Mairi's Blog

Well Hello Folks

My new blog is well overdue As usual life with the Stewarts has been busy. November and December was a blur with work, birthdays, marking (yuck) and of course my favorite, Christmas preparations!!!!

We as a family had a lovely Christmas, we enjoyed a lovely meal with our family and fun, laughter and fellowship at my sister’s afterwards….a great time was had by all!!!!!!!!

I really thank God for my family and my friends; I have been blessed with some of the best!! There have been a lot of changes in my wider family network this year but God has been faithful and supportive throughout these changes and is bringing us out the other end stronger, wiser and indeed blessed!!!!

Well another new year is upon us, out of the noughties we go and launch into the???? Tens!!!!!!!!

I believe 2010 is going to be a fantastic year, not just for the Stewarts but for you too. God is a God of the abundance believe with me folks that this year is going to be your best yet. God’s mercies are new every morning, His Grace is sufficient for us, and His Word is tried and tested, perfect and sure. With this as our foundation how can we fail to be blessed!!1. No matter what we face in this New Year (and some of us are anticipating some difficult situations), if we keep God’s word as our foundation, Jesus at the centre of our lives and every decision we will come through victorious every time. How do I know this, because He has done this for me last year and faithfully every year since I got to know him 25 years ago.

Folks lets make the decision that 2010 is our year of abundance in every sense of the word Decide to stand on His word, keep Him at the centre of our lives and look forward with anticipation for what God is going to do through us and for us in this new year

Be blessed guys, love your life because He is ABLE to do exceedingly above and beyond what we can ask, think or dream!!!!!! AMEN AND AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ta ra the noo

Yours as always Mairi x

Hi Folks

Hope you are all having a great Summer and are managing to get some time to relax and enjoy your families and friends!! This is important as God is in the relationship business.

“We may go through bad stuff but we should never allow the bad stuff to get on top of us, this is not the ‘position’ we are in”

Well recently I have been thinking about ‘position’, what is my position? What position am I really in? Over the years I have so often heard people, many of them Christians, say things like ‘I am feeling a wee bit under the weather’ or ‘Oh I’m doing okay under the circumstances”. I hate to use Christian clichés but folks we are not under anything other than the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Recently I have to admit to going through a period of feeling a bit fed up, things that we had been hoping for did not materialize and I was left feeling very disappointed and tired, I had taken my eyes off God and put it firmly on my circumstances, the fruit of this mistake was I started to feel really bad. God ministered Isaiah 51 v 16 to me:

And I have put My words in your mouth and have covered you with the shadow of My hand……….

This scripture just reminded me of my true position, I had the word of the Living God in my mouth that I could use and stand on no matter what bad stuff was happening. Not only that but I was sitting under the shadow of the hand of God himself, how wonderful!!!!!! Now that truly is a good position to be in.

So folks, no matter what the circumstance, no matter what disappointments we face or how tired we feel it’s worth remembering that God is faithful, consistent, loving and powerful and He will never let us down and He never breaks His promises!!!! Always remember your position in God you dwell under the shadow of God’s hand (his protection) and He has given us His word which is tried and true, flawless and always accomplishes what it is set out to do. We can stand on this Word and having done all to stand and continue to stand and He will always come through for us.

Mairi

Hi Folks

Well this new blog is well overdue. Life has been busy for the Stewarts as usual.

It has really been nice slowing down after the busyness of the last few months. We have had birthdays (Rachel, Luke’s and now mine), we have had prelims (Rachel), piano recitals, carol services both at school and at church, meal out with the ladies in the church, ruby weddings and a 30th birthday bash to name but a few of our recent activities.

However, best of all was celebrating Jesus’ birthday. Christmas for us was a quiet family time, and gave us opportunity to enjoy our family, our home and just appreciate the many blessings in our lives.

It is so easy, especially at this time of year, to get caught up in the commodity feticism that surrounds us and our focus can so easily stray to what we have not got and the things we want rather than appreciate what we have got. Wanting things or indeed having them is not bad in itself it becomes an issue when we focus too much on it though.

Confession time for Mairi!!!my object of desire this year was a plasma TV and I have found myself (on more than one occasion) wandering the aisles in the electrical goods department eying longingly 42 inch screens. The reality is we have a perfectly good TV at home and neither need or can afford a plasma at this stage. My point after all that waffle is sometimes we need a reality check to help us prioritise our thinking, our lives and our time. Many people in the world do not have enough to eat let alone worry about bigger TVs. For me this year, doing Christmas for three kids on a tight budget I tried to concentrate on the many good things in my life and constantly remind myself of the abundance of God provision in my life. I have my health and strength, a warm home, three fantastic children and a husband who is my rock and my best friend. All these things cannot be bought for money yet they make life rich.

