Psalm 84:3

I have chosen Psalm 84:3 for my verse of the week. I find this verse to be quite humbling under our current circumstances. The Lord is so wonderful that even the little sparrow has a home.

As mentioned in another post there is a large housing estate proposed in the fields just behind our house. So many of the beautiful trees have already been destroyed in preparation of this estate. when I read Psalm 84:3 it makes me feel sad that our current generation has little regard for green space and the beauty and wonder of God's creation.As these housing estates continue to get approval and built all across the UK there becomes less and less space for the humble sparrow to nest.

Lance and I have been very blessed with a lovely home and thankful to God for providing this to us for all these years. I do not want my current concern to be a selfish one and am genuinely concerned for our own community and how the increase in traffic, footfall  and noise; reduction in air quality and decimation of our green space will impact on our communities quality of life. More importantly greed has taken over and God has been pushed out.  These estates are not for the good of the community and whilst under the guise of "affordable housing", often or not the majority of the houses built are not affordable for the vast majority of those who need them.

Psalm 84:3 helps remind me of a thought I had the other day when I remembered this is just our temporary home where we won't have any of these issues in our eternal one.

This situation has also given us the opportunity to meet quite a lot of people in our local community that we would not otherwise have met, so it has been a great way of us to highlight our concerns from a Christian perspective.

The whole of Psalm 84 is a reassuring Psalm for me at this time. It is all about dwelling places and God hearing our prayers.

   Psalm 84:11-12 King James Version (KJV)

¹¹ For the Lord God is a sun and shield: the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.
¹² O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.

This Psalm follows on nicely from last week's verse of the week as I know that God will work for the good of those he has chosen and I need not concern myself with this current situation, especially when I am reminded that even the sparrows have a home. God is with us whereever we live.

Thoughts - New Estate/Heavenly Home

This is my first thoughts post and may come across as me rambling on about events that have irritated me. but I hope that these posts will help me reflect on each situation as they occur. It is important that we reflect regularly and is one of the reasons I set up this blog.

My thoughts this week have been rather dominated by some rather concerning news that planning permission is being sought to build 130 houses, creating a new estate directly behind where we live.

Lance and I do face a big challenge as Christians to act in a holy way over this matter and pray that we do remain calm and patient when campaigning against this proposal. We know that God's will, will be done and as my verse of the week is Romans 8:28 we know that we cannot come to harm over this. I also read an article this morning that quoted James 1:2-3 which reminded me how we should behave in difficult times.

Being a sinner this is easier said than done and I find my emotions getting the better of me far more than I should, however we must take our burdens to God and not try to handle them in our own sinful way.

Lance and I have lived in our house for almost 27 years and have been wonderfully blessed with an excellent location that has fields,orchards,paddocks one side and a small town with a train station the other. Despite not having any reformed churches in our local area we have never wanted to move due to being in such a prime location with all the amenities and green land we need. The council in the past have implied the land behind us would not be built upon. There was a proposal a few years ago to build on the other side of the main road to us, but this got declined. Two years ago a new build started south-east of our back garden but was still further up the road. However, this has been a very noisy build and despite being a 5 minute drive away we hear the noise of it all the time.

The proposed development is to the left. You can see how narrow this road is.

 
No-one ever wants new builds in their immediate vicinity. I understand new builds are inevitable due to the government objectives to build a certain amount of affordable housing; however it certainly feels like the South-East of England is becoming like one giant concrete jungle with less and less green space.So much of the flora and fauna has been destroyed due to man's selfishness and need for bigger and better and I believe has led to a more materialistic society that has pushed God out. It is a symbol of our times that people's standards and consideration of others has declined considerably.

As Christians we are merely passing through this life and can be reassured that our heavenly home will be eternal. Our Lord has already set Heaven and the New Earth up to be perfect for us and we do not need to worry or be concerned, but our worldly minds find this hard to remember at times.

                

Special Feature - Ruth

I'm at it again not starting my A-Z at A but this time with an R. This is longer than normal as it is a special one.

I will start from A next week but wanted my first one to be about one of my favourite female characters of the bible Ruth. It just so happens that I have made a wonderful close friend called Ruth  in the last year and she is also very kind and loyal.

RUTH 2:12

    
The story of Ruth confirms the sovereignty of God and how Romans 8:28 fits well with this story. It is incredible how God worked to move Naomi and Ruth on after the death of their spouses to a place they were welcomed. Not only that but Ruth showed her obedience and loyalty to God by following the instructions Naomi gave her with regards to Boaz.

It occurs to me that if Ruth had followed the same path as Orpah or had not followed Naomi's instructions with Boaz then  the line of Jesus would not have come about in this way. Again, more proof of God's sovereignty and the fact that this was his plan from the foundation of the world. How thankful I am for this story as I think it is a very important event in the line of Jesus.

This book and the character of Ruth shows me that God works in the most unlikely of situations and if we remain obedient to his word he will reward us.

John 15:7  "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you."
  
God is so amazing the way he works as God brought Ruth and I together as friends and sisters in Christ in the most incredible way. 

Ruth on the left, me on the right. 

