First Sermon: The Promise and The Power of the Holy Spirit..

So this is the first time i preached in my church,

It's a bit of a big deal for me for two reasons

1. I have a small fear of public speaking that God is slowly breaking me of

2. I'm a woman and even if that seems silly in our day and age people still don't think it's my (women's) place to speak in church's.

It took me a lot of months to really settle with being able to preach

i just don't see myself as that person up the front, i struggle to stand in front of my youth group on a Friday night let alone a congregation of peers and older people i respect. 

In years to come i'm probably going to look back on it and think wow what a horrible job but for now im excited that God used me in that way and if you'd like to check it out just click the link below and you'll be directed right to it. 

http://youtu.be/qRzsdX10VTQ

Thanks for taking the time,

God Bless,

Bel xx

Forgiveness sometimes needs to start within you.

Today i prayed with two prayer warriors. 

I meet with them every few months and pray for youth ministry and my relationship with God. I recommend to anyone in leadership to be taking the time to meet with your prayer team and pray together.

Today when we met i knew i had to look at forgiveness, i felt like some people in my life had really rejected and mislead me and i was ready to hand that over to him and move on. I didnt want to leave any room for resentment in my walk or my leadership. 

What i actually had to do was realize that God wanted me to forgive myself and Him before i started to forgive others.
I had to not only forgive him but ask for forgiveness for pushing him back a step in the hurt

I was looking at all the things around me and I had to take a huge step back and remember ;no matter what i'm doing he's doing it right along side me.

He's opened up my heart to Forgiveness sometimes needs to begin inside me before i can start forgiving others and most importantly he's reminded me that my forgiveness is so easy because he died on the cross for it. 

Everything from the unworthiness i can feel to the outright rejection and the utter weakness means nothing;

Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Amen & God Bless xx

Loneliness, Gods Opportunity.

Loneliness comes over us sometimes as a sudden tide. It is one of the terms of our humanity, and in a sense incurable.
Yet I have found peace in my loneliest times not only through acceptance of the situation, but through making it an offering to God who can transfigure it into something for the good of others.