ASK AND YOU WILL RECIEVE.....

Is nature sometimes stranger than fiction?
I have often learned lessons from nature - from plants and "dumb" animals.


Many things in nature work together to make for a more successful planet.  Some plants use other plants to keep them going - like some orchids that attach themselves to the bark of trees using that as their "home". They are not parasites that take anything from the tree, other than just having a place to live and survive. Some plants need insects and birds to help pollinate them and distribute their seeds, thus ensuring that they live on.

Then we find the unusual - Those animals who would normally not be friends but become bosom buddies. We had a few of these in the past.

We had a real "pet's paradise" for a few years. There were cats, bunnies, ducks and "silky" chickens. We obtained these as babies all at the same time, so they grew up together and all became friends.

We did not keep any of them in cages. Our back yard was well fenced in and they were left to roam as they liked.










Naturally they eventually had babies of their own - all except the cats - and once again these babies grew up together.

 Our cats used to play with the bunnies while one of the baby bunnies befriended a duckling. These two were inseparable, even when they were full grown.





We used to spend hours sitting on the garden bench, in the shade of a loqaut tree, watching our unusual friends playing with each other.

                                                                                                                        
I believe that this is living out what is proclaimed in the Holy Bible.....

    "And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, And the leopard will lie down with the kid, And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little boy will lead them."  Isaiah 11:6

I also believe that "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible" Matt. 19:26

Once again I have to express my thanks and gratitude that I can ask our Heavenly Father for anything and as long as I believe, AND AS LONG AS IT IS IN MY OWN BEST INTEREST, my prayers will be answered. If I ask for something that is not going to be of REAL benefit to me, I will not receive. Sometimes when we pray for something, our prayers are answered in a different way to what we expected, because that is the way it must be for us.

We must learn to accepet whatever we receive even when it seems to be wrong. Nothing we receive in the name of God is wrong - God makes no mistakes!! We are often like small children who don't understand that we cannot always get what we desire - it is just the way it is. If your child asks you for a hot coal because it is pretty, will you give it to him? I'm sure you wouldn't.

As a parent I have often said no to my children when they ask for something - not because I want to be spiteful, but because I know what is best for them. In the same way, our Heavenly Father also knows what is best for us and will not always grant our wishes.

Whatever happens,

I know that I am safe in His love, even though I often don't understand - knowing that he loves me is good enough for me.

I AM ONE OF THE PRIVILEGED FEW...

We should see Gods hand in everything that happens to us.......

I suffer from asthma and during the dry winter months, my hometown is absolutely unsuitable for me. There are gold mines, and the dust that comes from the mine dumps makes it impossible for me to breath properly as it induces my asthma. Due to circumstances beyond our control we cannot move away to a more suitable environment, so I often visit one of my daughters during the winter months. This year I saw once again how God works in mysterious ways...

A cloud of dust lifting off a mine dump

Another cloud of dust from the dump

 

                                                                                                                                                                                      Not many people can boast great grandchildren, but I can. I have one great grandson and one great granddaughter.

Shayne on his 7th birthday

Bianca showing off her "jewelry"

Besides being able to see them develop into real little people, I am very privileged to be in a position to help the boy get to grips with his first year at school.

He is a very active little boy and finds it difficult to sit still long enough to concentrate. His teacher insisted that he should be put on treatment for ADD even though he has not been tested correctly for ADD. We are all dead set against any kind of drugs, especially for little ones, so everyone has stood together and we are watching his diet making sure that he eats healthy food without artificial coloring, preservatives and too much sugar.

I offered to take him under my wing and oversee his homework. Although he is very sharp and quick when it comes to Maths, when I started helping him with his reading, he could not even recognize a word by spelling it. He also could not remember the letters, getting confused with d's, b's and p's.  Now, after three months of working with him intensely every afternoon, he has improved to such an extent that he gets 100% for his reading.

I am very proud of the way he has improved, but I am also thankful that I may have played a small role in getting him this far. He is reading well and puts expression into what he reads as apposed to his monotonous little voice and stilted reading in the past.

I thank God every day for the privilege and opportunity that He granted me in helping to get one of His children on the road to success. He loves reading so much now, that he wants to read more and more every day. He is never keen to keep to the time table the teacher set him for his reading, insisting on reading at least twice the number of pages that are set for him.

If I didn't suffer so badly with asthma, I would not have been here to help him, so it was a blessing in disguise. We must look for the good in everything that happens to us, even though it is sometimes very difficult. It is too easy to simply say: "Why does it always have to happen to me"  or  "I always have bad luck, no matter what I do"

Be thankful every day that we are showered with blessings. If we look in the right places, we will find them. Unfortunately human nature is such that it is easier to find the bad rather than looking just a little harder for the blessing in disguise. As long as we believe that our way is set out by God, then we will also manage to find the good in everything. Nothing is ALL bad - there is always something good as well.

Let us all look for the silver lining rather than only seeing the dark clouds and thank the Lord for that silver lining.

Find the silver lining - it IS there