Promises

Last weekend I got engaged!!  The lovely Peter Moreton caught me completely by surprise and asked me to marry him outside Buckingham Palace after we had spent a lovely evening together.  So of course I said yes and proceeded to spend the next 2 days telling all our friends about our great news!  I have been so excited over the last week!  It has been so much fun telling people.  I told my class on Monday morning and I have already been called Mrs Moreton!

I text one of my friends last weekend about our news and her response reminded me that God really does keep His promises!  She and her husband have recently had a baby boy and we have both now seen fruit of the fact that this verse in Psalm 37 is truth:

Delight yourself in the LORD,
   and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Psalm 37:4

So this blog isn’t going to be a really long one but more of a thank you that God DOES keep His promises.  He has said so many over us as Christians through the Bible and prophetically too. 

Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True

Revelation 19:11(a)

He is faithful to us and when He says something, He means it J  I am so looking forward to marrying Peter – God has answered my prayers;  blessed me more than I could have ever imagined and has really had the best for me all along!

Trust

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make straight your paths.”

Proverbs 3:5

This is my week’s ‘Fighter Verse’.  Fighter Verses were introduced to me by my friend Dan and the idea is that you memorise a key Bible verse every week.  We have started to do it in my small group.  It is a great idea!  (Fighter Verses can be bought as an App).

This verse is one of the verses that I have known for as long as I can remember.  I have always remembered it in difficult times although sometimes later than I needed it!  I also love the book of Proverbs.  When thinking about writing this particular blog, I looked up the definition of ‘proverb’, just to see what it really meant.  Google told me that a proverb is “A short pithy or saying in general use, stating a general truth or piece of advice.”

So Proverbs are true!!  Even Google agree! ;-)

Sometimes it can be hard to fight for the truth when we aren’t feeling our strongest or at our best.  I know that from experience.  I find it really hard sometimes to cling onto the truth when I'm busy, stressed or worried about something.  But in my heart, I know the truth in the fact that God is at His most powerful when we are at our weakest!!  It doesn’t matter how we feel, God’s truth is still the same and His faithfulness to us will never change.  At the weekend, I was worried about something and spent some time praying about it.  I didn't give Him much time to answer my prayer or speak to me but in His grace, God spoke to me in exactly the right situation at exactly the right time and I just knew His peace straight away.  It's there; we just need to ask Him for it and trust in His word, which never changes and is always true!!  Woo hoo!!

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

2 Corinthians 12:9

There are far too many reasons for us to trust in God for me to list on this page. 

Over this year, God has blessed me more than I ever thought possible in many ways.  His timing has been perfect and He has given me so much! 

I’ve listed a few reasons with scriptures below that give us good reason to trust in Him.

You who fear the LORD, trust in the LORD! He is their help and their shield. 

Psalm 115:11

It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man.

Psalm 118:8

Whoever gives thought to the word will discover good, and blessed is he who trusts in the LORD. 

Proverbs 16:20

The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is safe.

Proverbs 29:25

A greedy man stirs up strife, but the one who trusts in the LORD will be enriched.

Proverbs 28:25

Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock.

Isaiah 26:4

The Point Is This.

“The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.  Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.  And God is able to make all grace bound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, so you may abound in every good work.”

2 Corinthians 9:6-8

It’s been a while since I wrote a new blog and truth be told, I’ve missed it!

Life has been a bit nuts over the last few months, but I’ve had some fantastic times and this post is a bit of a thank you and a testimony of how God has continued to bless me even when I have let Him down.

This summer, some of the other youth leaders and I at Beacon Church took 12 of the young people to Newday which was great.  God answered our prayers beyond what we could have imagined in us being able to see visible changes in some of the young people and we are still reaping from it now! 

I had an amazing holiday to Greece with Peter where I met some really great people.  It was a fantastic opportunity for us to go away together while making new friends along the way and getting a good tan ;-)

I have had the privilege of joining a new small group at church run by my very good friends Ben and Sophie.  It is going really well and I’m sure it is only going to get better!!  

So I’m very thankful for some great experiences!  But I also wanted to take this opportunity to thank God for some very special people in my life.  Without sounding cheesy, I know I’ve been blessed with some amazing friends who genuinely care about me.  I don’t tell them enough how much I appreciate them taking a very big part in my life and being there for me when I need them the most.  The fact that they take a genuine interest in my life, want to be there to support me and who show me they love me by just being my friends, I am so very grateful to God for them.  I can never thank Him enough and I want them to know just how much I love and appreciate them! (You know who you are!) xx

So the point is this.  I am TRULY blessed.  I don’t deserve any of these blessings but God has been faithful and has given me more than I ever imagined and continues to do so even though I don’t deserve any of it.  I’m so grateful to Him for the amazing friends He has put around me who I know love me, even when I let them down too.  Jesus says that “whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly”.  I’m not saying that to be blessed this much I have given loads, because I haven’t!  But He also says:

“If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in Heaven give good things to those who ask Him!”

