Prayer

My personal question lately, “You really think it makes any difference, anything you pray? It’s just going to be what it’s going to be.”

And the answer so beautifully written in this piece by Ann Voskamp, 

“He hears us. He loves us. He has us. So whatever happens, He’s good and we’re good.”

"We don’t pray to get more from God — we pray to become more in Christ."

Read everything

Please pray for our family, as we go through a painful loss.

Much love

Linnie

Blessed Mother's Day to all my Know and Unknown Friends!

I like to share with you this beautiful poem and prayer of a Mother:

Precious Moments

I have some little people with fine hair and rosy cheeks,

They giggle and they squeal quite as often as they speak,

They climb on me each morning and chase me through the day

Asking lots of questions and begging me to play.

It's easy to get busy with the things I need to do

Forgetting that their playful days are fleeting and too few.

Oh, Lord, please help me notice what's important and what's not,

To cherish precious moments and to mother as I ought,

Please keep me from distractions that would rob me of the joy

That you have planned to give me through my precious girls and boys.

Please help me teach them of Your ways, this is my highest aim,

I long to see my children live to glorify Your name.

O, help me be the model that would draw them to Your throne,

Let me make for them a haven that would turn their hearts to home,

And in these fast and fleeting years, please help me not to miss

The treasure that you give me in each cuddle and each kiss.

When I am old and looking back at every blessed year

I will rejoice that I was there to share each joy and tear.

By Val Hallaran

With Love 

Linnie

"He grants the barren woman a home,

Like a joyful mother of children.

Praise the Lord!"

Ps. 113:9

Hands and Feet of Christ - Update on Crawford Family

I think this is what the hands and feet of Christ should look like:

An update by Kelly from Generation Cedar:

Please know that our family is overwhelmed and our hearts are bursting with joy as we get the tremendous privilege of being washed over by the love of the body of Christ.

I cannot even begin to express my gratitude to you, to our church family, to our friends and family abroad, to complete strangers, to friends we haven’t seen in years, to the surrounding churches and communities, to so many people who have embraced us with the sweetest and tenderest of mercies.

Picture from Generation Cedar

FEMA came by and told us that we would have government assistance available to us.  I just smiled….”thank you, but we don’t need”.  And it’s true.  The hands and feet of Christ have been more than sufficient to provide for our needs.

Read more...

Help Hurting Families in Alabama accept donations for the Lee, Crawford and Boyd families who lost their homes in the tornadoes last week. You may visit their site to give a helping hand to these families.

With love

Linnie

For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, not powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Rom 8:38,39

Prayer and Support for Crawford, Lee and Boyd families after Tornado

On Wednesday night a tornado blew through Alabama in America and ripped apart the homes of exemplary, faithful, Christian families, who now even in their loss are responding with faith and confidence in the Lord. 

Some of you may know Kelly Crawford of Generation Cedar with her 9 children, the youngest only 3 weeks old.  Their home was completely destroyed, destroying all of their earthly possessions, including all of their vehicles and all of Aaron's construction tools which is his source of livelihood.

The Lee family had an even bigger loss, when the Dad, Tom Lee died heroically protecting his family as their home collapsed around them. In God's Mercy his wife and thirteen children survived after many hours of being trapped under rubble. Daughters Tiffany and Emily are in the hospital and suffered potentially severe nerve damage. Their insurance does not cover these medical bills, their father is dead, and their home and possessions are gone.

Gary and Jane Boyd and their nine children survived without injury but their home was severely damaged by trees falling on it. Their home was the rendezvous point for the Lee and Crawford families in the hours following the tornado since it was the only one left standing.

These are families that desperately need your prayers, continuing support and donations. Currently, there are more than a hundred people physically assisting them on the ground. But they need the funds to begin the process of rebuilding. In some cases, with only the clothes on their backs, they will be starting over and need cash for shoes, food, temporary housing, immediate medical bills and basic needs.

Will you please prayerfully consider financial help to these families.  Our family, as well as our children are going too.  Our children don’t receive monthly allowances, but do receive money now and then during birthdays, when they babysit, look after someone’s property or be the odd stunt rider for a movie.  They are going to give out of these savings.  What an excellent opportunity to teach them an open hand for the work of the Lord!  Will you do the same?

Peter Bradrick has set up a website called Help Hurting Families in Alabama who took the time to create these videos and are also accepting donations for these families above. You may visit their site to give a helping hand to these families.

With love

Linnie

"For as the the body is one and has many members,

but all the members of that one body, being many are one body,

so also is Christ.

...And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it;..."

1 Cor. 12:12;26a

Lights... Camera... Action!

On Saturday CJ’s shoot as the Stunt jump rider for the Irish production, Camelot, took place!  All the practice, anticipation and excitement finally came together! 

