Drawing Pictures with your Mind

In February I attended a Valentine’s Ladies’ Conference at a local church with my two daughters. Somewhere during the teaching, the Guest Speaker, visiting South Africa from Germany, mentioned the peace she experienced when walked into the local church’s Pastor’s beautiful study room. I immediately felt a tuck at my heart. My personal little corner I use for Bible study and working on my computer, fervently came to mind… To my shame I has to admit it is currently in such a mess, I cannot find space to open my Bible or computer.

The Guest Speaker continue her message from Song of Solomon 2. The message, “Come away with me, my Beloved!” was beautifully illustrated with a DVD clip of a young woman following her Beloved hand on hand, through green vines. I experienced the touch of the Spirit when she started to talk about looking with eyes of faith and using my imagination to see things to come, promised to me, by my Beloved.

During the past few months the Lord constantly spoke to me about the word “imagination”. 

In the physical realm, nothing can come into existence unless someone ‘saw’ it in their imagination. After receiving a picture in the mind about something, people run to the drawing board, and from their nothing can stop physical manifestation, of the image.

While listening to the inspiring message that Saturday morning, I saw a picture in my mind of my little corner. Images came to life and I got all excited about things I could change and do, to make it an inspiring, beautiful place where I can fellowship with my Beloved. 

That same afternoon I shared my vision with my husband, especially about something I wanted him to make for me. I also shared with a friend, to keep me accountable. I committed  to change my corner into a place of peace and refreshment, before my birthday, only days after. One important point though, I had a shoestring budget to make it happen, thus making it even more exciting to make use of things I already have. 

Now I’m going to interrupt myself for a moment. I’ll come back to My-corner-make-over just now.

As the Lord revealed to me the beauty of imagination and the manifestation thereof, over the past few months, I experienced an increased hunger to know the Lord through His Word, and meditate on His word. A few years ago I tried memorising scripture through Scripture Typer. I did it on my computer and though I longed to make a commitment to diligently memorise scripture, I didn’t persevere.

As I hungered to meditate on God’s Word, I came to understand the connection between meditating on the word, the renewing of your mind by the Word and memorising the Word. 

“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” Rom 12:2

I came to realise as I memorised and meditated on the Word of God, I allowed Him to draw pictures in my mind of His will for my life, according to his Word and then it can come into manifestation!

Danika our youngest daughter is a very artistic little girl. She started painting on canvass two years ago and at the beginning of this year advanced to oil painting. I’m constantly amazed at how she is gifted to paint pictures with a brush. She just have a feeling for colours and lines.

In the same way I’m amazed how the Lord can paint pictures in my mind with His Word, as I memorise His Word. Pictures of His goodness and truth, mercy and grace, faith and love. Pictures that make me act in faith and truth. Inspired that I can overcome the world with all its trials and tribulations through the Power of Jesus Christ, my Saviour, who died for me and know lives in me. 

So as I seek ways to memorise Scripture, in order to have more colours to paint pictures of God’s goodness in my mind and I remembered Scripture Typer. I downloaded the Scripture Typer App on my iPhone and seriously started to memorise scripture. This time not because others memorise scripture, but because I need the scriptures in my mind to draw pictures of victory! 

We read in Proverbs 27:3, “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.” 

Every where you go, the world is pressing to fill us with worldly believes, mostly contrary to the Word. If one doesn’t deliberately fill one’s mind with God’s Word, the world will fill it with ease.  Since I started memorising Scripture I’m amazed how my mind is in the process of being renewed, and how I’m experiencing peace and victory over my thoughts.

Now to come back to My-corner-make-over.  As part of renewing my mind, memorising scripture, I also wanted to surround myself with His Words.  One of the first pictures that came to my mind was to have beautifully decorated words against the wall. I want to see them when I wake up in the morning; I want to meditate on them during the day and I want to be reminded by them when the enemy wants to blind me with chaos in my home. I also want pictures of my family for when I give thanks to the Lord and pray for their protection and walk with the Lord.

