2010

I have never been one to hugely celebrate New Year, after all it's just another day in 365. But this afternoon (whilst stood on Palm Beach, on the north shore of Sydney, with my ankles in the ocean, soaking up the sun - as you do! :P) it has just really hit me, that the past year, the glorious 2010, has by far been the best, most beautiful, most unexpected, most God-led year of my life! And even better, this time last year I had no idea it would even be vaguely significant!

This year I met Mike, found a best friend, found the other half of me, fell in Love, got engaged and planned a wedding! All with more of a sense of God working in something than anything I have ever previously experienced. I could never have planned this, his timing is perfect and in the midst of all my imperfectness and human frailty and inconsistency, this is PERFECT for me, for us, and all planned by HIM - perfect!!! :)

As if that wasn't enough, this year I have also...

Started my own life, independant from family, after uni, living in Bath.
Handled all my own finances
Learnt to cry
Beaten addictions
Had a depression free year
Become more and more happy with being ME
Lost approx 2 stone
Got really good at saving money
Started songwriting again
Learnt lots of new life and work skills
Quit a job I hated
Learnt some HUGE God lessons
Made new friends and become a lot closer to old ones
Become more comfortable with my weaknesses and more confidant at starting to tackle them
Travelled half way around the world, on my own, funded by myself.
Found beautiful, spirit-filled, people in really unexpected places (thank you Bryan!)

So all in all this New Year has to be noted for me because 2010 has been absolutely HUGE!

So tonight I will watch the fireworks and all the people celebrating and be abudantly thankful for all I have been blessed with, even for all the difficult years leading upto this year, for I would be half the woman I am today without them!

I really pray that I can continue to be this thankful and aware of the blessings I have even when the years aren't all that nice! I pray for wisdom and peace in those times, and overall a continued abundance of Love and Hope whatever may come. All praise to you God for your perfect timing, your patience, your grace and your Love. May I never forget it!

Happy New Year Everyone!
I'm getting married in 2011 - I think that maybe enough to make this coming year FANTASTIC! :) :) :)

Mike - I Love You, beyond words, always! :)

Photo Via: http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/photos/2009/01/018235.html

It's Time For Change And I'm Excited!

Looks like tonight, the sky is heavy
Feels like the winds are gonna change
Beneath my feet, the earth is ready
I know its time for heaven's rain
It's gonna rain

Cos it's living water we desire
To flood our hearts with holy fire

Rain down all around the world we're singing
Rain down can you here the earth is singing
Rain down my heart is dry but still I'm singing
Rain down rain it down on me.

Back to the start, my heart is heavy
Feels like it's time, to dream again
I see the clouds, and yes I'm ready
To dance upon this barren land
Hope in my hands

Do not shut, Do not shut, Do not shut the heavens
But open up, open up, open up our hearts

Give me strength to cross this water
Keep my heart upon your altar
Give me strength to cross this water
Keep my feet don’t let me falter


'Rain Down' - Delirious? Written by Martin Smith/Stuart Garrard ©2003 Curious? Music UK 


In the past change has unnerved me in the way it does with most of us, I definitely have never seen it as a bad thing but its not very comfortable is it!? 
Right now my life and my world seems set for some change and to be honest I am excited, I can't wait to see the finished article (though I'm sure this will take a lifetime). I'm just going to take things one day at a time and trust that it's all in his hands!

Thankful

It is so easy to moan and find fault and I often go the whole day and sometimes a whole week and realise that I have moaned about so much and been thankful for so little! So here I go... here is a list as big as I can bring to mind at this very moment - hopefully this will help me start to counteract all that is in me that is ungrateful, selfish, self-centered, negative, stressed, worried and critical.

* I am loved unconditionally and perfectly by my maker. Continuously forgiven for all my stupid mistakes and inconsistencies, saved by Grace and living in Freedom. I am on the path to knowing life in all it's fullness and I know the Author of truth, light, hope and love. I will never understand or comprehend it all fully but the beauty is that I don't have to, this goes beyond any form of earthly logic or law and I don't have to worry for I am safe in the arms of the one who knows exactly how I work, think and feel and still loves me!

* I have a flippin' awesome church where I love being rooted, connected and part of building the Kingdom surrounded by the wisest, kindest, most inspiring and passionate people I know; people I am honoured to call my friends. 'Freedom Bath & Bristol' has done so much for me over the past 3 and a half years, they have helped me with spiritual and emotional breakthroughs, taught me how to cry, stood with me when it seemed like all around me was falling, celebrated with me when God made a way and provided answers to prayer, encouraged me, raised me up to use my giftings more confidently for the house, laughed with me on numerous occasions, taught me to have fun and enjoy this life as we live it all together whatever that life may bring our way!

* I have been blessed with a job with a paygrade and responsibility that I never expected for this season of my life. It is earning me enough to be living in the city I have grown to love and with the people I love, and enough to be paying for my fast approaching adventure! It is not always easy or fun but it is pushing me, shaping me and giving me skills that I'm sure in the future will help open doors!

* I have a home in Bath with an absolutely Gorgeous Family (Big up the Jones Family!). They have blessed me so much with their 'food-included' rent, home cooked meals, unlimited washing machine use, dinner time banter, family life (cat included!), a beautiful bedroom, big words of wisdom, prayer and love! Choosing to live in Bath would not have been possible without these guys!

* I have parents that have always been supportive of my dreams and passions, built me up, trusted me and rejoiced with me. In my newly independent 'left-home' situation they are always only a phonecall away and available for a catch up chat. I am so blessed to have parents that know God and therefore sort of understand where I am at and when I need prayer. I have two beautiful, talented little sisters that I adore and are always prepared with funny film quote banter when I need cheering up. We are so different yet so similar and I LOVE it! I also have an amazing wider family and I love the banter between me and my many many cousins! Whoop whoop for family!

* I have brilliant friends, both in Bath and further afield. People who I love spending time with through good times and bad who put up with my annoying habits and are always there to support me. We're are not blood related but we are family just the same!

* I am so thankful for the gift of music and for living in a world full of it! Music helps me convey my emotions and passion and joy in a way that I couldn't express otherwise!

* I have just bought a beautiful new camera and it will be arriving later this week!!! I love photography and I can't wait to get super creative with my photos! This was also a financial miracle as on Amazon this camera was £85 cheaper than it's RRP! A beautiful camera and a bargain - whoop whoop!!

* I am thankful for Porridge breakfasts! Breakfast is by far my favourite meal of the day but my recent discovery of porridge has taken this to a whole other level!

* I am thankful for and am loving the fact that I have lost a stone in weight!!!! OH YES!!! Only 2 more to go!

* I am thankful that I live in this modern tech-loving age, how did people survive without the internet!? I know and agree that technology hasn't always been for the better and in lots of ways has ruined our relationship and communication skills. But just the sheer fact that I can post this message and it can be viewed by people all over the world and how much smaller the world is with this tech simply astounds me - I am in awe!

* I am extremely thankful for consistent re-runs of friends on TV. There is nothing like relaxing after a long day at work in front of something that you really don't have to think about. I know it's a bit trashy and americanised but it makes me laugh and I am not ashamed lol!

* I am thankful that I am me, I am an original and I fit right here, right now exactly where I am supposed to be. I am full of hope and anticipation for the things ahead and excited to see what may come out of this little life of mine, and all of this because of the freedom I know in him - Thank You JESUS!

I am thankful for many many many more little things that fill my life, too many to mention. But it has worked, even writing these few things down I am already feeling a lot better. This little list is already a lot longer than the list of things I was moaning/feeling negative about before! Thank You God for everything!!

A Little Revelation!

I had a very weird scenario today that a few months ago I would have thought impossible...

Between finishing my degree in June and starting my current job in November I was unemployed and very skint. I had a job interview around once a fortnight and even though they all went extremely well I was never successful in being given the position. Once such job was a 'Retail Assistant' job in a brand new, huge New Look in the same shopping centre I now work in. Not the greatest job in the world I hear you say but I was very qualified, flexible with all the hours they wanted, had a brilliant interview, they said they loved me, and to be honest the idea of 50% staff discount was very exciting. I didn't get the job even though they were offering 80 positions in this new store! I was gutted!

Today I sat in a meeting for Management for the whole of SouthGate shopping centre representing my store (there were only around 15 people who had been invited to this meeting) and guess who I was sat next to for the whole meeting...... The Manager of New Look! The very same guy who'd interviewed me and then not given me the job! I don't think he recognises me (after all they interviewed hundreds of people) but I couldn't help feeling that God clearly had had much better things in store for me than I thought possible for myself! Now I am the acting manager of a store when only 3 months earlier I was turned down for a much lower job! Amazing!
I have to say I was surprisingly comfortable sitting there discussing possible marketing opportunities and store turnovers! It just goes to show that you never know what's around the corner on this very wiggley journey through life and to be honest I quite enjoyed being surprised by this one. Thank You God that you are in the driving seat!