God Given Strength by Beth Fitz

It’s been a while since I’ve written a blog, and I’m actually so thankful for Rachel for requesting one from me - it is something I rarely think about doing but gain so much from, unexpectedly! I totally recommend trying it. God does so much in our everyday lives. If we just stopped, and thought, then I think a lot of us who think that are Christians but don't think of themselves as HEARING from God, would actually be astonished - about how much he is in touch with our lives.

SO, I had no idea what to write about, and I was having a read through my previous emails, and Jez suggested doing a blog on prayer. BORING, right ahha I am kidding, but no. I think one thing that God has put on my heart recently is strength. S.T.R.E.N.G.T.H. that beastly word, often associated with body builders and weight lifters haha. At college all the gym lads talk about the numbers they are lifting, etcetc, and in the human world - they have physical, muscular strength.

But that's not the only side of the word. on the news and such we hear stories, stories of people who are STRONG in character, belief, love and so on - these people are admired! 

Often I think that it is seemed to be a trait which is unreachable; desirable; but made for only a select few. It’s what superheroes and brave, one-in-a-million people have. But, I don't know, I think that God wants to tell us something different. I think he wants us to know that every one of us, each and EVERY one of us has strength - inner strength, that's amazing, and possible of ANYTHING. In the bible, it says in Philippians’ 'we can do all things in Christ who gives us strength' - one of my personal favourite verses. it can be whipped out in all occasions; when there are people moaning about how a maths question that is IMPOSSIBLE, or even when someone just seems too low to get through a situation. However I do not think that it is used ENOUGH as it should be in our everyday lives. The Lord is out best friend, he adores us SO much and it delights his heart to see us relying on him. When we were in Romania, it was AWESOME to see his people so dependent on him - and heck, he delivered! If we let God into so much more of our lives, if we turn to him as our first port of call when the going is good, smooth AND when we hit rough waters, how can we NOT see so much more of him every single day?

We are stuck in this world, full of sin, death and sadness- Jesus knows what it's like. But we haven't been left for dead. We have a MISSION for this world, and that is not just to get through it with a smile on our face. The Lord our God is here, with us, powering us through, even if it feels like we can barely make it through the day! We can do ALL things, through Christ, who gives us strength. We just have to soak it up! We can do that by spending time with him; ask. and you shall receive. :)

 

So yeah, that's just what God has put on my heart. It should be our mantra, that we are, unstoppable. Even when we're going through turmoil - we have been given the power, the backbone the muscle of GOD behind us. Dude, this guy created the heavens and the earth. #crazy he knows the ins and outs of absolutely EVERYTHING. And he's our father? Wow! Yeah!

 

I’m going to stop now, I could go on forever in these things. I just pray that everyone can USE the amazing power we have access through. Whether it's keeping it together through a family crisis, or physically pulling yourself up a mountain expedition.

AMEN:) we have His strength.

xoxoxox

 

Adventure Overseas...

So we've just got back from Romania and I've just got time to reflect.


It was INSANE!

Haha, okay but seriously, one of the most rich and rewarding 

experiences of my life.. It opened up my eyes to the amazing magnitude of God, of the lifestyle, beliefs and cultures of people so unlike us, of the richness of God's love and people's faith for Him.. Insane. I'm just going to outline a few of my favourite experiences, and what they meant to me! One of the most amazing days for me was the day in which team B (the best team;) went to the gypsy village of Harman, and met with Florin and lead some of his church service in the evening. When we got there, we were about to set out evangelism and giving out tracks in the street when it started tipping itself down with rain- so we had to wait! As the rain began to pour we sat inside the church room and just started to play and rehearse for later on ((if you can call it that:s) and through the back door burst a whole load of little children- who had run from the park to hide from the rain! 

What amazed me was that these kids really had no-where else to go. Instead of popping home to hide from the showers, these youngsters ran to the CHURCH-this is how much it is the centre of the community! This was something that really affected me. In this poor place of trouble and hardship, it was the church, and God, that was the focus, the light that shone in the bleakness. Once the storm had cleared up a bit, we set out armed with church tracks and a few  translators to spread the Word into the village. What I think we all noticed was the receptivity of nearly all of the people we approached – whereas in Britain, I think a foreigner with no language skill in English would get ignored or turned away: but in Harman 100% of the people we spoke to were open to what we had to say. 

