I haven’t written for quite a while. I was thinking about why that was, and to be honest, it’s because I’ve had nothing that great to say. I have had a difficult study intensive, I’ve been tired and I’ve been unwell. Nothing spectacular has happened in my life the past couple of weeks.
I like writing when I’ve got something good to say. When I’ve had a pearl of wisdom, when God has done something amazing in my life, when I’ve done something I’m proud of. Why? Because I want you all to think well of me. I want people to admire what I say, to be impressed- bottom line I want to be noticed. This is not why I started this blog- I want to share my whole journey with you all.
I have been so challenged by this in the blog world and also in my preaching. For so long I have wanted opportunities to speak because I wanted to be heard. I want to get to a point where I dont think of this at all- where I want to preach and speak and write to get God noticed. To give God glory.
I do this with God too. I come to him when I’ve done something good, when I’ve got something good to say. Writing this it doesn’t even make sense why. Acting like God doesn’t see my every day? I want to share everything, my whole world with him!!
Where You Go
Where you go I’ll go
When you move I’ll move
How you serve I’ll serve
I will follow you!
I was so stirred to sing this song (by Chris Tomlin) during community prayers on Friday, because for the first time I had truly meant them.
Many a time I have sung songs about following Christ wherever, and I have always wanted to mean them, but I have always had exceptions. “I will go but I’d prefer..” or ” I will go wherever as long as..” would always be going on for me. So as I sung “where you go I’ll go” having meant it, I realized I had no more exceptions. I will go anywhere, I will do anything, I want to go wherever God leads me..
Over the past year I have seen God actively move in my heart and work in my life, to a point where I am not the same. My heart and my life is free for God to move in and through as He wills. No more excuses. And I have to tell you there is so much freedom and peace in that.
Tomorrow afternoon we welcome officially the Disciples of the Cross session. Praise God for the way 26 people have said yes to God’s call on their lives and have been obedient in a remarkable way. Tomorrow we also find out where the Proclaimers of the Resurrection session will be going for outplacement. I am SO excited. I can’t wait to find out where I am going and I can’t find to get out there, getting to know people in the corps and serving the community.
Praise God for all he is doing. He is always faithful! Hallelujah!
‘The Help’
How many of you went and saw ‘The Help’ when it came out last year? After seeing the movie and being stirred by the story, I downloaded the book (written by Kathryn Stockett) recently on my ipod, and I can’t put it down.
It tells the story of ‘coloured’ or African American maids who work in white homes and raise white children, set approximately in the 60′s in a little town called Jackson. Even though these maids are entrusted with raising white children, it was shocking to see they were considered dirty, diseased, and different. It was a real stir for an African American person to use a white person’s toilet- so dingy small toilets were built in the garages of white homes. This was all so white people didn’t have to suffer the ‘embarassment’ of sharing a toilet seat with a supposedly diseased ‘coloured’ person (I struggle to even write that down, it is so horrible and makes me angry).
One of the most powerful things about this book, are the perspectives it is written from. 3 women are a part of telling this story, and it changes between them every couple of chapters. 2 of these women are the ‘coloured’ maids- narrating their own stories in their own individual way. And it isn’t written with ‘white language’. The grammar is off, they use the wrong words, and the sentence structures are messy- but what’s so amazing to me about this, is that it feels like they have been truly allowed to tell their own story, without anyone coming in and trying to ‘fix’ their tale. It is real, and it truly grabs you. Let me share with you a snippet:
“… I want to yell so loud that Baby Girl can hear me that dirty ain’t a color, disease ain’t the Negro side a town. I want to stop that moment from coming- and it come in ever white child’s life- when they start to think that colored folks ain’t so good as whites. We turn on Farish and I stop cause my stop be coming. I pray that wasn’t her moment. Pray I still got time.”
Powerful reading- if you get a chance read it!
Excitement breeds expectancy
I am so excited about this year.
Ever since Ashley and I returned from holidays to the college my attitude has been different. I have been excited about everything- from the Disciples joining us to even classes starting back up. I have been excited about what courses I am taking this year, and I am so pumped to go on outplacement in just a month’s time.
I just feel different- God is doing something in me and no matter what has happened I just feel this unshakeable joy inside of me.
As my excitement has grown so has my expectancy- and not once have I been disappointed.. Even some of the seemingly mundane tasks I have undertaken have brought me fulfillment and valuable lessons.
As I live in an attitude of expectancy I can’t wait to see what God does with it- where he takes me and what he will do in and through me this year. I’m not expecting an easy year in any means- but I’m excited nonetheless.
God is up to big things in 2012! I would encourage you all to get on board and be expectant as to God’s work in your lives this year!
Praise be to God- the one who is able to do more than I could ever ask or imagine!
Welcome to My New Blog!
In learning about various communication methods in class today, we were encouraged to start our own blog. I was inspired further when I logged on to facebook this evening and found cadets already having set blogs up! So here it goes..
I am forever changed… There is nothing I could do to deserve it, nothing I could do to plan for it, and there was nothing I could do to change myself! I owe this all to Christ, who came in when I least expected it, and left a permanent mark on my life. I will not be the same.
This year as I commence my second year at the Salvation Army Booth College, I want to use this blog to share with you some of my thoughts on life. As I go on this journey, I’d like to take you with me- to share in what God is doing in and through me, and to share about what I see God doing out in this world. I am so excited about this year and all that 2012 will bring. I am excited about the amazing things God will show me and teach me while on my outplacement. I want desperately for this year to be one in which I cling to Christ in everything I do.
So here I am to share with you my journey, thoughts from someone who has been forever changed by God’s work in my life. I promise to be honest, I promise to be real. I will make every effort to share regularly. In return I would love to hear from you. If something I have said stirs you, agrees with you, challenges you, or even makes you mad, please leave a comment- I would love to see different perspectives on what I share!
Let’s have a great year!
