Where I'm at.

Have just been preparing the material for small groups this week and wanted to note down a few things I have drawn from it.
So although these verses may not make sense to anyone else reading them. Wanted to share them and also get them down somewhere I could easily refer to them.

Selected verses from Matthew 5, 6 and 7.

God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied.

Pray for those who persecute you. In that way you will be acting as a true child of God
By loving and praying for our enemies we can overcome evil with good.

Watch out, don’t do your good deeds publicly to be admired by others. Give your gifts in private, and your father, who sees everything will reward you.
Do things because they are right and you mean and believe in them, God knows your heart and will reward actions that come from your heart.

Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for.
Keep on seeking and you will find.
Keep on knocking and the door will be opened to you.

Please pray for me that I'll not just be able to tolerate those who are "enemies" but that I will be able to love them and treat them in the way I would wish to be treated and not in the way they are treating me.

Sorry heavy blog but just "where i'm at" as the title says.
I'm generally happy, just would appreciate your prayers for this one area.
Love to all who read this -x-

New Year, New Experiences?

Well yes and no.
The start of 2008 has been how shall I say hmmm INTERESTING.

Well I entered 2008 in a new relationship, which of course is a good thing - at least for me. However to some people it is a controversial relationship for many different reasons.

I realise people will and do have some concerns and issues with the situation and if you are one of them reading this then please feel free to talk to me about it and we can chat it over. I'd much rather that than have people stew on it, or worse still react in a negative way about it. I don't bite.

So the start of 2008 has had its ups and downs. Its been very much a mixed bag both experiences and emotions and also reactions.

The good thing to come out of this (other than my relationship with Mark, who I click with more than anybody i've ever come into contact with before) is that due to some peoples behaviour its pushed me even closer in my relationship with God, both as me but also as part of a couple. I've never had the experience of praying with my other half before and yes it was strange at first but its a great thing and can only help to bring as closer as a couple as time goes on.
The thing that is strange yet comforting is that however people react good or bad when they find out whatever happens this just feels right. Its hard to explain but it just does, with all the issues that go with it it just feels right and with all the turbulance going on around me at times inside i feel at peace. God's pretty amazing sometimes. I've always said God has a sense of humour and I believe that now more than ever. I just know God must have something pretty amazing planned and is using this situation to mould, train and equip us for whatever lies ahead. Which in itself is pretty scary. But my life is in his hands and thats where its staying so hey lets see what happens next.

Time

Ok so here I am again 2 months on - ah that'd be whoops then!

Truth is I suppose i haven't really had anything interesting to say so just haven't said anything.

Well, its now the 11th December (14 sleeps to go by the way) and my main thought at the moment is (other than the hundreds of little ones) Where does the time go?

I'm half way through the Christmas programme. 2 carolling stints done, 2 to go. 2 Sundays in advent gone, 2 to go. Less than 2 working weeks till Christmas and I suppose more importantly 2 weeks today till Christmas Day.

I was chatting with some of my friends on Sunday about the "headless chicken race" and where we were at. At th moment in the grand scheme of things yeah its nice to think we're half way through, but at the same time we're still climbing to the peak of the mountain. Work and preparation wise we haven't yet completed the big tasks, we're half way through at the army time wise but not work wise. We will have reached the peak of our "mountain" and be sliding leisurely back down the other side from Sunday.

Saturday is the big one. Me and Alan and Mark put the stable up (that is after 2 hours of carolling and once we have counted the money) So long day Saturday but once its done we can then relax and enjoy the winding down before Chrismas.

The start of the Christmas season also got me thinking I will have been doing the band for 2 years in January! I was astounded by that 2 YEARS. It's certainly been an interesting 2 years and in some respects its been a long 2 years but really its whizzed by.

Some the question i'm still asking and continue to ask is

Where does the time go?

(Hope this was ok for you Liz :@)

Rambly Blog, but just how it spilled out of my brain - Hope it makes sense

Well, well, well, here I am again. Think i must be aiming for a once a month blog lol.

What a weekend! The Main Event has been and gone, and it was fantastic. I spent the weekend in the kids venue which was totally awesome! God is great! he really blessed the children and the team over the weekend. Keeping kids from 5 - 12 years happy, interested and in touch with the love of God on their own level is no mean feat but i believe by the grace of God it was managed during the weekend.

