The 2.30am Women's Club

So I am writing this blog to invite all pre post in the middle wherever you may find yourself MEN a PAUSAL women! Let's start a 2.30am Women's Club. Those of you in this stage of life will know what I am referring to, no matter how late or how early you go to bed you will find yourself awake at this ungodly hour. If like myself over the last few days that has been due to a horrid female problem!!!! So after I have bathed at 2am made some tea I sit in the silence of my lounge trying desperately not to make a noise. However I find myself wanting to do things that almost cannot be done quietly. I might find my hand at baking but this is precarious because it makes noise especially if one has butter fingers. You do not want to alarm the household with banging pots, although you will find none of them complain when waking up to hot homemade treats.

The other awful thing about this phase in my life is that I seem to have become a DUST BUSTER! I find every spec of dust in sight and then one thing leads to another and at some insane ungodly hour I find myself rearranging furniture! We could have skype bookclubs, skype coffee or wine parties! So the other beef I have is this... so I go for my gynae check up 2 weeks ago because I feel well something is not quite right. He discovers some sort of "extra lining 16mm thick in my uterus" so says "um oh dear this isnt normal". He promptly puts me on some tablets and says "you can expect a heavy bleed in 10 days. After which you must come back and we will rescan and see if there is progress." HAHA he also says you are not menopausal, you are too young. Dude I have had night sweats for 7 years my husband blames all my mood swings on menopause and well these sleepless nights! Last year I was at the start this year I am nowhere near it! Whatever dude! Anyways like clockwork the big bleed starts this past Sunday.....OMG he was not joking what a fricking nightmare. 42 sanitary towels in 2 days and when you haven't needed to buy these little suckers for over ten months well lets just say I could have almost had a mani/pedi with the amount of money they cost. Anyway after 3 days I am completely over this I cannot function normally I finally get hold of him and say "Dude I have a life can we please make this stop!" I am so over washing sheets and clothes he goes "okay you can take tablets that should ease it up". So R800 for a consult R700 for bloods which say absolutely nothing R300 on tablets R160 on sanitary towels. Seriously who needs this, I could have taken myself off to a spa for 2 days! I say lets just get rid of this child incubating piece of nonsense I am so over this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So do I have any takers wanting to join me in the 2.30am Women's Club .....or do I find myself Alone!

The meaning of my name - Deborah

So I was told by a lady in my Thursday prayer group to go and read this. It is courtesy of www.hannahscupboard.com/character-deborah.html I found it an interesting read perhaps my dream of a future in politics is not just a pipe dream. Maybe we will still see the establishment of the M.A.D. Party. Watch this space!

