Turn Around

There is a new advert on the telly featuring Bonnie Tyler and the song with changed lyrics to 'total eclipse of the heart', with inserted line 'turn around Neville' , great advert, I just thought of it as I sat down to write about how God turns things around.

I do not have a lot of time on my hands right now, but I think a lot of that is down to being organised with the time I have, the diary needs to come back out, there are things that need doing. It is nice to get up from just finishing my nights at work and have a few hours now, I can write this blog and make a list of things to do. I am quite happy keeping my blogging to a minimum, until I can do it more, then I will. There are exciting times ahead this year and loads of things coming up, that will not happen unless they are planned, so being on top of things is going to be important in a freeish way, I have also decided to take up exercising and lose a bit of weight, we will see.

I have a few people I know right now, who are in dark situations, I think they need to listen to God singing ' turn around Neville' or whatever their name is. God will turn things around, He has a big plan, which is so hard to see sometimes, so hard to see the bigger picture, sometimes pausing and thinking where God might be taking you or saying to you is a challenge but one that might help, turning around and looking at what is really going on and getting the bigger perspective can be the key to moving forward. also it is great to remember that however dark the situation, God can turn it around and make something beautiful out of it. There are plenty of examples in the bible, I know plenty of people whose lives have been changed absolutely miraculously from darkness to light, from empty to full, from nowhere to somewhere, including mine.

In Freedom

For a while now I have been a right grump, not all the time, but grumpy all the same, thinking too much, trying to achieve, aiming high, pressure. Being a bit judgemental and self righteous and not really acting out Love. I suppose I have lived behind a wall of trying to be 'good' or 'right', believing this is the way to closeness with God, scurging my life of impurities, which just leads to further rules and pressure and religiosity and churchianity and away from love, relationship and the thing I am seeking more, growth.

I believe the reality is about living in the freedom and relationship that I have been given with God and allowing the Holy Spirit to continue to work in me, guide me and grow in me, not putting myself under pressure and then having to deal again with shame and guilt and fear. It has been dealt with, the continuing challenge, is to live in that freedom, and every time, shame, fear, guilt or things that are not from God come at me, deny them the right to live in me, because of the victory Jesus has won over it all.

I continue to learn and grow, sometimes the basics are the hardest to hold on to, living in salvation and freedom everyday is a choice.

News

About 3 weeks ago Tanya's sister came to live with us, which of course has made our house busier and more community minded than ever and of course has taken some getting use to, mainly on my part, as I am not very good at dealing with change.

Anyway, I once again have digressed, Cheree, my sister in law, has jumped into her new environment, getting involved with everything around her, the youth from church, meetings, sporting activities, the home and her and her sister have been talking alot. This culminated in her giving her life to follow Jesus on Easter Sunday.

Good news and encouraging as we grow as a family in our relationships where God can be brought into everything. This house belongs to God.

Dentists

I am not good with dentists, a mixture of bad experiences when I was younger, bad teeth and the fact that in general it is not a very nice experience. I had not been to the dentists in about 5 years, up until last month. Everything was fine, up until the xray, which found damage and an absyss to a tooth, meaning, my worst fear, a tooth extraction.

Last Wednesday I went along to my new dentist to have my tooth out, not looking forward to it, yet intent on being brave and praying throughout and letting the dentist know I was going to be praying throughout. Which I did.

It was painless and very smooth and I prayed and as far as I am concerned, it worked.

It is my belief that prayer works, that God was with me in something as simple as a tooth extraction, walking through everything with me. It is also my belief that not only is He with me, prayer changes things and helps. I am well encouraged and feel well inspired to battle on in prayer for the more supposedly impossible situations.
God is big and with me.

Choices

I really believe, although it is very easy to say, that a lot of peoples continued pain, shame and guilt and the way they respond in life to these things, is down to choices.

As I say, it is very easy to say and not everyone has a choice about where they are in their lives and yet, as a Christian, I am told to be joyful always in Thessalonians 5 verse 16. That is hard and I believe I have said it before, it does not mean walking about with a huge fake grin on my face all day. It is about making a choice to be different, to take a step back when it is all going wrong and act differently, to act joyfully, even when it is all going to pot. It is to show the world that I know joy and I know all the other fruit of the spirit and I can express them in such a different way because the joy, peace, love, etc. that I know, is from God and it is living inside me, sometimes so deep that others don't see it, I have to decide to bring it out and shine what and who I am to the world, so that then, God is seen and I live fully.

A bit of a rant, meant joyfully.