the power of the testimony

So getting back to manifest presence and what happened. On the last night Bill was talking about the power of the testimony of what God has done. Not only is there power in the written word of God (the bible) but also as we testify about what God has done. He gave examples of how someone was healed of a condition and as he shared with a congregation about what God had done, a person was healed listening to the testimony of how God had healed this other person. They have had 31 people be healed on bipolar and only 2 of those people have actually had people lay hands on them and pray. All of the rest of them were healed as they heard the testimony of God having healed someone else....mind blowing stuff.

So during the ministy time that night there was a word of knowledge given about a woman who was injured during childbirth and it was never healed. So during the testimony time a woman came up and shared about how she had been injured years ago giving birth and had not been able to sit on the floor and cross her legs. She then demonstrated God having healed her by sitting on the floor cross legged.

Pastor Bill then said "there is someone who God is healing you now of a childbirth injury as you have listened to this testimony. So check yourself out now."

So all the women who had childbirth injuries were checking themselves out and a lady stuck her hand up to say that God had healed her. It was awesome.

more to come.....

manifest presence 07

So I've just had 6 days holiday and chose to spend it at the manifest conference in Auckland. Bill Johnson and Ian Green were the 2 main speakers and it was awesome! The first night 74 people were healed and there were over 100 on the last night - everything from bipolar, deafness, short leg, cancer, sensitive teeth and so much more. One of the girls I was with had her cracked skull healed the first night we were there. The thing that impressed upon me the first night was how 'unflash' the whole thing was. Amanda's skull was healed after the people from her own church simply put their hands on her and prayed. It was simple, straightforward and without a whole lot of show.

There are just way too many 'healing' stories to list but lets just say that God blew my mind again and again and again!

It has made me more determined to seek after God at all cost. I want my christian faith to require faith on my part. I dont want to live a safe christianity but one that is going after the LIFE of Christ.

I will blog some more about this later....feeling a little tired right now, but wanted to begin the conversation while it was fresh in my spirit.

a resilient life

I've been reading a book over the last couple of days "A Resilient Life" by Gordon MacDonald. I've had to limit myself to reading only one chapter in bed, because its so good I'd be awake all night reading it and be shot for work the next day.

One of the reasons it has struck such a cord with me i think is because Gordon uses his career as a 'runner' as a framework for the book. Growing up I was a bit of a runner. I was senior athletics champion at both primary and secondary school and loved athletics and all things sporty. But unlike Gordon, I never applied myself beyond just turning up on the day and competing. I know I had potential but never applied myself to its possibility.

One of my dreams has always been to run the New York Marathon. I know I have the potential to do it.....but to date have never achieved it. Although in the last 6 months I've finally taken steps towards it by running the SBS 1/2 marathon in Christchurch over Queens birthday.

Since then, my training has slackened right off again....and reading this book helped me to realise something.

HI MY NAME IS SHAR AND I AM A QUITTER!

I have the quitters gene. I dont complete the things I start and I start things I never finish. I've known this about myself for some time now, but before reading this book I wondered if there was ever going to be something I could do to break the cycle.

As a kiwi I'm not prone to talking myself up....but there's a little part of me that thinks that God has destined me for great things.......and what stands in the way from me fulfilling that destiny is ME! I am my own worst enemy.

So I'm reading this book with a heart that is crying out to God..."Yes Please Lord".

Anyway that's a little confession from me....back to that reading.

Ruth Norrish

No sooner had I published my previous blog, I received the word that Ruth has passed away. I just want to take the time to honour this amazing lady. She trained as a single officer for a season before marrying Graham and having 8 children. She has been such a delight to know, always encouraging me, and keeping Graham in line (a great sense of humour). It has been such a pleasure knowing her and I know that Graham will in one sense, be lost without her. Yet they both had such faith and trust in God, she is home with Jesus.

God Bless you Ruth

6 weeks in 6 sentances...or similar

OK, its been way too long since my last blog. I did the 1/2 marathon and felt fantastic and overwhelmed all at the same time. I went to Wellington for a block course for my 2nd semester uni paper and that was a great time....fell in love with Borders bookstore, just as well we dont have one in Hamilton. My friend Karen got engaged, very cool. My friend Helen had a baby girl. One of the most exciting things is that my roommate from summer camp 95 found me via the internet....I've been searching for her for years with no success. So stoked that we have reconnected, so now I've found 3 of my camp buddies. Happy times. Its chilly here, but not as chilly as Dunedin.

