Please pray for Athens as wildfires rage...

 

Hello dear friend,

Thank you for stopping by. The photograph above was taken from my balcony when I lived in Athens. Today, I am in Wales on a rainy day, clearing out my freezers and listening to news reports of my beloved Athens, surrounded by raging wildfires - fanned by hot, strong winds. And I am praying for those winds to drop - which will assist the firefighters in their heroic efforts.

I have witnessed this kind of situation in Greece. I have stood on my balcony and seen the blue sky, showing above, filled with helicopter after helicopter making its way to the sea at the bottom of the road to fill its gigantic bucket and then fly back, blades thwacking at the acrid air, to try to douse the flames. 

Thankfully for me, the actual fires were not close enough to be of danger to me. But there is always a chance that that may change. And it is a scary situation, even if the fires are at a little distance from you.

I had to stay indoors and close all windows to prevent breathing in the ash floating in the air. This, instead, liberally coated my white outdoor furniture with black smut, not my lungs. All the while I was praying for the poor people who were in danger of losing their life. And for all the poor animals and creatures that were losing theirs. Then, of course, there is the loss of property: homes, and contents, often garnered over a lifetime. And so much more. 

I am sharing this with you so that you can, perhaps, put yourself into the shoes of those in the line of fire and be encouraged to pray fervently for those in danger. Though I am a writer, I can scarcely imagine being caught up in the horror of this situation currently unfolding in Greece. There are reports of over 150 wildfires tearing mercilessly through the country, with two people dead already. 

This evening, over the sea of my former home in Palio Falro, the sunset will be a spectacular, surrealistic show.  With dark-purple horizontal banners streaming out from the dense black clouds of burnt matter, highlighted by a deep orange glow. A terrible, yet awe-inspiring beautiful sight to behold, which is seared into my memory and bound up with fear and sadness.

And so I ask again that you pray for all involved in this nightmare. You could say the following prayer, of one of your own:

Dear Lord Jesus, please have mercy on the people in Athens caught up in the wildfires, and on every one of Your living creatures. And as You calmed the wind that day on the boat with Your disciples, please do the same now for Greece, and Turkey, and everywhere else under threat of such fires. I ask this in Your name Lord. And I thank You for Your great mercy. Amen.

With every blessing.

Teresa

For more info on my work please visit my website: www.teresaodriscoll.co.uk or other blog: https://creativelivingforthebestyou.blogspot.com/

For inspiration check out my books on how to put your hand into God’s and follow your dreams. It is called 9 Days to Heaven, How to make everlasting meaning of your life. Here is the link for the book trailer: 9 Days to Heaven

You can buy the book on lots of sites the web or an good bookshop. Click here to buy the e-book on Amazon. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Days-Heaven-Make-Everlasting-Meaning-ebook/dp/B00AIR8CSC

The Spiritual Vibrations of Athens

Athens Αθήνα
Capital city

Photos from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athens

Hello dear friend,
Thank you for stopping by. I wonder if you have visited Athens: my second home? If you haven't I strongly recommend you put it on your bucket list! It will surely feed your spirit as well as gladden your heart!

Just being in Athens - with the ancient temples of the Acropolis at its heart and the word Theos (God) often on the people’s lips - can take you to a higher level of spiritual awareness.

In a land where St Paul himself preached the Gospel, where churches crowd together and the name of the Virgin Mary is constantly on the lips of its people, it is difficult to ignore the spiritual side of life. That elusive spiritual side of our nature is stirred as the very air itself seems filled not just by sunshine but with the whisperings of past deep secrets.

The spiritual side of our multi-dimensional structure is the one that has long been ignored. The trio of mind, body and spirit has been reduced to the duo of body and mind, it is little wonder then that the twenty-first century disease of superficiality has encroached upon mankind and is feeding off the ailing spirit. Yet in rare moments of supreme happiness we can feel the zinging of the spirit as a palpable, living part of our being. This experience is beyond the mind and the body and yet an integral part of it since we three are one.

