Day 6: Slowing down, I've got all Summer.. #45daysofsummer

Well the moral of the story today (or this week) is to stop eating out as I have been feeling rather full..!

However, in weeks like this, when I get the time and space to slow down and catch up with friends and family, it is usually over coffee & cake or at a meal time, as having food together is a very social thing. And so we'll overlook it this time! But definitely need to consider other social activities to suggest when meeting with people!

I quite enjoyed having an admin morning first thing today and now I'm basically packed (and within the weight limit!) and all the paperwork is printed and organised! So all that's left for me to do is slow down (even more, as this week has been fairly full already), chill, read, sunbathe, eat, hangout with people.. Which is essentially what I've been able to do today. Today has seen some rather deep and profound conversations about Prison Break, Grey's Anatomy, hair accessories, summer reading lists (all important things to discuss at this point in the holidays!), but equally some lighter topics such as compromising, trusting God, the book of John, and missionary stories.. Rich and diverse and keeping me thinking!

But grateful to have some more time to carry on reading Her Daughter's Dream by Francine Rivers (recommended read!) and think everyone should read at least one Francine Rivers book this Summer and be inspired! Even got a bit of a cuddle from Missy while I was reading (although I wonder if she just thought I looked like a comfy place to nap).

                                                   

Here's the recipe for the muffins I made yesterday by the way, as they seemed to go down a treat! I'm sure you could substitute the raspberries for another soft fruit if they don't take your fancy. This makes approx. 20 muffins (plenty to share!) and since they contain two types of fruit (almost) they can surely be considered healthy?!

Or go to http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/raspberry-orange-muffins-recipe.html (in case the picture isn't that good!)

One more thing to share this evening! Ooh as well as the fact that I harvested one of my little courgettes today (perhaps prematurely!) but it was delicious and so cute! Have lots more growing on there too, will upload a picture tomorrow - the plant has well and truly flourished and seems to have exploded in terms of growth over the past week! BUT, that's not what I wanted to share. Look at my pansies!!! Grown from seed and have taken a few months but we finally have some smiley little flowers :) and I'm so happy I got into see them before I leave for my travels. 

On that note I'll wish you all a smiley Thursday, and leave you with the encouraging thought that sometimes it takes a long time for good things to grow, but it's worth the wait!
Goodnight!

Day 5: Have you ever travelled south of the Equator? #45daysofsummer

Well, where to start today?! It has felt jam-packed with goodness!

Let's go chronologically as that makes it simple!

Raspberry orange muffins were the first thing I thought of when I woke up this morning (although I can honestly say that's not a normal thing for me, to wake up with baking on my mind...!) But that was an easy way to get me out of bed quickly... Here's the result of my efforts:

Nom nom...

Mom and Matty have both eaten two each, so they must be good! And not only have I ticked off another Summer Project activity, I also put to good use the raspberries that Dad and I harvested yesterday and had way more mix than I expected so made 21 muffins and have been able to share them with people :) bonus!

The afternoon saw Chloe and I heading to Starbucks for a sophisticated lunch in the sunshine, and then a trip to... (wait for it...) COUNTRY BASKETS! Felt the need to capitalise that as it was such a fun visit!! Neither of us had been before, but think I may have found my new favourite shop! We spent at least a couple of hours wandering the aisles and trying our best not to make unnecessary purchases (which for the most part, worked very well!) but it's just so cheap and there are so many pretty things there! Hurray for craft shops and friends with similar (potentially geeky) interests! (Not calling you a geek, Chlo!)

Then, after a quick rush round Merry Hill (holiday shopping now complete! Yes!) I got to hang out with some of my favourite young people for the rest of the summery evening starting at McDonalds with Hannah for some inspirational conversations, and then at the annual Resound CAL BBQ (Thank you Morgan family!).. Naturally this included way too much meat, vegetarian jokes, lots of selfies, the water game (not sure that's what it's called but it's a game involving water!), the 'Gareth Bale' game (sadly this game doesn't actually involved Gareth Bale as one night expect), and general all-round fun times.

Us three on the right are all vegetarians. Subconsciously we felt the need to sit together..

The Gareth Bale game.

Lovely Beth (who was overjoyed this evening upon being asked if she was 19!)

So Day 5 has turned out to be another scorcher. Thankful for these Summer days and for the community I am a part of that is so rich in love and joy.

Interesting fact of the day (thank you Hannah & Aisha for this): I have never been South of the equator. I think. I tried to go through all the countries I've been to in my head and I'm pretty sure I haven't. I can also understand that how interesting this fact is, is totally subjective but I wanted to share it in case it enlightens anyone else. I felt enlightened when I realised. And now have a new goal for travelling: at least one time, I'd like to travel south of the equator and be aware that I'm doing so. 

