2005 was a beautiful year for us. We moved into our own home in Dec 04. Altho it is an old house ie >30 yrs old, but both KL and I loved it. The minute both of us stepped into the hall, we felt we had found our home. We have done some minor touches to upkeep the house, but the most pleasurable thing was what we did in the garden. After uprooting some not so aesthetic looking trees, we had planted several silver birches, Japanese maples, 1 3-way plum, 1 mandarin imperial tree, 1 lemon tree, and 2 lime trees. In addition to those trees we had also introduced some new shrubs and chilly trees and 2 new vegetable beds. Imagine our awe when we harvested 600 cherry tomatoes from a single tree at end of 05. Imagine our awe when all our plants started flowering. We can also imagine what our garden would look like in 3-5 yrs time when the trees have matured somewhat. Nature is so beautiful, truly a wonderful creation of God.
In 2006, we were reminded once again that Victoria is in the 15th yr of drought. We went from Stage 1 to Stage 3 water restrictions in 3 months toward end of 06. Then the bushfires went out of control in North East Victoria due to the extended dry weather with little rain. We had to learn how to be careful in water usage, and being lovers of nature and the plants in our garden, we learnt how to recycle water from washing vegetables etc and use it in our garden. Sometimes, it is better to go back to basics, that way one is more appreciative of what one has been given, rather than taking it so lightly.
2006 was a wonderful year for us. In 2005, I accepted a redundancy package from my company, it was devastating, but it was a turning point. I struggled within, but within 6 mths I was reminded that my anchor should be God and not my job. So it is. God is my anchor. At the same time, all these 6 yrs, I have been having the ‘terrible’ lower back pain. Whenever I did some housework, it would ache in the night. If I mowed the lawn, it would ache for a few days, and esp in the nights. And the funny thing is I did not recall praying to God to ask Him to remove it, but I always remembered Paul and his request to God to remove the thorn in his flesh, to which God said “My strength is made perfect in your weakness”. Come Aug 06, someone from church told me about Aquarena which is a gym cums swim/spa place. And I signed up membership on the next day, telling my husband that I would make the commitment, coz if not nothing would happen, at the same time committing it to God. Little did I know that that was the 2nd turning point in my life. 2 months down the road, I had lost 5kg, and also minus my back pain. I could mow the entire house lawn front and back, and there would be no pain, and I could actually jog, whereas in the past I could not coz it would create a pressure on my lower back and create the much dreaded pain. God has been so good to me. The year of drought (also in terms of no job) is a year of renewal, I see my life from a so different perspective. God has been gracious to me. My husband has a wonderful job, and is so understanding, I do not need to work although I am far from retirement age, and I have become fit as a fiddle. Whoever would have thought that I could have engineered this? Well, I did not, I could not have. The only thing that comes to my mind whenever I think of my life is the song “Give thanks with a grateful heart…… let the weak say I am strong, let the poor say I am rich… because of what the Lord has done for me.” Amen!!! Indeed, Amen!!!
