DEATH AS A GIFT…

Posted on January 8, 2017 by Noelene

Cape Town-20130919-01089

In the month of December 2014, a total number of 1 184 people died on the roads in South Africa.

During the Christmas period of 2015 my family and I took a drive one night to go and look at the Christmas lights in the main street in Cape Town. As we were driving along, the conversation turned to these horrific statistics. Imagine 1 184 people dying in one month on a country’s roads.  It works out to more than 38 people on average, dying needlessly, every day.

Our one daughter commented “If we were to be involved in an accident tonight I hope that we all die and not just one or two of us.  I want us to go together as a family”.

Another daughter replied “If that happens, God will be getting five amazing gifts!”

For a moment I didn’t understand what she meant and then it struck me.  That if we, as a family, died tonight God would be receiving “five amazing gifts” in the form of us that evening.

I have never heard death described like that before.

That if a believer dies, he arrives in Heaven as a present, with people waiting in anticipation to receive him as a gift – people who have gone before, as well as God Himself.

I have no fear of my own death but for many years I questioned what would happen to my faith if Steven, my husband, died.  He is my soul mate, my prayer partner, my best friend, the father of my children.  If he died, would I still be able to say ‘God is good’, would I still be able to believe that God is a God of love?  Would I still be able to cling to the knowledge that “His plans for me are for good and not for evil?”

Over the years, as I have spent more time reading His Word, more time in prayer, more time in just ‘sitting’ before Him, I have come to the realization that “Yes”, I would still be able to say all those things once I had finished crying and wailing and asking God “Why?”.  I am not sure how long that period would last, but I do know that eventually I will come to a place that I will once again be able to praise God and find peace in my soul.

The words that He has given us in John 14:27 are not idle words.

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.  I do not give to you as the world gives.  Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

 

God’s gift in turn to us, besides our earthly lives, is the gift of eternal life.

“…the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus.”  (Romans 6:23)

Adapted from the following blog post:  https://noelene2014.com/2015/01/08/death-as-a-gift/

Home

Posted in Author, gifts, God | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

WHEN WE BLOW IT!

Posted on January 4, 2017 by Noelene

20160417_171211

“If you have failed and you are filled with despair, with no idea where to turn for inspiration and strength, remember then the compassion of Jesus.  In the power of His love He encourages you to persevere and to rebuild your life”. Solly Ozrovech

One of the most comforting verses God put into the Bible is the one that says “…though he stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with His hand” (Psalm 37:24) If we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Saviour and truly desire to serve the Lord and live our lives as His children the following verse will apply to us “If the Lord delights in a man’s way he makes his steps firm” (Psalm 37:23) . It doesn’t matter how many times we may fail or feel we have blown it – if we are prepared to go before Him and confess our sins He says  “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.”  (Isaiah 43:25)

Jesus knows exactly what we are like.  In fact He made allowances for our bad behavior when He answered Peter’s question “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?”  Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times” (Matthew 18:21 & 22)
He knew that we would need to come before Him time and time again to ask forgiveness for the same sin.

I often feel that nothing in my life changes. That I am still the same person I was before I accepted Christ as my Saviour.  That I will never gain victory over certain sins/wrong behavior/bad habits in my life.  I go before God and ask for forgiveness time and time again for exactly the same ‘sin’. It is then, in that moment of despair, that I cry out to God to give me the faith and the assurance that I am forgiven and I hear Him say “I am the One who began the good work within you and I will keep right on helping you grow in My grace until My task within you is finally finished on that day when Jesus Christ returns” (Philippians 1:6)

To back that up He put this in the Bible as well for whenever our hearts condemn us

 “ For God is greater than our hearts, and He knows everything.”   (1 John 3:20)

Posted in Author, Blogging, God | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

“GOD’S PROMISE FOR FAMILIES”

Posted on December 25, 2016 by Noelene

book_cover-1

The writing of the book “God’s Promise for Families” brought immense healing to my life.  It was written over a period of 12 years and initially started off as a journal.

I have a friend who is a Narrative Therapist and on a regular basis (more so when our children were younger) I would phone her up and cry “HELP”.

One day, after listening to me rambling on she asked me “Noel, what do you want for your children? What do you want for yourself?” and I replied “I want them to be happy. I want to be happy!” and she said to me “You can’t want that for them or for yourself.  If they do not experience unhappiness and sadness how will they ever know what happiness and joy is.  If they never experience failure how will they be able to enjoy success.  If they never experience feelings of depression, loneliness or hurt how will they ever be able to develop feelings of empathy for others who suffer with these emotions?”

