A NEW BLOG

Alright people. It's a year on pretty much since I've done any blogging and things have changed. From now on all my thoughts will be posted in a new, hopefully more authentic and focused blog called 'Knowing God.'

That's right, I have a  NEW BLOG which is dedicated to sharing the good news of Jesus! It's a place for me to throw out any new and exciting thoughts (when I read a book or passage I just have to share it with someone, it's just a part of the way it goes - 'my cup overflows' (psalm 23))

So feel free to have a look, comment an opinion or thought. I would love to hear from you. And tell me about your blogs! I would love to hear how they're going, I would love new places to visit.

God bless,

Gina

Remembering him

A small pressure on your fingertips

You look down in mild surprise

Your gaze meets the large, outspoken eyes of a small, pointy face

The mouth is too small and teeth too large

A critical thought leaps before you can stop it

His hand is in yours, gently swinging back and forth

As if it were the most natural thing in the world

No words are needed

His wrists are too thin, his legs too skinny

As if they can barely hold him up

But there is a strength in his face that no one can deny

Confidence, charisma

Bundled into the body of a seven year old

‘Habari?’ you ask him anyway

And he looks back up at you with that wry smile

‘Aaaay’ he says in that way of his, one eyebrow up

But you know he’s not okay

You know he lives in a mud hut

A mosquito breeding ground

You know he only eats cassava

You know he is sick

Terribly sick

But he keeps on saying ‘aaay’ and smiling at you

He keeps on playing with your stuff

Asking for balloons

He keeps on helping with the work

Walking with you

Talking with you

He just keeps on

Keeps on going

Until one day it takes him

and there is no more ‘aaay’ with a smile

no one to walk with

It took him in the night and didn’t let him come back

In memory of this brave little guy

I've blogged over here to share a bit of Lameck's story with the world.

Worshiping like you mean it!

I've just come back from the amazing christian festival that is Momentum. I could talk forever about how much I loved it, but I want to focus on one stand-out-thing: JOY.

People say that at momentum/soul etc that it's just a show - hype, flashing lights, loud music, smoke etc.  And I was with them for a bit, I looked around cynically and watched people jump up and down as if it was a concert and it made me sad, and because of my skepticism I was therefore unreceptive and unwilling.

But what was revealed to me this time was that if you enter into all that with the intention to worship God and use that time solely for him, to glorify and praise him, then it can be absolutely amazing - it can reflect what we were made for. Instead of hindering, the loud music, low lights can become so freeing! They can liberate us by sending us into a realm of worship where we don't care what people think of us. We can use our hands if we want, we can dance, shout as loud as we possibly can and spend all that energy on praising the God who made us, redeemed us and loves us!!

They lyrics of the songs you sing push your thoughts in the right direction, they enable you to grasp his character, our sin and salvation, we can truly, in the words of David, 'sing and make music to the lord'! (Psalm 27 v 6). We can dance before the lord as Miriam did, abandon ourselves to his grace, and 'enjoy, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.' (Nehemiah 8 v 10)

'Christ alone, cornerstone, weak made strong in the saviours love.'

'You left your perfection and embraced our rejection'

'My Gods love will lead me through, You are the peace in my troubled sea.'

'My hope is built on nothing less, than Jesus' blood and righteousness.'

It came to me as I was walking back from late night worship with a friend. We were both on fire for Him, chattering non-stop about Gods love and grace, our eyes bright and the smile reverberating deep within us. I had one of those moments where in a split second you analyse exactly what you're feeling. JOY. And with that joy came a sort of peace and safety, a sense that I was exactly myself. I didn't care what anyone thought of me - that normal niggling at the back of my mind, which I didn't even realise was usually there, had gone. The joy of the Lord was my strength. I was strong because of my joy in Him.

My true identity had settled on me, and it came through abandoning myself to Him! Ghandi, 'the best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.' Although, I want to tweak that slightly: 'the best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in God!' When become so absorbed in Him (his mind-blowing love, sovereignty, grace, sacrifice, holiness, mercy, goodness) you become who you were meant to be - a being who reflects and glorifies in God! I promise, you will feel truly yourself.

One other thing about worship at Momentum, is that the experience of worshiping God with around 12,000 other people is unlike any other. We were all crying out with 'one voice', praising him together, in community - a shadow of what heaven will be like. It made me tremor every time the music quietened and I could hear the echo of voices singing his praise, and mine swallowed up with them.

