sorry for absence

Hello dear friends!

I want to apologise for my absence over the last week. Colin and I were away for a few days on our own. Yes that is right, alone, with no children! A dear friend looked after them and we stayed at a wonderful bed and breakfast courtesy of a wonderful couple from our Church who happen to own and run one! It was a lovely, restful few days!

I missed the kids so much but I also enjoyed the sleep and long lies. I enjoyed being able to just go and do what we wanted and not rush back for school and nursery and all the day to day chores we have.

So today I am thankful for a lovely break, dear friends, my kids, my hubby and most of all my God who sustains all of us.

I will be back to normal with our Bible study At the Well next Monday!

God who are you? Study.

Today I am joining the ladies over At the Well for our Bible study time on God and who He is. This is an exciting journey into learning more and new things about the Great I Am and how God works in our lives. Please feel free to join with us in this study.

So today Jennifer Jernigan from By His Grace has posed two discussion questions for us all to think about;

• What does it mean to you to know that you are precious in God's sight?
• Can you think of a time in your life when you've experienced, first hand, the LORD'S faithfulness?

For the first question I want to turn to Psalm 139; v 13 -16.

13. For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. 14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place.When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, 16 your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. (NIV).

I find it hard to believe that I am precious in God's sight. I don't think I deserve it because of my sin and wickedness. And yet look at the verses above! God knew me even before my own mother did! Becoming a mother myself helped me understand just how God loves us and views His children as precious. My love for Jacob and Emma is totally unconditional. They misbehave, disobey me, and I am often not pleased with what they do and yet I love them with all of my being. I accept them as they are, try to train and discipline them because I love them, and still treasure these little people.

I am precious in God's sight in a similar way. I am humbled by my God who treasures me. He loves me warts and all! Yet because he loves me and treasures me He also seeks to train me, mould me, discipline me and know all of the days that lie ahead!

I am going to think about the second discussion question over the next day or so otherwise this is going to be one looong post.

Feel free to join in the discussion and link up over At the Well and join our study also.

Thankful Thursday

Sonya at Truth 4 the Journey is taking a break from blogging but I decided to join another Thankful Thursday group for the time being.


So for now I will be joining Iris at Grace Alone to give thanks to our Lord.

• This week I am thankful to God for sustaining me even when I feel completely shattered. Emma has been getting up a little bit too early this week and with Colin at work I don't get a rest really during the day. It is hard going but God is sustaining me!

• On Sunday we finished a study of the book of Ruth at Church. It has been excellent! Insightful, enlightening and encouraging. Thank you Lord for the opportunity to study these books of the Bible and that you use our men at Church to speak through.

• I am finally finished with the anti depressant chapter of my life! I was on these for post natal depression for around 4 and a half years!!! It has been quite hard at times but I threw out my last few last week and am so thankful to God for helping me on this journey. There are still good days and bad days but overall I feel better and ok!

So just a few things I am thankful to God for this week! What about you?

Who is God to you?

Today sees the start of a new bible study over At the Well. I hope you can join us as we discover more about God and what he means to us.

My name is Collette, I am 34, have two kids, a hubby, 2 cats and some fish! The fish are my hubby's though. I became a Christian in my mid twenties not long after my husband found God. I stay at home although it is a financial sacrifice at times but I am glad to be at home. I am really excited about being part of the team of women At the Well.

So today the people linking up with this study have been posed the question;

'Who is God to you?'

To me, God has been different things to me at different seasons in my life.

Before I was was a believer God was not important, almost mythical to me.

As a new believer God was exciting, caring, faithful, very apparently there through answered prayer.

During my post natal depression God seemed absent to me. I thought God was punishing me, gave me a burden and more than I could handle.

As I turned the corner God showed me that He was there all along. God felt like a loving Father. Loving me unconditionally despite my anger towards Him sometimes. Disciplining through my illness.

God is a challenger, always faithful even when we are not and fail miserably, (which I often do).

God is creative - just look at this beautiful planet!

God is my ultimate comforter through His word when the world is crumbling all around me. He welcomes me with open arms because He loves me.

These are just some of my little thoughts about who God is to me. It is an evolving list!

So who is God to you? If you would like to know what others think then please feel free to join us in this study At the Well.

what do we believe?

Recently Colin and I have been flicking through the various 'religious' channels on Sky TV. We approach the programmes on these channels with discernment and do not blindly accept what they stand for. Some are better than others.

What I am confused about are the channels which show large crusades by people who claim be able to heal. Mr Hinn in particular springs to mind. I am not wanting anyone to think this is an attack on what they believe or specific individuals because I really do not know enough and that isn't the right thing to do.

It just doesn't add up to me. When I hear what these individuals speak of it certainly all sounds according to God's word. They acknowledge our Lord and do things in His worthy name. I just can't accept the falling down on a stage by a touch of a hand, the weird voices, the idolising of one individual who can apparently do this. It just doesn't make sense. Are these individuals really healed? Are they really feeling the Holy Spirit upon them? My understanding of the Bible was that this was exclusive to Pentecost?

Or are we being deceived in some way? Are people deceiving themselves? I just don't know. I would love for it to be all above board but the showmanship also worries me.

Why is such a huge spectacle made of it all? Why so many on stage? Why so lavish?

So what are you thoughts on this? Please feel free to share them with me.

Quilting fun!

Well as promised I have the photos of some of the things I have been working on over the last few months. I am joining Nan at Moms the word for the first time in a long while!



I feel really shy about putting my handiwork on display but I do want to share with you all. I want to encourage others to try their hand at something completely new! It really gives you a sense of accomplishment! I hadn't used a sewing machine for years. The one my mum gave me was damaged in the flood in our house so I was thrilled when Colin allowed me to buy a very small machine. I love my Janome sew mini! It is small but cute and perfect for piecing together fabric. It won't do much with heavyweight fabric but I don't work with that just now anyway!

After making a few gift quilts Colin demanded a large quilt of his own! So I have been working on this since December. The hand quilting is the time consuming part but I really enjoy quilting by hand. I used the machine to piece the blocks together and then decided on a pattern and began hand stitching. My template for the pattern was very hi tech! A plate for the circle and a paper leaf shape drawn round with chalk! It seems to work fine for me! The blue and brown backing fabric is much darker, my camera plays up lots and the flash wouldn't turn off!

I made this Amish star block just to try something more complicated! I followed the instructions found at McCall's quilting, an excellent site with many blocks and instructions to try at all levels.

And finally this is the charm pack that I am desperate to start on with lots of crisp white and printed pinwheels! This fabric is gorgeous and will look great against white.



If I can quilt then anyone can! I encourage you to give it a go! If you are interested in the process then I am happy to share it with you (mistakes and all), as I tackle my first pinwheel quilt. Let me know if you want me to share the process? Hope you enjoyed looking!