Why we should be excited about Christmas

As a child I loved Christmas... well I loved the presents, I loved seeing my grandparents, uncles, aunties and cousins, I loved the feel of it.

But as I grew older my love for that time of year faded. I no longer got to see a lot of my extended family which meant Christmas day would be quiet with just me and my parents, it felt really sad.

When I properly became a Christian I didn't really understand at first why Christmas was made such a big deal out of, surely Easter should be the one to shout about?! That's when we celebrate Jesus dying and coming back to life and taking the rap for our sins - why are we paying so much attention to His birth? Everyone gets born, why are we meant to get so excited about that?!

But I have been reminded time and time again of just why exactly we ought to get flippin well excited

Why we should be left in childlike awe at the Christmas story

Because it is not just the story of another baby being born into poverty, being born in difficult circumstances that is not the whole story of Christmas

It is about the Kingdom of God, the gospel narrative

It's about the all consuming, fierce, extravagant, wild, over the top love of God

It's about the price God paid to have us as His own

It is about all that Jesus gave up for us

Allow me to attempt to explain it as best I can think to do right now:

From the beginning God was there, one God, three persons; Father, Son and Holy Spirit

From everlasting to everlasting

Enjoying all the joy, glory, goodness and complete satisfaction of heaven

But His heart ached for the world, he saw the brokenness and all the hurt and rubbish that surrounded people

He gave them laws but they were too much for them to bare, the things they were doing were not good, because God was so perfect and Holy, these things that were so imperfect and unholy tore the people away from God, their sin soaked lives could not bare the presence of God and they lived in what seemed like inescapable shame.

Even when they worshiped and sacrificed and repented, God kept forgiving them, but they would keep going back to their destructive habits.

He knew that a bigger sacrifice had to be made

He knew He had to go in

He knew He had to become the weakest thing man could perceive, He would be tested, persecuted and tempted in every way that we are yet remain sinless. He would be the example of perfection.

But this example we could never live up to had to live the life we could not live and die the death that we deserved so that we could share in what is His. As C.S. Lewis puts it in Mere Christianity: 'The Son of God became man to enable men to become sons of God' 

This is the staggering proposition of the nativity that God came to earth, that God came to us in the most unlikely way, that God gave up all the comfort, goodness, joy and glory of heaven, that complete perfection and satisfaction to be born in what people perceived as suspicious circumstances, to be born as a refugee, to grow up under the occupation of a cruel empire and to die a death designed to be slow, shameful and painful

All this so that we might share in His reign, so that we could be with Him forever

He became poor so that we would share in the treasures of heaven

He was despised so that we could know His love for us

He became weak so that His strength could live in us

He was alone so that we might never be alone

He was accused so that we would be safe from every accusation forever

He was shamed so that we could be honoured

He was rejected so that we could be embraced

He was torn apart from the Father so that one day we will be one with the Father

This is Emmanuel

This is God with us

This is good news

This is Christmas

أمين تعال أيها الرب يسوع 

Amen, come Lord Jesus

He is good all the time

Merry Christmas

Caris

The UK

The Lord is not finished

In June I started a new job

It's a job where I get to hear everyday about the amazing things that God is doing around the world, the amazing things that He is doing in and through His church, even in the darkest places we could ever dare imagine

But what has also amazed me is what I have observed God doing within the church in the UK

It is a genuine blessing

I got this job after a year of feeling somewhat disillusioned with the church. Growing up within the church as a pastors kid I have seen first hand how the people closest to you and closest to your family will be the ones to cause you and your family the most hurt and damage.

For the last year and a half I have been going through a phase of seeing a lot of well meaning churchy people and assuming that their apparent niceness, kindness, warmth and care was fake, just for show. I hated hearing the twee Christianese cliches that came from the mouths of the middle class British church and I felt that no-one could really be trusted.

The short version is, I was disappointed with the church and couldn't stand to be around the nice churchy facade that so many people seemed to hide behind.

And then I got this job

This job where most of what I was doing was talking to people about what God was doing around the world and then offering to pray for them.

And God started to show me that He was still doing what He always does, it was something he had been challenging me with for a while as he took me to some pretty crazy places and showed me some of the things He was doing in these areas... and I was encouraged, I was encouraged to hear of what He was doing over seas in warzones, refugee camps and prisons. I was convinced that He was still at work in those dark places, utterly convinced.

