A Life of Purpose

By Merlene Midda

Nearly sixty years after she was born, Merlene Midda stood at a crossroads in life. Discouraged and lacking purpose, Midda made a decision that would determine her direction from that point forward: to follow God, live for Him, and emulate the good life of His son, Jesus Christ.
In an uplifting memoir, Midda shares a collection of essays that reveal her personal journey, her reconnection with God, and her discovered grace and salvation. As she was filled with the zeal of a new Christian, Midda discloses how she made positive life changes that included carrying out good deeds, volunteering, painting, and studying scripture and other religious books. After finally freeing herself from the limitations that had held her back for years, Midda details how she moved forward through the ups and downs, unveiled a wonderful life of purpose, and ultimately found great peace and love.
A Life of Purpose offers a collection of essays that share lessons learned and inspirational guidance for anyone seeking a new way to look at life experiences and reveal Gods plan for their future.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press AU
• Release date: Dec 12, 2017
• ISBN: 9781504311694

Merlene Midda

Merlene Midda loves exploring new ideas or options and believes in letting God take charge and provide a life of purpose. She was a nurse who enjoys helping others, painting, and music. Merlene currently lives in New South Wales, Austrailia. A Life of Purpose is her first book.

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A LIFE OF PURPOSE

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MERLENE MIDDA

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Copyright © 2017 Merlene Midda.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Balboa Press

A Division of Hay House

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Bloomington, IN 47403

www.balboapress.com.au

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-5043-1170-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5043-1169-4 (e)

Balboa Press rev. date: 12/12/2017

CONTENTS

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Memoirs

of Merlene Midda.

CHAPTER 1

In a way you could say my life began in 2006. Actually I was born in 1948 but my life didn’t seem very relevant till 06. Of course there were landmarks along the way as in all lives, but where was the purpose? Where was the excitement of looking forward to the next day or week? I took a hard look at where I was, and felt quite discouraged. I had been reading a series of Christian books and they touched my heart. Also at this time it was Easter and I’d just cried my way through the movie Passion of Christ. When you think about His sacrifice and how we can still turn our backs and reject that gift, it’s very sobering. So there and then I made a decision for Him…….to follow Him, live for Him; try and emulate the good life of His Son, and all the rest is, as they say, history.

Of course, my life didn’t instantly become fantastic: filled with purpose and goodness and light, but I was on the way. Filled with the zeal of the new Christian, I made some life changes and told everyone of my change of heart. First, those cigarettes had to go. Why did I target this bad habit first? Because in my strict Christian upbringing that was the first bad thing I did to rebel against God. So shouldn’t it be the first one I turn away from with God’s help. Also I remembered what the Bible said about our bodies being the temple of God through His Spirit. You can’t fill a temple with cigarette smoke! After having this habit on and off for the past 40 years, this was not going to be easy to give up. So I prayed about it, knowing that this decision would be pleasing to Him. I asked God to help me. Thanks to Him, the desire to smoke left me straight away and to this day, even the smell of cigarette smoke makes me feel sick. If that’s not a miracle, I don’t know what is! I know others have not been delivered that way, so am very grateful to my Lord for this. My daughter then declared that she was an atheist and gave me the book Losing My Religion by William Lobdell to read. I guess she figured that if a bunch of so-called Christians could be such hypocrites and be pedophiles in the church, yet call themselves Christians, then I’d see her point and join her way of thinking as this journalist did. He (Lobdell) recorded all these terrible things, and in so doing, turned away from so called Christianity. But I didn’t look at it that way. Sure, Christian or not, people can do awful things, but then the opposite is true too. I determined to be a follower of the latter and do good stuff. After all, I’m now following the best example there ever was, right?

JESUS.

So, how to go about doing good. For starters, I’d journal. Write down my thoughts, prayers, praises etcetera. My heart was so full of peace and love. I decided to do a good deed for someone every day. So I started sending out little cards and nice thoughts to friends (because, hey, we shouldn’t wait till someone dies before we say something nice about them). Then I joined Red Cross and became a volunteer for ‘Telecross’. That way, I’d be phoning someone every morning to see they were ok (and so be doing a good deed every day).

I also took up a new hobby of acrylic painting. My first attempt was of a dove modelled on Psalm 68:13 where King David describes a dove covered with silver and her feathers with yellow gold.

Chapter1.jpg

Another interest started with my dog Bay (which is short for Beethoven.) We took part in a training programme called Pet Partners and visited nursing homes in the local area. Bay sure loved these visits as the residents would save biscuit treats to give him. This did become a bit of a worry as he was already overweight. Labradors so love their food! I ended up taking doggy treats into the visits as substitutes for biscuits as these seemed to be a healthier alternative.

