Hi guys,

I have not been very good on the posting side of things have I? There is no excuse to give you, other than being lazy and not being bothered.

Well, now that I am back, I would like to share about what God has been challenging me on lately: trusting Him.

As you may  (or may not) know, I have a job as a live-in animal carer at a local boarding kennel. I love all the dogs (and cats) that I care for, and my employers are wonderful people. In short, it would seem the perfect position.

However, God has recently been telling me, “Trust me and jump.”

Now before you question my mental health too much, let me elaborate.

Those words came with a mental image. Imagine for a moment, a deep, murky lake. My Father is in the water, arms out, saying “Trust me and jump.” I am the little girl, standing on the dock, scared of the water. “Trust me and jump.”

For a while I was too scared, trying to find a ‘safer’ option. Yet, a wild – and a trusting – idea starting to form. It wasn’t until my wonderful mother asked me why I was scared to trust my Father – a child has absolute trust in there earthly father, so why can’t I trust my Heavenly Father?

Those words tore away at all the fear I had been listening to, and it was replaced with peace. So, I took that jump.

I quit my job.

Or, more accurately, I gave notice.

So here I am, no job lined up, and no idea where I will be living after the 24th of February.

And yet, the peace I have is amazing. I know that my Father has got me safe in His arms, and His plans for me are amazing. It says in Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

(On a side note, read verses 12-14 as well.)

Whenever fear and anxiety starts creeping back in, I ask God for peace, and He gives it to me.The fear and anxiety goes fleeing again.

Why am I sharing this?

Sometimes, we need to hear someone else’s story to find to the courage to take that step of faith. Sometimes we need to hear what someone else has to say (like I did), to encourage us and remind us that God is in control no matter what our circumstances are. His plans are always best.

If you are going through a season where you have to trust God, know this: Jesus has got you. He’s got this. You will get to the other side a stronger and better person with a deeper relationship with Him.

I am not saying it will be easy. It never is. But it is worth it.

 

God bless.

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Aannd I’m baaack! I haven’t even looked at my poor blog in ages, let alone post. The hosting server was sick for a bit there, and I was trying not to think about to much besides my studies. But the good news is, everything’s better and I’VE GRADUATED!!!!!! Yes, you heard right. I have officially finished my course and now have a certificate IV in Veterinary Nursing. I am so relieved that it is over, as well as excited to see what the future holds. Currently, I am working as an animal carer at an animal boarding facility and loving it. God willing, I will soon be able to find a day of two at a local clinic as a nurse to compliment my current job.

Last time I lurked here (March last year), I wrote the following, but never posted it. It is titled “Loving yourself & Loving the world”:

I was reading an entry that I had written in my journal soon after a friend of mine passed away from suicide. The first line was “If I had one more chance to see you”. I then started flipping back to when I first learned of her death, coming across some notes I had written from a sermon I had heard at the time. One of the quotes that I had noted was “There is no one more deserving of your love than yourself.” It got me wondering that if people loved themselves, and I mean truly loved themselves, would they commit suicide? As I have never contemplated taking my own life, I do not know what emotions those who have go through. But that does not stop me wondering.

One thing I do know, God has called us to love the unlovable, those whom others can not, or will not love, to love those who can not love themselves. How many lives will we save, both eternally and here on this earth if we truly take up the cause of Christ?

Often we can not see the trees for the forest, or in this case, the people for the poverty, overcome by the enormity of the issue. “Love the one.” Heidi Baker once said, and it’s the truth. We will not be able to solve all the world’s problems in one day.

Look at the example that Jesus set. The one person that could solve all of the world’s problems (I am not referring to man’s separation from God and his sinful state here) without raising a sweat, did not. Rather, he loved the individual. Jesus did not look at all the sick and hungry and throw his hands in the air, saying it’s impossible to fix all those people, no, he touched one person, at a time.

Now I am not saying that there is anything impossible with God (there is nothing impossible with him!), but Jesus could have done that, just as he could have healed every single person on the planet, as well as fixed world hunger and banished poverty from the face of the earth.

“Now how do I love the one?” I hear you ask. “Do I have to go out to the streets and help the homeless? Go to Africa?” Yes and no. So how do we love the one? Well, it is important to remember that the world is hurting, and it’s not just the homeless, the sick or the poor. My friend was none of these, but she needed someone to love her. I am not saying her family did not love her, they did and still do, immensely. I am talking about a love that takes people aside and asks them how they really are – no strings attached. People need us to just sit and listen to them, no preaching, just listening. They need to know that they can trust us not to share with other people what they have told us. They don’t need condemnation or judgement.

Now I’m preaching at myself here, as well as speaking from personal experience. It’s something that God is teaching me how to do, love people. And I’m not talking mushy stuff here. I’m talking about hard core, uncomfortable, willing to put-myself-out kind of love. The kind of love that is willing to drop everything and talk to someone on the side of the road in the cold. The kind that gives away the shoes on your feet, stops and helps that person with the flat tire or breakdown, the kind that speaks life, not death into a situation, the kind that gets on your knees at three in the morning because God woke you up with a burden for someone.

True love, the way God designed it, is something that the world craves and can only imitate. When one speaks of love, the world thinks of sparks and fireworks, not sacrifice. Yes, that is true love – being willing to lay yourself down for others, not necessarily your friends, but those you do not know. This is love.

I pray you will have a great weekend.

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