Single in the City...

I sat on the floor in a friend's room last night and realised that it wasn't a song playing, it was a preach from Mobilise 2007 (A conference for student and twenties with New Frontiers) and whilst listening to it, we began to realise how on the ball it really was and how it amazingly fitted into our lives.

It was preached by Adrian Holloway with the title Single in the City and while it is wrapped up in beautiful biblical truth it is just as applicable to non-Christians as Christians. He talks straight up and bluntly, directly to men and women and hits the sore patches that need to be addressed.

He describes exactly what women want: a decisive, holy man and what men want: a holy, attractive woman etc. He looks at the downfalls of the expectations each sex have of the other...The Christian Brad Pitt is mentioned(!) and it is a great insight into how to live a glorious single life for God. There are some great anecdotes and is blunt, helpful and really encouraging.

So check it out... http://nf1.2xstreamhosting.com/~newfrontiers/lc07/MB02.mp3

(if that doesn't work try this... http://www.mobilise.xtn.org/resources/mobilise2007)

EXCITED...EXCITED...EXCITED!!!!

I got excited yesterday and today and hopefully tomorrow...because (and this is a profound revelation!) my God is an awesome God. He is AMAZING!

I went to bed praying for little things like good weather in the morning so that I would enjoy my walk to the dentist, I prayed that I wouldn't get lost in the hospital and I prayed for a load of other little bits, the usual sort of thing. So when I woke up and the weather was beautiful I was thankful, when I didn't get lost in the hospital I was thankful...God blessed me soooo much yesterday, with how He answered my silly little prayers.

And then I just got excited, it was like a fresh revelation, whilst singing along to Hillsongs I felt excited, I felt like a kid does at Christmas, I felt like I do at Christmas-excited!! Excited about God's love, about what He's done for me! We have a God who has done so much for us, a God who listens to us no matter what we are saying or how long for (and He knows that I talk a lot). I couldn't wait to go to church today, even though I would be a visitor I was still excited to stand once again in His presence. I was just overwhelmed yesterday by the fact that God's presence was in my house, was in my kitchen and made me want to scream, jump up and down, dance, laugh, cry, kneel...everything and anything!!

I for one don't get excited often enough about what He does for me! He is an amazing God, why are we not excited?? Why do we not live everyday being excited? I want to wake up everyday with that feeling of excitement and with the feeling of shivers down my spine at the thought that I have a God who loves me! I am officially excited about God, don't get me wrong I've always been excited about Him, after all how can you not?...God deserves everything I've got and I am excited about giving Him everything, just as I am excited about being loved by Him. It is so easy to let the excitement slowly fade and vanish away, but we need these 'fresh revelations', these renewals, to remind us what it was first like when we became Christians. I felt like a child again, like I was 7 years old and had just given my life to God and wanted to tell everyone and anyone around!

So I guess my challenge today, is one that I am going to challenge myself on more often...

How excited are you today about God?

Where's your excitement? Where's your sense of childish excitement?

Do you long to be excitedly hungry and thirsty for a God who is greater and better than ALL things?

I want to wake up everyday with a burning passion that gets me excited, that gets me feeling like a kid on Christmas Day. I know that troubles will come and the excitement may come under pressure, but I still want to strive to be excited, I still want to wake up breathing in the presence of my awesome God. I know that this may be a rambling post (what one's aren't?) with perhaps no strong theology or biblical background, but just put it down to being childishly excited about an awesome God!

I'm excited...what about you?

(Sorry I used the word excitment/excited etc so much, it begins to grate after the first 15 times I know!)

Nostalgia and Encouragment an unlikely pair...

Wednesday was a bit of a nostalgic day to say the least. With strange things from my past testing me to be wise and to make the right decisions. But the highlight of my day was seeing a friend I haven't seen in a long while. I've really missed her, but it wasn't until I saw her that I really felt the full weight of how much.