At the moment I am wishing that I was in Dunedin thought. Graham & Ruth Norrish ( a wonderful couple from Dunedin) came to visit me a few weeks ago when they did the massive roadtrip up here for field days. We had a great day together and then had lunch together after church on the sunday. It was so nice to be able to see them again, they've always been so supportive and encouraging.....Well Ruth is in hospital and the last word I had yesterday was they hadn't expected her to make it through Sat night but she had. It's awful being here and not being able to support them and others as she makes her journey home. They are the most delightful couple, in their 80's, still so in love, and playful with each other. So all I can do from here is pray, and pray and pray some more, for Ruth & for Graham as he says goodbye for now, to his sweetheart.

So a tingle of sadness invades my days at the moment.

So for now, I'll sign off and try and be back again soon.

A 1/2 Marathon awaits...

So I've been debating over recent weeks as to whether to blog about my attempt to complete a 1/2 marathon. I resisted, because that would make it just a little too real...well this morning there is no turning back. In just under 3 hours times the starting gun will go, and I will be off like a tortise (as opposed to a rabbit!)

My training started out great and then along came a calf muscle strain that caused a hiccup or two to my plans. So today is not about RUNNING a 1/2, its about COMPLETEING a 1/2....and I'm ok with that, because you have to start somewhere aye.

Can I confess I am somewhat nervous....actually I'm very nervous. 21.1 km doesnt sound like much, but suddenly it seems as though its a never before attempted distance that noone will survive.

If I finish the race, I get a medal...that's good enough for me, but more than that, I'm one step closer to my ultimate goal of completing a full marathon (and to take that 1 step further, I'd love to complete the New York marathon).

So watch this space for a picture or two and my report on how things went. That's if I can pluck up the courage to leave the house!

I'M A SURVIVOR

BOOTCAMP IS OVER.......AND I AM ALIVE TO TELL THE TALE!

It was much harder than I imagined. But it was soooo worth it. Each session was pushing me to my limit and so many times I wanted to give up & go home. But the more I stuck at it, the more I started to see changes. The first day I could hardly run up the set of stairs once let alone 6 or 7 times. By the end of it I was able to run up hills and hold my own :)

The biggest battle for me has always been the battle of the mind. I think I've made huge progress in terms of being able to push through my mind saying "no more"!

But I know that its just the beginning. So as of Monday I begin the boxing bootcamp! We'll see how that one goes.

I've found that the process of pushing through my mental blocks has been really helpful in terms of pushing through those times when I struggle with temptations, issues and giving in to the easy instead of taking that road less travelled.

So my muscles, both physical and spiritual have been having a real workout over these last weeks and so lets just see where these next 5 weeks takes me.

2 down, 8 to go

So every morning since monday my alarm has gone off at 5:20am and I've 'sprung' out of bed. Monday and Friday we have the group sessions for bootcamp, the other days I'm on my own in terms of what I do. After Monday's effort I knew I didnt want to arrive at Friday without having done some exercise in between. So Tues was weights. Wed came and it was meant to be a run day. Having always had a love hate relationship with treadmills I thought I'd give it a go. I decided that I couldnt face running for an hour but I could probably manage a 10 min run followed by a 5 min walk. So plugged in the headphones and off I set. I ended up being on the thing for an hour, repeating that same pattern. Thurs came, mean to be weights, but I needed to prove to myself that wed wasnt a one time thing. Today, Fri, we repeated the group activity we did on Monday. I found myself able to run just a little faster and push myself just a little further. It was a great feeling knowing that getting up at this ridicouls hour and committing myself to the discipline of exercise was paying off. On Monday I could hardly move for the rest of the day, today I'm going biking with my mate Becks after work. Romans is going great too. I'm really enjoying sitting on the porch after the gym with my bagel and bible and absorbing romans. It's good for me, I'm not so sure I can say the same about the bagel!

BOOTCAMP

So today was day one of my 5 week bootcamp...let me explain. At the gym they were promoting this 5 week bootcamp that was going to start today. It was all about running, jumping,stairs, pushups and all those other things we might associate with an army style fitness thing. I have been terribly slack over recent years with my fitness so thought this could be the thing to kickstart me off. So I signed up....aware that it meant being at the gym by 5:55am!

Well on Saturday I was reading this book "SEXGOD" by Rob Bell (don't let the title freak you out - very good book) and was really challenged about how I relate to God and to others and so I decided that I would commit myself to an all over bootcamp for 5 weeks. In other words, while I put my body through a bootcamp at the gym, I'm putting my spirit and soul through one too.

So after waking up every once in a while during the night, thinking I might sleep through my alarm, I got to the gym in time (although forgot my banana for breakfast). OH MY GOODNESS. It was hard, at one point I was just waiting for Bob and Gillian to come running around the corner with red and blue tee-shirts for us to put on (biggest loser for those of you not up with the play). We ran, we sprinted up stairs and down them, we ran some more, found more stairs and then did these insane exercises. Jin one of the 2 instructors apparently used to train soldiers in the korean army!

