Peleh Yo'etz - Wonderful, Counselor. God Speaks In Many Ways

God speaks in many ways, sometimes He uses our curiosity to catch our attention and lead us to hear what He is saying - like the burning bush that Moses turned aside to investigate.

2008
I was working out my finances for when I leave teaching and thought I would have enough to pay for accommodation if I went to Israel in a years time, for however long the Lord wanted me there. I was wondering about the extra I would need for the food. At church that Sunday my mind had wandered while the bible was being read, when part of a verse caught my attention and brought me back..."....you will be fed with the treasures of the nations...". I thought, "I must look that verse up at home". Later I was looking up Isaiah 61:7 and rereading the words the Holy Spirit had put into my mind many years past, when I saw the words about the ancient ruins being rebuilt. Ancient ruins had been in the back of my mind for some time. In 2006 I had created the art work opposite, with an image of ancient ruins in it. The words grabbed my attention and curiosity. I thought of the ancient ruins in Israel. ... ancient cities that had been destroyed long ago being restored....and archaeological digs....so I continued reading and there was the verse I had meant to seek out. Isaiah 61:6 "You will be fed with the wealth of nations".
The following week someone mentioned archaeological sites in Israel and I thought, "Yes I would like to see them". He said, "Why don't you travel lightly" and into my mind popped a dream I had had about 1994 (I dreamt that the house was sold, my husband had gone back home and and I put a small backpack on and set off). At the time I had wondered what it meant - that my husband had gone back home. I had thought that maybe it was England because that is where he had been born. But now that we are living in Australia and my husband wants to go back to New Zealand to retire, it all makes sense. I had been thinking also about the birds bringing food to feed a prophet and wondered if Elijah, like me had fed wild birds in the past from his own hand. While out walking I saw a group of magpies and they looked back at me. I wondered if the wild magpies I had been feeding recognized me when I went for walks....had they recognized Elijah too or had God sent birds that had never seen him before. A few days later - Friday 6th June 2008, I listened to "The Door of Hope" message given by Karen Dunham and it was about Elijah being fed by the birds and a poor widow. I thanked God. I had heard what He was saying again and knew that He would provide food for my journey.

June 2008
I sketched an image that had been in my mind for some time and decided to make it into an art work. When I had finished it I called it Blessing but was not happy with this title. I wondered if I should have the tree standing by a river rather than a sea. I asked God what I should call it. Did it have a special meaning or significance? The following day was Sunday and part of the message shared at Church was about being the salt of the earth. "Yes, that's the name for it" I thought. My image was about being the salt of the earth. I had caused the frothy salty part of the wave without the water, to be on the page that contained the words of a blessing taken from the Apostle Paul's written words. God speaks through images as well as words, spoken and written. The image reminded me of God's word to me to "publish His acts around the world". Written words can also be like salt that makes people more thirsty.

Australia has become aware of the need to be careful with her water resources. We have different levels of water restrictions depending on the level of the dams. Over the Summer in Canberra we can usually water the gardens on alternate days. When we first moved to Canberra over the Summer I lost a number of plants and trees as I did not realize how much I needed to water the garden. One Summer God said to me that He would water my garden. His word came as a thought in my mind, "I will water your garden". That whole Summer at least once a week it rained. We had more rain for that period than we had had for some time. God had spoken. He did water my garden and I did not need to.

Sometimes God reveals what people are thinking. One day a rush of thoughts about my university assignment came into my mind. I immediately rang my lecturer. It just so happened that at that very moment she was reading my assignment. She thought it was mental telepathy…the timing was perfect as she only had the draft assignment and she thought it was the finished one…..she had it in her hand as I rang, so I was able to let her know that it was only the draft and was able to discuss it with her.

