The Verse: Ezekiel 18

A long, long time ago I started doing a "read the Bible in a year" plan. I'm not going to mention what year I originally started it in, because it's way too embarrassing, but the important thing is that I've persisted. Plus I've discovered that although it's important to constantly read the Scriptures, when I work off a plan I tend to end up treating it as though it is "homework" rather than a sacred time spent with God where He uses His Word to speak to me, challenge me, grow me and make me more like His Son, Jesus Christ.

So I am currently making my way through the book of Ezekiel. It's a fascinating book, full of descriptions of Israel's and Judah's disobedience in the face of all the kindness that God had shown them. The other morning I was reading chapter 18 and it was such a powerful chapter that I felt compelled to share it with you. I won't write down the whole chapter here, so I encourage you to read it for yourself.

The chapter describes one of the fundamental principles of Scripture, namely that judgement is according to individual faith and conduct, and righteousness and/or wickedness is not inherited from past generations or passed on to future generations.

Ezekiel 18:20 The one who sins is the one who will die. The child will not share the guilt of the parent, nor will the parent share the guilt of the child. The righteousness of the righteous will be credited to them, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against them.

The passage then goes on to speak about what happens to the wicked people who turn from their sin and live righteously.


None of the offenses they have committed will be remembered against them. Because of the righteous things they have done, they will live. (verse 22)


I think it was the next verse that really struck me.

Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign LORD. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live? (verse 23)

God's rhetorical questions highlight the fact that he takes NO pleasure in judging the wicked, and desperately wants them to turn from their evil ways and repent.

The passage then continues to speak on what happens to a righteous man who becomes wicked.

None of the righteous things that person has done will be remembered. Because of the unfaithfulness they are guilty of and because of the sins they have committed, they will die. (verse 24)

I think it's important to note at this point that it is not referring to the Christian who stumbles, or that every time we sin we lose our salvation. This is more a matter of the heart. It refers to someone that completely rejects God and the gospel, hardens their heart towards salvation and instead pursues a life of wickedness.

The last section of the passage I really believe encapsulates God's heart for Israel as well as for each and every one of us, in His desperation for us to turn to Him.

 Ezekiel 18:30-32: 

Therefore, you Israelites, I will judge each of you according to your own ways, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall. ³¹ Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, people of Israel? ³² For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live! 

And God's message is still the same. Repent, turn from your sin. Put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, who took your punishment and judgement for sin, so that you won't have to perish eternally. Instead you can be righteous before God, and you will live, and live eternally!


Don't spend another moment without being right with God.

Now is the day of salvation!
(2 Corinthians 2:6)

The Dress - So Twirlable

Here are the most recent additions to my closet - and the last for a while, as my husband so accurately put it: "You've spent too much on clothing recently." Which is true, so I'm going to try to be content with the clothes I have, and hopefully Wellington will get warmer soon so I can start pulling out some of my summer dresses, which have been in hibernation since February. Let's work our way from the top down, shall we?

New hair colour, you ask. Why yes it is! My wonderful husband now turned amateur hair colourist did it for me. 

It is the same colour I dyed it way back in July, and I have to say it is a bit darker than I remembered, so I think I'll go a shade up next time, but it's nice for a change.

Blouse - heyday

 I'd been admiring this top for the longest time and it came on sale the other day, so I was like "snap". It's one of Shona's creations from Heyday Vintage Style - an online store that does recreation vintage clothing. It's my second purchase from them, the other being a pair of 1940s swing pants, which I adore and will probably feature on here very shortly. 

Anyway, back to the blouse. It is a 1940s wrap-style top called "Spray Rose" - and goes so well with all my high-waisted pants and skirts. I was also super impressed with the shipping: I ordered it on the Friday and by the very next Wednesday it had arrived, all the way from the UK!

Fun fact: Shona is actually a New Zealander who started the Swing Dancing Company where Luke and I take classes.

Skirt - modcloth

Sadly, my favourite A-line black skirt is seeing its last days, although to be fair I did get it from Target about 4 years ago, and it managed to survive 2 years working at the hairdressers followed by over a year in the office. Also, being one of my staples, it got worn a lot. Pretty good endurance for a $20.00 skirt. Anyway, it was in desperate need of being replaced. 

