Day 30: the greatest gift of all

So here I am. Starting to write the last post of this 30 day challenge. I must say, this challenge has really opened my eyes to the riches I have in my life. I am truly blessed and by thinking of 30 blessings I have come to realised how easy it is to take for granted and how much I should be thanking God for.

So, Day 30: the greatest gift of all. The love of God. I have been planning this post in my head for some time now. All the other blessings that I have talked about fall under this blessing. All we have is a result of the love of God. As John Piper says:

"We simply take life and breath and health and friends and everything for granted. We think it is our by right. But the fact is it is not ours by right. We are doubly undeserving of it.
1) We are CREATURES, and our Creator is not bound or obligated to give us anything - not life or health or anything. He gives, he takes, and he does us no injustice (Job 1:21).
2) And besides being creatures with no claim on our Creator, we are SINNERS. We have fallen short of his glory (Romans 3:23). We have ignorer him and disobeyed him and failed to love him and trust him. The wrath of his justice is kindled against us. All we deserve from him is judgement (Romans 3:19). Therefore every breath we take, every time our heart beats, every day that the sun rises, every moment we see with our eyes or hear with our ears or speak with our mouths or walk with our legs is, for now, a free and undeserved gift to sinners who deserve only judgement."   ---- John Piper, Don't waste your life, p. 51-52

We have received so much because of the love of God. And the most important part of that love is that He sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. For my many, many sins. For all of your sins. In that alone, we are more blessed than anyone else in this world. We did nothing, absolutely nothing at all, yet we have been chosen to be called children of God. We have been chosen by God to be saved from the eternal damnation we deserve. All the sins we have committed have been forgotten, in God's eyes they are no more.

We don't deserve anything, yet because of the love of God we have everything. Never forget that. Let your heart rejoice and overflow with thankfulness because we don't deserve anything we have, yet God has given it to us.

Continue to live a life of thankfulness to God.

Day 29: The providence of God - a blessing

This afternoon we had a sermon on the 4th petition of the Lord's Prayer. "Give us this day our daily bread." The sermon really highlighted how God provides for us everything we need for each day. Nothing happens to us which hasn't been sifted through God's hands first. Everything that happens to us happens because God has it all a a part of His plan.

It is such a blessing to rest in the knowledge that God is in control. He will provide for us. Everything that happens to us is for a purpose - even if we don't see it at the time.

I've written a few other posts about the providence of God, God is in Control and Be Still and know that I am God, yet it is good to be reminded once again of God's providence and the blessing it is for us as his children.

Day 28: the gift of life

I'm pretty sure that my 30 days are up. In fact, looking at the date I started this challenge, this blog post should read day 30, and I should be finishing up my last post of the challenge.  Instead, I have three more posts to write. If I'm good, I'll write them all today - I'm not so sure about that though.

The blessing for today  day 28, is life. Isn't it wonderful to wake up each morning and know that you are alive. Your heart is pumping blood around your body, your lungs are inhaling and exhaling air so that you can breath, your legs can move, your arms can move, all the muscles of our body work together so that we move. Our brain sends messages via the firing of neurones, so when we think of doing something it happens. We see, we hear, we smell, we taste, we touch, we feel. Isn't it so amazing to be alive.

Day 27: The gift of open space

I am writing this sitting pretty much in the middle of nowhere. The remoteness of the location means that this is currently a word document and will have to e uploaded at a later stage.  I have volunteered to take my brothers and cousin to my uncle’s block to ride the trail bike – on the condition that I also get a try. But of course I need to do lots of work so I have taken my computer along in the attempt to get more work done. Unfortunately, the serenity around me, the silence (which happens to be broken by the occasional sound of a motorbike and the chatter of those around me) and the beauty of the ‘open’ country is too much of a distraction. In fact what I want right now is my sketch pad and camera. I just have to concede to taking some (very poor quality) pictures with the camera of my computer (because I didn’t even have my phone with me, which I can't even figure out how to upload onto here)

It is such a blessing that we have access to so much open space. I have grown up on a 5 acre property and I cannot imagine living on anything smaller. With open spaces you can breathe. There isn’t the problem of neighbors complaining about your noise because they can’t hear you. You have beautiful, uninterrupted scenery.  And if you do live close to other people, In Perth there is the opportunity to take a little drive and find a national park and some wide, uninhabited space. Yes, open space is a gift that I have been blessed with, one that I often take for granted. Thinking about it, it is truly a wonderful blessing. Imagine living in a city where there is so much smog there is rarely a blue sky, then think about the space around where you live – isn’t that a blessing.  