Whenever I have a sermon to preach or a children's talk to do, I ask God for something I can use to illustrate what He is saying. We were on holiday at the beach and I was looking for interesting shells for my collection, the rarer variety, when I found something else that no one else had seen. At first I thought it was an old half penny, but as I looked more closely I saw that it was a 10cent coin. This was an excellent illustration for my children's talk and sermon about many aspects of treasure. When ever I find a coin, it is like finding a little bit of treasure. This little bit of treasure wasn't designed to just sit on the beach all day soaking up the sun and water and letting everything just happen to it. It had become unrecognizable. It was designed to be used and handled. Just like us. We are God's treasure designed to be used by Him. It was a good illustration to use to speak about how we care for the things we treasure and as God's treasure, how He cares for us.

In my daily bible reading I had read about God doubling wealth.

You will receive a double measure of wealth instead of your shame. You will sing about your wealth instead of being disgraced. That is why you will have a double measure of wealth in your land. You will have everlasting joy. Isaiah 61:7

The words "I will double your wealth" kept coming into my mind and I felt sure God was going to double our wealth. We were setting off on holiday and I pondered the word on the journey. By the time we got back from holiday I had decided that God probably meant that the double wealth did not refer to money but to well being, to joy. When we got home we had an unexpected visitor. A student from the local school came round and said, that we had doubled our investment. I didn't know what I had invested. She said that a year ago I have given a $1. The students had used all the "investments" to run a business as part of their studies and had doubled the money given. She gave me $2. I laughed. I had given what I thought was a donation and never thought of it again and here it was returned to me a double portion! God did mean money. Within a few years we also saw our material assets and the equity in them double. We had 2 houses and 2 commercial properties. God had done what He said He would.

When Aimee was about 3 months old we decided to have a holiday in Australia. I was anxious about the sun. I didn't want our new baby to get sun burnt. As I was doing my daily bible reading I read the words, "The sun will not smite you by day." Psalm 121:6. When we went to Australia, it was Christmas. The last time I had been in Sydney, it was January and there had been a heat wave. Well, while we were there they had an unusual amount of cloud for that time of year. It rained as well, cooling the air (and preventing us from having a barbeque in the sun). Aimee slept most of the day and woke up about 10 times during the night for feeds. This worked out very well as I did not need to feed her so often while we were out sight seeing. Even waking up so many times in the night did not tire me as much as it should have!

When Aimee was five and a half months old and preferred to play with objects that she saw us using. She found them much more interesting than her "toys". One day I put her down on the floor to play with a range of things with her older sister Natalie and went into the kitchen to prepare tea. I noticed how quiet the two girls were and into my mind came an image of Aimee putting small pieces of paper into her mouth and choking on them. I felt impressed to check her. But I thought "she will be ok". Then I remembered how accurate this kind of impression had been in the past so I went in to see how the two girls were. Aimee had managed to pull her sister's clown face puzzle to pieces - which I had not thought she was capable of doing, and was just about to put a small piece of puzzle into her mouth. I rescued it from her and praised God for warning me and protecting Aimee.

"Don't be afraid when you enter the land of forgetfulness". The words came into my mind during a group prayer meeting, and a picture of dark place with only the white paint marks on the road and a sign post came into my mind. I sensed that God was telling someone not to be afraid, because even in this dark place He would be there showing the way like the white lines on the side of the road. I felt that God was saying to make sign posts. These would make it easie to find the way back -like holding onto a rope. So I wrote the words down. Years later after a car accident, my memory was affected and I came across the words and then after the 5th car accident, my memory was affected again and this time I remembered the words and was comforted knowing that God was able to show me the way. He knows the future and has everything in hand.

When my father's adopted father died I was very sad as he had shown no indication that he had been a Christian before dying. One day as I was reading through Proverbs I came across the verse: "A righteous man leaves an inheritance to his grandchildren". The sadness lifted and hope returned. He had left us an inheritance. Mine had been very timely. It was my first year out teaching and I had to go flatting. I found the flat but did not have much in the way of household items, apart from a bed and a desk. I received from him all the other basics I needed, as well as money to buy the latest sewing machine, that was well used over the years, especially when the children came along. I don't know what happened between him and God in the last moments. Perhaps he yielded at the last or cried out to Jesus to save him. But after seeing this verse I felt God's peace about the matter. He had done what a righteous man does.