God's Lily Training

  • Welcome to GLT
  • Who is God’s Lily?
  • The Vision
  • GLT notes
    • ~~Initiation
    • ~~Recognition
    • ~~Impartation
    • ~~Embarkation
    • ~~Perspiration
  • What we offer
    • ~~Fresh Expressions of Business (podcast)
    • ~~Courses
      • ~~~Stop sweating the small stuff (a course to start you thinking)
      • ~~~Become a Savvy Woman (for women who want the best out of life)
      • ~~~Core Training (a course to help you start your project)
    • ~~Books by God’s Lily
    • ~~Recommended reads
    • ~~God’s Lily Own Website
  • Facebook group

Why two towers?

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The image of the bridge with two brick towers came to me in a dream. What did it did not come with was an explanation. I presumed that as a spending plan (budget is too painful a word to use) has two parts i.e. what comes in and what goes out, I presumed that this was what it was supposed to represent.

I had virtually written the book when I was doing the research for something else and I had a revelation. I realized that there were two strong and secure towers or structures that I needed to have in my life if I was going to achieve all that I could achieve.

One of those towers is what I call my inner core. This is what I call the inner strength that comes from knowing our value, our identity and our purpose. It is strengthened by being accepted and expressing gratitude for what I have and am.

The other is linked to the children’s Sunday School song about running into a strong tower. The idea being that having a relationship with God is like having a strong tower that we can shelter in when things are not what they should be around us. It is also a place where we can spend time gathering wisdom and inspiration that will help us do what we are supposed to do. Not forgetting the ideas and wisdom that makes it so much easier to overcome obstacles and manage challenges.

If we are secure and know that we can have all our needs met we will be able to stop the fighting and struggling. It is then possible to be know a contentment and peace that is beyond understanding.

Filed Under: 404, bridge, Uncategorized

SW3.10 Wisdom is more important than pearls or rubies

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Which is more important having something or the wisdom that makes it possible to get whatever it is? The thing is if you give someone a pearl or a ruby they do not know how to get another pearl or ruby. If you share your wisdom with them about how to obtain a pearl or a ruby then they can go out and find as many rubies or pearls as they want.

Someone could show you exactly how to set up a business but it is unlikely to be a business that works for you. You could slavishly copy all the things that they have done but then find that you do not have the success that they have. What is far better is to guide people so that they gain the wisdom to know when to do exactly what you do, and when to do something very different.

You will see as you read through this book that there are guidelines about what is a good thing to do and why but there are no precise instructions to tell you how to do it. The precise description of what to do is what using the principles of wisdom will give you. In other words gaining wisdom is better than gaining precious gems[1].

There is a saying that if you share how you do something then they will be your employee but if you share why you are doing it then they can replace you as the person in charge. There is a different level of responsibility that comes from knowing why you do things. This is because if you know this you can adapt things to produce the same or better results

I can tell you exactly how I achieve something but then I am not the same as you. What works for me might not work for you. My strengths are not the same as yours and the same can be said for our weaknesses. We need things that make the best use of our strengths and minimise the impact of our weaknesses. A one size fits all cookie cutter solution that works like a sausage- making machine forces us into a shape that does not reflect our design. We could be working towards similar aims but because of our different abilities we achieve those aims in slightly different ways.


[1] Proverbs chapter 3 verse 15

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Letters to the Churches

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This book has helped put words to ideas that I had been pondering over for a long time. It helped me realise that I was not alone in thinking things could be better.

The author, Francis Chan, left a church that he had helped grow from a group that met in his home to a church with thousands of members. He had got disillusioned with what the church had become and took his wife and family on an adventure round the world to see how church is done in other places. He spoke to people from China, India and a few other places and realised that that other Christians had managed to put ideas about what the church should be like into practise.

This might be a book about how far the author’s experience of a mega church was from the biblical accounts of the early church but it still possible for it to provide food for thought for those whose only experience is small or even smaller than small churches.

