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Hillside Community, Modderfontein (2026)

17/06/2026

How do you refresh yourself?

Over the years I have discovered that there are many ways to refresh a tired body.

During my running years one of the best feelings was diving into a swimming pool after a long run. The cool water seemed to bring instant relief to weary muscles. When I was playing hockey sharing an ice-cold beer with teammates after a hard-fought game was always a welcome way to unwind and relax. Lately it has been sharing a good cup of coffee.

We all have our own ways of refreshing ourselves. Some enjoy a walk in the garden, others spend time with family, or simply sit quietly and enjoy nature.

Physical refreshment is important but how do we refresh our souls?

The psalm we know well gives us a beautiful picture of God as our Shepherd. He leads us beside quiet waters and into green pastures. He knows exactly what His sheep need, and one of the things He provides is rest and refreshment.

There are times when the burdens we carry are just too much. Times when someone we love is critically ill or hurting, when circumstances are beyond our control, and when there are no easy answers. In those moments we discover that being refreshed by God is not simply about feeling better. It is about finding His peace in the middle of uncertainty, trusting that while we do not know what tomorrow holds our Good Shepherd does.

His presence doesn't always remove the storm immediately, but it strengthens us to face it. Our worries begin to lose their grip, our hearts become calmer, and our souls find the refreshment that only Jesus can give.

Perhaps today is a good day to ask ourselves: When last did I allow the Good Shepherd to refresh my soul?

Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank You for being our Good Shepherd. Thank You for caring for us, guiding us, protecting us, and refreshing our weary souls. When life feels uncertain and we carry worries that are beyond our control, fill our hearts with Your peace and remind us that You are always with us. Teach us to find our rest in You and to enjoy the comfort that only You can give. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Please take care. God bless you and all those you love and care for.

Tons of love and hugs ~ Lyn & Colin

15/06/2026

A New Heart

As South Africans we can take pride in one of the most remarkable moments in medical history. On 3 December 1967 Prof Christiaan Barnard performed the world's first successful human heart transplant at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town. The patient Louis Washkansky, was suffering from severe heart disease and without intervention he faced certain death. A failing heart was removed and replaced with a healthy one giving him a chance at new life.

Even today the thought of a heart transplant is incredible. It reminds us just how precious life is. When a person's heart is failing no amount of determination or effort can fix it. They need help from outside they need a skilled surgeon and sometimes they need a new heart. The Bible tells us that the same is true spiritually.

Many of us spend years trying to improve ourselves, fix our faults, or overcome our struggles through our own efforts. Yet God sees a deeper problem. Left on our own, our hearts become hardened by sin, pride, fear, guilt, disappointment, and selfishness.

But God offers something remarkable: "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh."

What Prof. Barnard achieved physically, our Redeemer has been doing spiritually since the beginning of time. The difference is that God's work goes far deeper. He does not simply repair a damaged heart; He gives us a completely new one. He replaces bitterness with forgiveness, fear with faith, guilt with grace, and hopelessness with purpose.

And just as a physical heart transplant required a sacrifice, our spiritual heart transplant was made possible through the sacrifice of Jesus. God sent His Son, the Great Physician, to do what none of us could do for ourselves. Jesus gave His life so that we could receive new life.

Perhaps today there is something in your heart that needs His touch. Maybe it is an old hurt, an unhealthy habit, lingering regret, anxiety about the future, or simply a growing distance from God.

Whatever it is, Jesus invites us to place it in His hands. He is still performing heart and soul transplants today. He is still taking hearts that are weary, broken, and burdened and making them new.

The question is not whether He is able.

The question is whether we are willing to trust Him enough to place our hearts in His care.

Let’s pray: Jesus thank You that You see beyond our outward appearance and look directly into our hearts. Thank You for Your sacrifice that makes new life possible. Where our hearts have become hard, fearful, wounded, or burdened, please do Your transforming work within us. Remove what does not honour You and replace it with a heart that loves You, trusts You, and follows You. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.

Please take care. God bless you and all those you love and care for.

Tons of love and prayers ~ Lyn & Colin

12/06/2026

Jesus, I want to be more like You. You've shown me what true humility should look like. You've modeled kindness, grace, and genuine love. Please help me to have the same attitude toward others as You have toward me. Teach me to love people unconditionally and sacrificially for Your glory, and their good. In Jesus' name I pray with so much love and so much thanksgiving. Amen.

10/06/2026

"Joy to the world, the Lord is come... let heaven and nature sing."

Those words are usually associated with Christmas but they remind us of something we can celebrate every day. Jesus has come and we now have a joy that the world cannot take away.

One of my favourite worship songs Forever reminds us:

"With a mighty hand and outstretched arm,
His love endures forever.
From the rising to the setting sun,
His love endures forever.
And by the grace of God we will carry on,
His love endures forever."

