kings and queens

Don't get me wrong. I love the Queen, in fact I love everything royal (including but not limited to: Kate, Wills, Harry, George, Charlotte and Eugenie). There is something everyone loves about the British Monarchy, something that draws us to the fascination of royalty. Maybe it's the crowns they wear, the power they have or the seemingly perfect life they lead, we are fascinated in every move they make.

I'm so happy that Queen Elizabeth is Britain's longest serving monarch, she completely deserves it! And believe me, I write with all the respect in the world when I proclaim there is a longer and more faithful serving monarch that I know personally: 

• A King who is higher than all other kings. 
• A King who left His heavenly throne to come to His earth and save His people from their sins. 
• A King who has time to know everyone person on this planet by name. 
• A King who wants us to share His righteousness.
• A King who will always be my King. 
• King that wants you to call on Him.

      KING JESUS

Jesus is the only King who saves. His is the only name that will remain high forever. The fascination with royalty in this world seems far off. But if you declare Jesus as your King and as your Savior, if you have given your life to Him, if your salvation lies in His hands, He calls you royal. If you are a son or daughter of the King, you are a prince or a princess. 1 Peter 2:9-10 tells us about the royal inheritance we receive if we have given our life over to the Lord. It reads: 'But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.'

So while some celebrate Queen Elizabeth achieving reigning over Britain for the longest, I will celebrate my King, who has reigned from the beginning of time and will reign on high forever more. 

That King can be your King, you just need to ask Him.

wee changes in my wee heart

In Bunda (rural Tanzania where I spent July) most people don’t have jobs and just live off their small amount of land, with their goats and whatever they can grow. Money just isn’t something people have in their pockets, yet nowhere did I see any homeless people and only in extreme circumstances are children orphaned. This is because everyone treats everyone as family, everyone is responsible for everyone. Everywhere I went I was greeted as 'dada' (sister). And I would greet everyone as mother, father sister or brother. 

You see when you start treating people like your actual family, you start to see needs that were invisible before and I really believe that this is Gods heart for his lovely church, in fact He tells us so in Philippians 2: 3+4 where it says ‘Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.’

I learnt to give people what they need, rather than just what I think they need. Here in the west we often have it so wrong, we have an 'us and them' theory, we think it’s OK to differentiate between those we give to, and those we have the same as, I made that mistake too: 

• I thought people needed us to build them toilets, but they really need us to teach them why it’s so important to use a toilet to stop run-off into the water that they drink. 
• I thought people needed me to give them sanitary items, but what they really need is for us to explain to them that menstruation is a part of every woman’s life, and that they can have a normal life without being shunned or assumed to be sick. 
• I thought people needed food but what they really needed was for me to sit and eat with them.

The only person who really knows what we need is God, and He never assumes.

Finally I have learnt that when you seek Gods will above all else through His word, praying and waiting on Him to speak, you will see MASSIVE prayers answered. A Pastor at my lovely church one time taught us from Psalm 5:3.

‘In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly.’ 

He told us all, if you pray for rain, bring an umbrella. 

After witnessing prayers bigger than I could imagine being answered.  I would encourage you, that next time you pray for rain, stand outside in the street with your umbrella and praise our mighty God because He is a good and faithful father.

This summer has been so crazy for me, I have been used by my Father in so many ways, from Africa to the Sports hall, at my most energized to my absolute lowest, in my comfortable boat of our holiday bible club and out of the boat in Africa. We have a faithful God who loves us so much. If you open your life to Him, He will use you, wherever you find yourself. 

when rest is a test

So I just got back from a month in Bunda (rural Tanzania) and on Monday our Holiday Bible Club begins. I have 2349234 things to do, people to see, letters to post, but God is just calling me in to Him, to do one thing: rest.

Now you'd think that after 1 month of constant serving, busyness and early mornings, resting would be simple, that it would almost come naturally, and that I would definitely be happy to rest? Well yeah, that's what I thought too. However for me, giving myself over to God, to allow myself to be in his presence and rest, is a test. It's hard because resting involves meditating and thinking about the things I have seen, the people I miss, the projects I loved... and that type of thinking leaves me with feelings of sadness, anger and isolation.

There is a tiny snippet of scripture that is helping me and guiding my heart right now, and it is the lovely story of Mary and Martha, found in Luke 10:38-42: As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, 'Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her to help me!' 'Martha, Martha,' the Lord answered, 'you are worried and upset about many things but few things are needed - or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.'

In general when people discuss this story, Martha is renowned for being a silly, ridiculous, houseproud woman, because she misses the point. But the more I hear Jesus calling me to put everything down, to cast my cares upon Him, the easier it is to relate to Martha. You see Martha spent her time in the kitchen, while Jesus wanted her to relax with Him in the living room. 

There is a strange wee thought that the enemy plants in our head about this story, we think that before we can sit at Jesus' feet we need to sort ourselves out. But Jesus' easy and true response to this lie is that we can't sort ourselves out until we sit at His feet. It is only when we sit at Jesus' feet and allow Him to speak truth into our lives, that everything else starts to fall into place, things start making sense.

I can imagine how Martha felt, I mean if the King of Kings showed up at my door, of course I'd want the place to be tidy, the food to be tasty and the wine glasses to be tinkling. But when Jesus see's Martha's strain, her struggle, her stress: He rebukes her in the gentle and perfect way that only Jesus can. He tells her, 'Martha... Mary has chosen the better part, and it will not be taken away from her.' We don't know what happened next, we don't know what exactly Martha did, but my guess is she dropped her oven gloves, wiped the sweat from her brow, took her apron off and sat beside her sister by Jesus' feet. I think she would have then chosen the 'better part'.

And my prayer is that you too, along with myself, can leave the busyness of the kitchen and step into the 'better part' in the living room with our best friend and Savior.

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/