Character Study: Deborah - God's Iron Lady ...and the sons of Israel came up to her for judgment. bee on flower They used to call former Prime Minister of England Margaret Thatcher the Iron Lady for her plainspoken tough leadership. Well I wonder then if she wasn’t a distant descendant of an earlier female leader from Israel’s Old Testament days. In fact this one might have been the original Iron Lady. Deborah was a prophetess and Judge in Israel – pretty much the top governmental office then, and the only woman ever to hold the position. She must have been something to see! Her story is told in the 4th and 5th chapters of Judges following a familiar pattern. First the people would do evil and fall away from serving the Lord, then God would judge them and deliver them into the hands of their enemies, then they would cry out and return to God and finally he would deliver them. Unfortunately, the lesson was never permanently learned and the whole cycle kept repeating. Cycle of Judgment Within this cycle, Deborah ruled while Israel was under God’s judgment. An army commander named Sisera under a king name Jabin had “oppressed the sons of Israel severely for twenty years.” (Judges 4:3) Here’s how she ruled. “She used to sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the sons of Israel came up to her for judgment.” (Judges 4:5) I always think it is interesting to see how those who don’t believe women can hold positions of governmental leadership within the church get around this passage of scripture. Deborah did it. God clearly appointed her and Israel clearly accepted her authority. The sons of Israel lined up (under her own tree no less) to have their case judged by her; her spiritual weight was evidently heavy. The level of her spiritual authority is particularly demonstrated after she summons a warrior leader named Barak. She tells him to fight their enemy Sisera because the Lord revealed to her, “’I will give him into your hand.’” Listen to how Barak responds: “’If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go.’” (Verse 8) He was not willing to go into battle without her. Lest you think that Barak was some sort of spiritual wimp, note that he is listed in the great Hebrews 11 Faith Hall of Fame. (See Hebrews 11:32) Nonetheless, Deborah was willing to go to war while letting Barak know that his decision would mean he would forfeit any credit. “’I will surely go with you; nevertheless, the honor shall not be yours on the journey that you are about to take, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hands of a woman.’” (Judges 4:9) Right before Barak headed into battle Deborah again declared victory and Sisera’s army was totally routed. In the aftermath there is a very interesting sub plot involving another feisty female and I will write more about that momentarily. Then Chapter 5 of Judges recounts a beautiful song of praise to God for victory sung jointly by Deborah and Barak. Character revealed in actions So, that’s the story of what Deborah did but what does that tell us about her character? Her actions reveal her character. The first thing I see is confidence so sure of God’s call that compromise stood no chance of hampering it. Deborah was plain spoken and direct, honest, decisive and courageous. No waffling. No shirking from hard choices. She probably saw life pretty black and white—no gray areas to vacillate over. We don’t know her early history; nothing about how she came to realize she was a prophetess or when she was first led to sit under the “palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel.” But her gifts were obviously recognized as genuine or else the sons of Israel would not have come to her for judgment. Wow—and these were men! Actually submitting to the decision of a woman for their case. When Deborah told the nation to go into battle they trusted her and believed she had actually heard from the Lord. And of course she had! Deborah was a woman of influence. I can’t help but believe that her strong leadership created an atmosphere conducive for other women to flourish. Now it’s time to talk about that other feisty woman in Chapter 4. Her name was Jael and she personally destroyed Sisera (the enemy Barak feared fighting without Deborah) by cunningly driving a tent peg through his head. You can read the details in Judges 4:17-22. Jael was every bit the spiritual daughter of Deborah and Deborah praises her in her song by saying, “’Most blessed of women is Jael.’” Is there a character lesson from Deborah for those of us—both men and women--in leadership roles today? Yes. But don’t mistakenly admire Deborah for the wrong thing and automatically assume you can’t follow in her footsteps especially if you have a “softer” type personality. The point is not her “assertiveness” but her uncompromising integrity to be about God’s business. What’s in a name While Prime Minister Thatcher was nicknamed the Iron Lady, Deborah’s name is significant all by itself. Deborah means “bee.” That’s an important piece of information when studying any Bible personality. A name usually indicated the person’s character or their prophetic destiny. If we think about Deborah based on her name she is quite an appealing role model. Bees are busy focusing on their appointed task. That’s why we might get stung if we don’t steer clear of them while they’re doing what they do best. Yes, bees are no nonsense creatures but ah…the results! All their industry is delightfully fruitful, producing one of nature’s most wonderful commodities: honey. I for one wouldn’t mind one bit being like a bee (or a Deborah) if I had such a sweet nutritious harvest to show for it. Deborah had a great fruitful harvest. She didn’t neglect or compromise her call from God, as unusual as it was in her time. Deborah was a woman of influence and her spiritual mantle created an atmosphere of courage for both men and women. God favored her and that is seen most clearly in the Bible’s last line about her ministry. Remember that when she Judged Israel it had been under severe oppression for twenty years. The end result was a double portion of victory. “And the land was undisturbed for forty years.” (Judges 5:31) Are you a Deborah? We could use a big crop of fresh honey in our day.

Living with hope

What does it mean to say we have a hope and a faith? Is it the absence of problems walking in perfect health always having everything we need? What happens when life throws you a curve ball when you find yourself facing possible disease or you lose someone you love dearly, does it mean that you have sinned done something wrong? Is God punishing you for sin, is there unforgiveness in your life unconfessed sin? I don't believe so. When we believe in the resurrection. in life eternal then when problems like cancer, death and other overwhelming situations face us in life we have a Hope, an Anchor, a Saviour. a friend that we can turn to. If we walk closely with Jesus and bad things happen to us it does not always mean that you have unresolved sin sometimes life just happens. We are not living in the new heaven and the new earth, we are living in a fallen world one that has problems and when life gives you lemons I believe you need to make lemonade. And not sugar free lemonade the kind that Tee makes with a small bag of sugar and tastes delicious. The bible says rejoice always. In all things give thanks. If the fig tree does not blossom and the vine bears no fruit still I will praise Him.(Habbakuk 3v 17) Those scriptures are a clear indication that trouble and hard times will come but even in that God does not change and He is worthy of our praise. One of my favourite psalms Psalm 57 David finds himself in difficult times but he chooses to exalt God. Life is a choice, CHOOSE LIFE!

Life's sweet simple pleasures

I love break times at our school. I love watching the children playing, laughing, eating forming relationships. I moved my desk so that I could see them from my window as I work. I love hearing their laughter. The smiles on their faces as they eat the meal provided for them. For some of them it is their only meal of the day. The passion of our boys as they chase after a soccer ball. The noise of the girls as they play a skipping game. I was walking to the staffroom the other day and the girls were playing this skipping game. I stopped for a second to capture this on video and was transported back in time to my own childhood. I remembered playing with the elastic around our ankles, drawing with chalk as we played hopscotch in the streets.

I love that cellphones are not allowed at our school, I love that these kids can still enjoy the simple sweet pleasures of life.

Heaven & Earth Lyric Video