In other words how will we or our children ever be able to grow into our full potential as human beings if we do not experience pain, hurt and disappointment? It is what we do with these emotions that is important.
If I am asked the same question today “Noel, what do you want for your children?”  My answer is “I want them to grow up with a sense of their own self worth and in the knowledge that God loves them and desires the best for them”
My prayer for myself and everyone who loves the Lord is that they and I, through God’s immense grace, will grow in the knowledge that God loves us and that He is still true to the words He spoke so many years ago:

“I know the plans I have for you”, declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”. (Jeremiah 29:11).

Home

Posted in Author, Blogging | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

THE GIFT OF POVERTY

Posted on December 23, 2016 by Noelene

IMG-20130707-00947

A couple of years before my dad died I attended a service in a really quaint church in a small town known as Bathurst in the Eastern Cape.  The minister entered the church wearing black flowing robes and had an almost snow white beard.  He took his place behind the lectern and his opening words were “I better introduce myself.  I am Father Abraham and if you are here for the Christmas day service you can meet Father Christmas!”
The minister was my dad Ray Lutge, who in fact had been ministering in the Bathurst church for many years, but had been on a month’s bush camping holiday with my brother in Namibia and had decided not to shave!

His sermon that morning was on the gifts of the Spirit and I was amazed to find out that there are in fact 27 Spiritual gifts noted in the Bible.

They are prophecy, service, teaching, exhortation, giving, leadership, mercy, wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, discerning of spirits, tongues, interpretation, apostleship, helps, administration, evangelist, pastoral, celibacy, voluntary poverty, martyrdom, hospitality, missionary, intercession and exorcism.

I have to laugh sometimes at how practical our God can be.  Here we have all these lovely ‘spiritual’ gifts and in there somewhere is this amazingly practical gift of administration!
Romans 12 says “Just as there are many parts to our bodies, so it is with Christ’s body. We are all parts of it, and it takes every one of us to make it complete, for we each have different work to do. So we belong to each other, and each needs all the others. God has given each of us the ability to do certain things well”

If you look at the list of gifts there are some there that each one of us should be practicing.
The gift of giving, the gift of mercy, the gift of helps and the gift of hospitality are all gifts that we are capable of exercising.

The gift I found very interesting was voluntary poverty.  “It is the special ability that God gives to certain members of the Body of Christ to renounce material comfort and luxury and adopt a personal life-style equivalent to those living at the poverty level in a given society in order to serve God more effectively”.  
Well, Mother Teresa was certainly given that gift in abundance. She founded the Missionaries of Charity ministry in Calcutta and for 50 years she lived and worked among the poorest of the poor. She cared for orphans, AIDS patients, lepers, tuberculosis victims and many more in need.
God was speaking about material poverty and yet how many of us live in absolute poverty spiritually and emotionally. This kind of poverty is something that we have control of and it is in our power to change.

Even though, on a daily basis, Mother Teresa saw people starving with hunger she could still say the following:

“We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless.  The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty.  We must start in our homes to remedy this kind of poverty.  Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat”

Each one of us is capable of doing something about this kind of poverty – all it takes is love.

Home

Posted in Author, Christmas, gifts | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

LIBERTY

Posted on December 22, 2016 by Noelene

92597-bookpicture

Two of the Biblical definitions for GRACE is “the attitude of God toward men” and “the liberty that God gives men”.

Liberty is the ‘state of being free‘. God’s grace causes us to be free from the chains that had us bound – alcoholism, addiction to pornography or drugs, jealousy, anger, self-pity, pride, eating disorders, poor self-image. The list is endless.

Graciousness is defined as being ‘courteous, kind, and pleasant’.

In Isaiah 30:18 we are advised that “the Lord longs to be gracious to you”. What an amazing thought: God longs to be kind, generous, and courteous to us.

Extract from ‘God’s Promise for Families’

http://godspromise.co.za/

Posted in addictions, Author, Blogging | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

EXPECTATION AND FAITH!

Posted on December 15, 2016 by Noelene

n-curry-half-page-v3a-2

In a few weeks’ time, I will be turning fifty-two years old – I will have lived on this earth for half a century and two years.  As I reflect on the past twelve years I realize how much I have grown spiritually and emotionally and how much baggage I have managed to dump on the roadside of life in the past decade.

