Turkey and Tinsel at Willersley Castle Hotel

I have had a wonderful Christmas which actually for me started on the 12th of December when I went away for five days, it was only a few miles away at Cromford I stayed in the Willersley Castle Hotel http://www.christianguild.co.uk/willersley/ for their Turkey and Tinsel 2 break. I didn't even know the place existed until a few months ago when I went to Matlock and found a gate with their name on so I did some sleuthing (searched the web) and decided to book myself in.

It was wonderful, the place is charming, clean, warm (a little too warm for me I had to turn off the radiator and open the window :), the staff were extremely friendly, polite and courteous and did all they could to make your stay comfortable and memorable. Our host Marion was a delight she had laid on all sorts of things for us, I arrived on Monday and settled into to my room which had a lovely view of the Derwent and all the hills etc. Every morning there was devotions and every evening apart from the last Marion gave an epilogue.

Tuesday was our Christmas Eve and we had a lovely coach trip to Castleton, then Bakewell

and then on to Chastworth to see their decorations,

Willersley had provided us with a packed lunch which was lovely. I thoroughly enjoyed the decorations but was much happier out there in the grounds although I didn't see much of them what I did see was wonderful.

Fountains, the cascade and even a squirting willow tree!!!!

They are in the process of putting gold leaf on the windows, wow.

After tea we had a quiz which surprisingly the team I was in won, well actually it was a joint win :)

Wednesday was Christmas day and after breakfast and devotions we were given a gift from Willersley. We had a three course Christmas dinner, I had the traditional turkey and Christmas pud. In the afternoon we had a lovely lady, Yvonne Wilkes come and show us how to make decorations, bows, and how to wrap a present properly.

She was the person who had done all the decorations for the hotel, they really were lovely.

Christmas day tea was a wonderful buffet. At some point but I can't remember when we were taught by Marion the 12 days of Christmas with actions, hilarious. 

In the evening we had three gentlemen and a lady from an operatic society called Bright Reflections who came to entertain us it was wonderful. Memories came flooding back of when I was a child listening to my mother sing and of the records she used to play on the old wind up gramophone.

Boxing day saw most of the T and T's go to Cromford with a guide from the Arkwright Society apparently they had a wonderful time but I missed them so I had a walk around Cromford,

http://st-marys-cromford.co.uk/index.php/about-st-marys/

I found the bookshop and just couldn't resist and bought a couple of old story books,

http://www.scarthinbooks.com/

After lunch we joined together for more of Marion's quizzes and a couple of turns by ourselves, Edward who has a lovely tenor voice sang, I sang "Holy Child" and Caroline read a poem called the twelve days of Turkey, fabulous. In the evening some of us went to a pantomime at Buxton Opera house, they had a wonderful time. I shall always remember with great affection the fellowship and friendship of my fellow T and T's and I hope that maybe next year I will be able to return but of course nothing in this life is certain.

But one thing I am sure and certain of that even though we may never meet again here we shall meet again in glory when we shall be forever with the Lord, what a glorious hope and future we have who are born again by God's grace.

Going, going, gone

Our shoe boxes have now gone


 
We had a wonderful time during the year looking for good things to put in them, and of course making things,

and packing them.

The whole process is such a delight and a blessing and it is so good to know that these boxes will be a delight and a blessing to children who are in need.

I must admit I can't wait for the January sales when the whole process will start over.

It is great to give and it is wonderful to receive, this Christmas I hope and pray that whoever reads this will have a wonderful, blessed Christmas and that you will know the true gift of Christmas and the giver.
God sent His Son, Jesus Christ to earth and we celebrate His birth, without which we would not have newness of life. If He had not been born, He would not have died for our sins and been raised from the dead that we might have eternal life but He did and if we believe in Him we shall be saved.

I pray you will experience the true gift of Christmas this year, may God bless you.
Happy Christmas to you all and a peaceful New Year

Operation Christmas child - He knows my name

A few years ago I called at the Post Office to send a letter by special delivery, I wanted to know when it had arrived and so the assistant filled in the appropriate form and asked me my name, I couldn't remember, so she asked for my address and I couldn't remember that either I asked her to give me a minute as I was sure it would come back to me eventually which it did, however I felt very uncomfortable and embarrassed, I handed my card to her that explained that I have dementia and so am prone to these lapses of memory. Having said that I had no excuse for forgetting my children's name when they were young, going through each one until I got it right, even calling them by the pets name sometimes :) but I saw this video on you tube from Samaritans purse about God knowing our name, He never forgets and we are continually in His thoughts no matter who we are, where we are, or what circumstance we are in, He knows and He calls us by our name.
                        

