The Battle is the Lord’s

I have still been jogging and swimming although a little less often as I’ve had restless sleep this month.

The mornings and evenings are beautiful.  Good breezes and lovely warm water which is getting colder but still very refreshing and worth the cold shock when I plunge under the waves.  The CD I bought of the wave sounds continues to be helpful to calm my mind when I’m trying to get back to sleep.  It doesn’t work all the time and sometimes I have listened to it two or more times before I either give up or do sleep.  For some time now I have been looking for the same artist’s recording of the wave sounds to download from iTunes but couldn’t find it so copied the CD onto a USB and tried to transfer it to my iTunes on my computer.  Hmmmm that didn’t work; and kept telling me I had too many computers connected.  I called Apple help and was walked through how to delete all the extra computers.  In fact I needed to disconnect them all before reinstalling the computer I now own.  I was on the phone call for two hours!  The customer service attendant was so patient with me.  On several occasions I gave him access to my phone remotely (yes I know that can be dangerous but not with a service officer and he never saw any personal information). After all this my wave music still wouldn’t load up onto iTunes.  While on my computer iTunes I tried once more to see if the recording I wanted was in their iTunes store.  Praise the Lord I found it this time.  Where had it been hiding? I was now able to buy it which also gave me access to it on my phone.  I now have a copy if I need it when I go away.

One morning while in the kitchen I heard a terrible crash.  Racing outside I saw a huge branch had broken off my pawpaw tree!  Praise the Lord it had just missed my little banana palm.  My neighbour Kathy was very disappointed as she was looking forward to the fruit ripening while I’m away.  I tried to give away my green unripe pawpaw to my Thai friend but she said she had plenty. I eventually posted them online and gave them to two happy customers who I’m sure made them into Vietnamese papaya salad.

Early April, my friend Gayle came down from Bali to stay for a week to catch up with all her appointments and friends here in Perth.  It was lovely having her stay and to help her get some of her things done. Her friends also stepped in to help drive her to some appointments when I was busy with things at home.  The day before she left I met her at IKEA where we looked at some of their kitchen cabinetry for her Bali home.  There is an IKEA in Bali so we are hoping they have the same cabinetry available there.  Then in July Jen and her partner Ralf are going to fit it for her as Ralf is a furniture maker.

Paranoia is what I was confronted with once again with my neighbour later last month.  He thought I was spying on him and enabling others to access my surveillance cameras.  He was convinced that people were able to access my cameras to look into his bedroom.  I reassured him my cameras were not able to be accessed online as they were not linked with WiFi.  That didn’t reassure him and he continued to rant and rave. I had only just come out of my front door when he lunged into his accusations, I was wanting to visit Kathy, who unfortunately didn’t hear the commotion so didn’t come to rescuer me.  Eventually I was able to edge away, confused and very shaken, and speak to Kathy about the outburst.  We had just recently commented how calm he had seemed lately, wondering if he was on medication or something, or whether it was it alcohol or drugs that had trigged him off again.  It’s like living beside a live volcano! You never know when it will erupt!  I’m think he thought he was safe as the other neighbours near us were all away.  Anyway that evening he was making a racket so I checked out the cameras and saw him in his towel doing something outside his carport then he waving at my cameras. I ignored him and went back to watching TV.  The next day Kathy came up wanting to see what the cameras had captured; it was then we noticed he had put his little portable camera pointing at my place.  Although he had been out very early that morning, I had taken the opportunity to point my camera away from his window; not that I could see anything as his blinds are always down and his car is parked in the front of the window. I can only see his and the other neighbour’s carport, our driveway and my front door through the camera.  Later that day I noticed he had removed his camera.  I wondered if it was because I moved my camera or was it because his camera gave out a warning every time someone or something crossed its vision.  That would have been very annoying.  Maybe he had had a second opinion and removed them?  My cameras have set trigger points but the alarm has been turned off.  The next day I was washing my car, slightly blocking the driveway, when he returned home and needed quite a few manoeuvres before being able to park in his carport.  As he exited the car I apologised for blocking the driveway.  No response.  Since then I’ve been keeping a low profile.

