Enlarged By The Treasure Within!

I remember Peggy saying to me at the Glendalough Hermitage regarding bereavement that all the outward may disappear but the treasure of that person remains within your heart wherever you go.

Today is Jude’s third anniversary and although the above is true I still have to confess, “I miss my darl”, just like the day the angels took her into the presence of Jesus. (Luke 26:22).

It has been a day of beautiful memories and small journeys to some of the places we loved to visit. My very being has been enlarged over this period and I have begun to move forward slowly by the grace of God into new areas of experience.

The LORD is closer than a brother and from the beginning of the grief process He has been my strength & high tower leading me into new pastures.

The little gem of a book called, “The Loveliness of Christ”, by Samuel Rutherford. (Click Here to order), still continues to bless & comfort me especially during seasons like this. He quotes;

“….Ye are far from home while here, ye are not of this world. There is something keeping for you which is worth the having. All that is here is condemned to die-to pass away like a snowball before the summer sun; and since death took first possession of something of yours, it hath been and daily is creeping nearer and nearer to yourself, howbeit with no noise of feet. Your husbandmen and LORD hath lopped off some branches already, the tree itself is to be transplanted to the high garden. All those crosses are to make you white and ripe for The LORD’s harvest hook”

In closing, I had said previously that Jude loved the Hebrew praise from Jerusalem so as I was travelling today to various places, I had a good reminder of those songs that touched both our hearts, here’s another one!!!

The Mountain Beckon’s !

Well, it’s that time of year again to climb the tallest mountain in Northern Ireland, Slieve Donard for the annual Friends of Cancer Charity challenge.

It is set in the famous mountains of Mourne where the mountains go down to the sea!!

Joining me this year on the 14^th September will be members of our Mountain Men team along with my brother Stephen & his wife Marie.

It promises to be an amazing day, a sea of yellow jerseys heading up the trail including cancer survivors.

I remember when my precious Jude in hospital had periods of very high temperatures and the nurses brought out a machine to monitor her heart. The machine had been donated at a cost of £5000 by the charity.

If your interested in making a donation click HERE.

If you would like to check out the charity please click HERE

Thanks again for reading this post, please feel free to pass onto friends & family especially the link to Jude’s devotional. It still amazes me the number of nations that have read the book.

www.notoncebuttwice.com

The Heart Of The Lily Is Love….

“Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” Luke 12:27

Yesterday I noticed the lilies about to open, they were a gift to Jude from one of her customers and every year I have the joy of not only seeing them open but being able to enjoy their dazzling display. No wonder Jesus said the lily was better clothed than King Solomon in all His finery and for us not to worry about what we shall wear ourselves !!.

Symbolically, lilies are associated with love, and sympathy for the departed.

I think the heart shaped STIGMA is amazing. The stigma is part of the female reproductive system of a flower. It is found in the center of a flower and helps to collect pollen. The stigma is on top of the style and is the apex of the reproductive system. It is waxy or sticky to collect the dry pollen which is blown by the wind or transferred by insects.

The heart shaped stigma is just like real love because it serves a purpose and just as the the stigma attracts pollen so our life in Christ should be attractive to those who we come in contact with.

I must admit when I saw the lilies open this morning, the sight of the stigma made me rejoice and praise The LORD not just for His amazing creation but for His love for me. May you be blessed also.

An extra blessing to you today….

A Sudden Movement…….

On 8 June 2024, after 245 days in captivity, Noa Argamani and three other hostages were rescued from Gaza in a joint operation by the Israel Defence Forces, Shin Bet, and the Israel Police. Her name in Hebrew means, “movement”, and after those awful 245 days it was definitely a sudden one!

I think it was about February 2024 I began to feel a burden from The LORD about this particular girl. I knew her mother Liora was battling brain cancer and I knew her outlook was poor. I could only think of the word, reunion, and so I set about praying along those lines.

I have learnt over the years that having prayer lists are a good thing but what we really need when it comes to intercession is direction from The LORD, what does He want us to pray about?

I had been attending a church meeting on Saturday 8^th June and to be honest I had come away a bit discouraged with some conflicting thoughts about what had been shared by the preacher. I had no sooner left the meeting when a text came through four hostages had been released and one of them was Noa. All the disappointment from the meeting just disappeared and I was filled with ecstatic joy! Immediately I thanked The LORD, I’m sure amongst the many others who had been praying.

I wept when I heard she went straight to see her mum and the reunion had come to pass even though at this stage Liora was very sick. The doctors had been working hard with her over those months and they were confident that she could hear her daughter’s voice. Yesterday Liora passed away but her prayer had been answered.

At the funeral Noa speaking of her mother said:

“Thank you for being strong and holding on all this time, just so I could see you at least one more time.”

Being alongside Jude in hospital even up to her last breath was the greatest privilege a husband could receive. It is though I entered into Noa and her mum & dad’s situation personally because of my own life experiences.

The Apostle Paul said to the Corinthian Church:

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.“ 2 Cor 1: 3-4

Ask God for a burden & be faithful to follow it through, it might change your walk and life forever.

Praise My Soul The King Of Heaven

“Biddy watched the officers gently carry her husband’s casket into the peaceful quiet of the cemetery. Throughout the long days and nights beside him in the hospital, she had been so sure that Oswald would make it. The word from the Bible to her own heart during that time had seemed so clear, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God.” (Oswald Chambers: Abandoned to God page 9)

I remember like Biddy when faced with a sudden change in my own circumstances the questions & concerns about the future started to come. It was later in the chapter that I drew alongside her, the similarities were striking. At our wedding we sang, “Praise my soul the King of Heaven”, and I felt it should be included in Jude’s celebration of her life. Listen to what happened to Biddy next:

“Biddy closed her eyes, pulled Kathleen (their young daughter), close to her, and softly began to sing the hymn that welled up in her heart: “Praise my soul the King of Heaven, to His feet Thy Tribute Bring.” “It would not be the last time she sang those words when all seemed lost and her only hope lay in the grace of Almighty God”.

