BLOSSOMING INTO…

I lost my uncle a few weeks ago; a pretty sombre note to start off with, I know.
When anyone passes away,  there is an initial sadness, I understand that. However, I’m doing just fine. Amidst the tears that surround me, I smile. Why?

Death is only upsetting for those left behind. We are the ones who are left with the thoughts: ‘ we never got to see that person do this’ or ‘we would of loved for them to be here to see this…’. Of course, we are not at fault for having these thoughts, but allow me to share with you a different perspective God has given me lately on death.
Throughout my life, I feel like I have had a masterclass in death and funerals. Before I was 10, at least 5 of my close relatives had passed away. And every single time, I would cry my little eyes out.

This time though, I didn’t. My dad received a phone call around 8:00am on Wednesday 8th July. Just by the huge sigh he let out, I knew what had happened. At this point, I expected myself to cry, because that has always been default setting for me.

Yet, there was a feeling of stability that fell over me; I felt secure.

I immediately stepped into ‘mother mode’, making sure my dad was cared for, before leaving for work and carrying as normal – like nothing had happened.
Not one tear to this day.

I kept thinking ‘is there something wrong with me?’ I was genuinely confused. In my time of contemplation, I asked God if I was alright. Just then I grabbed my phone and began to text my cousin. It was then that I realised why I had not cried, why I smiled at work and no one suspected a thing and why there was this feeling of stability within me.

God had enlightened my heart to see a glimpse of His viewpoint. His kingdom is something we should not be upset about. God had ended my uncle’s suffering and had taken him to a place of pure peace, love and joy; with all the good stuff you can imagine.

He had prepared a place at His banquet, with my uncle in a prime spot. He had called him home.

The beauty of this story is that I will see him again; when we are all united with Our Maker and called to take our place in paradise.

Until then, I know God has got my family and I wrapped in His arms. We’re going to be just fine x

The answers to all my questions came in the 1st reading I read during the ceremony:

But the righteous, though they die early, will be at rest.
For old age is not honored for length of time, or measured by number of years; but understanding is gray hair for anyone, and a blameless life is ripe old age. There were some who pleased God and were loved by him, and while living among sinners were taken up. They were caught up so that evil might not change their understanding or guile deceive their souls. For the fascination of wickedness obscures what is good, and roving desire perverts the innocent mind. Being perfected in a short time, they fulfilled long years; for their souls were pleasing to the Lord, therefore he took them quickly from the midst of wickedness. Yet the people’s saw and did not understand, or take such a thing to heart, that God’s grace and mercy are with his elect, and that he watches over his holy ones.

I hope this can encourage anyone who has lost anyone recently or anyone coming to terms with the loss of a loved one x

Love you and miss you so Uncle Fifi,
Went Home: 08.07.15 x

The title of my blog was  inspired by a very talented friend of mine who has a very sophisticated way of articulating her ideas. Follow and be made to wonder on the philosophies of life, I present Kalina Tomova : @MsKTCG

I write today though because over the last two months (It’s been that long *sigh*) I have been very busy. In the midst of rushing around, I have had moments to stop and re-evaluate my priorities.

Here are the conclusions that I have come to. I hope you can take something from this:

1. You get what you ask for.

I remember declaring out loud: ‘ I do not want to sit around doing nothing productive during the summer’. O, how God hears every word. So far I have been on placement whilst working…two jobs. Don’t ask me how I’ve done it, just give glory to God.
Be careful what you ask for ladies and gentlemen. I’m not saying I’m not grateful for the opportunities God has brought my way, of course not. I’m just saying that God has a funny way of giving you what you have asked for and making you realise that maybe that thing you wanted so bad wasn’t what you needed. I have realised during my busy time that I’m lacking some spiritual nourishment. I wanted to be busy. I am. So what’s my problem? Being busy has come at a price. Which leads nicely on to my next point.

2. God wants us to slow down sometimes

This basically comes down to the fight I have been fighting my whole life. TIME MANAGEMENT. Anyone who knows me personally, knows that Gina has problems with timing. It’s pretty serious. Now here’s the cheekiness God possesses. He gave me what I asked for, to open my eyes and realise that 1. I was rubbish trying to juggle all of these things at once, I needed His strength, 2. I lacked the discipline to be able to keep to time requirements and 3. The most important being, I left no time with Him.

3. You have to consistently run to your quiet place.

I left no time to sit down and have a conversation with my Father. I’m going to liken how I feel to a car that runs on petrol/diesel. Now my tank felt full (ish) before coming home for summer. Gradually, actually very slowly so I didn’t even realise, the tank started to leak. I didn’t maintain my time. It’s all about being regular with God.
So my car started to slow down and of course I felt it. As you spend more and more time with God you’ll be able to tell the difference between your tank full, half-full and kinda empty. It’s because being in consistent fellowship with God keeps you on a level where you are surrounded, all the time by His presence. God presence is significant, so when that ‘fades’ you just feel it (I’m trying to pick my language very carefully, God never leaves, we just put up barriers that block out the beauty).