Whether this reflects the privacy and self-pride of the British or just how often it can happen in the streets for us I’m not sure; however there was a conceivable difference which has to be noted. When we got to the park where we’d run the kids club, we all nervously started to play some games with the children! What I think made the experience so rich for me was the feeling of being thrown into the deep end here. We were given virtually nothing beforehand as to what we were going to be doing: literally just shown the growing number of youngsters and expected to entertain them! We ended up having a ball and all of the team learnt a massive amount from that day. Florin did, thankfully, take charge and he really was the best to us in terms of translating and so on. Adzee and I were both given 30 seconds to think of short testimonies about Jesus to them all; such was the spontaneous nature of the afternoon!

The evening service at Florin’s church was not so much of a rush: Jake had been given a few hours in which to write his speech. Again the moment of worshiping, and hearing the Word of God in 2 different languages to people from 2 completely different cultures in the same room literally baffled me. I can’t even begin to unwind the wonder of the Lord I felt in that church; that God is so personal, yet huge and with so much power all across the world.

The whole week has humbled me entirely, to the magnitude of God. In this country, in our culture and in our wealth we rely so much on objects, things, services. The right we believe we have to medication, care, even to just be listened to! Time spent with people who don't think so much of themselves, don't think so much of the world and who don’t expect so MUCH makes me rethink every single moment of my life now back to normality.

I really could write a book on how much just one week in Romania, one week where the days were spent physically doing God’s work has changed my life. I’ve just outlined one of my most fantastic days; but I don’t think this blog does it justice! The ways in which the Lord moved just within our small group of believers, praying in the backyard of a house on a street in Brasov, will not be leaving me anytime soon.(: 

When we fail...

Hello there!:)

This is a spontaneous thing which I figured I’d write about; it’s been a long weekend but I’ll try and get my thoughts out on my screen!

I was reading Judges, today, as part of the bible in a year scheme; and not going to lie it was the part which feels more like a chore, as per usual! But something struck me and absolutely amazed me today, and I feel I should tell you about it. It’s something that has come up time and time again in my head; there is a pattern repeated through this book and others in the old testament. Every time I notice it and stop and think: it just seems more and more amazing.
The point at which I stopped reading and decided it was about to time to whack out my laptop was in Judges 6, right at the start. I’m going to write my translation but yours is probably different It starts off with this: ‘Again the Israelites did what the Lord said was wrong.’
Firstly; just consider this. When I read it I just hold for a second; and realise how.. dirty we are. In God’s eyes. How many times He’s washed us anew, He’s got us out of trouble; but .. we fail again.

Compared to the absolute perfectness of Heaven; we don’t even deserve to be alive! We think that this time; our way is RIGHT and that God’s way is not what we should do. We follow the crowd, do what’s popular because we think we know better than what the magnificent Lord Almighty says . . of course my first point is that God is so amazing that He takes us anyway. But if we continue in Judges 6 ..

Vs.6: ‘Isreal became very poor, .. so they cried out to the Lord.’
This is part two! In our everyday lives, exactly the same as what the Isrealites went through back then. No matter how much we believed our way was better at the beginning; it fails, and well, we’re in trouble again. Lost, with nothing, we turn to the Lord .. and here comes the moment of truth, the full showing of how gracious and merciful our God
is:
Vs 7:’when the isrealites cried out to the Lord, .. (8) the Lord sent a prophet to them’.
See? When these guys were at the bottom of the pit, covered in mud, God didn’t stick two fingers up or say ‘I don’t you so’. He actively sent someone to come and get them out of the situation, why? Because he cares. Just flicking through my bible, there’s dozens of examples:
same book, chapter 3! Twice consecutively; vs 7: The isrealites did what the Lord said was wrong..’ and vs 12: ‘Again the people of Isreal did what the Lord said was wrong..’ and as is the nature of our God, there were active, physical solutions sent by Him: vs.15: ‘

‘When the people cried to the Lord, he sent someone to save them..’

