Wednesday 16 November 2011

Time Travel?

I've been catching up on Doctor Who lately, going through the last episodes of David Tennant. Very sorry to have seen him go. This is the second time I have seen a Christian parallel in it. Yet again, the Doctor sacrifices himself for his friends and has to regenerate. This shows something not unlike the love of Jesus, when He did the same. Lots of it end up being quite sad when each companion is either lost, moves on or in the last case, he is forced to wipe her memories of him. Each of them, especially Rose, at one point planned to stay with him forever. Parallel to Ruth and Naomi : "Where you go, I will go."

I haven't posted in a while because to be honest things haven't been anywhere near perfect. Two songs I want to share today: firstly, "Blessings" by Laura Story... "What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise?" And "Miracle of the Moment" by Steven Curtis Chapman. "I don't want you to miss the miracle of the moment...." Yes, some days I want to go back to last year. But last year, I would probably have wanted to do the same. So if I did go back in time (ooh, back to the sci-fi Doctor Who theme! meant to be :)), I would miss out on a lot of good stuff God has planned, but it may take a while to notice it.



Wednesday 28 September 2011

More than the stars...

Last Saturday I heard a discouraging sermon on the woman's role in the church, actually saying "it's not the woman's job to witness", which kinda makes you feel like there's nothing to do. With that comes a thought that we may be worthless for God if we are female. I spent most of the evening asking Him these very things.

Well, I am happy to say that He has proved faithful once again!! "His compassions never fail, they are new every morning and GREAT is Your faithfulness!" That night when I went upstairs I could see the stars out of my window. When I turned on the light and they disappeared from view, I felt there was something about them I had to go and see. So, crazy as it may seem, I went outside to find beautiful little stars everywhere! I just stood there in awe of God's creation, wondering what it was He wanted to tell me.

Well, as I was watching the stars, I was reminded of the words from this song! "I love you more than the sun and the stars that I taught how to shine, you are mine and you shine for me too!"

I really do think God is amazing! One more thing for this week: I spoke to someone else yesterday about these things, and he advised me that the best place to witness is our place of work or study. Well, I've actually had opportunities for that already!!

Praise the Lord!!!

Monday 5 September 2011

God's Timing Is Perfect.

True or false?

At this point I am seeing some of it to certainly be true. God gave us two babies in our growing family this year. Those had been prayed for for a long time. I wondered why I didn't start this college course last year - well there's proof, He knew we'd have babies in the family at this time!!

As wonderful as it is to know how good He is right now, there are still some things I feel I'm waiting for. I do feel I'm lacking in Christian friends since it's a season for leaving here, and am struggling to bring Christ to those friends who don't know Him. I know these things will be revealed in time, but waiting is hard.

"For greater things are yet to come, greater things are still to be done here!"

Had to add here about the little thing the other night that I think was God. What came into my head over and over was "What a jubilee of joy in the heavens then is herd, when a soul among the saved is counted in!" Eventually I wondered if maybe God was telling me that He was celebrating for someone right at that moment. I'm still not a hundred per cent sure on that one, but am feeling very excited for whoever it was if so!!!

Friday 22 July 2011

Filled With Compassion

Some thoughts from my recent talks with God. I was reminded today how dangerous it is to judge. And I was thinking back to when I first became a Christian nearly 5 years ago, back then it didn't really touch me so much that people were on their way to hell, simply because everyone I liked was a Christian and everyone I didn't wasn't. Yes,looking back, that doesn't sound so good does it. Well now that's no longer the case. I know some people who I would really like to be in heaven with me, and as importantly to know God as I do, but it doesn't look likely.

I know that whatever wrong they are doing, that God still cares for them and wants them to come to Him as much as I do. I know I've probably shared this verse before but I still turn to it often. "The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, but is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance". Amazing that. He is not a judging God to those people, but willing to forgive every sin. I know that to be like Jesus, this too ought to be my attitude.

There is a beautiful modern hymn which expresses it so well. I think I've said before how much I struggle with singing some old ones which talk about hell so bluntly and have no happy ending. Well this one says that God is "filled with compassion for all creation". Although it does have some blunt warnings ("having no Saviour they're lost forever if we don't speak out and lead them to You"), the ending is the happiest and most rewarding I have ever seen:

"From every nation we shall be gathered
millions redeemed shall be Jesus' reward
then He will turn and say to His Father
truly my suffering was worth it all!"