So two weekends later I accomplished my goal. My husband made a beautiful frame for my year schedule. I had a ball decorating the words, “Believe” and “Faith”, diving into Heidi-Mari’s inexhaustible source of scrapbook supplies! I also collected photo frames, all had pictures of at least two years ago, from everywhere in the house and replaced them with resent pictures. I hung a rusty cross from the last letter of “Believe”, which I got as a present a year or two ago for my birthday. For this birthday, my oldest daughter gave me a beautiful, inspired word picture on my birthstone, the Amethyst - symbolising royalty and encouraging me in my walk as the daughter of the King. I added a beautiful painting by Danika of bright yellow daffodils, with the cross in the background. And my husband patiently put brackets in the wall and hung my carefully chosen treasures. 

What a delight to now work in this lovely, inspiring place, reminding me of the power of imagination and then acting on those images. 

We all have an imagination…. Who is inspiriting your imagination? Do you allow Godly inspiration to come to life, do you act on them with God’s power in you?

Do you want to join me in memorising the Word? 

It is always easier to persevere when you have others joining you. I’ve created two memorising groups at Scripture Typer. Join me in memorising Proverbs 31 and/or Psalm 37.

Remember: “As he thinks in his heart, so is he.”

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With much love

Linnie

Molding and Filling Chocolate and Children - All the Same!

On Wednesday the 30th of June, Heidi-Mari and I did the Molding and Fillings Lindt Chocolate Class.  By now we feel like part of the Lindt Chocolate family in Cape Town.  :-)

The beauty of it all is we are now really beginning to understand the process behind chocolate.   Not everything Scott and Dimo explains is all new anymore. After every class we come home and experiment a little more, become more confident, have more success.   

This class about Moldings and Fillings was the most enjoyable class for me we did over the past 8 months.  The previous classes were a stretch for me, though not at all for Heidi-Mari.  She has a natural feeling for chocolate and interesting her hands are just the right temperature.  

Not the case for me!  Every time after I handle the piping bag, the chocolate melts and the mixture becomes too runny -  hands too hot!  

I loved the creativity of this class and the end product is absolutely breathtaking!

  

I’m always drooling over these, almost too beautiful to eat chocolates, and could not imagine it is actually possible to make these in an every day home kitchen. 

Scott did an excellent job, explaining everything in detail from the buying and taking care of the molds, 

through the intensive process of tempering chocolate, 

making mouth watering garnaches, 

coating and filling the molds, to the storage and shelf-live of the chocolate. 

In September we did a class on tempering chocolate, but we struggled to master this delicate process of making professional chocolate.  Doing it all over again with this class, we could pay attention more closely, ask relevant questions and when it was our turn to temper our own, it came out perfect.  

I absolutely love messing around with the chocolate - must be why I enjoyed this class so much. This is a messy class!  

You cannot do it without having chocolate all over the place! We even created chocolate rain while coating the molds.

  

During our Truffle class we learned a few ganaches, and with this class some more.  We can now distinguish between the inside of a truffle and the inside of mold-filled chocolates and know how to make the difference consistencies. 

But the best of all was the painting of the moulds before we coated them. 

Oh, there are countless ways to paint/decorate these beautiful molds! 

We had such a fun day together, Heidi-Mari and I!  I never would have imagined what a blessing it is to have a growing-into-a-young-woman daughter and what memory making moments we would share.

We obviously went home with quite an amount of chocolates and the men and Danika, marveled at our chocolate creations!  

As I was watching them as they hovered over the chocolate boxes, undecided which one of these luscious chocolates they must choose, it struck me how Christo and I, day after day have the privilege to mold each of these precious children and fill them consciously and unconsciously with things we do together, feelings we create in them and thoughts we kindle in them.  What a responsibility!

Do we know what mold we are molding them into? 

Can we distinguish the molds of the world and society, from the molds Christ would like us to mold them into? 

Are we just using the same mold we were molded into, and since we turned out more or less okay, we think the mold is okay for our children too?

Or do we seek the Lord constantly about which mold we should use, even though it sometimes are uncomfortable and unknown molds to work with.  

