God is good!

The title says it all really - God is good! But of course I'm not going to leave it there, especially as this is my first blog for months..... Anyway, as many people do, I have looked back over 2010 and recognised (again) that, how ever difficult things were at times, whatever worries and anxieties I had, God was there and He was the one who got me through.

Another well known saying comes to mind "This too shall pass" - with all the stuff of 2010, some of it fantastic.... especially all my lovely Birthday celebrations together with all the difficulties, particularly towards the end of the year with the increasing awareness that I will be made redundant in 2011, I am still keeping on keeping on, with God's help and lots of the minutiae of life just passes and we come out of the other side, often stronger, sometimes wiser - well that's the theory anyway!!

There has been much answered prayer, there has been healing and restoration, more than sufficient provision and bountiful blessings and all from God's hand. God is good.

I go into 2011 with God leading me on - He even provided the most fabulous rainbow for me to enjoy as I walked across the Bristol Suspension Bridge on Wednesday (my first day back to work after nearly 2 weeks!) together with a wonderful sunrise on the other side of the bridge - Faithfullness yes.... it speaks volumes, but also just a wonderful blessing from my Creator who wants to share his creation with me and wants to bless me.

He goes before me to prepare the way and I am so thankful that He knows the end from the beginning. I am learning more and more to trust him in all things and to not lean on my own understanding - there are many lessons still to learn but He is patient and will continue to work in me and through me as long as I submit myself to His loving care.

God is good!

Springtime??

I think there is a recurring theme coming through here..... albeit a well-spaced apart theme!!

My last post in October 09 was about Autumn and today I've been inspired to post about Springtime?? Note the questionmarks - there has been so much in the news recently about how Spring is late in springing forth... due to the exceptionally cold Winter we have endured.

For nearly a year now I've been walking into work in the morning from the top of Rownham Hill (by the top entrance of Ashton Court) for those who know the area. It is about 2.5 miles and takes me across the Brunel's Suspension Bridge and down through Clifton Village into the middle of Bristol. It is a lovely walk, especially going across the Suspension Bridge in all weathers and conditions - I nearly always thank God for the opportunity to walk across it as the views are absolutely spectacular. I am so grateful that I can walk in and also that my ankle is now completely healed.

But what really has struck me in the last week or so is that the birds are singing their hearts out........ morning and evening and I just love it. Walking in I am serenaded, particularly walking through one park in Clifton. Then walking up to my Mums last night, through a particularly dark lane, I was serenaded again.... it felt like it was a beautiful symphony of praise to their creator and I was so blessed that I praised my Creator too.

I have nothing more profound to say but just that I am well blessed and I am so thankful to God that I can enjoy such bountiful blessings every day.... it also helps me to be in a better frame of mind when I get into work - not an easy thing to be at times!!

New season

My thoughts center around the new season we are in of Autumn. On Sunday evening I saw a snippet of a weather forecast for the forthcoming week and it said that this week would be 'benign'. I think of those lovely Autumnal days as days of mists and mellow fruitfulness. I love the glory and majesty of autumn..... I love what it says about my Creator, The Creator. I love the blessing that it brings each day, especially when it is a bright crisp sunny day! I also think of the final display that Autumn brings before the stark desolation that can be Winter.

All this leads me to think of the parallels with life and my life at the moment. My mood is fairly benign and mellow at the moment.... things have settled down somewhat from the frenetic activity of the past few months at work and I have a chance to breathe again.

I wonder how fruitful I am and I look back over the past year and try and do a spiritual inventory. I think that I have progressed, although the progress has been small and faltering at times. I believe that there has been some fruit borne but it might not be very tasty.

I think of my Creator and pray that I would continue to be transformed more and more into His likeness but I want it to be an ongoing process and not a final display. If I had the opportunity, at the end of my life, to look back - what would I say that I had achieved for God and His service? Would I have made a difference at all? Did I sow seeds? Did people see Jesus in me?

I want to be who God called me to be - His.......... there can be no greater Glory and Majesty!

Ascension Day

"I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself" John 12:32

Jesus was lifted up by the almighty power of God when he ascended into Heaven to sit at the right hand of The Father.......... He is drawing all people to himself - my questions are, how often to I lift Him up - in worship and praise and thanksgiving? How often do I not look up to Him and instead look down at the stuff of life with its distractions and disturbances?

Following our Cell meeting last week where we had a conversation about worship, I've been mulling it over in my mind and I realise I do struggle at times to worship in meetings at the corps - I get distracted (I allow myself to get distracted!) and then other times I find it easy. I will often find myself worshiping when walking into work (I now get off the bus early and walk about 2+ miles into the office - and for those who know, it is across the Suspension Bridge, through Clifton Village and on into the Dental School down by the bus station - lovely walk and all downhill!!) BUT, it doesn't seem to be enough and also there is a bit of a limit to how much I can worship walking into work without being taken somewhere by men in white coats!

I am praying that God will continue to help me in this journey......... there is so much more!

The Potter's Hand

Since Sunday evening the song from Hillsong United "The Potter's Hand" has been going round and round in my head....... I've been singing it over and over and the bit that seems to stick out for me at the moment (different to previous times) is "I'm captured by your holy calling" Am I captured..... I want to be...... I've given my life to the Potter's hand......... what (and where) am I holding back?

The words of the song are below:

Beautiful Lord, Wonderful savior
I know for sure all of my days are held in your hands
Crafted into your perfect plan

You gently called me into your presence
Guiding me by Your Holy Spirit
Teach me dear Lord to live all of my life
Through your eyes

I'm captured by your holy calling
Set me apart. I know you're calling me to yourself
Teach me, Lord. I pray

Take me, mould me, use me, fill me
I give my life to the potter's hand

Call me, guide me, lead me, walk beside me
I give my life to the potter's hand

Walking in the light

For the last week I've been dreading today.... purely due to having to attend and take notes and minutes of two 'difficult', complicated and long meetings, both of which are often unpleasant, due to certain individuals and their comments. I think I almost made myself ill with worry about it and I did consider 'being ill' today. Anyway, I decided to take God at his word and trust him to get me through when I made the decision not to walk in the dark and lie about being ill but walk in the light and let him help me. I've just come back from the second meeting and have to say that, although I am feeling drained, God was true to his promise not to leave me or forsake me.... even in a stupid situation like this!!
I'm glad I chose to walk in the light as he is in the light!

I'm back.........

As the title says, I'm back... I've had a long break from posting in blog-land although I've been reading my favourite blogs regularly and as time has gone on (and certainly over the last couple of weeks) I've wanted to 'speak up' again!

All I really want to say just now is that God is faithful..... during this recent 'wilderness' he has been with me every step of the way. He has brought such a depth of healing that I continue to be amazed. There have been some incredibly tough times that only he has known about but I can truly say that, to use nature as an analogy, I have felt stirrings of new growth and for that I thank him. I continue to be convinced of the power of prayer and the need for prayer........ that communion is something not to be taken lightly, it is a honour and a privilege to be able to communicate with the Almighty God of the Universe..... my friend and Father.

I feel excited about my journey for the first time in a very long while!
God bless.