grow your own girlfriend

Before I left for Oz i was doing some praying a stuff about what i should do with my life and stuff. God gave me a picture of a 'grow your own girlfriend'. It's basically a tiny sponge which you put in water overnight and it grows to about 100000 times its size. I felt like God was saying that I needed to find somewhere where i would grow and flourish. I wasn't doing that in Peckham. I needed to find somewhere that I would flourish. Well guess what?... that's what I'm doing here in Sydney and I love it.

The average life?

So I've been in Australia nearly two weeks now and so far I have been to Hillsong 7 times which i think is pretty good going! I've been to Sunday services, a love, sex and relationships special event, Sisterhood (womens ministry) and Power House (18-25s). I'm really enjoying being somewhere that's whole church culture is so different to what I'm used to. Everyone loves their church here and it is so refreshing.

I turned 25 two days before I flew out here so i had the tough choice of joining either Powerhouse (18-25) or Frontline (25-35). I opted for Powerhouse as they have weekly meeting so it would be easier to get to know more people. Also I love the 18-25 age group and I am definitely not ready to grow up just yet, I plan to cling to my youth for as long as possible!

Last night at Powerhouse a guy called Thomas Hansen was speaking on 'What to do when facing a blackhole'. It was a great message about facing life's frailty and about not accepting an average because God is not average and does not see us as average. He was encouraging us to live our lives with passion as if our lives were to end tomorrow. He used a great quote which i would love to find out where its' from;

"We have all of eternity to celebrate our victories but we only have one swift hour before eternity to win them".

I love having time out here to really put the priorities right in my life again, to live each day like its my last, to stop finding excuses, to fall in love with God's house all over again and to allow God space and time to make the fire in my heart very real again.

Got me thinking last night though that when I was slap bang in the middle of the Power House age group i found it far easier to live a more than average life. I dont know why it has got harder as I have got older. I guess its because real life has taken over rather than the space and time to dream big at university and even while working at All Saints. i am determined that over these next few months I am going to pursue Jesus until I am back right in the middle of dreaming deep and wide in Him again. Yes its true that I dont know exactly what I'm gonna do with the rest of my life (at the moment it looks like midwifery) what i do know is that I have been created to live a more than average life and I'm desperate to find out how to do it and how to sustain it. The more I dive into Christ i pray the more He will show me.

The same but different

I have been in Sydney for 5 days now and i seem to be settling in and having a brilliant time. It was 35c when i arrived on saturday which was a very nice welcome indeed.

I really like Australia, it all feels very familiar and yet is actually the other side of the world, everyone here seems alot happier and i'm sure its to do with the weather! One of the most striking differences is the houses and streets and things. I think perhaps it all feels familiar because everything reminds me of Ramsey street, i'm not even joking its a very weird thing.

Another observation I have made is that rather than adopting some pseudo australian accent which i was sure i was going to I have in fact become more english. I think it's because I just like to be different where ever I am! I'm feeling very pleased with myself about that!

Yesterday I went into the city and did some exploring on my own which was great I really really love Sydney, it is very fun. I have actually seen the harbour bridge and the opera house in real life! All the tourist shops are exactly the same as in London just full of Australian souvenirs like cuddlely kangaroos and pencils with koalas on and boomerangs. Its horrid cos i hate those sort of shops in England but i find myself strangely drawn to them here! Being a tourist is weird and i'm trying to battle with it and make the most of it! It's great! the strangest thing I have found so far is that the trains are double decker. it makes so much more sense than our stupid english ones!

sorry there are no photos of my own yet.

Meg out

Over thinking

Moved out of Peckham and back into my parents house yeterday, man I have alot of stuff. my brain is now well and truly fixed on going to Sydney now.
I'm hoping to take a bit of time out to travel around Oz while I'm there, see the great barrier reef and other such exciting things. I am not good at spending time on my own though, in fact I'm blinking awful at it. I think that being on my own is an area of my life that I'm going to be really challenged through while being away. I'm just not good at entertaining myself. its the one aspect of the trip that I'm actually quite worried about. I'm not going to let it bother me too much though.