Moments

"You are wrong if you think that the joy of life comes principally from the joy of human relationships. God's place is all around us, it is in everything and in anything we can experience. People just need to change the way they look at things." -Christopher McCandless, Into the Wild

I absolutely love watching God work and particularly enjoy it when he uses me in his plans, that I get to see small parts of his plans and workings in not just my life, but also in others lives!

As I shared earlier, the past week has seen me getting out of a spiritual slump of sorts. Strengthening my awareness of God and what he's doing, I have had the privilege of seeing the beginning, middle and ends of various journeys. It's also special how often they link up - that one meeting flows from another or that you'll be made aware of a few people sharing similar circumstances and as you see parts of one, God uses it to show you how best to approach the next.

I was recently part of TeenStreet, a 6 day camp aimed at Christian highschoolers (ages 13-17). For 6 days, life consists of a main meeting where the teens are taught the principle of double vision: loving God (through God time - prayer and Bible reading, walking the narrow path, and having a net of mentors, peers and people to disciple around you) and loving others (serving, supporting and sharing your story). This is backed up with quiet time, small groups, activities/games and worship. The small groups were 6 teens and 2 leaders; this was an incredible time of sharing about God and seeing them learning about him in different ways and coming to know and want him as a bigger part of their lives.

Through TeenStreet I have also formed some incredible friendships for life. This week, one of the campers from TS opened up and shared about some of the challenges he has been facing over the past few years and how he feels that God has been setting him free, culminating at TS!

Another perk of being involved with something such as TS are the connections you can make. I was invited to help out at Shift2010. This was a Christian youth music event with over 3000 teens in attendance! Twice during the night, a gospel presentation was made through the Lifehouse Skit (if you have a few minutes, check this out it is incredibly powerful and moving) which was then explained, a testimony was given and the youth were offered a chance to respond. I had the privilege of praying for the first time with 2 teens that I had earlier connected with at the TeenStreet stall we had been running.

At school this week, I had a spare hour where I was able to connect with one of my students. I am not allowed to proselytise at school, however if a student asks a question then I am free to answer. This girl was asking about Christianity, what is prayer, sharing her journey and asking how Christ fit into that - I was overjoyed to be able to answer her questions and share with her!

A friend I haven't seen since highschool reconnected with me this week. She is going through interesting times, having declared herself a lesbian and living with her girlfriend (15 years her senior) and her girlfriend's 2 children. As we shared about our lives and she discovered that I follow Christ and yet had continued to talk with her even though I know about her choices, she has started asking questions as to why that is and many more things about God.

As we make ourselves available to Christ's leading in our lives, we will be part of special moments and see incredible things. I hope I have been a blessing to some of these people - they have certainly been a blessing to me! What special moments has God been showing you recently?

Is It For the Lord?

Acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts. -1 Chronicles 28:9

From the earlier post of not wanting to come down from the mountain-top, God showed me the importance of taking the connection with him and the lessons learnt into everyday life to be able to impact others for Christ and fight the battles in the trenches. I had been concerned about losing that connection with God - how silly and insignificant do those worries seem. Looking back I can see God's hand on my life in the 17 years before I truly acknowledged Jesus as my Saviour, why would that change now that I'm in relationship with Him??

One of the next thoughts then was how do I use it to impact others and help others grow and see Jesus. And yes, this is a valid thought however God has made it clear that that is not to be my focus. Though yet all we do is seen, analysed and judged by others and that we can only hope to positively influence them for Christ, it IS NOT FOR THE WORLD or even the people who may gain salvation that we do what we do, but for Christ Himself; for His pleasure and glory.

He is to be our continual focus and the centre of my life. Only then is He able to use me for His purposes, but the key there is that it is God using me, not me doing things for Him in my own strength. So - why do we what we do; is it for people or is it for the Lord?

To be brutally honest, it doesn't really matter what place we find ourselves in right now. The point of our life is to point to God. Whatever we are doing, God wants to be glorified, because this whole thing is His.

"God is far more concerned about your finding your place in Christ Himself than your place in His service. The essential thing in Christian living is not where you are going or what you are doing but in whose strength you are living" - George Verwer.

Beginnings

God has given me a burden for those who can't defend and look after themselves - particularly children, sharing His love for them through me. Since I came to know God a short four years ago, day by day I learn more, understand more and that brings even more questions but with it joy and excitement, faith, hope and also a responsibility. A responsibility to share God with the world. Knowing what a joy and privilege it is for me, how could I deprive others of that? So for the first step of this journey in sharing Jesus with the nations, I'll be stepping out onto a ship that travels through many different countries with the goal of bringing knowledge, help and hope to all who cross our path.

I've been struggling for awhile now with getting deeper - into God's presence and Word and my understanding of that, and deeper into relationships with others. While at pre-field training for the ship, God gave me many small keys into unlocking that area. He's shown me in just a few short days how life-changing it can be, not only for myself but hopefully for others as they see Christ in me. It's only the beginning of a long but very exciting yet challenging journey that is never to end! Part of growing in that, through a friend God showed me a blog can be a way of keeping accountable in my growth with Him, while also presenting yet another opportunity to share more about Him - that hopefully any readers will learn with me as God teaches me many lessons and also for those who want to follow my time on the ship, to pray for God's ministry and the part that I play within that.

So concludes my first posting. Many more to come as God keeps revealing more about Himself and His will - what an exciting time to come!