Personal Evangelism...

I have an exam on the above subject tomorrow morning. Soo... Instead of studying it, I thought I'd blog about it ^_^

How often do we as Christians share our faith with those around us? It's something I've been feeling quite challenged about recently. Especially to my non-Christian friends. What I find difficult to determine is at what point you should confront them with their need of salvation - on a friendship level, are you a witness through the way that you live your life and then a verbal witness when the opportunity arises? Or should we be more forward in creating verbal opportunities? Much prayer needs to be given in seeking the LORD for opportunities - we cannot create an anxious thought in a soul out of Christ... It must be the work of the Holy Spirit.

Do we have faith that God can answer our prayers concerning bringing those we love to Himself? Do we pray believing that He will hear and answer those prayers, believing that we will have families united in Christ, and that our dear friends will one day know the Dearest of Friends?

Food for thought indeed.

"This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief."

“I was born with an enormous need for affection, and a terrible need to give it.”

^^ Pretty much sums me up! =)

So, today I read a quote by Ms. Hepburn, and subsequently "googled" it and found a whooooole page full of them! Some of them just hit the nail right on the head. Inspiring =)

“Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, it's at the end of your arm, as you get older, remember you have another hand: The first is to help yourself, the second is to help others.”

For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone.

“People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anyone.”

If I get married, I want to be very married.

It's that wonderful old-fashioned idea that others come first and you come second. This was the whole ethic by which I was brought up. Others matter more than you do, so 'don't fuss, dear; get on with it.'

On Insecurities, etc.

It's strange the way certain things happen to you that make you remember the past. For instance, today I remembered how insecure I used to be, and apparently still am - although not to the same degree. I think it's a girl thing, not to be happy about the way you look or to feel inferior to pretty much every other person you know. There is so much pressure to look *just* right. If you don't fit the requirement, sorry, you're out.

But I was thinking about it in the light of Scripture... We are each one fearfully and wonderfully made... Why do we let others affect the view we have of ourselves, when we are made righteous in Christ, and have eternal security through Him with God?

It's true that man looketh on the outward appearance, but God looketh on the heart.

As discouraged as we might get about other people judging us by our looks, as worried as we might feel that others might not accept us, we ought to remember that God cares about our hearts, and whether we are upright before Him - it doesn't matter whether we fit the "perfect" category in looks, we need to fit the "perfect" category in heart, mind and soul. We can only do that through Christ, and the help of the Holy Spirit.

My desire is to live a life that is glorifying to God and honouring to Christ, no matter what others think. I know that in my head and my heart, but I now need to pray about not caring so much about what other people think...

"The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe." Proverbs 29v25.

The Hiiiiillls Are Aliiiive..... (8)

I feel so LIBERATED!

Apart from my liberty in Christ of course :-)

I came out of my Greek exam approximately 3 hours ago, and boy was it a GOOD feeling! I don't have another one of those bad boys to worry about until Christmas. It wasn't necessarily the feeling that I had done well... More the freedom you feel when you realise you don't have to religiously memorise vocabulary tables, conjugations of verbs and declensions of nouns during every spare moment the day sends your way...

I just want to SING!!!

I think there are 10/11 more exams to go, so maybe I'll save the singing for a while.

There isn't a great deal about my life that's bloggable at the moment, what with college, exams and studying etc.

I have a few posts that I'd like to work on, so maybe there will be something intellectually stimulating on here soon :-) I'll let you know how it pans out.

"My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong."

2 Corinthians 12v9-10

Excuses, excuses...

Remember how I said I would blog "tomorrow night"? Well, that would have been Saturday. I had good intentions, honestly.

However, by the time I arrived back at college, the internet had gone kaput. It remained MIA for 4 days. FOUR WHOLE DAYS. Without facebook, or e-mail access! Just me in my lonely college room in the middle of nowhere... Feeling sorry for me yet? ;-)

So there is my excuse for not blogging *that* time. I think it's fairly acceptable.

The praise service was really good - Lovely Friend and I watched Oklahoma on Friday night... Weird, weird musical. Give me Calamity Jane any day... *sigh*

Then on Saturday, we watched the ENTIRE 4 hours of North and South, with this guy ^^^^ as the leading man... A picture speaks a thousand words, so I'll leave you to consider which 1000 would go with him ;-)

My Greek exam is on Friday afternoon - please pray for me :-/ Mrs. W keeps saying "The LORD won't do for you what you can do for yourself." and as much as I know that that is true, I need a Divine miracle over the next 36 hours to help me remember all of the stuff I'm supposed to have remembered!

The light at the end of the tunnel turned out to be just that :-) praise the LORD for answered prayer, however long it takes! He continues to provide, and is faithful to help in time of need!

Some particularly encouraging verses that have comforted my soul this week:

"O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps... Thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left."

"The LORD hath given, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD."

What a comfort! To know that the LORD is Sovereign over all - to know that whatever happens to me is in the purpose of God, whether it is to encourage, to comfort, to chasten or to draw me closer to Himself :-)

I'm excited about the future. I'm excited about now.

A Mini-Mishmash

Ok, so the words "blogging" and "epic fail" are pretty much synonymous with me right now...

The past 6 months have been pretty rough, I've got to be honest. But the light at the end of the tunnel is getting bigger! Which either means that it'll all be over very soon, or I'm going to be squished by an oncoming train in the near future...

