His great Love for us :)

Lamentations 3:22-23 says 'because of the Lords great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning, great is your faithfulness.'

God has really given me the strength to face a lot this year. I have continuously been challenged with my patience and grace. The last couple of weeks especially I have taken the wrong path, I have had a lot of anger inside me and delt with things in the wrong way. But God is always faithful he will pull you back on the right path, even if you don't like what you hear or experience.

Like the scripture from bible says, his love is great and his compassions never fail. I pray each and every person will be able to experience his great love for them. Which is shown in his one and only son Jesus Christs death on the cross, who has released us from our sins because he was sinless and died on that cross for each and everyone of us. He longs to have a relationship with each person, I am so thankful to be reminded even more so this week that he is always there for me through the good and the bad. To know he has a great plan for me, regardless of the past :)

Forgiveness :)

The other night I went to Greenlane Christian Centre hoping to check out their youth group. But when I got there it wasn't on, I found out there were bible study groups on that night. So I thought to myself why not since I'm here, and to my surprise a lady named Maria who I had done an alpha course with 5 years ago was there! I hadn't seen her in ages, it was nice to catch up.

The topic they were studying that night was on forgiveness, something that I'm really struggling with at the moment :( It was nice to just share what I was going through with these women and not feel scared. We all shared our life experiences and it was great how we could all relate to each other :)

There were so many verses that we looked at that night, but the couple of verses that stood out to me were..

Ephesians 4:32

'Be kind to one another, forgiving each other , just as Christ God forgave you'

Romans 5:8

'But God Demonstrates his own love for us in this. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.'

These really helped me and made me think a lot about how I should love and forgive those who have hurt me, because Jesus has forgiven me and he has lead by example. It also said in the scriptures that we read, which I have heard before but it really spoke to me that night was Matthew 5:43-44 when Jesus says 'You have heard that it was said love your neighbor and hate your enemy , but I tell you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you'

It reminded me of how I should always be praying for those who have hurt me, regardless of all the hurt they have caused me. That is what Jesus taught and that is what God wants us to do, we need to be the better person, we need to be humble and love and pray for them. A question came up during the study "by forgiving them, does that mean we let them off the hook and the consequences? this was a tough question, but in the end we decided that no it doesn't mean they are off the hook or don't have to face the consequences. We agreed that forgiveness is a choice we all make, we can choose to forgive but that doesn't mean its ok for what they did.

To me now forgiveness means the demonstration of mercy and love towards someone who has hurt or offended you, with the goal of reconciliation with them. Gods forgiveness is the outpouring of abundant grace and mercy that provides pardon to the guilty. Forgiveness does not necessarily mean a release from the consequences of actions but it does provide full release from the guilt and shame of the wrongdoing.

Often it is hard to forgive those who hurt us deeply, but how can we not forgive in the light of his supreme sacrifice. I guess for me this has helped me a lot as I accept Gods forgiveness I will draw on the strength to forgive others.

I need to forgive myself first and then ask him to help me forgive those who have hurt me no matter how long it will take, I cant in my own strength 'I can do everything through him who strengthens me' (philippians 4:13)

I know he got me to randomly attend that bible study for a reason, he knows this is something I am struggling with. Thankyou Lord great is your faithfulness

Blessed with friends :)

God has really shown me over the last couple of months how many wonderful friends I have that care about me :)

I have been encouraged time and again and told to look after myself, I met with a friend to talk and pray the other day. This is what friendship is about :) to be able to meet up talk, listen to one another and support each other through prayer.

Lord you are my saviour, best friend, father and King. You are the only one I can always rely on, thankyou for being there for me in the good times and the bad. Especially now where I have to make important decisions. Thankyou for all the wonderful friends you have blessed into my life.

God teaches us something everyday, for me it has been reminded and appreciating all the friendships he has blessed me with :)

Why are you testing me Lord?

God has really tested me already this year. Especially with my patience in the last month, I've had to realise that things happen and are out of my control. God tests us even though things may seem like there going fine in our lives.

I thought 2010 was going to be a great year for me, I had a promotion lined up and all these amazing trips organised and I had built great friendships. It felt like it was going to be a year full of happiness for me :) But God tests you for the good and the bad, in my case this testing made me realise alot of things and helped me re-focus on what is important to me in my life, that is my friends, family and God.

