The Furnace
I was at The Furnace tonight. I was just planning to check it out and spend some time with God, but what meant to be an one hour time quiet time turned into five hours of God speaking straight into my heart and passionate prayer.
I was sitting there with my bible minding my own business, just hidden out of sight, when a whole bunch of people came in for a 'Monk' team meeting. So my hour of seeking God turned into an eavesdropping session from the little corner of which I was hidden. As I was listening to each of the 'Monks' (interestingly the name of which the people who supervise The Furnace are called) speak about what they had heard, seen and done over the month the Furnace has been open, I felt like something just lined up with my heart, something clicked into place, something moved. I totally caught the Vision that is, The Furnace.
God had been speaking to me over the past month or so about alot of things. One of these ironically happened to be this little place called The Furnace Prayer Studio, so there I was to see what all the fuss was about. Its amazing how God works. Passionate prayer over our city, believeing for lives to be changed and come to know Jesus, encouragement and unity within the Body of Christ these are some of the things they spoke of in tonights meeting. To be part of something that is going to change this state as we know it - that is powerful. My heart is totally there. And I know Gods hand is totally there.
Right now the Furnace Prayer Studio is open 24/7 for people to come in for quiet prayer or with a few friends. But what I really thought was great was that not only can you go there and pray, you can go there and worship God both artistically and creatively. How beautiful is it to see the hopes, dreams and crys of christians all over this city outstretched across those four walls in engaging swirls of colour and prose? Or to have your hearts cry sung accompanied by guitar. Beautiful.
This city needs to know God, this city needs to be saved and there I was, right in the heart of the boiler room.
How far does the rabbit hole go?
There is so much darkness in the world. Alot of the time we just don't see it smack bang in our faces all the time or maybe we just choose to ignore it, the fact is, it is there. Pornography, foul language, cynicism, hate, pride, self harm, self-idolisation, jaded and selfishness; its all there in our world but how many of us really realize how deep the rabbit hole really goes?
People want to be recognised, they put up fronts and hide behind attitudes or demeanors ("I'm so emo.") People will do anything for recognition, sell their souls, their dignity, their hearts for some dime store rip off. They sell off everything that is pricelessly eternal for their idea of individual 'self expression'. The desire to belong is a powerful pull, we all want to know that our lives stand for something, something important, something desirous. We cry out for and answers but many don't like or accept the answer. People are crying out for something more. If they only knew. There is a better way.
I've seen the rabbit hole. I've even bent over the edge and have taken a good look. What I saw was unnerving. Pastor Sue talked about compromise on Friday night. Compromise. Such a word with so much connotation. Sometimes I just need to draw the line about how people to talk to me. If people feel comfortable swearing around me and acting rudely, why is that? Do I come across like its ok? Do I come across like a compromising christian? I love people, don't get me wrong, even the rude ones... and there is grace. But there comes a time when I have to realise that there is a line with how much of the world I should allow in when embracing people. I wish I could say nothing much effects me anymore.
I've come to the point where I know I need to protect myself. I need to protect the sweetness and joy that God has given me. I need to be a bright light, set apart in a world where there is so much emptiness and apathy. I'm cutting the strings that tie me down, I don't care what the world says.
God give me a heart that is sweet, soft and gentle.
People want to be recognised, they put up fronts and hide behind attitudes or demeanors ("I'm so emo.") People will do anything for recognition, sell their souls, their dignity, their hearts for some dime store rip off. They sell off everything that is pricelessly eternal for their idea of individual 'self expression'. The desire to belong is a powerful pull, we all want to know that our lives stand for something, something important, something desirous. We cry out for and answers but many don't like or accept the answer. People are crying out for something more. If they only knew. There is a better way.
I've seen the rabbit hole. I've even bent over the edge and have taken a good look. What I saw was unnerving. Pastor Sue talked about compromise on Friday night. Compromise. Such a word with so much connotation. Sometimes I just need to draw the line about how people to talk to me. If people feel comfortable swearing around me and acting rudely, why is that? Do I come across like its ok? Do I come across like a compromising christian? I love people, don't get me wrong, even the rude ones... and there is grace. But there comes a time when I have to realise that there is a line with how much of the world I should allow in when embracing people. I wish I could say nothing much effects me anymore.
