Resilience...

Recently, I hit a low point. Looking at it, it appears futile, something that ought not to have affected me. But what it did do, was stop me from reading the Word, breathe short meaningless prayers with no true belief that anything would come to pass and to be honest my faith in God just waned. The reason for this sudden destruction of my belief was because the past came knocking at my door, and whilst I sought God to help me in the situation, He wasn't answering in my time, therefore my belief system said 'He's never going to answer - take things into your own hands' and let me tell you, that it was the most destructive thought ever! It became a barricade between God and I as my little human self believed I could take on supernatural powers and shape the outcome of the situation, but we all know that's an impossibility. And so from then on, I took a downward spiral, having negative thoughts about my existence, and to be real, thinking that if I died it would be a lot easier than facing up to the situation. I sounded (and felt) like a depressive Emo kid, but the rationality of God's word was missing, thus leaving the possibility of irrational thoughts.

I continued to try and take things into my control, but they only slipped further and further out of my control and I was left feeling more uncertain about the situation than when I started. Would I put it in God's hands? No. I believed I could still deal with it on my own. I was being fiercely stubborn, I didn't want anyone to meddle with my problem and a belief started that God would judge my situation just as man did. It was a vicious situation, perhaps a cycle, but it was only gnawing away at the cord between God and I.

I did start reading the Word again, but I still felt empty, there was just a lack of connection so to speak. But then what it took, strangely enough was a song, entitled 'Lord, How I love You' by Fred Hammond. I listened to it whilst getting ready for bed and what happened was it reminded me of feelings that I had when I was going through another 'rough patch' and then I looked at where I was now, and at the moment I fully understood what people meant when they say 'God has brought me a mighty long way' and when I say fully understood I mean I had experienced it myself. If God did that for me then, what is going to stop him from doing it now? It sounds so obvious now, but then again it is so easy to forget. Then I learnt a lesson about myself which is to be resilient in my faith.

I can't phrase this post in a fancy way, it's just raw experience and if there is anything you take from this, it's to remain resilient in your faith no matter what is thrown your way. Past, present, future situation, man, woman, child, don't let anything separate you from God's love.

"I'm absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us." (Romans 8:38 - MSG)

So stand knowing that it is not by your might, but by the might of Jesus that you will pass through your situation, and in the meantime, keep on praising and never forget where God has brought your from because he will surely do it for you again.

All my Love

Jade Chanel x

Remembering The World: Brazil Mudslide and Australian Flooding

If you've all been watching the news, you will have seen the devastating natural disasters that have occured in Brazil and Australia. The impacts have been different due to the development of each area, but this doesn't stop the fact that lives have been lost, people have lost their houses and livelihoods and have been traumatized by what has happened. It is only apt that we remember each country in our prayers, for the safety of those who have been rescued, for God's comfort to surround those who have lost loved ones and just for restoration in these events.

Brazil
More than 420 people have now been killed by flooding and mudslides in south-eastern Brazil, officials say.
About 200 people have died in the town of Nova Friburgo, some 175 in Teresopolis and dozens more in Petropolis, media report. Thousands of people have been made homeless.
Rio de Janeiro Governor Sergio Cabral blamed local governments for allowing poor building and illegal occupations.
President Dilma Rousseff has toured damaged areas in Nova Friburgo.
She vowed that there would be "firm action" by the government.
Ms Rousseff was accompanied by Mr Cabral and other politicians and later left for a press conference in Rio, where she spoke of the "dramatic" scenes she had seen.
Expressing solidarity with the victims, she said: "The suffering of the people is very great."
Heavy rain fell early on Thursday as rescuers resumed their search but lightened during the day.
More than 800 rescuers are conducting searches and the Brazilian navy is sending a field hospital to the area.
Morgues in the affected towns were full, with churches and police stations receiving bodies.
Officials in Brazil's civil defence department have warned there could be hundreds more bodies yet to be recovered in Teresopolis alone, the Globo media organisation reported.
One area of Teresopolis, Campo Grande, remains cut off entirely and is yet to be reached by any rescuers. It is feared 150 people may be buried there.
The mayor of Teresopolis, Jorge Mario, said: "It's like an earthquake struck some areas. There are three or four neighbourhoods that were totally destroyed. There are hardly any houses standing there and all the roads and bridges are destroyed."


Australia
Devastating flood waters across the Australian state of Queensland may not recede for weeks, the state's Premier Anna Bligh has warned.
More than 20 towns in Queensland have been cut off or flooded, with more than 200,000 people affected.
Military aircraft are flying supplies into Rockhampton, which has been isolated by the still-rising waters.
The authorities have now confirmed three deaths caused by flood waters in the past few days.
Roads 'like lagoons' in flood-hit town
Ms Bligh has recalled ministers from holidays for crisis talks to plan the response to the flooding.
"Given the scale and size of this disaster, and the prospect that we will see waters sitting potentially for a couple of weeks, we will continue to have major issues to deal with throughout January," she said.
Her concern was echoed earlier by Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, saying: "This is a major natural disaster and recovery will take a significant amount of time.
"The extent of flooding being experienced by Queensland is unprecedented and requires a national and united response."
Approximately 850,000 sq km have been affected, an area equivalent in size to France and Germany.
Australian Red Cross executive director Greg Goebel said there were seven evacuation centres currently operating, generally in town halls, gymnasiums or schools, and the army were flying in supplies.
"It is a major disaster, it's a heartbreak for many, many thousands of people and will certainly take an enormous amount of time to get their communities back to normality," he told the BBC.

*Both extracts taken from the BBC news website

All my love

Jade Chanel x

Actions speak louder than words

Having recently begun reading Matthew, I've come to notice something that seems key to living the Christian life, and that is simply us living. It may sound simple, but knowing our humanity it can become complicated. Let me explain:

In Matthew 8:1-4 (MSG) Jesus is met by a leper, who asks Jesus if he can be healed and Jesus does this. But what is key is that Jesus says do not go and speak about this all over the town, but to go quietly to the priest and present himself and give thankful expression to God. It was his cleansed and grateful life that would be a demonstration of his healing not his words. This resonated with me, as there are times when our words can be so empty and meaningless, because our lives don't demonstrate what we're saying.

You see there are so many people out there, who say they represent Jesus, and Jesus is their number one, but their lives beg to differ. I was one, who used to say 'Yep, Jesus is my Lord and Saviour, yeah He's number one in my life' but the words didn't match the reality, I just carried on living in a careless way, didn't read the bible, didn't seek to make my life any better. And I'm not saying that those who fully accept Jesus are without sin, but the real difference comes when you see those who are actively striving to become Christ-like in their everyday activities and those who say they accept Christ but are still doing the same thing as those who haven't. It is our actions that are a louder demonstration of our faith rather than our words. This idea matches up with the fact that we only have one mouth, there are times when we need to keep it shut.

Having realised this fact after reading Matthew 8, I then noticed that the way we live had been mentioned previously in Matthew. We are told to live out our God-created identity, live generously and graciously towards others, the way God lives towards us - Matthew 5:48 (MSG). It is all about the action and not the words, the generosity and the grace that we demonstrate will be an example of Jesus living within us, and that's when people will notice the difference. It's almost like seperating the wheat from the chaff. The chaff being those with all the talk but no grounding behind it and the wheat being those who might not say a lot but live out their God created identity. The road isn't always going to be easy, but Jesus says you're blessed when you're persecuted for his sake, so what will you be, the wheat or the chaff?

All my love

Jade Chanel x