i have had the urge, all day, to write a blog.
why for? who knows.

this year has been the greatest learning experience. if i could state all the valuable lessons i have learnt about life and people and everything, i would be here for days. but the greatest lesson i have learnt is in all circumstances
cling to god.

i would not have made it through this year without him. everyday something happens that reminds me of my constant need for a saviour.
i have been through some of the most challenging seasons of my life but looking back now, god was holding my hand the whole way through.

i think it is said so often and too often taken lightly, but i seriously love my jesus.

i am convinced that God has gifted us all with our own unique ways to escape the limitations and expections of reality and grasp a fresh perspective of our world. He gives us the ability to take a step backward and distance ourselves in order to step closer; the ability to lose ourselves, forget everything and focus on the joy he brings us in the moment itself. He takes us, each individually, to a realm where his voice is amplified above all else, a place where there is nothing between ourselves and him. In the depths of the complexity within our minds, this is where we find rest for our souls and capture new hope for the future.

For some it is running, sailing, snowboarding, rock climbing, skating, cooking, playing sport, reading, or making music. For others it is exporing, photography, sewing, scrapbooking or collecting.

But for me it is dancing, painting and sketching. it is surfing, being out in the water, It is taking long walks or lying down in the grass. it is singing at the top of my lungs when no one can hear me. it is writing and it is (don't laugh) cleaning the kitchen.

Dont ignore or put aside what you love or what you find relaxing. Everyday, allow yourself to enter into that zone of rest and freedom. Dont be afraid to withdraw and spend time alone for that is when God speaks.

Fibbs Wintley says that:

"it is in the quiet crucible of your personal life that your nobelist dreams are born and God's greatest gifts are given"

Dont look at the things that make you happy and render them powerless, useless or unessecary. God did not grant to you the desires of your heart merely as time wasters.

Garry Mac wrote that:

"REST IS WHERE CREATIVITY AND PRODUCTIVITY ARE INCUBATED"

i used to openly confess my hatred for flowers.
but spring has changed my ways.
my garden is full of colour, and i looooove it. in fact i beg mum not to mow the lawns so i can lie among the daisies and dandy lions and sunbathe.

i know, thats pretty girly.
but i still hate roses. so its allgood.

the picture is lame but i lold at the gingers do have souls part.

this weekend was tops.

this will probably be one of the cheesiest blogs you will ever read but whats life without a bit of cheese?

anyway, these last couple of months have been pretty hard. and i was getting caught up with life and everything was going wrong. i would get hurt from just the tinyest things ever. and i felt like i was just getting messed around unnessecarily.
it was dumb. but dont worry, the story gets better...
up until maybe two years ago i had always had this fear of the sea and like waves and stuff. i never made a big deal about it i just wouldnt go to the beach or anything.
so then i decided that in order to completely conquer my fear i would learn to surf, and ride upon the very thing that i was afraid of.
on saturday i went to taylor's mistake with kryder and c love. kryder's board had a hole in it so we had to share the fush. you may ask why i bothered to share that with you? well, my friend, that was a very key bit of information because it meant that there were times in which i was without a surfboard. and in those times i was thoroughly enjoying seeing how far i could make it out to sea on foot. the waves were legit two metres high, so as you can guess, i was packing myself. when i started out, i was getting thrown about something shocking. the waves were picking me up then dumping me down; i was getting owned. but then i learnt not to let the waves push me about or become a setback in my path but to swim underneath them.

lets just say that nothing beats the feeling of standing there, as a two metre wave rolls towards you and knowing that, with God, you can take it.

in those moments God began to speak to me. he showed me in a practical way that i can stand firm and know that i will be okay. he taught me not to run away from trouble but to dive through in order to make a clean escape with no harm done haha.
now when i am confronted with trials or hardships i know that i can take them on without letting them throw me about or push me backwards.

it was such a great exerience.

and it was ironic that vision sunday was all about waves and surfing. slash it wasnt irony, it was purely jesus.

i am pumped about my future. legit. i had a plan, a great one. but yesterday, my mindsets were challenged. and it was actually in rocket that God showed me some key things that i had left out of my plan. my two biggest passions in life i had actually rendered un-practical and impossible. however, i realised that God uses passion, in fact hes the reason i have. so i went back and re-worked my plan. but it will always remain in pencil because who actually knows where God wants to take me?

chow.
did i really just write chow? wow.
p.s that rhymed.