Heart Reflections Live

I've spent the last couple of days conquering Mt Everest, which had slowly been transferring its location from the laundry to the bedroom-sheets, towels, & clothes & underwear for a family of 4. You see, despite the drought, it's been raining heavily & near constantly for about a week & a half up where we live & no we don't have a dryer.

Despite the rain, I kept up with as much laundry as I could, using my Mum's dryer once, putting non-urgent stuff outside (some of it got REALLY clean!), making a clothes line in the laundry & putting some items on our enamel rack in the sunroom, or in front of the fan. When we finally got a day & a half of sunshine, I dried about 3 loads-hence the growing pile in our bedroom.
I've never been fond of the look of a laundry pile in one's home, so I usually try to keep up on it-If I can't it "hides" in a bucket in a corner of our room. So I had a very busy day, washing & folding & putting things to be ironed in a basket. (Lest anyone be tempted to think I'm a perfect housewife, I rarely see the bottom of this, as we tend to wear dress up type clothes most of the time & the girls & I prefer wearing dresses & skirts most of the time- if you catch us in tracksuit pants or the like-it's been a bad week!)

But believe it or not I was so greatful to God for this sorting job on our bed! To me it represented His goodness in that He was gracious enough to fill our tank to overflowing repeatedly-we are on tank water alone-& that He provided sufficient sunshine when needed for me to get nearly all the remaining washing done. I think if I had a constant supply of town water & a clothes dryer these aspects of His providence would probably be taken for granted. I can really see why in the old days peoples faith in God was so active & strong- it had to be! Times of need can be very good for us Spiritually.

Just as our clothes can smell from being stored damp in the laundry pile, without the washing of water & warm sunshine to dry them, so too we can smell spiritually & become stale in our Christian life without the washing of water by the Word, Jesus forgiving our sins & us just loving Him as we bathe in His Sonshine & enjoy His presence. I often think how "happy" a line of washing looks, dancing in the wind & sunshine & how lovely & fresh it smells when you bring it in.

Sometimes I have days when I feel I learn more about God, just by reading His Word & being a Mum, than the 4 years part-time that I put into Bible college before I married.God is always welcome to teach me lessons as I work for Him in our home- it makes each little labour so much more exciting!!

Labels: Faith, God's Providence, housework

Both my little girls love to be by my side at home, helping Mama. Whether it be dusting, baking, hanging out the washing, or washing the dishes, they love to be helpers. Of course there are times when it's not convenient for them to help- like when I'm in a big hurry, or have to keep to a strict timetable, but I'm learning to be more accomodating, as they get older-These tender years won't last forever! And I want to make these special moments last!

On Saturday, Talitha had time helping me rinse dishes & wipe up. Zara usually helps me, but as Talitha is now in school, she misses out during the week. Her enthusiasm was priceless! You'd think she was on an outing to Dreamworld, she glowed so much, but no, she was helping Mama & relishing it!!

Zara shared her excitement & packed the knives & forks away(not the sharp cutting ones!). I watched on in admiration & realized that despite my imperfections, they were learning to run a home at 5 & 3 respectively, just by observation & enjoying my company. It seemed so natural...I stood there misty eyed watching them in their pretty dresses they love to wear & thought that they looked like a pair of very content 1950's housewives- happy housewives- not desperate ones & realized that sadly what is a normality in our home is not considered normal by society as a whole anymore...

They were full of joy reveling in the simple natural joys of being female. Talitha turned to me & said, "We're being little Mummies!!" I hope I can nuture these simple dreams of beautiful girlhood & pray that the world at large won't stifle what God has already put in their little hearts & minds.

I was recently loaned a copy of the Westminster Confession of Faith. I'd never read it before. It was put together in the 1600's, & in perusing the introductions, I was amazed at the relevence the words still hold today. Here are some quotes I've put together for you:

To the Christian Reader, especially Heads of Families,

As we cannot but with grief of soul lament those multitudes of errors, blasphemies, & all kinds of profaneness, which have in this last age, like a mighty deluge, overflown this nation; so, among several other sins which have helped to open the flood-gates of all these impieties, we cannot but esteem the disuse of family instruction one of the greatest.

How much the serious endeavours of godly parents & masters might contribute to an early seasoning the tender years of such as are under their inspection, is abundantly evident, not only from their special influence upon them, in respect of their authority over them, interest in them, continual presence with them, & frequent opportunities of being helpful to them; but also from the sad effects which, by woeful experience, we find to be the fruit of the omission of this duty...

Families are societies that must be sanctified to God as well as Churches; & the governors of them have as truly a charge of the souls that are therein, as Pastors have of the Churches. But alas, how little is this considered and regarded!...They offer their children to God...& there they promise to teach them the doctrine of the gospel,& bring them up in the nurture of the Lord; but they easily promise, & easily break it; & educate their children for the world & the flesh, although they have renounced these, & dedicated them to God.

How relevent is all this to us today!! It's no wonder Satan is out to destroy the family unit!

Food for thought: If every Christian Mother & Father diligently took their parenting role as seriously as this, how would our society become? Could we actually create a reverse peer group pressure within our Churches? I wonder...

Hi everyone! This is kind of a quick test post. I had no plans to switch to the new blogger, but eventually it wouldn't let me in unless I changed over. Has this happened to you?

When I added my image to my previous article, I ended up with hearts everywhere & ridiculous spacings between my paragraphs that I hadn't put in. I had to save it as a draft & ask my hubby to fix it before it could be published. Anyway, here goes-let's try this one!

I' d been thinking of writing a Valentine's Day post, but thought I'd be a little different & share it as a testimony instead...