Matthew 7:11

The GRACE that God pours upon us comes from His love.  It doesn’t come from how much we can give or what we do, but from the heart that He has for us which can turn our hearts towards Him and we can realise just how thankful we are.

Newday 2011 and My Response to the Riots

On Sunday afternoon, I returned to London from Newday 2011, an annual camp that gathers over 6,000 young people at a showground in Norwich.

It was an absolute privilege to have taken 12 young people from my church to spend time together and meet with God in different ways.  God definitely moved that week!  338 people were healed and 365 people made first time commitments to Christ!!

But coming back to London meant that I heard the news about the rioting and the devastation over the last few days.  If I’m honest, I’m disgusted by what I’ve seen and I am now beginning to understand a new level of brokenness of the country I live in.  I don’t understand what motivates somebody to want to cause such devastation and destruction; help someone up and then steal from them when they are helpless, and destroy people’s lives in an instant by setting alight everything they have worked at for decades. 

What I do know, is that God understands these people and sees more to this situation that what we see.  Above all the mess is a God who knows how this is all going to work out, what’s going to happen tomorrow, next week and how to resolve this.  Our God sees hearts that we don’t.  He understands minds that we don’t.  And has ULTIMATE CONTROL over this whole situation. 

But to keep it in perspective, although these incidents have made breaking news, they have only been caused by a minority of our country.  The ‘riot clean up’ initiative spoke volumes to me, of how at a time like this, communities can still pull together and turn this situation around.  The images I have seen of hundreds of people holding brooms and clearing up the mess has really encouraged me that the destruction has been caused by a minority of people.

Also, having been at Newday last week, where thousands of young people hit the streets of Norwich to show God’s love by gardening, handing out leaflets, supporting at community fun days and washing cars also speaks more of our country and the influence that God has on us.

Our God is FAR greater than anything we have seen on the news this week.  He sees it all.  He isn’t letting it go on without Him.  Our God knows how this is going to end.  He knows the decisions our leaders are going to make and He knows the hearts and minds of those causing the trouble, even better than they know their own.  So with this knowledge we can be confident that whatever happens, our God is in COMPLETE CONTROL.  I trust Him – do you?

If you weren’t at Newday this year but want to see what all the fuss is about, check out the video and links below!
Newday BBC News (with video)
Newday BBC News 2 (without video)

Seasons

"For I the Lord do not change..."

Malachi 3:6

Does the sun ever change its brightness?  Not as far as I know.

Our view of it changes, depending on the season we're in, or the time of day.  But as far as I know, its brightness never changes.  Sometimes it can look more beautiful than others.  A couple of weeks ago I went to see the Kings of Leon in Hyde Park with a very good friend of mine (check out her blog too! - http://anordinarylifelessordinary.wordpress.com) and as they were playing, the sun was going down.  It was beautiful.  Outdoor gigs are definitely the best.  But that could be a WHOLE other blog in itself...

You can definitely feel the full exposure of the sun when sitting out in it for a picnic in the summer at lunchtime and when away on holiday somewhere hot and sunny!!

We can relate this to how we can sometimes feel the effects of God in our lives.  Sometimes when we feel that we're in a situation where it's dark and cold and the weather might be like that too, the sun is shining no less brightly than when it was when you woke up.  

"For I the Lord do not change..."

Thank goodness!! If God changed in the same way as we see Him when our seasons and situations in life do, we'd be in trouble.  But He doesnt!!

Our God remains the same ALL the time, regardless of how we feel or see Him according to what's going on in our lives!

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change."

James 1:17

If you're still reading this, I'm adding a song in which I am loving at the moment!  Give it a listen...(you might need to turn the volume up a bit)

Cover Up

I recently found myself in a challenging situation I wasn't expecting.

I was having a conversation with a friend of mine where we were chatting about things we depend and rely on to make ourselves feel better.  It turned out that without realising, I have built up quite a reliance on wearing make up and struggling to leave the house without it.

I don’t wear a lot of make up; a bit of eyeliner and mascara and my eyes are done.  But I know I would struggle if I needed to go out without wearing any, which quickly evoked a question in my head – “Why?”

