Being a voice

I've being trying to write this blog for a few weeks now, but I'm finding it difficult to write it in a way in which people can know what I'm getting at and they can understand what I want to be/achieve. 


It all started a few weeks ago when my mother and I were talking about university and what my plans are for the future, and after talking for quite a while about the prospects of oxford (hey, I know what you're thinking, but I'm actually pretty smart ok?) she started telling that if I wanted to have that sort of life, I need a clear strong voice of my own - an opinion, a belief, a personality and a general being.


So this got me thinking, what voice do I want to have? What sort of woman do I want to be? And, as per usual, this brought me back to prayer, and my bible.


So here are the two verses I want to focus on:


1. 1 Peter 3:4 (NLT)

You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God.

I want to focus on this verse because this is pretty much a description of the woman I want to be. I want to en-capture this verse for myself, and ask God to make me beautiful on the inside. I want people to recognise that gentle and quiet spirit within me, and know that I'm a child of God.

2. Matthew 12:15-21 (MSG)  

Look well at my handpicked servant; 

         I love [her] so much, take such delight in [her]. 
   I've placed my Spirit on [her]; 
         [she'll] decree justice to the nations. 
   But [she] won't yell, won't raise [her] voice; 
         there'll be no commotion in the streets. 
   [She] won't walk over anyone's feelings, 
         won't push you into a corner. 
   Before you know it, [her] justice will triumph; 
         the mere sound of [her] name will signal hope, even 

      among far-off unbelievers. 

This verse is so perfect to me, because it gives a general summary of what I want to be/achieve. 

So all that's left to do is work hard, trust in God and believe for the best. . . watch this space. 

Revision

I don't know how I feel about revision.

On the one hand, it's such an obvious opportunity to learn and re-learn all the amazing things and resources my teachers have given me, in order to get brilliant grades so that when I older, I'll have the choice of what I want to do in life.

But it just seems that whenever I come round to doing it, I can't help but procrastinate and get distracted by everything and anything!

In order to try and help myself, I've tried many different methods such as audio tapes, going all arty, handwriting it, doing past papers, using a colour code, etc. But no matter what I do I can't help but get sidetracked onto doing something slightly more pointless.

For example, I'm genuinely supposed to be revising right now. I've had the bitesize 'Writing to analyse, review and comment' section open for approximately an hour now,  yet I'm still on the introduction page!

Does anyone else get this is or is it just me?! How do you revise best?

(This is actually a picture my friend put up on facebook of her revision; mine looks much neater, just to clarify ;)

The Purpose Driven Declaration

Today I am stepping across the line. I’m tired of waffling and I’m finished with wavering, I’ve made my choice, the verdict is in, and my decision is irrevocable. I’m going God’s way. There’s no turning back now!

I will live the rest of my life serving God’s purposes with God’s people on God’s planet for God’s glory. I will use my life to celebrate his presence, cultivate his character, participate in his family, demonstrate his love, and communicate his Word. 

Since my past has been forgiven, and I have a purpose for living, and a home awaiting in heaven,  I refuse to waste any more time or energy on shallow living, petty thinking, trivial talking, thoughtless doing, useless regretting, hurtful resenting, or faithless worrying. Instead I will magnify God, grow to maturity, serve in ministry, and fulfill my mission in the membership of his family.

Because this life is preparation for the next, I will value worship over wealth, “we” over “me,”  character over comfort, service over status, and people over possessions, position, and pleasures. I know what matters most, and I’ll give it all I’ve got. I’ll do the best I can with what I have for Jesus Christ today.

I won’t be captivated by culture, manipulated by critics, motivated by praise, frustrated by problems, debilitated by temptation, or intimidated by the devil. I’ll keep running my race with my eyes on the goal, not the sidelines or those running by me. When times get tough, and I get tired, I won’t back up, back off, back down, back out, or backslide. I’ll just keep moving forward by God’s grace. I’m Spirit-led, purpose driven, and mission-focused, so I cannot be bought, I will not be compromised, and I shall not quit until I finish the race.

I’m a trophy of God’s amazing grace, so I will be gracious to everyone, grateful for every day, and generous with everything God entrusts to me.

To my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, I say, "However, whenever, wherever, and whatever you ask me to do, my answer in advance is yes!  Wherever you lead and whatever the cost I’m ready. Anytime. Anywhere. Anyway.  Whatever it takes, Lord; whatever it takes!  I want to be used by you in such a way, that on that final day I’ll hear you say, 'Well done, thou good and faithful one. Come on in, and let the eternal party begin!'"

(Originally written by Rick Warren)

Lifegroup

As you may or may not have noticed, I haven't written a blog in a long time. . . so yesterday I was trying to think of something to write about when my lifegroup leader/inspiring brother in Christ told me to write about lifegroup and what it means to me. But the thing is, lifegroup has done so much for me that I don't even think I could fit it all in! And it definitely doesn't help that I've never been especially gifted in the writing areas of life. . . I got a B 2 2 2 in my grade card for english this term you see :/ But anyways, I chose to make this blog so I'm going to have a shot at describing to you what my amazing lifegroup has done for me. . . 