To truly get the best out of life it therefore follows that unless we take time to nourish all three aspects of ourselves we are not fully living. And since a harmonious life is the most fulfilling one maybe it's time to give that elusive spiritual side a bit of attention. Perhaps you have never given much thought to your spirit that has been described as the 'essential nature of a person'. And yet, with just a little attention you can achieve that balance and perspective that you unconsciously crave - that illusory 'peace of mind'. And when you get a little deeper into your own awareness you will begin to realise that the very craving for peace was your spirit crying out for your attention.

If you want to nourish your spirit you can send out a prayer for someone else. You don't need to use special words, just ask for what you want with a sincere heart. Norman Vincent Peale in his bestselling book The Power of Positive Thinking says of prayer, "Personally, I believe that prayer is a sending out of vibrations from one person to another and to God. All of the universe is in vibration. There are vibrations in the molecules of a table. The air is filled with vibrations. The reaction between human beings is also a vibration. When you send out a prayer for another person, you employ the force inherent in a spiritual universe. You transport from yourself to the other person a sense of love, helpfulness, support - a sympathetic, powerful understanding - and in this process you awaken vibrations in the universe through which God brings to pass the good objectives prayed for. Experiment with this principle and you will know its amazing results."

Let me know how you get on.

God bless,

Teresa x

UPDATES!!!

I have been asking God for guidance and listening to His replies for many years. I share my methods in Pray Then Listen, A heart-to-heart with God.

Check out Pray Then Listen In UK / In US  / In Singapore

Available as a Kindle version or paperback! 

Set on the green and beautiful Greek island of Corfu in this novel I show the ever-present backstory of life, as I interpret the supernatural elements of our dilemmas and choices. 

I know, that no matter what your beliefs or experiences, you will surely recognize the tussles of my characters, as tussles in your own life....  Enjoy!

Click on the following links to check out my novel, Angel at the Paradise Hotel In UK /  In US / In Singapore

Available as a Kindle version or paperback!

I wrote 9 Days to Heaven, How to make everlasting meaning of your life as my personal evangelization effort.  

Check out 9 Days to Heaven In UK / In US / In Singapore 

Available as a Kindle version or paperback!

Here is the link for the YouTube book trailer:  9 Days to Heaven 

For articles, plus more info about me and my work please visit my website.  (www.teresaodriscoll.co.uk)

I'd love to hear your thoughts or feedback on this post.

God bless,

Teresa 

PS. About the links to Singapore, please see my blog post Singapore and Christianity  

Driving Over Athenian Oranges

Two little orange trees hiding behind trellis on left

Hello dear friend,

Thank you for stopping by today. I thought I would share an aspect of Athens that you may not be aware of: the orange trees that line suburban streets.

Munching breakfast toast and marmalade, the tangy flavour set the wheels of my mind spinning backwards towards my beloved #Athens, where my street was lined with little orange trees – whose fruit was as bitter as a Seville and just as tasty when boiled up with sugar.  

Over the years I watched these trees grow from as tall as me to the height of two men upon each other’s shoulders.  They made their presence felt in a number of ways. In the seasonal sequence I remember that it went this way:

In springtime, the strong sweet fragrance of their waxy white blossoms filled the air. And for me – no allergy sufferer – it was a welcome scent as I walked to the seashore or shops. Often, I would don thick gloves and take secateurs to cut myself a bunch. And once the thorny twigs were safely in vases of water they graced my home for days.  

The trees were thus decked out for weeks, then dark green globes the size of a walnut would appear – but you wouldn’t notice this unless you peered because they were camouflaged against glossy leaves.  For the next couple of months, as the days got hotter and hotter, the fruit would be ripening until even the most oblivious could see the small bright oranges.  

When these fruits fully ripened the trees really made their presence felt. As they released their crop the oranges piled up around them on the pavement or rolled pell-mell into gutters and over the roads. When parking the car it was impossible not to run your tyres over them and the aroma of freshly squashed oranges was mouth-watering as you alighted.

