For I am God, there is No Other

So I started something new last month. I swallowed my pride and insecurities and did something new, to get out of the bubble that is my life!

I started going to BSF. Bible Study Fellowship. Every Monday about 400 women meet in a church in Boerne, to study together for BSF. They complete questions on a passage the week before, split into small discussion groups to discuss what they have learned, and then hear a teacher speak on the passage.

I hate meeting new people, I especially hate doing new things by myself.

And yet I couldn't understand why I had this nagging feeling that I really needed to go, and be committed.

This year, they are studying Isaiah. Working their way through this incredible book a chapter or two at a time. I have never studied Isaiah before, never really read the book properly (should I really admit that as a youth worker???). It's always been a book that greatly intrigued and interested me, but always intimidated me enough that I stayed away.

Over the past couple of weeks that I have gone, I know why I went.

God had a message to remind me of.

Isaiah is pretty repetitive, at least the chapters they have been studying over the last few times I have been.

But I think I can sum up what I have been learning in a couple of verses.

"for I am God, and there is no other;

I am God, and there is none like me,
declaring the end from the beginning
and from ancient times things not yet done,
saying, 'My counsel shall stand,
and I will accomplish all my purpose,'
calling a bird of prey from the east,
the man of my counsel from a far country.
I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass;
I have purposed, and I will do it."

Isaiah 46 v 9-11

He is God, there is no other. He has spoken, and He will do it. He has a purpose, and He will see it come to pass.

I follow the only person that will always do what they say they will do.

When God tells me that in every situation He is working for my good, He means it. When He tells me He has a plan and a purpose for my life, He means it.

When He tells me He will be faithful to me, He means it.

Green card, or no green card. He will do what He says He will do.

I needn't worry about what comes next. If it is God's purpose, no lawyer/immigration official/paperwork will stop it.

For He is God, there is no other!

Faith Unseen

faithfulness = trustworthiness or dependability

"Faith is the trustful human response to God's self revelation via His words and His actions."

Holman Bible Dictionary.

2 1/2 years ago, Chris and I stood before our friends and made our vows to each other. The bible verse that ran as the theme through our wedding was this:

"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose."

Romans 8 v 28.

It was on our unity candle, it was quoted in our ceremony, we had a song about it, it was inscribed into our wedding bands, we even had it printed on our M&M's!!

This verse reminded us and those who shared in that occasion, that we trusted in those words that God had revealed to us. We trusted that as we had witnessed God working for our good in all that had gone before, that we continue to see him working for our good in all that was to come.

That takes faith.

A trust that the things God had revealed to us through his word and actions would be dependable for the future.

I struggle to see that right now.

We are in one of the most daunting processes of our lives, a process that will determine the next several years of our married life, where we will live, what we will do.

Where we will call home.

We are in the midst of the ups and downs that it brings. I don't see that good that God has promised us.

I'm reminded (quite bizarrely) of a Coldplay song.

"Nobody said it would be easy

No one ever said it would be this hard."

I struggle to see where my God is working in this situation, how He is making it all come back to our good.

But faith is not about what I'm seeing. Faith is not about my feelings. Faith is not about my situation.

"Faith is the trustful human response to God's self revelation via His words and His actions."

I have no choice but to trust. To fully rely on what I have seen to be true of my God. To fully rely on what His word says to me.

That's hard. It's a choice everyday. I choose to allow God to work this for good, no matter what I think that good should look like, trusting that God is sovereign and knows far better than myself!

I choose to have faith.

Much Needed Break

I am so happy to be writing this from Sunny England!!

Chris and I arrived back home this morning, after flying from Dallas Fort Worth. This is our holiday time, and it couldn't have come early enough!!
It is going to be so great to relax, refresh and empty our minds of all that we have been thinking of these past few months, ready to head back and face what lies ahead with all of the energy and passion we have!!

For now though, we are focusing on the time we get to spend with those we love in England. But also we have the exciting adventure of travelling to new countries that we've never seen before. For two weeks we will be backpacking through Thailand and Cambodia, seeing great sights and experiencing new things!!

I will post pics from our exciting adventures when we return to the states!!

Change . . . . . One move at a time

This week has been good. It's been incredibly busy, but really great.

Our trips into the local high school have been really interesting - we go into the school a couple of times a week to have lunch with some of the students that we've been able to meet, and since we've been there, we've met an awesome group of students.