But if I'm honest I was not as convinced that God's power extended to the country I was born in. Honestly, I had not seen even half the miraculous mind blowing powerful works in the UK that I had seen in other countries.

I had sort of given up on the UK church, maybe it sounds a bit dramatic and yes it probably was pretty dramatic but I sort of did

I couldn't wait to leave the UK and go to a place where God was really at work and if I'm honest I still kind of feel that way a little

But the more I spoke to people all over the UK on the phone, prayed for them and with them, the more I was amazed and encouraged that the Lord is doing far more than we could ask or imagine even in this nation.

I loved hearing from people who God had used to plant churches completely made up of refugees, hearing from people who had set up youth groups and seen families and communities being brought into the Kingdom, hearing from those who God had burdened to pray for years for specific places and things and hearing of how the Lord had powerfully answered their prayers even if it had taken years, hearing of people who has given up everything to move into drug dens and red light areas to love these people and point them to Jesus, I loved praying for little old ladies who had smuggled Bibles and spent most of their lives working in faraway places telling people about Jesus and seeing revival

There is nowhere where God is not at work. Though it seems like everywhere is writhing in pain from all the evil that ravages the earth and it seems like the whole world is so far from God, He is at work. He is not far from us.

The first few chapters of Habbakuk have spoken deeply into my soul recently. It begins with Habbakkuk crying out to God saying

'All I see is violence and bloodshed and godlessness. There is nothing good happening anywhere, only evil. God what are you doing? What could you possibly be doing in this situation? Why will you not intervene?'

And God's reply is basically 'I am doing more than you could ever imagine in these days. If I told you all the plans I have, all the ways I'm working this situation for good you would not believe me.'

There is no situation that He cannot work for the good of His people, the building of His kingdom and the glory of His name.

And we live to experience that Kingdom, so it means ofcourse we will experience that glory in all its fullness one day... but we will also experience the suffering that comes before that glorious day.

But do not be discouraged

I have been hugely encouraged

For the Lord is not finished yet

The Lord is not finished with His church, He is doing far more than we could have ever asked or hoped regardless of what meets the eye

Though to some it feels like this nation is getting further and further away from God, I will not despair for there is an army of faithful warriors who are acting as instruments in God's Kingdom and who the Lord is accomplishing the most glorious things through

I will not lose heart, the church is still being made ready for the day when Jesus returns. There are faithful witnesses all over the world who are awaiting that day and who are seeing God's kingdom come as a present reality, in the UK, in Iraq, in Syria, in Iran, in Somalia, in Nigeria, in Kenya, in China, in North Korea and in every other nation.

From every tribe and tongue they will be gathered before the throne

And the folly of church politics and selfishness and the general nature of what happens when broken people try and convince other broken people that they are well held together good Christian folk... all that brokenness and rubbish and hurt that has been bruising the church will be no more because the Bible says that the bride of Christ will be spotless and without blemish

The lamb wins, He is not done with His church

أمين تعال أيها الرب يسوع
Amen come Lord Jesus

God is good all the time
God is good and that is his nature

Reflecting Again on Psalm 46

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, 

though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, 

though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah 

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, 

the holy habitation of the Most High. 

God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; 

God will help her when morning dawns. 

The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts. 

The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. 

Selah

Come, behold the works of the LORD, how he has brought desolations on the earth. 

He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; 

he breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the chariots with fire. 

"Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!" 

The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. 

Selah

Since a trip to the borders of Turkey, Iraq and Syria earlier this year this verse has not failed to give me goosebumps.

It was what I read when I was afraid, when I was frustrated, when I didn't understand the suffering that I was seeing in the refugee camp I worked in

It was what I read aloud when the building I stayed in shook as bombs fell in the streets, gunfire surrounded us and tear gas poisoned the air we breathed

It was what I screamed at the top of my lungs as I prayed for Iraq and Syria and wept for those nations

It was what I remembered when I was left in awe of beautiful mountains and rivers that caressed the landscape

It was what made me feel peace in the lonely moments

It was what I sang in praise to God through tears of joy when I witnessed the glorious things He was doing in this area where there was no church.

It's what I've read since coming home when I'm feeling overwhelmed and need some perspective

The reason this verse seems to speak to me in every circumstance I feel is very simple. 

It reminds me of who my God is.

It really is that simple.