Those who know us personally, know that when my beloved husband committed his heart to me, I received it with joy & with 3 major & rare defects in it. My beloved is in short a "Miracle Man"- a wonder to the medical profession, not healed by the power of God, but kept alive & sustained by the One who breathed the breath of life into him & who gave him the promise of Eternal life.


Max has tricuspet artresia, transposition of the great arteries & pulmonary stenosis. People with just one of these defects often die between 16-20 years of age- Max is 42. Nothing keeps him down. He has had 17 cardio-inversions (Yep-the shocks) in the last 4 years- 2 of them in Malaysia & yet keeps on keeping on by the Grace of God, the love of his family & for the sake of the gospel.


One hospital worker once said to me, "You're brave taking him on!"But it doesn't feel like that when you are in the situation. God spoke to me as a single Christian Woman 3 months before I met him telling me that my future husband would have a mantle of evangelism over his life-He didn't tell me about his heart condition-I guess that shows that God considers his calling more important than any congenital defect!! When Max told me shortly before we began courting about his heart, I briefly thought of Mary & how she got the prophecy that a sword would one day pierce her heart, but then I remembered too the joy she would have had as the mother of our Lord; so I accepted that a rose has thorns & accepted the gift with its glorious scent.


When Max had his first turn 4 years ago, it was totally unexpected. I remember thinking as I waited for the ambulance "This isn't meant to be happening yet! God, you've joined us together for a purpose!"This was about 2 days before our eldest's first birthday! I spent Talitha's first birthday wondering if he'd even survive. This was before the hospital understood the uniqueness of his condition & how best to treat it. After a few days in hospital they sent him home on several different heart medications, but he still wasn't too good. At that stage I was working 1.5 days per week, while he cared for Talitha & I still remember one Saturday morning, going to work at his insistance (the half day) & getting a phone call from him 2 hours later "You'd better come home". I drove home the 30mins drive as quick as I could & found him lying on the bed with Talitha resting beside him. He had checked the side effect sheet given him by the hospital, rang them & discovered one of the tablets was killing him! I packed baby bottles & drove the 3 of us to the hospital. He wasn't doing well. I gritted my teeth as I drove & forced myself to say "Whatever happens the devil can't win!!" & then the revelation came to both of us-we experienced joy in the middle of an emergency. I started to sing & he came a bit better. The devil released his grip as he knew that fear wasn't binding us!!


To cut a long story short, the hospital kept him in for a while & changed his medication, but he was still in Aterial Fibulation . This left him very weak & unable to lift our daughter. While we were waiting for an appointment at Prince Charles Hospital in Brisbane, we received notification that my name had come up on a waiting list for major surgery at Nambour. This presented a problem. I would be out of action for 6 weeks & be unable to care for our daughter. We explained our dilema & the answer "Prince Charles" had was-Cardio-inversion for Max!! That's what they do to dead people I thought!!


Anyway Max was zapped accordingly, while I prayed alone in the waiting room. In came the Doctor "Worked first time!!" When he awoke from the GA he was a new man-full of life & energy again!!


That was 4 years ago & it wasn't even a week ago that I called the ambulance again as he woke up in AF & needed another cardio-inversion. We don't know how long Max will have on this earth. Heaven is very real to us. God is good regardless & Life is very precious. God just gives us more adventures than other people.


Happy Valentines my Precious, I treasure your heart- just as it is!!

Heard at the Roberts' family mealtime:

Talitha:"Dear God, Thankyou for a lovely day. Thankyou for this food & I'm very sorry for my sins today. Amen"

Zara:" Dear God, Thankyou for a lovely day. Thankyou for this food & thankyou that I haven't been naughty today, Amen".

Daddy:" Dear Lord, Thankyou for this food. Bless the hands that prepared it & we ask that you will teach our Zara humility, in Jesus name, Amen"

My Husband has just posted his first comment on his new Blog The Preacher.
He is set to get everyone thinking about what truth is being preached out there and what is not truth.
Also that it all comes back to Jesus (His-tory) get it.
So we all need to have something to chew on once in a while, therefore I pray you will all go and have a look see for yourselves, I think you will love it.

I may have mentioned before on one of my blogs about books, how much I love Arthur Maxwell's "The Bible Story" set for children. Although they are Seventh Day Adventist , they are very reverent, in both word & picture,& there is only a little that requires altering while reading. (It's very difficult to find any children's bible story that is entirely faithful to Scripture-if anyone knows of any exceptional ones, please make a comment.)

The set we have was copyrighted in 1953 & has beautiful illustrations both from that era & Bible times. God has really been reaffirming to me lately the importance of family devotions & praying together as a foundation for impacting our children for Christ. You can't rely on Church & Sunday School. Their purpose is to reaffirm what happens at home. Here is a quote from the foreward to the first book in the set:

It is one of the strangest paradoxes of our time that just when the Bible is enjoying its widest circulation, millions of copies being sold every year, fewer people than ever seem to be reading it. Because in countless homes family worship & the reading of the Bible have been neglected, & parents themselves seldom open its pages, a whole generation is growing up with little or no knowledge of this wonderful Book.

Most modern children have heard little or nothing about the great Bible characters of ancient times, so familiar to their Grandparents. Their heroes are not Daniel, Paul & Peter, but Dick Tracy & Superman. They have never heard of the love of Jesus, & thus have been robbed of the greatest treasure their minds & hearts could possess. No wonder there is so much juvenile delinquency, youthful vandalism, and lawlessness.

Bearing in mind that this was written in the early 1950's, when TV was still fairly new, you can see that it didn't take very long for pop culture & commercialism to creep in on a wider scale. I guess the quote proves the Scripture that says There is nothing new under the sun, or the simple fact that some things never change. Let us be among those who do not neglect family worship, Bible reading & prayer.