As I plodded my way back to the gym there came a moment when I was out of sight of those in front and those still behind me. A little voice said "just walk, noone will know, you're almost there anyway, what difference will it make?" I reminded myself that this was a bootcamp and I would know, it would make a difference because I would be cheating myself of getting the most out of this experience. So I kept plodding along all the way back to the gym.

When I got home I took some time to read through Roman's chapter 1. I thought Romans would be a good starting point for my spiritual bootcamp.

So it's 10:45am and I'm feeling good, ask me at 3pm and I'll probably just grunt. I will try and keep the blog up to date with my bootcamp. Have a great day :) I know I will.

children's day 2007

What a brillant day! Hamilton turned on the weather, we set up some stuff and hundred's of families turned up at the park for a play. We had bouncy castles, a big slide, a chair-o-plane that made me feel dizzy just watching, sausages, candy floss (you had to be really in need of a sugar rush to endure the 1 hour wait in the queue...but so worth it), magnetic fishing, chocolate fish, singstar comp, balloon animals and a great area for under 5's. I must confess to being slightly nervous before the event as to whether I had remembered everything on my list.....and what would we do with all those sausages if noone showed up? I need not have worried. This community of West Hamilton is amazing. They were so supportive and it was fantastic to see whole families playing together. I enjoyed it so much I'm already excited about next year. Of course it was an awesome team of people who put it together and an equally awesome group of volunteers on the day that made the day run so smoothly.

BUSY BUSY BUSY

I am still around, its crazy busy here in Kirikiriroa. Hopefully I will make some time after this sunday to update my blog.. Its childrens day this sun and we've got a big event at the local park.....much fun is planned.

l8r

police...they're watching!

Ok so I know its been ages since I blogged....yet again. To briefly catch up to today. Dec - went to wellington for Commissioning, my brothers Queens award (boys brigade) and preachers boot camp with Rob Harley....all great.

Came home, had farewell sunday, finished packing....freaked out as movers came 2 days early...and left to head to chch. Had Christmas in chch and left boxing day to head to Wellington. Stopped for the night and then up at 5:30am to travel to Hamilton.

Got there, checked out the house, then stayed with Becks for a couple of nights due to unforseen circumstances.

Anyway a funny thing happened yesterday and I thought 'I really must blog that'...and unlike all the other times Ive thought that, Im actually doing it.

So the registration on my car had expired over the long weekend and the post office didnt open to today. Yesterday (when I realised it had expired) I was in a bit of a bind, you see I had some videos that needed to be dropped back but expired rego...so I thought I'd take side streets as far as I could before getting onto the main drag to get to the video shop. My theory was that I would be less likely to see cops on these side streets. BIG MISTAKE!

As I was driving down this quiet surburban street, not one, not two but three cop cars came down it one after the other all in a row. I thought "YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME". You see it would be very easy to spot my expired sticker as it still said 2006 on it and as we hopefully all know its now 2007. So I turned onto the main drag only to have another cop car behind me, but they turned down the side street to follow the THREE other cop cars.

Then coming home I stopped at the lights and yes, there it was, another cop car sitting at the lights.

I dont know how many cops cars were on duty yesterday afternoon but I tell you what, I was feeling like somehow big brother had been watching me, and letting me know that!

So first thing this morning I went to the post office and registered my car and havent seen a cop car since!

there's a consipracy brewing in the sultanas!

So, I had this 'great' idea for youth group the other nite. A play on the old car rally, scavenger hunt thing. It was quite simple really. Each car had clues and at each location they had to find information and text it to the cellphone number on the clue. If they were correct they would get a text back with a word that once they were all put together, would lead them to the final destination. The clues didnt always have the same cellphone number on it, so they had to actually pay attention to the clues. The first location was one of our local supermarkets...its big, its yellow, you pack your own groceries....I anticipated this would take them about 5mins...1/2 later they are all still there trying to get the right answer. All they had to do was tell me how much it would cost them to purchase 5 particular items. I bought them that morning and had a till receipt in case anyone tried to dispute it. In the end I text them the amount of each individual item and they had to add them up (which a couple of teams still struggled with). Anyway the nite was a TOTAL DISASTER in one respect. Not one team finished. Two teams thought they'd be smart and after a few clues headed to where they thought the finish was (and they were right) However, because the lights were off and they couldnt see my car (because I hid it round the corner in a side street) they didnt even bother to get out of the car!!!! The other cellphone was one bought from that big red shop that has that annoying jingle...and well it just didnt cope with the volume of texts so it wouldnt send answers back to the teams! In another way though the nite was a TOTAL BLAST they all had so much fun driving around the city and plotting their revenge against the organiser (that's me).