As we enter a new year full of expectation, hope, ambition and for me a bit of trepidation. (I have one or two impending sad situations that I know I will have to deal with in 2009), let our focus and first thoughts be on the Lord and His goodness. Let our point of reference always be His Word and let us use His Word to guide, comfort and teach us. Let us sow good seed not only in our own lives but into the lives of others around us and let’s count our blessings, name them one by one and boy will we be surprised at what the Lord has done.

May 2009 be a blessed, happy, healthy and prosperous one for you and yours and may you know the peace of God and His comfort in all your trials and valleys.

God bless, Happy New Year and ta ra the noo folks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mairi

Hi folks

Well there has been a lot happening over the last couple of months. Schools went back for a start and my second daughter happily went of to High school to join her older sister. Oh my goodness!!!! Where have the years gone? However, this was yet another opportunity for me to dig into God and thank Him for the joy of being a Mum whilst entrusting my girls into His care. His word promises that ‘we are the head and not the tail above always and never beneath’. It also ensures me that God looks after my kids even in big bad High School!!!. Again His Word promises that ‘He gives his angels charge over us and that no weapon fashioned against us will prosper’.

“Again His Word promises that ‘He gives his angels charge over us and that no weapon fashioned against us will prosper’.”

We have also had a wedding and a funeral lately in our church. This really brought home to me how special families are and how blessed we are when we have a partner. One couple started married life together whilst one man in our church just lost his wife, this is never easy but they had over 25 years together. Let’s appreciate what God has given us, whatever the structure of our families is. Lets look for the good in each other (if we look closely enough we will find lots). Lets love a lot, laugh, dance, cry together and most of all, those of us blessed with children lets enjoy them and create the kind of homes our kids want to spend time in and bring their friends back to.

It’s a pretty cruel and evil world out there, lets make a difference in our communities by starting in our homes and may our homes be filled with laughter and love and especially the love of God. If our families know that we love them and that God loves them what a difference this will make in their life. Let’s tell them every day and watch our kids, partners and all our relationships flourish.

Ta ra the noo

Mairi x

Firstly folks let me apologise for the delay in updating my blog, life has been very busy for the Stewarts and I have had to prioritise!!!!!!!!!!!

Lately God has been ministering to me about surrendered lives. When I gave my heart to the Lord and decided to become a Christian over 23 years ago it was a life changing experience because I didn’t just get ‘saved’ but I surrendered my life to God. My friends changed, God replaced them with Christian ones, my habits changed and the desire for old habits gradually left me and in its place a desire for the Word of God and a relationship with Him became strong.

What does it really mean to surrender our lives and what are the benefits???? Good question!!! The dictionary definition of surrender is – ‘ to yield (something) to the possession or power of another’ or to ‘give oneself up, as into the power of another; submit or yield’.

All too often I come across Christians who are not living victorious lives, who wonder why they are not overcoming the problems in their lives and often ask - Why me? Firstly, life brings problems!!! God never promised a problem free life He did, however, promise strength in our weakness and access to His grace and mercy every day. He promises never to leave or forsake us.

Having established that ‘poo happens’ in life why do Christians encounter so many difficulties. Well I believe that very few Christians actually ‘surrender’ their lives to God. They may ‘give their heart to the Lord’, they may receive forgiveness of sins, (all good by the way) but don’t give their life over to God. Many people just put God in a box to be pulled out as and when and keep on making poor decisions and ‘doing their own thing’. Then when problems come we wonder why and some even blame God.

If we surrender our lives (daily not just once) the benefits are great. If we give ourselves up to Gods power and the power of the Holy Spirit then lives in us, life becomes better, richer, more free and we have the ability to be victorious in the midst of our problems. God created us therefore He knows how to fix us. If we could only learn to hand our lives, plans, families, ambitions and finances to Him then our lives would be vastly improved.

I heard a story once of a young Christian who had the priviledge of interviewing an elderly lady who was part of the Highland revivals. He asked her ‘How did you get saved” She replied in a very stern voice, “My boy! I was not saved I was converted!!!!!’ The dictionary definition of the word converted means to transform or To change (something) into another form.

Let me challenge you to surrender your lives to God and be ‘converted’ and allow Him to take over every area of our lives, let us not hold parts back from Him and see just how good and fulfilling our lives can be.

Mairi