My Answered Prayers

In my Christian faith walk , I've had a couple of real times of answered prayer that I would
like to mention.
My brother had bought a home very cheaply on one of the bay islands and had invited
us to visit at Christmas. We had  Christmas there.
 I visited him again afterwards and returning home ( when I was alone in the car) I prayed this prayer.
Lord God if you think I should purchase a house close to my brother's would you
give me a sign that I should , because I don't like debt and all the weight of responsibility would
be on shoulders and I know if it's your will you'll help me to pay this and get through it .
let this be the sign, if  the first word's on jan the 1st 1994 I hear from my mother are 
"if I give you a deposit would you purchase a house near your brother's on the bay islands"
In Jesus name Amen. 
And then I forgot it until sitting having  my first cup of tea about 7.00 in the morning
on Jan the first 1994 , I was first up , wondering what I should do this morning.
Mother was at the kitchen sink , she turned around and said" if I give you the deposit would you
seek a loan to purchase a house on the bay islands ".   No good morning , these were her first words.   
What can I say by february I had purchased a house out here.
I make it sound easy , it wasn't .There was an enormous amount to do, and the debt and most
of the work was on me, I've now paid all the debt off and my house and land are my own.
Looking back I see the goodness of God all the way.
I knew how hard it was going to be to go to my job from here ( I had to cycle 4 km a day hail, rain or shine) and then do a physical job (2 hours travel a day) for years. I had a small collection of carnivorous plants and over the first six months lost them all.( one to a dog) .I had to make sure my sister and mother's needs were met in this very rural spot. Over time it all improved and services to these islands improved as more people have come to live here .
Well Jeremiah 29:v11 sums it up.

Here is another testimony of the goodness of God in my life.

I was about 3 years into the house loan (totally broke), My car wasn't in the best condition so I would
drive it to the train station and go from there.
one afternoon returning to the train station I walked to my car and I couldn't find my car key.
I only had the one key on a small keyring. I checked my pockets and checked the ignition in the car,
checked my bag . My heart begun to race, because I knew I only had one key and I had no money to
get home. I begun to pray Father please help me to find the key , I've looked everywhere.
Deep in my heart as I went to walk from the train station was the word Wait. I thought wait for what.
I sat on the seat again. I went to leave three times and it came back strongly to stay and wait.
So the next train came in about half n hour later , and a woman I knew was an islander and I
had spoken to her that morning got off the train station . I thought this is why I'm waiting she may be
able to give me a lift or money to get back home at least. I approached her and told her my plight
and she said Oh, I found this key this morning as I went to leave the train, and as it had my  island written on it, I was going to leave it at the post office there . It was my key with a little crab icon on it. So she gave it to me and It ended well.
He is a personal God , he doesn't want to be distant. He makes it interesting.
He can be contacted through Jesus Christ ,he is Jesus Christ. a personal relationship is a two way street. Read what Jesus Christ said and what he did.You must be willing to give up on wrongdoing,unforgiveness towards others , selfishness .
Ask him to make you willing , you can't do it on your on and even though life is very
difficult at times., he'll help you through.

It's very hot here , the temperature at night is no lower than 23 degrees celsius at night
Fans going almost 24/7 but the plants in the poly houses are doing well.
I'm doing what I can to make sure the highlander and intermediate plants become cool for a
enough time to keep them healthy.
A couple of the highland plants I can grow in these conditions with cold filtered  fridge water twice a day in a poly house are nepenthes lavicola (cutting)growing from 2000-2600 m and  nepenthes  chaniana.(clone) which  grows between 1100-1800. I just love the yellow of the chaniana and it is so hirsute, which usually means it doesn't require too much water and I only spray it twice a day.
I've found giving them cold water that it interestingly causes lower dormant buds to sprout .
The beautiful lavicola pitcher , a gorgeous contrast ,( the purple and yellow) comes from a bud
that sprouted when I began giving the plant cold water. 

 

nepenthes lavicola

nepenthes chaniana