10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord) - Matt Redman

A week with my faves x

This week I had the lovely company of Nathan, and a beautiful visit from my nearest and dearest, Luce. It's quite hard summing up a beautiful few days but, as always, being in their company was quite a treat!

Nathan, the cutie, even treated me to a lolly!
- Currently in my hand. So very tempted to eat it, but too yummy to eat!

'There is a green hill' by Geraldine Latty.

Two posts in one night, a rare occasion, but I absolutely love the words to this song. We sing it at my home church, but it has taken me so long to find a version of it online.

'I may not know of the pain of His passion,
But I believe that in my place he stood:
That I may know freedom and live in forgiveness,
For I am redeemed by His great love.

There was no other good enough
Willing to pay the price of sin
For he was the only one who could reach out
And unlock the gates of heav’n to let us in.'

♥

Being able to sit in tonight has allowed me some time alone to reflect on how gracious our God is! Since being in Liverpool, I have been so overwhelmed by the many blessings that God has poured out upon me each day, and I am so thankful that I have a Father in heaven, looking out for me during every step of my life.

One of the things I absolutely love about being part of God's family is that I am never alone. I always have God to turn to, no matter what circumstance I am in, or no matter how I am feeling. I have a God who loves and cares for me like nobody else could! I just find that so overwhelming. 

'For I am convinved that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.'

(Romans 8:38-39)

We need a desire to share Christ!

'I am convinced the greatest act of love we can ever perform for people is to tell them about God's love for them in Christ.'

- Billy Graham

I suppose this post is more of a request for prayer. Over the past few months in particular, I have really been challenged to stand boldly for Christ and to share the love of Jesus with other people. Sharing the gospel is something that we should do at every opportunity we can get - and we get lots of them, even though we don't necessarily take them!

At our CU, they have a vision statement which has set us the exciting challenge of 'engaging with the 24,000 students of LJMU, through the relevance of the gospel, with boldness and courage, for the glory of God.' Now when I first saw this, I thought 24,00 students is a lot of people to reach out to, particularly for a group of around 30 students. Don't get me wrong, 24,000 people is a lot of people. But I don't think that it is a number which is too great for us to share Jesus with. My thinking has been massively encouraged through one verse:

'With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.' 

Matthew 19:26

So I suppose a huge prayer for our CU would be that we wouldn't be discouraged and think that this is an unachievable task, but that we would be reminded of the power of the gospel. God's word is a word that can change lives. It's not just any old book - it's a book that holds the Truth that is found in Jesus Christ. Spreading the news of Jesus to these 24,000 people is impossible if we don't have God on our side and at the forefront of our minds. BUT. We need to remember that we do have God on our side. And although it may be quite daunting talking to people we may not necessarily know, we need not be afraid because Jesus has promised that He will be with us every step of the way.

Recently I sat down and thought about this, and questioned why I often find it so hard to share my faith with other people. Is it because I am scared about what people will think? Am I embarrassed? Then I thought about people who follow other religions. It is quite scary to see how public and open they are about their beliefs and how they aren't afraid to share their beliefs with other people. So why are we?! As Christians we believe that there is only one God. We believe that Jesus died for our sins so we can know Him as our personal Saviour, and so we can be with Him in heaven. If this is a truth that we know everybody should hear, and everybody needs, and if its a truth that we know to be the only truth, why are we so afraid to hold it back? We shouldn't be!

Something that has also really been on my heart for the past year - and particularly since the Aberystwyth conference this Summer - is getting involved in mission work. At the conference, one of the meetings focused on being part of the mission and not part of the mission field. And its made me realise, how better can I spend next Summer than serving my Saviour? 

I just pray that this year God would guide me in deciding how I can spend this summer - whether it's abroad or even just within the UK. I've looked into a couple of organisations and spoken to a couple of people for help - but I just pray that whatever I end up doing, God will really use me, challenge me, and maybe bring me out of my comfort zone, in order to share the gospel!

'And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.'

Mark 16:15

Indescribable!

I couldnt find a single post with the full video, so its all in parts. But had to share this because everytime I watch it - without fail! - it blows me away and makes me realise what an awesome God we really have!

cf

:)

"The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. 

A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he."

- Deuteronomy 32:4

Making Christ the Centre

So last night I went to the first main CU meeting of the year - it was such a blessing having the opportunity to meet together, different people from different backgrounds, but all having the same thing in common - knowing Jesus! :)

But just wanted to make this post about something that really challenged me. One of the songs we sang during the meeting was a song called 'Everything' by Tim Hughes. I'd never heard it before, but it really made me think and wonder is God really in everything that I do? As ashamed as I am to admit it, I can often find it so easy to forget God in the midst of things I do, think and say - but the words in the song have been a real reminder as to how I should live my life. Everything I do needs to be done to the glory of God, and I really need to make sure that He is the focus of everything in my life!

Freshers food for thought...

Coming to uni really has been a massive eye opener on how strong temptation can be. It's no secret that the majority of students right across the country use freshers week as a massive opportunity to get absolutely trollied. I suppose, like most people, I've grown up aware of the temptations around me - having gone through college and high school, having spent a week in malia over the summer, etc. but coming to uni seriously made me see how much Satan tempts us! As we are all human, and all sinners, we are weak. We can find it so easy to get into unhelpful situations or find it difficult to say 'no' to things, especially when they are so evidently spoon fed to us!

However, our aim as christians should be to bring glory to Jesus and be a testimony to everybody around us. But how do we stand up for Jesus in a world that doesn't know him or rejects him? I was given a book called 'Whispers of wisdom' by a friend, and each day the book focuses on a different verse in the Bible. One of them looks at this topic and gives a verse from Luke 16:13 (NIV):

"No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despite the other."

It then goes onto to look at the verse and shows us that although living for the world may look exciting and appealing to us, if we choose to reject God's way, it will only lead to pain. It is so important to live within the world but have your main focus on Christ. It can be a huge test for us, but by being in the world and not of the world is how we are truly going to reflect the truth and love that God has given us! 

'Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of faith' 

Hebrews 12:1-2

A weekend back home!

So this weekend I decided I would go back home to see some family and friends. It was so lovely to see everyone again, even for the short time that it was! However, I must say I was quite disappointed with my return. As I left my duvet in my flat and my brother had the spare duvet, I definitely didnt have the 'homely comforts' that i had hoped for. Sleeping with a blanket that is so small it barely covers your body isnt my idea of fun! And whats more, mum had so much to do with lifting the other kids places and sorting out things for work and the house, that I had to do my own cooking! Despressing times! 

However, I had the lovely surprise of seeing two people who are very special to me - Lucy and Nathan :). Before I left for uni, all three of us had the discussion about when we were going to see eachother, but I've been a very lucky girly, and I have seen them both twice in the space of two weeks being away!

The biggest surprise was seeing Lu. She came home and surprised her parents and in the end surprised me with a beautiful take-away costa to start off my Saturday morning! I absolutely love catchups with my best friend more than anything - if you know us, we literally come as a pair in everything we do. We both get asked endlessly how we are going to cope without each other being at different unis, but we seem to manage it. Lots of memories to look back on and a billion more to come!

All in all, it was a good trip home, but it has to be said... I am so happy to be back in Liverpool! I have learnt that as much as I love the people in Sandbach and being in a small town, Liverpool definitely seems to be home to me now :).