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Filed Under: Recommended reads

WordPress Resources at SiteGround

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WordPress is an award-winning web software, used by millions of webmasters worldwide for building their website or blog. SiteGround is proud to host this particular WordPress installation and provide users with multiple resources to facilitate the management of their WP websites:

Table of Contents

  • Expert WordPress Hosting
  • WordPress tutorial and knowledgebase articles
  • Free WordPress themes

Expert WordPress Hosting

SiteGround provides superior WordPress hosting focused on speed, security and customer service. We take care of WordPress sites security with unique server-level customizations, WP auto-updates, and daily backups. We make them faster by regularly upgrading our hardware, offering free CDN with Railgun and developing our SuperCacher that speeds sites up to 100 times! And last but not least, we provide real WordPress help 24/7! Learn more about SiteGround WordPress hosting

WordPress tutorial and knowledgebase articles

WordPress is considered an easy to work with software. Yet, if you are a beginner you might need some help, or you might be looking for tweaks that do not come naturally even to more advanced users. SiteGround WordPress tutorial includes installation and theme change instructions, management of WordPress plugins, manual upgrade and backup creation, and more. If you are looking for a more rare setup or modification, you may visit SiteGround Knowledgebase.

Free WordPress themes

SiteGround experts not only develop various solutions for WordPress sites, but also create unique designs that you could download for free. SiteGround WordPress themes are easy to customize for the particular use of the webmaster.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

SAHE Things to consider when choosing what food to store

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How long do you want to be prepared for? For evacuation and disaster kits, the standard time given is three days because they say it takes that long for help to reach you. For winter conditions, this would be better extended to the length of time the conditions are likely to make access difficult.

What other problems are you likely to be facing? If the water supply will be limited, try to avoid food that is high in fat and protein and don’t stock salty foods. Will you be able to refrigerate it, cook it or have the facilities to do much preparation?

You may need to consider the weight and space of your food supplies. This is especially important if it needs to be carried. However, many lightweight foods need water to make them palatable and some need hot water such as pot noodles.

How going to store things? Glass can break if not handled carefully. Tins and jars can be heavy.

What are your household’s tastes? Familiar foods can lift morale and give a feeling of security during stressful periods. Consider including comfort foods like chocolate.

Don’t forget the extras that make foods more palatable like salt, pepper, sugar, pickle and ketchup.

Think about what size of item to include in your stores. If you think that you might not have a fridge it would be useful to have items that can be used in a single sitting. In other words, if you only use half a standard tin of baked beans at a time consider having some smaller tins on hand

You need to be well nourished if you are to function at your best. If you are going to depend on these stores for any length of time you need to plan carefully so that you can have meals that give you all the protein, fibre, vitamins minerals etc. that you need. If necessary, you could include nutritional supplements to your stores.

Extreme survivalists include the means of providing themselves with food such as snares, traps fishing lines.

Remember that you need to use what you store and store what you use. This way you will rotate your stocks rather than gather things, which are not used and are just wasted. There is little point putting aside food for an emergency and then finding that it is unusable because the use by date was years earlier.

Filed Under: General

SAHE Ideas on storing things to drink

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The basic amount of water to store for drinking and food preparation is usually reckoned to be 4 litres or 2 large pop bottles per person per day. This goes up to 8 litres a day if you want to use water for personal hygiene and 20 litres a day if you want to do the laundry as well. You can buy in bottled water but you could also rinse out old pop bottles and fill them with water. If you do this, mark the pop bottles with a date so that you can work out when the water has been in those bottles for six months so that the water can be changed. You will also need to check the use by date on the bottled water and rotate it with newer supplies.

Water can get a bit boring. Why not consider keeping some other items like cartons of fruit juice and bottles of blackcurrant juice. Some people will not be able to manage for very long without their tea and coffee and presumably dried milk to make it more palatable.
You should also consider how you would transport water from a standpipe if you had to depend on them. This might include having a trolley and some water containers that you would use when caravanning.