Another decision I made at this time was to re-study what I had previously learned so many years before. So I hit the study books. The Bible and many other books by religious writers such as Max Lucado, John Bunyan, Josephus, Charles Swindon, John Stott, E G White, W. Phillip Keller, to name a few. My dear Labrador Bay seemed to cope well with this very sedentary lifestyle if he got a walk morning and afternoon. The dear boy was content to be where I was and what a sweet blessing he had been at that time. My husband was now in full-time care, so my dog was a wonderful companion and faithful friend in my life. So, I’m a baby Christian now, having forgotten much that I learned in my youth because I’ve been wandering in the proverbial (and literal) spiritual wilderness for the past forty years. This memoir pretty much shows the copious amounts of reading and learning I have done over the years. Books are a wonderful world of knowledge and peek into the human psyche. So many ideas and thoughts shared that can be taken on board and change your life and thinking. Especially where good Christian books are concerned, I have been enriched and blessed through their pages. I guess the main thing my mum instilled in me growing up was a love of books. She would be pleased to know that I did catch the bug and follow in her footsteps.

CHAPTER 2

I’m now on a journey. Of course, we all are. Your journey is unique to you, just as mine is to me. I can only relate my experiences and hope that you find some relevance for you in what I have been through. My life became full and I felt at peace and joyful, so much better than in previous years. I realised that doing things your way like old blue eyes Frank Sinatra sang, wasn’t such a good thing after all. I used to pride myself on my independence, thinking it a good thing. But being independent and making my own decisions was not so great when I looked back on the mess I’d often made of my life while doing it my way. So many times I’d made the same mistakes over and over, and hadn’t seen this. Especially was this painfully obvious in my relationships. Why did I pick the same type of man? Why was I not able to see the false love for the true? Failed marriages were the end result of these bad decisions.

There I was singing songs like Helen Reddy’s I am woman hear me roar and thinking I was doing alright when the opposite was the case. It was a heady time to be raising a daughter. German Greer was telling all us girls to take charge and control of our own lives, and free love was in. Of course, nothing is free in this world, as many people learned to their regret. What a lie we were fed. The grim reaper advertisements were some of the most chilling you’ll ever see on your television screen. What a reward for free love.

I remember asking my dad when I was about twelve years old or so Why are all the songs about love? I’d like to say that he took this opportunity to explain to me that this is the false love that the world talks about, which is really about sex, not love. But he did not. He simply gave a chuckle and said nothing on the subject that I can remember. I think it made him feel uncomfortable to discuss this.

My dear daughter Jennifer also offered me the book The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins to read, but how could I even start to think of God as a delusion when I looked on the face of my beautiful daughter minutes after she was born, and not see an awesome miracle of creation in that little life. I have watched her grow into the sweet, smart woman that she is today! There is a God behind all that. A creator-God, a supreme Master-designer, the author of intelligent design. Science can mimic created things, but cannot breath Life into it.

My twin sister wrote a poem to celebrate the birth of my lovely daughter.

Reflection.

The little hand that reaches out

Those eyes so clear and blue;

The temperament that soon reflects

The imagery of you.

Those tiny feet that soon will walk

Dependently away;

That forming mind will quickly reach

Beyond the things you say.

That tiny face that looks to yours

Depends upon your care;

The days ahead will give to you

So many things to share.

There’s little that can near compare

With this great gift of worth;

That wonderful result of love –

The miracle of birth.

N D Caro.

CHAPTER 3

At the time of my conversion I was very unwell and on a disability pension. I had become overtired and experienced a physical breakdown as a carer for my husband. As mentioned before, he was placed in full-time care because I could no longer carry out that role. I was on some pretty heavy duty medications and would be for some years to come. But now, I had a different focus - off myself and onto others. What a difference that made! Take your eyes off yourself and put them elsewhere and hey presto! Things seem different. That, in itself is a miracle. So much pain I was suffering every day, yet was able to look away from that and focus on others. God changes lives, thoughts and actions when we allow Him to do so. Wow!

At this point, I wish to skip forward and include this segment that I wrote in 2015. Please read it in the spirit of love as it was intended even though it does cover some previously mentioned thoughts and ideas.

August 2015. "We as human beings are the sum of physical, mental and spiritual components. But the most important part of us is spiritual. This realisation for me, since 2006 has brought me the most happy years of my life. And along with this, the most productive years as well. Because of this spiritual reality, my focus is on God as my Father, and all my daily life decisions are focused on God’s input. If one trusts