Let's be optimistic, shall we :-)

So, tonight I go to the Lisburn Annual Praise Service, and stay over at one of my loveliest friends' houses. Excitement!! Greek exam in one week, and counting. Words cannot describe how I'm feeling about this, so we'll suffice with a keyboard mash:

"hwfguifg;isud;cgi;gfwduhsu'gwUFIDSGHBDFCXHIOEV qhfvdsf"

There you go.

Right now, I'm going to go for a cycle! Six miles of hills? I say bring it on!

Tomorrow, I intend to blog properly for the first time in a long while, and hopefully I can keep some sort of discipline to it :-/

booksneeze.com

^^^ I have just joined this website. Free books! All you have to do is review them on your blog once you've read it. I figure it will help me read more consistently, and blog more consistently! So now to choose my first free book....

Alcohol and the Christian

I am currently reading the autobiography of John. G. Paton, Missionary to the New Hebrides (modern-day Vanuatu). In his younger days before he went out to the mission field, he was involved in missions work in Glasgow among the poor and destitute. He had a large ministry among former drunks, and held a weekly Total Abstainers’ Meeting. I though that his words concerning alcohol and the professing Christian were very apt, and ones with which I agree:

“From observation, at an early age I became convinced that mere Temperance Societies were a failure, and that Total Abstinence, by the grace of God, was the only sure preventative as well as remedy. What was temperance to in one man was drunkenness in another; and all the drunkards came, not from those who practiced total abstinence, but from those who practiced or tried to practice temperance… It has all my life appeared to me… that the only rational temperance is Total Abstinence from them [alcoholic drinks] as beverages… as they are deceptive and deleterious poisons of the most debasing and demoralizing kind. I found also, that when I tried to reclaim a drunkard, or caution any one as to intemperate habits, one of the first questions was:

“Are you a pledged Abstainer yourself?”

By being enabled to reply “Yes, I am,” the mouth of the objector was closed; and that gave me a hundred-fold more influence with him than if I had had to confess that I was only “temperate”

For the good of others and for the increase of their personal influence as the servants of Christ, I would plead with every one who wishes to work for the Lord Jesus in the Family, the Church and the World, to be a Total Abstainer from all intoxicating drinks and beverages.”

Mr. Paton goes on to express his disapprobation to the use of tobacco, but that while it is injurious to one’s health, the evils that flow from it are not to be in comparison to the “unutterable woes and miseries of intemperance.”

What do you think of Christians drinking? Even in moderation? Is it a practice that should be encouraged, discouraged or left alone in the Church of Christ?

Disaster!

That's me ^

I keep posting on my blog, saying "THIS time, i'm definitely back" and then not blogging for weeks on end. It's not good! I was ill shortly after i posted my last blog, and then i came back to college and have been trying to get back into the old routine... It has gone better this week, but last week was just a mess. I was sooo tired that i couldn't motivate myself to do anything, which means that this week i've had twice as much to do. But i'm feeling fairly positive today - with the LORD's help i have a very productive week ahead of me... Or that's the plan!

I've just been invited to start posting on another blog (everybody say "oooooo!") which as kind of given me the initiative to get my thoughts back on virtual-paper. I have a few ideas for blog posts i'd like to consider, one being "He's Just Not That Into You: A Christian Perspective" - we shall see how that goes. I have also bought a few new books recently (No, me, buying books?!!) and am thinking that if i give a brief review each week, it may motivate me to read more.

I have also decided that blogging is a far more productive use of time than facebooking! So i'm going to slowly try and wean myself away from facebook and onto blogspot... Lol. Internet addiction is a terrible disease ;-) not that i would know...

Anyway, i have to prepare my testimony for tomorrow night, so i'm going to leave it at that for now. Hopefully i'll blog again on Monday or Tuesday - that's if Greek doesn't get me sectioned beforehand...

Just a verse to let you meditate on which has really spoken to me this week:

"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee." Isaiah 26:3

Every blessing to one and all :-)

It is COLD!

Seriously, it's freezing! Yet my mum still refuses to turn on the central heating... I am SO badly done to... Haha.

Well, this post is merely by way of introduction back into the blogging sphere... I really need to get into some form of habit when it comes to blogging. My life has slightly more structure to it now than it has had on previous occassions, so hopefully i may be able to get a routine going... However, i wouldn't recommend holding your breath... Never mind causing brain damage, you would probably die.

Sooo... I now live in Northern Ireland during term time *mini whoop* as i'm studying at the Whitefield College of the Bible, which most of my Readers will probably already know. Three months in, i'm loving it! The LORD has blessed tremendously, and despite finding the amount of work i need to do quite stressful (fitting it all in and clinging to some form of social life), it is BRILLIANT. The lectures are all focussed on the Scriptures, and i have learnt more than i could have imagined even in this short space of time. I sit listening to the lecturers, and it's as if they are turning tiny lights on inside my head... Like a series of mini epiphanies, and i am truly praising and thanking the LORD for leading me to a place that honours the truth of the Bible, and teaches all to the glory and honour of God. The LORD has helped, and it is through His strength that i go on. He is the shade upon my right hand!

I am currently home for the Christmas/New Year holidays, and have been working some shifts at the nursing home to help my finances along. I really do detest working nights, but praise the LORD for the provision of a job to come home to. I may have formulated a Biblical argument against working nights (it has the potential to be utterly weak and flimsy with more against it than for it, but it was worth a shot), see a later post for that one.

I intend to blog about thoughts (the few that i have) and things on here, but i didn't want to just jump in at the deep end after not blogging for months. So this is your blogging equivalent of "small talk".

How is the weather with you? What are you up to these days? Found any interesting blogs recently? (Other than mine, obviously ;-P)
Let me know how you are!