I have a real hard time attending most Christian women's events, hence why I will often try to avoid them. Mostly because all the ones I have been to in the past have almost always been about 'believing you're beautiful' and 'knowing you're fearfully and wonderfully made' and saying very little else. Indeed there is a time and a place for that kind of teaching I'm sure, but that cannot be all we ever feed the women in the church. And don't get me wrong, I know there are plenty of women in the church and beyond who do need to hear those things 

But me? Hearing that all the time only encourages me to look at myself - and I definitely don't need any help being more self obsessed.

What I need when I'm afraid, angry, irritated, arrogant or hating everything I know, I know I need to look at Jesus

Not myself

Saying to myself 'Caris, it's ok, you're beautiful.' does not offer anyone anything when I don't understand why these people I have been working with have seen most of their families beheaded or sold into slavery at the hands of ISIS.

But reminding myself that God is beautiful on the other hand, and looking to Him, reminding myself of who He is...

My Almighty God who created heaven and earth,
who is a very present help in time of trouble,
who forgives me
who does mighty and awesome things even in the midst of devastation,
who is the Prince of Peace and the Lord of Lords,
who is working all things for the good of those who love Him,
who is ferociously and fiercely defending the church,
who has marked me as safe from Satan's accusations forever and who will, who absolutely will be exalted among the nations - on that day every eye shall take in His beauty and majesty and every knee will hit the ground and from every voice we shall hear that Jesus is Lord!

That's what will make me get out of bed each day. That's what I can cling onto when the pangs of death are encompassing me. That's what will sustain when caught up in the middle of a war zone. That's where the authority to trample the darkness comes from - looking to God, reminding yourself of just who's on your side, who's behind you, who's going before you, who's holding your right hand.

He is so glorious
Just so glorious!

And He and He alone is what we ought to look to, because nothing else will do.

May our minds be so fixated on who He is that we wouldn't even think of looking elsewhere for comfort, may we not even need to tell ourselves what a ridiculous idea that would be, because we have made Him our ultimate desire, we have fought to fix our eyes on Him so our ADD souls don't look to the billion lesser things that the world throws our way

'In all my sorrows Jesus is better
Than any victory Jesus is better
More than all riches Jesus is better
Than any comfort Jesus is better
Make my heart believe'

God is good all the time
God is good and that is His nature

Cheesy Cliché New Year Post

Good morning and happy 2015

In many ways this year has been a very difficult one, but coming to the end of a year does force you to look back and actually, somehow, among all the things that have happened that have caused great hurt, disappointment, confusion, broken relationships, anger and all the rest this has somehow been the best year of my life...

God has done glorious things. He has blessed me and granted me the most marvellous experiences, brought some of His most amazing people into my life and spectacularly restored some things that were beyond hope. The glorious things He has done have honestly far outweighed any of the more despairing moments. He is so good. Just so so good, and I cannot praise Him enough.

Proverbs 25:1
This was the second passage I read in 2015 and it spoke to me as if in conversation with a human being. This year may we not grow lazy in seeking God's heart. But may we diligently seek Him in all circumstances, when everything is miraculously falling into place and when all of life is a chaotic confusion. He is still the same, His same glorious self. He is always worth it.

This year may we fall more passionately in love with Jesus, more in love with His word, may God do absolutely whatever it takes to make us more like Jesus even if it hurts us and breaks us.

This year may we not be hesitant in the things that He calls us to do but may we learn the art of radical obedience. Following Him wherever He leads, jumping into our Fathers arms and knowing that that is the safest place we could possibly be - so nowhere could be too far to go.

This year may we make more time for Him. Not out of obligation but out of adoration, may we find reading His word, worshipping Him, praying to Him and spending time in His presence the most irresistible thing in life.

I commit this year to my awesome Lord and Saviour

May He continue to do immeasurably more than we could ask or imagine

God is good all the time
God is good and that is His nature

God bless you
Caris
X

"Caris, when did you stop living under Grace?"

Hello friends

So for the second half of last term my head and my emotions were a little more all over the place than usual, apologies for all those who were caught up in the firing line of that (particularly Joe, Lizzie, Kirsty, Seb, and Dr Kirby Sir)

It's that time of year again at Moorlands when you have to sort out a block placement, but unlike last year, this time you get to go anywhere in the world...

So like any average twenty year old girl who likes clothes shopping, pretty things, walking in the countryside, sitting in trees, ice-cream, bad TV, who jumps at loud noises, hates any form of exercise and still will always cry if someone shouts at her... I decided I wanted to go to Iraq. Obviously.