I suppose some people would assume that the heading drink refers to alcoholic drink. For some, this would seem a good idea as it would blot out the problems but that is a temporary fix as their problems do not go away and may possibly increase as a result. One possible problem of alcohol is that the body needs more water to be able to process it so increasing the demand for water which may be in short supply. The old saying “drink in wits out” is also relevant here as you need to keep your wits about you during an emergency situation.

Filed Under: General

The Crash Course

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This book has been around a while now but it still sounds a relevant warning. about the unsustainable future of our economy, energy, end environment. 

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Filed Under: Recommended reads, What we offer

Rewarded at last

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The strange thing about this passage is that for many Christian women it is the bane of their lives because they struggle to meet its standards. Yet in the Jewish community, it is used as a way to praise wives. We often think of the Jewish community as being one where laws are important and as such add boundaries that are crossed at your peril. Yet the Christian one is plagued by the idea of reaching certain standards despite the importance of grace.

The fact that these ideas are so intertwined to me is a sign of the mutual heritage of these two great world religions. Jesus was a Jew and for some Jews following Him is a completion of their religion rather than taking on a new religion.

The basic foundation of Christian teaching comes from the Old Testament. Think about how many times the coming of Jesus was foretold in the Old Testament, literally hundreds. The religious practices followed by Jesus and his disciples were definitely based on the Old Testament. There are so many links between them that the story of Jesus life just would not make sense without the Old Testament.

Comparisons or the struggle that comes from having two things that are similar but not the same

I don’t know about you but one of the problems with having a brother or sister is that horrible word comparison. They did this so why can’t you. So you have an older sibling fearful of stepping out of line in some way then the younger one behaves in a more normal way. The younger one is then told why can’t you be as restricted and fearful as the older one.

That to me explains a large part of the differences between the lifestyle of Jews and Christians. Except the difference is instead of the parents trying to course correct the children the corrections come from Jesus. Imagine adding a new idea to correct an old one. Then those hearing the correction go so far in the opposite direction to what was intended for them that they also needed correction.

It reminds me of a pendulum. Someone went so far in that direction so that they needed correction so now others go back in the other direction. The extremes of both sides are inappropriate. It is only the middle position that is comfortable and appropriate. In fact, that is where the one doing the correcting would like people to find for themselves but it is not an easy position to find.

That is how I understand the differences between the Jewish attitude to money i.e. gaining wealth is a good idea and the Christian idea that poverty is a virtue. You have the ones held up as an example going too far in ways. So then Christians hear the warnings and take them too far the other way. Somewhere in the middle is the perfect teaching.

One of the reasons why I wanted to look at this passage in detail is that it makes the idea of building a business and gathering wealth seem normal and natural. She is not greedy or trying too hard. Wealth just comes from following the right principles. That is what I would love to see more of within the Christian church.

My crazy idea.

What if that kind of balanced teaching on money led to people seeing huge improvements in their lives? What if those huge improvements made others want to find out more about what had happened to them so that they wanted to learn about such things? Add to that the idea that if people found out that following biblical principles related to money improved their lives and they tried other biblical principles and found that they worked as well. Then of course if the practical principles in the Bible had an impact on their lives then surely they could trust other things in the Bible as well. Those other things would include the idea that Jesus died for them and is their Saviour. That, of course, is the ultimate reason to rejoice. There would not necessarily be an immediate impact but learning to manage money wisely could be part of the pilgrimage to faith in Jesus for some people.

Filed Under: General

P31 Questions to ponder

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Filed Under: General

P31 What she does is good and she keeps going

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The Proverbs 31 woman knows how to make a profit. She knows how to gain from the work that she does. Her trading is successful. Her business is going well.

