John 7:24

So after coming home from Bibleschool I realized that I would soon be needing a vehicle.  My first method was searching kijiji to see if anything came up that struck my fancy. Then on Saturday my dad took me to look at two of the cars I had found.

The first was a gold sunfire, it came with two sets of tires, was clean inside and everything seemed to work properly. However on the outside the paint was peeling and upon inspection my dad figured out that two of the doors had been replaced, therefore red paint was peeking out from underneath ( spare parts from a red sunfire). I wasn't too inpressed with it due to the outside and the fact that it had been hit and therefore repaired.

Next Car was purple and I was pleased with the outer appearance, I wanted this purple car so I hoped that everything would be in order when i drove it. I peered inside and saw that some of the interior was ripped and worn and the seats were stained as well as the floor. When we test drove it, we found even more problems. I was disappointed, however God used this experience as a learning one.

It struck me as we were driving home.

1 Samuel 16:6-8, "The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

Here I was doing exactly what I wasn't supposed to, I was more concerned with the outside and not the inside( heart of the car) . Have you ever done that with a person? Met someone and immediately judged them by the way they looked. I have. And God has reminded me time and time again that the inside is more important. However, we live in a world where value seems to be placed upon outer beauty. But God doesn't. He made a world where everyone has the potential to be beautiful, and I'm not talking about plastic surgery. Our hearts can be beautiful!!! <3  When you think of Jesus, what do you picture?

Read Isaiah 53. It says that "He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him."

What does that say to us, that we should desire to be outwardly lovely? 
I don't think so, he didn't want people to be drawn to him because of his appearance. He desired to be known for his inner beauty and to affect people from the inside out. When we start working on our inward appearance, it starts to come through outside. Perhaps when a person saw Jesus they didn't think, "Wow, what a handsome fellow", but I believe that after a conversation with him, hearing him speak, or even seeing some of his actions they may have thought, "That Jesus is such a beauty!". Our inner beauty can and will shine through, if we focus on Jesus and becoming more like him.
Ecclesiastes 8:1,
Who is like the wise?
Who knows the explanation of things?
A person’s wisdom brightens their face
 and changes its hard appearance.

1 Peter 3:3-4, Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.

Outer beauty fades, but inner beauty lasts on and grows, so instead of waking up in the morning and picking out the features that you dislike about your appearance( gold or purple). Consider how God sees you and maybe take time to examine your heart, <3

John 7:24, Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly.”

Flowers

Matthew 6:27-29; Proverbs 10:25; Isaiah 32:8. Today I went horsebackriding by the river and as we rode through the forest my grandma pointed out a lily among the green plants. After some thought I realized that in life we have a choice, to be flowers that stand out among the green or to be part of the green, blending in with our surroundings. Sometimes it's easy to be a flower, like at church or in easy situations. Other times it's much easier to blend in like a leaf among other leaves. To follow what everyone else is doing even if it's not right. As Christians we are called to be flowers all the time, not just when it's easy. To stand out because of our love for Jesus and our desire to follow him. It says in Job 14:2, "They spring up like flowers and wither away; like fleeting shadows, they do not endure. " Those aren't the kind of flowers we should be. We need to endure, and the only way that we can is through the blood of Jesus. In situations when you know that you need to stand up and stick out like an orange lily among the green, remember that you are not alone, Jesus will be the roots if you let him. So put your trust in him today and when you face a difficult task, choose to be a lily among the grass :). And maybe you'll find another lily in the midst that will stand beside you!