Now Iraq is a land that has been on my heart for a long time, and from my first year at college I wanted to do my third year block placement there.

In June when everything with ISIS kicked off I asked myself if I would still be prepared to follow God there if that was where He lead. I assumed that that was Him asking me to still be pursuing that as an option.

Things went well, I had made a lot of contacts, a few people after looking at my CV were keen to have me come out and work with them, things firmed up very quickly... I must admit that I felt slightly suspicious at that point... I love the way God works but I must say I find God's timing is usually what I would describe as being pretty last minute timing, He has a wonderful but at times exasperating habit of turning my plans upside down at the last second - so I was suspicious that things were being sorted out so quickly and in the back of my head I was partly expecting a large spanner to be thrown in the works at any minute.

Although pleased that things were coming together, I was also very afraid. My dissertation was about whether or not military intervention against ISIS was biblical, so I was reading up on all the gruesome stories, keeping well up to date with all the new territory they were seizing and generally becoming more and more certain of certain death as soon as I arrived there. I felt very ill-equipped for such a task, very fearful and very overwhelmed - hence the all over the place emotions.

Most people in my life were incredibly supportive of my plans, but there were also some who were very unsure.

This made me unsure. Therefore I rallied the troops and got some amazing people around me to pray with me and for me about this particular thing. They all asked for God to grant me His peace (which He did) and for Him to grant me a sign that would assure me of whether or not this was where He was sending me (which He did later on)

Meanwhile another weird thing was going on in my life
A few weeks ago I spoke to a mentor who I fondly refer to as my big sister. She is amazing, she's one of those people who it is simply impossible to lie to, by just the sound of your voice she'll somehow be able to gauge exactly where you are at spiritually. About ten minutes into the conversation she said to me plainly 

"Ok, what's going on? Right now I'm not speaking to the Caris I know, what have you not surrendered to God, what is it that's keeping your heart from Him?"

I love that woman, everyone needs someone in their life who can do this. But at that time I had no idea. How could I possibly know? Perhaps I wasn't quite experiencing a spiritual high at that point, but I didn't feel I was in a totally terrible place with God. So she told me to go and pray about it.
So I did.
I got nothing.
Two days later someone else said the same things to me, that there was something I wasn't surrendering.
So I prayed.
I heard nothing.
The next day in a worship evening a prophesy was given that there was someone who needed to surrender something that was stopping them from giving their heart completely to God.
So I prayed again.
And again, nothing.
It was getting weird, if there was something this big why on earth wasn't God telling me when I asked Him?! It was so frustrating!

On Tuesday morning, God spoke to me during a time of worship in a voice that cut to the core of my being, I have no idea how to explain it other than a violent hurricane-like whisper:

"Caris, when did you stop living under Grace? When did you decide that it was your works that saved you? When did you start believing that I would only be proud of you if you went somewhere like Iraq? When did you start believing that the things that you do have anything to do with my outrageous love for you? When did mission itself become your god? When did your desire shift from being solely for me to being solely for my work?" 

I wanted His work. I wanted to see disciples made. I wanted to risk my life for Him in the most dangerous of places to show the world that He was worth dying for, I wanted to shout His good news at the top of my lungs for all to hear... but somehow I had wanted those things more than I wanted God Himself. And that's idolatry.

Not long after this encounter, I was informed that college had changed their mind about allowing me to go, they explained that the risks that were involved far outweighed any long term impact that my presence would have therefore college refused to sign it off.

Within half an hour of each other God had answered all that I had been wanting know at that point in time. And I didn't realise that they were so intrinsically linked.

I was gutted that I couldn't go, really gutted.

But considering what God had told me just before finding out, it kind of made sense.

My desire should always first and foremost be for Him and Him alone and then all the other things will come from an overflow of that. Not from anything I try to muster up in myself.

Grace cuts to the root of our pride, there's absolutely nothing we can do to earn it... and that beautiful truth is also the most incredibly exasperating truth, because deep down a lot of us kind of want to be able to earn it, we want to be better than others, more deserving than others, we want to prove ourselves not only to other people but also to God. We have a nature that resists grace.

We are recovering legalists, often allowing ourselves to think that God isn't pleased with us unless we try to please Him.

The thing is though, God's grace, His unmerited favour towards us is not based on our performance for Him but what He performed on that cross for us.