Another random something.. I recently bought Bethel's latest album 'We Dance' and have been listening to it non-stop when I'm in the car. It's a quality album, and worth a purchase if you fancy a Spirit-led, spacious style worship set that's lyrically creative and fresh. I think I could go through each song on the album and talk about what God is saying through it, but I want to highlight just a couple for now. 'You make me brave' is on there, which I blogged about last week. 'It is well' is in another league altogether and may even get a post of it's own at some point as well as has meant a lot to me recently. But another stand out song for me at the moment is 'Shepherd'. Wanted to share it so you can have a listen. http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xMW-O9GB-UY Enjoy and be blessed. 

Out of the mouth of babes

My next door neighbour's Grand-daughter is six years old. Her name is Lucy.

Yesterday afternoon when she got back from school, she came round to our house to listen to me play guitar for a while (she has a guitar too, and hopes to start having lessons soon).

I played for her a song I wrote from Psalm 113 about giving God all the praise He is due.

Let the name of the LORD be praised,

both now and forever more.
From the rising of the sun, until the night falls.

He will be exalted over all the nations,

His glory above the heavens.

Who is like the LORD our God? Not one!
Hallelujah, praise the LORD!

Not to us, LORD, not to us

But to Your name be the glory

Because of Your love and faithfulness.

I wasn't sure whether she would understand it, but it was short and sweet and she seemed to enjoy it!

As she sat on the sofa, we talked about her day and school and the band she's in with two of her friends. She sang to me two of the songs they've written at breaktime, zero to twenty and I used to be a dragon.

This kid is one sweet, creative little bean.

She went on to tell me the story she wrote last week in her literacy class, about a dragon (common theme!) who couldn't find his mother, and she embellished it with different voices for each character. She hopes they'll read it out at the assembly her class is doing next Wednesday. Her line in the assembly (which she already knows verbatim) is 'Now would you please put your hands together and bow your heads and say this prayer with us'.

She also told me about how much she loves learning about space and the solar system. She can name all 9 planets in order, which they don't learn in school until year five she told me! And then she explained the Big Bang Theory to me...

'Before the big bang there was nothing. There was no time or people or air, there was just nothing. And then I don't know what, but something just sort of, exploded. And then there was the world. And eventually humans came, after the dinosaurs...'

This little six-year old loves learning and reading books. She soaks up information like a dry sponge, and can tell you all about what she's read. She's beautiful and so advanced for her age.

But her words struck me. Like I was being hit with a big stick.

'before... there was nothing...'

She's read in one of these books, that before the world came into existence there was absolutely nothing. And out of nothing, something exploded and the world was created.

That's all.

She went on to tell me more about her day, but I couldn't leave it like that. Believing that there was just nothing. But how do you start a conversation about God with a six-year old? How do I correct her, and tell her that the book wasn't exactly right in saying that there was 'nothing'?

I almost held my tongue.

But then I thought of her, growing up, and never hearing about or getting the chance to believe in our great God. I thought of her as a teenager, coming over to tell me about her day at school, and the chance of the conversation ever turning to God, when she's telling me that Science is her favourite subject and the details of the Big Bang Theory, and about boys and music etc.etc.etc.

What better time than this to introduce her to Him? To put her straight on some of those details that the book missed out.

So I asked her about the line she has to say in her assembly next week and when they pray at school, does she know who they pray to? She said 'Oh no one in particular but this is what we say...' I can't remember the prayer she recited, but it started off 'May God grant us....' and went on for about 8 lines.

I told her that when she prays that she's talking to God. We spoke about Him for a little while. She believes in Him and has read the Bible before, and we talked of how He lives in Heaven but also here on Earth with us, and that He lives inside those who ask Him to live in them. He helps us live our lives and we can talk to Him by praying. And I told her that before the Big Bang, when there was nothing, the Bible actually tells us that there was something; there was God. And He created the Earth and that was probably a Big Bang!

Her little face lit up as she understood, and that 'I don't know how but something sort of exploded' all of a sudden made sense to her. She concluded that God must have made the world and humans because He was lonely...!

And there the conversation ended, because she's six and her attention span, although unusually long, is still that of a six-year old!

She wanted to see the snails, and finish her blueberry muffin, and see if by lying down on the lawn she could spot the baby blackbird who has been living in the bush at the bottom of our garden...

Then she went back next door to say hello to her Grandad (apparently on arrival at their house she ran straight up the drive and said hi to my dad, before coming over to find me!)

...