Day 26: The gift of communication

As a Speech Pathology Student I have been taught the value of communication. I have sat in a number of lectures in which I have been required to communicate a message without speaking, only using gross motor movements, or only using non-verbal noises. When you are required to communicate a message with a constraint placed on you usual method of communicating, you understand the difficulty and frustration that some people face every day due to injury or disability.

Communicating with those around us is something we do every day. It is something which we have done since the day we were born. We learnt to talk at a very young age and by the age of 3 our vocabulary is expanding rapidly. We can verbalise our thoughts. We can have conversations with others regarding subjects as boring and simple as the weather, to those deep and meaningfuls involving deep biblical reasoning or our most hidden thoughts and emotions. We can ask questions when we don't understand. We can tell people good news. We can share bad news. We can teach others. We can argue with others, and we can persuade them to agree with us. Think about all of what we have. How much of our life involves communication. Now imagine your communication skills if you didn't have all of it. Imagine you had a stroke and as a result it is really hard to formulate what you have in your head and put it into words, or you have extreme word finding difficulties and by the time you find the word you are thinking of the conversation has moved on, or you may think you are saying the right thing but it comes out as gibberish and no one can understand you. And then there's the flip side where you can't understand what is being said or follow instructions. And then there is pragmatics, all the social rules of language. The use of tone in our voice, verbal expression, the volume in our voice, the use of facial expression, our body language. There is so much that we just learn automatically when it comes to language and we can imagine life without it. Being able to communicate is such a gift, it is something which we use all of the time yet we don't always realise the true value of it all.

The next time you talk to someone think about what you have and be thankful for it.

Day 25: The gift of art

I am a creative and artistic sort of person. That is why I see art as such a gift. The medium of paint, pastels or pencils is such a wonderful means in which a message can be portrayed. Like they say, a picture says a thousand words.

Day 24: The gift of the Holy Spirit

All those who believe in God have been given the git of the Holy Spirit. When Jesus left to go up to heaven, he promised his disciples that they will be given " 'the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about.  For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.' " (Acts 1:4,5). Already there the Holy Spirit is referred to as a gift. Then when the day of Pentecost arrived, all the disciples received him. 

The Holy Spirit is a wonderful gift. He is the one who works faith in our hearts, the faith that we need to be saved. It is by the Holy Spirit that we also receive the assurance of our faith, the assurance of our salvation. He works in us the fruits of the Spirit so that what we do on the outside is a reflection of the work that is happening in our hearts. 

Luke 11: 13 says "If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!". Think about that. Isn't THAT such a wonderful gift, and all we have to do is ask our Father in heaven for it.

Day 23: The blessing of staying busy

I find it a blessing to keep busy. When I have lots to do I find that I am much more productive. I don't find the need to procrastinate. I have more energy, even though I'm doing much more. It takes shorter amounts of time to do the same thing. And LOTS more gets done. Don't ask me how or why, but, for me, being busy it a a blessing.

Day 22: The gift in a catalyst

I'm not really sure how many people reading this are chemistry buffs, OR even how many people can recall their (perhaps limited) exposure to Chemistry in high school. But if you stretch your mind back to it all, a catalyst is a substance that triggers or increases the rate of a chemical reaction, without actually undergoing change itself (and there was my inner nerd showing it's face once again :P). In titling this post "the gift in a catalyst" I was not actually referring to chemical substances which increase the rate of reactions, but I was thinking of objects, actions, events and persons which precipitate other reactions and events. They are a blessing.

On a (very) small scale, I was catalysed into cleaning my room last Friday night. My sister had vacummed  both my room and the study area we share and my slightly disorganised and messy floordrobe had been moved from the floor to my bed. That was the catalyst for me to clean my room. I could have taken everything from my bed and put it all back on the floor, where it was originally. That would have been much quicker and I could have gone to bed earlier. Instead, I put everything in it's original place (which actually isn't on the floor). Now my room is clean. The floor being vacuumed was a catalyst for me to clean my bedroom.

