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| A tortoise trekking across our garden |
Sometimes God keeps confirming things to us so that we can learn something or to encourage us. God has been telling me that I need to wait on Him. Everything will fall into place at the right time, according to His will, His good and perfect plan. I just need to trust that Him, that He'll bring my visa in at the right time, because I'm not sure how long it will take for my visa to be processed. I think it may take a few weeks, but it depends on how many visa applications there are before mine. I'm praying that it comes to the top of the pile extremely fast.
Since the beginning of this month, December, I've remembered, that God, the Lord of my heart, is my vision and I need be totally focused on Him. Just like what the song "Be Thou My Vision" says. I've been listening to this song a lot over the past few weeks and in my opinion, its a very beautiful and stirring song, and is one of my favourites. It was written in honour of St. Patrick (385- 461 AD), who was one of the first missionaries to Ireland. You might have heard it before or you may not have, if not, feel free to look up the words online or search for the song on youtube. I love the song, the words are so moving, so powerful.
Sometimes things don't always go the way we want them to, but God is at work through everything that happens in our lives. Sometimes He allows things to happen in our lives to force us out of our comfort zones, thus giving us more room to grow. Sometimes He asks us to wait, for extended periods of time before He opens the door, so that we can grow in our relationship with Him through the waiting. Its has been a difficult wait for me, because my desire is to go to where He called me, now, Australia, but the last few months, all it seems that I've been busy with is waiting on Him. I'm trusting He'll bring the Australian visa in before my South African one expires on the first day of the new year. Its been a difficult, long wait as I long to get over there, but I know that God wants me to trust Him, trust that His timing is perfect. Over the last year and a bit, a lot has happened in me and though me. I've really grown in who I am and who God made me to be. I once heard someone say that every time a person dies they become extinct. This is because there is no one else on this planet exactly like you or me. God made us all differently, all unique. Its amazing. Its been hard, but I'm finding it easier not comparing myself to others and not making my goals unachievable. I'm a perfectionist and am still in the process of learning not to let that get the better of me as it sometimes causes me to give up what I'm attempting to do because the goals I'm trying to achieve I've put out of my own reach because I want to do it perfectly right away, this is quite a big struggle when it come to my music, for example. I play the violin and I've struggled for years because I've never been able to play a piece perfectly right off. I'm learning to have grace with myself every day, in all aspects of my life (including my music).
Since the beginning of this month, December, I've remembered, that God, the Lord of my heart, is my vision and I need be totally focused on Him. Just like what the song "Be Thou My Vision" says. I've been listening to this song a lot over the past few weeks and in my opinion, its a very beautiful and stirring song, and is one of my favourites. It was written in honour of St. Patrick (385- 461 AD), who was one of the first missionaries to Ireland. You might have heard it before or you may not have, if not, feel free to look up the words online or search for the song on youtube. I love the song, the words are so moving, so powerful.
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| Stoffel of Moholoholo Rehab Centre |
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| A wild dog who also lives at Moholoholo |
Since I came down to South Africa, I've been ever so thankful that we're living in such a beautiful area. Hoedspruit is situated on a main road with a number of game farms and nature reserves in the area. For those of you who don't know what a game farm is, its a plot of land where the owner will keep different types of wild animals, mainly for trophy hunting. People will pay to be able to shoot an animal. The shooting of wild animals is a controversial issue. There are those who say that its alright and others who don't agree. I'm not about to throw my oar in and say what I believe about hunting and kulling (when there's too many animals on the land and a few have to be killed as not to over populate the area they're living in). I must say that a few things have changed, for example, my favourite animal. If you'd asked me a year ago, it would have been the dog and the horse would have been tied at the top of my list. Now its honey badger and the wild dog. I still love domestic dogs and horses. However, there's nothing compared to seeing a pack of wild dogs hunting, or a honey badger jumping out of a large rubbish skip and giving everyone a shock. Honey badgers are immune to the bites of dangerous animals (scorpions and snakes). The honey badger is quite an interesting animal, so if you've got the time, search for Stoffel (photographed above) on youtube.com, there's some really funny videos of his break out attempts on there.
Also, in three days time, Hannah, my sister, is back home after six months in Paris, France. She's been at a very prestigious cooking school (Le Cordon Bleu) over there and loving every moment of her time there. She's finished two courses already, and placed in as one of the top students (I don't remember exactly, but I think it was fourth and third respectively). I'm very proud of her and can't wait for to get back.
Also, in three days time, Hannah, my sister, is back home after six months in Paris, France. She's been at a very prestigious cooking school (Le Cordon Bleu) over there and loving every moment of her time there. She's finished two courses already, and placed in as one of the top students (I don't remember exactly, but I think it was fourth and third respectively). I'm very proud of her and can't wait for to get back.