I can't remember exactly when it was but from what I can recall, lifegroup started around April 2009. I remember I felt so redonkulously privileged to be invited because I hadn't been at the Kerith (my church) that long and I didn't really feel like I deserved to be in a lifegroup yet, but I guess God had some very different ideas! 

I think I can safely say, that first lifegroup blew us all away. It was at the Findlay's house and we started off by watching a video about dust. Now I can understand if you're thinking 'dust?! what does that have to do with anything?!' but believe me it has everything to do with our lifegroup. See the video was talking about the dust that the disciples collected on the shoes and robes as they travelled from place to place, preaching and teaching and healing and just doing all that crazy stuff that we christians love to do, and anyway, Liam said during that lifegroup that his aim was to make us dusty with the Holy Spirit. The analogy was that we would walk in and with the Holy Spirit as we live our lives so that people can see it on us and people will know who we are and what we're doing. 


Since that first lifegroup we've seen some pretty awesome stuff, all including the Holy Spirit. Prophecies are now the norm at every lifegroup and we tend to spend about an hour, praying for each other and building each other up to be greater brothers and sisters in Christ. Every time, I come away feeling full of new knowledge of God and feeling uplifted and inspired to do more for my faith. I was considering trying to list everything I've learnt from lifegroup, but after trying a few times and failing epically, I've decided against that idea. 

Something that always really bugged me was that my parents always mix up lifegroup and LIFE. Whenever I get picked up from the bus stop on a wednesday they say 'so where's LIFE tonight?' or when we're discussing when to have our family time this week, my mum would say something like 'well I'm actually free this friday! oh wait no, Tabitha has lifegroup'. Now just to clarify, for all of you that don't know, LIFE is our church's massive youth event on friday and lifegroup is our small group of friends talking, praying and learning about God at someone's house every other wednesday. So as I was saying, this always really irritated me when they mixed up the two, because they're completely different! However, last night I saw something really amazing. Lifegroup came to LIFE. Suddenly people from the youth were getting up on stage and praying over everyone there, people were prophesying over each other and there was even healing too! This made me so redonkulously happy and I realised that the thing I wanted most was now for LIFE to be just like one massive lifegroup! God literally never fails to surprise and delight me!


The other day I was praying for LIFE and I got the verse Isaiah 54:2-3 - 'Enlarge your house; build an addition. Spread out your home, and spare no expense! For you will soon be bursting at the seams. Your descendants will occupy other nations and resettle the ruined cities.' Now this just blew me away. It gives such a vision for the future of LIFE and I especially love the part about he descendants occupying other nations and ruined cities because this is exactly what we want to see! Places all over the nation being changed by God and that little friday night youth group from Bracknell ;) I'm praying to see this happen and I'm believing that it will. 


Lifegroup is definitely getting pretty dusty. 

My beautiful house

About a month ago, I found out that we are most likely moving house. At first I was completely against the idea, as I love 'Coopers' and we've lived here for almost 11 years of my life. I continued to hate the idea for a few weeks until somebody said to me that 'everything we have in life is a gift from God, he has given it to us to look after for him and he will take it back at the right time' (this can be seen in Romans 11:36). When I thought about it this way, I was thankful for the 11 years I've had in this amazing house and now see my next house as an adventure. Of course I will still miss my house loads, but I'm still excited to see what God has in store for this next chapter of my life :) 

(the picture isn't entirely relevant but it has the slope in my garden so bare with me)

Heavenly Father,

I come to You in the name of Jesus and by the power of Your Holy Spirit. Please reveal the importance of my position. When I look at myself, I don't see it. But when I lift my eyes and look at the desperate need and devastation surrounding me, I long to have my part. I want to prove my love in every way possible. I will not despise the cordial of healing. I will intercede for life in the face of death. I want to walk in wisdom, insight, intuition and understanding. I want to enter into the adventure of partnering with You to redeem the attack of the enemy. I will put my arrows to the string and send my prayers heavenward. I am You answer to so many problems; open my eyes to see it clearly. Amen.

This prayer was originally by Lisa Bevere, from the book 'Fight Like a Girl', but the words have changed my life so much, that I've made it my own and have hopefully passed it on to you x

Childminding

Because I'm too young to get a reeaal job, I've spent a couple days a week childminding a random selection of children. . . one of which is my little friend Naomi.
Naomi is such a smart 5 year old, it's actually insane. Everytime she comes over there are a new selection of random comments that make me laugh. Here are a few from today -
'(on the tv) comb your hair! brush your teeth! get the mud out your pants!' '(naomi) I don't have any mud in my pants, but sometimes there's a bit of poo when I forget to wipe'
'you must not clean your room, it's such a mess.' (my room was actually the cleanest it's been in years)
'that girl is so spoilt, it must be hard for her, I always get what I want'
'please can I have that piece cake you're eating?'
good times x