New Year

I love it how the New Year brings new beginnings. although every day is a new beginning we seem to just try new things often in the new year. Yesterday I was listening to the radio and people were ringing in saying what they were not going to give up rather that what they are going to give up. I thought about it and like the positive. one person said they weren't going to give up enjoying spending time with their daughter and I thought I am not going to give up spending time with my Heavenly Father.

What a year 2009 has been lots of challenges and Joys but most importantly God has been there through it all and i am so thankful for that.

Faithful

I love that God is Faithful. He is always so close to us. He is just awesome.

This last week I experienced this more and I am just so greatful.

Conference

What an amazing weekend last weekend was.

I went to a conference at Chruch Called Men & Women of Honour and we had Danny and Sheri Silk. They are Amazing. God has blessed them with a great message of His Love to share and they are doing it.

I have been encouraged and inspired and am not challenged to be more like Jesus and love as He did.

more to come

so much to tell

Well it has been a while since I have blogged not because I haven't wanted to but because I have been busy and then haven't known where to start.

So lots has been happening.

Firstly today is my Mum's birthday so happy birthday mum. you are such a beautiful woman and I admire you so much. I am so grateful for all you have done for me over the years and I love hanging out.

What else has been happening. Well I am on workers comp at the moment I hurt my back moving boxes at work so I am on suitable duties which is good but a little frustrating as I just want to be able to do things. Having said that though I have had to rest and some of that time i have chosen to spend with God so it has been good. He has taught me about the importance of rest and that has been good.

the other week I was driving home and I was watching the trees move in the wind was reminded how much faith is like that we can see what it does through the effects it has. I love watching the wind. It is amazing.

I went away with my family last weekend to Wombeyan Caves and it was awesome. as I was on workers comp I took it easy and read books and just enjoyed the creation and being in a different place. we used to go there every year as kids and it brought back great memories.

some of the books I have read recently was one by Don Piper about heaven. It is called 90 Minutes in Heaven. It was great.

I also read a book about being single and how to make the most of it. It was good to.

both those books I found in a box when we were cleaning up.

God has been teaching me lots which has been great.

I was able to watch an ex student of mine get baptised and that was awesome. An amazing young girl who is changing the world.

well that is all i can remember right now.

It has been a good couple of weeks

Walk for Hope

Last week Dan Widdowson From Hope103.2 and James walked from Gosford to Seven Hills to raise money for Operation Hope. we raised around $16000. It was awesome.

Dan and James at Gosford the start of the walk

Dan, James and Aaron walking the last bit

The Walkers

Wesley Mission Staff

Truth!

God is Good!

Commitment

Well over the last couple of days I have witnessed amazing commitment from Dan Widdowson and the Fuzzy Wuzzy Angel James who are Walking 87 or so kms for Operation Hope. They are walking from Gosford to Seven Hills. It is a fundraiser in which Dan and Hope103.2 is doing the Walk for Hope which helps Wesley Mission raise money to send kids from disadvantaged backgrounds a chance to go on a camp.

It is awesome. They are doing a fantastic Job and I am so proud of them.

There commitment to finishing is huge and even though they are tired and sore they and pushing on towards the goal. So I am inspired to do the same. When you are sore and tired push on as we have an awesome reward in Heaven.

Keep it up Dan and James.

A Friend

I have this friend that always teaches me new things about who I want to be and why. she is so beautiful in all aspects. She is beautiful on the outside and on the inside. Her Heart to be like Jesus is huge and she stands firmly on the knowledge that she has been created and called by Him to be just like Him and she is. She has supported me through lots and shown her persistence to see her friends and family know Jesus. She is patient and sees potential in everyone. She always sees things from others perspective and she never gives up on people. She is often with those who no one understands or wants to give time, and she really is a Rose whether amongst thorns or not. She stands out because He stands out.
I am following her lead or even a better way to put it is that I am following her leaders lead.
I am empowered and encouraged and like Jesus and this friend want to see the gem in everyone.
I hope and pray that my friend is blessed abundantly today and always and I am going to join in praying for her friends and family as I want to see my friends prayer come true.