They meet every morning outside of their school to pray for their school and seeing students come to know God.
This week they've really stepped up in getting out into their school to see change happen.
They have taken up a challenge to serve their school, and are really going the extra mile. They have been cleaning up in the cafeteria at the end of lunches, helping out teachers at the end of classes and even praying for them when they do it.
We were in for lunch on wednesday, and we went in ready to challenge them and help them to get active and do something, two students went with Kerry and Lisa from my team, to go and speak with the vice principal. They asked the vice principal for ways that they could serve around the school. He was a little taken aback, but has said he will come up with a list for them. But one thing they could do for that day was to litter pick at the end of the school day.
Ready to get involved, there were about 10 students that went and litter picked across the car park at the end of the school day, and they have now decided to make it a regular occurence and go every single wednesday afternoon! Awesome!

They are starting to see things change around their school . . . . little by little. But once it gets going, it's going to make a huge impact!!

When the task ahead seems to great . . . . .

Ever faced a task that just seemed to big? Felt like all you had to bring, was no way near enough to complete it?

There you will find me right now. The task ahead seems too big, and what I have to bring to it is pathetic in comparison.
There are so many students in just this one small town, thousands that don't really know the name of Jesus and what relationship with Him is all about. Many think they do, but few are truly aware of the life changing relationship it is. And then there is me, little me. I struggle keeping up with the few people in my own little world, let alone reaching out to others and doing it in a big enough way to impact and change their lives.

But I guess that must have been what the disciples felt like with over 5000 people standing in front of them hungry for food. More than 5000 people and all they have is one little boy's lunch. To the disciples this is pathetic in the face of the need.
But Jesus already had a plan and knew what he was going to do with the 'pathetic' offering.

To the disciples this was probably just a day of lack, when they didn't have enough for the task ahead. But the little boy gave all he had, everything, even though it was pathetic in the size of the need, but Jesus took it and performed a miracle with it.

What would happen if we took our offering, our pathetic offering in comparison to the need, but we gave everything, all we had to Jesus. How many miracles might we see him perform? How many lives might we see him change in ways we never though possible?

What if we take the pathetic and offer it up to Him? What might come of it?

Time to Stop and Think

Well, it's day 3 of something me and my husband have decided to start.

For 40 days we are fasting and praying to see change happen in our lives, the lives of those we love and care about most, and the world around us.
Now before you start telling me we're absolutely insane, and that not eating for 40 days is stupid, that's not quite how it's going to work!
Believe me, I love food far too much to give it up completely for 40 days, for one day is hard enough!
We will be fasting in daylight, so before the sun rises in the morning and after it sets we will be eating, but during the day we won't. But also to try and be healthier and take care of our bodies better, we are going to be eating healthy, natural foods when we do eat.

We're going to be praying for 3 specific things:

• Us - our marriage, our personal walks with God, specific things for each other and our relationship together.
• Our families and friends - to bring before God the needs of those we love and care about most.
• Our ministry - we are both passionate about reaching the lost students in our community and training those who know Christ to reach their friends, and dedicate our days to doing that, so we are praying we will see amazing changes in the lives of students around us.

I'm excited that it will be a great time to see God move mightily through the situations we are bringing to Him. I really believe God sees the sacrifices we make when we feel passionate about the things in our lives.

I'll keep you updated on how it goes!!

Our Little Home!!

Well, now we are settled into our fantastic new home down here in San Antonio!!


We have been so unbelievably blessed with where we are living!! Both me and Chris work full time voluntarily, so we live on the amazing support that those around us give, so when we got married, we weren't really sure how we would be able to furnish a house completely. But God has supplied our every wish and desire, and then even more!!





The family that have given us our house for while we are in San Antonio, have been unbelievably amazing, and have given us so much to help us out. They pretty much furnished the house for us!! Which meant we were able to use the money we were given for wedding gifts, for extras for our house to make it feel more homely and more like ours!!





So take a look around our home!!!

This is our guest room, I love the duvet that we managed to find for it!!

This is our bathroom, and it actually has one of the original walls from the farm house when it was made 100 years ago!!

The rest of our bathroom, with the shower which is amazing!!

Our bedroom!! I absolutely love the bedside lamps we managed to find at Home Depot!! And we have pictures on the wall that we got in the Dominican Republic, on our honeymoon!

And this is our living room/dining room!! Our tv is massive and in this photo it has bargain hunt on it!! Yay for BBC America!!

Well that's our home, we've enjoyed starting to make it our place and putting things in it that matter to us. We also have a study and we are going to be creating a wall with frames that contain pictures of all the places that we have travelled together to!! We absolutely love exploring places together and are excited about creating a room to remember those experiences in!!