The Lord is definitely trying to tell us something here, and although reading these old books from times gone by may seem like a drag, I honestly believe there’s so much we can get from them. Drilling in these accounts reveals the very nature of our God. He is merciful, He is great, He is forgiving, and He will help you.. to every ‘the people cried out’; there is a ‘The Lord saved them..’. He wants what’s best for us; He loves us so deeply.
I’m not quite sure what the general gist of this blog is; a mixture of how the old testament is alive and relevant to me, reassurance of how beautiful the Lord is, just remembering how He did and still does lift us up out of the mug and the mire..
Make of it what you will. I just try and remember, every single day, how much the Lord has done for me. His beautiful grace and mercy; that no matter what rubbish I get in, I still have an amazing God ready to help me up and dust me off.

:)



Thanks,
xx

--
Luv XxBethxX

Ready for more?

Woo! We’re back from Newday!:)

You may say 'sad times.' And I do agree, because I do miss it a lot, and it is very weird that it has gone and went already: but I'm not too sad, really. I'm overwhelmingly happy for the amazing experience my week was, with incredible times meeting with God, making new friends and actually getting to know people who went to church but had never talked to :') However it is a strange feeling. Ever since I've been at Kings, Newday was always talked about with the highest praise; looked forward to with the greatest of anticipation. And now, finally, I can partake in
this!:) as it truly was an amazing week. God worked so so so much; and I think, for me, the outcome of the entire experience was a hench amount of awe for Him.

As a lot of you now know, haha, thanks to my overwhelming excitement, God worked specifically to a massive physical effect in me. Since roughly September 2009, I have suffered from a knee condition on both knees which was believed to be similar Chondromalacia patellae. After over a year and a half of visits to various physios, specialists, centres and so on; and treatments of acupuncture, therapy and epidurals; everyone had pretty much given up on me. I mean being the kind of person I am, I didn’t let it rule my life; however having been a keen triathlete and cross country champion, the inability to even run for 5 minutes on a treadmill without buckling and intense pain was heartbreaking. And if the use of a pull buoy to disable my legs for every swimming set wasn’t enough, over the summer tan lines grew around the knee strappings which I wore every day to minimize the pain!

But, anyway, I don’t think that, before Newday, I had thought a lot about God healing my knees. I guess I just accepted it as a disliked part of who I was. But I think it took the Freedom Course (run expertly by Anna and Amy, everybody go on it! It’s amazing) and the extra time with my Godly girls to maybe start to ask God to perform a miracle. A few times we prayed together before Newday; and when everyone arrived on the first Monday, Sally and I pledged to pray after every morning and evening meeting for my pins.

Well, anyway, this happened, and it took only 2 days for God to answer our prayers. On Tuesday night, after intense praying with my darling Sally and Anna too, I got up, did a few squats, .. ran up and down the aisle a bit .. ran to the toilets to remove my knee straps .. and, well, yeah, was very exciteful and grateful and so on. As you would be. But, enough of that, the final story is my knees were healed. My left knee is absolutely pain free, with just a little knock on from a weak ankle on my right: but I have absolutely 100000x less pain. It is crazy good. No more knee strappings for meee!:D Okay! I am back on the Newday subject now. Sorry Jez.(: so yes, there were some amazing meetings, too, and the worship was legendary. The band led my Simon Brading were amazing; the songs powerful and now the only annoyance is the wait before the CD is released in October! And also the fact that the guitarist looked like Michael from My Family:D So Steve Chong spoke 3 times in the morning, and well how could you not love this Chinese Australian. He thrilled us with his stories of his adorable sons, Reuben and Jacob, and humored everyone with his aussie ‘eskies’ and such. He spoke on how Jesus should be our everything, our ‘Bucket List’, on Jesus’ journey in the shape of a J (much like Sesame Street) and finally on Friday about bowing the knee to Jesus (I KNOW! I COULD DO THIS! XD) and going global with our ideas. Other morning preaches were lead my Stef Liston and Joel Virgo, and the evening meetings hosted powerful speakings from the likes of Stu Gibbs, Joel Virgo, Julian Adams and Adrian Holloway who led, like every year I heard, the incredible Thursday dedicated to healing and changing people’s lives around. On that night alone, 309 people were healed and an even more amazing 365 people gave their lives to the Lord!