I came home later that evening, and my mom said she saw Pauline (Lucy's Grandma) earlier. She told her that when Lucy went in after being round ours, she wrote a song about Jesus.

I thought about it for a while, (I am currently thanking God for prompting me to talk to her about Him when He did!!) and realised that throughout the entire conversation, I hadn't spoken about Jesus. In my song I sang 'LORD' and we'd only spoken about 'God'.

She'd gone away and written a song about Jesus.

I can only think that it was the Holy Spirit giving her the words and connecting the dots!

Matt 21:15-16 - But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple area, "Hosanna to the Son of David," they were indignant. "Do you hear what these children are saying?" they asked him. "Yes," replied Jesus, "have you never read, "'from the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise'?"

Amen!

The children knew who He truly was, even thought the chief priests and teachers of the law didn't.

Oh and I've learned a lesson through all of this.

Christ, His death and Resurrection are essential to the Gospel.

It's only through Him we have access to the Father.

Telling people about Father God only is only telling part of the truth!

It's like telling a man lost in a desert and dying of thirst, that there is an oasis, a fresh spring of water to re-hydrate and refresh him! But then not telling him where it is or how to get there...

Plenty of people today believe in a 'god', some even believe in Father God, but they don't know Jesus.

Without Him, we can not truly know the Father.

Easter Break: day one.

OK firstly, my cousin just posted this to me on fb and it is incredible.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIhGxEdez98

Click and watch and be amazed all over again by the gospel.

(sometimes you need to hear it again afresh, right? I don't know how I get so blasé about all of this..)

Right, so now you've watched that.

Check this out!

Ready to bake...

Ready to eat..

It's a shame the photo doesn't do it huge amounts of justice! But trust me, it was good. Especially for a first ever attempt at making lasagna (from scratch might I add!).

In fact, I was so excited about baking today (and being all 'housewifey'!) I've had to stop myself from making a goal of 'creating a masterpiece a day' for the duration of my easter break..

(This would count as masterpiece #1, obviously.)

But I'm pretty sure after like 3 days I'd run out of things to make, or else run out of creativity or motivation.

And in all fairness, it would just be another way to procrastinate from getting my essays and revision done.

But we'll see what I can do, anyway.

Like I also made chocolate cornflake cakes for supper whilst watching Glee, for Mom and I to eat while watching Eclipse again.

(Can't think of a segway so this can be it!)

Last night I was reading Eat, Pray, Love (getting through it slowly - I'm almost half way through).

The story is written by Elizabeth Gilbert, and is about the year she takes out to travel and find herself and ultimately, get her life back on track. It's split in to three parts, and I'm in the second one - she is currently in India, living in an Ashram while visiting her guru (I know this sounds weird, you have to read it to understand but stick with me here!).

So last night I got to a part where she was admitting how hard she finds the act of meditation and I was so incredibly challenged by it, I couldn't wait to write it down and reflect on what she'd said.

"There's a difference between meditation and prayer, though both practices seek communion with the divine. I've heard it said that prayer is the act of talking to God, while meditation is the act of listening. Take a wild guess as to which comes easier for me. I can prattle away to God about all my feelings and my problems all the livelong day, but when it comes time to descend in to silence and listen. . . well that's a different story. When I ask my mind to rest in stillness, it is astonishing how quickly it will turn (1) bored, (2) angry, (3) depressed, (4) anxious or (5) all of the above."

What she said so resonated with how I feel most of the time (minus the angry and depressed parts).
Even when I sat with God this morning, and prayed and read the Word, I felt like this.

It's funny how in the times when life is crazy and hectic, I so crave that quiet time and just to hear God in the stillness.. and then when life calms down and I get some time to be still and listen, it becomes the hardest thing in the world for me to do!

I was listening to someone talk a few weeks ago, and he was saying that we can't or we shouldn't be bored with God.. and I agree with him on that. This is not so much that I am bored by or with God, it just feels more like I've got a case of ADHD of the mind - I can't be still long enough to simply sit and wait on God, and listen to what He's saying.

And yet God says, 'Be still and know that I am God'.

He spoke to Samuel while he was sleeping, and to Elijah in the still small voice.

And I want for Him to speak to me in the quiet, too.

But I know I have to listen in order to hear..

It's encouraging, though, to know that others feel like it too (I know it's only in a book, and Elizabeth doesn't have a relationship with God through Christ like I do, but it's encouraging still..)

Even in Romans 7, Paul talks about not doing what he wants to do, and doing what he doesn't want to do and while he's not talking about listening, I think it's applicable here.

So this is something I've asked God for help with, and I'm hoping for change.

:)

It's a good thing my God is in to change!

That's enough musings for one day I think.

G'night!