I've come to the point where I know I need to protect myself. I need to protect the sweetness and joy that God has given me. I need to be a bright light, set apart in a world where there is so much emptiness and apathy. I'm cutting the strings that tie me down, I don't care what the world says.
God give me a heart that is sweet, soft and gentle.
Amazing
I am so priviledged to be serving our new christians. It is the most exciting place to be, God is doing so much in their lives I often find myself in total awe. I love talking to them about what God is doing in their lives.
The amazing thing is that these are people who never knew God before and now they are giving testimony to the amazing things that are happening in their lives! These are people who when they first got saved were like "yeah lets see.." and God has moved in that window of opportunity. I know this is what God does, but it still blows me away every time. Every week I am seeing people getting saved and lives transformed. Sometimes I drive home from church in total amazement and wonder. God is soo amazing.
We have our church grand opening in a couple weeks and we have Brian Houston from Hillsong Sydney coming to open it. With our church building finished and all that is happening we are to be going to be going to a new level, I can just feel it! And I know Club180 our new christians program, is just going to explode in this new season... Yes, pressed down, shaken together and running over.
There is so much to be excited, expectant and grateful for :)
The amazing thing is that these are people who never knew God before and now they are giving testimony to the amazing things that are happening in their lives! These are people who when they first got saved were like "yeah lets see.." and God has moved in that window of opportunity. I know this is what God does, but it still blows me away every time. Every week I am seeing people getting saved and lives transformed. Sometimes I drive home from church in total amazement and wonder. God is soo amazing.
We have our church grand opening in a couple weeks and we have Brian Houston from Hillsong Sydney coming to open it. With our church building finished and all that is happening we are to be going to be going to a new level, I can just feel it! And I know Club180 our new christians program, is just going to explode in this new season... Yes, pressed down, shaken together and running over.
There is so much to be excited, expectant and grateful for :)
A room with a view...
...its just a season! :)
ECU IBM Advantage photo mission
This is one of the ECU Advantage promotional flyers my friend Andy and I posed for at the start of last year. It so bizare seeing my face posted all over uni, so I thought I would start an ECU Advantage poster photo quest to see how many there actually are around. Today I was at ECU Joondalup and I found two in the megalab:
In the megalab printing area + On the bulletin board in the megalab hallway.
Never want it to end
I really should go to bed right now. I don't know why I am even still up, I'm not doing my assignment. I'm just sitting here meandering on the internet. There is so much time wasting to be had online, its really not healthy. I'm starting to suspect that MySpace is the source of all time wasting evil...
Uni work has been piling up lately and I have neither the motivation nor the patience to sit down and try to do a solid hours work. I know I'm going to have to buckle down and do it sometime soon, but right now its like I would rather be doing anything but.
I can't believe its 2 weeks till exams. I'm feeling a tinge of melancholy because I almost don't want this semester to end. Infact, I really don't want this year to end. I'm really enjoying uni life right now, the potential of what I am studying and all the people I am meeting - I know I am going to have to say goodbye to some of them and I think thats going to be interestingly hard.
Sometimes I wonder why I love people and relationships so much... Anyway, I better get to bed. I have to wake up early to do some filming.
Uni work has been piling up lately and I have neither the motivation nor the patience to sit down and try to do a solid hours work. I know I'm going to have to buckle down and do it sometime soon, but right now its like I would rather be doing anything but.
I can't believe its 2 weeks till exams. I'm feeling a tinge of melancholy because I almost don't want this semester to end. Infact, I really don't want this year to end. I'm really enjoying uni life right now, the potential of what I am studying and all the people I am meeting - I know I am going to have to say goodbye to some of them and I think thats going to be interestingly hard.