After challenging my friend to give up what she was relying on to feel better, I agreed to make the challenge equal, and to not wear any make up one evening, and it had to be an evening I was spending with my boyfriend.  I embraced the trial and was surprised at how difficult I found it.  Thankfully, my boyfriend was lovely and assured me I was still beautiful without it! 

I know clearly that the Bible says we are “fearfully and wonderfully made” and this is without cosmetics, but why can this sometimes be hard to understand fully on a personal level? 

The world can throw at us many things including advert after advert trying to sell us the next best-selling mascara, foundation or eyeliner.  Although some products really can do their job, I think it’s important to remember that we don’t need to rely on make up to make ourselves feel that we look better.

In fact, that evening, I had a sense of freedom where I knew others thought I still looked ok and I actually felt pretty relaxed, which was different to how I began the evening!

I still feel challenged by this, although this occasion has made a difference to how I feel about make up and I know that I don't need it to look more beautiful.  But what I do know, is that I’m accepted, loved, and saved regardless of how I look or behave and for that I am very  grateful!!

The Keys

So, after a few months of writing about the contents of my bag, I’m thinking it might be time to move on and write about other things!

I’ve really enjoyed writing this blog so far and I don’t intend to stop writing!  If you’ve been reading it then I hope you have been enjoying it too and I’ve been able to encourage you in some way.  But I am sure that there will be other things that I’ll be able to write about and it won’t be long before I have some new inspiration.  I’d love to hear your comments if you’ve been reading and have enjoyed what you’ve read!

So the last blog on this idea comes from looking at keys!

If I’m honest, I didn’t find this the easiest subject to write about but what I’ve found sure is good!

^“When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying,"Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one.  I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.”

Revelation 1:17-18

When I found this passage at first, I thought it was a pretty weak link to my subject, but after exploring it a bit more, it’s blinding!!  John is told not to fear and that churches shouldn’t fear death, because Jesus has conquered it forever!! 

Our God is living and has victory over death.  This means we have true life in Him!  We have ETERNAL life – something I find very hard to get my head around but is a complete gift of grace.

I’ve never found it easy to understand that I can live by grace.  I’ve been a Christian for ages and have always tried really hard to live a good life – trying to avoid things that I know will cause me to slip up and generally trying to get everything right! But it’s really hard and can be really tiring as I still slip up and make mistakes!  So living by grace so far has been a long lesson – the more I understand how my salvation isn’t dependant on me, the more I understand grace.  I don’t think I’ll ever get my head around it and I don’t think we are supposed to, but knowing my salvation is a gift definitely causes me to worship more!

So through the cross, death has been beaten and we can life forever!! Woo hoo!! It’s been great having been reminded this over Easter.  Before we accepted Jesus, Paul tells us in Ephesians that we were completely dead in our sins.

(and this is why none of us can ever boast that it’s anything we have done…)

Being rich in mercy

                                          Because of His great love for us

                                                                                                                                         By grace

We have been saved!! 

And not just that but Ephesians gives us a great list of things that we have been blessed with through Jesus:

We have been chosen before the foundation of the world

God predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ

·         We have redemption through His blood

·         Forgiveness of our sins

·         Riches of His grace which He has lavished upon us

·         Uniting all things in Him – in heaven and on earth

·         Sealed with the promised Holy Spirit – the guarantee of our inheritance until we have possession of it

ALL to the praise of His glory, not our own!!

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

Ephesians 2:8-9

The Phone

One thing I struggle to leave the house without is my phone!  Sometimes I like to be without it, but most of the time if I don’t have it then it just feels weird!

I’m not someone who enjoys spending a lot of time alone.  I appreciate time by myself sometimes, but I like to be in touch with people and spend time with them so my phone is never too far away.

My phone call list usually has the same names in it – the people who I call most often, either when I need them, or just fancy a chat, or those who call me the most.  I have been very blessed with some amazing friends and I don’t know where I’d be without them!

As Christians, we also know that Jesus calls us to call on Him when we need Him.  I don’t know about you but sometimes God isn’t always the first person I call on when I need help or am worried about something.  I know He should be and I have no reason not to call on Him straight away!

My church has just been through a time of prayer and fasting to seek God for our future.  We had a number of prayer meetings over the 3 days and having made it to a couple, it was a fantastic opportunity to be reminded about God’s faithfulness!  In one prayer meeting, I shared something that I had read in an article earlier that day.

With many things in life, we are told or advised not to “put all our eggs in one basket”.  With God, we can put all our eggs in this basket!  It is not in God’s nature not to be faithful to us – He calls us to call on Him – Matthew 11:28 says:

“Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

He doesn’t lie!  He will give us rest and will always be faithful to us.  He will never let us down and always keeps His promises!

