And I want to add to the beauty To tell a better story I want to shine with the light That's burning up inside It comes in small inspirations It brings redemption to life and work To our lives and our work It comes in loving community It comes in helping a soul find it's worth Redemption comes in strange places, small spaces Calling out the best of who we are And I want to add to the beauty To tell a better story I want to shine with the light That's burning up inside This is grace, an invitation to be beautiful This is grace, an invitation Redemption comes in strange places, small spaces Calling out our best And I want to add to the beauty To tell a better story I want to shine with the light That's burning up inside The grace that has been given to us in the Lord Jesus, allows us to be people of purpose. It shapes our lives and reminds us of what God is working out through us. What a privilege to be part of God's great plan to bring redemption to the world.

A trip to Albany!

September was a great time to head south to Albany to visit and encourage women in the Presbyterian Church there. Having usually only travelled the road in January it was amazing to see the difference in the scenery - especially given a year of near average rainfall! Instead of brown fields and the occasional orange Christmas bush in bloom we saw field after field of ripened canola - their yellow flowers stretchingas far as the eye could see. Not to mention wildflowers and wattle. It was just beautiful.

Albany is a city on the southern coast of Western Australia and about 5 hours drive from Perth - that means it is about 5 hours drive to the nearest Presbyterian church! The Presbyterian Women's Association thought it would be great to take a trip there to spend time with the women in Albany because it is so hard for them to join in activities put on in Perth. We had 8 women from Perth able to come and so we headed south for the weekend.

We had the chance to explore some of Albany, enjoy good coffee (or milkshake!) and a wander along the foreshore. We also had an afternoon gathering on Saturday with women from the Albany Presbyterian Church. This was a great time to get to know each other as well as an opportunity to talk about the aims of the Presbyterian Women's Association and how they can link in if they want to. This includes joining as an individual, or if particular women's groups within their congregation want to become affiliated, they can. The main point is that the PWA is there to help women grow in their knowledge and love for Jesus and to encourage them as they serve Him in their local congregations!

Here in WA most PWA groups are in Perth and so access to events is relatively easy for all but the Albany Ladies, hence why we decided on a visit south. Why should they always be expected to come to Perth!

Sunday morning half our number shared with Chris Woonings (PIM Padre) as he took a service in Denmark. This is a new church plant and only the second time they have gathered there. The rest of us joined with the Albany Presbyterian Church which was celebrating its 2nd Anniversary. What a joy to see God at work in these two new congregations within the Presbyterian Church here in WA. Please pray for these 2 churches as they reach out with the gospel of Jesus to the people of Albany and Denmark.

Trusting God through the Seasons of Life

I am thoroughly enjoying the beginning of "daylight savings" and the glorious spring days that we have been having here in Tasmania. Those long and difficult winter days now seem a thing of the past and everything is bursting forth in it's new spring greens... I am quite sure that Spring is my favourite season, even my little 4 year old commented yesterday, "This is the perfect degrees Mum!"


And so too Naomi Reed opened her talk last week in Hobart, with the notion that if it could only just be spring all the time and stay like this forever, our lives would be just as we wanted them all the time. The promise of a new beginning, times of winter and difficulty now past. Yet that is not often what our lives look like. God allows our lives to move through different seasons, times of busyness with so much to do, endless summer, times of change and fading, autumnal and then those very dark days of winter where we wonder just where God is leading us?

Naomi spoke to us about the different seasons of her life both here in Australia and in the many years she spent as a missionary with her husband and sons in Nepal as told in her first book My Seventh Monsoon with reflections from the book of Ecclesiastes.

It was wonderful to have to opportunity to host Naomi at St John's with many women and men joining to hear as she shared her life and the things that the Lord has been teaching her over many years and through the varying seasons of life. It was great reminder about relying on God and trusting him and not becoming complacent during those fresh new days of spring but to hold firm to him through all of our days. Naomi's other books include, No Ordinary View and Over My Shoulder.