mediocre. not our future.

I believe a life lived for Christ should be far more than mediocre. It should be full of passion, full of joy, full of love, fully selfless and fully surrendered to a high King, - THE high king who also happens to be our loving Papa. I believe we as his beautiful/handsome children should be living life completely in him.

Life completely in him is so not mediocre! I'm realizing living a day with him should bring excitement each morning. It puts a hope in your heart of good things to come! 'Yet I am confident I will see the Lord’s goodness while I am here in the land of the living.' Leave that little black cloud that has been clinging to you behind!! 'Be not afraid and be not discouraged!! For I your God will be with you always!' God IS. God is what? God IS everything. When you have that power inside of you, your power, your love, your peace, your strength - everything becomes limitless. Why? Because it is not your own, it is your fathers (your real heavenly fathers), and through Christ you have access to it all. And he IS.

When you know that is inside of you, does that not make you want to make the most of life? Doesn't that make you want to give all you can, be all you can, love all you can and live life in surrender to a crazy, unpredictable, fresh, exciting, limitless Father? It should encourage you to carry on despite your circumstances. Circumstances may not change, but with Jesus he carries us through hard ones!

Pour your life out to him, for him, and see what happens. Your life can be potentially something way out of this world. Not because you have it inside of you, no, it is found in Jesus, who can be inside of you! And Jesus's life on earth was far from mediocre.

No more of this day in, day out dreary nonsense. Life is most definitely not meant to be lived half hearted. If you're living with Jesus, pour out your WHOLE heart, your WHOLE life, it's an ongoing process. Let HIM take your hand and lead you where to go. Spice it up with Jesus!!

yoyos and gingerloaf

I made yoyos. and gingerbread loaf. But you don't get to see pictures of the loaf. It wasn't so attractive looking. The taste however, boy oh boy, the taste, was wonderful!! Oh, the joy it brings to bake a sweet treat, to lick the bowl afterwards, and to smell the comforting smell of sweet, hot cookies wafting through the house. It brings a sense of comfort.

It takes me back to the beautiful memories of arriving home from a treacherous bike ride from a dreary day at school, on those icey winter days. Often feeling somewhat frustrated, I'd make the turn into the infamous 'Brown' household on Sawyers Arms Rd. The sight would bring joy to me like nothing else. I'd glide through the opening of the friendly holly hedge in the driveway to see smoke drifting out of the chimney into a dull grey sky. The old house seemed to smile at me every time I came through that gate. It'd tell me, 'you're home now, put a smile back on your face.' I'd quickly park my bike outside the door, trying to ignore Dad's voice in my head saying 'if you keep leaving your bike there it's going to get stolen, why don't you put it in the garage?' My wind blown hair and numb fingers always ready to be welcomed in to the calm behind the door. I'd scuttle up the concrete steps, open the door, slunk my bag onto the floor with a thud, and that's when it'd hit me, the sweet aroma of my dear Mother's simply fantastic baking. I'd click open the french doors into the kitchen, and be hit by a beautiful warmth from the old woodfire. Looking at the bench, i'd see, Mum had been on a rather hefty baking mission! There would be bowls waiting to be licked clean and fresh baking waiting to be savoured. My eyes always welcomed the sight of a hot caramel slice still sitting in its tin cooling on the bench, or mufffins on the go in the oven, and a popular 'no bake' muesli slice setting in the fridge. It wasn't out of the ordinary for Mum to bake that much in one go, i can assure you, an unusual occurence in the 'Brown' household - this was not. What could be better after a dreary old day at school and a somewhat chilling bike ride home? Not a lot i say. Not a lot.

Oh the memories. I am thankful for such a blessed upbringing. What a privilege! Sometimes it's the little things in life. A cosy, friendly home. A loving family. Sometimes its just, yoyos and gingerloaf! :)

He hears ya!

Yeah so the below applies. When i was away i had one day where everything just kept going wrong. Not big things, but you know when it's all those tiny little petty things? haha!

So firstly. I woke up feeling dry of God, you know, like he wasn't there, even though the day before i felt incredibly close (guess that's life you know, ups and downs) But i just was like oh well, i'm gonna push into God HARD, even if i don't feel anything, i know he's there, and he's been so good to me.

