beauty is power

We are in for a storm here…a big one. Another one.

The candles are on standby for the blackouts, I’m about to cook up a few things in the event of losing our electricity again so we aren’t limited with meals. It’s due to hit sometime tonight, tornados and all!

Driving alongside our wind-tossed sea, Little Miss Delight pipes up and says “Mummy, what if this day ends up beautiful?”

Who ever said it wasn’t?!

So I point out across our ocean and show her the soft, shadowy mist and rain that is now covering things that we know are out there. Things that are easy to spot on a fine day, like big rocks and islands and far off southern cities. Right now, they don’t exist, not visible at all, it’s like the grey sky has been smudged in with the grey ocean. We take note of all the green things looking much greener, the trees, the grass, it seems everything is saturated with the colour of wet.

So I tell her, ‘See baby, it’s already beautiful.”       Oh how I love seeing the beauty in everything! 

then I add,

“but beautiful can be dangerous.”

Being 6, of course she asks, 

“How?”

So we drive a little more, finding evidence of how that rain and wind caused havoc just days ago, when the last storm hit. We see the danger of fallen trees, roofs torn off broken houses, and boats washed ashore, and for now that’s all I show her.

But my mind goes further,

Yes, 

Beautiful can be dangerous.

How can I tell her that it can be a weapon used wrongly by her and others?

That both men and women alike can and often will use it against her out of their own insecurities, jealousy, comparison, competition and selfish ambition. That even projections of a beautiful life may cause her or others to stumble, to go off-course and distract her from where and how she is called to live her truest beautiful life.

That, like a fierce storm, Beauty is Power.

And depending on how it is harnessed can be used for good, or for evil.

I will tell her we can be beautiful people with beautiful power. That the Maker of all this wind and rain is also the giver of power within us that we can all possess. To be blessed with outer beauty and to constantly cultivate keeping it is one thing….but it is just that… one thing, there’s so much more! We don’t have to be a shell on the outside, but a powerhouse of inner beauty. We’ve heard all the quotes, ‘Beauty is Skin Deep’, ‘It’s in the eye of the beholder’ etc and it’s true.

'Cultivate inner beauty, the gentle kind that God delights in.' -1 Peter 3:4 The Message

Beautiful can be dangerous to darkness when we’re not just a pretty face. When we are in constant check of any underlying ugly that may show up rearing it’s wretchedness. Beauty’s danger to evil comes when we stand up for the downcast, when we speak words that are true, necessary and kind, when we rejoice in the success of others, when we step aside and let others shine. When we go without so that others don’t have to, when we surrender our heart to The One with the most Beautiful Power of all.

Let Him switch a light on in you, one that doesn’t go out in a storm. Be dangerously beautiful, as I believe you already are,

Who ever said you weren’t?!

be the change

I really missed not being able to go to this year's Colour Conference at Hillsong Sydney
and the whole time it was on I just kept thinking about it,
thinking about how much it had enlarged my head and my heart the year before. But it got to a point where I couldn't STOP thinking about it and I knew God was onto something.

There is something burning in my spirit, something alive and well and yearning to be the change.

Orphans. Sisters. Nations.

as the Sisterhood had put it

and as God the Kind was reminding me.

In order to see a change, we need to be the change.

If you have read my previous post, you will see that I consider a sister a precious commodity.
I am really, truly blessed that I have many. I love that we can have family beyond our genetic pool or legal arrangements. That there are those we do life alongside, who celebrate our successes and not just notice when we fail. Those whose strength you can lean on when at the times you have virtually none of your own. I love that He gives us family and that we can be family to others.

I could do nothing but smile as my favourite neighbour's adorable 2 year old wandered in my back door yesterday, helped herself to a bowl and some snacks, picked a book from the kidlet's shelf, sat herself down at my bench while I tinkered in the kitchen and sang a little tune to herself. She was quite at home, and so was I.
Family!

I had the privilege of attending a High Tea on the weekend. I love that my very own Miss Sunshine came with me.
A room full of mothers, sisters, daughters.
My beautiful Pastor and her two gorgeous girls told us of their life growing in church, their tragedies, their triumphs and their Hope.
My heart swells knowing I am part of a growing sisterhood across the globe as Our Father draws us near.
The glistening, beautiful jewels on His Bride's Gown, dancing and dazzling in the glorious light, casting off reflections in the darkest of places.