Then a few days later I received a six page letter (made out to be an official legal document) which shook me terribly.  I only read the first section and the last page which had all the requirements I was to undertake before a certain date otherwise he would take me to court.  I was shocked. My neighbour Kathy read through all the pages, saying his accusations were absurd and showed his paranoia.  He had accused me of all sorts of illegal activity through my cameras, including posting images of him and his daughter online. If he wasn’t serious it would have been laughable.  That night, while taking my mind off it by watching NCIS on TV, there was a mention of a Bible verse from Exodus 14:14 which I felt was meant for me.  It says “The LORD shall fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.” This verse really spoke to me encouraging me to trust God, remain calm, stop panicking and trust in His divine protection.  I also asked friends to pray.   I had sent a message to a lawyer from church, who called the following day to suggest I contact the Community Legal Aid here in Perth. After hearing my concerns and what I had planned to do, the legal aid advisor suggested I go ahead and so as I had planned. He also said he thought the man had some serious mental health issues.   I had also asked the contractor who put in my surveillance cameras to come back to help me put in privacy screens on the camera view so that it screened the neighbours property, leaving only the common driveway.  I was able to readjust the camera near my front door so his house was not in view.  The contractor also emailed me a letter that I could give to my neighbour, stating my camera had always conformed to the WA police regulations, but that at my request he had changed them to block out my neighbour’s unit, leaving only common areas visible.  I also wrote a letter of apology for the stress I had inadvertently caused, but then I was in a bit of a dilemma as in the past he abused the woman who delivered a letter and as I didn’t want that to happen, I chose to deliver it by certified mail.

Then over the weekend I was verbally abused again, once to me privately and once in front of my friend when he told his daughter loudly so we could hear, not to look at that pervert. I really am concerned for the daughter as she has been terribly affected by his behaviour.

On Monday I visited the police station and was told unless I take out a restraining order there was nothing I could do unless he was again abusive and then I should ring them.  I was sure they would only arrive after the event so there wasn’t much point.  From here I went to the post office and posted my letter by registered mail. Unfortunately it didn’t arrive (plus he wasn’t home when it did) before he had sent me a summons for a misconduct restraining order.  I thought that rather ironic as the police has suggested I do this but I didn’t want to escalate the situation.  The summons arrived on the Tuesday via police.  I later called their station to talk to an officer I knew from a previous incident in 2020.  He very kindly talked me through what was needed for the court.  I also asked the camera installer to return, this time to help me download the vision of my neighbour confronting me.  At least with this the magistrate could see what I had to put up with.  My neighbour also made other accusations which I’m not going to go into here.

During this time of preparation I had written out my response to all the accusations, I had also asked a few of my close friends to join me as support on the day of the court hearing.  In the end all except Kerryn, my Bible Study group leader, were unable to come for one reason or another.  As each person pulled out, I was reminded of the story of Gideon whom God had asked to fight the Midianites.  The Lord kept reducing the army of the Israelites to only a few as He did not want Gideon to rely on his own strength but that of the Lord’s.  I was so grateful for Kerryn’s company and support on the day.

The Sunday before the court hearing I was wondering if I needed to cut my hair as it was looking long and straggly.  God is so gracious, without even asking Him, He confirmed my hair was lovely, which is a relief as I like to grow it out for the colder weather and then cut it just before I take off overseas to the tropics.  Three times at church people came up to me and asked what I had done to my hair and commented how nice it looked. I remembered the verse in 2 Corinthians 13:1 which says “By the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established.” Then on Monday morning coming back from the beach my neighbour, Greg was coming back from a surf and also said my hair looks lovely.  Wow Lord you are awesome!

It had been difficult staying at peace through this whole ordeal, wondering what I’d say on the court day.  Holy Spirit pressed on my heart Luke 12:11 “When they bring you before the synagogue, and rulers, and the authorities, be not anxious how or what you shall answer, or what you shall say: for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.”  This really put my heart at rest.  I had also received many other scriptures which helped me hold onto His promises knowing He was fighting my battle for me.