Then i was trying to lock the door, and probably stood there for like.. 10mins getting really flustered... only to find out i just needed to turn the key the other way. DUH. I said to myself 'Shrug if off, shrug it off, water off a ducks back!!' (haha. Man i love that saying.)

So off i went on the 5min drive down to the harbour to have my quiet time. Still was feeling dry.. but just prayed and read his word anyway... Got to the end of that, had had my ipod playing hooked up to the car sound system for the whole time.... (can you see whats coming??) I was a little bit disappointed i couldn't 'feel' God as much as i had the day before, but.. i figure, what is our faith worth if it's just based upon a feeling?

Got to the end of my quiet time, and turned the ignition.... only to hear that noise.. it was like 'puttputtputtputteeeeemmbbohhhkkk'.. 'ohhhh AWESOME!!! I've run the battery flat. no no no no no no no' i said to the steering wheel as if it was going to have compassion on me and turn the car on for me... then i was like 'umm God?? can you turn the car on?' my heart was like boooomboomboombooom. God didn't want to jump start the car through his holy spirit for me unfortunately.... so i got out of the car which was now just making a constant 'beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep' noise. I had to ask for help, hear that? i had to ask for help!! ahhh. In my pretty puff skirt and chucks i had to walk into a rough pub where a bunch of fisherman characters were outside having a good beer.. I edged up to the counter and explained myself...... Only to be pleasantly surprised with a friendly old guy who owned the pub. He looked at me funny and chuckled and with a sigh said 'i can help ya!' I think he thought i was a bit crazy, but wanted to help nevertheless! He was a sweetheart.

Within seconds he had the car going with his little jump starter kit thingy.... and i was like 'ohhh thanks so so much, so do i have to like run the car for a while now??' and he just looked at me with a blank expression on his face and nodded and said 'you're welcome' and then we went our separate ways. After that, i felt as though i had been zapped with life, zapped by God and just generally electrified by.. life! I was like 'wow thanks so much God, i needed that man!'

Only now i just realise... that old man at the pub, was .. an old man that didn't realise God was working right through him. God heard my prayers, and through the oddest of all events, he made himself known inside of me again. I have a deep reassurance with that 'feeling' or without, God is there and he hears us. He sees our silly little mistakes and chuckles and willingly goes 'i'll help!'

positivity.

It's pretty easy to be negative, i naturally tend to be a little bit pessimistic. It's miserable. Haha. It's hard work to remain positive, but when you do, that hard work is very rewarding.

I've had an amazing break away, with Jesus, i think i'm falling in love again. haha! And he's taught me so much over these few days. One thing he taught me was to really work on remaining positive. Negativity sucks the joy right out of us. It's not of God at all! I was watching something by joyce meyer and she was talking about 'power thoughts' - thoughts to keep us positive.

Here are some points i want to focus on every single morning as i wake up:

- Psalm 27:13 'I am still confident of this, I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living - (right here right now!)
Wait for the Lord, be strong and take heart, and wait for the Lord!' Today, good things will happen!!

- Romans 8:37-39 'No in all things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. I am convinced.... NOTHING will separate us from Christ's love' Be confident that no matter what happens today, Christ is going to handle it.

- Live each day fearlessly and courageously! 'Be strong and courageous, for I your father will be with you always, even to the end of the age' What could be better? What else do we need to get through today? NOTHING. God is the only unfailing, loving, neverending presence to have with you each step of your day.

- 'Allow the power of Christ in you to handle the day with a pure heart, a clear head, a steady hand, with gentleness, with holiness, with genuine love, with alertness and to remain un-swerved' Taken from 2 Corinthians 6:1-13

Yeah. Um. Don't worry, be happy, do handstands on the lawn, like me!!! :)

A tough situation may drive you toward God.

'Dear Child,
Perhaps I caused you to feel greatly distressed, and it upset
you. At the time it may have been hard for you, but this feeling of distress,
is like a call from me, it's my way of calling you back, of getting
you to turn around so that you can see me again. So don't regret this
pain my child, use it to drive yourself in my direction. I am here to
help you.

What a good thing this is! When you allow these distressing situations
to become stepping stones to me, you become more alive, more human, more
passionate, more responsible and you will come out of this with a pure
heart.

Turn around child, after all you have deep, deep ties with me (God)

Love, your father'

Based on 2 Corinthians 7:8-13