Grace disarms us of our pride.

Chase after Jesus first and then the rest will follow. It's all about Him.

God is good all the time

God is good and that is His nature

God bless

Caris

His Kingdom Come. His Will Be Done

I have felt burdened to write this post for the past few months but the words failed me. I tried, I really tried... but the words never came, only frustrated, anguished cries to my heavenly father

As many of you know I have a bit of a weird thing for the Middle East.

Like I genuinely love it. More than I can even describe. 

For the past few years it has been all I can think about, God healing that land and great multitudes of its people turning to Him. That is what I daydream about, that is what I pray for most, that is honestly, other than God Himself, perhaps the greatest desire of my heart; that all the lies and deceptions that hold people captive in those lands be exposed for what they are, that people would be set free.

This is why the things I have seen on the news recently have made my stomach churn, made every inch of my being recoil and broken my heart so much.
The things my brothers and sisters in Iraq have had to endure these past few months are just unbelievable.

It has deeply disturbed me how creative ISIS militants have been with their evil; crucifixions, rapes, selling people into slavery, maiming, cutting children in half, forcing Christians to convert to Islam and then publicly beheading them anyway then having their child fighters parade their severed heads around on sticks, the list goes on.

But what's perhaps even sadder is that things like this have been happening everyday in Syria for over three years now. Yet it has gone off the news. I recently spoke to a Syrian refugee family who had made it to Egypt with only the clothes on their backs, they were devastated. They'd seen their closest friends killed, their once thriving church, now struggling to stand with so many of its members either dead or displaced and they feel the world has forgotten them.

When evil ravages the world, when babies are murdered, when whole countries are flattened... what on earth do we pray?

I feel inclined for some reason to share the prayer that I have been praying for these lands.

Often when I pray, no words come. But sometimes they do come and it's usually something like this:

'God I sincerely pray for all those trapped in the lies of extremism, I pray for Saul like conversions, I pray that you would reveal yourself to them, that miracles would happen. 

That ISIS would go down in history as the militant extremist group which came face to face with the extravagant love of God, falling on their knees before Him, may they become extremists for love, may they become carriers of your message of reconciliation, may they transform into an army of Pauls, an army of ex terrorists, an army of redeemed, transformed people, forgiven people,may repentance flood the darkness! Use this for good, Lord God!
All over the world may you comfort your people who have lost everything, may their steadfastness be an inspiration not only to the worldwide church but may it send a loud clear message of your grace to the very people who wish to wipe them out. Strengthen them I pray. May they know that you have not and cannot forsake them! May you remind them of this in immense ways. 

May even in such times, no, especially in such times may your church in Iraq arise, your church in Syria arise, your church all over the world arise, fully clad in the armour of God, with power and love, proclaiming this glorious gospel message and heeding the call of Christ to declare that there is still hope, that all is not lost, that He is the hope of the world, and that He is still fearlessly defending, fighting for and adoring His bride. 

Lord help your hurting church in that land to truly love their enemies and pray for their persecutors.
Do amazing things Lord in that place. Amazing things beyond what we could ask or comprehend right now.
Do it Lord
Hope of the world
For your namesake, for your glory, break the powers of evil in that land.
Amen'

We are not called to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us because it's easy, or just because it's nice to love them, but because that is the only thing that will bring change.

In the words of Jerry Trousdale

'Prayer is the greatest weapon that any disciple maker can wield, and God's people are using it effectively around the world at this very minute. Prayer takes the spiritual battle out of the human realm and puts it fully into God's hands, and not even the powers of hell itself can stand against His almighty Spirit. It is prayer that has torn down walls of bigotry,and broken the weapons of hatred. When God's people kneel in prayer, God's will is done on earth as it is in heaven.'

Please continue to pray for Iraq, Syria and the rest of that troubled region.

God is good all the time

God is good and that is His nature

God bless you

'When I Don't Understand Your Perfect Plan - I Will Trust In You My God'

So it's been a few months since I have written in this thing

My very first post in this blog described God's unchanged faithfulness even when my faith was at its very weakest.

And now here I am with a slightly different story to tell...

Following the most difficult five months of my walk with the Lord, the last four months have honestly been the most wonderful few months of my life. Since February God has taken me to Betel of Britain and taught me wonderful things there, over Easter God was doing incredible things all around me, He took me to Egypt and then He brought me back to college rejoicing over His awesome power and outrageous love.