Sometimes I wonder why I love people and relationships so much... Anyway, I better get to bed. I have to wake up early to do some filming.
Undeserving
Have you ever felt undeserving of something? Thats totally how I am feeling now. Undeserving.
There are so many things to be thankful for I feel like my little heart is going to burst. I've been having so many revelations lately, about the magnitude and potential of what I am studying to be, the people He has placed around me, the place where He has called me to serve at in church... so many things that God is doing and revealing to me that just makes me sit back and go "Wow. God you are good.".
I feel so undeserving right now. Who am I? Who am I to be blessed? To me (and proberly to you), I'm a nobody. A nothing, a zilch, another face in the crowd - but the intriguing thing is, to God I am a somebody. When I say I am incompetent, incapable, and a serial screw up, He says I am valuable, I am important and He can still use me. Wow. I am totally undeserving yet He still gives.
What a wonderful God.
There are so many things to be thankful for I feel like my little heart is going to burst. I've been having so many revelations lately, about the magnitude and potential of what I am studying to be, the people He has placed around me, the place where He has called me to serve at in church... so many things that God is doing and revealing to me that just makes me sit back and go "Wow. God you are good.".
I feel so undeserving right now. Who am I? Who am I to be blessed? To me (and proberly to you), I'm a nobody. A nothing, a zilch, another face in the crowd - but the intriguing thing is, to God I am a somebody. When I say I am incompetent, incapable, and a serial screw up, He says I am valuable, I am important and He can still use me. Wow. I am totally undeserving yet He still gives.
What a wonderful God.
Time goes by...
Just wanted to write a quick post before I left for church tonight. Seems the days just keep going by so quickly and my productivity level? At an all time low. I was looking at my calendar the other day: 3 weeks till exams! Thats so crazy, where has this semester all gone?
I've got another two week prac coming up again in June, feeling a bit jittery and nervous again but looking forward to it none the less. Tonight looks like it will be another late one infront of the computer, and this time I am adamant I am going to sit down and at least attempt to do a full hours worth of work before veering off into cyberspace.
Its been too many late nights and caffine.. this can't be healthy.
I've got another two week prac coming up again in June, feeling a bit jittery and nervous again but looking forward to it none the less. Tonight looks like it will be another late one infront of the computer, and this time I am adamant I am going to sit down and at least attempt to do a full hours worth of work before veering off into cyberspace.
Its been too many late nights and caffine.. this can't be healthy.
Christianity: Gods heart transplant
"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."My heart feels like it is breaking. It hurts like having heartburn, except it runs so much deeper. I feel like I need to do something, something drastic, something out there... just something! May be I should go for a run.
~ Matthew 22:36-40
Lately I've had a few people talk to me about God. I am passionately in love with God and I love talking about Him when the opportunity comes up, but I am finding it so painful. Just hearing what peoples preconcieved ideas about Christianity, God and His Character. My heart breaks everytime.
In fear of sounding like a preachy post, I don't care, I am going to write this anyways, even if it sounds all over the place. I'm sick and tired of people thinking christianity is some sort of unpleasant or dreary religion when it is not. Christianity, real christianity, is the most freeing feeling I have ever experienced in my life. It is a Spirit filled, powerful and abundant, where everyday I know I am walking out this life in intimate relationship with God and His people. I know that God has me in the palm of His Hand, and theres nothing more freeing than knowing I can trust God with my everything. That my hand is no longer a clenched fist anymore trying to control and hold on to everything so tightly, but slowly opening and releasing everything to Someone who knows better than I.
Christianity is not for the faint hearted. It is not passive but powerful, it is life changing. Its transforming. It is raw. Its not all about 'following rules', christianity isn't a behavior modification program. Its a heart change. When we get to know who God really is, that He is a loving God who cares about us soo much, that wants to be with us soo much that He sent His Son, Jesus to die for us just so We can be brought back to Him. When we have a personal realisation of this, His love transforms us and all the 'obeying the rules' will start to flow from our hearts. This is where we start following Him because we begin to love Him and want to rather than, because we have to or are afraid of going to Hell.
