Growth and Realization

At Church we have had many opportunities to be able to stand up and preach. My first sermon was on the 10 October 2010 and since then I have only spoken a short message since. I am very uncomfortable with public speaking but my reasoning for both times was that God had a message for me to say and to tell others, so I did.

My first sermon was about Trees. We had been studying the book of Matthew at the time and throughout, there were many links or metaphors established to trees. This was an easy one to establish but felt difficult to put across without thinking too far into each metaphor. The main message from this sermon was that the deeper you put your roots into the earth of Christ, the further you can spread your branches and produce good fruit. One section I have pulled out is talking about how a tiny seed, the smallest being the mustard seed grows into a mighty large tree and the link this has to our lives.

A tiny seed has so much potential, just like each and every one of us has a potential and a purpose in life, no matter how significant we may feel. It takes time to grow. Think; is a parent in the delivery room ashamed of the baby? Of course not, they are proud. They know that growth will come with time. So does God. With the support of God we can grow into a large tree, providing support to others and contributing to the world providing life.

From this I have then thought about where God has taken me in the past year and my growth. Although I am unable to see it, I feel different in good and bad ways. I have found that I am able to use my own initiative more, but whilst doing this and experiencing new things, I have also given up on some things that were important to me. One main one is helping with the younger children at church. I used to attend every week and assist, but as time went on and I had other commitments, this one has decreased more and more and I am beginning to miss it considerably. Another very important thing is with the new changes in my life, I have meet new friends, but in doing so, it has been hard to keep in the same contact with my old friends and I have felt the brunt of it many times this year which I regret. But through it all I have felt God guiding me and letting me learn my lessons to understand what is important in my life. I have mended some bridges and realized what I must prioritize. It has definitely not been the easiest of journeys but if you never fail, you can never learn to pull yourself back up again, and through it all God has guided. He brought people into my life and messages that have lifted me back up again and continued with life's ups and downs and my point of view on many things has changed.

Overall I don't really know what this post was about, if it was really anything or just a chance for me to finally put down in words what I've been feeling so that now I even understand it. Looking back now I have really come to realize how much God has helped me without realizing and reminds me that He is always there even when you feel most alone. God bless.

Gifts

Dancing has always been a massive part of my life, and from it, I have had many incredible opportunities and met wonderful people. Dancing is a form of expression, a way to create a world of your own. During my ballet exam, we had been encouraged to imagine a beautiful place and during practices, it had always been a garden. However the Sunday before my exam I was telling my church how I wish to dance for the Lord. This changed the beautiful garden I used to dance in into the Garden of Eden and it was an amazing experience.

Since then I have had to dance on stage a few times, and each experience was really special and I hope my dancing changes so I am dancing for the Lord each time. He is worth it and has given us all gifts that we can use to show off His wonders and praise Him.

Use your gifts for God's glory

Inspiration

To look and to see

What is inspiration? Where do we get our inspiration from? It is for something different or everyone, whether it is a song, a speech or a story, a picture, a garment, a new construction. Inspiration is an important aspect in our lives as it influences our thoughts and our creations. You could easily look at a child’s smile and be motivated for a new advertisement, look at birds sitting on power lines and receive the starting notes for a new musical masterpiece, listen and observe strangers on the street and create the plot for a new best selling novel.

But why do we need to search for inspiration? Why are we suddenly inspired after weeks of hard work? Why do we need to dig deeper than a simple sunset and instead find the new colour scheme for a successful fashion business? To look deeper than what meets the eye?

What are you looking at? What can you see?

We do not need a purpose to look for an inspiration, however we must become more aware of the significance and the natural wonders the world gives us, the adventures waiting to be sought and explored. We need to be more attentive to the minute details to our life and environment that change the whole view and overall success of a creation. Often observing people can inspire as there is life and mysteries hidden behind their faces. But more often we never reflect on ourselves. While inspiration can be personal, an evaluation of an event within your life, sometimes we need someone else’s perspective for us to realise who we really are and our significance to other people. We can use our own knowledge, experiences, and encounters with life to reflect upon. We ourselves are natural inspirations. It is often believed that our subconscious thoughts inspire us. That our childhood memories that are hidden from our memory, but express themselves in different ways. They resurface themselves from deep within, influencing our thoughts and actions. However it can be hard to look deep into yourself, as you are often scared with what you may or may not find out. This could be a cause that stops our true, innate feelings and thoughts to be expressed.

We look but do not see.

The world is not always what it appears as only a small part of it is really seen. It is very uncertain what lies underneath which inspire those who want to face that challenge and dig deep. Those are the people who want to make a difference in the world. They look at the world and at people from a different angle and see things many of us do not. They start to see the world as it really is, not how many people try and portray it to be. Do you want to become one of these people who really see the world, not just look, but see it for what it is beneath the mask that is thrown over our eyes? We do not always look beneath the top cover, below the surface of life. The world, people, colours, nature, what do these have in common? They are very different but each contain some motivation that could change what we know, what we live by.It could develop masterpieces like Shakespeare, DaVinci, Mozart who were influenced and inspired by life, creating immortal works. We can relate to these works and concepts as they express who we are as people. We all live life, and although we are all different, there are many characteristics we can all relate to. Human Nature.

See, do not just look.

So next time you look around where you work, the people you spend each day with, the expressions of nature, look deeper until you become more aware at the wonders surrounding you. Become more observant, aware, and attentive! A smile, a sunset, a drooping flower, a raindrop, anything can be yours if you just look for it!

Joy and Thankfulness

As you may or may not know, I am currently in a show at the moment and I was thinking the other day who I was doing it for.

My friend sent me a text during the week saying that although I’m generally exhausted, my joy needs to comes from God a it says in Nehemiah “don’t be dejected and sad for the joy of the Lord is your strength”. It’s important that I continue to drink up his Spirit, even if I sit for 5minutes and just wait on him, his joy will continue to strengthen us.

So I just wanted to remind everyone that no matter how stressed you are, how much we have on, and little time we have spare, if we rely on God, He will strengthen us and give us Joy. We must also do things for him. It says in Philippians 2:14 “Do everything without complaining or arguing” and I often think that one verse is a good reminder everyday life that the things you do are for God, and you must live out His joy. This is also said in Colossians saying “whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as though you were working for the Lord and not for people”.

The opposite of complaining is being thankful so often instead of complaining, you can think of the things you are grateful for. It also says in Philippians to always pray with a thankful heart. So I finish now by saying be joyful and live your life God’s way.