Now you're probably asking by now, if you're still reading, what has this got to do with Sultana's? Let me take you back to that big yellow shop and fill you in. See if you can follow me...

Thurs 8:30 am - I purchase 500g budget sultanas for $3:29 ( i have the receipt to prove it)
Thurs 7:30 pm - Teams are claiming the sultanas are $3:25 (label on the shelf)

After the race was over I had to see it for myself. Sure enough on the shelf they are advertised at $3:25...BUT when I took them to the checkout and asked them to scan they came up at $3:29. Now you might think ok 4c isnt much.....BUT if the sultana's were the only thing I was buying it becomes an issue of 10c.

At $3:25 they must round it down to $3:20 because we no longer have 5c pieces. At $3:29 they round it up to $3:30 ....see where the 10c is?

I started to wonder just how many items in the store are sporting a shelf price that differs from a checkout price? Then I began to wonder is this how they are trying to make up for the 4c petrol promotion that they are now offering? Hmmmm

The funny thing is that on thursday morning I purchased well in excess of 60 items and how funny that out of all those items, I picked one that had a problem and mucked up my race.

So you can bet that I'll be watching those sultana prices much closer in the future :)

happy birthday to me

On sunday I celebrated my 32nd birthday. It was lovely :)
I'd spent 4 days of that week at a women officers retreat at Waipiata (a place in the middle of nowhere near Ranfurly). It was a fantastic time and also really challenging.
We had surprise party for me. The surprise was only that the woman organising the week didnt know we were planning it. We played charades (one of my all time favourite games) and teeth (another great game). We ended with Ice cream cake - something I've always wanted but never had. It was delicious and a great way to soothe the lips after a ferocious game of teeth!
Sunday was a great day too. Pancake breakfast as a fundraiser for Fiji, church and then the arrival of my mum from Chch. We headed out to Fillies (awesome pizza place) before heading to the ballet "Giselle". It was beautiful. A lovely traditional ballet. It was cool dressing up and heading out.
So Ive now been 32 for two days now. How's it been? Well, actually, pretty sucky! I've been sick and so havent been able to do too much really. I'm ignoring the comments of those who have suggested that its old age catching up with me....come on now, 32 aint that old....unless you're a 5 year old!
So Im hoping that the next 363 days will be much better than the last two.

I'm FINE!.....really!

I was in Alexandra at the weekend and went for a drive to St Bathan's on saturday to take a few photos. On my way back I found this little guy lying on the side of the road. His arms were visible from ages away down the road. I got his better side (the other side showed what Possums are really made of...if you know what I mean).
He looked so cute lying there, rather relaxed, apart from the fact that he was dead.
He reminded me of how sometimes when life is actually pretty hard, we tell ourselves we are fine. People ask us and our response....IM FINE! even when it's painfully obvious that the only person we are kidding is ourselves. I've been listening to a song in recent days called "he knows my name" some of the words are ...."He knows my name, he knows my every thought, he sees each tear that falls and hears me when I call."
Its a great reminder that in the midst of life at its worst, Jesus knows, When stuff happens that causes us pain, Jesus knows, when we can't seem to pick ourselves up off the ground, Jesus knows.

finishing the race

The Olympic Games in Mexico City, 1968, were filled with the ususal incredible performances. Swimmer Mark Spitz captured 7 gold medals, and world records fell like autumn leaves on a winde October day. But as is often the case, one human drama exemplified the true meaning of sport, often lost in today's feeding frenzy for endorsements and movie contracts.
Out of the cold darkness he came. John Stephen Akwari of Tanzania entered at the far end of the stadium, pain hobbling every step, his leg bloody and bandaged. The winner of the Olympic marathon had been declared over an hour earlier. Only a few spectators remained, but the lone runner pressed on. As he crossed the finish line, the small crowd roared out its appreciation, "Yea" Afterward, a reporter asked the runner why he had not retired from the race, since he had no chance of winning. He seemed confused by the question. Finally he answered, "my country did not send me to Mexico City to start the race. They sent me to finish."

I love that story, it encourages and challenges me. Anyone can start a race, but it takes determination to finish. I want to finish the race.....

(taken from "Building a church of small groups" by Bill Donahue and Russ Robinson)

wonder woman

Wonder Woman......

I've been taking a little trip down memory lane this morning as I tried to keep my focus on my exam prep. I'm one of these people who struggle to study in silence, being much more productive while studying with a dvd on or tv programme or something in the background.