Josua, Heidi-Mari and Christo left by 6h00 on Saturday morning to make sure they didn’t miss out on any of the action!  But as they waited at the base camp, while CJ got dressed, some manager approached Christo and informed him that nobody approved their presence on set, so unfortunately they were not allowed on set.  Christo tried to talk to him and persuade him to ask the director if they couldn’t just be at the perimeter of the scenes, but he was adamant that the director don’t want to give permission!  

You can imagine the disappointment and heart ache of my two children and Christo too!  They called to tell me as they left the set, after dropping CJ off. All I could do was fervently call out to the Lord to intervene!  As I got into prayer I submitted our circumstances to the Lord, knowing it could be from the Lord for a reason, but I begged the Lord, if it was not from Him to prevent them from experiencing an amazing day with our son on the movie set, that He will please make a way!  An hour later I got a text message from Christo.  CJ went to the Props Manager and asked him permission to allow his Dad, brother and sister and without hesitation, he said YES!  

As I read the message I burst out in praises to the Almighty God we serve. I thank the Lord for my son’s courage who went and asked permission for his family to be on set and I thank the Lord for the kindness of the Props Manager to allow them on the set.

The enemy clearly wanted to prevent a very special day, but our God is the King of the Universe and He has power over all!!  The person that tried and prevent them to go on set, was the only unkind person the whole day.  The people were all so friendly and accommodating, also during Josua, Michael and my own presence on the set Wednesday and Thursday!

Half an hour later Christo, Heidi-Mari and Josua were on set!  CJ was scheduled right after lunch at 13h00, for the stunt horse jumping scene for the character “Kay”. 

The base camp was 1.5 km from the set.  There were wardrobe, make-up and hair trailers as well as caravans for some of the cast to stay in.  

CJ in the make-up and hair trailer, for his wig. CJ’s scene is mainly a special effect of the character “Kay” and his horse jumping over the very dooming fence.  Because they didn’t film his face, they didn’t need to put on a mustache and beard to match him with the main character “Kay”. 

For the scene, CJ and the other stunt jump rider for the character “Gawain”, along with foot soldiers, invaded the ‘village’ where “Arthur” has being held captive, to rescue him.  CJ’s jump is all about the special effect of the hose jumping over the fence.  A camera has been placed right underneath the jump where CJ’s horse landed.  

They dug a hole underneath the fence and put half of the camera in the ground, then the cameramen laid on the ground to do the filming! This automatically complicated the jump even more.  Jumping the fence was scary enough for the horse, then having all these people just behind the fence, and the jump is a total different jump than the one practiced on!  Thus the horse refused the jump for the rehearsal!

Twice the horse refused, the third time again, then slipped on the long grass and fell.  CJ didn’t fall, he only glided off the horse, but his leg got caught in the stirrup. 

After a few practices they got the horse over the jump!  CJ only needed to do the scene twice.

The special effect created was amazing.  Since the movie is originally by Irish, they needed to create the misty conditions of Ireland.  

They had smoke machines and then they waved the smoke so it created the effect of gusts of mist.

Isn’t it amazing!  We will now look at movies from a total new perspective, try to look out for the special effects created.

After CJ jumped over the fence and landed inside the village, his scene stopped.

Now the real “Kay” got on the horse.

In the mean time the other Stunt jump rider did the scene of “Gawain” jumping the fence. 

His scene asked for a some fighting with the village people too.

And there were more scenes of warriors who invaded the village with Kay and Gawain.

The real “Kay” also got involved in some fighting with the village people on the horse, after CJ jumped over the fence.  Then the real “Kay’s” scene stopped and another stunt rider got on the horse.  

Here they did some last finishing touches to the second stunt rider’s make-up.  For this scene the stunt rider had to fall from a rearing horse and his profile was filmed too, so he needed to look very much to the real “Kay”.

He got on the horse, fought with some of the village people and then fell from the horse when the horse reared!  

Michelle has a special horse just for rearing scenes!

The real actor of “Gawain” wanted no stunt for the scene of fighting on the horse and then getting pulled from his horse.

This was so exiting to see, since we saw them practicing this scene numerous times on Thursday!  

Pulling off the horse and landing on a mattress. 

He also landed on the mattress while filming.

I had no idea in how much detail they practiced every single movement.  When I say every single movement I mean every movement!  

This whole day’s filming will eventually be about 2minutes of the total movie/episode! Makes you appreciate a 50 minute MacGyver episode or 2 hour Nanny McFee movie, much, much more!   This evening we watched a MacGyver episode involving MacGyver  rescuing a horse.  We literally analyzed every frame of the episode.  So much fun!!

Michelle Mazurkiewics with her four very well trained horses, Saturday afternoon after filming stopped!  She is a true inspiration with her horses and we rejoice in her asking CJ to worked with them over these four days!  Thank you Michelle!

But most of all we rejoice in the Lord for his grace and blessings on us!  Thank you Lord for protecting my son and giving all of us such a great time!

"I will bless the Lord at all times;

His praise shall continually be in my mouth."

