a lion, a witch and a wardrobe

I saw the Lion, the witch and the wardrobe today and quite enjoyed it. During one of the end battle scenes, I felt a little bad for all the good guys losing their lives. The question crossed my mind as to what exactly they were fighting for. First and foremost they were fighting for Aslan, for Narnia, for their freedom. And they fought with all their strength, fully aware that they could lose their lives.

We're all in a battle, whether we choose to fight it fully or not. I have to wonder, looking at my life whether I am fighting for or against the powers of this world. And am I willing to give my life for this battle? Not just physically, as in that I could die, but am I willing to die to some things that might seem desirable to me as I fight this battle. Or will I surrender to those things and allow my life to be overruled. I want to fight the battle for God fully, not being distracted by any of the enemy's distractions around me. Continually walking in his victory, willing to die to myself and to the sin around me and to serve Him and Him alone! Will you join me in this battle?

music

I love music. I am either singing, humming or simply listening, but I love being surrounded by music whenever I can, especially when driving. While I driving I turn my music as loud as I can (without blowing the speakers) and sing along at the top of my lungs.

Tonight however God was pointing out to me how I let music overtake my mind. Don't get me wrong. Music is a wonderful thing and is an incredible gift from God, but I have taken the gift and let it crowd up my mind, leaving room for little else. As I was listening to the Lord tonight, there was some stuff He was speaking and I knew it was there, but I couldn't hear all of it, because I had this one song stuck in my head that kept repeating itself over and over again. So I think God is asking me to tone it down on the music a bit. As I think about it, I would like to resist and say no way! I love my music too much! But when I see that attitude, i realize that my attitude towards music is not so great and needs to change. So for the next while I will attempt to live more in silence and hear what the Lord is speaking to me.

I'm getting my wisdom teeth pulled tomorrow so I'll have two and a half days off work: yay! Work is the only place where I'm "forced" to be around music. I'm guessing the next few days will be good for simply being in silence and for listening. Hard to do, but I'm looking forward to it at the same time.

are you excited?

I have been requested to update-sorry for the delay!

Things have been busy. I've been working lots and trying to cram as much into every day as I can before I head off to India! I think I'm getting sick though, so perhaps burning the candle at both ends wasn't the best idea!

People keep asking me if I'm excited to go to India. I guess I am. Not particularly though. Not that I don't want to go, but for now I'm just excited to be alive and be living that life that I have where I'm at, serving God where He's placed me. So what to say when people ask me... I haven't really thought much about going to India to be honest. Just living in the here and now and that is exciting enough for me! And when India becomes the here and now I will still be excited. :)

so exciting!

Today my dear friend Lindie is coming for a visit and I am quite excited!!! And this evening we will go to my brother's work Christmas party-how pleasant (don't know why I just said pleasant, but fair enough). On Tuesday we are going to see the musical Beauty and the Beast!! So many fun things! I like it when people come to visit. Always makes things out of the ordinary and fun!

life rating

My life is rated G.
What is your life rated?

risks

God has been teaching me a lot practically in my life about stuff I knew before, but have never really had to apply to my life in such a drastic way! Obedience to Him requires risks. There might be unknowns, there might be what if's, but He's God! And so I can have faith and trust Him completely, because He's got the master plan and knows exactly what's going on. He's shown me that He want sme to move to Quebec next summer which is a risky move for lots of reasons. But He is trustworthy and He's been showing me that more and more with a few details and reminders this week that have been absolutely amazing!! Totally washing away any doubts I had before. He is a good God and I can trust Him with my life, because He knows what He's doing!

NOW!

Sorry for the lack of updates. I feel as though life has been chugging along and i haven't been able to stop much to think about it. But I think life needs to be pondered otherwise we simply stay in a state of going-never changing, or turning, no speeding up or slowing down-just going.

My life is full right now. I leave the house at five in the morning and return at ten in the evening. I keep thinking of everything that's going to come and what I'm going to do and what God's going to do through me. Yet I keep looking towards the future, consequently neither enjoying the present or the future, because when what I was looking forward to finally comes I'm too busy looking ahead at what's coming next to enjoy what's here now. But God has purposes for my life TODAY! Right now!! And I can live life to the fullest in every moment. And it's going to start today, right here, right now!

prayer room

I really want to go deeper with God. And to be a woman of prayer. Today I put together a prayer room. A little sanctuary tucked away where I can go and meet with God. I've started writing verses and prayers on the walls and I have some other creative things in there and I'm really excited! If I try and spend time with God while in my room, I just get distracted. Not that I can't meet God wherever I am, but I'm excited to just have a place where I can go deep and intimate with my Daddy.