Now that was really a minor example. There are other catalysts in our lives too. Things happen to us so that we do things which we may not have done otherwise. They are blessings. They help us to achieve things which otherwise may not happen. A catalyst may be an inspiring sermon which makes us go home and do something that we had been putting off for a long time. It may be a memory or a photograph which makes you contact an old friend and speak to them again. It may be a deadline for a certain project which gets you into action so that once that project is done you are much more productive than before. Whatever your catalyst may be, be thankful for it, it certainly is a gift.

Day 21: the blessing of 'distractions'

.... And once again I am updating my blog several days late, thinking of writing several posts just to make sure that I am actually on top of it all again. But I think that I can justify my reasons for not blogging every day. I've been busy, and by busy, I mean studying really hard for the test I had this morning (and yes I did study hard for it), writing assignments (well at least I thought about writing them) working on the congress weekend that we are planning for 3 weeks time (AHHHHHH, 3 WEEKS!!!!!), but on top of that I have been able to catch up with friends for lunch (and say goodbye to one friend who has moved to start her job!!!), watch a wonderful production of Glibert and Sullavin's Gondoliers,  and this afternoon/tonight I went to the Perth Royal Show, and also had a good time.

So between all the stress and the business I have been able to have a good time. And that is what I am getting at with this post. Between all this work, I have been able to have some time out. I have been able to forget about all the work that I have to do and that is just piling up and have a good time. It is such a blessing that we are able to do that. That we can spend time away from the everyday hustle and bustle of life and not think about what needs to be done. Isn't that such a blessing.

Ps. I apologise for the really bad grammar in this post. I know it's probably everywhere but I'm too tired to really care. I hope it all makes sense...

*** Note to self: Never commit to writing on your blog every day. It doesn't work

Day 20: the blessing of doctrine

I puzzled over the title of this post for some time. What I really want to talk about is the blessing we have in the doctrine and history of the Church, and how we can learn from that and use it and remember it.

Within the Free Reformed Church (which I am a member of), there is a strong emphasis on doctrine. Keeping in mind that too much emphasis on doctrine can detract from living a life to the glory and honour of God, the precepts and teachings of the Church are a blessing. Within the reformed Church, the youth of the congregation   receive catechism instruction in which they are educated about the confessions of the church and the history of the church. I went through 6 years of catechism and while I didn't always enjoy it at the time, it truly was a blessing and a wonderful experience. Throughout the history of the Reformed Church there are many different conflicts and disagreements of doctrine that you are made aware of and in catechism you are taught about these differences, why they exist, and why there are different denominations as a result.

Doctrine is a blessing. It is by the doctrine and confessions of the Church that people are taught. Although doctrine is something that can be a point of conflict between different denominations, it is what ensures that what is being taught is what the Bible states. In reading the book total truth by Nancy Pearcy, I was made aware of the fact that there are many evangelical Churches who really focus on their life and experiences, which is a good thing, but the author also drew attention to the need to teach the word of God as shown in the Bible. It is important that we do have a doctrine as it enables us to learn more about God in the way in which he has revealed Himself to us.

(I hope that I have made myself clear in writing this. It sounded better in my head than it does reading it over again) The doctrine and history of the church really is a blessing as you can learn from it and avoid making the same theological mistakes again.

Day 19: The blessing of prosperity

My computer is dying. So last night I went to the apple store online and bought another one. Just like that. I looked at the options I had, found out that I could have a student discount, filled in my details and it is now in transit, to be delivered tomorrow.

Isn't it such a blessing that we have the wealth and prosperity that we are able to do these things. I was able to get a new computer because I had more than enough money in my bank account, it was in stock, and it can be delivered by tomorrow. We can get so much in the society we live in. There may be those around us, or some people reading this who do struggle to pay the rent, who do have to scrape together the money to pay their bills, who do have a very tight budget due to their mortgage. But think about how much we have compared to so many others in this world. We have three meals a day, often with snacks in between. So many people don't know how they are going to get their next meal. They don't know what they are going to eat. Many of them are lucky to get one bowl of rice each day. We have clean clothes on our back and  shoes on our feet. Many of them have threadbare, clothing which doesn't keep them warm, and if they have shoes they are not the right size and completely worn down. We have a roof over our heads and a warm bed to sleep in each night. Many others do not. Many of us have a car, many households have 2 or 3 (sometimes even more). For many people in the world their means of transportation is walking.

