A Picture of PEACE

Today, the sun is brightly shining, six adorable kids are running, screaming in the house and playing football outside. My husband is on call (work) but is home and able to help around cleaning the garage. Life is great right? But, you know what, I feel agitated… The reason? Dear friends are in the hospital right now fighting with their 16 years old boy recently diagnosed with Leukemia…

“The story is told of a kind who held a contest to find the perfect painting of peace. Extraordinary works of art were entered, but the winning painting depicted a raging storm on a mountainside. Lodged in a crevice, a mother bird sat on her nest, protecting her young.” What is wrong with this king? Where is peace in that picture?

Oh wait, such a picture of peace resembles the one I read in my Bible: Mark 4:35-41. The disciples and Jesus were in a boat on the sea of Galilee. Jesus was sleeping when a wild storm came up. As the waves broke over the boat, threatening to sink it, the disciples cried in terror to their sleeping Teacher, “don’t you care if we drown?” At this, Jesus got up, rebuked the wind and the waves and questioned the disciples. Did they have no faith?

Well, my agitation, the raging storm our dear friends and their son are going through, the king incomprehensible choice have their meaning in Jesus response to the storm and his question to the disciples:

Peace is Jesus asleep in a boat in the middle of a storm.

Peace is a calm trust in God in the midst of irritation rather than its absence.

Convinced of God’s control over every detail of our lives, PEACE is the presence of FAITH even when the world around us screams that there is no reason to believe!

PS: This is going to be a long journey for our friends and their boy, If you would like to know more and would like to help, here is the link to the page https://www.youcaring.com/lucas-neudorf-and-his-family-496036

God bless you!

 

 

Advertisement

China Beach Adventure !!

No we haven’t been to China ….. YET lol

My parents in-laws (Opa and Oma for our kids), are visiting us from Belgium. Among many places we visited with them, China Beach in Sooke (Vancouver Island) was their favorite place! I definitely agreed with them. If you’re not like me, dead scare to meet black bears, you will enjoy this wonderful, peaceful beach. Here are some of my favorite pictures of our day adventure. Enjoy!!

Moving… again!!!

A year ago, in this same period, we were packing for our move to Canada, Edmonton. I vividly remember all the stress, insomnia and tiredness during two months!

After one year, we are again in the process of moving, this time to British Columbia, Vancouver Island.  We have never been so relaxed, enjoying the beautiful summer in Edmonton! The reason: our stuff will be packed and unpacked by movers. So, we really feel blessed and we are enormously grateful to God.

 

A few days ago, we found our home in Vancouver Island. What a relief! Once again, God was faithful. The house is in Shawnigan Lake, a dream location with its lakes, ocean and mountains, the view is breathtaking!

Here are some pictures for you to enjoy!  😉

 

Thank you to all who think and pray for us. Take care!

 

Sight….

 

The Adventure Continues!

“And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.  And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.” (1 John ch 5 v 14)

Someone said: be careful about what you pray for the Lord answers prayers! I agree with that.

 

I could give you thousands of examples about that in my life and my family. But I’ll just talk about two situations you might recognize through our news.

First, do you remember how God has opened the doors for our family to come to Alberta, Canada? It was a project, a prayer of faith, a miracle, an answer from God.

 

Second, God blessed us abundantly, here in Edmonton, these past 10 months. Then I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, since September, caused by the stress of our moving and the cold in November. We’ve panicked a little, because, as you may know, winter in Edmonton can be terribly cold (-45 ° C). How to survive these temperatures with such a disease? This is where we began to pray, to cry out to God who sent us here. It did not make any sense! Isn’t He Omniscient, God who knows everything in advance? Our limited mind was struggling to follow God’s logic.

But our heart, our faith in Him help us to take our concerns before Him and to trust Him completely. And dear friends, I am still amazed how  God responds beyond our expectation! We prayed that He heals me, but, He had something else in mind: His great plan!

 

Marc’s company has proposed him to move to Vancouver Island (Victoria) British Columbia (Canada) for a new installation. You should know that there, it’s milder climate  and similar to that of Belgium: wet, rainy, but almost no snow and no freezing temperatures,! This was too good to be true …

But wait, moving again? Stress again? … We started to seriously thinking about that and even wondered if this was from God. The company was clear: “relocation support is only for the management position and the  big Boss.” So, we went back to God with this crazy request: “Lord, if Victoria is Your will for us, convince them, please, to make an exception for us.” And now, Gideon’s wool request was set (Judges chapter 6 verse 36-40): if they accept to pay for our relocation, this will be the sign that God gives His permission to move to Vancouver Island.

 

“Be careful what you ask for in your prayers, because God hears you.” Hallelujah!  A couple days ago, the company informed us that our relocation will be paid for and the icing on the cake: packing our stuff, cleaning our house here in Edmonton and Victoria are included! We suddenly felt small, but at the same time so important in the eyes of God. Our Almighty God has answered twice, beyond our expectations! What an honour! We had tears in our eyes … Thank you Lord!

 

I read somewhere this reflection that summarizes our thoughts well: “Trying to understand the will of God is not chaining ourselves, limiting our freedoms. Instead, it’s discovering the unlimited horizons that offer us his creative and structural grace through new perspectives opened by the exciting work that God has prepared for us. It is to discover, be amazed that our life here is not limited by a tomb, but, it is getting ready to see the glittering gates of the eternal city of the great God of heaven! “

May the Lord Jesus Christ  encourage and strengthen you!

See you soon for new adventures with God 😉