'All in his temple all cry, "Glory!"' Psalm 29 v 9.

10 reasons why you sould go on a mission trip

Rosie: Sweetest girl ever, likes to be spun around, has the most beautiful smile as you can see!

These were the best three months of my life. I want to start with that. Secondly, Tanzania is beautiful. It's landscape is rugged, stony and very green. We were plunged into the most rural depths where people lived in huts made of mud and the roads were little more than paths carved out of the dust. I know it's cliche, but you get to the point in life where you just don't care, as soon as I saw Africa I fell in love with it. Honestly, driving from the airport through Mwanza, my heart was singing. It was so utterly different to anything I'd ever experienced before. We stayed in a wonderful lodge that had been built especially for missionaries. Every day we would commute to the villages in our broken old trucks carrying tools and then hunkering down to work with cement and bricks and wood and all that. I could list off everything we did, and we did a lot. But having been back in England for a while now, I begin to realise that people often lose interest when I babble on and on. So I think I'll just keep it nice and short.


An alert Impala during safari in the Serengeti.

Gaby and Juma, the sweetest little five year old you'll ever meet. Likes jumping onto you and being picked up.

Chloe and little Felix, the smallest boy in the orphanage.



10 reasons why you should go on a mission trip to Tanzania:

1) You meet incredible life-long friends who become your friends quickly because you do physical work together

2) You are serving God by helping others everyday, it is the most productive you will ever feel

3)You are experiencing poverty first hand and realising that this is the same world you live in and something needs to be done. And you are doing it.

4)You will experience a culture so friendly and generous and happy that you won't ever want to go back to the individualistic England

5)The experience you gain will be invaluable - taking the lead, teaching, doing health runs etc

6)It's sunny every single day!!!

7)You form relationships with the people out there through church, joining the choir, invited for chai and chipatis, and the children are just brilliant! You seem to get to know them even though you can barely speak to one another

8) You learn lots of Swahili without even trying!

9) The memories will last forever

10) There is something about it that I can't put my finger on...something that you need to go there to experience, but that something is amazing.

I gestured for them to smile and they copied me!

Ben and Tom R playing football with the 'lads' in the evening sun after a hard days work.

Abbie and Chloe.

We stayed up for the sunrise.

Andy skipping with the girls ;)

Julianna and Esther.

Abbie giving Mkami a shoulder ride

A casual lioness siting on the side of the road that slowly padded away through the sevanna with us gaping at her

Chloe tickling Alexi!

twenty twelve.

I'll be honest, I saw this idea on the blog A New Rebel and was inspired! Her photographs are ten times better than mine, but it's not a competition, eh? I want to share all my favourites from twenty twelve. Its actually quite a good way to gather together all the different threads of the past year and squeeze it into one visual chunk. And what's the harm in stirring up a bit of emotion? So enough words, let the pictures commence:

 My favourite pictures of twenty twelve.

 

Gina x

what's in my head

So I haven't posted in ages. In truth, it was a visit from my lovely friend eve, who reminded me that I hadn't blogged in a while. So here I am, sitting at the computer. No pictures prepared, no clever ideas...just me and whatever's in my head.

 

What is in my head?

 

I'm thinking of all the people I'm going to miss when I go away, the awful haircut that's sitting on my head, if I should go and play the piano, if I'm working on Thursday or not, if my guitar case is going to be too heavy, that it's only 8 days away (!), all the things I need to cram in, people I need to see, money that needs to be paid, Tanzania, Tanzania, Tanzania!

 

Aaaaaaah.

 

Sometimes I just need to breathe. Be still. Be still and know that He is God.

 

Because he is: He provides, he loves unremittingly, he gives peace, he desires my good. Sometimes just thinking about those things, means that everything else is pushed into a smaller problem. A smaller ball of noise in the back of my head, not something that crowds my mind until I have to lie down in a darkened room and just sleep and sleep.

 

As Jon Foreman said in one of his many brilliant songs: 'all that's in my head is in your hands'. And it is so true!

 

So I said I didn't have a picture prepared, and that was true. But I hate posting without one...it feels so wrong. So I haven't cheated, I've just dug up an old one that I love, but I don't think I've shared with you yet.

Happy new year,

 

Gina x