Christianity isn't all about not going to hell either. Jesus came to save us not just so we don't go to hell, He saved us so that we can accept forgiveness and can start living an awesome blessed life that He has called us to live, where each day I know I am walking out Gods purpose for me here on earth. Now that is powerful. If it was all about not going to hell, I would proberly just wait till I'm about to die before I ask Jesus into my heart. But thank God, He also wants us to live awesome lives too, not mediocre, 'just getting by' lives.
Christianity is about personal relationships: with God and with others. When Jesus was asked to summarise his religion, he said that it was loving God and our neighbor. Everything else is a means to that end. I love what John Fischer says in his devotional, I think it sums it up pretty well:
"Here is my conclusion, at least so far. More than he wants us to follow him, he wants us to have a relationship with him. More than blind obedience, he wants conversation. He'll even get down on the mat and wrestle with us if that's what we need. God made us for himself and none of us will rest until we are one with him. That is where we belong, and pretty much whatever it takes to get there is worth it."
I've had people out of church say that I was liberal and accuse me of not knowing the bible and all sorts of other things just because I don't fit their preconcieved mould of what a christian should be. I don't apologise for this. I don't apolgise for not being all caught up in the 'traditions' of what man has created but instead rest all I do and am upon the inspired Word of God revealed to us in The Bible.
It really annoys me when people put christians in a box with random comments like, "you call yourself a christian? You have a tattoo and peircings.." or "Isn't having a live band in church sacrilidgeous?" like we should be singing hymns from some old school organ. We are not 'weird' or 'super spiritual', nor are we perfect, shiny plastic people (as Casting Crowns so aptly put it). The truth is, the main difference between christians and those who are not, is that as a christian I know I am crap and I need a Savior. I realise that I am nothing without God. I am real, I hurt, I feel, I get frustrated! But every day I am living on His Grace and Mercy.
I used to be apprehensive of telling people I was a christian because I was afraid of people judging me and putting me in a box. Nowadays I don't care. I really, honestly don't care. I know that God is real. I have seen His love and presence with my own eyes and His working through my own life - It is transforming. I've lived both sides of the coin, I've lived on both sides of the fence and I know what I'm not missing. I can not deny the Truth that has been revealed to me.
I could know the bible back to front, inside out and have all the 'head knowledge' but still totally miss the point about what God is all about. If I never had my own realisation about what God is truely about, where that 'head knowledge' transforms into 'heart knowledge', I wouldn't even be where I am at now with God.
But thats the thing, I had to have my own personal realisation of this.
I can't force anyone to listen or understand this unless they are open to it. Which is why I hardly ever 'preach' to people unless they ask about. I guess thats why people often refer to christianity to be a "revealed" religion, that we wouldn't even have these beliefs unless God had taken actions to reveal himself to us personally. Which He will, if we look for Him. In Jeremiah 29:13 God promises this to us:
"You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."May we continue to seek the Truth.
Awww...
Ruth came home from uni today and got me these cute earrings with this note attached:
Ruth is so sweet!
All for love
.. Oh how many times have I broken Your heart?~ 'Look to you' Album, Hillsong United
But still You forgive
If only I ask
And how many times have You heard me pray
Draw near to me
Everything I need is You
My beginning, my forever
Everything I need is You...
Relief.
After four days of staring at website after website of Vygotsky's sociocultural learning theorys I've pretty much completed the ground work for my lesson plan. Yay! I think I've accomplished more in the past two hours than in the last four days. I've been so distracted... I think MySpace is to blame... Its sad but true! Whenever I get a new 'toy' I have to tweak the heck out of it. Ahh...
Ruth and I have been pretty much locked in our rooms every spare moment trying to do these assignments. My socialising during this time is mainly chatting to her through google talk even though her room is like, three steps from my door. Got to love wireless internet!
