One Year On...

So its been a year since I last posted, I'm starting again because I am about to go on another adventure.....I'm heading back to South Africa for 6 weeks with a good friend. It feels so different this time round instead of fear and anxiety being my main feelings, I feel excited and expectant for God to do a lot in me over the coming weeks.

However before I start going into all that, this post will just be a catch up of this year and its main highlights.......

• God provided me with a job (it wasn't the most exciting! but it was answer to pray).

• This job allowed me to save to go back to SA, buy a new Mac and camera to help me with my photography portfolio and help towards getting me a driving license (still haven't got that yet but I'm working on it).

• I have become co-leader of such an exciting youth group!

• I think this last highlight is the best one.....God has blessed me with some incredible friendships! I have been able to make deeper friendships with friends I have known for some time, and I am so so thankful to God for this. God has also blessed me with amazing new friendships. This year, like every year does, has had its ups and downs but the one thing that has stayed at a steady high has been these incredible friendships which I honestly couldn't do without and I will always be grateful for.

Praise God for friends......

Enjoy!

I always find myself not enjoying the moment I'm in right now......always looking forward to the next thing, not that this is a bad thing because its great to get excited about future events but when I really think about it - its not a good thing either because I could easily waste my life always looking forward to tomorrow/next week/month/year and never really enjoy what I have now. God wants us to enjoy are lives - I often forget that, He has amazing plans for us - exciting things and I don't want to miss it by hoping for the next thing to come.

This last week I have struggled, I have been job hunting like crazy and still haven't found anything and instead of thanking God for the blessing of having this time to relax and hang out with great friends I've found myself desperately wanting the next thing (a job!) and not enjoying this time.

So I am trying to learn to enjoy what I have and where God has put me at this moment in my life ....it can be really hard to think like this sometimes but what I don't want to do is look back and regret not enjoying the seasons in my life.

Level ground

Wow I was just reading my last post and that was really bad - thats what happens when you write a post at 11 at night, wont do that again. So we have had a lovely week we went to Tauranga for Christmas which is a beautiful place - where we were staying was lovely it had a nice view of a lake and was just very relaxing. We spent most of are week chilling with books, video's, puzzels and food we also went to the beach. Christmas day was great - stockings, pancakes, beach, bbq, more present opening, film.....lovely, it was so weird though to be sitting on the beach on Christmas day. I did miss spending it with my family and doing traditional things like turky dinner and staying inside in the warm but I had such a great day and it was a great experience that I will remember.

It has been really nice to relax this week I am really surprised at how tireing travelling can be. Going from place to place everyday and constantly thinking about what next to do also not be in your own home where you feel relaxed it makes you very exhausted. Last week I just wanted to stop travelling I was so tired and actually really ready to go home but now I feel refreshed which is good because we are doing a bit more travelling round the north for 4 days. We are going to be camping and visiting 3 places - Lake Taupo, Waitomo caves and Hahei - The Coromandel. We wanted to see a few places up north and these places are meant to be must see's, I am looking forward to doing cave tubing in Waitomo. Then I'm in Auckland for a week then off to Boston.....time is going really fast I can't believe I am heading to my last place very soon...crazy.

I really feel like I want to share a very short verse that I read this week and I have really been encouraged by -

Psalm 26:13 -

'My feet stand on level ground'

You are probably wondering why I am writing about this verse but I was reminded this week by God, when I was feeling tired and for the first time in months worries started to crawl back into my mind (mainly about stupid things but also about getting a job when I get back, and what I am going to do after travelling - still don't know!!), that we as Christians are standing on level ground. We might feel like we haven't got the security in life - like money, job, future plans but that's not where are security is, is it? Are security is in God - we have level ground and safty because of God not what we possess on this earth. So just an encouragement for you that no matter how un-level your life/ground feels at the moment you are on level ground.

In Clarens I recieved a picture -

My life is like a puzzel - God knows the final result but I just need to trust in him and work with each piece at a time and it will all fit together in the end.

So I am trusting in God with my future because I know that he has it sorted and I know I am on Level ground.

Anyhoo I best be off......