I would also like to share what God showed me about prayer the other day. I know I pray regularly, but this now takes on a new meaning. He reminded me of a song I know called "Somebody Prayed for Me". It talks about going to the "lifting their name to the throne of heaven, bringing them into His holy presence". Now that is amazing stuff really, and it's so easy to do! My next bit of the story is when I tried to find this song on the internet, I actually came up with another of the same name. This person says about the one who prayed for them: "they had me on their mind, they sacrificed their time to pray for me" and then even that "they had no doubt that God would bring me help, that He could change my life and set me free".

This is what I am praying for and if I could make a difference like this to someone, how great will that be?!

Saturday 25 June 2011

"Nothing is perfect in God's perfect plan."

Well that sounded a bit of an oxymoron when I first heard that! However I think it means that nothing in His plan is perfect in our eyes. In the end it is, but not at the moment. It's a really encouraging quote. There are so many things going on which makes the year look bleak as I'm really trusting God completely. I just don't know what's going to happen. I've been looking for peace and confidence about the upcoming camp - yes I know I've done it a few times before, but I still didn't feel bang on right. God reminded me of the passion needed to continue His work in children.

I then got a cold just when I was feeling good about it and am wondering again! Nothing is perfect - we're just waiting for God to show us His perfect plan!! I think I've written about this before but when I feel compassion for others I know who aren't Christians and I feel annoyed it hasn't happened or that prayers haven't been answered. I remember getting this little reminder that everything that happens IS part of God's perfect plan so it obviously wasn't the time. I guess it's keep praying and wait patiently!!

I am of course hoping for another camp like last year and that God will move among us once more this week!!

Sunday 15 May 2011

Life's Ups and Downs

Just to put a few thoughts down for the week or so.

Everything in life is always constant ups and downs. I had this song given to me by God a few weeks ago, it's called "I Am New" by Jason Gray. It reminds me that God doesn't see me the way I do. Instead He says of me:

"Forgiven beloved, hidden in Christ
made in the image of the giver of life
righteous and holy, reborn and remade
accepted and worthy, this is our new name!"

Another thing that bugs me a lot is talking about the day Jesus comes again. I know it's gonna be awesome, but I just keep thinking of everyone I know who hasn't accepted Him and how awful it'll be for them. And I don't know about you, but it's incredibly difficult to share about the gospel without either making a fool of yourself or sounding too "preachy" about going to hell. That's not at all how I want to do it. I pray for them a lot, but at these times when people are quoting how soon it'll happen and I just can't handle it. There are some hymns about hell that I can't even sing - it's just too much.

Again God gave me the right words which I hope will be a help to others as well. It's a snippet from 2 Peter.

"The Lord is not slow in keeping His promises, like some may understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance."


I really hope those thoughts are helpful and I'm so grateful to God for showing me the way, even though there are so many times I don't understand what on earth He's doing!

Monday 4 April 2011

"Children are a blessing sent from God above, for us to care and nurture and most of all to love."

I found the poem where this quote came from just after watching "Care Home Kid" on TV. Some parts showed children having good experiences in the care system, but others show that it's pretty bad. I think they said the statistic for kids in care ending up in prison / young offenders in later life was about 60-70%. Not good.

Aside from that, there are lots of people round here having babies just now, which is great for most of them! My childhood best friend just had one, and I think there's about 3 others from my year already had kids. I'm 18 (19 this year), so it just seems a bit soon for us to be doing that already!

The quote at the top shows what's most important: love. Every child is important. God cares for them and will provide whatever they need, in His time.


That's another thing I've been thinking about lately. God has reminded me that He does and will provide. With a few Christian friends leaving the area for various reasons, I've been wondering how I'm going to manage. God, ever-faithful, has reminded me of a time a few short years ago when I felt the same way. Just the fact that here I am again shows that He did provide for me, which is comforting to know that He can do it again.

After having a great weekend with Christian friends things are on a high for a while and then down the next week. I'm reminded now of the song "Party"! Good times here on earth are just a reminder of what it'll be up there. So for now, let's enjoy the good times we have and if anyone is struggling, just hold on and God will provide. "Oh the answer will come but only in His time, stand still and let God move".