Sometimes we are so busy in our lives that we just aren't listening when He calls us, we are pursuing health, wealth and happiness, we are seeking peace and joy and satisfaction that seem to be just within grasp but then it's gone, but Jesus is calling us by our name, He is knocking on our hearts door longing for us to hear and let Him in then we will have peace, joy and an assurance of hope and life. that doesn't mean that we won't have health problems or trials etc, but they won't take away our joy and peace in Him and He will be with us and help us through. He knows our name, we have a heavenly Father who cares and loves us and despite our trying we cannot hide from Him
.

Operation Christmas Child is a wonderful way of letting the hurting children in this world know that someone cares about them and of witnessing to God's wonderful grace, we may not know the names of the children that we send our boxes to but we can be assured that God knows them and cares what happens to them, if you have never been involved in this here is a link for you to find out more. http://www.operationchristmaschild.org.uk/

If you have never known the love and forgiveness of God in your life be assured He is calling you now by name. God bless you.

Joy Room

Psalm 16:11 You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at you right hand are pleasures for evermore.

It's finally done and I am now the proud owner of a joy room. Over the years I have saved a number of things which have ended up in suitcases in the loft, hardly ever looked at but now all that has changed and I have taken down those dusty old cases and their contents and put them in my shed, the walls and the roof are now adorned with memories, lovely memories, pictures my children did when small, letters from my boys and all kinds of other stuff. It is so lovely to sit up there I even have a photo frame which plays music!

Now what on earth do I do up there you may ask, well I have taken up all my felt etc and I sit and make all sorts of things for the Operation Christmas Child

so there I sit in my joy room making joy for others, it's great. :)

Priceless Truth

Isn't it wonderful when we receive an amazing gem of pure clarity from the word of God, we have dug and we have searched looking through various commentaries etc. (most of which are excellent) but we know deep down that God is telling us something more, something personal, it is just for us now and all the wonderful truths that have been expounded upon and which we have been reading seem to have left something out. Then there is this beautiful untarnished gem, pure in its clarity and we receive such joy and peace from this wonderful truth. I have heard it said often that you can't add to grace, you cannot buy or earn salvation by doing penance or good works etc. If you were to add the smallest particle of dirt to pure water then the water would be contaminated and is no longer pure so it is with grace, you cannot add to it.

I am at present studying Romans and this morning as I came to verse 16 and 17 I struggled, but I dug and in my digging I was rewarded with a beautiful truth, just as you cannot add to grace you cannot take anything away from the gospel of Christ it is all there, good news for every man; God's grace, mercy, righteousness, sacrifice, the cross, faith etc. etc. it is all there. The penalty for your sin and my sin has been paid and you can receive this gift by faith, it is all in there in the gospel of Christ, redemption, justification, inheritance, freedom and the more you think about it the more there is, isn't this amazing? the gospel is the best news ever.

In October 2007, a white flawless diamond weighing 84.37 carats was estimated to be worth between £6 million to £7.8 million now in 2011 the largest flawless diamond is reported to weigh 500 carats and will I expect fetch much more than the white diamond in 2007. No matter how big and how flawless these diamonds are they cannot compare to the amazing gems of truth found in God's word, the bible is full of priceless truth that has not changed from the beginning and will not change and all these wonderful truths can be found when we diligently seek and study the bible. The gospel, the good news for every man, woman and child it is all there from Genesis to Revelation.

Find a lane Friday

Phil (my son-in-law) took me to Derby hospital twice yesterday (Friday) to visit a friend I must admit I am so grateful that I don't drive as there seemed to be many indecisive drivers on the road that day who couldn't make their minds up what lane they should be in; they were either hopping from one lane to another or just travelling in the middle of the white line between two lanes.

I was reminded of James when he was talking about people who were blown about like the waves of the sea by the wind.

James 1:2-12 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him as of God, who gives liberally and without reproach and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is alike a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

These drivers just could not make up their minds which lane to take and we as Christians should not be lane hopping doubting the word of God who will freely give us all we need for the path He has chosen for us. It was good to be in the car with a driver who knew where he was going and what he had to do to get there. I think it much better if we don't jump in the spiritual driving seat but rely solely on the Lord Jesus Christ who knows the way and the path to take, we can and should trust Him.

There are many people who having started on the right path and trusted in the Lord Jesus who take over the driver’s seat and start going from one lane to another or they change lanes from the one the Lord would have them take, there are so many false teachings out there who are under the umbrella of Christian but are so far from the Lord's lane and we should as James points out ask the Lord for wisdom in these things so that we don't start doubting and drifting from lane to lane, how do we do this? By reading the word of God in a prayerful manner and trusting the Holy Spirit to show guide us in its truth, we should be as the Bereans (Acts 17:11) and search the scripture to see if these things are so and if someone is preaching something contrary to the word of God we should not follow but stand firm on the truth even if we stand alone.

Don't hop from one new-fangled idea to another, don't change the path God has given you, don't take over the driver’s seat and set out on a trip of your own. Trust Jesus, trust God's word and stay on the path of righteousness. God, bless you.