I sat in church this morning and at a very random time in the service I suddenly broke into quiet tears of joy, I was fortunately sat on my own at the back so my peculiar and sudden outburst remained largely unseen.

It was another one of those moments when my heart was just so filled with thankfulness to my God, my tear ducts decided they wanted to let everyone know.

God has just been teaching me so much recently, and that is what I am so wildly thankful for. One of the biggest things that has come up a lot over the past few weeks is learning to trust Him in all things. Something I have never excelled at.

I am someone very future focused, I am very ambitious, driven and headstrong. This means that in my head I always feel a need to know exactly where my life is going. Every decision I make is usually based upon what I think it's effects will be on my future, where it will take me. I am prone to constantly not only picturing but practically deciding exactly what every stage of my future will look like. For a while I was almost certain my life was going to look like this:

Graduate college. Immediately after that go and live somewhere in the Middle East. After that go wherever is the most dangerous place in the world at that time. Have a crazy adventure, make disciples there. Get really good at running away from terrorists, bombs and guns and things. Get kidnapped a few times, but witness to my captors so they come to know Jesus. Evangelize the whole of the Arab world. Die as a martyr whilst singing a hymn. 

Seriously. That was the plan.

Perhaps that is not what every girl dreams her life will look like. But that really was what I wanted for my life.

But what I didn't realize is how I had made myself god of my future. My idea of what it would look like was fixed. Perhaps my motives weren't all wrong, I believed God had called me to all those things, these things were what I thought would honour God and bring glory to His name but the thing is, I no longer came to Jesus like a trusting child because deep down I thought I had it all figured out. What started as a willingness to go wherever He called turned into my own life plan loosely based on the things I felt called to do. Willingness became ambition and then that ambition over took me. And when these ambitions were shaken, it became clear how weak my trust in God was. 

I recently spent a week in Egypt, I went for a job interview and to generally spend time trying to scout out the land and discern what God wanted for my future.

One of the things which really hit me while I was there was how flipping hard it would be. This sounds naive I know, but this had honestly never occurred to me before that emigrating at the age of 21 to the Middle East on my own would be a difficult thing. I would always say very in a very blase manner 'Whatever - God will be with me! He'll give me whatever I need!' Which is very true... But that does not and has never meant that it would be easy. The life of a follower of Jesus could be described as many things; precarious, unpredictable, adventurous, mental, wonderful, full but rarely dull and never easy. And that scared me and shook all that ambition that I had.

So for a few weeks after that, despite all that God had done in that week, all that He had taught me, all the incredible people He introduced me to, for some reason it all started feeling very real. Everything I had dreamed about for years suddenly felt so dauntingly near and I felt petrified of every possible outcome of my future. I was afraid to go and be a missionary, I was afraid to not go and be a missionary and have to find something else to do, I was afraid to go alone, but then I was also afraid of having to deal with God bringing someone into my life who would accompany me. I was afraid of going to the Middle East with such little life experience, but also afraid of having to stay in the UK after college. Nothing anyone could say would make me less fearful, I had somehow managed to convince myself that there could be no good outcome of the future and that nothing could prepare me for it.

Only God can bring the peace which makes such daft fears vanish

After being prayed for by lots of wonderful friends I was challenged about my trust in God. I am terrible at trusting Him. But over the last few weeks He has been teaching me more about it. He has been giving me peace about tomorrow and reminding me that I don't need to worry about it. That it is better in every way to reach for my God's hand and trust Him with my future rather than have to have it all figured out for myself. Obedience is worth more than sacrifice 

There is beauty in not completely understanding God's perfect plan. It seems for the first time in my life I don't really have a specific plan as such, I'm not really sure what the next few years will look like. There are some open doors but I do not know the specifics and I do not know for sure whether they are doors I need to go through. And I do not need to know right now. But one thing is certain. He will be with me. I needn't fear, for I know He goes before me. I can be carefree in the care of my beautiful Saviour.

He has never failed me and He will not start now. In both the little things and the big things He remains faithful.

I love all the things God is teaching me and all the things He is doing in my life at the moment.

"To You I give my future, as long as it may last. To You I give my present. To You I give my past because Your thoughts are higher than mine, Your words are deeper than mine, Your love is stronger than mine - this is no sacrifice, here's my life." - No Sacrifice by Jason Upton.

God is good all the time

God is good and that is His nature

Thanks for reading, God bless you

Caris x