Roadtripping Madness...

Day 4, Llyn Gwynant, Wales... I'm sitting in a giant chair overlooking Lake Gwynant and looking at the valley fall into darkness while the sun sets behind it. Despite being attacked by midges and that occasional sound of a hidden car, nothing could be wrong with this setting. I love the dear simplicity of this place, knowing I have to leave here with so much still unexplored gives me a heavy heart.

Climbing Snowden I had the sensation of just how amazing God's creation is, and how clarity of mind can come from a few breathtaking mountains. I want to continue exploring despite my heavy and weary limbs. I will return to this place or one very much like it one day, and I pray God's beauty will still be shown here-even if, amazingly, it is only a fraction of his beauty.

Snowden was glorious, gloriously painful but the view was sublime. No photo can do it justice and no words can fully describe it. Seeing it made me long for heaven all the more and the idea that it will be far more spectacular is just crazy!

I learnt surprisingly a lot over this roadtrip, it reaffirmed that God is an incredibly talented and beautiful creator. It made me unbelievable grateful for all that He's done and it made me realise how shamefully I don't thank him enough.

I can't tell you how good God is and how amazing He really is, because just like those mountain views, no words can possibly describe Him!

Roadtripping Madness...Day 3

So yeah, I may have skipped a few days (and started on day 3) but this is where I started writing anything remotely interesting or bloggable!

To put it into context for you...Me and my friend Emily went on a roadtrip lasting 10 days (the last 10 days just gone) around Wales and England...from S. Wales - N. Wales - Lake District - Bath (and other places). So Day 3, Llyn Gwynant, Wales...

There's something about the places I've seen so far in Wales that leave me breathless, awestruck and inspire me to think about God and do more for him. It's easy to see and understand why people get so inspired after seeing such beautiful places, yet it is equally baffling as to how people can't and don't see God behind such astounding creativity.

Whilst walking in the Welsh countryside, up mountains, through trees, jumping, climbing and walking, my adventurous side came out and I wanted to walk to the top of every peak, climb every cliff face and stand at the top of each and look down at what God has created. When standing on the top of the Sugar Loaf Mountain (I'm classing it as a mountain) I was taken a back by its beauty. Emotion and the presence of God hit me, so much so that I just had to walk and praise him.

It inspired that adventurous spark in me, that seems invisible at all other times. It sparks that bit of adventure that has remained suppressed in my urban lifestyle. No part of my hometown leaves me wanting to explore more, find more-I've seen it all and know it all by heart. I've regressed back to being childish here, having little or no fear for what might happen if I fall or if I'm stung because I just want to explore more and more of God's creation. I suddenly envy Pocahontas!

It's funny how such a little thing such as green, lush valleys can ignite something new in me, give me back that old sense of adventure that I can't wait to go somewhere else and do something new. Travelling is on my heart and once again I'm reminded how much I love God's creation.

It's so easy to be complacent in our comfort zones, whether it be spiritually or just to sit back and relax too much. We need to wake up and be on our toes, complacency just leads to stagnation and no-one likes to be stagnant!

Laptop Sabbatical continued...

Right, well I still haven't got my laptop back but I have learnt a thing or two without it and I still am. I felt it was time to write about it, as I have had other challenges and other ideas to write about.

I always knew not having a laptop would be a challenge but sadly, I never realised quite how much I would miss it. How sad is that? Although, realistically I'm sure you can empathize with me, and there is some sort of technology you would miss if it got taken away from you/broke etc.

During the first few days of having no laptop, I borrowed one every now and then, but for the majority of the time I had none. What I noticed most was the deafening silence. It amazed me that actually I spent every minute of every day filling the silence with music or talk, as if the silence was an enemy, whereas actually it turned out to be a beloved friend (cheesy I know). Sitting in silence helped me collect my thoughts, think things through and hear God's voice clearer. I've blogged on silence before but, as with a lot of things, I forget about them and become a hypocrite! Without my laptop I was able to do what Jesus himself did so often "...withdrew to lonely places and prayed" Luke 5:16 (NIV) and it was incredible what a bit of silence and a lot more free time can do.

Fortunately or unfortunately, whatever way you look at it, my laptop broke during exam time, a time that to be honest I just constantly worry, particularly with these ones. So to be able to sit in peace and quiet and cry and pour my heart out to God, was the best medicine and the greatest cure!

God was amazing over my exams, seriously...I prayed for particular subjects to come up and they did! He calmed any nerves and helped me to go into each exam with a sense of peace that "surpasses all human understanding" (Philippians 4:6-7). I learnt more about God's character and about how amazing He is. I have gotten closer to Him and have enjoyed my quiet times so much more and have had so much more time for Him-enabling me to do more than just read a quick verse and shortly forget about it, but to actually study it etc.

Having just said all of the above however, it wasn't/isn't entirely easy. I struggle with trying to 'fit' God in sometimes, when actually I have so much time for Him, that I waste with other things. Since I've been back from uni, I've had a laptop at my disposal for a lot of the day, and that temptation can sometimes take over again and I end up wasting my day on youtube etc.

I still miss my laptop, but I do love the freedom of not having it as well. It's amazing what God has done in me and how I have changed even just through not having a laptop, I never thought I would learn so much! It hasn't been easy, and I often do find anything to do but a quiet time, a lot of the time it is unconsciously. But I don't understand why. Why do we tend to slot God in, at a particular time, shouldn't He been in every part of every day?

Even as I type I'm thinking "I'm such a hypocrite" and no doubt, you're probably thinking the same about me also. But hear me out...

We have an amazing God, and although sometimes practically it may seem impossible, I actually think its not. Think about it, whatever you're doing, you can still pray and communicate with God. He sacrificed Jesus, in order to make it very easy for us to talk to Him. I love how well God knows us, He makes it easy because He knows how preoccupied and badly we prioritise things.

So I guess, my challenge to myself and to you, is to strive to make God an every minute of everyday thing, rather than an 8pm-8.15pm kind of thing.

I do miss my laptop, but I would miss the times with God a lot more if I went back to my old ways of constantly being distracted. So, I've learnt what a hold technology can have on me and I'm loving God more and more.

So when I do get my laptop back...God is and always will be first. Quiet times, will be just that, QUIET! I've learnt I don't need to fill the silence, I can hear God better in it and that making time for Him is soo worth it. There is no contest.