So, it would be a mild understatement to say that God was there and working in these meetings. There were also daily seminars which were truly inspiring and thought provoking; things to tickle eveyone’s fancy with streams such as ‘How to answer tough questions’, ‘Jesus+’, ‘How to change the world’, ‘Redemption’ and Mobilise for the 18-30s.
There was also the ‘Just Looking’ seminars where questions could be asked, and in the afternoon talks for both sexes and also on dating and relationships.

Oh, gosh, there was outreach, too. That was one amazing experience of which I want more! Thorughout the week you could sign up to go into the local community in Norwich, and help out with a project. I went as part of Trev’s team on Wednesday, and we cleared a garden of a lovely old man in the glorious sunshine! It was hot and sticky and smelly, but I enjoyed it thoroughly and relished in the manual labour: and I’m sure that we spread the love of God to the community in our red t-shirts, too.(which we got to keep .. oh yeah.) In the time when we weren’t in senimars, sorry, seminars, :D I relished with my new knees in beautiful games of volleyball in the sports field. I made many a new friend, and even discovered old ones, singing whatever praise song was in my head and thanking God for the
(then) dry sunny weather!

Oh my, there is so much to talk about, the amazing food, shower queues, spanish graces, Newday Downpours .. but I better keep this blog short (:s) and sweet. To conclude, my first experience of Newday was truly amazing; and I felt my relationship with God grow stronger and stronger. I’ve come out of the week with, like I said, with my image of the Lord WIDENED 10000x, and I’m buzzing to be back in the world to spread the name of Jesus. Everyone I knew pretty much knew about my knees, so now they can all know about Jesus. That’s my plan, anyway. If you went to Newday 11, I hope that it was as refreshing an experience as I had, and that you’re just as excited to tell everyone the Good News as I am. And for next year? Already looking to go back.

Beth’s blog

Today, actually, my schedule wasn't particularly God-ridden. Well, at
all. There wasn't any church, no meetings or lifegroups unfortunately:
and I hadn't planned in my diary a time when I was focused on the
Lord, aside from my nightly bible readings and prayers and what have
you.
But, still, just today: God has spoken to me.
Even when I wasn't looking specifically for a message or an answer to
prayer; simply through my everyday life the Lord has reminded me; of a
very important thing.
So yes, today was, well a pretty lazy day. Did a few things, but had a
bit of time so I thought I'd waste it away on bbc iplayer, as you
do!:) and I'm not proud of it, but hey, 'the world's strictest
parents' was just my impulse click. I won't go into details, but it came down to one
upfront being, in my opinion, the arrogant and downright rude closed
view of someone who, underlying, is scared of anyone a little
different from themselves. Yes, it did get me mad; I'm not going to
lie, but she did go back later on in the programme. She overcame the
total snobbery that wound me up so much; and concluded with something
along the lines of 'I think I've just learnt that, like, we're all the
same'. Yes, of course, a happy ending to this bbc show! Anyway, I
wasn't too surprised, and at this point in the day: it didn't mean
much to me. But this was just the start.

As I go on, ummm Just imagine me jumping around
trying to explain this.. May help you understand? I’m so not a words person! Doing my best.