4. God will knock any barriers down eventually…

By this I mean when we are too in our own heads and  trying to control life. We have those barriers up blocking us from hearing and feeling the great sound waves of the Holy Spirit. God can be tolerant, the intensity of those sound waves may increase a tad, shaking the barriers until we realise we are blocking something. Or God could just be like ‘ I’m going to knock all these barriers down’. Now, my barriers have been shaking. (If you haven’t noticed, I am totally an analogy person, I will be using weird and wonderful processes to explain things, so if you get drowned in jargon, I do apologise, I usually have a summary paragraph at the end xxx)
Now what to do when you’ve slowed down and you notice barriers shaking….

Back to basis for the next few weeks:

1. Try something new.
If you ever feel your heart is not in your usual routine with your Father, do something different. I might try and go for walks or just sit in pure silence. That’s a good calming environment after a busy day.
2. Set alarms.
Discipline! Back to being harder on myself – Life Goals I is a message I wrote a while back – recap timee ( https://blossominginto.wordpress.com/?s=life+goals )
3. Ask God to guide you back to Him.
Simple as that. Prayer is key

I would love to hear how you guys spend your own time with the Lord. Whether a praise or worship session or writing a letter, God allows us to be so creative and unique when we come to Him!
Share below, your sister’s running an a half tank over here, help needed 🙂 xxx

P.S – It’s ok to feel a bit ‘off’! We are not perfect and we can’t get it right the whole time. God teaches us lessons through every experience. Take a bird’s eye view and glance at the bigger picture. God sees your every effort and you will be rewarded!

Through it all, there is a positive. Find the beauty in the chaos x

 Come to Me, all you who labour and are heavy-laden and overburdened, and I will cause you to rest. Matthew 11: 28 (AMP)

Blossom Into,

Having aligned priorities,,,

Gina 🙂 x

So exam season is over and I’m back in business :). God truly gives strength, exams are not fun as many of you know. However, here’s my problem. After months of focusing so much on exams, my head feels a little empty. It is weird for me to wake up and not get ready to go library. There was one morning I woke up and I thought ‘Ahh need to read over that thing’. At that point my exams had finished a few days ago.

In the past, my summer holidays have been time wasting days. Honestly, sleeping was my hobby. Just chilling being so unproductive. Last summer, I told myself  ‘ No, I’m going to remember this summer, I need to do stuff’. Lo and behold, I worked, visited new places, and went out on numerous occasions with friends and family. I do remember what I did.
Looking back it got me thinking. I made a goal, kept my focus on it and achieved it by God’s grace. So, if I can do that with a few weeks of summer, how about my whole life?

We all have things we want to do in life. My two questions are: Are you willing to put in what it takes to achieve those goals?
Do you even have the right goals in place? (This second question I will address in part II of this message).

The importance of DISCIPLINE

Dedicated
Implemented
Strategies (and)
Continually
Instilled
Practices
Let
Important
Necessities
Emerge

To break it down: Putting in the work consistently will bring about what you need to succeed.

Let’s bring in a more practical example. So Average Joe wants to buy a car. To do so, he needs to put £500 aside every month. For the first few months, he’s doing well. A month comes around where Joe wants to buy a suit and a pair of shoes. Just because he ‘feels’ like it. However Joe has his strategy to implement. Whenever he gets these urges, he walks the long way around to work rather than take the shorter route through the high street. That requires discipline. Who ever wants to walk a longer distance when there is a short cut?
This is the principle of discipline ladies and gentlemen, suffer today enjoy tomorrow. Sometimes in life you have to do things just because you have to not because you feel like doing it.

Do you have discipline in your walks with Christ? Are you disciplining yourselves to do what is necessary? Prayer is necessary, do you do that regularly or just when you feel like it?

There could be a situation that requires you to really pray. I’m not talking common 5 minute, Hi God, Bye God thing. I mean you need to spend at least an hour on it. Your so busy in the day so when do you find time to pray?
Are you going to wake up earlier in the morning and sacrifice sleep to do so? I hope so. You definitely should. Are you going to be jumping for joy that you are getting out your comfy warm bed? Of course not, but the point is you have to do so. You have the need to do so. God sees your efforts and will reward. Persist.

I want to experience spiritual growth. That’s not going to come easy. I need to spend time with God, more regular and consistent time with Him. So I do need to wake up earlier. Waking up early for me is such a struggle. Going from sleeping being a hobby to now forcing myself to get up early is not my idea of fun.
Suffer today, enjoy tomorrow.

Discipline is a key principle we need to have:

‘ No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it ‘. Hebrews 12: 11

Harvest of righteousness is the end result you wanted,however it is also the faith you build, the forming and shaping of character through the process, the impact you had on others as they see your discipline. Many thing comes about from discipline. It is a beautiful process.

‘ We do not want you to become lazy. but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised ‘. Hebrews 6: 12

Discipline doesn’t have to be a lone process. You’re not alone. Maybe you know a friend who is a morning person and can wake up early. Ask them to be your personal alarm for a while until your body gets used to it. Maybe you have a friend who is really encouraging. Ask them to pray with you in the mornings. You have the ability to make it seem like less of a hardship by focusing on the end results.

Start taking action ladies and gentlemen….

Blossom into…

Long term victory after short term struggle,

Gina 🙂 x