Next time you complain about your clothes, shoes, food, house, car, bed, or computer. Think about what you have and what many others do not have.

We are blessed.

If you want to procrastinate productively and also 'advance' your knowledge, check out freerice.com and help feed the hungry.

Day 18: The gift of religious freedom

Every Sunday we go to Church two times. We are able to do this in freedom, without being afraid that we will be 'discovered' and stopped from holding more services. In countries around the world, Christians serve God in fear of their lives. In some places they meet in small groups in peoples homes, changing their location regularly so that they don't get discovered. They go to the meetings afraid that someone might discover the real reason that they are getting together. And if they are discovered, the people involved are imprisoned and sometimes even put to death.

It is a wonderful blessing to live in a country in which this doesn't happen, a country in which we can live without fearing for our lives because we serve a God whom the government doesn't respect or believe in. So often we are used to the freedom which we have because we do not know what it is like to live without it. In that way it is very easy for us to take if for granted. Please don't. Please also think and pray for those who don't have the freedom we have.

Day 17: The gift of friends

Last night was on of my best friends 21st and going away party (Although we didn't really think about the going away bit and are still going to see her before she moves). I had a great time. Good friends, good food, and  good laughs, make good times. In fact, just good friends make good times. I have had so many wonderful experiences with my friends. Pretty much every time we get together we end up in laughter and just having lots of fun. On top of that, my friends share the passion and love I have for my Father in heaven and in that way we have wonderfully deep and meaningful conversations surrounding all areas of life.

That is why my friends are such a blessing. They are there for support when ever you need it, they are there for you when you want to have a good time (most of the time anyway), they are there to make you laugh when you don't feel up to it, they are there to counsel you when you have problems that you don't know how to conquer and you can give it all back to them.

I love all of my friends and am so thankful for them.

Day 16: The gift of intelligent poeple

Intelligence. What I mean about the gift of intelligent people is the fact that ther are so many people around us who are deicated to learning more about a certain topic, people who have written books, articles, given speeches and conducted research surrounding what they are passionate about so that we can learn from them.

This is a blessing in all spheres of live. It is a blessing for my studies, I can read articels and reviews by otehr people while doing reserch instead of spending time and energy to find out new information. It is a blessing for my spritual life as I can read books and articles written by well learned pastors and professors in order to learn more about God and how to live a life of service to Him. It is even a blessing in my personal life and relaxation, a well researched book or movie is so much more enjoyable.

Speaking about passion and knowledge, on wednesday, I was able to view this amazing, mind blowing, throught provoking documentary. The research and knowledge of Ray Comfort is really a blessing. I wont say much more as I don't want to stop you from watching it.
Have a look at it. It might be 33mins but it is a 33mins worthy of your time.

Day 15: The gift of love

Hmmmmm, several days behind. Here I am on Saturday and I need to write posts for the last two days and then think about todays post aswell.

Anyway, right now I am talking about Thursday, day 15: the gift of love.

What I mean by the gift of love is not the romantic love that is between boyfriend and grilfriend or the love between husband and wife. Infact, I can't really say that I have that blessing as I do not have anyone special in my life right now. But my life is still full of love. I have the love of family, my parents and my brothers and sisters, the love of friends, the love of those I care for and I love them all back.

For many people love is a feeling or an emotion. When I looked up the definition of love on dictionary.com, I came up with a large selection of definitions, all of them relating to a feeling or affection.  it was defined as a 'profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person', a  'feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection' and some more to the same effect. As Christian's we know that love is so much more than that. Love is not just a feeling or an emotion. It is a essential part of a giving and recieving relationship. God gave us the model of love when He sent His Son, Jesus, to die for the sins of His children. "For God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life' (John 3:16) God loves us! Jesus loves us! He showed that love in the biggest sacrifice ever. In the death on the cross. As Jesus says in  John 15:13, "greater love has noone than this, than to lay down his life for his friends" and He did that. Not for his friends but also for his enemies. For sinners.

We have this example of love. And we can follow this example by giving of ourselves to those we love.