It really did bring home to me how much i miss being part of childrens ministries on a week to week basis. But at the same time I know God's timing is perfect - let me explain;
I really do miss doing what i did over the weekend at Ilford. But at the same time I know that with my current commitments - both army and work, it just isn't feasible to add another thing - it wouldn't be fair to me or the kids at the army. But I also don't believe that God is going to waste my talents and that part of my calling. Coming home from the weekend (and subsequently being ill (I thank God that my cold didn't take complete hold until Monday - when i then lost my voice) its given me time to think and evaluate.
I truly believe (and have for a while) that I am where God wants me to be, doing what he wants me to do at the moment. I'm currently leading the band and am a small groups leader and I'm loving and getting a lot from both of those things. But i think that at some point in time there will be a shift and I will have the opportunity and necessaary time and focus to be able to fulfil the other part of my calling, which i believe to be in childrens ministries. So I am waiting Gods time, but i know time is never wasted when you are doing what God wants you to do.
I am in the place God wants me to be, doing what God wants me to do and will endeavour to continue doing so by not limiting God and by continuing to listen to him and following his leading down whatever paths he chooses.

Thanks to Liz for giving me the chance to be a part of the kids main event and hopefully I will get the chance to be part of many more kids events in the future.

The Summer is over and Bec is blogging!

Well what do you know i'm blogging for the first time nearly 2 months.

Well a lot has happened in that time yet also not a lot has happened!

I would love to attribute my none blogging to the summer holidays but alas that would be an outright lie. Although I have still been keeping up to date on other peoples blogs I have simply been lacking the want or need to blog. But as I am child free as of 8.45am this morning thought that I would. I don't usually necessarily relish in the girls going back to school but for some reason this year I have. This morning I dropped them both off just before 8.45 (the doors always open earlier on the first day back - silly teachers, more fool them lol) and decided to treat myself to a sit down in one of the cafe's a hot chocolate and half an hour pure indulgent me time. I then did some bits in upminster and now here I am.

Well, what has been going on since I last blogged? Thats a very good question! I'm not actually that sure but looking at my diary here's a quick round up (Sorry for lack of pic's and photo's am at work so there aren't really any.

Since July 11th -

New Harry Potter Film came out - saw it the day before public release (so no-one could spoil it for me

Took the girls to see the Simpsons Movie 2 days before it officially came out - they were most impressed by that! (easily pleased hey?!?)

New Harry Potter book came out and read said book.

Took the girls to Southend for the day (which we do every summer) always a knackering but absolutely fantastic day and this year was no exception. As there are 2 of them I usually enlist the help of one of my friends for "a day of fun" and also cos the girls like different rides and more to the point dislike different rides logistacally I need another person. This year I let the girls suggest who we should invite and they chose my friend Mark ha ha ha ha. Now I know he enjoyed the day and the girls certainly enjoyed having him there but although I tried to describe what he was letting him in for - words just aren't adequate - you have to experience it - and experience it he did! That's what I call a baptism of fire lol!

Had a Christmas programme planning meeting - so yes in the summer holidays i have had to think about Christmas! But worse than that, due to the new practice schedule at Ilford we have half the amount of practices we did last year so will have to start Christmas music that much earlier. So not only have I had to think about Christmas, wait for it........................................................... I've had to listen to Christmas music!!!!!!!!!! Well for anyone who knows me quite well they will know I don't like to think about Christmas before I really really have to usually October or November but this year it was August!

Played family rounders in Upminster park.

Have been on holiday (yes again) this year I may have had a few holidays but have been away for no longer than 4 days at a time - Next year I am having 1 holiday that lasts the very least a whole week :@)

I had my "end of summer holiday massage"

And now the girls are back to school and will be back to some kind of normality. (Whatever "normal" is)

Well thats a BRIEF run down of what I've been up to.

Not particularly interesting blog I know but hey its a blog and we all know its been an absolute age since I last blogged so its an achievement.

Am still loving Facebook, have been having fairly long conversations with people I haven't seen or heard from in years so its a great.

Have also got to add that I am loving Glyn's new blog/ vlog long may it continue but I have to say I neither have the time nor the technical knowledge to be able to manage something like that so hat off to glyn but does he ever do any work? lol

Well thats about it for now, hopefully won't be as long till my next blog.

Long time no blog!

Well i can't believe its been a month already! A month since I last blogged - whoops! Well been very busy and haven't really had a lot to say i suppose. Have been to Portugal and to Scotland on holiday since i last blogged, had a great time relaxed in one place hiked up to the top of a mountain in another.

View from my tent

Well I made it to the top of Ben Nevis!!!!! Me, Bec, I hiked to top of the tallest mountain in britain - well I never. 4 1/2 hours up, 3 1/2 hours down - not bad going so i'm told but i'm not sure if they were trying to flatter my ego. But boy did I know I had legs (and a bum) the following couple of days. But it was amazing and breath taking. My real life mountain top experience!

I can't quite believe there is now only a week and a half left before the summer holidays ahhhhhhh!!!!!!!! Well we'll see how they go. I do enjoy my job but in the summer holidays my job is practically my life as once i've finished work all i'm good for is my bed and thats where i head more or less straight after my dinner! So its hello summer goodbye life he he he



Well thats me, other than the fact that i am finally becoming less addicted to facebook, although i'm probably still on there more than i should be but hey!