2 Peter 3:14  So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him.

Thoughts while Gardening

As I kneel among the weeds in the garden, I thought, "hmm, what can I learn from this?". In between the rows of peas is a mesh fence so that the pea plants can grow upwards, and my job was to pull out the weeds so that they could grow. Many times in the Bible, gardening is mentioned (John 15, Genesis 2). God clearly likes his gardens :). But our lives can also be described as a garden, with different fruits and plants growing.
We have weeds in our lives and some are easier to see and root up (at the front of the plant), but most of them we need God's help to really get to the root of it (behind). (Matthew 13)If we let these weeds grow, they choke out the good plants in the garden , but if the weeds are taken out, the good plants flourish and grow strong. It is similar with our lives, the problems in our lives presently are quite evident but those ones in our past are hidden. It's easier to just leave them or perhaps wish that they would disappear, but they do affect our future.

My question.... what weeds do you need God's help to root up so that you can move forward and flourish in the future?

Traveling

So technically my traveling is two days, but I left Australia at 2:30pm sunday, arrived in San Francisco at 11:00am Sunday and am going to be home at 11:30pm sunday. Kind of like time travel....

So one of my prayers before leaving was that I would sit by someone nice on the plane and that they would be able to keep me company in the airport for awhile. And as I'm walking onto the plane I throw in a quick, God can there be a Christian too! So I make my way to row 40, look to the right and see a man and woman. I claim my window seat and am introduced to the people sitting in my row. Mena and Christian.... haha God very funny :)

Anyways Mena turned out to be a great traveling companion and we got to talk for ahwileand when our plane landed she suggested we hang out together in the airport until her flight left. So awesome and I got to help her out a bit too, by offering duct tape to temporarily mend her suitcase and sharing my lunch since she had no credit cards!
So far so good, now less than 6 hours left until I can board my plane...

Count Down

Wow, to say that my 5 months at Capernwray has gone fast, now THAT would be an understatement. The time has flown and I have learned so much. Plans have changed, and so have I.
People keep asking me what I'm going to be doing when I get home and there is no short answer. Capernwray Australia is closing down for a semester to really rethink where they want and need to be, that means I will be coming home and not returning to Australia after a few weeks.

I am a plan oriented person and when I learned that "my" plans had changed I wasn't too stoked. However, God reminded me that I shouldn't be following "my" plans but HIS. This has definitely been one journey that I have been on, so when I gave my plans and future to him I've experienced peace and essentially no worries. *essentially because if I try to take my future back into my hands, there is stress.

 So, God hasn't revealed his entire plan for my future yet, knowing would cause me to plan.So his timing is perfect timing.  He has slowly been revealing bits and pieces and it is incredible as well as exciting. There is less than a week left before I fly home, and I will miss all my new friends in Australia very much, but I am ready to come home and really put everything God has been teaching and showing me into practice!

In and through...

Hmm, it's hard to imagine that this time next month, I'll be home.. Honestly I'm ready, ready to leave Australia and continue my journey at home. There is so much I've learned here and I can't wait to put it into practice. Lots of what I learned was during prac week, but it's really taken me til now to realize what that all has been exactly.

I suppose the learning started back when we were prepping for prac week, I'll be honest and admit that it was a bit stressful beforehand and I took on more than I could handle, volunteering for anything and everything if there was more than a minutes pause after the question, "Any volunteers?"

If only I had known what I do after prac week, but I'll try not get ahead of myself. See, I had a mini breakdown before leaving and couldn't decide where to begin in accomplishing all the work I had volunteered for, little did I realize that I didn't have to. Even though I didn't really ask God to help me, he did anyway. He made it so that one of the programs due was set back because there wasn't enough information and had people volunteer to help me. When it came time on prac week to use the programs, things changed a bit too. However God gave other people ideas to help me out. At Crystal Manor, Ashley gave the idea about breaking into groups and having a point system instead of having everyone compete on their own for a Bingo. And through that experience God showed me complete and full joy, that later I used in my testimony.

My testimony... whenever I've given it before I had the whole thing written out and started out by telling about my commitment to Christ at the early age of 3. This time, I went up with a single sheet of paper, only notes and an introduction were displayed. I asked God to speak through me and to about  things in my life that the audience really needed to hear. So instead of staring at the piece of paper in front of me... I looked out at the audience, made eye contact and saw their nods of understanding. WOW, that is something only God could have orchestrated. I didn't come across as a person who has it all together or someone who has nothing more to be taught by God. I was honest and talked about the struggles and victories that have been taking place in my everyday life.

