"I will rejoice in doing them good"

I'm going to warn you that this is a pretty honest post.

Life is feeling very much like everything has got a bit much. My degree is great, but difficult and a lot of work and I massively struggle with self motivation. Hall group is feeling like a massive responsibility- a very scary one! Some stuff personally isn't going great- taking up a lot of my thoughts and difficult to see past. Not to mention the fact that I'm a massive idiot sometimes.

Yet I genuinely believe that God is working massively in my life. I have never been so aware of my faults and my failures- you would think that this would be making everything worse but it's so encouraging that I am such a sinful person and yet I am loved by the Almighty God more than I can ever hope to understand. I'm encouraged by the fact that He "sees the depths of my heart and He loves me the same"! What a Saviour! I've been struck time and time again by the privileged position I am in as a child of the living God! I am a joint heir with Jesus Christ! The God who flung the stars into space, who knows all of eternity, the God who has power over everything- I can call him my Father.

And the more I see my own sin- my anger, my jealousy, my pride, my stubborness, my sinful thoughts, my idolatry, my selfishness (I could go on!)- the more I can see how great God's grace is. My sin is deep- His grace is deeper still!

I've been convicted of turning away from my Father. I take the salvation offered to me and reject the relationship that is so great! I've been convicted of continually thinking of myself and how others think of me rather than turning to my Father. I've been convicted of not living my life to glorify Him.

I saw my service to God as a duty and a chore. I haven't been servant-hearted, I haven't been a cheerful giver, I haven't served God because I love him and because I am so caught up in His love and his grace that it can't help but overflow from me.

Yet God still chooses to use me.

And I don't think I've ever been so excited by that. Today thousands of people heard the gospel in a football stadium in Exeter. It was such a joy to be a part of that. And I know that my God can do so much more than I could ever imagine. So I'm praying for revival in Exeter. I'm excited for mission week in January. I'm resolving to pray for mission week, to pray for the lost in Exeter, to pray that God's Kingdom would be being added to from Exeter in the coming weeks and months.

God is so good to me. 

"They will be my people and I will be their God... I will make an e v e r l a s t i n g covenant with them. I will never stop doing good to them... I will rejoice in doing them good." Jeremiah 32:38,40,41

life goes on.

oh hey.
so it's been a while!! apologies for no posts since whenever.... May?! sorry. I have had a pretty rubbish week as weeks go. but feeling blessed by great friends and amazing family and loved and comforted by an everlasting Father who loves me more than I could ever understand.

""For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed," says the Lord, who has compassion on you."

I have a heavenly Father who will never let me go- nothing I can do or say will make Him love me less.

And though sometimes it feels like life is never going to be the same again and that it'll never get better- I know it will! (However long it may take!)

I literally have some of the best friends ever. My family are amazing. And most of all, I have a Father who loves me enough that he would create a rescue plan in the depths of eternity in which he would send His Son to die for me.

So in a week where everything has gone wrong, where everything seems to have been turned upside down and I don't know what to do... I still have so much to be thankful for. :)

Over and out.

Flowers, picnics and Joshua!

it's been a while.

sorry.



my room is beautifully tidy and i have a bunch of tulips from a lovely boyfriend. which makes me happy.

so on sunday, my church here in Exeter had a church picnic and it was great. the sun was shining (as it always does in Devon...) and we had a really good game of football :) I haven't played football in a LONG TIME. but I enjoyed it immensely. there was a play park as well which was great.

we're studying Joshua in hall group and SLOBS and it is awesome. Today we studied Joshua 3 which is such a great chapter and our God is so great. It was good to be reminded of that.

Also, apparently I posted a verse from this song last time I posted but this one line has been in my head lots today:

'You see the depths of my heart and you love me the same'

I think that's pretty amazing.





Over and out for now.

pancakes.

this blogpost exists for two reasons.
1. i was rebuked for not posting recently enough for the likings of some people.
2. the wok i spoke so highly of last term has failed me and i feel the need to share my grief.

i have been a busy busy bee. yesterday, i had a discussion with some st thomas baptist church students about how it is that bees make honey. we concluded that they do not have udders. this was all we concluded.

my wok is no longer non-stick :( everything sticks. it is sad, sad times.

i like pancakes. i've become a pancake-aholic, if there is such a thing. i think i'll have some tomorrow. i like crepe type pancakes, and drop scone type pancakes.

this is not the wisest blog entry i've ever made. but these are things that i have been considering.

anyway, this is all for now, as my flat are all out, and i wish to make the most of the fact that i have rowancroft court block E to myself to play my guitar.

lots of love.
over and out x

ps. a lovely friend of mine has jumped on the blog-bandwagon like the rest of us. her blog is already worth a look- www.christourcornerstone.blogspot.com

"Indescribable, uncontainable
You placed the stars in the sky and you know them by name.
You are amazing God.
Incomparable, unchangeable
You see the depths of my heart and You love me the same
You are amazing God."

when i haven't got the words to say.

two verses of a beautiful old song. whatever my lot, Lord, you have taught me to say, it is well, it is well, with my soul.

"Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blessed assurance control,
For he sees every weakness and knows every fear
and has shed his own blood for my soul!


My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part, but the whole,
is nailed to the cross and i bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, oh my soul!"

and one to sum up.

"You are my rock in times of trouble,
You lift me up when I fall down.
All through the storm,
Your love is the anchor,
My hope is in You alone"

things i like and things i have discovered since arriving at uni.

it says it all in the title really.

things i like especially much since arriving at uni

1) My wok
i love my wok. it's from wilkinsons and it cost me the grand total of £4. i cook everything in my wok- curry. chilli. noodles. stir fry. things to put with couscous. that's actually probably about it. it's also quite cute and small. it reminds me of personal pizzas from dominoes. (i've neve had a personal pizza from dominoes actually.)

2) Chocolate mousses
I'm currently compiling a comparison of chocolate mousses. i'll give you an insight into this. for example, you should always buy the valuest of value chocolate mousses over the next step up. ie. value Tesco chocolate mouse over Tesco's own. Tesco value chocolate mousses cost 32p for four. Co-operative chocolate mousses cost 35p for four. Waitrose chocolate mousses cost 74p for six (they are bigger though). Morrisons chocolate mousses cost 36p for SIX. and they're the nicest. there are four empty pots stacked next to me now.

3) Jaffa cakes
don't get me wrong, i loved jaffa cakes before i came. but i have got through 2 yards of jaffa cakes and also a 36 pack and a 24 pack. this is a grand total of 180 jaffa cakes. now, i have shared some jaffa cakes. but i am ashamed to admit the vast majority, i have eaten myself.

4) Wilkinsons
wilkinsons provided me with my wok. but it also provided me with files, a stapler, staples, a skype headset, saucepans (which were a bargain), pick 'n' mix like woolworths used to do and jiffy bags. admittedly the files are rubbish, the stapler only works for 5 sheets and fewer and even then you have to "reload" it twice every time you want to staple once, and the headset broke so i took it back but still. new found love for this place.


to be continued...

university happenings.

so much has happened in the last few weeks! i now live in sunny devon, and love it:) exeter is a gorgeous city to live in and i really like it. the work's set in, i'm settling into uni life etc.
i've been able to get involved in the christian union here in exeter which has been great. i have a hall group with three lovely hall group leaders (second years) and i'm enjoying studying God's word with other students. ecu (evangelical christian union) central happens on a tuesday night and that's where everyone throughout the uni meet up for a time of worship and fellowship and teaching altogether.

i've also settled into a church which is a real answer to prayer. st thomas baptist church is a medium-ish sized church about 2 and a half/3 miles out of exeter. there are about 8 students there which for me, is an ideal number as it gives me a chance to get to know people who aren't students! have been invited back for lunch to two different homes, which is so lovely but incredibly surreal in a really weird way.

today, i went to transformission, a conference style day run by uccf (the organisation who help in the running of the christian unions nationwide) which was all about making us transformed for mission. it involved CUs from the entire south west area- exeter, cornwall (falmouth and truro), bath, bristol, cheltenham and probably others that i've forgotten- and we had three sessions, "Who Jesus is", "What Jesus has done" and "How Jesus feels about us". The speaker spoke of a Christian martyr named Probus. He was tortured because he refused to recant his faith in Jesus Christ. When asked his name, he replied: "Men call me Probus; my real name is Christian." Oh that we would firstly be known as "Christian"!

I want to share with you a song we sang in ECU Central the other day- Majesty, by Delirious?

"Now I've found the greatest love of all is mine,

Since You laid down Your life-

The greatest sacrifice.

Majesty, Majesty,

Your grace has found me just as I am,

Empty-handed but alive in Your hands,

Forever I am changed by Your love,

In the presence of Your majesty."

Also this one:

"Show me how to love like You have loved me,

Break my heart for what breaks Yours-

Everything I am for Your kingdom's cause."

Jesus, you are mine and I am yours; I want to make you my everything.

I thought today about when I graduate (I realise I'm only a fresher!). I want to make sure that I don't look back at my three years at the University of Exeter and see three years of wasted opportunities. University is such a great opportunity- I'm already seeing this and I've only been here four weeks. I want to keep this right at the front of my mind- I want to live for Jesus in Exeter! "Knowing Jesus and making Him known"- ECU's mission statement (and UCCF's maybe?). I want to know Jesus more and I want Him to be known more on campus. I want to see a "touch of revival" (a quote from the guy who sort of originaally thought up CUs) in Exeter!

I love quoting songs and hymns, if you read my blog you'll know this! But the best place to quote is the Bible- the holy, inspired Word of God, which holds authority and is my Map in life. (Just on a passing note, someone once brought up in a home group that the Bible is our map and guide. I like to think that if the Bible is my map, then the Holy Spirit is my sat-nav, another form of guidance that will help us to reach our final destination!)

"But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord." Philippians 3v7-8

Lord make this true in my life! Oh that I would consider everything a loss compared to You!

Over and out for now. I plan on writing more regularly soon. So excited for church tomorrow. I love Sundays! x