Praise You in the Storm

When trials come our way, what do we do? Our fight or flight instinct kicks in. I ask this question first of all to get your own view of yourself before I continue, do you run? Or do you fight? Got it?

Okay, reading from James 1:2-4. History first. James is clearly the guy who wrote this to the 12 tribes that had been scattered among the nations, these were Jewish Christians. A little on James himself, he didn't believe until after Jesus' resurrection, he later becomes a leader of a church in Jerusalem and he was in charge of the Jerusalem council. There's our man James. 

James states, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds..." That is the opening verse to this little sections. What the flip?! James... what are you on about. Joy, in trials? But, there is a reason why he is saying this. It develops your character and certain aspects of your personality. Persevering through something is to push through it, just keep going! Spiritually, this will make you more mature. You would be as it states in Mark 4:8, "good soil." You do not want to fade away at the first sign of trouble, does that show that you had any faith to start of with? 

As we go through trials, we should have a support network, people we can truly trust. Without these people, trials become harder and yet, why don't we lean on God as much as humans? Don't get me wrong, people are great! Really super and if you can have people to pray with you that's fantastic and maybe, that's God providing for your spiritual needs in times of trial. I'm interested that in Romans 5:3 it says, "Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance..." It then lists other characteristics that develop from perseverance. This is clearly a message worth hearing! If you persevere then you'll reap the rewards of it afterwards, therefore, be glad in your suffering! 

This may be a difficult pill to swallow and I know for a fact that when something goes wrong it's hard to feel the Father's embrace, but He is there. With perseverance you'll develop your character and as it says in Romans, and character hope. And hope does not disappoint us.

 

Oh January...

Well, I guess this is my after Christmas update on my gap year. 

On the 7th January 2013 we all traveled to Sheffield to have a gathering and some teaching, actually, a lot of teaching! This was with Peter Farmer who I had previously met and Tom Slater. This was on pioneering mission and simple/organic churches. I learned a lot from this and it was amazing to get some practical evangelism done rather than just studying how to do it without any practice. After this teaching, Matt Wilson from Eden Network came and talked to us about Eden then got us a tour of one of their bases in Sheffield called Firvale. This was a really good experience and I have certainly learned from this too as I have never seen anything like what they are doing before. I especially liked the tent makers thing where you go and live and work a normal job in the area you're reaching out to rather than being temporary and at the end of the work day going back to your middle class house. Very, very interesting. 

At the end of our time in Sheffield I was very sad to be leaving the rest of the team behind with the feeling of community, banter and late night chats. It was like Romania again, except in England! I love each one of these beautiful people and all of their wonderful personalities. They have been such a blessing in my life for these past 4 months which seems short but in reality we only have 5 months (including February) left on our gap year, super scary! 

On returning to Monkstown I have moved in with a new family who are ever so kindly keeping me for the rest of the year! This is such an answer to prayers that have been said by myself and other members of Xplore as they know how unsettled I was about having to move every 5 weeks or so and not know where I would be next! All I can do is praise God for this wonderful family he has introduced me to. With a new timetable coming up I'm hoping to be more settled within myself and to return to being fully into this gap year as to be honest after the Christmas period and Sheffield I didn't have the right mindset to be coming in all guns blazing never mind having the cold for several weeks now. I did become alarmed about my chest at one point and so had to go to the doctor but you can read about that in my hospital experience blog! I have once again got the cold! I'm really hoping this is the last of it and I won't have to deal with it for any longer than a week. I was getting better but boom. I'm struck again with the cold. All I can be thankful for is that it's not norovirus eugh. 

January has been a month of ups and downs and the occasional turn around, February is going to bring new things. Lots of planning and preparation to do for certain things, planning outreach into the community is a biggie for Phil and I but we'll manage. I just need to get a lot of rest in order for my body to recover from this bout of sickness. 

Thank you to everyone who is supporting me through this year through prayer and fellowship. I greatly appreciate it :)

Charlotte x

Not thinking

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Time.

In. Out. In. Out. Breathe.

Right. Left. Right. Left. Walk.

Thump, thump. Thump, thump. Heartbeats. 

These things, we don't have to think about them. It's not hard to do. What else happens without us thinking? Habits. Good or bad? Stop. Don't let it find you. 

Negative. Negative. Negati- NO! 

 Positive.

The bad always comes to your head before the good does. If we are to keep going and stay somewhat on track, what help is it to go straight to the negative? 

Shadow. It's always going to be there to find you. There's no sugar coating it. Waiting to consume you. Simple answer, keep yourself in the light. 

The shadow is negative. The light is positive. Makes sense right?

Your choice.