Where to begin.....

Life is full on........as always!!!! But through all the daily stresses and strains, God remains faithful and alive in our lives. This year has seen many answers to prayers, has seen the most growth in me and Ross and we have stepped out of our comfort zone and are heading off in a different direction. The new year is gong to see a lot of challenges for us in our spiritual life - challenges that I am soo looking forward to.......as they have been brought to us by God, so that can only be beneficial to us and others around us that they effect. I'm going to enjoy taking you down the road with us and am intrigued as to what God is going to do with us this coming year - it's dead exciting!!!!

This Christmas period can be and is an emotional time of year. You start to think about people who are no longer around, and while it's sad for me to not be able to see, talk or hug them anymore, I always have to remember where they are now - in glory with God - and I just know they are having the most wonderful life now, free from pain and fully restored. Yes I do miss them terribly, but I will get to spend eternity with them, so what's a season now without them, it's just a small blip in the great scheme of things.........

I promise to keep this blog updated more frequently and discovering the road God has set me on............

Life returns for a while........

Wow........it's been absolutely ages since I've been on here........you know how sometimes life just jumps right up and you have no time for anything else, well, that's where I've been.

My darling nanny spent the best part of 4 months in hospital from late march until early July, I tried to see her as much as I could, help look after my grandad too and only gave myself some weekends off for church and functions at church.........my younger sisters baby was born at the end of June and 3 days later my nanny died........we had a church conference booked, a trip away, the funeral to attend and I had to do a reading, there was a health scare with my husband and I came close to losing him.........we attended the youth conference where we served and had to camp (i don't do camping usually)........my daughter went off on her rock climbing holiday.......we visited friends who had moved away as they were struggling in their marriage.........and then we had to get ready for my daughters return to school - shes started her last year and its the big one!!!!!

But through all this, the one thing that has kept me strong and together is God. He is the rock on which i build my life......no matter what i face, there is nothing too big for God, events in life may overwhelm me, but my God is solid and with myself firmly rooted in Him, I can borrow his strength to carry me through the tough times.......

The Wise and Foolish Builders
"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house;yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."

Happy Birthday to me!!!!

Another year older, another year wiser - well hopefully the latter!!!!! I am another year into my walk with God and although there have been some tough times, happy times, emotional times, difficult times.......they have all been times of growth and God has been with me every step of the way. When I look back at what ground I have covered this year, I wonder how on earth I would have got through it without having His constant support and guidance........I probably wouldn't have, is the answer.

My best pressie today will be spending the morning with my nanny. Luckily the ward shes in at the hospital has open visiting hours, so I am off up there this morning to spend some time with her (something I didn't think she'd be around for a few weeks ago) and to take her a cream horn - her favourite cake........it'll be our birthday brunch.

Have a good day and may God show you today how special you are to Him.

So much has happened....

....since I last blogged on here.

I went away for a scrapbooking weekend, I've been on holiday to Las Vegas, my nan is still in hospital and I've been back and forwards to the hospital since I got home from hols and I have started a fantastic new bible study - Breaking Free by Beth Moore. I know someone who has done this study before and they said it was completely life changing........so I'd best keep up with this blog so everyone can see the changes!!!!

You are given scripture to memorise and my first scripture is:

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
because the Lord has annointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners...
- Isaiah 61:1

Praising God.....