selfish

My eyes have been opened more and more to see how incredibly selfish I am. Everything revolves around me, me, me. Everyone needs to know about me and care about me. But that's not what it's about. This is where my focus is and that's why everything seems so crummy! My focus needs to be on God and on others. And loving them no matter what. I keep worrying about getting hurt. And so I can't even have proper relationships with others, because I'm not honest. I'm a fake person. I need to crack open and risk being vulnerable and weak.

under a cloud

I've been under a cloud lately and have come to realize just how safe and protected I've created my world to be. It's not a good world in the sense that most of it is fake. I've even begun to fool myself. Amazing how we can think one way so much that even though it's not real we begin to think it's the truth. Now I'm just writing sections of a really big thought and this probably won't make sense. More to come later.

grumbling...

Lately I've been grumbling about a lot of things, especially at work. The hours I get, my wage and so on. And it's caused me to get angry, frustrated and changed the way I've acted at times which isn't so nice. And amidst my grumbling, God calls me to trust Him. And I don't. I keep looking at my circumstances and complaining. Then He gets me a raise. Then the person who took over for me in mornings is leaving so I get my mornings back. Not all that bad. Why didn't I just trust Him?

back again

Just arrived home from Africa yesterday. It was a wonderful two weeks, going on safaris, driving around and just hanging out at the lodges. I enjoyed getting to know other tourists there as well as the staff at the different lodges. Learned a bit of swahili, which was always enjoyable to those who heard. :) I am home now and it feels strange to be here. I feel like being back in Africa. Should have accepted the marriage proposal I got.. haha.. But I loved seeing the people there and their joy of life as well as their ability to simply rest and enjoy the day sitting by the side of the road. I need things to do. Imagine just sitting by the road all day. Resting and relaxing. Sounds good.

africa!

Well, that's it. I'm at work and in a few hours I will be on my way to the airport! Today I have a nine hour flight to Amsterdam, three hour layover and then a nine hour flight to Nairobi. Yay flying! And then I will be on a two week safari trip to Africa!! So you will not hear from me for a while, but I will be back. Be sure to leave me comments while I'm gone!! I'll miss you all! And Leslie, just in case I don't have time to reply to your emails, bye! I will miss emailing you!

hockey

Last night I went to the season opener for the Canucks. As I was enjoying the game and chattin' with my Lord, suddenly He revealed to me such a clear picture on how hockey parallels life, specifically the Christian life. So I thought I would share it with all of you, hockey fans or not...

The home team would be Christians. The visitors team would be evil, such as satan or the flesh, basically the things we war against. And we are constantly battling them, although in the end, ultimately we will have the victory (unfortunately not always true in hockey, but in the Christian life, yes). Sometimes we get penalties, because we've done something that doesn't line up with the word of God and sometimes we score. The whole team is always working together (ideally), coming together in a bigger picture. Often we watch just one player, perhaps the one with the puck, but meanwhile the rest of the players are positioning themselves for the play. Crucial to have all the players there and in the place they're supposed to be-likewise with the body of Christ how we all have a role to play and need to be playing it!

Lots of other parallels, but the one thing that blew me away that God showed me was the cloud of witnesses. In Hebrews 12, the writer talks about the cloud of witnesses surrounding us, cheering us on. As I watched the fans and saw how excited they were and how supportive it was such an encouraging picture of what the cloud of witnesses around you and i is as we play in this game called life. They're doing the wave, they're cheering, they have signs and so on. Spurring us on to keep running towards Christ with our eyes fixed on Him. What a great picture and a wonderful reminder!

self-righteous

Too often I think I'm better than those around me. Deep down I know it's not true, but I put this belief in my head, because I think I'm afraid of others being better than me. In my pride, I always want to be the best. And so I go through whatever means I have to in order to make myself think that... whether that means looking down on others, judging others, gossiping and so on. How horrible it is when I look at it. That I would rip others apart to build myself up, all in my head.

I think deep down I think everyone else is better than me and so all the other stuff is trying to cover up that belief (which is ungodly yes). We are all on an even playing field. I've sinned and am totally dirty without Christ. That makes me just as much a sinner as the next person. We've all fallen short of His glory one way or another... and He loves us all, no matter what. I need to stop looking at others through my narrow-minded love that doesn't go too far for fear of lowering myself and I need to start looking at others through Christ's wide, deep and overflowing love which knows no bounds. What a transformed life and attitude I would have.