I have started to like myself and to make friends with who I am. I am finding that I don’t really care so much anymore if I leave the house without having made my bed or done the dishes. I am developing patience and my feelings of empathy and compassion are far deeper now than they were when I turned forty.  I am really beginning to enjoy being a mother and am starting to truly appreciate the fact that I actually have the most amazing children!  They are unique and wonderful.  They make me laugh and they make me cry and they are the reason that I have such a close relationship with God – I spend hours praying for them!

I also realize how blessed I am that after 24 years of marriage my husband is still my best friend and we are still in love with each other.

A decade ago God gave me a prophesy which is being fulfilled on a daily basis.

“I began reading Exodus prior to turning forty years old.  I was filled with a sense of excitement; this was going to be the year I started to fulfill my dreams, straighten out my life, and let go of past hurts to become the person God intended me to be.

On the morning of my birthday, I told my husband what a wonderful feeling it was to be forty years old, how I was going to release the burdens from my past and start trusting God to equip me for the future.

Shortly after I declared this, our eight-year-old daughter walked into the room.  “You know, Mommy,” she said, “God let the Israelites wander in the desert for forty years then brought them out of the desert into the Promised Land.  You are forty today”.  (Extract from God’s Promise for Families)

Two years ago God gave me another prophecy, this time via Pastor Victoria Idoko.  She gave a talk on “Secrets of a glorious destiny” and when she had finished speaking she started prophesying into people’s lives.  I was one of those people.

She took my hands and repeated the word ‘fulfillment’ four times.

She then prophesied that God will fulfill my expectations.

“My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my EXPECTATION is from Him.

He only is my rock and my salvation;

He is my defense; I shall not be moved.

In God is my salvation and my glory;

The rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God

Trust in Him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before Him;

God is a refuge for us.”   Psalm 62:5-8

My expectation for the next few years is for God to continue to show me who I am in Him.  To help me to continue growing into the woman He created me to be.

My expectation is that He will fulfill the prophecies that have been spoken over my life about being a speaker and a writer and bringing His word of healing, hope and encouragement to others.

The dictionary defines expectation as “believing that something is going to happen”.

Hebrews 11:1 states “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see”

I am going to live expectantly in faith!

Home

Posted in Author, Blogging, Life | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

MARRIAGE IS NO FAIRY TALE!

Posted on December 14, 2016 by Noelene

second_article_large

Marriage is hard work. It is challenging. It is all about compromise and making an effort to live with another human being. Marriage is difficult.

A friend of mine posted the following on her Facebook page:

It doesn’t bother me that Disney has given me unrealistic ideas about men. I’m more annoyed that no matter how much I sing; woodland animals have not once helped with the housework.

Disney has also given most of us an unrealistic idea of marriage. The majority of Disney stories end with “…they got married and lived happily ever after.”

That is just so not true! I have never met a married couple or read about a married couple who have ever ‘lived happily ever after.’ Each happily married couple that I know, have had to work at their marriages—some for a few years, others for many, many years but eventually they have reached a place of being able to say that they have the potential of ‘living happily ever after’.

I need to add that, if based on the above, you are saying “that’s it, I am never getting married,” marriage can actually be the most incredible, wonderful, life time experience you could ever imagine. If you are prepared to work hard at your marriage, to make compromises, to forgive and ‘forget’ in the first seven or so years of your marriage, the following years are filled with love, friendship, laughter and a sense of ‘belonging’ that you will be forever grateful for.

My sister and I were talking about our marriages and how hard we and our husbands have worked to make our marriages something we want to willingly and enthusiastically commit too! We are both so extremely grateful that we did ‘stick it’ out through the tough times, and believe me there are some very tough times, especially if you decide to have children. By having children, you add more responsibility and financial ‘burdens’ on the marriage.

My sister shared that she came to a point in her marriage when she realised that marriage is “not about self-preservation, but about vulnerability”. Marriage is about being able to trust the other person enough that you can be vulnerable with them. This means that you open yourself up to being wounded or hurt by them. You start being totally honest about who you are, you start trusting and believing in your partner, and you stop pretending to be someone you are not because you are afraid they will stop loving you if they knew the ‘real you’.

A synonym of vulnerable is ‘exposed’ and to be exposed means you are open, defenceless and accessible – which sums up marriage perfectly! You need to be open with your partner. You need to practice being defenseless in your marriage – so often our first instinct is to go on the defense or attack towards our partner.

