Lady of Leisure

Haven't blogged for a while... But good to see the blog world is still churning away with inspiration and humor...!

So it is currently 2am. A perfect time to start writing a blog don't you think? I mean, how much more cleshe could I get with this!?

So anyway, as I enter this new season of my life, unemployed, with all the time in the world and every day full of so much potential, I thought I would give y'all a taste, a snippet into it all. Hopefully it will refresh readers and inspire a chance to take a breathe in this hectic society that so many seem to embrace.

I thought a lot in the past about what my purpose is in life, what I'm to do to occupy my time on earth, what's the meaning of life, etc. "Who am I?" - Zoolander
Then I realized that I needed to stop thinking it and actually take it to action.

My justification was that there is only so much you can do when you have just a board full of concepts of how you think your life is to look to fulfill your God-given potential, but the point is, there is SO much you CAN do! The whole joy of walking in faith with God is to trust and step out towards those pictures until you eventually rule out the ones God puts a holt on and God brings all of them together for it to turn into the final masterpiece.

So this is where I am at. A snapshot of my life right now is full of concepts, ideas, pictures to reach toward a grand masterpiece. And my time, my finances, my life I have handed over to God to work His will. Because, at the end of the day, one will never reach full potential without the hands of the creater.

New Year

Waking up at 11am today was bliss. Mmm... A long break. Something I haven't had since I started working in March. Next year I only work 22 hours a week and have Tuesdays off. This will potentially change my life...

Here are some other things I'm looking forward to in 2011:

+ Reading the whole bible (which I've potentially already done in my lifetime but lets do it again, together, in one year!)

+ Summer Camp!

+ Going on quality dates with Jesus

+ Going on quality dates... in general

+ Meeting all the new people that will become part of the church family

+ Baby Monks!

+ Baby Mowats!

+ Engagements

+ Weddings

+ Songwriting

+ Albums

+ Poland?

"The object of a New Year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul and a new nose; new feet, a new backbone, new ears, and new eyes. Unless a particular man made New Year resolutions, he would make no resolutions. Unless a man starts afresh about things, he will certainly do nothing effective. Unless a man starts on the strange assumption that he has never existed before, it is quite certain that he will never exist afterwards. Unless a man be born again, he shall by no means enter into the Kingdom of Heaven."-G. K. Chesterton

"Life is but a Breath"

This year, I feel, has gone very fast. Yet I feel like I haven't achieved much. But I've come to learn it's actually never about what I can do, it's more about what I can surrender. 

I have been so encouraged this year by multiple people acknowledging different things I had said to them or have done for them in the past that helped them get through a situation or encouraged them to step up. In all honesty, I hardly remembered any of the things I had said or done for these people until they mentioned them and even then I had to really think back.

I talk about this because many people have made an impact in my life and they probably don't even realise it. Whoever is reading this blog, you have probably had an impact in the shaping of my life and you don't even know it.

So, I had a revelation. We are making a difference the moment we surrender our lives to God. We are making a difference when we let Jesus into our heart. "Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks...". And we put into action out of the overflow of the heart.

And so, while there are many things I set out to do this year that didn't end up happening, I have chosen to put this year to a close on a positive note. Instead of thinking about the things I didn't achieve, I can only thank God that he's used me despite me and uses me because of me.

Life with God is an amazing adventure. 

I am so looking forward to what God has in store for us next year.

Thank you Jesus

Sowing Seeds...

So I had a fun conversation with a lady in our office who also knows Jesus. We had both seen 'The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader' recently and she bought up how her friend thought it was all witchcraft so it was dodgy, so she assured her friend that the author was Christian and if she refered back to the gospel it is pretty obvious the coalition...
We always talk about church etc., especially recently with Christmas and everything.
I love these conversations because everyone can hear everything people talk about in our office (if people arn't whispering) so I know people eavesdrop.

Ok. So I have another work story.(Classic)
Every year everyone in the Division gets a certificate with their name and a frequently used phrase in the middle of their name. Mine said 'Sunny "I love wrapping presents!" Lee'. Cute.

...

I've realised something recently. I hardly thought quality time was one of my love languages but it turns out it's something I treasure dearly, deep down. Some of the quality time highlights of the year have been traveling with my "Wednesday family", D & M's with "Flatties", hanging out back stage during Christmas Production (and rehearsals) and sleepovers (although I never stayed the whole night) with beautiful Wainui girls.
I guess that goes to show, if time was treasure, where your treasure is your heart will be also.

Things That Fill Me With Joy...

Ok so I wrote a whole blog/listed many things that I love and looking foward to in Summer etc... Then hit 'refresh' by mistake and lost it all!

But the main things are:

Spending quality time with Jesus

Hannouts! (Jonelle that was for you)

Laughing heaps

Eating

Brunches

Hanging out with my sister!!!

Summer Camp!

Swimming in the ocean

Going horse riding...

And did I mention eating?

Dating...

Love is in the air!!
Need I say more??

It's summer, nearly Christmas and New Years. Around this time each year I am the most thankful that I have a relationship with God and know how much He loves His people, His children.

His desire is to bless us and fill us with joy.

Each year my love for God grows stronger, and with it my trust in Him grows. Or is it the other way around?

A lot of growing in faith and relationship with God is in taking risks and stepping out into the unknown. This takes a lot of trust. And I believe that everytime I choose to step out of my comfort zone in doing things out of obedience to God I am taking one step closer to understanding Gods heart. And am also growing in my capacity to love Him and others.
So really, the more I put my trust in God the more I fall in love with Him.

This makes sense to me now because it is so hard to fathom how much God loves us (or more like HOW He could love us regardless of our incompetency to understand Him!). And yet at the same time the way to His heart is so simple once we realise the fact that God JUST loves us and wants the best for us and can do ANYTHING, so it's always come down to OUR CHOICE in whether to believe this and just trust Him.

I loved Pastor John's message on Sunday morning on trusting in God. It was a word in season for everyone I'm sure. Trust God in ALL things.

Amongst the blossoming of all these beautiful relationships around me there is a part of me that longs for that 'significant other', but at the same time I'm constantly being reminded of how awesome it is to be loved by God and to know my Creator.

We don't have to DO more to make Him love us more.
But God is ALWAYS 'wooing' us, trying to win US over to love HIM more.



So... It's nearly the end of the year...

State the obvious. It is December. It is very windy in Churton Park... All nighter is on tonight and after two cups of coffee wearing off I am almost ready to hit a third, just... cos I can...

So, the other day I fell asleep on the bus on my way to work and missed my bus stop. I ended up getting off at the next one where, it just so happened, they were giving away free Red Bulls. Classic. It gave me wings...

I leave you with a thought:

Location doesn't determine a good time to party. You do...