Just a few things have been running through my head as of late: Firstly after talking to Yolanda last night about the World Cup and I've decided I'm going to go for England. Its so funny because the last time I watched soccer was in Hong Kong at like 2am in the morning and all I rememeber was falling asleep in a fetal position on the cold hard wood floor at Christian's friends house. I think I was bored out my wits because they only scored 4 goals the whole game. But this year is going to be FUN... we are going to dress up and everything... Yep will be good :)
GO ENGLAND!!!
Another thing I've been thinking about is when I might go back to Hong Kong to see my family again. I'm praying for next year but I guess I'll have to see how it goes with my finances and with work. Ugh, I'm missing Hong Kong... :(
Anyways I better go, my bed is looking mighty inviting right now!
Ruth and I have been pretty much locked in our rooms every spare moment trying to do these assignments. My socialising during this time is mainly chatting to her through google talk even though her room is like, three steps from my door. Got to love wireless internet!
Just a few things have been running through my head as of late: Firstly after talking to Yolanda last night about the World Cup and I've decided I'm going to go for England. Its so funny because the last time I watched soccer was in Hong Kong at like 2am in the morning and all I rememeber was falling asleep in a fetal position on the cold hard wood floor at Christian's friends house. I think I was bored out my wits because they only scored 4 goals the whole game. But this year is going to be FUN... we are going to dress up and everything... Yep will be good :)
Another thing I've been thinking about is when I might go back to Hong Kong to see my family again. I'm praying for next year but I guess I'll have to see how it goes with my finances and with work. Ugh, I'm missing Hong Kong... :(
Anyways I better go, my bed is looking mighty inviting right now!
Happy Mothers day!
I don't know why I do this to my body. I am so utterly exhausted right now. For the past week I haven't been to bed any earlier than 2am. I wake up early and pump my body full of caffine (so much for the detox I did at the start of the year...) and keep going. Theres so much assignments to do right now, its getting crazy and I feel like I'm in a bit of a haze. Just a bit sleep deprived right now, other than that I am A-Okay.
Well its mothers day today. At church this morning we had such a beautiful service honoring all the mums we have there. Every time I go to church I always leave thinking "Boy, I love this church..." and today was no exception.
To honor our mothers we had rolled out the red carpet and as they came in we had our young guys dressed in tuxedos welcome them in, give them a beautiful gift and walk them down the red carpet to a host of cheers, clapping and shouts of "Happy mothers day!". It was so beautiful. We had the little preschoolers standing at the start of the carpet blowing bubbles, and throwing rose petals. As the service started Tony, Pastor Gerad, Heath and Sam sang two beautiful songs to serenade the mums and then all the mothers were asked to stand up whilst we clapped and applauded them in appreciation and gratitude.
How amazingly beautiful - now this is what I call first class treatment and all the mothers deserved to be honored in such a way. To be a mother, now thats an awesome calling and priviledge.
I just wanted to share with you some of the photos I took from todays service :)
Church
Welcome in
The boys waiting for the mothers to arrive
The gifts
The preschoolers are ready with their bubble mix and rose petals
The mothers getting escorted down the red carpet into church
The sound desk
Just before the service
The service is about to start...
Church
Tony, Pastor Gerad, Heath and Sam serenade the mothers with 'Hero' by Mariah Carey
Praise...
... and worship.
Welcome to my church home :)
Well its mothers day today. At church this morning we had such a beautiful service honoring all the mums we have there. Every time I go to church I always leave thinking "Boy, I love this church..." and today was no exception.
To honor our mothers we had rolled out the red carpet and as they came in we had our young guys dressed in tuxedos welcome them in, give them a beautiful gift and walk them down the red carpet to a host of cheers, clapping and shouts of "Happy mothers day!". It was so beautiful. We had the little preschoolers standing at the start of the carpet blowing bubbles, and throwing rose petals. As the service started Tony, Pastor Gerad, Heath and Sam sang two beautiful songs to serenade the mums and then all the mothers were asked to stand up whilst we clapped and applauded them in appreciation and gratitude.
How amazingly beautiful - now this is what I call first class treatment and all the mothers deserved to be honored in such a way. To be a mother, now thats an awesome calling and priviledge.