Mac

I am now a proud owner of a Mac yay! i am excited abut not having annoying things happen with the computer. 

fun so much fun

Hope

I love what Hope stands for. The potential to change, that things can get better, the light at the end of the tunnel will come, that the future is full of exciting things both challenging and fun. That God is always with us.
I love that we can hold onto Hope and run with it to see God's beauty and Glory shine. I love when you see moments of Joy come as Hope has been trusted and held by someone who is struggling with something.

I love seeing young people just live out the Hope you had for them and then rise to the occassion and be supportive of their friends, hang out with the firends and encourage one another.

I love growing with people and then looking back and seeing the journey you were on and how you have overcome things.

I love that when we make mistakes that we can hope and know that the mistake isn't what matters but what we do afterwards that counts.

I have Hope and Faith that God will continue to show the way.

Hope for a better future for all. That is my Hope and I am going to do my best to see that happen.

Stuffed up

Have you ever stuffed up?

I know I have and wow the emotions of dissapointment, frustration, pain and hurt I must of casued makes me sad that I have let people down.

I know that I am not perfect and will continue to stuff up however I feel so rotten that I wish I could change it. I know I can't go back so I can only move forward. I can say sorry which I truly am and Hope that those I have hurt will forgive me and I guess I have to forgive myself.

So I am going to with God's help learn from this experience and endevour to be better and I am going to let God be there and remember He has forgiven me for all things.

I want to feel like a good person and generally I think that I am not to bad but I have learnt that it is not me that makes me Good it is God in me that is Good.

Forgiveness is an amazing thing to be forgiven means that someone is willing to give you another go they may not forget in fact they probably won't but the giving another chance is amazing. It allows Hope and that is so cool. To forgive someone takes strength and so many other things but it is important to do so. So I have learnt to forgive lots and have Grace as one day you will need it in return.

To all my friends please keep me accountable to this as I need your help and to God thanks for your constant love and forgiveness I wouldn't survive without it.

Lost and Found

Well what an amazing revelation i had last weekend. i went to a new level of understanding of how excited God is when His people are found by Him as well as when we find Him.

Well I had this amazing experience amongst many others when I had the pleasure of working with 13 other amazing leaders as we took 21 young people to the snow last weekend. words cannot express the gratitude I have for them as well as the blessing of seeing God work through them to bless 21 young people. It really was just awesome or as i would say TOPS!

Our speaker on camp shared the Story of The Lost Son (luke 15: 11-32). I love this parable for so many reasons and I always seem to learn so much every time I read it. The first day the speaker shared about the younger brother and his part of the story and then the next day he shared about the older son and the Father and once again the dicussion we had and the sharing from the speaker blew me away of how much god loves us and what he does for us if we are like the younger son or even if we act like the older son. Thanks God so much. you are so good.

We had some great conversations with the young people about this and it was good to hear their thoughts and where they are at.

On Sunday the day we travel home I had this amazing revelation Him. I was driving the Bus and we were about half an hour out of Queanbeyan towards Sydney and I realised I had lost a precious ring that I had brought. It is precious for many reasons. A couple of years ago God spoke to me about being beautiful and my inner beauty from Ephesisans and told me that I was more beautiful than gems etc. So as a symbol to remind me I went and bought a ring to remind me every time I look at it that I am more beautiful than it in God's eyes. It also cost me a bit of money so that was a little frustrating that I had lost it (although I can move on from that).

Anyway as I looked for it with the help of someone who's encourgement and support was fantastic I realised that it was probably gone and I would just have to let it go. I started to realise that must be difficult for God to let us go and hope and pray that we choose to follow Him and be embraced by His love. I realised that the ring althought it is important to me as you have heard above it dosen't come even close to God and my relationship and how much I would be sad and alone without Him and how much I mean to God. I am more precious than a ring. Also it is just a ring. like we were reflecting on the lost son on camp, souls are more important than rings etc. If I didn't get it back I had other options like buy a new one that is complety different, get another one made or just let it go. I had options.

