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...

Love God, Love People, Love Your Neighbour...

It's amazing how we could think and do so many things out of a desire to please ourselves and to make us 'feel good' in the moment. We could get self-focused for a moment and become unsatisfied with what we have; we could make up our minds on what "I want..." and choose to do things with a "What's in it for ME?" or "How does that effect ME?" attitude. But everytime we choose to go that path we are destined to fall apart, because it is not the way we were naturally created to live. We are created in the image of God who made us to have relationship with Him and with others.

It would have been awesome to be Adam - the first man on earth Earth with an intimate, shameless relationship with God. it would have been perfect! And, even then, God didn't like that he was the only one of His kind. Adam alone was 'fruitless'. And so God created Eve.
The amazing thing is that Adam would have had no experience, before Eve, in relationship with another being like him. The only relationship he had to reflect on to know how to interact with Eve was with God (and maybe some angels). Then his relationship with Eve would have resembled that of his relationship with God...

A thought on the side...: If the first humans on Earth didn't have a relationship with God (as some twisted theories would have it), then the only other reference to know how to interact with each other would have been animals... 

We also learn how to have relationships with others by our surroundings, reading books and/or how we were treated; by parents, friends, teachers, MTV, etc. But, ultimately, these are all secondary sources and it is our knowledge of God, our connection with God that will come through in our relationship with others. When we know the true nature of God we understand what it is to truly love someone; as written in 1 Corinthians 13; as Jesus lived out... "...for the joy set before Him, endured the cross..."

Coming into a new season, amongst the difficulties of decision-making and the fear of the unknown, we can be encouraged to know that as long as we do all things to love God, love people and to love your neighbour then we are on the right path. 

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to His purpose..."-Romans 8:28