High Tea at the Cape Grace

On Saturday we went to the Cape Grace Hotel for Afternoon Tea to celebrate Zulfa's birthday.  It was an afternoon of pure decadence spent with three beautiful ladies.



Zulfa, me, Rehana and Terri

Loose leaf tea drawing for 6 minutes

Afternoon Tea - Scones, Sandwiches, cakes, pudding and sweets

 

 

The Cream Tea - Four scones with cream, jam and lemon curd.

Loose Leaf Tea

The best friends a girl can have in the world!



 

Hot Chocolate

Emilio, Arthur and Oscar with their hot choclate in Vida

Today I took these three boys for hot chocolate after work. We arranged it a week ago that I would pick them up at the circle at the police station.  When I got to the circle they were ready and waiting for me.  While they climbed into my car they were all chirping, "why did you take so long." I laughed and said, "I'm on time" and they were like, "We've been waiting since 5pm." I laughed again and told them I said I'd pick you up at 5:30pm because I only finish work at 5pm. We then drove to Vida and the conversation flowed about my car and if it was fixed.

When we got to Vida, Emilo was hanging back and I asked him what was up, he asked if he had had to pay for the hot chocolate. I told him, no it's my treat. He then looked more concerned and asked me if it was expensive. I told him not to worry about it.  I was blown away by this. I totally did not expect that.

We made a mad dash in the rain to the entrance of Vida, ordered the hot chocolate and then had a wonderful hour filled with laughter and discussing whether my Adidas takkies were fake or real. After I got my mom to send me pictures, we established they were fakes but I was safe from judgement because I was me. This made me laugh, especially when they told me not to be sad because they are fake and I spent a lot of money on it.  We even had a moment of serious talk when Oscar asked what it means to have Jesus in your heart. The conversation swirled around that for about 10 minutes before more laughter followed caused by Arthur sharing something funny.

The one thing I never planned on was the sugar rush that would follow... especially with Gap being right after out hot chocolate hour. They were on a super sugar rush, but so were all the other kids.  I think Huggi and I did well in zoning in their attention and using their energy constructively.

At the end of Gap we were doing prayer requests and Oscar's request for Jesus to come into his heart. He said he'll pray it when we go around the circle.  Huggi and I started prayer and then some of the kids prayed and the Oscar asked Jesus into his heart. It was an incredible moment. God is totally awesome and works in crazy ways, and tonight Oscar opened his heart up to God. 

I really enjoyed spending time with the Gap boys this evening. It was a lot of fun and I feel super blessed by them. I also feel super blessed after Gap tonight, God did something in the crazy.

xKx

I put my armour on

This morning while I drove to work I was still feeling pretty despondent,  my mind was a hundred miles away as I let my thoughts go to places they shouldn't go and I "moped" at the thought of going to work.  When I parked my car outside the building I looked up  at it and sighed before I took out my bible and devotional.

My devotional was on how God is our refuge and our strength, Psalm 41:6  "God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble"

I sat thinking about that verse and what it means, especially the words refuge and strength.  I then prayed through it and gave up the fight of being at work and let God take over - I asked him to be my strength for today.  I also knew that without him there was no way I was going to be able to make it through today. 

After being at work for a bit, I started to feel despondent again and I smsed Tree to pray for me.  I then thought - "Why don't I put my armour on?"  So I quietly and quickly prayed the armour of God.  I remembered how when I do this it helps me refocus on God and to just stop focusing on how despondent or sucky I feel and to remember that I'm not in this alone, but that God is with me. 

It has helped, I'm not feeling as despondent as before and I'm leaning into God to get me through this "phase" at work.  I'm also ready for whatever comes my way because I have my armour on and God is with me. 

xKx 

Feeling a litte despondent

The past few weeks at work have been pretty tough.. and it's hard to keep shining Gods light when there is a certain person in my office who belittles me, shouts at me when I ask questions, when I get things wrong. He speaks to me like I'm stupid and treats me almost like a child. 

I really try to keep being nice and polite to him, I don't always get it right and roll my eyes when he's talking to me - especially when he speaks to me like I'm two years old and really stupid.  It's been getting super hard to just love him like Jesus would want me to love him and to show him grace, patience and kindness.  

It's getting harder to pray for him because I'm so angry and bitter towards him. I try to give it to God, but then I come to work and he's mean and it starts all over again. 

Today I kind of had enough and was like I'm over this.  He asked me to set up a meeting and I asked him if it should be at our offices or theirs and he shouted, "I don't know, I don't know, it's not my job" without looking at me.  I looked at him calmly, even though I literally wanted to punch him and shout "YOU ASKED ME TO SET UP THE MEETING" and said, "I'll set it up for our offices".  I then walked back to my desk and emailed everyone.  As I walked back to my desk, I was like "I'm done. I don't want to be nice to you anymore and I won't" He came up to later to ask me to send something for printing and I never looked up from the filing I was doing and just said yes.  When he asked what he had on his calendar, I looked and told him as plainly as possible. 

I know as a Christian I need to be shining God's light and loving people - but I really don't know how to do it with him. I try and be nice and he keeps being mean, some days on a whole new level.  A few minutes a go, well half an hour ago I decided to pray because I was so angry.  I just told God how I was feeling and how I give up.  I told him how this one person makes me feel so despondent about coming to work and being here. I told God how I don't think I can do this being nice and loving thing anymore. 