At church on Sunday, Lazarus, who was speaking to us from Acts gave us all a challenge. A challenge to always praise God, no matter what.......he asked us to stand if we wanted our world turned upside down this week just so we could praise God because "in all things God works for the good of those who love Him" (Romans 8:28). So up I stood and we were prayed for, then Lazarus told us to think about a bullfight - the target for the bull is a red flag, but this really is just a distraction, the real target is the matador waving the red flag, so he asked us all to be aware of not getting distracted by red flags. Never did I think I would be tested so quickly, by that evening my sister had phoned to say my nan (she's nearly 91) wasn't very well and although my sister had put her to bed, she wanted me to go to my nans first thing in the morning.......my sister was quite upset and was worried that my nan didn't have long left (none of the rest of my family are christians).......as we came to the end of the conversation, her mobile started ringing and she went to take the call.........she called my back after a few minutes to say that my nan had got out of bed and had a fall, an ambulance was on it's way and she was going over to help my grandad.........I told her I'd meet her there and shot out of the door.........in the car I started to pray, then Lazarus's words came back to me and I stopped asking for help and praised God, I praised Him virtually all the way there and I felt so much better and just knew everything would be ok.......after a few minutes I started worrying about silly things like, do I get my daughter home from her skiing trip, do I cancel my flight to Vegas next week, do I send my husband & daughter to Vegas and follow on later, etc., then I realised this was my red flag........this was just trying to distract me and I wouldn't let it.......keep my focus on God and forget what isn't important..........to cut a long story short, it was a blessing that nan had had a fall - she was hypoglycemic - which none of us realised and the paramedic said she would have probably slipped into a coma within a couple of hours..........she has a chest infection and needs a pacemaker and is staying in hospital for a few weeks, but is nowhere near as bad as we all first feared.............Praise God, for giving me another opportunity to be a witness to my family, they all look to me to take their lead.............should they panic, should they be calm.........I'm so glad that I can shine God's light into their lives, they may not realise it's there some of the time, but they will look for it more and more and more.

The most beautiful book...

I have just seen this thread on 2Peas and had to enter it here into my blog.

Beautiful Books. 1. What is the most beautiful book you own? 2. In what way is it beautiful? Is it the illustrations, the binding, a combination of these, or something else? 3. How often do you look at it, browse through it, read it?

The most beautiful book I own is my Bible. It is made from the softest leather, is small enough to fit into any bag I take out with me, so it accompanies me everywhere, and it's bright pink!!!! But what makes it really beautiful is the contents. There is soooo much in there, guidelines for how to live a good life, help when needed, a constant source of strength and encouragement......and full of verses that I've underlined, highlighted, marked in someway to help me find them again when I need them, there are scribbled notes in the margin, notes at the back of the book, it really is my constant companion. The leather corners on the covers are darkened through wear, there are pen marks on the cover, there are even coffee stains on some pages.........but as J. John once said "If your bibles falling apart - you won't be"......well it's not quite falling apart, but it's well on the way. To some it may look uncared for and grubby, but to me, it is the most beautiful book I've ever owned.

Boldness...

...have been thinking a lot about boldness and wished I had more of it. Boldness to talk openly with my non-christian friends and also boldness with my christian frineds.....sometimes it's even harder to be bold with a brother/sister in Christ, as it can be uncomfortable and awkward. I've spent the last week in this very situation - I felt very strongly that I had to say something to a friend from church about a big decision she had made. I knew it wasn't something she was going to want to hear, but after agonising about it for 2 weeks - praying and fasting - I knew I had to do it. I was all ok, she appreciated what I said and why I had said it, but it led me to think an awful lot about the whole boldness thing. And I've realised that one thing I need more than boldness is obedience - if I was being totally obedient to God, I wouldn't have wasted 2 weeks worrying about doing it - I would have just gone and done it as soon as I felt God prompting me to say it.......

So there might be a new me emerging soon.......an obedient child of God, who acts when God tells me......not someone who regrets not having said this & that because I let fear take hold. Watch this space!!!

Ooh it's all different over here...

I'm trying to find my way around this blog......it runs completely different to my other blog and all the settings are very new for me, but I will get used to it in time - I hope!!!
Might have to come back and have a go at this later - must get some housework done.

Hello....

....well here I am. I have had another blog for a while now, mainly about scrapbooking - one of my passions......and I got to thinking, why not have a seperate blog for my other great passion in life - God. So here it is.......I'm going to enjoy the journey God takes me on.