Struggles

As I was doing some research today I came across the following reflection that I thought was worth posting.

The Cocoon
One day a man found a cocoon of a butterfly. When a small opening appeared, he sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through the tiny hole.
Then it seemed to stop making progress. It had gotten as far as it could and could go no farther.
So the man decided to help the butterfly. He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly now emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings.
The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand, to be able to support the body, which would contract in time.
Neither happened!
In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It never was able to fly.
What the man, in his kindness and haste, did not understand was, that the restricting cocoon, and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening, were nature's way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings, so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved freedom from the cocoon.
Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If we were allowed to go through our life without any obstacles, it would cripple us. We would not be as strong as we could have been. And we would never be able to fly….
Author Unknown

We all go through struggles and hard times and it is easy to get down and feel like everything is against us, but if we allow God to help us through these times we can truly come out the other end a stronger person and through God we can truly 'fly'

God Bless

Darren Lamotte

Its Official

Today we were installed as the Assistant Officers at Warrnambool Corps, the installation was conducted by the Divisional Commander Major Peter Walker. It was a lovely ceremony and you could feel the presence of the Holy Spirit as we were installed and then Lindsay and Karyn Stow sang an absolutely beautiful blessing over us. It was also lovely that the people who had travelled down from Rowville and our families were each given a special mention and thanked for the parts they have played in us reaching this point today.
We were welcomed to the corps by Chris Philpot and the children were welcomed by Tiah Drake, this was a lovely touch and the children each received a welcoming gift from the corps. Warrnambool has really gone out of its way to welcome our children and make them feel at home.We truly believe that this is where God has placed us and we look forward to starting the job and seeing what God can achieve through us.
As today marks the start of our "official Ministry" I would like to acknowledge the contributions that both sets of parents have made to our lives, and I just pray that we would do justice to the reputation and respect that both families have due to the ministries that they have served in. If I can be half the officer that our parents have been I will be very happy and the Kingdom of God will be better for our service.
As we start the work that God has called us to I once again commit my life to Him and say 'Here am I My Lord send me and use me as you see fit'. May God continue to bless you each.

A New Beginning

Well we have survived our first few days in Warrnambool, it is a great place and we are really enjoying the sunshine and clean fresh air. Susan is still getting used to looking out the Kitchen window at cows and horses. It is hard not to stand and look in awe at Gods creation.
Unfortunately the trip here didn't go according to plans, we left Melbourne at 9.10 am after saying goodbye to Susan's Mum and Dad and my Mum. We coasted along and had just come out of Geelong at about 11.00 when a huge puff of white smoke appeared from our new car. A number of phone calls and about two hours later we were sitting in a tow truck heading back to Geelong.
As much as I love Geelong (especially the football club !) this wasn't what we were hoping for.
We sat at the Holden dealer in Geelong for a couple of hours and then they dropped us into the heart of Geelong so we could walk around the shops to entertain the kids. Finally about 5.00 pm we received the call to say the car was ready to go again and so we headed back on our trip to Warrnambool finally arriving well after 7.00 pm. As much as this was frustrating and especially hard on the children it reminded me that this journey we are starting on will not always go according to plan, and definitely wont be easy, but if we keep focused we will reach the goal.

Part 2

I'm Back. I think I have heard that phrase somewhere before.... anyway getting back to where I was, we feel very blessed to have the people around us that support us, and we are very aware that there are a lot of people that will be upholding us in prayer as we begin our lifelong journey in Officership. How Awesome is that, that people will be speaking to God for Me!
Our three year old son Ethan at church the other Sunday was asked as part of the primary lesson where you would go to find out more about God (the teacher was expecting him to say the Bible of course) he shot his hand straight up and without any hesitation proclaimed that you would go to Warrnambool !! We pray that this will ring true for him and also for the other children that we encounter in our ministry there, may they see the light of God shining through this town and may it be an example to other places around of what it is like to live according to the Bible. ( We don't set ourselves easy challenges do we)
Lets get started and see what God can achieve through the very little we have to offer. Bring it on !!

Look out Warrnambool

Look out Warrnambool here comes the Lamottes. I apologise it has been so long since I last posted but it has been a crazy last month. If you hadn't already realised by the heading Susan and myself have been accepted as Lieutenants and have been appointed as Assistant Corps Officers at Warrnambool Corps commencing on the 23rd September. This has obviously brought a great sense of excitement to us and we cant wait to start our ministry in this great town.
However as with any move it comes at a cost and the last couple of weeks have been full of last times we do things. There has been the kids last day at school, their last netball game, our last Sunday at Rowville, lots of goodbyes to family and friends, packing up the house and arranging disconnection of all the utilities etc etc the list could go on and on. Each of these events have been tinged with sadness but at the same time everyone has been excited for us and the steps we are taking. We have been truly blessed by the reaction of people to the news and it is at times like this that you realise how many people take an interest in you and how many friends you actually have.
I will continue this post later on as my daughter is not well and my wife is telling me off so I had better get back to work. Thanks again to you all for your love and support and we look forward to seeing you at Warrnambool if not before. God Bless !