Tuesday, September 30, 2008

A Very Spiritual Starbucks!


A few weeks ago i was at a 'Light and Life' night in Starbucks, where there was the opportunity to meet with others and hear God speak thru different mediums incl. art, prayer, massage, music and dream interpretation. Having (typically!) arrived late most slots were already full but my friend and i managed to squeeze our names down for a spiritual reading and a hand massage! now, having been brought up a christian, and with a strong faith of my own i have always been slightly wary of 'spiritual readings' as there is always a certain element of risk involved when dipping into the spirit realm and i believe it must be done thru really discerningly seeking God, rather than attempting to go thru another channel. However, the nature of these readings simply involved 2 women praying for you and sharing what they sensed or heard God saying, something which i have experienced and been totally blessed by many times!

All i told them was my name and that i would like them to pray for me regarding my job. I did not mention what my job is or say anything more than that. As they prayed it was amazing as God really spoke thru them, they described many features of my job and re-assured me that i had no need to worry about the future of it. Now this interested me as i have been on a temporary contract since starting and a year down the line, when on my 3rd extension of it, i had just been summoned to a meeting to officially notify me of my 6 month contract end period beginning! they also encouraged me in different aspects of my life, mentioning specific areas of which i had told them nothing about, and i left with a real excitement and certainty that God is indeed very real and most definitely speaks today, as well as a calm reassurance about His plans for me!

So, skip on a few weeks to last Thursday! i had attended my meeting and was officially notified my contract would end in 6 months, thus began the back-of-my-mind deliberations about the future; sigh, what does this mean, should i start keeping an eye-out for new jobs, stress, stress, etc!! i know, i know,i can hear u cry, ' but what about what God said, have u forgotten already!?'. well, yes sort of. because ashamedly, circumstances can get the better of us and when faced with negative life happenings it can become all too easy to overlook God in it all, and return to our small, blinkered views of ourselves and our bleak outlooks!!

However, on that same week, just a few days ago, my chin was lifted as half way thru my working day I received a completely unexpected email saying that my temporary contract was to be made permanent!!! Permanent!!! a small miracle which not only left me totally excited and relieved, but served as a reminder of Gods word to me of a few weeks before, and how silly I was to doubt Him! I am now doubly excited given the other areas he spoke to me about thru the 2 women praying for me in Starbucks and i am already beginning to see the first few buds of something else coming into existence!! so watch this space...!!

Thursday, September 25, 2008

a busker's delight!

my little bro is a busking hero and now features in online cult busking magazine:buskerworld, your complete online guide to busking!! i know, its an awful lot of busking for one paragraph but it's a fairly exciting place to feature, and he is rumoured to soon star as busker of the month!!!

when i was in sydney in the summer i spent an evening busking with my bro in the delightful area of Kings cross (where i naively stood on a street corner, and kept wondering why cars were slowing down and men were shouting things at me from their vehicles!!!) regardless, it was a very entertaining way to spend a friday nite, and we even made $40, about £20!! and some new friends, albeit they were rather wasted and only paused for a few moments before staggering on!

so to buskers everywhere, i take my cap off to you...or should it be the other way round!?!

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

things i'm pretty excited about RIGHT NOW!!!


firstly, the fact that i am now blogging from the comfort of my own couch!! or actually, to be extremely accurate, from the chair at my table as my laptop is charging!! regardless, we have internet access in our flat!!! in fact, not just our flat, anywhere we go thanx to the handy little plug-in stick (black and pink, no less!!) from T-mobile! due to husband starting a post grad distance learning course internet has become a necessity, as attempting to produce top notch essays from countless hours in internet cafes is not ideal!! and so, i can now plug in and blog!

next up, i am ridiculously excited at the release of not one, but TWO of my favourite artists new albums! yesterday was hotly anticipated in my diary and i am now LOVIN the Kings of Leon 'Only by the Night', espec tracks 'Use Somebody' and 'Revelry', and the wonderful Jenny Lewis with her new 'Acid Tongue'!! mmm hmmm!!! what a joyful happening!

last but not least, i am in the process of becoming a Skyper!! i know, it's almost too much for one day!! lots of additional communication from this household!! and espec useful to keep in touch with various and numerous friends and family who are no longer just round the corner! soon i will be catching up with st andrews, sydney, london, bristol, japan, birmingham, arizona, and perhaps even my mum, who despite only living 20 mins away gets quite excited by the prospect of skyping and is just a little like me!! scary!!

so today gets 2 very enthusiastic thumbs up!!

Monday, September 01, 2008

peter pan no more!

having not blogged for a while it is quite nice to return to my very own blogspot and seek comfort in my old familiar love! i reckon my perspective on life has changed somewhat over the past year or so and havin now reached the grand ol' age of 26 i consider myself to sort of be a proper adult now! oh yes, the mid-20's are most definitely here, bringing with them a sense of actually growing up a little bit! my job involves advising people on their life decisions and future plans, which for a while rendered me feeling rather inadequate and not entirely sure i was up for that smidgen of responsibility. but as a colleague kindly reminded, careers advising is not the 4th emergency service and if i ever actually tell someone what i think they should do i'm pretty much missing the point of my role!

so 26 began with a wonderfully extended birthday wknd, incl an overnight in a treehouse lodge in Aviemore, an extremely fun party with 30 of my nearerst and dearest in Ashton Lane, a golden oldies tea party with my grandparents and great-aunt, a joint family birthday lunch with my bro-in-law (sharing is caring guys!) and then it was my actual birthday!!! fun fun!


so i do feel a bit more grown up now! however, we were in hong kong this summer and spent a day at disneyland there (only in phase 1- i'd hold off on a visit until there's more than one rollercoaster!!) and outrageously, there was no peter pan ride! it being my favourite i was fairly upset, and then felt perhaps it was time to move on... just a little bit mind!!