Things that made me smile.........

I know I haven't done this in a while and it can feel like everything is closing in with negativity when we choose not to see the good - so here are some thoughts from the past week or so

~ Chatting to Amy Otis DeGrau via Skype - meaning we could see one another. I've never used Skype before and was over the moon to actually see her and Rodrigo, as well as the petting zoo they have with 2 dogs and 2 cats! Apparently my laughter and screaming could be heard all over the house
~Sharing a coffee/Hot Chocolate with a member of my youth group after shopping in Costa coffee..........it was pouring with rain outside and it felt like we had a great 15 minutes of just chit chatting and people watching
~Helping friends move furniture out of there house on Saturday.......I wasn't that much of a help but it felt good to do some physical work after sitting in an office all week
~Sharing laughs and dinner with a friend on Wednesday evening as she cooked for me and we hung out
~Meeting Cassie Owens........my friends Ffion and Wyn had a baby girl on 4th February and I met her last night - she is precious and beautiful..........babies blow my mind!

So anyway - I need to restart this........I'm not going to put myself under any pressure that it will be a daily update here but I want to (once again!) refocus and see the good things in life and not just the storms.

Here's a great quote from Bill Johnson in the book Spiritual Java

" Let's not waste our miracles, either. Let's not watch God do something awesome, then give a little golf clap, a little 'amen', and walk away unchanged"

I want to be a God chaser, not miracle chaser - but the outworker of a God chaser will be to see Kingdom miracles around me.

Kingdom living

So there's a couple of things I've come to realise lately.........

One of them being that I much prefer hanging out with people who hang out with Jesus rather than do things for Jesus. This revelation came from a chat in cell group about where we (and God) gets the most pleasure - us hanging with Him or us doing things for Him? I was thinking of my friend Sarah - a fabulous woman that exudes the presence of God. She's so in love with Jesus it just drips from her every word and being. I find I have a jealousy in me when I'm around her. Previously the jealousy had simply been that -jealousy- not a motivator to encounter God in that way myself.

When I compare her with friends (or even myself 2 or 3 months ago) who need 6 weeks notice to get something in the diary because they're doing stuff for God - I realise what I want to be more like.

When I walk I want to leave "puddles of the Kingdom" behind me. I want my face to radiate as I think about Jesus and remember my most recent encounter with Him.

I want to see things from a Kingdom perspective instead of the warped perspective of a fallen world.

I want to know Jesus more, what makes him smile, what makes him laugh, what makes his heart break and how he thinks of me as an individual.

I'm hungry for more of Him - and want this hunger to continue.

I've realised how much of life has been caught up in the concerns and ways of this world and that I've lost focus over the past year. I've allowed that love of God to burn down and it all become intellectual.

I can't change this by striving.........I can only change this by resting in His presence, at his feet - and hopefully becoming one of those that exudes Jesus as she walks through the day.

Time out with nature

So today could have been a Spring day it was so warm - am sure it was in double figues (Celsius) and felt quite mild - especially the walk that I took.

I decided to head up to the forest in Llandegla, Denbighshire as they have a Bike centre there with cycle trails as well as walking trails. I could see from their website that they had one about 2.5 miles long and so decided to head out on that. Can I just say......... it WAS NOT flat! Far from it, bit like going up hill and down dale! But I loved it. There was no one else around (a little creepy but I told myself to get over it!) and it gave me time to enjoy, think, pray and download some stuff I'd had buzzing through my head.

Anyway here's a picture of the reservoir that's about 1/2 way around the walk.

It really was an enjoyable walk and was rewarded with a coffee in Costa's afterwards.

Am realising that I need these time outs - to think, pray, exercise my lungs and just enjoy what is on my doorstep. It seems like such a chore when you're at home in the warmth, yet feels like such an acheivement when you've done it. I have 5 unassigned leave days that I need to take before 31st March, and as long as no emergency crops up, I'm going to use them for such days as this........... to refresh my soul

The Road of Resolution for 2011

I received a fabulous Christmas gift from Amy O - a year planner with daily scripture in it as well as thoughts for that month and readings for every day. At the back of the planner it has something called "The Road of Resolution" which is just a great way to re-focus at the start of the year, review the past year and tease out Gods plan for you in the coming year. Anyway, here it is below - hopefully it will inspire you too.

~*~

Resolution is good, and these steps will help us keep on the right road with God through the year.

Relationship

Reaffirm your relationship with God.

He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

MICAH 6:8

Review

Look back on the past year and ask God to show you areas of sin and weakness that might have hindered your spiritual growth.

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.

See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

PSALM 139:23-24

Repent

Confess your sin and ask God to forgive you.

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

1 JOHN 1:9

Refresh

Ask God to refresh you and to fill you with His Spirit and to give you a new vision for the year ahead.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you,

plans to give you hope and a future."

JEREMIAH 29:11

Renew

Ask God to help you see your life from His perspective, and renew your commitment to His vision and purpose for your life.

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and see what God's will is: His good, pleasing and perfect will.

ROMANS 12:2

Resolve

Resolve to be faithful to God's purpose in your life and to glorify Him in the areas that He has revealed to you as you have prayed to Him.

I press on toward the goal To win the prize for which God has called me heavenwoard in Christ Jesus. PHILIPPIANS 3:14

Record

Write down the things that God has revealed to you in prayer, and review them frequently, remembering that it is only by His grace that you are able to grow in Him.

Let us then apporach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

HEBREWS 4:16

Things that made me smile today......day 12

Hearing happy birthday being sung downstairs to a very special friend.....croissant for breakfast.......Christmas decorations in Jacksons nurseries......9 people eating fajitas around a table........launching a Chinese flying lantern to celebrate a friends 40th birthday x

Things that make me smile......day 10

So am a little late & have missed 2 days but never mind........
Being first to drive in a car park of freshly fallen snow.....Christmas lunch for £4.....being asked to a family birthday tea, when I'm not technically part of the family.....watching a child be in awe of a snow fall for the first time in her life.....friends never wanting the evening the end.......happy days!

Things that made me smile today.......day 8

Friends who encourage & believe I can be so much more than I am-especially in my photography......Christmas dinner out with my youth & secret Santa presents.....a houseful to come home too & say how your day is going

Things that made me smile today.......day 7

An e-mail first thing with a prayer request from one friend & a response already from another-love the way God can pull people together as friends wherever they maybe in the world......The dog "dancing" with my Dad......bread & butter pudding with friends

Things that made me smile today......day 6

...........making Quesadilla's in the kitchen at church for the AGM while listening to laughter and chit chat in the main hall.....Starbucks spicy chai latte-mmmmmmm.....sitting around the dinner table laughing & chatting......hearing a 7 year old & her mum laughing, chatting and playing as she's preparing for bedtime

So why am I doing this?!?!?!

The question maybe that after months/years of not bothering that much with the blog, I've suddenyl turned up 4 days on the run! Why?!?!?!?

Well I realised that I can become so focused on the negative - or looking for the "big" things in life that make me smile, that I forget about the moments that you need to pause and recognise as special - even if in the scheme of things they aren't monumental, we still need to recognise them.........

So that's what I'm trying to do here; remember them, appreciate them, and recognise them.........those special, fleeting moments that we all too often take for granted or don't even realise they're there........

How long I'll continue this for, I'm not too sure - but I'm hoping that my perspective, attitude and outlook will change with it!