So, the real learning lesson came on the bus ride home, everything came together while reading a book (The Indwelling Life of Christ). Through everything that happened on prac week, even when I thought things were going badly, God was in control. He used the program at the Psych ward even when I was at a loss, and comforted me afterwards when I felt that I messed it up. What did I learn, not to worry. When I've got assignments to do, or events to plan, I need to go to God, lay it at his feet, and trust that he'll give me time and the means to complete it all. This week, I've been able to see it work. I have time to get my assignments done, I haven't been procrastinating either, and when I lost my debit card this week, I waited, prayed and found it the next day all with calmness. This doesn't mean that I sit back and do nothing everyday, but neither do I worry about what I should be doing. Today I'm sitting in a cafe' relaxing, blogging and reading my bible. If we are open to God working in our lives, he will.

Revelation 3:20, Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.

Oftentimes this verse is used when sharing with unbelievers. However it is really talking to believers, everyday Jesus stands at the door of your life knocking, asking if you will let him, to live in you and through you. So, will you let him in?

Prac Week in Melbourne

Prac Week Team: Woodsey, Zach, Seth, John G, Regan, Sam, John D, Ashley, Hannah, Rachel.
So, we left Capernwray on Thursday morning and traveled to Wagga Wagga to put on a small church service for about 20 people. We stayed at at a pastors farmhouse and got a tour of his land and the building where the sheep are sheared.Dinner was awesome, my first steak since leaving Canada! The service went really quite well, for the most part. There were some minor technical difficulties and I may have mixed up some words in the song I sang and said "Crap" instead of pretending that I hadn't made a mistake...
We all had mattresses to sleep on, which we weren't expecting and despite the chilly house, we had a decent night sleep.

Friday was a complete travel day, had a bit of a sleep and got some amazing packed lunches for on the road. Lots of blessings. We arrived at UNOH at 5:30 and unpacked. Board room = girls room, and Library= boys room. 7 toilets, 5 sinks, and 1 shower.... We've got a breakfast roster and a full kitchen to cook in which is so nice. Dinner + meet and greet with the UNOH team was a bit overwhelming at first but good overall.

Saturday:
Girls Fundraiser in the morning where we prepped food and later helped the girls serve, then some of us went to Crystal Manor which was a sort of care facility. It was SO much fun. There was a 57 year old scottish dancer, and some other characters. Later on, Regan and John D headed off to help cater at the Free Burma Cafe, although they ended up "supervising?" instead lol. They had a great time though and Ashley and Hannah went to a ladies group as well.

Finally today we held a church service at the Church of Christ in Dandenon. GT's. I gave my testimony, and Rachel and I sang our duet. This time we were mic'd and forgot to bring the music with us so Rach figured out the chords before we went up... Went great though.  John, Woodsey and Seth delivered a message on the early church, Sam spoke about communion, and John D was on for powerpoint. Ashley had her testimony on video as well. And then Regan and Hannah were at Rainbow kids service instead.
Afterwards the Church made us lunch and it was really sweet. Then was the event of the day, we get to the working Bee after lunch, had the wrong house number but found out when one of the staff came walking down the street asking if we were lost. We went in and talked for a bit about compassion and then came out for some of the team to leave for another church service and the rest of us to change from church clothes.
....and Woodsey doesn't have the key.....
So the key is locked inside, and there is 20 min until church starts and the working bee had already begun. After trying to break in with no success, we called the Australian equivalent to CAA, while the people involved in the service left and had to improvise since they had no musical instruments or their props for the Prodigal son. While I waited for someone to show up and get the van unlocked since I would be the one wearing nylons and a skirt... Everything turned out though since God is good and in control :) And as I was waiting, I happened to look up into the sky: