Stepping Out

Wow this has been a very busy month full of activities and new learning experiences.

I’ve been listening to Rabbi Jason Sobel unravel the story of Abram, revealing how God called Abram who trusted God to lead him to bring forth His promises. God changed Abram’s name to Abraham, the ‘H’ being the breath of God bringing life into this old man. There’s hope for me yet!  I was also intrigued that Rabbi Jason called Abraham’s faith ‘Sojourning Faith’, it interested me as I’ve been calling myself a sojourner for years now.  Sojourning faith is one where Abram had no set plan except obedience to the One who called him.  I want to walk in the footsteps of Abram and believe the Lord will breathe His life into these aging bones.  Well Sally does come from the Hebrew name Sarah which was changed from Sarai after God breathed into her new life.

For some time now I’ve been looking to the Lord for a fresh adventure where I can step out in faith to fulfil His calling.  I first thought it was to Mozambique to help missionaries from church with home schooling their five children but being dyslexic I didn’t feel comfortable with this even when they mentioned it was just to supervise. I then contacted a friend, Gayle, in Bali who I’d met in 1995.  We had met at the World Harvest Institute when I had returned to Australia from Thailand to do more in cross cultural studies.  Gayle was planning to go to Indonesia.  She has been there ever since. Marrying a local, raising their kids and together planting and pastoring a now thriving church.  Then in 2020 after her husband caught Covid and went home to be with the Lord, she returned to Australia for a time of healing and to visit her daughter. When I contacted her she was back in Bali.  I reached out to her in an online message to see where the Lord would lead.  She contacted me within the hour.  As our conversation was coming to a close, I mentioned I’d never been to Bali, and she immediately suggested I come up.  We then talked about things I could get involved in and later I sent up my CV.  I had no idea where or what the Lord wanted me to do but knew if He wanted me there He would make the way.

I then contacted another friend, Serenity, who is back in Perth but also is involved with activities on Lombok which is an island just off the coast of Bali.  We had a great chat about the possibilities of me going there for a visit when she returned.

Then the obstructions began to come. Firstly Gayle said family for Australia were arriving at a similar time to when I’d planned to go.  Serenity also mentioned I needed to be approved by her team.  My friend in Malaysia where I’d also hoped to visit said she was going to be away some of the time I had planned to be there so there would need to be a bit of fiddling and adjusting of the dates.  In the end I took it all before the Lord, being encouraged that Abram didn’t know where he was going but just trusted the Lord to lead him and following the scripture from Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him and He will direct your path.”  By faith we need to step out trusting the Lord will lead us in our decisions. So I did, I refused to be trapped by confusion or anxious thoughts about the outcome as I have in the past.  I wanted this time to be different so I stepped out and booked my flight from Perth to Denpasar and then on to Kuala Lumper.  It was done.  Like Abraham, I will go with no set plans other than my flights there and back, trusting the Lord to fill in the gaps, to arrange for things which are yet unknown to me.  I know He goes before me.

That evening my friend in Ipoh, Malaysia, contacted me to say she had been asked to work one of the days she had planned for us to go out of town. I gave her my dates and she suggested I come on the 23^rd July.  Thanks Lord, one date confirmed. She also said she will try to reschedule work. Determined not to allow anxiety or doubt to seep in I suppressed the thoughts of ‘maybe I’m being presumptuous’ maybe this is not what the Lord wants.  I’m going to rest in the peace the Lord has given me and step boldly into the future.  I know I will be challenged along the way and I know there will be obstacles and hurdles but that’s part of the fun and adventure of walking with the Lord.

The very next morning my Bible reading included Ecclesiastes 8:15 “So I commend the enjoyment of life, because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany them in their toll all the days of the life God has given them under the sun.”  And along with that John 5:30 “By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgement is just, for I seek not to please myself but Him who sent me”.  Both these verses gave me encouragement.  I will enjoy the adventure the Lord is taking me on knowing that I can’t do it without Him beside me.  And I will most certainly take advantage of all the great culinary delights in both Bali and Malaysia, knowing the joy of His provision and revelling in His creation through those He has made in His image.

I’ve since had another meeting with Serenity who is also looking forward to me coming up to see where she plans to start a new work on Lombok.

Along with this, a lady I see when jogging in Star Swamp gave me the contact of a taxi driver there who she recommends.

Then my dear friend whom I’ve known many years from my days in Thailand, Anthony, who is now doing pastoral work amongst workers in the field throughout South East Asia, also gave me some contacts in Bali.  I’ll tell you more about this in the next update as this one is stretching out a little too much.

This month, after our last catch up over three years ago, my friend Jenny from MLC, and I met for a coffee to discuss all the latest news.  Jenny was one of those persistent Christians at high school who tried to open my eyes to the goodness of the Lord. At the time I was a staunch opposer of the faith.  It wasn’t till I came to Christ that I wanted to look her up to let her know her prayers had been answered.  (You can read about how I found her in Blog 133 – Iron Sharpens Iron).

Our new community garden work is going ahead in leaps and bounds, with paving and ground work about to be done and funds being raised.  We were asked if we could help the North Beach Tennis Club for their junior tournament during the school holidays with providing toasted sandwiches.  Money raised would go towards our fundraising efforts.  This would most certainly aid in much needed capital to assist with plans for our garden.  I found a free website which made booking in volunteers so easy.  This led to me being nominated as the event’s organiser!  I didn’t really want to be but it seemed no one else wanted to either and as I had made some inquiries already with the tennis club, so it seemed to just fall into my lap!

I was once again stepping out into the unknown looking to the Lord for wisdom and help as this is all new to me.  Not long after this I was blessed with advice and suggestions from friends.  Glenda suggested getting a team together to make a stack of sandwiches before the event so they were ready to go.  I called Marlene who is a professional caterer for ideas of how much to buy and also thoughts on what foods we should provide.  She also gave me some tips on preparing our sandwiches.

During this time I sent out emails to as many people I could think of who might be interested in helping out.  I asked the committee to help with a nominated supervisor for the afternoon sessions, after volunteering myself for the mornings.  Praise the Lord it was over the school holidays so I had no other church commitments.  An official email went to all on the Coastal Community Garden mailing list which filled two morning slots.  Friends and neighbours also helped me fill the rest of the morning spots leaving only the 12-2pm spots available.  I relayed the good news to the CCG team with a little jab – “over to you Alan” as he had volunteered to supervise the afternoon sessions.  He came through signing up his family.  The tennis club also sent out an email asking for volunteers.

Then came the dilemma of using cash in a cashless society.  I was reassured by those who were involved with the tennis court functions like this that an email would be sent out to ask parents to provide cash.  Hmmm yes but I still felt we might need an electronic device; it wouldn’t go astray for other fundraising events either.  After doing my due diligence I found there was one on special.  It was the same make as I’d seen used at many places, including church, so I was convinced it would suit us too.  Running it by the committee I got the go ahead to buy it, which I did and asked our committee treasurer, Alan, to do the work to register an account, praying it would all be done by the time we needed it in April. Alan was taking on the task of sorting out the Square, so hopefully we can use it soon.

I also sent emails to Coles and Farmer Jacks to ask if they would support our fundraising with a donation.  Coles suggested I ask for a gift card which I wasn’t really hoping for, but every little bit counts.  This might also be something we could use in our raffle when we host an information stall at an event run by the City of Stirling where they anticipate 800-1000 attendees. I then tried another tactic. I printed out letters to Coles, Woolworths and Aldi with our logo and took them personally to the Karrinyup stores.  Coles had the same answer, apply on line; at Aldi I happened to meet the manager checking shelves who said he’d take it. Woolies didn’t know who to give it to so I left it with one of the senior staff. A week later we received an email from them asking us to pick up a $50 gift voucher.  What blessings!

Alan, our CCG treasure, and I met up one late afternoon at the tennis club to discuss the fundraising venture.  We were shown around the premises where we would be serving, the fridge and freezer which was already choker-block full!  I was disappointed that it wasn’t larger but was reassured it would be cleaned out before we needed it.  We will definitely need to be organised!

After weeks of patiently waiting on someone, who had offered her web designing skills to set up the CCG website, I suggested I go ahead with buying a domain name and webhost to see if I could get things started on my own.  Having previously run my own business, website and now this blog, I had some basics on how it was done.  If I had some problems to overcome I could ask my ex-business partner and friend Grace if she could help me out.  I’m sure she would give me a discount for her labour.  I ran this past the committee and got the go ahead.  It didn’t take long before I had everything I needed, but then I hit a snag!  What on earth do I do now?  I had chosen WordPress which I use for this blog but had no idea why it wasn’t going to air!  That’s when I called – Grace.  Help! I’m stuck!

Grace, she certainly lives up to her name, came to the rescue.  Logging into my computer, she walked me through the things I’d missed out when I initially set it up.  She then left me to work on the pages which I thought would be easy enough as I had chosen the theme my blog is in.  Well I thought I had. Then again I was having so much trouble as the photos didn’t fit in as mine do on my own website.  Once again Grace came to the rescue. Finally we realised I hadn’t actually installed the theme I’d chosen.  Ok, now things were familiar, working as I knew they should. It makes it so much easier when you know one system; I get so confused and dithered when it’s changed even just by a few things.  Here’s a link to the Coastal Community Garden.

In working on the website, I also wanted to learn how to make a form so that new members can sign up, pay and receive updates.  This is an ongoing challenge or should I say adventure. But here are some things I have learned, namely, adding social media to the site and also to our Gmail signature.  I found a great tutorial, copied icons and uploaded them on the website Home Page, then learnt how to hyperlink them to the media site or URL before attempting the Gmail signature. All this time I was listening and pausing the tutorial as I went.  Just before it had finished, I thought I had learn what I needed so emailed Natalie (committee president) to show her what I had done.  As I watched the last of the tutorial, I realised I hadn’t connected the link to our actual social media sites! Oops! Easily fixed and all now operational.  I also inserted a photo with a link from the Gmail newsletters to the blog on the website.  Hmmm, maybe I could do the same with my email to Sally’s Adventures.  Another little job. (to those who receive my email, I hope you found it!)

I’m enjoying my classes of Garden Basics at Share In.  There is so much to cover in such a short time.  Sometimes we have a practical session at the end of the class.  On one occasion I asked them to bring in their secateurs for a lesson on how to sharpen and clean them.  Another class was propagating the cuttings they brought in.  We have also exchanged seeds and cuttings. Because I missed out one Friday due to having a cold, I have gained permission to come back next term with the same group so we can continue till I head off on my new adventure.

It’s olive season.  I have picked two lots of 2 litre containers of black olives for pickling. I hope to get a few batches done before going away so they can sit in the pantry pickling ready for when I return.  I made so many last year I’m still eating them. I’ve also been eating my Nashi Pear and figs. What a treat!  I’m also going to try dry salted olives to see how they go.

I’ve also been harvesting my figs, tropical pears and made more kimchi, a very productive part of the year.

Photos:  1. Succulent flower    2. Genetically modified from cross pollinated JAP and Butternut – ButterJAP    3. Tropical Pear – similar to Nashi fruit    4. Fig delight!    5. New CCG website    6. Kimchi

Prayer & Praise Points:

Praise God for His leading, guidance and provision as I step out on this new adventure

Praise Him for the wonderful autumn weather we have been having.

Praise Him for all the opportunities we have to share His love with others.

Please pray for Kat’s healing as she seeks advice for a mystery illness that often incapacitates her.  Pray that her body will continue to respond to the Zone therapy sessions she had with Ray while she was here in Perth.

Please pray that Jen enjoys her time in the UK and Europe as she drives around in her new campervan.  Pray that she stays safe and well during her adventures and travels.

Let’s all pray for world peace and for the refugees who are caught up in the suffering this war has caused, both in Ukraine and Russia.

Please continue to keep my sisters, Tricia, Jen and Kat, in your prayers.  Pray that they will come to know the love of Jesus.