And then God was like...

 

He then gently reminded me that He is in control, he's my strength and refuge. He can renew my despondency and give me hope again. He can show me how to keep loving, showing grace and practicing patience. 

 

And I was like...

 

YIP!

 

Working here is hard at times, but God has put me here for such a time as this.  I just need to refocus on Him and let him relight the fire so I can keep shining.

 

xKx

Faith, Hope, The Bridge, Misuderstanding and then I got it...

We've just started working through a small group study by Andy Stanley called Faith, Hope and Luck.  Last night Andy was defining faith and it kind of made me hit a "wobbly" and really mess with my head.

When it comes to explaining what faith is most Christians quote Hebrews 11.1 "Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see." My basic understanding of faith was that faith is believing that God is going to do what he says he is going to do, because He is faithful, trustworthy and doesn't break His promises.  

Andy explained that between hope and faith there is a bridge between hope and faith.  First he explained hope as something that we would like to happen, by using the analogy of calling someone to ask if they want to have lunch with. He hoped they would meet him for lunch, (something he would like to happen), but to have faith that they were going to meet him for lunch something needed to happen.  The person had to call back and say they were going to meet you for lunch.  If they never did this, there was not “promise”, meaning that you did not have a guaranteed outcome.  Hope, as I understand, is therefore an outcome that you desire.   

Andy then defined Faith as being certain of who God is and being certain that what He says is going to happen, will happen.  This is where the paw-paw hit the fan for me last night.  I then totally freaked out and was like, "if you're being certain of who God is and that he'll do what he says he will do, then you can't link it to personal promises God makes to you."  I can have faith that God will provide, heal etc. because that is who he is and he does that.  When it came to God promising something to you like being a missionary, or who you'll marry or what you'll do with your life  because there isn't a certain outcome  because t can be influenced by sin, bad choices, other people etc., so you can only hope that will happen because you can make bad choices. I was really stuck on this and felt like it was pointless having faith in something that wasn't guaranteed and could change, in other words something that wasn't guaranteed.  I couldn't see past my confusion, or my heightened emotions  because of this.  I was just stuck and it never made sense to me, and the more I tried to explain how I understood it, the more worked up I got and the more frustrated I got.  It literally felt like I was going to explode and I couldn't process anything.


....BUT then this morning I had a light bulb moment while I was brushing my teeth and it all made sense.  I started to think about it again and I broke it down.  Faith is being certain of who God is. 

I know who God is, he's good, faithful, powerful, in control, trustworthy etc. 

The second half is knowing that God will do what he says he is going to do. 

We know that God will do what he says he will do, because of who He is and not because of the outcome.  I can have faith that God will do what he says he will do because of who He is.  

After I had that thought the light bulb went on and I was like, "Oh". We have faith in God and NOT the situation. We place our faith in God and not the outcome.  I was looking at the outcome and saying, if it's not guaranteed then why have faith.  That's wrong, that's basing my faith on the situation and not God.  God determines the outcome, he knows what is good for us and he always works the good for us.   We shouldn't let our faith be determined by the outcome or the promise made to us. Our faith needs to be and has to be in God.

.... So after all the emotion and a good nights sleep I was finally able to understand and see the light.

xKx

 

Things that require commitment

This morning I was thinking about the numerous things in my life that requires commitment. I then got the giggles as I thought of all the silly things that I commit to and ended up laughing rather loudly as I walked up to work.

Here are a four things in m y life that require me to commit to before I do them...

1. A Bubble Bath

When I want to have a bubble bath, I really need to commit to it.  A bath is not something that takes 5 minutes, it's a loooong process of relaxing.  You need to commit to taking the time out of your day - at least an hour to just have a bath. It's also a waste of water to soak for less than that.




2. A Loyalty Card

I LOVE loyalty cards, but I have had to limit the amount of cards that I have. I currently only have a Kauai and Vida e Café one.  Choosing which loyalty card requires commitment because you're committing to getting coffee of smoothies from only one place.  My commitment to Vida is lacking and is moving towards Knead. Their late's are R5 cheaper then Vida and nicer. I also saw that they have a loyalty card... I shall have to think about this A LOT before I decide to commit to Knead.



3. Early Morning Hike

 An early morning hike requires a LARGE amount of commitment.  I love to snooze and I could easily snooze way past the early morning hike start time.  I need to be committed and dedicated to this for  it to happen in my life.  I need to be so committed that I have packed my snack and water bottle the night before and have everything ready at the door for me in the morning. If this is not in place, I haven't committed and the chance of it happening are pretty slim.





4. Running

I really enjoy running... once I start and get into it again. Starting the run is the hardest part.  For me to actually go for a run I need to commit to it at lunch time already.  Today I have committed to going for a run after work.  I have smsed my mom and told her, I have prepped myself mentally for the run and I'm pretty amped. I also haven't been for a run in a week, so I need to amp myself up and commit a lot more than usual. 




I'm pretty sure I can think of more.. baking cupcakes - you need to ice them and that takes forever so you need to commit to that, getting out of bed on an early morning in winter... oooohhh.. I think I could go on but I'll stop.

 

Community

A friend of mine posted the following video on Facebook yesterday,  http://vimeo.com/64686246

I watched it now and I was like, "Yes, that describes community". 

For me community is being real with people and going deeper than surface level with people. It's about walking a journey with someone and loving them, like Jesus.

xKx