What a wonderful truth. God's love never changes. It carried us yesterday, it carries us today and it will carry us tomorrow. That is why Nehemiah tells us that "the joy of the Lord is our strength." Our strength doesn’t come from our circumstances but from knowing that we are loved by God. There will be days when life is difficult and joy doesn’t come naturally, yet even then we can hold on to God's promises.

Isaiah reminds us that those whom the Lord has rescued will be crowned with everlasting joy and that sorrow and sighing will flee away. Sorrow may visit us for a season, but it does not have the final word. God's love does. God's joy does. So today let us thank God for His unfailing love and ask Him to fill our hearts with His joy, so that His light may shine through us wherever we go.

Let's Pray: Heavenly Father thank You for Your everlasting love that never changes and never fails. Thank You for the joy that comes from knowing You and walking with You. When life becomes difficult remind me that my strength comes from You alone. Fill my heart with Your love, Your peace, and Your joy, and help me to share that joy with those around me. In Jesus' name I pray with so much love and so much thanksgiving. Amen.

Please take care. God bless you and all those you love and care for.

Tons and tons of love and hugs ~ Lyn & Colin

08/06/2026

We often think growth means adding more while God sometimes grows us by taking things away. Those who know us will know how much Lyn and I enjoy our garden. I am usually the worker while Lyn is the gardener and we spend many happy hours together tending it.

One thing I have learned is that removing dead branches is easy. They clearly no longer serve a purpose so out they come without much thought. Pruning healthy branches is different. Lyn has often asked me to cut back a branch that is already growing well and producing. To my untrained eye it seems unnecessary, even wasteful. Why cut something back when it appears to be doing so well? Yet the gardener knows something I don't! Sometimes less now means more later.

I wonder if our lives are sometimes like that? Most of us are happy to ask God to remove the obvious things that don't belong in our lives—bad habits, wrong attitudes, old hurts and anything that draws us away from Him. But what about when He starts trimming things that seem to be growing well? What about when He asks us to slow down, let go, wait or trust Him through a season where we feel smaller, weaker or less productive than before?

That is often much harder to understand.

Jesus reminds us that our Heavenly Father is the Gardener. He removes what is dead but He also lovingly prunes what is alive so that it can become even more fruitful.

The truth is that God never prunes to harm us. He prunes because He sees what we cannot yet see. He sees the fruit that is still to come. What feels like a loss today may actually be preparation for greater growth tomorrow.

So perhaps instead of asking, "Lord why is this happening?" we can ask, "Lord, what are You growing in me through this?" When we trust the Gardener, we can trust the process.

Let's Pray: Jesus thank You for loving me enough not to leave me as I am. Help me to trust You when You remove what is dead and when You gently prune areas of my life that are already growing. Give me faith to believe that Your plans are always for my good and that You are preparing me to bear even more fruit for Your glory. In Jesus' Name I pray, with so much love and so much thanksgiving. Amen.

Please take care. God bless you and all those you love and care for.

Tons and tons of love and hugs ~ Lyn & Colin

05/06/2026

Jesus, thank You for giving me Yourself. Thank You for empowering me to face whatever comes my way. Please help me to remember that even when I’m weak, You are still strong. And You can take the hardest of situations and turn it around for Your glory and my good. So please help me to glorify You with all that I am. Let my weaknesses become windows that Your glory shines through. In Jesus’ name I pray with so much love and so much thanksgiving. Amen.

Just a reminder that this prayer is adapted from Daily Guided Prayer in YouVersion.

03/06/2026

Love Has No Beginning and No End

In YouVersion recently I read that love is the only thing that can reach beyond time and distance. The more I thought about it the more I realized just how true that is. Think about it for a moment - we can still love someone who lives on the other side of the world. We can still love someone we haven’t seen in years and we still carry love in our hearts for people who have already gone before. Distance doesn’t stop love. Time doesn’t erase it.

And that is exactly how God loves us.

Long before this world was ever created God already existed and because God is love, love already existed too. Imagine that! Before you and I took our first breath God already knew us, already loved us, and already had a plan for our lives. When Jesus went to the cross, He was thinking about you and me. Across all of time, His love reached forward to every single one of us. That is something our human minds can’t fully understand. The distance between Heaven and earth did not stop God from reaching down to us. The mistakes we make do not stop Him from loving us. Even when we wander far away like the lost sheep in Jesus’ parable the Shepherd still comes looking for us because His love never gives up. Sometimes we may feel distant from God. Maybe life gets busy. Maybe we feel unworthy. Maybe disappointment, hurt, or guilt creates a gap between us and Him. But God’s love is bigger than every gap. His love bridges every distance.

God loved us yesterday.
He loves us today.
And He will love us tomorrow.

