Appreciation.

I don't really know what to blog about today but just knew I wanted to. Are you outside right now?? I am and it's glorious. This is the England I love...when the sun gets warm and shines all day...when people are out and about in the natural world...when the light continues for what seems like all night...and when people are generally happy, all because of the feeling of summer.

I love it. I love this. I love summer. I love sunshine. I love how things change just because the sun is shining. This is one of the things I miss and will continue to miss about England when I travel some place else. I will miss the summer days and evenings. I will miss the parks. I will miss the beauty that our country, England, possesses.

Do you ever think that life would be better if you lived somewhere else? Somewhere where it's shining everyday?? Somewhere which feels like summer all of the time?? Somewhere where people are different??

I use to think that. I use to think that I cannot wait to live somewhere else but over the last few years I have truly started to apppreciate England and everything it offers. Do you not see the beauty around you?? Not many places have four seasons in such extravagance. Not many places have snow and sun and blossom and green in one year. Not many places have days that last until 10pm where you can sit outside all evening and not feel cold. Not many places have trees that shed their leaves and then just a few months later blossom so beautifully. Not many places have the fresh, crispness of Autumn or the warm breeze of Spring. Not many places have parks full of green and full of colour where you can sit freely. Not many places have traditional pubs, or traditional seaside resorts. Not many places make food like we do :) Think about it...think about all the things that England offers that you can't get anywhere else...the food, the surroundings, the music, the history. Do you now see what we offer?? Do you now see the blessings that surround you at this very moment?!

Just take a moment to contemplate life here and learn to appreciate it. Learn to appreciate YOUR life and YOUR country and YOUR home. Appreciate life. See the blessings and be thankful.

I still want to live abroad at some point in my life but it's not because I can't wait to get away from England. Think before you moan about your home, your friends, your family, your country, your man, your women next time...learn to appreciate these things, these people and learn to show that appreciation.

It could change your life. x

Predictability.

'Trust His character, not His predictability.'

What does this mean? For me, it means that even when everything seems to fall apart around you, you carry on trusting God because everything about His character is good. There is nothing we can fault about God. We may question what He is letting go on in our life and to some that may be seen as a fault, that God does not always create miracles in our lives, but He is not to be faulted. He is the everlasting one, the almighty one, the great one, who is forever and who is forever for us and who is always good, always working out things for good.

This also means to me that when everything falls apart, the plan that was original was obviously not the one God wanted. It may have been the one we wanted and the one that we even predicted God to carry out, but it was in fact not His way. After all, in His word it states that 'Many are the plans in a mans heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails.' Proverbs 19 v 21.

Recently, Paul and myself have experienced this. The plan fell through and it was a plan which we were certain of. A plan we were certain would work and a plan we were certain God had intended. Obviously not though and it is hard for me to say and realise that perhaps we were predicting our God and His ways, instead of just following and trusting Him every step of the way.

The next step is to trust God, to trust His character and to never predict His ways.

Let me leave you with this -

'...sorrow comes to all and each has to deal with it individually, either learning its lessons, or being crushed by its bitterness...'