I just wanted to share with you some of the photos I took from todays service :)
Church
Welcome in
The boys waiting for the mothers to arrive
The gifts
The preschoolers are ready with their bubble mix and rose petals
The mothers getting escorted down the red carpet into church
The sound desk
Just before the service
The service is about to start...
Church
Tony, Pastor Gerad, Heath and Sam serenade the mothers with 'Hero' by Mariah Carey
Praise...
... and worship.
Welcome to my church home :)
Dance like you have never danced before.
Gosh. Such a fun night! Just got back from Yolanda and Kat's combined 21st birthday party, and wow did that go off! Kathryn did an awesome job decorating the house so beautifully and there was soo much FOOD! I feel so sick right now, but hey, its all good, they're only 21 once right? :)
I'll have to post some photos from Ruth's camera of the night when I get them but we pretty much danced the night away. I just love that, being in a room full of people you love (and in this case also with people I didn't even know) and being able to act like a total idiot. Its great! I love parties. Love meeting all the people I don't even know and I love dancing (even if its like an idiot its all good!)!
I have to say, Yolanda is an awesome dancer. I don't think anyone can fling their hair quite like her and her long braids just add to the effect. She is such a bundle of joy that girl. And our little hair moshing episodes sure are fun, though they make me really dizzy!
I really live for the weekends. Weekends for me are total celebrations from Friday night onwards, which is why I always try so hard to get all my uni work done by Friday. The weekends are usually a total write off when it comes to uni work. I was thinking about it the other day when I was trying to work out some sort of assignment completion schedule - I'm out almost every night of the week, and its all pretty much socializing. Its all relationship building stuff, its all about connecting with people. That is pretty much my life in a nutshell.
How ironic is it that two years ago the person I was was so shy and hated meeting new people. Even walking into a room with strangers freaked me out. I guess the title of my blog is a testament to that from when I started this thing two years ago: 'Reflections of an Introvert' - its almost redundant now (I say almost because I still can get into one of my moods). Maybe I should change my blog title to:'Reflections of an Ambivert". Funny how God changes people. Two years ago I would never of pictured myself dancing like a crazy person in a room half filled with strangers.
Pure uninhibited joy.
I guess it totally makes sense now why the life of a teacher is so appealing to me. Not only is it the priviledge of being able to shape young minds and be an influence (Oh I had this total revelation about teaching media as I was driving in my car the other day but that will have to be for another post!), but also the fascination of getting to know each of my students. Who they are, what they like and what makes them tick.
Life is all about relationships. And I realize relationships are hard, relationships take effort and energy but they are so beautiful. There are days I just want to pull back and pull that protective wall up but for the most part I know, for good or for worse, that I wear my heart on my sleeve.
Sometimes it hurts, but at least I know I am alive.
(Go figure, this post was supposed to be about partying at Yolandas and Kat's - Gotta love tangents.)
I'll have to post some photos from Ruth's camera of the night when I get them but we pretty much danced the night away. I just love that, being in a room full of people you love (and in this case also with people I didn't even know) and being able to act like a total idiot. Its great! I love parties. Love meeting all the people I don't even know and I love dancing (even if its like an idiot its all good!)!
I have to say, Yolanda is an awesome dancer. I don't think anyone can fling their hair quite like her and her long braids just add to the effect. She is such a bundle of joy that girl. And our little hair moshing episodes sure are fun, though they make me really dizzy!
I really live for the weekends. Weekends for me are total celebrations from Friday night onwards, which is why I always try so hard to get all my uni work done by Friday. The weekends are usually a total write off when it comes to uni work. I was thinking about it the other day when I was trying to work out some sort of assignment completion schedule - I'm out almost every night of the week, and its all pretty much socializing. Its all relationship building stuff, its all about connecting with people. That is pretty much my life in a nutshell.