Kerryn arrived early as it was suggested we go in early to avoid any hold ups.  We had planned to go in by public transport so as to avoid traffic and parking.  We had forgotten that our senior’s concession didn’t cover transport before 9am so Kerryn had to top up her card at the station. We decided not to take the first train as it was so crowded and jam packed at that time of the day.  It was truly an eye opener to the life of a working person.  I’m sure the high petrol prices also contributed to so many taking public transport.  We were so early that we stopped for Kerryn to have a coffee before arriving at the court house just after 9am.  I had forgotten we would need our bags to go through the metal detector before entering.  Still we arrived well before 9:30am, the set time to arrive.  Unfortunately my court hearing was the last to be heard, which was just after 1pm.  My accuser had prepared a paper on what he wanted.  I was pleased it only contained what I was already doing and not all the other accusations which were irrational and without substantial evidence.  Basically what he was asking was exactly what I had already put into place or had never been doing anyway.  It was such a waste of time and could have all been sorted out civilly out of court, if he had waited for my letter of apology instead of jumping the gun and taking out a summons.

In summary, I was asked to do what I had already done before receiving the summons; not to be able to see any of the neighbour’s property, not to record him or any of his family or friends or show the recordings to a third party except the police and not to encroach on his property.  What a waste of our and the courts time!

I was relieved when we finally left the court house after 3pm.  It had been a long day, but through it all I felt the Lord’s presence, peace and guidance. Afterwards I felt very disappointed that I wasn’t able to tell the whole story. But it is what it is and I am glad it is over and pray there will be no more repercussions.  I am so grateful to all those who stood beside me in prayer throughout this whole ordeal.

Two days later I was reading my devotional which referenced 1 Peter 2:9:  “I am His beloved child, one of His “chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light:  Also Ps 32:11 which says “Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous; and shout for joy, all you upright in heart.” What an awesome Heavenly Father we have, confirming who I am in Him.

Moving on from here, my energy was renewed and I set my sights on getting things done before my trip to NSW.  There was still lots to do in the garden preparing for my winter away, plus sorting through what to take both here and overseas.  I still did not know for certain what I was going to do on my arrival in Thailand other than visit family of a friend at church.  I had contacted several mission organisations and heard back from one, which was asking for an application fee, which was a bit more than I was willing to pay. Another was looking into me going with them next year, so I had then reached out to Baptist Mission who had people in Chiang Rai. I looked into somewhere to stay in Bangkok for a few days while I adjusted to the time change and could get a sleep before heading east of Bangkok to Mae Sot.  The rest was going to be a step of faith, trusting the Lord to open the doors where He wanted me.  I hadn’t yet booked my tickets, which turned out to be a good thing, as my time in NSW was continuing to change.

My sister Kat, who had recently bought in Iluka NSW, had forgotten the dates we had talked about, which meant I’d try to go up earlier and come back to Sydney sooner, making it possible for me to fly to Thailand at the end of May, which is a bit cheaper than June when Thailand starts it’s school holidays. This year, unlike previous years I hadn’t booked months in advance as none of my plans were finalised, but as time drew closer I was conscious of needing to book my accommodation and flights.

Stay tuned for the next exciting adventure which commences in just over a week with the first stage of my winter away in Sydney.  I’m praying they have some sunny days as I’m not taking much in the way of winter clothes.

Photos:  1. My sweet pea bush – Polygala myrtifolia   2. Broken branch off my papaya    3. Green papaya    4. Sunset over Indian Ocean    5. Tawny Frog Mouth Owls    6. My Yellow Bird of Paradise seedlings

Prayer & Praise Points:

Praise the Lord for His continuing leading, guidance and protection in all things.

Please pray my plans fall into place for this coming winter away, for the Lord to open doors for me in Thailand where I can use my talents plus continue to practice and learn Thai.

Praise the Lord for His presence, peace and strength and the outcome of the court case.

Please continue to keep Gayle in your prayers for renewed strength, wisdom for the church and for good health.  Pray also for her son Joshua who is still waiting for Indonesian citizenship.

Praise the Lord for my sister Kat, that she will enjoy her new home in Iluka, northern NSW, where God willing I hope to visit this May.

Continue to pray for world peace and countries dealing with major disasters, wars and the unbelievable hardships they cause.  Pray for all those caught up in the suffering these events have caused.  Pray that God’s peace may be known by all people especially for those who live with despair, that they will find hope in Christ Jesus.

Please keep my sisters, Tricia, Jen and Kat, in your prayers.  Pray that they will come to know the love of Jesus.