So, yes, that night, after watching 'World's Strictest Parents', part
of my Bible in a Year was (at the moment) reading through acts. We get
about 2 chapters a day; and that day just happened to be Acts 10. And
guess what it was all about? Why, how Peter, a kinda leader, was
reaching out to others who were different to them, who were saved:
when he got back the people asked him why. And he said that God had
told him not to judge anyone 'clean' or 'unclean'
I mean, I'll admit, sometimes when it's getting late at night: I kind
of skim through the dull chunks of writing that consist of the bulk of
the Bible in a Year. But there was one verse in acts 10 that I read,
that night, and thought: wow. It's 34; my version may be a bit
different to yours: 'Peter began to speak: 'I really understand now
that to God every person is the same'. Considering what I'd watched
earlier, I truly was astounded; and to be honest that doesn't happen
often to me when I'm reading the chapters fast to get them over and
done with; more the deep verses recited slowly from Max Lucado's
'Grace of the day'.
Once that thought had hit, though, my memory started to flood back
from the last sunday's preach. It was by Ollie Stevens; and on Peace?
Well, he had used acts 10 as an example! Pretty much; what I had just
read and understood and had been pulled out from the words on the page
and was directly related to what had been talked about on sunday. I
even checked my notes (which obvs makes it legit) haha.
I don't know what it sounds like to you but, bare facts, it just made
me love the Lord even more. Made me appreciate God's power and might
and glory and .... I could go on :')
Kinda obviously, it reminded me that we have to reach out to everyone,
too. I think for me; it isn't just the easy ones: we should be trying
to speak to those who, in the opinion of the world, have major issues,
but not only that but also, I think, those that don't appear to
outwardly NEED God's love. I think, perhaps,those are the situations
where God can really shine: if only we step out in faith. But, anyway.
Back to where I was.

Now it's the next sunday evening, and as I finish this the Lord has
completely and utterly made me realise that He's got it all in His
hands and under His control double, triple, whateverfold. There was a
guest speaker this morning; and, well, who could have the
cheek to call it chance?! He spoke about how we should
reach out into all nations, because we're all God's children: Christ
died for all nations; and that we should make disciples everywhere.
Different parts of the bible, including many of those I'd read before;
just encouraged everyone to get out there: and realise we're all in
the same boat. Fits in a treat, right? As part of the stuff I read,
too, I looked back to the day I had to read Acts 10, and there was one
verse that I positively beamed at. 2 Corinthians 5:20: 'God has given
us the task of telling everyone what He is doing. We're Christ's
representatives' hear that? Telling EVERYONE.

Okay, so, I don't know what you're interpretation is of all this.
Maybe God's trying to say something, here?
Well, anyway. There's a few things here. Not quite sure what this
blog's about. Or if it's even a blog at all. A whole smorgasboard of
experiences and prayer and actual VERSES (which is very unlike me!).
Maybe I'm just saying, be open to God; all the time. Your whole life.
I was going to say at the start.. Even though there wasn't a booked
church meeting, my life was still for the Lord. Every day. And He has
1000000x the power to show you and make sure of that.
Maybe I'm just saying, God doesn't just speak to people in weird
magical mystical dreams; with looser connections to life and
situations than contemporary dance; or perhaps I'm just trying to say
that those big preaches on sunday morning aren't for the masses. They
can relate to you. Personally.

anyway yes, :)
xx

Prayer: God is LISTeNING

Woo! So yeah, Jez liked my first ever blog :') and so did some people
who read it, I guess that's the same people reading this one now (if
this all goes to plan) so thanks for the feedback, guys. Just, thank
God(: once again it's dark outside, my knees are keeping me up and my
bb keyboard is getting another beating.

Anyway, so a good idea that was thought about and suggested to me to
talk about is another big big thing that's apart of my; and well
everyone's I think, relationship with God. It's the way of
communication with the Lord, the way which I think we can truly
express what we want to the Creator: such a privilege, right. Because
it isn't necessary for God: I mean, He knows our every thought and
action and deed and emotion, He doesn't need us to tell Him! Yet, He
still is overjoyed when we take the time outta our day to sit there
and talk to him, spill our problems, hear out our moans and complaints
as well as our babbling excitement of the ups and downs of our lives.
It's a lot, isn't it. Once again, I think, picturing a good friend of
yours who you're close with helps me realise. Got someone? These days,
contact is easyyy. Straight after seeing them face to face and having
a big catch up, you're either at your laptop screen on facebook chat,
msn or in a cheeky skype call if they're lucky. When you're on the
move, of course, too: texting on bbm'ing.. What I'm trying to get at
is that most of the time, the person that you trust and who knows a
lot about your life is there, to talk and respond.
And that is, and must be, something to treasure.
(We'll come back to God in a minute.)