A key ingredient for a successful marriage is to be accessible.

You need to be reachable, available and approachable at all times for your spouse. This means that you need to ‘learn’ the art of listening and communicating. Many marriages have serious issues due to misunderstandings and lack of clear communication.

A marriage should embody the following proverb: “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity.” (Proverbs 17:17)

Life is like a ship. Some people get on and off board very easily. Some will stay on board as long as everything is sailing smoothly; but let the rough weather come, and they will abandon the ship. A true friend is the one who will stick with you. —Dr Adrian Rogers

There will be times of adversity in your marriage and it will be during these times that you and your spouse will need to love each other far beyond the love of a friendship.

Communication leads to community, that is, to understanding, intimacy and mutual valuing. —Rollo May

http://godspromise.co.za/

Posted in Blogging, Marriage, Promises | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

STOP REJECTING YOURSELF…

Posted on December 14, 2016 by Noelene

Noelene's avatarUNDER A JUNIPER TREE

SAM_0870

“Over the years, I have come to realize that the greatest trap in our life is not success, popularity, or power, but self-rejection”  –  Henri Nouwen

When will you start believing and acknowledging the fact that because of the Cross you have no right to ‘reject’ yourself? To constantly feel ashamed or embarrassed about something you have done? To be weighed down by guilt?

Jesus Christ took on that rejection, your shame and guilt when He allowed Himself to be crucified on the Cross.  Stop demeaning what the Lord has done for you.

Many addictions in our lives are there because of self-rejection.  If we loved ourselves as God has commanded us to love ourselves we would recognize the immense worth we have in His eyes and we would seek help for our addictions to alcohol, gambling, eating disorders, anger, guilt – the list is endless.

Guilt is one of the worst addictions…

View original post 475 more words

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

THE END OF THE TUNNEL

Posted on December 10, 2016 by Noelene

sam_0869

Imagine yourself a silent witness to the humiliation that Jesus was subjected to before his death.  The soldiers stripped him of his clothes, put a crown of thorns upon his head and mocked him. They spat on him and took a stick and struck him again and again on the head.  Prior to this he had been slapped and hit with fists and flogged.

Now, imagine Jesus standing there and in his mind’s eye he is looking through a tunnel into the future, thousands of years into the future and he is focused on one person at the end of the tunnel.  As he stands there with spit and blood running down his face, enduring the pain of being brutally hit and mocked, all he can think about is this person at the end of the tunnel.

The person he is looking at is a murderer and an adulterator, an alcoholic, a thief and a liar, someone full of pride and envy, someone who is destroying their lives by cutting themselves, starving themselves or throwing up after every meal because they think it will make them feel better.  The person is a sadist, cannot control their temper and lashes out at people, verbally and physically.  The person has so many hidden sins it is unbelievable. The person he is thinking of doesn’t even believe in God and thinks of themselves as being a decent human being.  He is concentrating so hard on this person in an effort to blot out what is happening to him and he is repeating to himself “I will endure this, I will willingly go through being nailed to a cross and being separated from my Father in heaven if it means that that person has a chance of asking for forgiveness, of being forgiven and of being able to spend eternity with God and me”.

Jesus knows that the only chance that person has of having a relationship with God is through his death and resurrection because God cannot accept a sinner into heaven and have His kingdom tainted with sin.

He knows that the only chance that person has is for him to die on the cross – to take that person’s sin upon his body, to have those sins nailed to the cross and to die for that person in the hope that that person will accept him into their lives, confess their sins and because of the blood that he shed on the cross they could be forgiven and so enter into a relationship with God.

Jesus would be the bridge between this person and God.

“Forgiveness is the divine miracle of grace. The cost to God was the Cross of Christ.  To forgive sin, while remaining a holy God, this price had to be paid.” (Oswald Chambers)

You are the person at the end of the tunnel. You are the person that Jesus looked at.  You are the person Jesus died for.

DSCN1294

I AM THAT PERSON

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life”.   John 3:16
Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

AN AUTHOR’S HEART REJOICES

Posted on December 5, 2016 by Noelene

Few things bring more joy to an author’s heart than to receive a message and photograph like below!

“Finally got mine yesterday from my office mate. I’m so excited. You are an awesome author. May God bless you. I’m still looking for a copy of God’s Promise, it’s so difficult to get hold off.”

15355912_10211373587236459_2145513839_n

Posted in Author, Blogging | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments