New things

Things have been changing a lot lately. This post's a bit overdue, and it might look a bit different, but here it is.

God is so good. So good. The last week has been marked with revelations of who He is that have left me broken, but so alive. His love just became so much more real to me.

In a nutshell, this year has been hard. The grinding, wearing down kind of hard. It came to the point where I was dragging my feet, trying to last out the season and waiting for it to end. Then a month ago Claire and I broke up, and that was too much. Too much. Lasting it out wasn't an option any more: it was find God and get out of this; or give up and find something easier to do with my life.


Guess what I felt like doing. Thankfully, that's not what I did.

I found something new. My relationship with God has taken a turn that will not be reversed. He's telling the truth when He says He'll draw near if we do! Intimacy is not something that marked my walk with God before. Love? Yes. Commitment? Yes. Passion? Yes. Intimacy? The ability to spend time in His presence, to receive His affection, to lay down my burdens and rest? No. But that has changed.

I threw myself on Him. I found rest in Him, refuge and strength and courage to fight. And he showed me that there is more to Him than I had ever imagined. More to what we can have together than had ever crossed my mind. I believed that the best my relationship with God could be is what it was, only tidied up. A bit less sin, a bit more prayer and worship. But He blew me out of the water with revelations of the intense closeness, the intimacy and love that we could have if I want it enough to take hold of.

Why do we look forward to heaven? It's not because of environment, gold streets or choirs of angels or even no sin. The glory of heaven is intimate relationship with our Father and Creator, and guess what? We don't have to wait! It is available to us here and now! This is the life abundant that Jesus spoke of, and He's shown it to me.

So that's where I'm at. I have Jesus and for the first time, that's enough. I want to emphasise that I'm not saying I just got saved. I've been a Christian, and a real committed Christian, for a while now. But I just took a step into uncharted territory, that I never knew even existed, and it is amazing. Don't think that you know all there is to know. I bet you there's more.

And that's the last couple of months summed up! Thanks for your support, God bless you!


P.S. I've got a couple of prayer requests that I'd love you to get behind me with.

I just took over responsibility of all our vehicles on base. That means maintenance, servicing, repairs etc, on everything from little hatchbacks to utes to vans to buses. I don't know the first thing about cars. Pray for me that I wouldn't get overwhelmed, that I'd be able to do what I'm capable of and for God's wisdom and miracles when I don't know what to do. We do a lot of outreaches and work in the city of Perth, and without working vehicles that would all go kaput pretty quickly, so I'm feeling the pressure a bit, as well as it all being new and unfamiliar.

I'm also really trying to get rid of my staff debt. Since I first came here I've been falling behind on paying my staff fees (i.e. food and accomodation). I joined staff without enough regular support to keep up, and it's been a real battle of faith to see God provide. He has done, and He's cleared my debt on a couple of occasions, but it's built up again recently. I'm really trusting Him to demolish it once and for all this time. Please be praying for me! I owe about $4000.

Cheers! God bless you!