Why because she has learnt the skills that she needs. We look at celebrity business owners, like Richard Branson. We think they must be something special to have achieved all that they have in business. Well maybe they are but the truth is that they have also had a few failures along the way. Some of the lessons they have learnt have been learnt in the school of hard knocks.

One of the encouragements in the earlier chapters of Proverbs is that if things knock you down then pick yourself up again. One example is Proverbs chapter 24 verse 6 but this is not the only place. It is mentioned again and again. It is normal to be knocked down the issue is how well do you pick yourself up afterwards.

Table of Contents

  • How do you pick yourself up?
  • She keeps on going
  • What does perfection mean for us?

How do you pick yourself up?

First thing is to remember who you are and whose you are. The two things go together. We are all children of the King of the Universe who created us for a particular purpose. He designed us so that we are the perfect person to do certain tasks. He gives us the free will to carry out those tasks. We can say yes and do them. Or say no and run away from them.

I must admit that standing up to be all I have been designed to do has been a challenge. I have faced opposition many times. Sometimes I have allowed this to train me to do the wrong things. It is hard sometimes accepting that you are exactly what God says you are and that you are designed to do this rather than that. Yet part of the strength of the Proverbs 31 woman comes from knowing that she is good at what she does.

She keeps on going

Her lamp stays on and she keeps going well into the night. Past the time when it is easy to see clearly what you are doing. She might not be able to see but she keeps going.

The Amplified version suggests that the night symbolises trouble privation and sorrow. It also suggests that the light warns away fear, doubt and distrust. My mind is doing a jump here. John talks about Jesus being the light of the world in John chater 8 verse 12. Imagine that kind of light shining in a situation where people are troubled or sorrowful or are deprived of what they need. Or imagine what would happen when there is darkness because of fear, doubt or distrust and a light is switched on.

What does perfection mean for us?

The Proverbs 31 woman just keeps on going and finds a way to overcome the challenges. No wonder her attitude is such that we struggle to reach her standards, or at least to appear to reach her standards. The truth is we don’t need to reach the standards set for her. We need to reach the standards set for us!

I am not her. I can knit and crochet but I have never tried to spin yarn. I have a set of skills I can use to achieve what I am designed to achieve but I am not her. I cannot achieve what she is designed to achieve. Do you know why she is so perfect? She is doing what God wants her to do.

Perfection does not mean doing everything right. I cannot play the cello and I have no memory of ever even touching the sort of bow that is needed to play one. I am perfect despite not being able to play the cello. The same is true for you. You may not have been designed to start or run a business. God might have designed you to do something completely different.

If reading this book has filled you with dread as you think I can never be like the virtuous woman described in this passage because I cannot do what she did then stop and think a moment. Yes, she did run a home-based business and there are people reading this book who could also run a home-based business. But despite what some so-called experts tell you not everyone can.

I must admit I fall in the camp that everyone at least needs to have a go starting and running a business. Even if it is just a tiny prototype to prove to themselves that it is something that does not suit them.

 

Filed Under: General

Money Won’t Make You Rich

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A mix of practical teaching and biblical wisdom from someone who has seen poverty at first hand. The author has experienced life in post-colonial Africa and communist Europe so has a unique perspective on what it takes to succeed in life.

You can get a copy of this book on Amazon by clicking here

Filed Under: Recommended reads, What we offer

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Finding your way around

  • Welcome to GLT
  • Who is God’s Lily?
  • The Vision
  • GLT notes
    • ~~Initiation
    • ~~Recognition
    • ~~Impartation
    • ~~Embarkation
    • ~~Perspiration
  • What we offer
    • ~~Fresh Expressions of Business (podcast)
    • ~~Courses
      • ~~~Stop sweating the small stuff (a course to start you thinking)
      • ~~~Become a Savvy Woman (for women who want the best out of life)
      • ~~~Core Training (a course to help you start your project)
    • ~~Books by God’s Lily
    • ~~Recommended reads
    • ~~God’s Lily Own Website
  • Facebook group