Then there are the fillings…

We filled our chocolate moulds with a Vanilla ganache, a praline chocolate ganache, an Amarula chocolate ganache and a fruity mango ganache.  For each of these ganaches we had to follow a specific recipe. The fruity mango ganache was more runny, and though not quite the consistency it should be, gave a very interesting look and taste.  

Each child’s personality is like a filing: not one child is the same.  I can tell you, there isn’t just 4 personality types, there are at least 8! Each of my children need a different filling, mixed in faith, to make them the person God intend them to be. 

Do I seek the Lord on the recipe for each child’s filling, or am I just pushing through with one recipe and hope for the best.  On the other hand a filling can easily turn out totally different from what it should be. Like the fruity mango ganache, we might actually think something went wrong while ‘mixing the filling’, and want to figuratively speaking, throw away the filling!  And now I’m speaking for myself.  The Lord doesn’t want a balanced, one size fit all child. He loves Out-of-the-Box Individualists, who can go and change the world for Him.

The piping of the filling into the mould is another challenge. You have to take great care of piping in just the right amount.  

Do I take enough care in filling the little molds entrusted to me? Do I use compassion, sweet and kind words, encouragement, a soft heart, a positive learning atmosphere, praises, hope, forgiveness, unconditional love and you can add more, to fill their little molds?

I’m looking at my children and I see all kinds of different molds, decorated by God in a very special way, with mouth watering fillings inside each one of them. 

They truly are going to give a special taste every where they go, IF I am willing to surrender their upbringing to the Lord.

How are you doing in molding and filling your children?

With much love

Linnie

Daniel’s Cars Birthday Party!

On Monday the 1st it was Daniel’s 3rd birthday!  

Daniel was my easiest and quickest home birth, and I cannot believe it is already 3 years since that blessed Friday morning!

Daniel didn’t have a real party for his 2nd birthday, only the grandparents and his siblings celebrated with him.  

This year I considered to skip a party again, since I was still recovering from Heidi-Mari’s Mother-and-Daughter Birthday tea.  

But Heidi-Mari stepped in and pleaded for a birthday party on Daniel’s behalf.  

So only 5 days before the Saturday, I started inviting a few friends to the party. While inviting my good friend Emma’s children, she mentioned it will be her youngest's first birthday.

Just there and then we decided to combine their parties.  What a blessing.

Daniel is my first child who had an absolute favorite toy or more specific, toys!  A bucket full of little cars.  This basket of cars goes everywhere he goes; from one room to another, to the dining room table, in the car when we drive, to bed - he even picks it up in his sleep, when he walk to us at night to crawl in with us!  

He knows exactly how many cars he has and don’t think his brothers can mislead him by swapping any cars. 

He will know immediately when one is missing. Since he so precisely takes care of his toy cars, his brothers are now also trying to look after theirs, but they just don’t get it done as diligent as Daniel!

Taking his love for cars as a hint, we decided to make the birthday cake cars as well.  When Christo and I went to purchased his birthday gift, earlier the week, we looked at the Lego Duplo section, since Lego is always worth it, and there we saw the Cars2 Lego Duplo range!  It was the perfect gift for Daniel. While driving home, from the shopping mall I got the idea to copy McQueen and Sally for his birthday cake and Daniel was thrilled with the idea!

He couldn’t wait for Saturday to arrive.  He didn’t remember his first birthday party, he didn’t have much of a second birthday party, but he sure knew what a birthday party entailed, due to all this siblings’ birthday parties, over the past year. 

Friday night I had my team next to me, to decorate the cake!  

Christo at assembling;

CJ on special effects; 

Heidi-Mari mixing 100’s of grams of icing sugar;

Josua and Danika for moral support! 

One after the other my team members drop into bed, until only Heidi-Mari was awake to appreciate with me the finished product! 

When Saturday came, it was the perfect day!  Clear blue sky, no sign of clouds or rain, and only a light breeze. 

Daniel, as well as his brothers couldn’t believe their eyes when they saw the cake!

Thank you Lord, it was such a blessed day and Daniel enjoyed every second;

As well as the birthday guests; and

the Mothers too!

With love

Linnie