Ps. 34:1

With Love

Linnie

PS. June 29th 2011 - Tonight Christo and I watched the episode of Camelot, in which CJ was the Stunt Rider!  A friend taped it from BBC. It is amazing to see the scenes, shot here in South Africa and the 2 seconds CJ jumped over the fence. BUT I will not recommend anyone to try and watch the movie. It is NOT for children under 18. It is VLS and full of sorcery.

A Blogger's Prayer

Over the past few months blogging became a liability.  The joy and satisfaction I’ve experienced in the beginning was gone!  There were a few reasons for this:

I’m an Afrikaans speaking girl from the Free State and somewhere during my Secondary school years something went wrong with my understanding of the English grammar.  It got all mixed up and speaking or writing in correct English is almost impossible for me.  Thanks to my dear husband, I’m able to publish blog postings in understandable English, but it takes a lot of effort from me, as well as time on  Christo’s part.

Since English is my second language, I don’t always have the extended vocabulary to express my thoughts in a creative way.  As a result I get frustrated when I try to put down my thoughts on paper (uhh, on the computer!)

I’ve fell for a lie that comments and followers indicate the value of my blog.  Since I don’t often receive comments and I’ve even lost some followers over the past month, I wasn’t sure if my blog was even being read any more,  and therefore of any value to anyone.  

So I lost my passion to write, but deep inside of me I have this pull to share my testimony of God’s blessings, grace, providence and love for our family, while we try to live in total obedience to Him alone.  A family who is doing everything opposite to the world and the mainstream church in terms of raising our children, how we worship, health, etc.

In the process of loosing my passion, I’ve become like someone who has lost something very, very valuable, but as hard as I tried to get back in writing, I just couldn’t wrap up a posting.  

A few weeks ago I read a posting Blogging by Numbers.  It immediately grabed my attention, then I hoped over to @ A Holy Experience and read an incredible piece by Ann Voskamp called, Six Things Every Christian Blogger Needs To Know, the final posting of three postings on “Upside Down Blogging”. Part 1 - Why Blog? and Part 2 - What is Success? The more I read it, the more it felt like someone was unlocking the prison I was locked in during the past few months.  A prison in which I’ve locked up myself, through the lies I believed and expectations I had.

I’ve started my blog almost 2 years ago because I’ve sensed God wants me to share truths, testimonies and a personal journal of my blessed life, but also struggles and rejections as a mother of many children. For me, keeping a blog had nothing to do with my ability to write, being creative with words, the applause of people or how many people follow my blog!  It was all about God’s glory and to strengthen my faith!

Ann’s article brought me back to basics - the core of why I started my blog.  

The Word says: “The truth will set you free!”

The Lord truly sat me free!

Since that day, I could start writing again!  Christo still need to check my grammar, I still struggle to have all the creative words and search for the right vocabulary, but I enjoy writing again! 

And most of all I got convinced of God as my ONLY FOLLOWER and therefore don’t need to follow my Follower’s statistics anymore. 

I also know God’s comments are the only comments that truly matters and rejoice in fine-tuning my spirit to hear His voice and opinion on whatever I intended to blog about!

Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate every comment, but it isn’t the focus of my blogging!

And as I’m starting this new year I want to share with you a Bloggers Prayer by Ann Voskamp:

I am no longer my own blogger, but Thine, O Lord. 

Refine me with each post how You will, rank me how You will. 

Put me to service, or put me to suffering. 

Let me post for Thee or be put aside for Thee, 

Lifted high, only for Thee, or brought low, all for Thee. 

Do with me and each post whatever you will, because You alone know best. 

Let me not strive but submit Let me not compete but care 

Let me not desire hits but holiness 

Let me be a follower, instead of seeking followers. 

Let my blog be full of Thee, and let it be empty of me. 

Let me crave all things of Thee, let me care nothing of this world. 

Let my words be worthy of the greatest of audiences: You. 

And You are enough. 

May I write not for subscribers… but only for Thy smile. 

May my daily affirmation be in the surety of my atonement, 

not the size of my audience. 

May my identity be in the innumerable graces of Christ, 

never, God forbid, the numbers of my comments. 

May the only words that matter in my life not be the ones I write on a screen ---

but the ones I live with my skin. 

I freely and heartily yield every sentence, every title, every post, every comment… or no comments… all to Thine pleasure and perfect will. 

My only fame is that I bear Your name 

My only glory is the gift of Your Grace 

My only readership, Your eyes that seek to and fro to find a heart hard after You. 

Make this so, oh Lord… 

Yahweh, You alone are my God, not Google 

Jesus, You alone are my Savior, not site meters 

And Holy Spirit, You alone are my Comforter, not comments 

So be it, today, yesterday, and every post to come. 

This is my prayer I have made on earth and over this keyboard… let it be ratified in heaven. 

Amen. 

Copyright 2010, Ann Voskamp @ www.aholyexperience.com   All rights reserved. Please do not copy, paste text or reprint.

You can read her whole article here.

May you all have a blessed, spirit filled 2011 and to all my Blog Friends, may this prayer also be your prayer.

With love

Linnie