I am inspired. My hope is to inspire others.
This year my inspiration changed.
Instead of looking for inspiration to live my life I now live an inspired life.
My inspiration is our awesome God, our Saviour Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit who fills me each day with faith, hope, love and peace.
After reading that sentence some of you maybe thinking of closing the browser because you don't want to hear more stories of how someone "found God".
Every story like this will be initially full of sadness or emptiness, loneliness and despair but will ultimately result in joy.
Well I want to start with the joy! What's the point of dwelling on the past? The past can help shape our future but it doesn't control or rule what is to come or what God has in store for us.
Why am I so happy? Well, I worship an awesome God, I have a beautiful son, I have the most amazing group of friends that I could ever possibly have imagined existed, I'm on holiday and the sun is shining, I'm about to start doing what I love best - inspiring people. There's lots more to add but I don't want to give it all away in one go now do I?
Anyway, just a bit about what brings me to write a blog!
I actually have time! Not time on my hands but just some time when there is actually space in my day and I'm not working until 3am on the computer planning, budgeting, designing, developing, timetabling and whatever other tasks my employers would deem necessary.
I arrived in UK on 15th July and have been enjoying great weather ever since. The crazy storm was particularly great and the sunshine although slightly less dramatic is certainly a welcome novelty. The countryside is just so green, I'd almost forgotten the lushness of my own country. Kent..... the garden of England. It was certainly living up to its name with an abundance of floral beauty springing up in even the most unexpected of places.
Just looking around me on our daily walk in the woods with Xavi, my Mum and her dog Daisy, I just marvel at the wonder of creation. There is beauty in everything if you look hard enough.
Driving into Folkestone on the morning of the 15th we passed by a billboard which had a picture of two cute kids playing in the grass and a caption saying "Love one another". One year previously I drove past this billboard on a daily basis whilst driving between my mum's and dad's houses. The only difference being that last year's sign had said "Maybe God is real". This sign changed my life. I There was no doubt in my mind that God was real. I just didn't know how God could be part of my life. The impact of this sign on my life was huge. When I returned to Bahrain at the end of August last year I was determined to find a way to have God in my life and after a few weeks I found myself at Rivers of Joy, Bahrain and I have never looked back. Now here I am in Folkestone driving past this new sign with its beautiful message, "Love one another", so I noted down the web address and looked them up and discovered they were the same church that installed last last summer's sign so I decided to go to find this church and tell them my story.
www.justmaybe.org
So on Sunday 20th July, Xavi and I were welcomed to Life Church UK in Folkestone where we discovered a whole new church family who embraced the same principles of our wonderful faith that I had come to so love at Rivers of Joy. It was like home from home.
So, as God is now the King of my heart I want to finish this post by honouring Him with a prayer. I guess at this point a few more of you will close the browser. Oh well, you can always find it again in your history if you change your mind.
Dear Lord, my God, my Father in heaven,
You are as distant as the farthest star, millions of light years away, a distance that we could not travel in ten thousand lifetimes. And yet you are here, you are with us, every day, every hour, every minute, every second. You are holding my hand as I walk out of the darkness and into the light.
You know the depths of my heart, you knew me before I was born, before you made the heavens and the earth you knew my name. Even in my darkest days you were with me Lord. Even when I did not know you, you knew me. You loved me, you cherished me, you never left me. Your word says "I will never leave you nor forsake you" and I now live in the knowledge that these words will forever ring true in my heart.
When I was crying you wiped away my tears, although I did not know it.
When I was lost in a sea of insanity you calmed the storm, although I did not know it.
You made a way for me, you parted the waves for me, although I did not know it.
When I was sure to die, pinned below the waves by the weight of my boat, the weight of my life, you lifted me up, although I did not know it.
When the blood flowed from my veins you bound me up, although I did not know it.
When there was no hope for me and my mind was broken you sent a sign that "better things were coming".
I never gave you the glory, I never thanked you or Praised your Holy name.
I was fearless, unfailing in my perseverance and yet so unfaithful. In every way that a person can be unfaithful.
You gave me everything, you made me beautiful, you made me strong, and yet I turned away from you Lord. Thank you that you sent your only Son to die for me on the cross so that I might be forgiven and receive eternal life. Thank you Jesus, for washing away my sins with your precious blood, for filling me with your perfect love.
For you did not give me a heart of fear, you gave me a spirit of power and of love and of a sound mind, and for this I am more than grateful.
You lead me out of the darkness and into the light. Just as you sent your only Son to save me, my Saviour, my Redeemer, the only husband I will ever need, my Lord Jesus Christ. Just as you sent Him to bring hope, peace and love into my life you gave me my own true son, my own flesh and blood so that I might learn how to love, so that I might know a mothers' love.
This was the most beautiful gift that you could have given me Lord, the gift of love, so that my heart would be opened and my mind renewed in readiness to inherit your perfect love.
Lord of my life, you have given me everything. You are the one true God, the creator, the bringer of life, who was and is and is to come, the beginning and the end, the alpha and the omega, the light and the life.
Yes. You are all these things.
And yet, you are more, so much more.
You are my God, my best friend.
In Jesus' name,
Amen
This year my inspiration changed.
Instead of looking for inspiration to live my life I now live an inspired life.
My inspiration is our awesome God, our Saviour Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit who fills me each day with faith, hope, love and peace.
After reading that sentence some of you maybe thinking of closing the browser because you don't want to hear more stories of how someone "found God".
Every story like this will be initially full of sadness or emptiness, loneliness and despair but will ultimately result in joy.
