Hull is where the heart is...

Just come back from a fantastic weekend in Hull. I was at university in Hull for three years and stayed there a year after I finished, finally leaving in 2006. I have a brilliant bunch of friends who all seem to still live up there and I was part of the most fantastic church on the planet (yes even better than hillsong!).

I hadn't been to a service at Hull Vineyard for a good year but when i walked in on sunday I felt like I had never left. This is the church where I really began to discover who I was while I was a member. It's where I learnt about the power of prayer and fasting in an exceeding practical way. Once a year the whole church partakes in a three week fast to seek God for the city, the church and thier own lives. Vineyard is where I learnt about the intimacy of worship, the importance of ever member ministry and the practicalities of the five step healing model.

I have blogged in the past about how I feel so sick of constantly looking back to my past as being the exciting time in my faith, a time of sign and wonders and being 100% on fire for God. That time was when I was in Hull. Speaking to Elaine (who is one of the senior pastors and who used to mentor me and likes to ask me difficult questions!) on tuesday and she reminded me that she also looks back to that time because as a church they had been praying for years for a group of new leaders to join the church from the university. We were the answer to their prayers, we were the ones who had been prophesied about. It was a fruitful and blessed season because so much prayer had been poured into it. Now about 9 years on from the start of that season most of my friends have settled in Hull, bought property, got married, own cats and most importantly are planted in the church and are investing in it for the future. It is so exciting to see.

I guess I'm the one that got away! I know that staying in hull wasn't the right thing for me, maybe one day i'll go back, it wouldn't suprise me if i did actually. Now when I look back I dont look back with regret, I look back with excitement because that time was a testament to God's goodness and faithfullness. It makes me excited for the fruit that the prayers i'm praying now will bring.

I LOVE THIS QUOTE - first heard part of it in the film Coach Carter and have just found the extended version.

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us most. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and famous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in all of us. And when we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” - Maryanne Williamson

onwards and upwards

So here's to the next chapter in which the best is still yet to be .
This friday i got back from a 3 week trip visiting my amazing friends in Macedonia. I had an awesome time and was blessed in so many different way by some exceedingly brilliant people. For those of you that know me know know that I adore Macedonia and I try and get back to see people whenever I can. This year was pretty bittersweet though as my course which starts in september is going to make any travel over the next three years pretty tough. I was gutted to be leaving not knowing when i would get the chance to see people again. However I know that this midwiferey course and to stayin london for the next three years is God's plan for my life for the moment which makes everything that bit easier even though there is alot of cost involved. I still believe that the best really is yet to come.