God is oh so good!

What an awesome weekend - sums it up brilliantly, or 'amazing and challenging' to quote the 2 words I popped under Wenda's door! I went not wanting to go at all and left not wanting to come home! I could not think of a better way to have spent new years weekend!
I went wanting to shut myself away from God, not wanting him to say anything. When Roger said he wanted to get to know each of us a little, I sat and thought not me, please just don't get to know me!

I'm sure it's when we're like that the God gets us all the more!! By the 2nd day I was feeling truly challenged by God, so much so that it became overwhelming, but I soon got used to it and began to really enjoy the conference and just longed for more and more of God!
It's really helped me to put things into perspective.

I really did find the whole weekend such an encouragement; being with other Christians, chatting about God, praying together, worshipping together and getting really stirred - it was amazing; one of those experiences you treasure just because it was such a 'God-incident'!

One thing that's really struck me again is the power of prayer. I would say I truly discovered this for the first time on camp in the summer, when mari, lauren, rachel and i prayed into the night once, but again, i've learned how important it is to hold one another up in prayer, as not only is it powerful, but it really helps to improve my prayer life!

This past few months I've become so aware of God and his work in my life and the lives around me, it's mindblowing. I know he's got so much more planned for me and his work through me and i'm just so excited about what there is to come next! I won't pretend 2004 was an easy year, coz it wasn't in many ways, but I just praise God so much for all that he taught me through many of the difficult and challenging experiences. I know I've still got to work through some things, but I know that with God I can do that, and one day i shall be able to testify to his work in me with the overcoming of many things.

I 'became a christian' on my first GCU camp in 97. Yeah, sure I did! I had no idea what the word meant!! We were talking about it in my dorm and i rapidly realised i was the only one who wasn't a christian, so I prayed that i could be one! It wasn't until some years later that i actually realised being a christian didn't just mean 'wearing a label', but it also meant you had to live like the product inside the packaging! I thought i was a christian, but no way!! I don't think there was a moment where i can say 'yes, that's when i became a christian'. But what i can say is that God taught me what it meant, he's taught me so much more since and he's gonna keep on teaching me til the day i die!

I was thinking the other day about 'being a christian' and about philippians 1:6. and i thought that maybe becoming a christian is a long drawn out process and you can't actually be called a christian until His good work in you is complete. i dunno! but what i do know is that i've really tasted the joy of the lord these past few months and i just pray that I'll continue to taste it as long as i live. and that i'll be able to share it with others; christian and non-christian!!

Right place, right time!

One thing that's been really apparent to me these last few days and I'm clinging onto it - God will make sure we're in the right place at the right time! He HAS got a plan for us and one day soon He IS going to come again. Nothing comes as a suprise to Him, so He'll make sure He's got me exactly where He wants me!! He will do everything to get me where He wants me!

Awesome and Challenging

They were the 2 words I used to describe the weekend I've just had! I could say so much, but it'd all be lost in that all that really matters is that I have a relationship with The God Of My Life and He is to be praised!
I have been called to follow and to fish, but not only to fish, but also to catch. I want God to send me to wherever He wants me. I wanna be prepared for His plans to over-rule in my life. Nothing is a suprise for Him, yet we question a lot of this world.
God will do everything and anything to get you where He wants you. Disaster might happen, but that could be speaking to someone somewhere and the likelyhood of it is that it IS speaking to someone. God sent a storm to Jonah; it caused many problems for sailors and others, but He used it to speak to Jonah and because of that, many people were converted in Nineveh. Whats happened in the world over this past week or so is devasting, but we must remember that God has a plan, and that flood may have been speaking to a number of people and so many more people may come to know the Lord Jesus through this event, so lets pray that it does speak!