Anyway we stopped to drop some of the young people off and we had another look. still couldn't find it and I realised I had lost it for good. I got to share about it with the remainder of the young people on the bus and they remeinded me to not give up Hope in letting go. I also said although I was sad I had lost it I still had my memories and I still know that God loves me. kind of like us sharing our faith. we still need to have hope and faith and not give up. Eternity needs us to share and take devine moments so God can do His amazing spirit led stuff.

We then dropped off the reminded of the young people and it all got a little overwhealing at how amazing the weekend had gone and the reminded from God that He can do anything.

I arrived home and told my mum and we logically said what I could do about it. I decided that I could ring the place that I thought I had lost it and ask them to look and apart form that I had decided to let it all go and be greatful for the revelation I had and That I am loved by the created. I am so blessed.

If the story ended there that would be beyond amazing however it doesn't.....

I went to get changed and somehow I was unpacking my bag and my ring either dropped out of my jumper or was in the bag from when I had packed in the morning. I had found my Ring!!!!!

I was elated. I screamed for joy. ran and told mum. just before I had found it mum had prayed and also some others as well that what would be would be. if I found it great.

anyway it is exciting that I found the ring. believe me. now I know even more so that I am much more important than the ring even though the ring is really beautiful. not because I found it, Just Because God loves me. The real lesson to learn is that God must cheer even more when we come to know him and we are so precious in his eyes. He loves us so much. I know that I only have a small understanding of His love for me and it is pretty good. I am open to being led by Him. I want to share with others how much He loves them and I want to get out there and see his Kingdom come on earth. see others expericence Him.

Good is So Good. It was such an awesome weekend and more stories to share later.

Thankful

I'm Thankful for:

• God, Jesus, Holy Spirit
• family
• friends
• sun
• books
• authors
• stories
• jounrey
• electricity
• communication
• second chances
• third chances etc
• belief
• hope
• love
• job
• pain as I know how lucky I am
• joy
• my car
• trees
• birds
• My parents
• a place to live
• smile
• ability to learn and grow
• a place to be me
• God showing me He is in control
• life
• water
• opportunity
• new days and new beginnings
• and so much more

I realised I should start focussing on what I am thankful for rather than what is stressing me out. so those things above are just a few things I am thankful for.

Success and Failure

An interesting concept i experinced last week. I both succeeded and failed at the same time. The success was that I did my best and accomplised something I thought I couldn't do and even better when I re did it the next day I got a better result. However I didn't get the pass I needed.
I learned that it was a strugggle and the feelings that arose were something I had to process and allow Jesus in to work and show me His amazing love. I also learned that doing your best is all you can ask of yourself. I learned that I could do something that I didn't think I could do and even though I didn't meet the worldy standards it was an achievement.

So I guess one could say there is no such thing as failure but only steps or acheivements and or just a journey we are on.

learn each day. I know I do. even re learn concepts we already know

We can do anyting through JESUS.

I succeed becasue He Succeded.

I also was reminded that encouragement is so important. never underestimate your encouragement to someone. to those that encouraged me Thanks.

Question

So last night I was just spending time with God and one of the questions that entered my mind was one that I always ask.

What one thing in the world you would change if you could?

My answer that I wrote for a work article was I would stop Child Abuse and that is a cool idea but last night I had a revelation that I would like to change me. The cool thing in this is that I have the power and the ability with God's help to do that. I mean I want to get closer to Jesus and grow in my relationship and be more like Him and I can work on that.

Let Go and Let God!

I was at a conference last year and the question that was asked was:

"What would you do if you were 10 times more bolder?

I love this question becasue i think we would say tons of things and then the comment was made is what is stopping me or us as Jesus is on our side and also the Holy Spirit so we can do. We can step out in faith.

I even like the questions that like what is your favourite colour? As I think it seems to have a quick answer however there can be more to it.

Well now to discover more questions to ask to ponder and enjoy.

BOOKS!

