no rush to russia

I have a heart for home. 

I have always had a heart for home. 

So why the flip is Russia in my head, in my prayers and on my heart??? 

This is what is currently going on inside my head. 

I mean WHO goes to russia? WHO can talk russian? 

I didn’t even know russia was so huge, or that it touches china!!! ( it’s not actually a part of china though, something else I learnt) 

But I guess that’s just how God works : ‘here Jonah go to Ninevah’. So right now my prayer is I’ll listen to God, and I’ll do what He wants, no matter whether I wanna go to Russia or not. 

we need to be like david when he beats goliath, don't we?

How many times are we told to ‘face our giants' ? We’re told to stop ignoring our problems and to face them and go a step further by beating them with a slingshot…

But the more I look at this story, the more I notice something special. I mean every time we hear this story, we think about the two main characters, but in the Bible there are three characters, we have of course David and Goliath, but there is also Israel: the crowd, the people that the fight mattered to most. 

So when we apply the story of David and Goliath to our lives, I honestly think,we are supposed to be Israel..not David.The Bible tells us that Israel were 'much afraid’ and surely that is us. We are 'much afraid’ of our giants.

 Soooooo, who’s David I hear you ask? Who’s the hero of the story? Who’s the person who beats our giant?

My answer is JESUS. He is our savior, He can beat every giant. He doesn’t even need a slingshot. 

compariSON

How often do we look at ourselves in the mirror and see only the faults? How often do we wish we could be more like our best friend, or even go as far as to want to be more like a celebrity that we have never met? 

We constantly compare ourselves to people that we weren’t born to be. When the ONLY comparison we should be making is between our self and Jesus. 

In other words we should only compare ourselves to the Son…hence compariSON. This is a cute wee way to remember this important message 

There are so many times in the Bible we are reminded to try to be like Jesus a few are given below…

Ephesians 5:1-2 

‘Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.’ (NIV)

1 Peter 2:21

'To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.’ (NIV)

1 Corinthians 11:1

'Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.’ (NIV)

Jesus the the perfect example, He is the person we should aim to be like not Kendall Jenner or Justin Timberlake. Isn’t that cool? That God give us a real life human person to look towards not a fictional character that makes no mistakes but a real life human person that was tempted and went through more pain and suffering than we can ever begin to imagine.

Hebrews 4:15 

'For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.’ (NIV) 

It’s something we all need to think about, we need to STOP making comparisons to people that God doesn’t want us to be. And start comparing ourselves to the one person that God wants to see in us all. 

beautiful

If you know me, you will know that I grew up in the Catholic church. I have since moved away from the catholic traditions, and I know that there is so much wrong in the Catholic Church, but there is so much wrong in every church.

The only perfect church is in heaven where all the believers join together forever.

I strongly believe this.

There are always going to be faults in churches, always, because they are led by humans, but it shouldn’t be about pointing out all the wrongs, but more about highlighting the amazing rights!

Yes, there is stuff about Catholicism that I don’t get, but what I do get is the amazing kindness, humility and love shown by the current Pope. He shines with the true love of God, and is always aiming to be more Christlike. 

An example for ALL Christians!

Amazing!

http://distractify.com/people/reasons-why-pope-francis-is-the-person-of-the-year/

CHRISTmas

Ok, I get that this is so cliché. None of us spend enough time at Christmas time reflecting on the real ‘reason for the season’. But I am not here to criticize anyone, that would be hypocritical, because I love presents + trees + santa + mistletoe + food + everything Christmas.

But there is something about Christmas that we all need to love SO MUCH MORE.

Jesus

Jesus came into this world as a normal baby, for us. At the start He had all the challenges of a baby, He had to learn to walk and read. As He got older he was tempted. He was a human. He was fully human. Yet fully God. Amazing, right? You see the story of the first Christmas is something sensational, it was a pure miracle, and it is true. Santa flying chimney to chimney is a crazy thing to believe when we are kids, I mean, looking back I wonder how I ever believed it. But the truth is the fact that Jesus Christ was born of a virgin…IS SO MUCH MORE CRAZY. And the best bit? IT IS TRUE. 

You see God became one of us, so that we could be at one with Him. Jesus was born and raised and killed for us. It was all for us. 

It is the biggest miracle ever, and we simply brush over it. This Christmas I’m setting myself and anyone reading this a goal, spend time with Jesus. Tell Him how glad He has made us, how much we love Him because HE LOVES US. How thankful we are that He took the pain for our sins. HE SAVED US.

The second part of the challenge is this, tell someone that doesn’t know about Jesus the Christmas story, don’t focus on the wise men and donkey ride to Bethlehem, focus on Jesus, tell them how much He wants to know them,how much He cares for them. I can’t think of a better gift.

Merry Christmas guys!        

tough trials

Psalm 121:5-8 

‘The Lord watches over you - the Lord is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all harm - He will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.’ (NIV)

What a beautiful piece of scripture! To know that God literally never glances away, never blinks, never sleeps. He watches over us all day, all night ALL LIFE. Everything God plans for us is for our good.

Why then do we face horrible situations? Why then do Christians still get cancer? Why then are Christian families torn apart by death of a child? These difficult questions are popular from the non-believer, that’s for sure, but another sure thing is that God hasn’t left us on our own, the answers lie within scripture.

John 16:33

“I have told you these things, so that I me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcame the world” (NIV)

You see in this statement from Jesus we are told that in this world ‘you will have trouble’ not maybe have trouble, or might have trouble, but WILL. Being a Christian is hard work, but it is so worthwhile. We will face opposition, we will face hard times, and most of the time it will seem like it isn’t fair. But think about this, is having your own son put to death to save a bunch of disobedient, sinful, hateful people fair? 

1 Peter 4:16

'However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.’ (NIV)

Here we are told to not be ashamed of suffering, sometimes when we are under the weather, if something is going wrong, if we are really struggling, we are embarrassed, right? But here Peter tells us that there is no shame for suffering, in fact he goes further than that, he tells us to praise God because of our suffering. How amazing would it be to be able to say ‘yeh, I went through a really tough time, but the whole time I was able to trust God, and now I can see why I went through it’ ?? This is the way we need to live!

James 1:2-4

'Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.’ (NIV)

Sometimes God wants to show us what real faith is, what we can learn from just trusting in God is so immeasurable. This is a very difficult way to live, because when we face something horrible the last thing we want to do is be joyous, in fact we just want to crawl into our shells, we want someone to blame, but here James is telling us not to blame but to thank.

 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

'Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus’ (NIV)

It’s not a one off within scripture to be told to rejoice always, to have joy during suffering. It’s probably the most challenging thing in my life. It is hard, it really is, but the fact is we have strength to do it, although it isn’t our own strength, it is the mighty and unbreakable strength of God.