Her whole character inspired me and motivated me to continue with all that I am doing and she probably doesn't know it, but she was/is a breath of fresh air-however cheesy that sounds! She's so bubbly and so happy and optimistic it just reminded me that there are few people in this life that pick us up or help us out and we need to cherish them as much as we can.

We all need someone, to look to, to go to and to follow. Whether they be one in the same person or whether they be three different people. It's good to follow someone in the sense of looking to someone and seeing how they do things and adapt how you yourself would do things. It's good to have someone to look to that is spiritually strong and someone that you can go to with any problems.

God covers every area, but whilst there are still humans around and there are still Godly men and women to be had, let's make the most of it and follow those that cane be an example and strive to reach the potential that God wants us to reach.

Here's where I stray a little...

All throughout the bible there are verses about encouraging one another, it's one of those things that I feel today is slightly neglected. We assume people don't need encouraging as a lot of people seem to be fairly self assured. We live in a sarcastic society, sarcastic insults are a split second thing that we believe has no long lasting effects and encouraging each other sometimes seems unnecessary.

Paul was continually encouraging the church with his letters and with his actions. Likewise, we need people to be like that for us and we need to be like that to others. We need to be good friends to others and lend encroaching words as often as possible in a way that is most likely going to mean a lot to someone. A little encouragements goes a long way. Here are a couple of challenges/statements that got my ol' cogs working...

Proverbs 28:23-"In the end, people appreciate frankness over flattery". Everyone needs a friend or more than one friend to be straight with them, even if it causes a little hurt.

"Does my butt look big in this"..."Yes" (such a poor example, I know!)

It's better to be honest and straight, then to let your friend go out looking stupid and in the long run, they end up feeling worse because you didn't tell them the truth. On deeper levels and on a less superficial basis you need good, strong (well rooted) friends that can challenge you on sensitive issues, that help shape you better and help build your character.

Proverbs 12:25-"Worry weighs a person down; an encouraging word cheers a person up". Everyone wants to hear something reassuring in a time of need, a few positive words can make all the difference.

Making friends and being a good friend has no scientific calculation it's give a lot and take a lot, it's about balance it's about encouraging one another. It's about building each other up, not tearing each other apart.

Who are you going to encourage today?

Silence...

When are we ever in silence?

In this metropolis that we call London, there never seems to be a moment's silence, urban sounds run throughout our lives, whether it be the cars on the roads, the planes in the sky or the very sound of music and media in our ears and on our minds. Being British I'm sure the very thought of silence immediately equals awkwardness and the imminent urge to fill it with something.

When was the last time you sat in silence?

It seems like an odd action to take, just to sit in silence and think or just enjoy the peace, amongst our everyday lives there is very little time for such a menial thing. Today I was watching an interesting documentary and during the break the player cut out and I was left in silence, the silence was deafening and was almost oppressing, it was then that it hit me.

When was the last time I was in silence?

When was the last time that I enjoyed the silence and didn't fill it with music or mindless ramblings of my thoughts to myself.

I don't enjoy the silence enough, I don't take the time to just sit and listen, to the atmosphere, to the noises of London. 'Cos let's face it, in the urban landscape that is my home it's is an impossibility or at least a complete rarity that there is complete silence-no cars, no chavs, no planes...nothing.

So I guess what challenge I can make, however pathetic it does sound, my challenge is this:

The next time you find yourself in silence or a quiet place, don't reach for the mp3 player in your pocket, or the remote control for the TV, sit and enjoy the peace and quiet and make the most of it.

I know I need to.

"I shall conquer this"...

It's difficult living in this world. And no, that's not a new revelation, but it's an increasingly obvious concept that is pressing upon me the more time I spend with non-Christians. I'm not condemning them, but it does get harder to be an example and to bring glory to God around them.

I love being back home, because I miss my school friends dearly...the infamous 5 particularly and many others. I can't wait to see them again on Wednesday, but I know the same old challenges will arise. The challenge to stand out and bring glory to God, the challenge not to feel lonely when they all talk of their loves, of how lovely they are, of how romantic and how awesome they are. It makes it hard to talk to them about the love of my life...Jesus, because it isn't something that they can relate to, and lets face it, it's a little cheesy. It's especially difficult when to be honest I have two burdens going on at the moment, frantically battling inside of me, the devil trying to get me to despair over them.