Well I want to start with the joy! What's the point of dwelling on the past? The past can help shape our future but it doesn't control or rule what is to come or what God has in store for us.
Why am I so happy? Well, I worship an awesome God, I have a beautiful son, I have the most amazing group of friends that I could ever possibly have imagined existed, I'm on holiday and the sun is shining, I'm about to start doing what I love best - inspiring people. There's lots more to add but I don't want to give it all away in one go now do I?
Anyway, just a bit about what brings me to write a blog!
I actually have time! Not time on my hands but just some time when there is actually space in my day and I'm not working until 3am on the computer planning, budgeting, designing, developing, timetabling and whatever other tasks my employers would deem necessary.
I arrived in UK on 15th July and have been enjoying great weather ever since. The crazy storm was particularly great and the sunshine although slightly less dramatic is certainly a welcome novelty. The countryside is just so green, I'd almost forgotten the lushness of my own country. Kent..... the garden of England. It was certainly living up to its name with an abundance of floral beauty springing up in even the most unexpected of places.
Just looking around me on our daily walk in the woods with Xavi, my Mum and her dog Daisy, I just marvel at the wonder of creation. There is beauty in everything if you look hard enough.
Driving into Folkestone on the morning of the 15th we passed by a billboard which had a picture of two cute kids playing in the grass and a caption saying "Love one another". One year previously I drove past this billboard on a daily basis whilst driving between my mum's and dad's houses. The only difference being that last year's sign had said "Maybe God is real". This sign changed my life. I There was no doubt in my mind that God was real. I just didn't know how God could be part of my life. The impact of this sign on my life was huge. When I returned to Bahrain at the end of August last year I was determined to find a way to have God in my life and after a few weeks I found myself at Rivers of Joy, Bahrain and I have never looked back. Now here I am in Folkestone driving past this new sign with its beautiful message, "Love one another", so I noted down the web address and looked them up and discovered they were the same church that installed last last summer's sign so I decided to go to find this church and tell them my story.
So on Sunday 20th July, Xavi and I were welcomed to Life Church UK in Folkestone where we discovered a whole new church family who embraced the same principles of our wonderful faith that I had come to so love at Rivers of Joy. It was like home from home.
So, as God is now the King of my heart I want to finish this post by honouring Him with a prayer. I guess at this point a few more of you will close the browser. Oh well, you can always find it again in your history if you change your mind.
Dear Lord, my God, my Father in heaven,
You are as distant as the farthest star, millions of light years away, a distance that we could not travel in ten thousand lifetimes. And yet you are here, you are with us, every day, every hour, every minute, every second. You are holding my hand as I walk out of the darkness and into the light.
You know the depths of my heart, you knew me before I was born, before you made the heavens and the earth you knew my name. Even in my darkest days you were with me Lord. Even when I did not know you, you knew me. You loved me, you cherished me, you never left me. Your word says "I will never leave you nor forsake you" and I now live in the knowledge that these words will forever ring true in my heart.
When I was crying you wiped away my tears, although I did not know it.
When I was lost in a sea of insanity you calmed the storm, although I did not know it.
You made a way for me, you parted the waves for me, although I did not know it.
When I was sure to die, pinned below the waves by the weight of my boat, the weight of my life, you lifted me up, although I did not know it.
When the blood flowed from my veins you bound me up, although I did not know it.
When there was no hope for me and my mind was broken you sent a sign that "better things were coming".
I never gave you the glory, I never thanked you or Praised your Holy name.
I was fearless, unfailing in my perseverance and yet so unfaithful. In every way that a person can be unfaithful.
You gave me everything, you made me beautiful, you made me strong, and yet I turned away from you Lord. Thank you that you sent your only Son to die for me on the cross so that I might be forgiven and receive eternal life. Thank you Jesus, for washing away my sins with your precious blood, for filling me with your perfect love.
For you did not give me a heart of fear, you gave me a spirit of power and of love and of a sound mind, and for this I am more than grateful.
You lead me out of the darkness and into the light. Just as you sent your only Son to save me, my Saviour, my Redeemer, the only husband I will ever need, my Lord Jesus Christ. Just as you sent Him to bring hope, peace and love into my life you gave me my own true son, my own flesh and blood so that I might learn how to love, so that I might know a mothers' love.
This was the most beautiful gift that you could have given me Lord, the gift of love, so that my heart would be opened and my mind renewed in readiness to inherit your perfect love.
Lord of my life, you have given me everything. You are the one true God, the creator, the bringer of life, who was and is and is to come, the beginning and the end, the alpha and the omega, the light and the life.
Yes. You are all these things.
And yet, you are more, so much more.
You are my God, my best friend.
In Jesus' name,
Amen
Lydia, it has been wonderful reading your posts on Facebook and now your blog. As a person I knew so long ago during a time in my life that was desperate and full of despair, it means so much to think of friends from my past with a smile instead of sadness as my life back then enveloped every thing from that time with despair, which is sad really. I'm so happy that you have a fulfilled life and are giving to the world in so many ways. I have no faith, despite recent times making me question things and friends discussing possibilities to me. I guess I'm just not in that place. But I am enjoying life now, living those precious moments and appreciating time in a different way
ReplyDeleteKeep inspiring.....you will make a difference!xxxx
ReplyDeleteThanks Cheri. Great to hear from you. If you are asking questions then you are searching. This is the first step towards faith. Don't stop searching, the reward is enormous, you wouldn't believe! Take care my friend. You can email me at lydzaney@gmail.com if you want to chat more.
ReplyDelete