I am hoping to make my way to Cambodia a little later in the year to join a woman who has a place for girls who have been trafficked but rescued. Their stories are horrific, heart-wrenching. Here's a clip from last year's Colour Conference that sheds some light on this shocking reality. While I long to travel to the far ends of the earth shining His light, I realise that 'reaching the nations' also means reaching out to those in our own backyard who perhaps from us, may be world's apart. Our nation is in need, our world is in need. I have been hanging out for a copy of this clip for a while and yay, I found it...get the tissues! (and the overalls...there's work to be done -chop chop!)

And what better way to start than His Word and a cup of tea!

dark to light & a pen to prove it!

Well I have a bit of a confession, but I’ve been finding it a little hard to write lately (fussy more like it) Perhaps a case of writer’s block, but I think more truthfully it’s just plain stubbornness! You see God’s been on my case a bit, I’ve been trying to play it safe a little lately when I write, keep it light hearted, lovely, glossing over some areas I could delve deeper into.. The thing is, I’m sensing He wants me to bump things up a notch, after all, we do speak He & I. It all started when we were having a conversation recently coz I didn’t know what I should write about and thought He could show me. So I asked, (He likes it when we do that)..

His answer,

‘I want you to write about Darkness.’

What?!!

Crazy huh, the Lord of Light wants me to write about darkness? What is with that?!!!

Blaagh I thought, I don’t wanna write about that, there so much other cool stuff, why get all doom & gloomy?!! So I’ve been wrestling with it over the past few weeks, boycotted writing altogether for a bit, questioned whether I should be doing it at all, listened to a few lies from the pit & allowed self-doubt to creep in. Finally fed up of avoiding something I love doing I prayed that if He doesn’t want me to write anymore would He please remove my desire to write at all!... and whadya know.. ta-da! I’m still here! only now with an even stronger desire. Which leaves me a little daunted about the next part, meaning my whole ‘play it safe’ habit is about to be thrown outta the water – yikes! For this former people-pleaser, perfectionist, ‘yes-woman’ to everything, that kind of exposure leaves me feeling vulnerable and well… bare.

I think of what I could write and screw up my nose thinking it just sounds all about me me me me! (but then it is MY blog after all) Then in another sense, I know God wants to use my journey through depression to bring light to others and I would never want redemption through my Saviour to have been in vain. So I’m stuck between a rock & a hard place, actually more like On The Rock, which come to think of it isn’t that bad a place to be!!

Then last night I had a nightmare.

It woke me up rather unsettled just after 4am and left me feeling a little rattled all morning unable to go back to sleep and with an open opportunity for fear about my safety to creep in. In my dream my husband and I were sleeping when I woke with a sense of uneasiness, lying in bed I heard a noise and could see a frightening, tormented person/zombie/demon enter the house. For some reason I was aware he had brought others like him who were waiting outside and I knew we were under attack, it was a planned assignment for our doom. I quickly poked my sleeping husband who opened his eyes just in time as I shut mine again and pretended to be asleep. As the intruder approached and locked eyes with my hubby launching an attack I reached over and stabbed the evil one with a pen. Yes, a pen!...and not just once, I finished him off! We managed to get out and escape through the manhole, onto the roof and down out the back through the woods. Then I woke up.

It really rattled me all morning, that thing was scary, possessed, cold & calculating. But then I thought how I’d got the better of him… with my pen! I'd like to think that when I and other Godly writers out there put pen to paper & write, we can put to death the king of darkness in our own lives and in other’s. We ruin his assignment of fear, death and despair through the confession of our heart, mind and mouth. How can I be so sure? Well, I'm not really, of myself that is..but of Him & in Him, our most powerful Almighty, I most certainly am! So that's it, I’m gonna keep on writing, mindful of my humanity and His Sovereignty. There is power in our words, spoken & written I would say, particularly when they are inspired from His Word, the Lord of Light, our one True God.

‘For the Word of God is living & powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart’ – Hebrews 4:12

Here’s to the darkness, you suck!....oh and watch out, this pen is on fire!