But in all things, I have to rely on and depend upon my God. But it isn't always that easy is it? I am displeased with this world, I am displeased with this life I live.

In in the words of Mr. Darcy himself..."I shall conquer this". These burdens, I will eradicate, I will conquer and I shall come out the other side a better person, a stronger woman and hopefully, will not encounter the burdens again. Yet I know that they are common place burdens and they are likely to return.

But one lives in hope. Heavenly hope, heavenly assurance. Ahhh to taste heaven and to have no more pain or suffering!

Doris Day...

I want to be Doris Day.

Let's face it, who wouldn't? She's beautiful, can sing amazingly, act and looks amazing in any outfit she wears! In some respects I'd love to think I'm actually a bit of a Calamity Jane, completely tomboyish but when it counts, I can look and act female. Well, that at least was what I used to be like.

So yeah, there's my new life long ambition, to be like Doris Day-all singing, all dancing, all acting and all looking Doris Day.

So watch out world...here comes a wanna be Doris Day...ahhh if only!

I was planning on writing something profound and challenging, but Doris Day fever took over and all profound and amazing wisdom went out the window, with, I believe my sanity.

Maybe I can find a tenuous link that will turn out wise...

nope.

There was a brief glimmer of hope, but that's it...I want to be Doris Day!

"A smile is the prettiest thing you can wear"...

"A smile is the prettiest thing you can wear" I have to agree, I love nothing more than to smile and smile often. Today I wasn't able to do so very much, I had to model a t-shirt and help a friend out with a project, meaning I had to do the "pensive look", which is pretty alien to me!

I love photos, I love taking them and being in them. But it seems more and more that I seem to get the same stigma attached to me of being vain. I'd love to deny it, but most people would argue a good case of the fact that I'm tagged on Facebook in over 2,000 photos and that I probably have a million and one other photos elsewhere.

(I did have a point to this blog, but now it seems to have gone deeper inside of me and no longer seems like something to bring back up.)

I will say this, that vanity and confidence seem to often get themselves mixed up, people with confidence can come across arrogant and vain and those that are vain come across confident, mostly with themselves.

For me confidence in myself is something I have least of, confidence that God will bring out the best in me-that I have, confidence that people know who I am because of my family-I've relied on that for years.

Vanity-I see myself as a sculpture or an unfinished painting, there's always improvements to be made, and there's always imperfections. But the artist and creator seems to know what He's doing nonetheless. Is that vanity?

An artist's work is never done, likewise God isn't finished with this piece of art that is me. One day he will have finished every delicate layer and intricate detail, but until that day I am an imperfect, unfinished, work in progress.

Wisdom Recession...

It's weird, everything seems so clear when I'm back home. All the decisions I have been meaning to make are made easier back home, I'm able to think more of how my future is to pan out and what I can do in certain situations. But when I'm back at uni it all goes wrong, the decisions I made seem to fade away and their importance gets knocked further back.

I'm sure I was wiser 2 years ago, uni has made me soft in some places and strong in others, all might I add in the wrong areas of life. Decisions and situations that are now becoming more and more frequent I seem to be getting worse at handling.

I thought they said wisdom comes with age? Then what screwed up recession is going on here? They talk of economic recession, I think I'm experiencing a wisdom recession-a lapse in wisdom.

But there is always the hope that I can rectify things and that thanks to God, I can change and make crucial changes. I am going to need His help ASAP and I need the effects to be just as quick, although I know that it is more likely to be something that involves patience.

Now that I'm home, I'm seeing this all so much clearer, if only I'd seen it all when I was at uni and then I wouldn't be writing this blog, I wouldn't be getting into the mess I'm in/or am likely to get into.

My only constant hope is this: that in all my failings, there is a perfect God that helps mend all my ('nets') problems, whether it means hard work, pain or something easier. It's still a relief.