I have been so blessed reading the autobiography of Oswald Chambers. The famous devotional “My utmost for His highest”, came out of his writings.

New Years eve 1916 while stationed as a Chaplain in Egypt he wrote on a large blackboard:

“The Irreparable Past-Sleep on now. The Irresistible Future-Arise let us be going (Matthew 26:45-46)

It has been the grace of God that keeps me going forward with an irresistible future. I would like to write more on this subject about going forward and will do in June dv.

www.notoncebuttwice.com

Growing Around Grief

The response to Jude’s book continues to amaze me. It has always been stand alone but a thought had come into my mind recently to incorporate it within a bigger site as I continue to go forward by God’s grace.

It reminded me of the “Lois Tonkin” model that we went through at the Bereavement Journey Course. Let the following diagram explain it better that me.

The Bereavement Journey Course explained the model like this:

“Our grief can feel as big as we are, overwhelming and too much to bear.

We imagine that the task ahead is to reduce our grief to a manageable size. Yet what does that say about the significance of the one who has died ?.

In fact, the bereavement journey enlarges us. We grow to incorporate our loss, to keep it safe and with us, yet we are free to function and move on.”

I know sometimes people can just say the wrong thing like, “You’ll get over it”, but the Lois Tonkin model was a great help to me because I knew I would never “Get over”, Jude. The amazing life we shared together would remain profound and if anything the memories have become much richer as the days go by.

In addition, I know I will see her again and the way the Bible speaks about the days we live in, it might not be that long amen.

Spared from the evil to come !

“The righteous perish, and no-one ponders it in his heart; devout men are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil. Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death” Isaiah 57:1

Taken many years ago, this is a picture of Jude and the wee dogs walking in the direction of St Malachi’s, Hillsborough Parish Church. It hangs on my living room wall and has recently took on a whole new meaning of the journey we are all taking as believers to heaven. Notice the door open in the church, when the time comes we enter from time into eternity & into the presence of The LORD.

A few days after Jude’s promotion I received a letter from a friend in Scotland quoting the above scripture from Isaiah. I have often pondered on this because the days are waxing worse, The LORD is shaking the heavens & the earth once more. (Hebrews 12:26-29). Chaos in the Middle East lies at the root of biblical prophecy for instead of Shalom their is war. But one day there will be peace in Jerusalem and we are to pray for it. (Psalm 122:6-7). The LORD is about to return and His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives.(Zechariah 14:4).

In a way, Jude has been blessed by going away before the end time events really kick in and spared from any further evil. My friends realise that all those you love in Christ who have gone before you are spared the evil to come. Whatever their condition when they breathed their last breath be assured their days of suffering & pain are over.

Just to cement these comments, I have been reading the autobiography of Elizabeth Elliott, the wife of Jim Elliott who was martyred for his faith. While a student she wrote about the death of her science teachers brother at twenty five years of age.

“……when Betty’s science teacher learned that his twenty-five-year-old brother died of a pulmonary embolism they believed to be connected to his Army Air Corps training she said, “it was a great shock”. She wrote to her family, “but the Lord has a perfect plan, and we never know what He may have been saving him from”. Elizabeth Elliott A Life Pg32

So my friends, your tomorrow is not promised, there is a Gospel to live & preach so I close with a final word for you today;

“Be very careful, then, how you live, not as unwise but wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:15)

Tender Mercies…..

During the early stages of Covid in 2020 when there were no church meetings, Jude was invited to record a couple of messages at St John’s Parish, Kilwarlin, Hillsborough.

It was such a joy recently to receive the recordings but for this blog I would like to highlight just one of those, “Tender mercies”, based on the first five verses of Ps103. I came across Jude’s original notes. It would only be a few months when Jude would be living these verses.

Jude saw the importance of sin’s forgiven over physical healing but as I have said previously, for her to see the healing of her own physical disease The LORD would take her home to be made whole. Listen to her comments when she gets to verse 3 on the link below.

For the full video and recording please Click Here

Thank you………

After completing Jude’s book and sending out the link, I would just like to say a big thank you for the amazing response and the kindest of words.

I was struck by the number of nations where people have viewed from. I continue to pray that Jude’s book will be a great comfort to many believers going through a valley and also a warning to those outside of Christ that personal salvation is the only answer to life’s questions.

Here are a few of the comments received;

“A beautiful person reflected in a beautiful book”. AW

“At the end of the day it’s not the sermons we have heard or the books we have read, but the precious lives of the people that the Lord put alongside us that have the biggest effect. These are the true blessings that we treasure. Sister Jude was most definitely one of those treasures that the Lord Jesus blessed us with, and we thank Him daily”. AK

“I’m so impressed with this book. I hadn’t realised she was writing it and I think it’s wonderful that you’ve finished it”. AH

“Aw, thank you so much. I loved Jude and this brought a tear to my eye” G

“Your book is poignant and powerful and beautifully written- a masterpiece just like your beloved”. A

Thank you again and may God richly bless your life.

Andy

Fruit that lasts…..continued

It was just a joy to have one of the school kid’s officially opening “Jude’s Hut”.

Amongst many other exciting projects in the school, our aim is to plant bulbs and seeds ready for a number of creative adventures in the spring. We hope to have a Biblical mural on the wall, decorate the shed sides with bee’s & floral prints etc, flower planter designs and places for plants & vegetables.

Watch this space as the children’s creativity begins to shine !