So in order to find a skirt I could be equally or more devoted to, Rebekah (Luke's sister) and I went trailing the shops for the perfect A-line skirt, but sadly to no avail. They were all pencil, which I love but my body doesn't seem to. Being pear-shaped, I have the problem of pencil skirts either a) fitting perfectly round my waist, but being unable to walk, or b) fitting nicely on my thighs but gaping around my waist. Solution: buy an A-line skirt.

However, this is not such an easy task, namely because they don't seem to be in fashion. So when I spotted this beauty on modcloth it was love at first sight. I know, I know, its not A-line, it's far better than that - it's a circle skirt!

Perfect for swing dancing, the office, and when I finally receive that petticoat I've ordered from Etsy. But even better than that - the BEST thing about this skirt is its...

Twirlability
(that's right that's a word now)

Twirl!

 Shoes - Aldo
These shoes were actually purchased in Taiwan during a sale at Aldo, and from memory cost only about $30. Cheap + Pretty shoes = Happy Hannah

Until next time. 

The Outing - Birthday Picnic in the Park (with bubbles!)

I have come to the conclusion that although the saying goes that everything is better with chocolate, I have also recently decided that bubbles make everything so much more fun. And so it was last Sunday when we headed to the Wellington Botanical Gardens to celebrate our dear friend Carolyn's birthday.

We were the first to arrive and so were consequently the official welcoming party for everyone else.

 

So our party of three

Grew to more

...much more

and even more than much more

 And of course there were lots of delicious goodies to eat. My wonderful husband Luke was the talk of the party with his yummy homemade picnic pastries.

These make me hungry just looking at them!

As do these! Yum!

And don't forget the Birthday Cupcakes! Made by the beautiful Birthday Girl!

Bubbles came in two forms:

Drinkable and...

 

...playable (aka not so nice to drinkable)

I've also decided that the joys of playing with bubbles are not exclusively for childhood and many fellow picnickers tended to agree.

Get that bubble Anna!

On guard!

Take that you bubble fiend!

 Until next time keep enjoying life...and bubbles!

The Review - When The Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka

I've been meaning to read this book for the longest time, and had even borrowed it from the library before now and returned it unread; so sad - I hate it when I do that. But finally, a few weekends ago I found I had a few hours spare while Luke was busy studying, so I found a glorious spot in the sunshine in our front yard and devoured the book cover to cover.

I had heard about Julie Otsuka through the radio program  Selected Shorts when a short story of hers was read out in a live performance. The story moved me so much that I took note of her name and decided to find out what else she had written.

When The Emperor Was Divine is Otsuka's first novel. Set during World War II in America, the novel tells the story of a Japanese family who were taken away to camps by the American government for the duration of the war.

source

The story is mainly told from the perspective of the young daughter and son, who remain nameless for the entire book. Otsuka's writing style is simultaneously poetic and unsentimental. The book is quite short, but long enough to make you care for these unnamed characters.

source

I guess for me personally what made this book such a great read was that it opened up to me a part of history I had never heard of before. The book is compelling as it draws you into the characters' lives.

The fact that it is mostly written from the perspective of the children makes it so moving, as they try to figure out why they have to move out of their suburban home to a camp in the desert wastelands.

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Intermittent heavily censored letters from their father, who is suspected of being loyal to the emperor, also tug on the heart strings.

source

However, I must say I was completely mystified by the final chapter of the book. If you read it, let me know what you think. 4 out of 5 stars from me.



The Verse - Colossians 4:12

Colossians 4:12 "Epaphras, who is one of you, a bondservant of Christ, greets you, always laboring fervently for you in prayers, that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God"

Last month I studied the book of Colossians, mainly because I felt like it was a book I wasn't too familiar with. So I took bite size chunks (a few verses a day) and attempted to meditate over them. A good friend of mine from Church back in Melbourne said to me she doesn't stop reading the Bible daily until she feels God speak to her. I think this way of studying the Bible is really great, as it means you're actively engaging your heart and mind with the Holy Spirit. I don't know about you, but especially when I'm reading some of the epistles it doesn't take more than 1 or 2 verses for my conscience to go "twang", or whatever sound your conscience makes when God convicts you of something.

Anyway, if I'm honest, the above verse is one of those at the end of Paul's letters that I normally skip over. But the idea of "labouring fervently" in prayer really jumped out at me. I quite like the NIV version, which says "always wrestling" - giving prayer a wonderful image of activity and vitality.