... Okay, actually, we'll come back to God now: think of this absolute
babe of a gift of communication, as prayer. It's the same. But better.
God is available, 24/7, 365 days a year (and a quarter.)
Because with your friends and all...

There's always been the time, when you've felt alone, right. Maybe
you're lucky enough for it to be the rare hour or so when they're
asleep, or with a broken phone or dodgy internet. However, it could be
if you're going through a bad patch, and you don't feel like there's
anyone, at all, who cares. like there IS no-one at the other end of
the phone, to talk to who will listen.
Well guess what... God's still there. He's never going to run out of
credit, and neither are you!

And that's the marvelous thing that prayer is. It's the honour we've
been given to contact and communicate, as little human beings, to the
powerful mighty Christ the Lord of all things. Kind of...
Unbelievable. You don't need do to anything, either, to get into his
presence. There's no test or selection process which we have to endure
to be listened to; we have been blessed that God IS lISTeNING; there
to comfort you and provide advice and anything else you need (queue
bible).

Okay so you may be thinking, well, this is great. But how the heckk do
I 'do' this crazily magnificent thing. How can I access this
too-good-to+be-true service, as it is, which allows me to talk to the
King of kings?! Well, it really is as simple as it seems. Just, talk
to him. Starting off with 'Dear Lord', may help, but then just...
Talk. Tell him how you're feeling. Ask Him what you'd like to be done.
Thank Him for the good things. Moan to Him about how unfair it all is.
Don't be hiding anything; because God knows your thoughts anyway! Be
honest with Him; He'll understand. Read through the book of Job and
you'll see this guy complaining about all the bad things that God's
put him through; the same with a bit in Jeremiah: we don't have to
gloss over the rough bits to suck up to God so He'll like us! The
Lord'll see right through that, and we won't go anywhere in a
relationship with him. A strong friendship, or anything more than
that, can't be built on lies and dishonesty: even if it is just on one
side..(Us.). So we can't expect to get close with God if we're not
honest with Him. It's important at the end, though, to bring it back
to Him.

Once you've lost your energy being mad at Him, just stop, and
remember. Remember all of the amazing things He's done for you, for
everyone, and his great love for you...

Because, at the end of it all, He's the important one. He doesn't need
us.. He wants us, because He loves us. we're the ones that need him.
And, honestly, prayer really does work. I know it sounds obvious! But
there are thousands upon millions of miracle stories, just google
them, and in the bible is says in James that when believing people
pray things happen. And isn't that just amazing. It's
probably one of the most encouraging things as a Christian, answered
prayer. It may not come quick though, or at all. Only God knows the
plan! years and years of long hard prayer could finally be responded
to; perhaps the healing of an injury, or the saving of a family
member. Years of perseverance, of week after week of no change; you
could begin to wonder is anyone actually listening up there?!
Persistence in prayer pays off; and believing that God's actually
listening and CAN make that change is vital. Because He is feeling
your pain. Your anguish. Your happiness, and your joy!

Surely, if you love someone, you're going to talk to them, right. Pour
your heart out to them. Rely on them to always be there. And that's
how, well I think anyway, prayer should be used: this blessing of a
pearl in which we can speak to the Lord our God.

Thanks, Beth(: x

Love

'So, today, as I was leaving his house, Jez shouted after me 'Fitz!
Write a blog!'. What about, I wondered? 'Anything,' as I walked out

the door, highly sceptical of the chances of this happening. English
exams are out of the way, why would I WANT to write ANYTHING that is
vaguely lengthy and requires thought and effort?

