Quotes for You

I don't feel inspired. I'm tired, and my brain is struggling to process. But I thought I'd share some quotes that inspire me: ones that make me push on, ones that make me smile on the hard days, true ones that I wish more people would read. (You may notice a slight theme! ;)

I hope these inspired you too. Until next time...

Another Gift

God's love, the gift of his Son and salvation are some of the amazing gifts we often talk about. But this morning I've been thinking of another gift God has given that I sometimes forget. The gift of Souls. 

Psalms 2:8  Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, 

and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.

Joshua 1:3  Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, 

that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses.

Isaiah 55:5  Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, 

and nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee because of the LORD thy God, 

and for the Holy One of Israel; for he hath glorified thee.

It is a gift; it is a promise; it is a duty to let His light shine to the world. How blessed we are to have the promise. We have hope. Yet the Bible still says it is more blessed, more blessed even than all these gifts we have received, to give. 

Four Enthusiasts

Mark 2:3-5, 11. 

3 And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was carried of four. 4 And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. 11 I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house.

I had never really stopped to think about this story much until one morning recently.

Four men bring a paralyzed man to Jesus. We don't know how far they have come but they arrive and can’t even get in the door! This doesn't stop them for long. They lug the limp man up onto the roof and begin making a hole.

Imagine now you are one of the crowd in the house, listening to Jesus preach. Suddenly you hear people walking around on the roof. Then there is banging and bashing. You try to refocus on Jesus, but you happen to notice dust coming down from the ceiling. Soon there is a hole and you see the culprits. The men continue making the hole bigger. Then they lower a paralyzed man and Jesus miraculously heals him.

The verse says 'when Jesus saw their faith,’ this is an active faith, a faith that doesn't count costs. Would you put a hole in someone else’s house even if it was to help another person? Wouldn’t you consider other options first? I would have just waited at the door, I mean less effort, no damage to the house… These men have inspired me. Inspired me to have faith, put in effort, persevere, be persistent and go the extra mile. 

Calling...

I don't know if anything thrills me as much, as when my horse comes (especially cantering) when I call him. It fills me with joy that he would choose to come and spend time with me, that he longs to be by my side. But then there are times when he decides that no, really he would prefer to eat. Those times hurt and disappoint me. Some- times it makes me feel like I am not good enough.

This leads me to wonder how God feels... He often calls me. Sometimes it is just to say look at this, or be careful, and don't drift away from me. And like my horse, sometimes I am delighted and burst out with thanks for God's care. But there are also times where I think I am okay; nothing is the matter. God always persists but when I turn away how can He reach me? Before I know it I've fallen in a hole and am crying God how did you let me get here? And He says, you chose. But if you repent I'll eagerly help you out.

He promises 'For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.' Isaiah 41:13

*****

 I haven't posted for awhile, but I just haven't felt inspired. And I figured I'm better off to be quiet than meaninglessly blab and blah. To be honest this post is a draft resurrected from some time past. And I'm sorry the photos weren't cooperating. So anyway that is just how I've felt. If you have any ideas for me to post about, or you'd like to write a guest post let me know! ;)

A Tag and Blessings!

Well I was wondering what I should post next so this tag came just at the right time! Thanks so much Shalom! :)
Here we go:

What is your favorite kind of hot drink? 

My favorite hot drink definitely is cinnamon and orange, with a coffee substitute, made only by my sister!  

Who do you admire most? 

My family, including my grandparents. Also my riding teacher is a great inspiration to me. 

If you could travel anywhere, where would you go?

Well I'd like to see more of Australia, but it would be fun to go visit you all wherever you are. I also like the idea of going on a mission trip to a poor country. 

Would you be a lion or a bear? 

I think I would be a lazy sun bear! 

If you could only say one more sentence, what would you say? 

God is strong, keep holding onto hope, don't give up. Can I string that altogether? 

What is your favorite time of the year?

Often I'm excited by the next season just around the corner. So now in late winter I'm so looking forward to spring! 