But the trees had one further trick up their green sleeves which I discovered one night… Just falling asleep I heard a loud: thump, thump, thump. The unexpected noise drew me abruptly back from the Land of Nod, out of bed and onto the balcony. As I peered around tall potted plants scouring the empty street the thump, thump, thump came again. Aha. I saw what was happening and it made me chuckle. The nearby big metal wheelie bin was under an orange tree and gusts of wind were cannoning fruit onto its arched top, which magnified the sound in the still night. I went back to bed and quickly fell asleep to the lullaby of thud, thud, thud, thud.

The photo, top left, is the corner of my balcony and behind the trellis you can just about see two of said orange trees. Top right is balcony with plants. Ah, what happy memories…

I read the other day that currently marmalade is losing its popularity in Britain. Market analysts at #Kantar Worldpanel maintain that the nation is favouring other breakfast spreads such as honey, jam and peanut butter instead.  Ah well, sheep dot the adjacent hills of my home but I am not one of them, so…pass the marmalade please. Mmm, scrummy!

Guest Blog

Guest Blogger is my dear friend, Kelly who lives in Lancashire and was kind enough to share her recipe for: 

Leek and Potato Soup

Hello,

Very straightforward way to get a fan-dabbi-dozi pot of leek and potato soup.

Place 4 pints of water and two veg stock cubes in a large pan

·    slice 5 med size potatoes into chunky pieces

·    slice 1 large leek into quarter inch chunks

·    dice 4 carrots into smallish pieces

·    cut one (or two if you prefer) med onions into quarters

Add all the prepared veg and a single teaspoon of salt if you wish at this stage

Bring to the boil and then immediately turn down to low simmer. Simmer for at least one and a half hours

Enjoy

love

Kelly

Comment from Teresa

Thank you again Kelly, can’t wait to try this. It sounds simply delicious! 

One Minute Meditation on Thankfulness

Take a deep breath and close your eyes for a minute and flood your mind with thankfulness. Then say, “Dear Lord I am thankful for:”…and list your personal reasons.

For myself, I am so very happy that the snow has gone! The stark contrast of sunshine on green hills causes me to say:

Dear Lord,

I am thankful for the gift of this day

I am thankful that I can wear far fewer layers of clothing

I am thankful that, if I want to, I can just jump into my car and go wherever I please

I am thankful that, though I have laid the fire in the wood burner, I don’t need to light it until this evening

I am thankful that I took delivery of more logs yesterday -which was a huge relief! []

* Guest Blogger: If you have a few words of encouragement or a veggie recipe you would like to share please contact me on: http://www.teresa@teresaodriscoll.co.uk

I welcome your comments on the above.

Coming next: Guest blog: +Pauline Lewis, ACW member, founder of +Ready Writers in Wales, author and teacher tells us about +Bible Explorer, a course for children aged 10 & 11 which she presents at four primary schools.

Vegan recipe: Leek, Potato & Cannellini Bean Stew. 

UPDATES!!!

I have been asking God for guidance and listening to His replies for many years. I share my methods in Pray Then Listen, A heart-to-heart with God.

Check out Pray Then Listen In UK / In US  / In Singapore

Available as a Kindle version or paperback! 

Set on the green and beautiful Greek island of Corfu in this novel I show the ever-present backstory of life, as I interpret the supernatural elements of our dilemmas and choices. 

I know, that no matter what your beliefs or experiences, you will surely recognize the tussles of my characters, as tussles in your own life....  Enjoy!

Click on the following links to check out my novel, Angel at the Paradise Hotel In UK /  In US / In Singapore

Available as a Kindle version or paperback!

I wrote 9 Days to Heaven, How to make everlasting meaning of your life as my personal evangelization effort.  

Check out 9 Days to Heaven In UK / In US / In Singapore 

Available as a Kindle version or paperback!

Here is the link for the YouTube book trailer:  9 Days to Heaven 

For articles, plus more info about me and my work please visit my website.  (www.teresaodriscoll.co.uk)

God bless,

Teresa 

PS. About the links to Singapore, please see my blog post Singapore and Christianity