But, here we are. The now not-so-early hours of the morning are here,
and I'm thinking? Why not give it a go!
After a quick thought after my nightly bible readings, I figured
there's loads of things I could talk about. Quite a few which could
fill a page of God inspired thoughts, but there's one which sticks out
to me as I think about it now. It's something that I think we all
know, and kind of take for granted: God's love for us. And even that,
on it's own, sounds kind of cliché and unreal. Fake, you know?
Something said so many times, as lyrics or by preachers.
there's lots of things that I feel weren't quite realistic to me, and
this is definitely one of them.
One way I like to tackle this unearthly face of this henchly important
part of God, is to picture it as something you know, in life. 'Love'
is thrown around a lot these days, and I don't have a problem with
that: but, just stop and think about someone you love. Who loves you
back, okay? I don't mean, marriage love, it doesn't have to be.
There's many-a-people whom I love, male and female who are all close
to my heart with whom I would trust with my life. So you've got a
person, yes? Now just try and picture it, the sorta things you'd do
for them. Stay up late to talk, if they were having trouble? Be a
shoulder to cry on in the bad times, and someone to celebrate with in
the good? Be someone who'll try and make things better, and offer
advice: even if it is the stuff you don't want to, but need to, hear.
And they'd do the same for you, right. Because they love you.
Well, pretty much, God's the same. He's got nothing but your best
interests at heart. It's that kind of love that the bible is talking
about; in fact God is love: (VERSE). So under our understanding, God
is all those things!

Tell your problems to God, because He'll be up all night anyway.

That shoulder to cry on? He's ALWAYS there, literally, (VERSE) and if
you look around there's plenty of physical shoulders that He has put
in your life exactly for this purpose. ( Yeah, see? He's thought about
that. Because He loves you.).. And as for the good times, He's brought
them, so lift up your hands and praise Him for all his good work.

Someone who'll try and make things better? Wow, haha, no offence to my
bezzie mates but the Lord has quite a bit more power than them when it
comes to helping you. Just pray! (VERSE in james, about praying and
results.)

And finally, offer advice. Isn't that what the bible is there for?

That's kind of my final point, I think, then. The bible. The word of
God. Again, another cliché phrase.. Yes, I could go on. Every single
word in it is there from Him, to guide you every step of your life;
good times and bad. Don't think it's just to put on your bedside table
to look good, or that it takes a few highly religiously educated
intellectuals to decipher the secret code. No, not at all. If you just
take a look, you can find something that the Lord has put there for
you: to help you through your time.
He loved you so much, that he wrote you an entire BOOK filled with
what to do, advice and words to help you. That's a hench gesture of
friendship.

Oh, gosh, this is going on longer than I thought... I'm sorry! That
wasn't my final point. :S.
I was just going to mention, you know, just a casual aftercomment...
That place they call Heaven? Ooh, haha, yeah. There. Well, that's the
proof of the pudding. The icing on the cake. This guy, has pretty much
prepared the party of our lives up there! And it's going to be good..
Check out revelations for the details! Has your bestie ever consoled
'it'll be okay in the end' in a wishful tone of disbelief to comfort
you through a bad time? Well, we know for sure, that at the end it is
going to be a lot more than 'okay'. A guaranteed (VERSE) illness and
sin free world?! Yes pleasee!
Yes. He loves us that much. That that's prepared for us.

Actually, I'll stop, after this one more thing that He did for us.
Well, something Jesus did when he was put on this earth. This guy was,
literally, perfect. No kidding. But not in a swarmy, horrible
way...just innocent and pure. Well. He loved us so much that, totally
undeservedly, he died an intensely painful death.
Like, for us. Ever had the blame shoved on you for something a friend,
or enemy I suppose, did? It's kinda annoying, right. Because it's
unfair. Well... He did it. and it's a lot more than just being wrongly
accused for talking in class.. It's death. That little sacrifice that
was made...

Yeah.

That, is God's love for us.

Now, my hands are kind of tired, from typing on the small keyboard of
my bb in the dark. I didn't get through all the points I had vaguely
mindmapped in my head, but I've done my best to illustrate what
exactly this odorless-sounding phrase actually means.. In the real
world. To me.

So, I guess, I'm kinda thankful to Jez for casually asking me to write
a "blog', goodness knows what for. I meant to go on into what that
means about my love for him, and I've hardly whacked in any verses to
back up my thoughts.. There are many. We'll see.
But I'll go, now. So, yeah. God's love for us. What does it mean to you?(:
xx