I found this verse convicting as I find I'm so often passive in my prayers to God. Getting distracted, or not really thinking about who I am praying to. I feel sometimes my prayers are cemented in a feeling of When you get time God would you mind? Or I know you're busy but if you can... Even though God has been so amazing in answering prayers in the past, I still fall into this pit of laziness and unbelief.

Luke and I try and pray every day, normally in the evenings. This was not of our own inspiration but came from a dear older couple that we met at Church in Taiwan. They said the best piece of advice they could give us before we got married was to pray together every day, joined as one before God. It really has been such a blessing to Luke and I. And plus it means we never go to sleep angry, because in case you haven't noticed it's really hard to pray with someone while you're angry with them.

However, lately it seems to be the last thing we do before we turn off the light and go to sleep. Snuggled up under the nice warm blankets after a long day, I drift off to sleep more often than I'd like to admit. The other day Luke said he felt that we should really try to pray earlier in the evening to avoid this. As he so accurately put it, "How would you feel if you the person you were talking to fell asleep?" Twang! goes the conscience again.

Why do I tend to treat God worse than any other human being? Why are my prayers so irreverently offered, or worse yet not prayed at all, often due to being too busy? I like the quote I heard once that goes, "Too busy not to pray." Someone also once said that our prayer life when we are praying alone, and no one is watching, is the best way to judge how our walk with God is going. A spiritual-o-meter if you like.Which reminds me of Jesus' words in Matthew 6:6,


But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

Not only this, but how fervently do I pray for things? Do I wrestle in prayer for things? After all, God sees our heart, and He knows what we really want even if our lips say otherwise.

I also love the last piece of this verse: "...that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God". What an awesome prayer to pray over someone, or pray for: that God would help you to stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.

The Dress - Pink Goes Good With Green

It's time for another look inside my closet. :) No new purchases here, but most of the items have a fun story attached. This outfit is one of my favourites to wear to work. 

 

Vest - thrifted

I bought this vest from good ol' Savers in Frankston, Melbourne, a couple of years ago. And I always gets complimented on it. The only bad part is when people say "Wow did you do all that beading work yourself?" To which I respond, "How talented do you think I am, have you ever seen me thread a needle?! It takes me about 10 minutes with a lot of frustrated sighing going on."

However, I have to say, whoever did do this beading work, my hat goes off to them!

Shirt - Taiwan

The shirt was an impulse buy from Taiwan. I had just bought a cute skirt, and thought: Oh no, I have nothing to wear with it! So I turn into the nearest shop and I buy the first white shirt I see. Impulse buys are not always a bad thing.

Skirt - Glassons

The skirt I bought from Glassons a few seasons ago, well quite a few seasons ago, as in 2008. I remember that at the time it was a very big decision as the skirt was $40.00! O.o

Earrings - Etsy

Earrings came from my good friend Chloe for my birthday this year, and I love how much they match with the pink of the bead work.

Anyway that's all from me. Until next time...

PS: And five brownie points to you if you can name where the title of this post comes from!

The Outing - The Rugby World Cup

I know the Rugby World Cup is officially over (although that doesn't mean the New Zealanders won't be celebrating it for the next four years). However, I thought since some of you found it particularly hard to believe that I was voluntarily watching rugby matches, checking scores on the internet and quoting All Black players' names in the staff room, I decided to use this blog as photograhic evidence to record the fact that I at one time showed some interest in rugby union. Whether this interest surfaces at any other time of my life remains to be seen...

My husband Luke, our good friend Carolyn and I attended the quarter finals at the fanzone down in the harbour. South Africa vs. Australia.

It was a very intense game, but luckily by that time I had learnt the proper name for certain moves. For example, I was no longer calling "Line Outs" - "That Cheerleader Move" or "Scrums" - "Big Group Hugs."

Carolyn also discovered her amazing talent for facepainting during the World Cup. I must say the Wallaby she painted on my cheek was most impressive.

Spot the Australian amongst the sea of Black. Luke, Carolyn and I along with a bunch of people from church watched the semi final All Blacks vs. Australia at a local bar.

Yes, I bravely supported my country. I stood and proudly sang Advance Australia Fair, I brandished my flag when we scored our two penalties (although I had to check first that we had scored points, since at that point the pub was so silent you could have heard a pin drop) and I was secretly glad when we lost, because it meant I didn't have to catch the first flight back to Australia, or go into hiding. 

So there you have it. My participation in the World Cup recorded online for all to see.

Until next time...