Books

This never quite made it onto my currently reading list. But can COMPLETELY recommend it. I read it in a week and only really read on Fridays. Fantastic book, just need to find another book to read now DOH!

Facebook is more addictive than blogging !!!

Sarah Type Request

I was wondering if anyone could recommend a humourous read. I've really got a lot out of the book i've been reading recently but at the same time could obviously be a bit hard going at times. So is there anyone who could recommend a book that made them laugh or a slightly more light hearted book?

Peace

Today I went to they gym. However I went to the gym feeling really angry. Now I don't get angry very often - frustrated yes, angry no. But when I do its not good.
Now I needed to go to they gym cos I hadn't been this week but I knew that if I worked out angry then I'd push myself too hard and do myself an injury. So whilst warming up on the cross trainer I put on the soundtrack to amazing grace, I know in the past if i've been stressed its really calmed me down.
By the end of the first track and some prayer (which always helps :->) I was suitably more chilled. And went on for the next half an hour or so having a really great worship session (which actually isn't unheard of whilst I work out in the gym.
But I just wanted to praise God that he can and does come close to us in the smallest places and some would say the strangest places, whether that be at the gym or in a traffic jam (I HATE TRAFFIC JAMS!) or even in the bathroom.
He is an awesome God who is capable of anything and everything .

Query - perhaps a long shot

Has anyone got a copy of Total Youth Invasion that I could borrow - I only want one track really so would prefer not to have to buy it. Is there a nice person out there who owns it by any chance who wouldn't mind me borrowing it briefly?

One of the great things about being part of a church community is that it offers us the family that so many of us crave, and that is how it should be. I once heard someone say that if you go into a church and there are no unusual people there then something is wrong; if there are no social misfits, no weirdoes, no people with body odour, no people who have poor social skills... then the question is 'why not?' What is it about this church that repels people who don't fit in? The church should be the one place where everyone can feel they belong.

Jonah

Well I was gonna blog about roots but there's so much to say that I wouldn't have clue where to start and i'd be here all day and still rambling on which would all be a bit long winded. I got an awful lot from roots some of which is very personal some of which will come out in the wash in conversations. All I will say is that I had an awesome time and came away with a great sense of peace which was great!
Right, onto blog subject. Sat down this morning and have read the introduction notes on Jonah in my study bible and instead of just highlighting the appropriate bits and not reading them again unless I open up that page. I thought i'd put it on here for me to refer to more easily.

As you read Jonah, see the full picture of God's love and compassion and realize that no one is beyond redemption. The gospel is for all who will repent and believe. Begin to pray for those who seem farthest from the kingdom, and look for ways to tell them about God. Learn from the story of this reluctant prophet and determine to obey God, doing whatever he asks and wherever he leads.

Rather than running away from God, trust him with your past, present and future. Saying no to God quickly leads to disaster. Saying yes brings new understanding of God and his purposes in the world.
We must not limit our focus to our own people. God wants his people to proclaim his love in words and actions to the whole world. He wants us to be his missionaries wherevere we are, wherever he sends us.

The Joys of being a homeowner!

Well what can I say my on Saturday 21st April 2007 my washing machine went to the big soap bubble in the sky.

Yes its true I now have no washing machine, so what did I do on my day off on Monday, thats right, I took my washing bin full of clothes and trotted off to my mum and dads and did my washing - oh what joy!!!!!!!


So I am currently scouring ebay for a decent washing machine, but until I find one its off to "Jackie's Launderette" to do my washing oh ha ha ha ha ha - sorry i'm laughing out loud as I wrote that that really has made me chuckle - can you imagine it!!!!!!!!! he he he he he he :->



There are some bonuses to using Jackie's launderette I put the stuff in the washing machine and depending on whether I am still there when its finished depends on whether me or my mum hangs it on the line. Oh yes and one MASSIVE advantage is that I don't usually really iron much other than my army shirts but when I use Jackie's launderette I get my stuff ironed for me he he he THANKS MUM :->

Portugal vs Essex??!!??

Well at the weekend I was supposed to go to Portugal with my mum and dad, but due to unforseen circumstances it has had to be postponed till June.
So whats a girl to do all geared up to spend a lazy weekend in the sun well i'll tell you she (with help it has to be said) felted the roof of her shed and cut her grass which resembled a jungle and wait for it wait for it....... WENT TO THE GYM.
But actually it wasn't all bad i did have a very productive weekend just not what was planned.

