Friends and more

I have a friend who is going off to do a Photography and missions course soon. I'm so happy that she gets to start living her dreams. She really deserves to do well in that field, she's a great photographer and really cares about the issues she's dealing with. I met her in Burundi while she was on the outreach part of her DTS with YWAM and one of the first things that struck me was how genuine and caring she is.

I have another friend who has left the UK this week to go to work on OM Logos Hope for two years. She's always been interested in missions work and is a qualified primary school teacher. She will be flying to Trinidad and Tobago soon to join the ship, complete her training and then start working with the primary school on board.

I have three friends who have recently finished their placement year for university and will be doing their final year of studying this year and will graduate next summer.

My brother's school year got their A Level results yesterday, most of his friends will be going to university and starting to study what will eventually dictate the paths their lives will take.

Am I happy for all of them? Of course I am, but I'm also a bit jealous.

I know that if I had done well in my A levels I wouldn't have gone to Brunel University.

I know that if I hadn't gone to Brunel I wouldn't have decided that Mathematics wasn't the right thing for my life.

I know that if I hadn't made that decision I would never have gone to Burundi.

I know that if I hand't gone to Burundi I wouldn't have had the experiences I did and met the people who changed my way of thinking (hopefully forever).

I know that my life experiences have helped me become who I am today and what happened today will help me become who I will be tomorrow.

I know who I am and who I'm supposed to be, where I am and where I'm going, and most of all I know who I'm doing it for.

I'm doing it firstly for God, for the glory of His name, for the things he's done for me because there's no way I can do the same for Him but I can always work my hardest to say thank you.

Secondly I'm doing it for myself, to prove to myself that I am worth it, that I can do it and that whatever people have said against me in the past (and will continue to say in the future) it's not true, I am a daughter of the King, fearfully and wonderfully made, beloved and holy.

Thirdly I'm doing it to help the people I meet, whether they're Burundian, English, American, Chinese whatever, I want to make the world a better place one smile at a time.

Fourthly I'm doing it for my family - my biological family and my new family. To make them proud (however that comes across, it's a great feeling to be told that someone is proud of you).

That's enough for tonight.

God Bless x

The past is gone, cast it off.

I was in church this morning and my pastor was talking about Jacob. He spoke mainly about the part in Genesis 32 when Jacob was wrestling with the angel of the Lord. I found it very innteresting that this was the first time in his life that Jacob had seen something through to the end without lying, cheating or running away and at this point he already had wives, concubines and children!
I'm 21 years old and apart from one thing I have never seen something through to the end. I left university with no qualifications after my second year, I've lied and stolen, especially to my parents. I gave up on my A-levels before I even started, I did them, but I didn't go to lessons because I couldn't be bothered to be honest. I have a friend who has heard my latest plans a million times and always knows just what to say, he always tells me that it's a cool idea but knows that it will never happen.

This is not happening any more, my name is not lier, cheater, stealer, failure, quitter. I don't know what my name will be when I get my white stone, but I know what my name is now. I know that my name means 'Holy One' and I know that I am set apart for something. I have been convicted to live my life for Him and only for Him. He has blessed me abundantly and I have taken it for granted, He's given me friends, a family, a job, passions (children, youth, Burundi and music), an incredible man who has some of the same visions as me. I will be more thankful for what I have been given, what I continue to be given, what I will be given in the future and I will not stop until I am called home. I won't stop asking for blessings, I won't stop asking Him to bless others and I will never stop loving him.

A lot of things changed for me in Burundi and the main one of those was my relationship with my Lord and Father. I also learned that He can still use people no matter what their past is, we are set free by the blood of Christ Jesus, our redeemer and we should be rejoicing in that, not getting caught up in the trials, tribulations and trivialities of the world.

Remember 'Be in the world, not of the world.'

throw off your old nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God - trule righteous and holy.
Ephesians 4: 22-23