Sunday, 6 May 2012

shapes and colours

It was the week of shapes and colours for Hannah, Lois and Ruben to learn. We did several activities with it: sheets printed out from the internet, hammer & nails, cutting and glueing shapes in different colours, game:I can see what you can't see and the colour/shape is.
With the heart shape I teached Lois to draw a 2, by drawing the left side of a heart for her so that she could finish the heart and add a little stripe under it. She can do it!

I thought also to explain something about the heart and what the bible says about it.

Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you.Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.(John 14:27)

I thought it would be good to explain to the kids, especially Hannah. She is having nightmares lately. And we have noticed   
 a lot of fear in her.
I took the kids outside to show them something.
First I asked Naomi to read the bible verse John 14:27.
I explained to them: The moment you believe in Jesus Christ, He who is the Prince of Peace comes to live inside you. And when He resides in you, every blessing you ever need is already in you.
But why do we still see problems in health, finances, family and relationships?

Because of a troubled heart

Jesus said: peace I leave with you and straight after that He said: Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
So I took the hose and turned the tap on.Lots of water was running from the hose. I explained  that God's ever present supply of blessings toward you is like the water flowing freely from the hose.
But a troubled and fearfull heart works like a water hose that you clamped down hard with your fingers, little or nothing is coming out at the other end of the hose.
You won't see the blessings when you allow your heart to be gripped by worry of fear. It all starts in our own minds. Fear of the known or unknown, feelings that you can't do it, or of being a failure, feelings of frustration,hurt etc.
So we prayed for these things and asked God to help us.
Hannah still have those fearfull dreams, but we continue with praying for her and singing songs, that calms her down.

Eric is really tired from the load of work and the hours away from family, the weather, etc. Because of the busy program and his tiredness there is not much time/energy left for at home or outreach, discipling the Yolgnu people. And the harvest is plentyfull...
Eric is finding this hard and frustrating sometimes.

I'm also really tired and going through a hard time. I felt like running away from here, away from the heat, back to the land of homeschooling, New-Zealand or back to family in Holland. But knowing I can't and have to go on and through this rough time.

I explained about a troubled heart to our kids, but here I am: I had a troubled heart myself!
I had to be freed from al those thoughts and worries and giving the controle over to God.
I had to remind myself to count my blessings that I started writing down in a journal even those little things.
I had to remind myself that God is for us, who can stand against?
And that the Lord is my Light and my Salvation, shom shall I fear? The Lord is the Strength whom shall I be afraid?Psalm 27:1-4

Praises to God that  He holds everything in His hands. He knows everyting and at the right timing.

Last Monday we had John and Linda Watson from NZ over. They are counselors for missionaries. What a blessing they are, thank God! We had a good time of conversation and prayer with them.
The next day Eric and I had a meeting with Dough, the manager of MAF Arnhemland. And we shared our concerns about tiredness, the program, homeschooling.
The decision was quickly made. Eric is gonna have 1 day off a week. (He will still make 40 hours in a week) He will need that day in the first place to have a rest from flying, second place to support us in homeschooling, and thirthly for outreach to Yolgnu.
Thank God for this conversation and for the exta day off a week!

Please continue to pray for: God's power
When we are week He is strong.
For protection over body and mind
For our Yolgnu family.
Thank God we had a prayer/biblestudy/night at their house organised by themself!!