How ironic is it that two years ago the person I was was so shy and hated meeting new people. Even walking into a room with strangers freaked me out. I guess the title of my blog is a testament to that from when I started this thing two years ago: 'Reflections of an Introvert' - its almost redundant now (I say almost because I still can get into one of my moods). Maybe I should change my blog title to:'Reflections of an Ambivert". Funny how God changes people. Two years ago I would never of pictured myself dancing like a crazy person in a room half filled with strangers.
Pure uninhibited joy.
I guess it totally makes sense now why the life of a teacher is so appealing to me. Not only is it the priviledge of being able to shape young minds and be an influence (Oh I had this total revelation about teaching media as I was driving in my car the other day but that will have to be for another post!), but also the fascination of getting to know each of my students. Who they are, what they like and what makes them tick.
Life is all about relationships. And I realize relationships are hard, relationships take effort and energy but they are so beautiful. There are days I just want to pull back and pull that protective wall up but for the most part I know, for good or for worse, that I wear my heart on my sleeve.
Sometimes it hurts, but at least I know I am alive.
(Go figure, this post was supposed to be about partying at Yolandas and Kat's - Gotta love tangents.)
When it gets hard to get up and go
I feel like I am about to collapse from exhaustion. Today has been such an emotional day. I am glad it's over. I guess the combination of late nights, too much caffine and too little sleep hasn't helped much either.
Today was such a demonstration to me that I have great friends who help me to move forward, help me get perspective, encourage and wack some sense into me. Its so easy to just drop everything when things get a bit tough and the excuses are coming fast and furious. Its times like these when I need friends who love me enough to tell me the truth, and not just the nice fluffy things I want to hear.
I am realising the extent of how important the company that we keep is. Friends can effect me so much, they have the abilty to move me forward or hold me back in life. Friendship is structured alot like an onion, when you cut it in the middle and you see all the layers inside. I'm in the middle and the next layer is my closest friends, then the next layer might just be normal friends and out and out it goes till it gets to aquaintances and strangers. Who I keep in that inner circle is so important! They have the ability to make or break us!
I am so blessed to have friends like Ruth, who I know I can be honest, share my heart with and not be afraid shes going to judge me or laugh at me no matter how silly or irrational I am being. But instead she'll sit and listen to me and be honest enough to tell me in love, what I need to hear and not neccessarily what I want to hear. Great friends will encourage and gently push us forward to where we need to go because they realise the potential inside us.
John Fischer says it so right when he wrote in today's devotional:
"The reality of a relationship is measured by the level of truth about yourself you are willing to impart to another person. And if you have someone who does not require you to measure everything before you say it, you have a real friend."
These are the friends I know I'm going to be growing old with, which I think is pretty amazing and am so grateful for. :)
Today was such a demonstration to me that I have great friends who help me to move forward, help me get perspective, encourage and wack some sense into me. Its so easy to just drop everything when things get a bit tough and the excuses are coming fast and furious. Its times like these when I need friends who love me enough to tell me the truth, and not just the nice fluffy things I want to hear.
I am realising the extent of how important the company that we keep is. Friends can effect me so much, they have the abilty to move me forward or hold me back in life. Friendship is structured alot like an onion, when you cut it in the middle and you see all the layers inside. I'm in the middle and the next layer is my closest friends, then the next layer might just be normal friends and out and out it goes till it gets to aquaintances and strangers. Who I keep in that inner circle is so important! They have the ability to make or break us!
I am so blessed to have friends like Ruth, who I know I can be honest, share my heart with and not be afraid shes going to judge me or laugh at me no matter how silly or irrational I am being. But instead she'll sit and listen to me and be honest enough to tell me in love, what I need to hear and not neccessarily what I want to hear. Great friends will encourage and gently push us forward to where we need to go because they realise the potential inside us.
John Fischer says it so right when he wrote in today's devotional:
"The reality of a relationship is measured by the level of truth about yourself you are willing to impart to another person. And if you have someone who does not require you to measure everything before you say it, you have a real friend."
These are the friends I know I'm going to be growing old with, which I think is pretty amazing and am so grateful for. :)
