A Challenge

This is Your Life ~ Switchfoot

Well... are you?
xo

Hope

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune--without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

~ Emily Dickinson

This is a favourite poem of mine. Mainly because I wish I could have written it myself (I may have fooled some of you as you started reading and didn't see the 'Emily Dickinson' at the end!) but also because it reminds me of this bible verse...

"In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." ~ 1 Peter 1:3b

And then this one...

"Faith is being sure of what we hope for, certain of what we cannot see." ~ Hebrews 11:1 (I know a song for that one!)

And it's true. Hope is that little constant, quiet thing that frequently goes completely unnoticed. Often people underestimate it. But if there is even the slightest hope of something, then with God that hope is like dynamite. It can blow this world apart.

xo

p.s. A prayer request for a dear friend who is really struggling with some pretty intense stuff at the moment, that I will have the right words to say. Thanks :)

When 'Maybe' means 'No'.

I often find myself in situations where I'm skirting around what I actually want to say. I don't want to hurt feelings, or tread on toes, or become prey to judgement, so I just sit on the fence. 'Maybe' seems like the safest option. Going along with things seems easier than standing out and risking causing a stir.

Sometimes, however, my 'maybe' causes more hurt than I anticipate. It hurts those who I insult by deeming them not able to handle the truth. It hurts those who I tag along for the ride by not telling them where I'm actually going. It hurts those who continue in their sin because I didn't have the conviction to show them otherwise.

It hurts the God that made me and loves me, when I can't find the gumption to say

'No'

For the moments...

For the moments when the sun dances on my cheeks and plays with my hair,
When the tea has gone cold because life is too much fun,
When the hum of the sewing machine stirs creativity in my bones,
When the smell of musty books and the strum of guitars is enough,

I want you to be there.

For the moments when the rain drizzles down the pain rubbing salt into the wounds, 

When the ache in my chest threatens to overwhelm me,

When the tap-tap of the keyboard is the releasing of my mind,

When the birds lullaby my dreams and flowers soften my heart,

I want you to be there.

For the moments when the world is big but I am oh so small,

When the money is short but our laughs are long,

When the weather is poor but our hearts are rich,

When the sky is dark but our eyes are bright,

I want you to be there.

For the moments when the chances are slim but our smiles are wide,

When the burden is weighty but you are the light,

When the world is shallow but your love is deep,

When the reality of my imperfection is eclipsed by your gift of grace,

I want you to be there.

When all of me is longing for all of you,

I need you to be there.

While I sit

While I sit
I sip
my tea
and reality
overlooks me.


While I sit
I sip
my tea
and serenity
overwhelms me.


While I sit
I sip
my tea
and your mercy
covers me.


While I sit
I sip
my tea
and your love
completes me.


While I sit
I sip
my tea
and smile.

Have a blessed day <3

Restless

For anyone that knows me well, you'll know that I'm pretty into Switchfoot, along with my gorgeous friends.

Switchfoot do some pretty INSANE stuff, but one of my all time favourite songs of theirs is called 'Restless'.

Here is a link to the video of the song, and I want you to try and listen to the words really carefullly and not just stare at certain band members who have a mysteriously dark and unbelievably 'perfect-man-of-God' kind of appeal *jon foreman* and then we will discuss this further.

Go on... I'll wait.

All done? It's pretty, epic huh?

My favourite bit? Oh, well thanks for asking. It's a tough question but it would have to be the humungously insane drum build up... 'With every heartbeat all of my blood bleeds, running inside me, looking for you. Looking for yoooou. Looking for yooooou. Looking for yoooou. Looking for yoo-oo-oou. *budahdahdahdahdahdahdahBOOM* I am RESTLESS!'

SO good.

But the message of the song really encapsulates how I feel right now. I never want to get to a stage where I am comfortable with the tiny eensy-weensy bit of God that I know right now and not hunger for more. I never want to sit back and think 'That's probably enough for now'. Instead, I want to have a constant restlessness inside of me that's 'longing for the deeper ground'.

I want to spend every day adventuring further into who God is, his character, and his heart for his people.

1 Corinthians 13:9-12 says, 'Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless. When I was a child, I spoke and reasoned like a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.'

This passage is particularly relevant for me today, as I had an optician's appointment and found out that I need glasses for reading off the board in class, driving (when I get round to taking lessons!), reading off screens (like in Chapel every morning), watching TV, working on the computer etc etc... It's strange how until we see the complete and perfect form of something, we don't really realize how incomplete it was before. As soon as the guy started slotting lenses into those (highly attractive!) glasses I could suddenly see more and more of the letters on the screen.

On a much MUCH bigger scale, this is what it is like with God. The more we find out about him, the more we look back and think 'And I really thought I was starting to get to know him THEN?'.

Only in heaven will we truly get to know the whole of God, but until then, I think it's the most incredible adventure ever to discover more and more about our God, Creator of the universe, who loves each one of us uniquely.

Have a very blessed day <3

A New Beginning

Now, I do get a very strong sense of Deja Vu as I write this, and I can't promise that 'this time it will be different', but I'm turning over a new leaf.

I have increasingly become merely a spectator in the blogging world, and I thought it was about time that things changed. I have seen so many stunning blogs, and they have inspired me to get back on my metaphorical blogging feet.

If you've seen one of my latest projects (along with A-levels, bunting, cushion covers, uni information, gap year plans, and hopefully buying a house!) then you'll know that I have been blogging elsewhere.

I have also not been myself. Hence this post.

But that is all about to change. For this reason, I am renaming this blog 'Becoming Eve', because this is the story of me becoming the real me, as God intended. It's going to take a while, and I'm not promising regularity or consistency. But it should be entertaining!!

Here goes everything...!!