I love Books. I love to read! I learn so much for reading about life and so forth. I enjoy reading a range of books. I love reading a well written book that just flows and at the moment I am enjoying reading books about peoples lives. I like these books because you find out what they have learned and where they are at and both the mistakes or challenges they have faced as well as great success or as i would call it learning or butterflies that have taken place.

I have recently read a book called Don't let Her See Me Cry by Helen Barnacle and this is something she said which i like and have been pondering on "Blame doesn't help anyone - it just keep you emotionally stuck where you are".

I am at the moment reading a book a friend gave me and I am learning lots it is called "Unlimiting God" by Richard Blackaby so far it is excellent. Can't wait to talk to my friend about it. So many great thoughts and ideas. loving it!

Always up for great suggestions on books! and of course the Bible is a great book with so many truths and promises.

Family

Oh how I love my family. I was blessed to spend the weekend away with my Mum, 2 sisters and also my nephew. It was a girls weekend however a baby needs its mum so it was awesome to have Tyson with us. I loved catching up with the girls. it is great to reflect on the growing we have done and to be there to support each other with the growing that will continue.
I am so proud of my sisters . They are so strong and full of love. They have this amazing bond with their kids and adore their husbands. Most importantly they love their Father in Heaven and contiue to jouney with Jesus. Yay! My Mum is well the Best. words don't describe her love and what she has done for us growing up and who she is. amazing. My sisters have many of her qualities and that is awesome.

Family for my family has included many people. family for us is more than just our relatives by birth. we are blessed to have many people in our family that are chosen to be there. They are our cousins, aunts and uncles etc. I love them all lots and they have given me lots and shown and taught me things.
I love that Family is different for everyone and that anyone can be part of it. So for all those people that bless me lots you are my family.

I have many thoughts on family and tradition but they can wait for another day

learned this week

Wow! I have learned so much this week. I have learned there is so many questions, so many emotions, so much love, so much pain, so much hurt, so much to hope for, etc etc.
The amazing this is all this is stuff I have already known. I do love however, that God re teachers us things and allows us to learn it all agian and add to our knowledge and experience.
I love that God Loves me. I love how He love everyone. I love that He is so faithful and that this week I love that I feel emotions the whole lot of them well maybe not every one but a lot of them.
I love that God brings People in your Life that just are there. watching and praying and caring and being Jesus to us. What a blessing.
Even though I have found this week personally hard I am glad I have Lived it. I am glad that Jesus is with me and I am glad that I get to journey.
I was reminded that God has the answers and that the cross is a great place to head. I got to actually experiece going to the Cross and it is great to go there.
God is SOOOO GOOD! He is TOPS!

Truth!

God is Good!

Change

Change is inevitable! We know it and yet we still struggle with it. It is amazing that I am in an environment of change and yet it is still difficult no matter how much it occurs. I guess the thing I like and have discovered over time is that change is that the way we look at it or our attitudes towards it totally affects the way see or participate in the outcome.

For me as I journey and realise that as I grow some of the things I had thought and had become fact for me are now changing and growing again and therefore change shows me that I am human and that I don’t have all the answers as well as I might get it wrong from time to time.

Good news is the God is always the same and through the cross he demonstrated His love for us. And even though our knowledge and understanding or lack of understanding changes HE is always there and the same. Pretty cool hey!

I guess for myself I have to keep looking behind my thoughts and feeling and the reasons why I have thought that or come to that conclusion. And therefore ask questions of myself and ensure they are appropriate questions that are life giving rather than those that don’t really assist in anyway.

So today I am enjoying the journey of change even though sometimes and often it is difficult and I am going to trust that I can walk or even run though whatever comes my way and in the end realise that that may all change in a day, week or a year.

so i have joined the craze

So i decided to join the craze.

lets see the journey unfold.

This week i have been thinking about Grace and that i want more of it in the world. It is challenging to show Grace at all time to all people. we all make mistakes and are accountable for them however i think we should look at people through Jesus' eyes and i guess then we would have Love for others. i want more of that for me and the world.

what a challange!