My Questions are:

1. What is your impression of Australia? 
2. How did you start blogging?
3. What is your favorite animal and why?
4. How has God blessed you this past week?
5. What is you favorite recreation?
6. Do you have a story you can share?
7. What is your passion?
8. What is your favorite Bible story or verse?
9. What brings you inspiration?
10. Can/do you draw?

I tag: Riding on water, Just Jessica, Chicken Scraps, Barnraised, Little Rancher, and you. 

*****

This last week has been filled with some amazing proof that God loves me. I wanted to share with you a couple of little stories. 

I was really excited about my horse riding lesson because I had to miss a last week's. I'd been dreaming about it for days, hoping my favorite horse would be back(there was a possibility she would never come back) and I could ride her again. Also the last few lessons have been great but really hard concentrating work and I was really tired this week. So I was saying to Mum on the way how I hoped we could just ride together out in the paddock and have a more relaxing easy lesson. Guess what happened? I get there, spy my favorite horse, my teacher asks me who I want to ride and says she was planning on riding with me out around the paddock! 

God says 'before they call, I will answer' (Isaiah 65:24), "he shall give thee the desires of thine heart" (Psalm 37:4). 

Last week God answered one of my prayers, I was so encouraged! And then earlier this week I got scared, I didn't realize what I'd asked for now I had it. I was overwhelmed and completely daunted. How could I do this thing? My mind went wild with what all the consequences could be, there where so many. Finally after I let the weight sag my shoulders I realized how crazy this all was. 

I gave the matter to God and slept. When the day came I just kept praying and it turned out to be so much fun and the greatest blessing. God took my fear and replaced it with strength. 

Now you Amazing Persons, if your week has been hard, don't worry. God doesn't have favourites so blessing are on the way. Also I'll be praying for you. 

A Song

For something different I thought I would share a song with you. It really means a lot to me! Recently my Sister and I were chatting in bed and she told me about this song she found and proceeded to play it to me. I wanted to hear it again and again so it has become our staple.

I can't say it would be my choice singer or whatever but just listen to the words.

It inspires me so much to trust God more, especially as lately I've thought a lot about the future and my dreams.

Let me fail a thousand times if that is what I need  Such a courageous statement. I really hate the feeling of failure it is horrible. But if it is what I need.
Let me lose these dreams of mine if I need to taste defeat Wow! It gets harder: it is one thing to fail but amidst my failures I have always clung to my dreams. Defeat. A lost battle.
You walk me through the fire until I see your heart's desire  God is right beside us feeling the pain. He is waiting to reveal His desire. You carry me
And through these dark and raging seas,
Your grace has not abandoned me
And for these  storms I thank my God
For they drove me to the solid Rock
Looking back at a few storms I've been through this is so true and comforting. It is hard to see but storms are God's special gifts.
From the shipwreck of my life you build a truer heart
In my brokenness You shine, my loss is where You start
To form in me your will until my love is a reflection of 
Your love for me
Our weakness is not a burden to Jesus, that is where He starts. He forms us to his will in perfect love.
You pursue those you love
And so we have no need to fear
For these storms will draw us near
To You
No need to fear! To me that is true freedom. Let it all fade and fall behind to draw nearer to You.

What did you think of that song? Have you ever been through times of thinking about the future a lot? Have you been able to look back at storms and see some of their meaning?

Thursday Thankfulness

Well I haven't posted for awhile. I felt like I did because I wrote this post ages ago, but never got around to posting it. Anyway I hope you don't mind a post from whatever Thursday it really was. I'm still really thankful for these blessings!

***

This morning I was thinking about the many blessings I've had even just in the last few days. I thought I'd share them with you! And I haven't posted many photos yet so here are some of Maverick.