I have found myself praying alot more lately which is awesome! cos that has been something I have struggled with last year, forgetting to spend time praying to God

"Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." (Mark 11:24)

Summer 2010: Tongariro Crossing

Feb 5-7 2010

Tongariro crossing was amazing! I got to go with some aunties from church as well as some friends :)

The walk itself was hard to begin with, as there were a lot of stairs. But it was all worth it, awe inspiring scenery. The outlook from the top was amazing, and again made me really appreciate Gods wonderful creation. There was a part that was down hill that was all rock & you had to basically slide down the whole way, I seriously feared for my life at that part and prayed whilst doing it :) luckily everyone was ok in the end, apart from a few minor injuries. Thanks Lord for keeping us safe and watching over us!

I would definitely recommend the walk to anyone who is thinking of doing it.

A couple of us went swimming in Lake Taupo after the walk which was nice and refreshing, would definitely do it again :)

Summer 2010: Omaha!

30 Jan-1 Feb: Omaha!

Myself and 7 friends were blessed enough to have the opportunity to stay at a friends aunts three bedroom bach in Omaha over Auckland Anniversary weekend. It was amazing! we had the 1st floor to ourselves with its own kitchen :)

The beach was amazing and again another opportunity to embrace Gods wonderful creation. Boogey boarding was first on the agenda, gotta love it!

Snorkling at Goat Island was so much fun! altho the water wasnt as clean as I remembered and the fish were scared off lol.

Biking around the area was nice, got to see all the development happening in the area. So many massive amazing houses!

We watched the whole series of The Big Bang theory, we all got hooked on it haha!

It was a really nice relaxing weekend away with friends and I'm so thankful God gave us all that opportunity to get away, enjoy each others company and his magnificent glory

Summer 2010 -South Island trip with my parents

God has blessed me with so many opportunities this Summer, I have been able to see so much of his beautiful creation :)

Jan 14-20: South Island trip with my parents

Hanmer Springs-Fox Glacier-Cromwell-Wanaka-Queenstown-Dunedin-Christchurch

This year I had the choice to do a South Island trip with some close friends or to try convince my parents to let me take them, because I knew they had wanted to for a while & knew I wouldn't be able to take them any other time. So in the end I organised a trip with my parents, which may sound lame just me and my parents haha, but I love them so much I wanted to :) I enjoy looking after my parents as cheesy as that sounds lol their getting old and I've got plenty of other opportunities to road trip with friends :)

Flying into Christchurch it was amazing to see it from a birds eye view, how God has put this big jigsaw puzzle together. Hanmer Springs was nice and peaceful, it was nice to just relax in the hot pools and it was cool to see my parents being able to enjoy just relaxing :)

Fox Glacier, was amazing! we did the half day walk, it was sad that my dads legs gave in and he couldn't get to walk on the ice :( so I had to do it without them. It was incredible! was such a hot day and to see all the different formations on the glacier was amazing! I was in awe of being surrounded by Gods spectacular creation.

We stopped in Cromwell to pick cherries! that was so much fun! my mum enjoyed it alot, by the end of the trip we had eaten so much cherries! haha. Wanaka was beautiful, there was a marathon on and there were heaps of people. We went to puzzle world which was fun, I'm glad my parents liked it.

I love Queenstown! we got upgraded into a suite! :) so I cooked pasta for my parents one night :) My mum loved it cos she got to relax in the spa pool and sauna. I got convinced to go Jet boating, which was an awesome experience! We went for a walk along the lake it was nice and peaceful being surrounded by mountains, and I spent that time reflecting and thanking God for the amazing things I had seen.

"For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse." (Romans 1:20)

Dunedin was nice, we got to walk up and down the steepest street in the World with my mum :) my parents finally got to see the Chinese Gardens & uni. But most of all Dunedin was special cos I got to catch up with my friend Jun and Kareena :) I got to have coffee, go the waterfront and have ice-cream with Jun. I got to have dinner with Kareena at her Grandpas restaurant & got to shout her and my parents a meal :) We found out my parents knew her Grandpa lol small world..

We got upgraded in Christchurch aswell, this time to a two bedroom! was so nice! I got to catch up with my friend Jess and we had dinner with my sisters boyfriends family. It was nice to catch with everyone :)

I am so thankful to the Lord for this time I could bond with my parents & experience the beautiful wonder of his creation in the South Island! Lord thankyou for blessing me with such wonderful parents! who I love so much :)

To blog or not to blog?

I've never been much of a blogging person cos I've never had the time, but with all thats been going on in my life so far in 2010 I've felt God speak to me about starting a blog so I can express myself and share with others what he is doing in my life & they can hopefully be encouraged :) so here goes, we'll see how long it lasts haha!