On Sunday (having already arranged that I wasn't gonna be at the army - got cover for the band etc) I decided to still have the Sunday off - which is very much a rareity!
And I must say I really enjoyed it - for many reasons. Just because I didn't go to the army doesn't mean I didn't spend any time in worship it just wasn't corporate/ group worship. I had my own worship time on the treadmill and cross trainer. Another reason I found Sunday interesting was because I got to see how everyone else does "sunday" Now I know I for one can get a bit caught up in my own little bubble on a sunday morning, it just doesn't really enter my head what othere people do on a sunday morning and here I was in the throng of it. It really did set my mind wandering and was an excellent catalyst for my thoughts.

So there you have it instead of going to Portugal i spent the weekend in sunny essex - which for a change isn't meant in a sarcastic way. The wetaher was lovely and I had a very productive weekend and best yet I still have the weekend in portugal to look forward to so there is a silver lining to this cloud :->

For those who are interested

Tim (Fisher) and Helen are engaged -

Planning to marry Summer 2008 .

I read this...

It seems odd to have to say so, but too much religion is a bad thing. We can’t get too much of God, can’t get too much faith and obedience, can’t get too much love and worship. But religion – the well intentioned efforts we make to “get it all together” for God – can very well get in the way of what God is doing for us. The main and central action is everywhere and always what God has done, is doing and will do for us. Jesus is the revelation of that action. Our main and central task is to live in responsive obedience to God’s action revealed in Jesus. Our part in the action is the act of faith.
But more often than not we become impatiently self important along the way and decide to improve matters with our two cents worth. We add on, we supplement, we embellish. But instead of improving on the purity and simplicity of Jesus, we dilute clarity, clutter the simplicity. We become fussily religious, or anxiously religious. We get in the way.

Comments please...

Haircut day is nearly here - HURRAH!

At the weekend I am finally getting my haircut it was due for a cut a few weeks ago but I had to put it off so that I could get my hair up during my week off so it was easy when I went swimming and I didn't need to take my straighteners with me. But finally it is in sight. I don't know how you all feel but I just get to the stage where i'm desperate for a haircut and it becomes a really big thing cos my hair is doing my brain in - well I reached that stage a good 3 weeks ago and finally its nearly here woo hoo.

And yes for those of you who are interested i am getting a considerable amount chopped off and this is not just me getting all excited about a trim.

Does anyone else have weird things like this comments please - or am I the only one who gets this compulsively obsessive about matters like this

SCARY SCARY SCARY!!!!!

Ok so i'm not a mum yet, but I have to blog a whole "they grow up so fast" blog!!!!!!!
Today was a scary milestone. Today was the day one of my charges got her own mobile phone!!!!!! Ok so now i'm sounding really bad, but it's sooooooo scary where the time goes last thing I knew she was just turning 5, i blink and suddenly she's 10 and has a mobile. I know the average age of a person to have a first mobile is getting younger but still it's so worrying.

While I'm blogging I suppose I should also add I am also now appreciating how daunting it can be for parents to let go at different stages.
When the schools go back becky will walk home on her own for the first time. Now she lives less then 1/2 a mile from her school yet this is such a big thing. I can't work out though whether i'm feeling it so much because between 8am and 6.30pm she is my responsibility oh whether its just cos its a daunting thing now she's growing up I actually think its both but more a case of the whole letting go and the whole independance thing - which is a scary prospect cos how much worse will it be when it is my own child - actually no I love the girls almost as if they were my own so it'll probably only be slightly worse. I refuse to become neurotic :->

Having thought about this over the last couple of days i remembered an incident when i was going out on my own the first few times and when you're allowed to start crossing "the big roads" by yourself. When we were little we were allowed round the block on our bikes, but I wasn't allowed to the newsagents - which involved crossing "a big/ bigger road" so once I was out of sight what did bolshy bec do - headed straight for the newsagents!!!!! That basically sums up the way I was back then (shame certain members of my family don't realise I've changed and actually people do grow up and grow out of things - but thats a whole other blog) But anyway - at the time I just thought my mum was being silly i mean i was out on my own and had crossed that road thousands of times before and was literally only 100 yards further then the places mum let me go anyway so I didn't see that problem. But I totally do now ah hindsight is a wonderful thing. Sorry mum :->
Anyway, basically i'm gonna sound like a complete granny but I don't care -

THEY GROW UP SO FAST!

Whose Kitchen is this?!

This is supposedly my kitchen, but I don't think i've ever seen this amount of work surface since I moved in 2 years ago!

2 Weeks ago I decided it was time to clean my kitchen blimey - I must have been ill!

I had to take pictures as I'm not sure i'll ever see that amount of work surface again - well not till I move out anyway!!!!!!

This is what it looked like afterwards.

(2 Weeks later I can assure you it no longer looks like this :->)

p.s Yes I got my new phone today (Woo Hoo) - hence being able to retrieve the photo's