When we call on God we need to have some level of faith, but we only need have faith the size of a mustard seed for God to bless it –

“And the Lord said, "If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you.”

It is not so much the strength of our faith that matters but the faithfulness of God.  Jesus taught His disciples about prayer that can move mountains.  We can have complete confidence in praying to a faithful God who can move mountains!  When we turn it round and focus on His faithfulness – we soon realise that NOTHING is impossible for Him!

^“May God himself, the God who makes everything holy and whole, make you holy and whole, put you together—spirit, soul, and body—and keep you fit for the coming of our Master, Jesus Christ. The One who called you is completely dependable. If He said it, He'll do it!”

1 Thessalonians 5:24 (The Message)

30 Day Song Challenge

Taking a break from the usual blog post today...

I really wanted to take part in the 30 day song challenge that I've been seeing loads of people contributing to on Facebook!  Considering I don't make it onto Facebook everyday I knew I wouldn't be able to keep it up so I thought I would blog my choices instead! (Oh and I may have adjusted a couple...;-p)

So here goes...

A song that makes you sad:  Make You Feel My Love - Adele          
                                                     

A song that reminds you of someone:  Firework - Katy Perry

A song that you can play on an instrument:  Candy - Paolo Nutini

A song that you wish you could play:  

Desert Song - Brooke Fraser

A song you want to play at your wedding:  L-O-V-E - Nat King Cole

A song that makes you happy:  Teenage Dream - The Warblers (Glee)

A song that reminds you of somewhere:  Everything - Lifehouse

A song you wish you heard on the radio:  Fade Like A Shadow - KT Tunstall

A song you listen to when you're happy:  Say Hey (I Love You) - Michael Franti & Spearhead

A song no one would expect you to love:  Achilles Heel - Toploader



A song that is a guilty pleasure:  Star Girl - McFly



A song that makes me want to fall asleep:  Butcher Blues - Kasabian



A song that makes you laugh:  Barack Obama Parody - Chris Moyles (purely because I can't sing it and I end up laughing!)




A song that reminds you of a certain event:  Do Your Thing - Basement Jaxx



A song that you can dance to:  Runaway Baby - Bruno Mars (albeit very badly)




A song from your favourite film:  Suddenly I See - KT Tunstall  (Can you guess what film it is?!)



A song from your childhood:  Black Or White - Michael Jackson



A song you know all the words to:  Defying Gravity - Glee



A song that describes me:  I Am Free - Andy Kyte


And there we go.  That was fun!  : D

The Mirror - How do we see God?

So after looking at how God sees us, I thought I’d write a little about how we see God!

Amazingly timed, my church are currently going through a new series on Thursday nights, and last week we looked at how important it is to base our view of God on what the Bible says.  We need to form a biblical understanding of God, otherwise we form a view of God in our own image.  This can be easily done!  We can quickly form a negative view of God through experiences that we face in life.  When things happen that we don’t understand, it can be easy to blame God.  But it’s a dangerous thing to do!  

When we start doing that, then we start to take away from all the good things that He is and does and can see Him very negatively, rather than the gracious God He is!  We can then quickly make an opportunity for the devil to lie to us.

The good thing is, is that the Bible is amazingly clear on who God is!  So we can be sure that we are able to form a good image of Him through what He has already told us!  The Psalms are a fantastic place to start to read up about who the Bible says God is.  But I have picked out what I thought were some good words and some that are my favourites that describe God to help you keep a biblical perspective of Him, even when all around can feel pretty tough!  I hope they help!

gracious    compassionate       Saviour       holy       righteous     deliverer    just            good    rock       steadfast       great       glorious       Prince of Peace       loving            mighty     majestic       King of Kings       true       fortress       forgiving       patient          kind     beautiful         matchless       creator          Wonderful Counsellor    

 Again, feel free to add any more words and verses!


Oh and this is one of my favourite songs at the moment....give it a listen!  It's immense :)

The Mirror - How does God see you?

How does God see you?  This always amazes me and I’ll never get my head around it, but if you are a Christian then God sees you in the same way in which He sees JESUS!!

Incredible.  I can’t believe that the Father of ALL creation would see me in the same way He sees Jesus.  When He looks at us, He sees His Son and what He did for us.

We have been adopted into His family –

“For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.  For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba!  Father!’”

Romans 8:14-15

If you’re a Christian, this is how God sees you today…

Redeemed    Chosen    Favoured    Loved    
Child of God    Heir of God Conqueror    Beautiful    Justified    Fearfully and wonderfully made    Holy    Blameless    Adopted    His workmanship    A new creation    Righteous Inseparable    Free    Alive in Him

If you think of any more ways then please add them on!