THE VOW

A massive head injury as the result of a tragic car accident left Krickett Carpenter in a coma just two months after her marriage to Kim. When she finally emerged from the coma, she recognized everyone in her life except her husband Kim! 
Starting all over, they built a new love and dedicated their lives to each other all over again. Their story was captured in book and film and entitled The Vow.

Imagine. It would be like fitting all the odd pieces to make sense of the pattern.  Knowing you once loved this stranger, yet possessing none of the emotions you would expect to experience. You would need to accept your husband or wife filling in all the special memories you had forgotten.

I'm certain it would be a horribly frustrating and scary situation in which to find yourself. Everything that was told to you would have to be accepted by faith. And could you really trust this stranger? Would everything he or she told you be the truth? It would be something you'd have to figure out by listening to the relatives also, and watching how everyone related the whole story. Look at wedding albums and see the proof with your own eyes.

Even so, it would be a matter of faith in the long run. Do you believe what others tell you about this person? It's your choice to believe and accept, or to reject. You don't have pictures to look at but you do have the testimonies of many hundreds of people from long ago and also the present time.

Maybe this is similar to the Christian faith. Can you accept what others say about Jesus?  Are you prepared to read what is written about Him in the Bible? Or you can simply reject what others have experienced of Him and go your own way. After all our gracious God has given us a free will. This is a precious gift we should not hold lightly.

Let us face this New Year learning all we can about this God Man Jesus who cared enough about us to willingly come into our world to teach us the way to live and the Way to follow. And may you enjoy a Happy & Blessed New Year!

CHRISTMAS PRAYER

Is Christmas a holiday you've been looking forward to? It's a special time for family members to get together and celebrate, isn't it? 

Yet Christmas can be a very stressful time with all the planning of meals and gifts associated with it. Even buying the right gift for the person who has everything is a real hassle. And too often the credit card is stretched to the point of incurring a sizeable debt.

My friend asked her small son to end his prayer with the Lord's Prayer and when he got it muddled up she corrected him. What he'd said touched her and she wrote this poem.

Forgive us our Christmases

“Our father who are in Heaven”,  Prayed the lisping three-year-year-old.   He paused while Mummy prompted, then continued as he’d been told.

Again he raised his sweet clear voice, “Give-us-this-day-our-daily-bread,                             

... and-forgive-us-our-Christmases ...”   Then Mummy lifted her head.

That isn’t in the Lord’s Prayer, dear,  She gently reminded him.                    

It’s “forgive-us-our-trespasses”,     And they bowed their heads again.

The prayers were done;  he was tucked in bed;    And Mummy tiptoed out,                            

But the words he had prayed,  still lingered on,     Perhaps he was right at that.

“Forgive-us-our-Christmases?”   Oh Lord, It is so true,                           

We pamper ourselves and everyone else,      But forget to remember You.

We buy the presents for our friends,    When it’s really your birthday,                            

 We decorate and motivate,              It's our favourite holiday.

How this must grieve the heart of God,     When He looks down upon ...                         

The sons of men to whom He gave,           The greatest GIFT, His Son!

“Joy-to-the-World” we glibly sing,           And promptly then forget,                    

That to Him Who made the Heaven’s ring,     We owe a tremendous debt!

“Forgive-us-Lord,-our-Christmases”,     With all their wasted endeavour,                   

And may this Christmas honor Him,        Who lives and reigns forever.

But there's another side of this special holiday. Police say that squabbles break out even among family members. Too often long held bitterness comes to the fore, because of alcohol freely consumed. And it's not long before violence erupts and things get nasty.

And what of those who haven't families to gather around them? So often they're left out in the cold. If it wasn't for charities offering the comfort of Christmas dinners, so often these folk would go hungry.

Let's remember it's Jesus' birthday we remember and honour. He is the Prince of Peace. Let us share His love and His peace to those around us.  Happy Christmas!

HEARTBREAK

Abbie (pictured) shares her thoughts when "things don't work out".

Hovering beneath Christian jargon and hiding our authentic God-given judgment hides us from reality. Some days will be hard (like when you want to console, or be consoled by, an ex), and some situations are plain awkward (like seeing an old crush or seeing a new one with your old best friend). The alternative, however, is to stuff our pain in statements like, “I know God, so I shouldn’t be upset,” or “God always has a happy plan and future for me, so I’ve just gotta suck it up and move on.” Truth never modeled such a tale. To risk hurting one’s feelings, or risk handing over your real feelings, will usually be hard. But if God is true and truly Lord over outcomes (including feelings), we’re better off being authentically upset, heartbroken, and maybe even awkward, rather than maturing a lie.

Scripture says His overarching will for our lives is holiness. But what about when holiness doesn’t fix us or necessarily make us feel happy? And why is it that holiness seems to happen more often, even, through the likes of heartbreaks and breakups, than smooth-sailing life? Although sometimes holiness involves happiness, other times it involves suffering, even unfulfilled longing. However, the challenging belief is that God is good and has His (and your) best interests in mind.

Either God is good and for our good and knows what He is about, or He doesn’t. Either pain and death are the end of our stories, or they’re not. Successful dating should not just be classified as those who “get hitched.” Successful dating, or “courtship,” or life, that is, happen when a man and a woman are moved closer to God. Even in courtships that break up, then, or unrequited love that never requites, God’s hand is still initiating and making something new. Sometimes God breaks up two good people with two good paths for no other reason than to draw us closer to Him.
 

CHINA - Book on Marriage

 As a former corporate executive ,Andrew Yuan Da Tong is possibly China’s most famous proponent of marriage and parenting. He has been in ministry since the 1990s  in China, ZDL Books, are proud to be long-standing supporters of Andrew. His most recent book on marriage is entitled  Marriage, a Covenant for Life.