So this mornings choice was Season 1 of Wonder Woman. I don't remember seeing the pilot episode when I was a kid so it was great to watch it and understand where she came from and how she came to be 'wonder woman'.

It's funny to see the almost comical acting and the funny sound effects etc. Even though it has that little element of cringe about it, I still love it. With her belt that keeps her strong, her bulletproof bracelets and her truth telling whip who can doubt her ability to fight crime and seek to right the wrongs.

It reminded me of yesterday's message at church and a book I'd been reading recently.

Scripture talks of the need to clothe ourselves with spiritual clothing, the sword of the spirit, the shoes of the gospel, the belt of truth and the breastplate of righteousness. And yesterday at church we were reminded about the need to clothe ourselves in love. Without these things we become weak, ineffective and hollow. Just like wonder woman loses her ability to be effective as a superhero if she takes off her belt and bracelets, we become ineffective as Jesus followers if we take off these clothes.

A great reminder for me as the pressures of life feel quite high right now. I need to clothe myself daily.

So its back to writing my essays, watching wonder woman reruns and wearing clothing that is fit for a king.

nga mea katoa - everything

My mind has felt like mush over this last week. But through the mush God is there. This morning I decided to come into work early and crank up the sounds while no one else was around. I've got this fantastic cd entitled "nga mea katoa" from Invasion music. There are some great songs in Maori and one in particular is really making my heart go..."yeah, that's what I want, that's where Im at"

Whakanuitia te Ariki
Ahakoa te aha
Ko Koe tonu ra e Ihu
Te timata Oku whakapono
Whakamoemiti kia whai
kororia
To ingoa

Tuku a nga mea katoa
ka koropiko ki a koe
toku kingi nui
whakamoemiti
nou toku whatu manawa
ka whai kororia kia koe
i nga wa katoa

whakanuitia te Ariki
Whakahonoretia Tou Ingoa
Kuhu mai e te Wairua Tapu
Whakamahi ahau e te Ariki
Whaka Kororia
Tou Ingoa Tapu

which basically translates "I will bless the Lord at all times, no matter what may come my way, always looking unto Jesus, the author of my faith,as my heart is filled with praises, I will glorify your name. Lord I give you everything, and worship you, my one and only king, you are worthy of all praises, lord I give you my heart and soul, in everything I do in you I know, you will be glorified. I will bless the Lord at all times, and give honour to your name, all I have I will surrender, Holy Spirit have your way, Take this vessel Lord and use me, to bring glory to Your name."

That is my hearts cry...that in everything I would bring glory to his name....that I can be a vessel used by God.

goodbye, hello

Well what a week since my last post. As I write this blog I am awaiting the email copy of 'farewell orders' (the list of changes of appointment for officers within NZ, Fiji and Tonga) My name will be on that list and having not received the usual phone call the night before confirming the change, I have a more than usual vested interest in seeing the document. This last week has been a shocker...having been aware of a possible move for at least 6 weeks only to be told on Wed that it has changed...see previous post for card that arrived the morning I got told!

Anyway then off to Wellington the next day for the "New Zeal" conference. What an AWESOME weekend. God was incredibly gracious and really met my need to hear from him.

So...its now past 10 am and I can tell you that I am now appointed as the corps officer of the Grandview corps in Hamilton.

Its been a really rough ride over this last week, but God made his presence felt in my life!

I have to go...I have 2 exams to study for and not a lot of time to do so, I will procrastinate no longer

timing is everything

I arrived at work today to discover a card, sent to me by a lady whose friendship I have really appreciated over the last few years. Her encouragement and kindness, her smiles and hugs. As I read the card this morning I appreciated the thoughts contained within and I wanted to share them

they are taken from a book written by Fraces J Roberts

"I am the Lord thy God
I know no limitations
I know no lack
I need not reserve my stores, for I always have a fresh supply
Thou canst by no means ever exhaust my resources.
Let thy heart run wild
Let thine imagination go vagabond.
No extravagance of human thought can ever plumb the depths of my
planning and provision for my children.

Rejoice, therefore and face each day with joy, for I have planned
ahead for thee, and made all the necessary arrangements and reservations.
I am thy guide and benefactor
PUT YOUR HAND IN MINE"

It wasnt until this afternoon that I fully understood the timing of her gesture. This afternoon I have found myself going back into my bag and pulling out the card and re-reading these words again and again. God knew that I would need these words today, so 2 days ago he prompted my friend to send me this.

I'm reminded again how a simple prompting from the Lord can be so powerful for those who receive.

No doubt I'll look at this card a few more times before the day is out.