And keep praying for all these children who are not getting care, nurturing and love! Through many situations, all over the world, it's happening still. We pray that God will sustain and provide. On the thought of getting us all together up in heaven, we also need to keep praying for those God lays on our heart for salvation. That's really hard to share about sometimes, so we just need to wait for God to provide the opportunity.

Sunday 6 March 2011

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding...

....in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.

On the TV this morning was a debate where the topic was "Does prayer work?" I don't really feel comfortable watching debates so I only heard a little, but I would definitely say that this week God has been full of surprises!!

I came into town as usual Monday morning with literally NO CLUE as to what was going to happen. I ended up back at my previous placement, which was fine, although I knew I needed something different. As it happened, I got to meet some far-out cousins for the first time - which wouldn't have happened if the original plan had worked out. So yes God knows what He's doing!! And the very next day everything for this coming week just fell into place.

In addition to all this I'd been asked to do the story at the kids' club thing at church. I know I've been with little children a lot recently, but to talk to as many as that alone - really?? I'd heard it can be as many as 14. Well, I really didn't think I could do that.

While going through my regular blog check, this song came up on the playlist. It was "I Refuse" by Josh Wilson. I had never heard this song before, but the words were so powerful they interrupted my thoughts straight away! "I refuse to sit around and wait for someone else to do what God has called me to do myself, oh I could choose not to move but I refuse...."



Even though I still felt terrified at the thought and hadn't a clue how I was going to do it, I knew now this was what I had to do. How did it go? Well, not bad I suppose. I only had eight children there, all but two well-behaved. To the people's eyes my little finger puppet did all the talking ... but really God did.

I've been reading Christy Miller, so doing something she never felt able to do before, was worded as "this is my bridge and I'm ready to jump", directly using the experience of another character. I know some parts of the books are about romance, where I'm going "No, this guy's better for you than that one!", but that part is a very touching and special one.

So back to the verse in the title - sometimes it seems so unclear, but trust God, not your own understanding, always acknowledge Him, then He just might surprise you!

Wednesday 26 January 2011

Rejoice and be glad!

I seem to usually blog about things that make me annoyed, angry, sad ... it's just that when I see something like that I can't help but get my thoughts down. I've wanted to post about something happier for a while, and I think the happy something is in the pages of a very old book.

I'm referring to Pollyanna, a little girl who goes about life playing the "Glad Game". The purpose of this is to find something to be glad about in every situation. Yet again I find myself inspired by a fictional character. For example, when she is upset because it's raining which spoils her plans, she remembers the game and is glad it'll have to stop raining at some point as God promised He would never send another flood. Or even on the worst day of the week, "I can be glad it's Tuesday because it won't be Tuesday again for a whole week!"

Referring to my earlier reference to venting, what Pollyanna has to say about those, is that this is what makes it fun. If everything was good, you wouldn't have any game in finding the good amongst the bad.


Last night, thanks to a newspaper article and a couple of blog posts, I was thinking about adoption and kids who need to be adopted. Statistics given show that the people involved in adoption agencies and suchlike aren't getting enough kids adopted, or maybe trying too hard to find the perfect family. Or in other cases, people simply can't afford it and hence those kids can't get a home either, and they don't have all the time in the world.


It also mentioned how it is less likely that a black child be adopted than a white one, or there are other children considered "different" who families wouldn't even consider. But, as I also read last night, we can be glad that they are all special in God's eyes:

"Jesus loves the little children
all the children of the world
red, brown, yellow, black and white
all are precious in His sight
Jesus died for all the children of the world."

I'm not saying I see everyone as equal straight off, because I have to admit even I'm not perfect. Sometimes it seems glaringly obvious, and I have to remind myself Jesus sees NO distinction, and therefore that should be my attitude too.


Lastly although I don't watch much TV, I have been watching a bit of Tracy Beaker lately. This is a drama set in a children's home and although it's not the best lifestyle for a child, particularly one whose mother doesn't want them, we can certainly be glad of an imagination. Tracy always imagines her mother to be very special, beautiful, famous, talented, and most importantly a loving mother, who will come to fetch her some day. Sometimes it is easier to imagine things than to settle for the hard reality.

I'll finish with the theme song:

"I can make my world come true
all my dreams will see me through
doesn't matter what may come my way
believe me now, I will win some day".