Andrew’s primary goal is to influence leaders, to share with them that their marriage is a reflection of their spiritual life and has a direct correlation to a healthy family and church. For many Chinese pastors, this is counter-intuitive. The perception is that ministry and service to the church come above their responsibility to their wife and family. This year alone, Andrew has conducted training sessions for over 12,000 people. He has spoken at the Three Self Patriotic Church, the Family churches and has been asked to teach at Yanjing Seminary.

 Some responses from pastors:

“This content is not from overseas. This is heartfelt and your teaching really touched us”
Pastor from Anhui Province

“We have never heard this before. When can you come back again?” Pastors from Wenzhou

Please pray for Andrew and his wife Erling's health and ministry as they increasingly devote themselves to sharing this desperately needed message.

NAMED by GOD

This young wife and mother has brilliant blue eyes, but it's the tattoo on her wrist that captures attention. On it is the word Redeemed and that sums up Kacy's life experience.

Together with her husband Justin and two fine children she began a ministry to share her story. A story of God's love and grace.

In many ways, Kasey Van Norman has suffered more heartbreak than one woman can bear. 

Growing up, she endured her parents’ divorce, date rape, and years of addiction to sex, cutting, and eating disorders. 

As an adult, Kasey has endured a painful miscarriage; the heartbreak (and restoration) of infidelity; a cancer diagnosis; rejection by her friends, church, and community; and her mother’s death from cancer. 

But at the end of this twisting path of sorrow, Kasey walked out of the wilderness and into a place of God’s merciful and miraculous healing and redemption. 

In her book, Named by God, Kasey shares her story of God’s infinite grace and compassion so that others might learn from her experience as they encounter a depth of Jesus like never before!

As the picture of the book cover shows, you can order it from AMAZON.

They told it all - Beyond Ordinary

Everyone likes a good love story.  But many of us spend our lives slightly disappointed in the love story we’re trying to live. 

How safe is your marriage? The answer may surprise you. The biggest threat to any marriage isn’t infidelity or miscommunication. The greatest enemy is ordinary. Ordinary marriages lose hope. Ordinary marriages lack vision. Ordinary marriages give in to compromise. Ordinary is the belief that this is as good as it will ever get. And when we begin to settle for ordinary, it’s easy to move from “I do” to “I’m done.”

Their three sons

Justin and Trisha Davis know just how dangerous ordinary can be. In a beautifully written book, Justin and Trisha take us inside the slow fade that occurred in their own marriage—each telling the story from their own perspective. Together, they reveal the mistakes they made, the work they avoided, the thoughts and feelings that led to an affair and near divorce, and finally, the heart-change that had to occur in both of them before they could experience the hope, healing, and restoration of a truly extraordinary marriage.

The following endorsement is of their book BEYOND ORDINARY 

Dr. Wess Stafford, President and CEO, Compassion International :

 

Justin and Trisha have lived through extreme difficulty and brokenness in their marriage, but the Jesus we follow loves to take broken things and put them back together. That kind of deep healing has been part of my story, and it’s the story of so many of the children Compassion is blessed to serve every day. I hope that as you read these pages you’ll find a deeper understanding of how complete dependence on God is the only way to fully live.

BEYOND ORDINARY can be pre-ordered from Amazon

I'm so glad to be able to promote this real life story. How great is Jesus' love to each of us, if He can forgive our sins then surely we can also forgive those that sin against us.

A LIFE in GOD'S HANDS

I have asked a dear friend, Anne Riethmuller, to share her story with us. A few years ago she had a very traumatic experience.

I was 16 years of age in 1968 when the Evangelist Billy Graham came to Sydney and preached the good news of Jesus Christ. As I listened that day I heard that God loved me so much that He sent His Son Jesus Christ to die for my sins. I believed this and accepted Jesus as my Saviour, received His forgiveness and became a child of God. As a consequence my life has changed dramatically.

I now have real joy in knowing more about Christ and my heavenly Father from the Scriptures. I strongly feel Christ’s presence with me each day.

After my acceptance of Christ I began to attend Fairfield Brethren Church. It was the people of this church who took me to the Billy Graham Crusade in their rickety old bus. While at that church I learned about how to live faithfully as a Christian, as well as how to be useful and helpful in my contribution to church life. I met many wonderful friends in that church and in their exciting and active youth group.

It was here that I met Michael Riethmuller. He is a high school teacher and came from a wonderful godly family. His ideals were high and wanted to see me grow in my Christian faith. As I grew we were attracted to each other and eventually married in 1979. We now have 3 grown up children and even a delightful grandchild. Each of our children have come to know Christ and are very active in their local churches. God has blessed us in so many ways.

 In 2009 I had a very serious fall at home and woke up from an induced coma in hospital with amnesia (not the Hollywood type). It would be 8 months before I returned home (not including weekend visits). During this time many people (including many whom I did not know) were praying for me and I felt that my life was entirely in God’s hands. I had a peace about God’s plan for me that if He called me home to Heaven I would be with Him and that I would not regret that shortening of my life.  I still bare some of the effects of this accident but my desire is to move on with my life with God’s help.

I endeavour to live according to scriptural principles. My desire is that people will see in me a Christ-centred person who cares and loves those I meet. And I hope they would see I have something they do not have, yet need. Yes, trusting in Jesus Christ was the greatest and most important decision I have ever made. He has given me forgiveness, a place in Heaven, a purpose, as well as strength and guidance to deal with whatever situation I face in life.