1. An Injury free horse. Yesterday morning I went and got Maverick his breakfast(yes, he is spoilt) and called him and when he didn't come I investigated. He had gotten both his front feet stuck in a bad bit of fencing. I am extremely thankful that he just waited calmly for me to find and free him instead of panicking and hurting himself. I also praise God that I went out to feed him earlier than normal. 
2. Seeing Alycia Burton and her horse Goldrush. Last night Mum took me to see a show of Alycia's. It was really inspiring. She is currently traveling around Australia (Sorry people I didn't say on my about page I am Australian!)encouraging young people to keep going and that there will always be better days. One thing that really encouraged me is she was talking about how you don't have to have the best. Goldrush was given to her as a problematic 7 year old and her bridle was actually put together from 4 different ones. You don't have to have the best; you have to be determined and ready to put the hard work in to achieve your dreams. 
3. My amazing riding Teacher. She is such a blessing and encouragement to me. She teaches logically and is very down to earth and practical. I was glad she came to the show last night and we had a really nice chat. It was also so cute to watch her daughter and a few other girls play on the jumps in the arena. 
4. Learning new stuff about horse herd behavior. I've been doing a little bit of research on herd behavior and discovered some really interesting stuff. Here are a couple of links if this kind of stuff intrigues you. This one is good over all. As is this one: it is a bit more scientific. 
5. Little things: throwing delicious smelling hay to the neighbour's cows; that I'm going to see my sister on the weekend - I haven't seen her for two weeks! (an extremely long time); sunshine; working with my brother mustering sheep; riding my horse; and so many other things! 

Horizons

Photo from:

From my bed I can look out the window and see out across the hills from the house. I like watching the sun rise while snuggling in my warm bed. One morning as I was looking out at the horizon I noticed that the trees I always look at were actually planted there. Some one had planted them on my horizon.

I thought of the planter out there doing an amazing work planting the horizon. But think of it from his perspective: he is just planting some trees in his paddock. As he was there hard at work maybe he stretched his tired back and looked out at the horizon pondering the future. I doubt he realized that he was planting my horizon.

The point is this: one person's action years ago now makes my horizon. The action was small and seemingly insignificant. No one would have rushed up and thanked the tired worker at the end of the day. There would have been no recognition. So when your actions don't seem to be doing any good remember YOU could be planting someone else's horizon. They may not even be able to see it now but it will make a difference.

...A time to plant... Ecclesiastes 3:2

Wavering

The other day I was out with my horse and it was really windy. On top of that, there were trucks going up the road; a random dog take himself for a walk and a bunch of other things too. Maverick was unsure about it all but as I worked with him he began to focus on me and what I was asking rather than his surroundings. But when something else 'scary' came along he started worrying again.
And so he swayed between complete trust and fear. I noticed just how much my feelings changed with his too. When he trusted me I rejoiced and when he didn't I wanted to help him overcome his fear, and return to peace.

As I thought about it the reality stabbed me- how often I've been doing that to God. Trusting some times but when I'm unsure and even frightened I waste my energy worrying. The verse that comes to mind is James 1:6 ...'For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.'

I know God used Maverick to remind me of the peace and joy that comes from complete trust in Him.

My First Post

For my first post I asked my sister to write up some questions for me to answer. So here we go!

What made you start a blog?

Well, it is something I’ve thought I’d like to do for a while and my friend encouraged me to as well. I also feel it is a way God can use me to encourage others.

What do you want people to take away from a visit to Me, My God and Maverick?

God is real. Look for Him in the small everyday things.

Is there a Bible passage or quote that sums up your blog’s purpose?

Not really that I can think of. But here is one of my favorite verses.

Psalms 73:25-26 Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.

I think these verses could relate to my blog though, now that I think about it. They point out God as the giver of strength and I want my blog to do that too.

How did you come up with the name?

I came up with the name by a lot of thinking and praying too. When I thought of Me, My God and Maverick I knew it was right. I put the verse ‘a threefold cord is not quickly broken’ (Ecclesiastes 4:12) with it because I want to have a threefold relationship between me, my God and my horse.

Thanks for the questions Jessica. And thank you for reading!