 
Being of the Reformed position Lance and I have had many struggles finding a like minded church in our local area. For many years we have been looking for one. Read the talks section in coming weeks to find out more about this. On my search I happened across Stockton Reformed Presbyterian Church and set about contacting them. Unfortunately this church is at the other end of the UK to us but we were keen to visit there.

It has now been a year since our first visit where it was arranged for us to spend the Lord's day afternoon with a couple called Ruth and Simon. We had never met them, never spoken to them and did not really know anything about each other.

God's providence prevailed and this was the start of a great friendship and a close bond. It is amazing how much the four of us have in common and how like minded we are. We now joke that they are to the north what we are to the south of the country.

Despite the geographical distance we set about skyping every week in order to keep the fellowship going. This weekly fellowship and friendship means a great deal to me and is the first time that I have met a female of a similar age to me that I have clicked so easily with.

Ruth is very kind, quiet and humble - in some ways quite the opposite to me😃 but it appears  these minor differences make the relationship work even better.   

I hope and pray that this relationship will now continue in this life and in to the next. I thank God that Lance and I have found such great friends in Ruth & Simon..

Special Feature - Coney (Oryctolagus cuniculus)

 Coney (Oryctolagus cuniculus)

Proverbs 30:24 "but they are exceeding wise".

You are probably expecting me to start at the letter A, however I could not start this feature anywhere else other than the original name for Rabbit, which features in a number of places in the Bible.

The word Coney was derived from the scientific name which in part is Cuniculus. The name Coney was the commonly used name for rabbit up to the 18th/19th centuries. In some dialects the word Coney was pronounced Cunny, however the word Cunny during the 19th century became a word used to describe female genitalia so with reference to conies/rabbits the word cunny became bunny which we still use today. Bunny rabbit is a derivation from the original Coney mentioned in the bible.

I believe they were on the ark and were created on the 6th day with all the other mammals, Genesis 1:23/24.

Honey Bunny - with us 2008-2012.

Rabbits really are my favourite of all the amazing creatures God created and whilst they have adapted some what from the original coney they are still wise as these days alot of them live in centrally heated comfy houses🐰 

Other bible references for the Coney:
Leviticus 11:5 
Deuteronomy  14:7  

Next week's feature - THE AXOLOTL.

Romans 8:28

This verse has featured in many sermons that I have listened to over the years. It is such a reassuring verse that no matter how low you feel or what you go through all things are working together for our good. What a wonderful loving God who has chosen us before the foundation of the earth. 

It confirms to me the sovereignty of God and the doctrine of election.  

I find myself coming back to this verse time and time again. Paul's epistles to the Romans reminds me that even 2000 years ago people had similar issues and concerns that we have today. Paul sums up so well the state of a sinner but the wonderful redemption of our saviour.    

My Biblical Walk Introduction

My name is Jennifer Botelle. I am a Christian who has been married to Lance since 1990, we are of the  "Reformed" position and would be considered "Calvinists", adhering to the "Regulative Principles of Worship". We use the "King James Bible" otherwise known as the "Authorised" version of the Bible as we believe it to be the most accurate English translation from the original texts.

Lance and me 

I have recently been considering how to set up a spiritual journal. I wanted somewhere to collate my thoughts and reflect on how God has led me to where I am now. Lance (my wonderful husband) suggested setting up a blog as this is a good way to collate all the information in one set place. Hence the birth of "My Biblical Walk".

 This blog will mainly focus on my spiritual walk and how the Lord has guided me through this time. It is a personal log but is something that I am happy to share with others. It is my aim to share why I believe what I believe, and why it is so important for us all to consider why we are here on Earth and how it all came about.   

I have worked at Mid-Kent college for over ten years now and for the most part have worked within the Animal Care and Applied Science Department. I am to my knowledge the only Christian in my department and face many challenges around this. The main issue being a Christian Creationist in a department that actively promotes evolution.  

I have a total appreciation of God's creation and a love for animals. I marvel at God's wonderful creation and how the whole eco system works in a way that has to be by design and not just by random chance. This will also be an area of focus in my blog as it is a subject I am passionate about.


My favourite animal is the rabbit, which will become clear on this blog. Over the years, Lance and I have had five house rabbits - Tremble, Anakin, Daisy, Bud & Honey; all with their own unique personalities and great beauty. Our first pet together was a Chinchilla called Squingey. My first pet as a child was a cat called Astra.

Daisy & Bud with us 2008-2013

 I will develop the blog over time and have a variety of features that will appear under the labels. This willthe following as a start:

• A Biblical Walk - Talks. This will be the main section around my spiritual journey and give lots of detail about my background and how the Lord has led me to where I am today.
• A Biblical Walk - Thoughts. This will be a place where I will catalogue my various thoughts about current issues, sermons and other occurrences.
• Verse of the Week - This will start off as verses that are special to me and have helped me in my spiritual journey. 
• A-Z of the Amazing Bible - A feature that will focus on both the books and characters of the bible and what they mean to me.
• A-Z of Amazing Animal Facts - This will be a feature looking at the wonder of God's creation and some truly bizarre animal facts that could not happen by random chance.

I may include other features once I have developed my blog further.