Author Archives: Donna

Stopping Traffic

Today I stopped a crowd. I didn’t intend to cause such a commotion, it was just a little distraction, but many people followed.

A large group of friends and I were walking back to our hotel room through a mall after attending a conference. I happened to be at the front of the group when I saw a very trendy necklace in shop window. I stopped to have a look which stopped the group I was walking with, the rest of my friends behind them, and another group of ladies walking behind them. Then more people stopped to see what this big group of people were looking at!

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Ra’Yah

I just drove across town in my pajamas. Pink pajamas with pink and white love hearts, and pink slippers, also adorned with love hearts. It did cross my mind before I left about packing some spare clothes in case I ran out of petrol or got a flat, but I thought it would make a good story if I got caught in my PJ’s so drove off with a little smile on my face.

I was going to a friends house to watch a movie. There are some friends you can do that with: hang out in your PJ’s, raid the fridge, drop in unannounced, share anything with, talk, pray and encourage each other through the ups and downs of life.

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Soap Free

I purchased a ‘soap free’ brand of shower lotion last week. It smells great, foams nicely, washes very well, and has added moisturizers to soften the skin. What I didn’t read on the back of the packet until later however, was a myriad of tongue twisting ingredients including Methylchloroisothiazolinone. Seriously, that is one word!

Why do we take natural things out to replace them with artificial substitutes which aren’t even good for us? I was given a block of chocolate this week which was gluten free and had no added sugar, yet still had 36% fat. No wonder it still tasted nice!

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Renovator’s Delight

I can finally sit in my loungeroom and relax. I no longer see an unpainted ceiling, or half finished door, or cement floors, or light bulbs hanging out of the ceiling. I even have some pictures on the walls. If I try not to look down the hallway, I could nearly say that we have finished our renovations (inside at least).

We had to renovate our new place as it was lacking what some would consider necessities, such as doors, flooring and walls. We wanted to make it a more comfortable place to live in, to make it stronger and more durable, to make it more attractive, and enjoy the feeling of personal satisfaction at our work.

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Stop!

“STOP!” I yelled as my son went to cross the road from between some bushes without looking. I prayed a prayer of thanks that he actually listened to me . All those times of practicing paid off along with some divine intervention I’m sure. I could see from where I was standing what he was about to do, I could see the oncoming traffic and I knew neither of them would see the other until it was too late.

Do you think I was showered with praise from my 4 year old son for saving his life? Nope. Not even an acknowledgement.

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Falling Short

Recently Australian cricketer Ricky Ponting was caught out one run short of achieving an amazing record of scoring two centuries in 4 consecutive test matches. The news headline read “Falling Short”. How disappointing for Ponting, the Australian side, and viewers everywhere to see him miss out on another great rung of success by such a close margin. Dismay and discouragement swept over the country (sort of) and it made front page news that Ponting had been “robbed” of this achievement.

I don’t have any great sporting feats or failures to boast about, but I do often feel that sense of dismay and discouragement when things don’t go the way I planned.

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New Beginnings

I am very glad to hear many of you had a white Christmas, it is something we would love to experience as a family one day. We made our very Australian Christmas quite special this year by spending Christmas night around a camp fire. We spent time talking with different members of the family and the Christmas story was told as the faces of family members reflected the glow of the fireplace and the wonder of the Christmas message, some even catching a glimpse of how the shepherds may have felt at the announcement of God’s plan of salvation for mankind.

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Missing Something

I ignored the feeling of nausea at first in the shopping centre car park. I carried on with my bargain hunting as my hands started to shake. I even kept shopping through slight waves of dizziness but when I had to sit down and couldn’t walk anymore I knew something was wrong. To the casual observer I might have just been relaxing but in reality I was unable to go on.

It took me a few minutes to realize the cause of my problem was that I had not eaten all day. Although few could fault me on my commitment to getting the perfect sale item, my attention to the real needs of life left something to be desired.

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