His love truly has no beginning and no end. And the beautiful thing is that He has placed that same love within us. Every act of kindness, every word of encouragement, every hug, every prayer for someone else, every moment of forgiveness — all of these are little reflections of God’s heart shining through us. The closer we grow to God, the more we learn to love like Him.

May we never doubt how deeply we are loved by our Heavenly Father.

Let’s Pray: Jesus thank You for loving me with a love that never ends. Thank You that nothing can separate me from Your care not distance, time, failure, nor fear. Help me to rest in that love and to share it with others every day. Teach me to love with kindness, patience, grace, and compassion so that people may see a glimpse of You through me. In Jesus’ name I pray with so much love and so much thanksgiving. Amen.

Please take care. God bless you and all those you love and care for.

Tons and tons of love and hugs ~ Lyn & Colin

Thanks be to God for today’s inspiration, and for the many ways He chooses to share His Word through us. To God be the glory!

01/06/2026

Are you on standby 24/7?

Recently I was thinking about the forty years I worked at Makro. I would often be on standby which meant sleeping with one eye and one ear open, being prepared for that call which would mean me jumping into action. Then I thought of other professions that required 24/7 alertness…firefighters, doctors, pilots, parents — always ready when someone needs them. It struck me that as followers of Jesus we are also called to be alert and prepared, not with fear or pressure but simply with hearts that are open and willing for Jesus to use everyday.

In 1 Peter 3:15 Peter says we should be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks for the reason of the hope that we have. This is a reminder to always be ready to share our story. Sometimes we think sharing Jesus means having all the right words or all the answers. But perhaps the greatest witness is simply the way we live. People are not looking for perfect Christians. They are looking for peace in the middle of worry, kindness in a harsh world, and hope when life feels heavy. And that is where Jesus quietly shines through us.

We all have moments when we become frustrated, impatient, discouraged, or hurt.

We all fail at times but as we walk closer with Jesus He slowly changes us. We begin to forgive more quickly, love more deeply, and show compassion more freely and caring enough to notice when somebody is hurting. Sometimes it is the smallest things that speak the loudest, and often those are the moments when people begin to see Jesus in us. When we genuinely try to live like Jesus people are drawn to the love, peace, and hope of Jesus shining through ordinary people like you and me. The closer we walk with Jesus the more His love naturally flows into us and we are ready to help someone in need.

Let’s Pray: Jesus thank You for loving ordinary people like me and patiently helping me grow closer to You each day. Please help me to reflect Your kindness, compassion, and peace in the way I live. When I fail please remind me that Your grace is sufficient and help me to be a conduit for Your love to shine through me. In Jesus name I pray with so much love and so much thanksgiving. Amen.
Please take care. God bless you and all those you love and care for.

Tons and tons of love and hugs ~ Lyn & Colin

Thanks be to God for today’s inspiration, and for the many ways He chooses to share His Word through us. To God be the glory!

29/05/2026

Jesus please forgive me when I continually sin and mess up. Create in me a clean heart and pure mind. I want to run into Your open arms instead of towards sin. Thank You for always being faithful to forgive me. You remain perfect when I am far from it. Please help me to seek You daily. In Jesus' precious name I pray with so much love and so much thanksgiving. Amen.

Just a reminder that this prayer is adapted from Daily Guided Prayer in YouVersion.

27/05/2026

Faith is Not Denying Reality

On Monday we spoke about trusting God when nothing seems to be happening. Today let us remember that faith does not mean pretending everything is okay when it is not.

In life we sometimes try to put on a brave face. We say we are fine, we keep smiling, and we carry on, even when deep down we are hurting or worried. But faith is not about hiding reality from ourselves, others, or from God. Real faith is being honest about what we are facing while still believing that God is greater than the problem.

David often cried out to God honestly about his fears and struggles yet he never stopped trusting Him. That is real faith — not denying the storm but believing that God is still with us in the middle of it.

If we only focus on our problems we can easily become overwhelmed. But when we lift our eyes to Jesus peace begins to replace fear. What we are facing today may be difficult but it is temporary. God’s love, strength, and promises are eternal.

Faith says,
“This is hard but God will help me through it.”
“I may not understand but I know He has not left me.”

We do not have to pretend to be strong all the time. We simply need to keep holding onto Jesus one day at a time.

Let us pray:
Lord thank You that we can come to You just as we are. Help us to be honest about our struggles and to never lose hope in Your love and care for us. When life feels heavy lift our eyes back to You and remind us that You are always near. Give us peace, strength, and faith to keep trusting You each day. In Jesus’ precious name we pray with so much love and so much thanksgiving. Amen.

Please take care. God bless you and all those you love and care for.

Tons of love and hugs ~ Lyn & Colin

Hillside Community

17/06/2026

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12/06/2026

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