iloveyoururl:

And if our God is for us, then who could ever stop us, and if our God is with us then what could stand against…

We all sing these words but what do they actually mean to us?

I was in bed the other day, and I had some music on with my headphones in, I had my eyes shut and was just…

to the max bro.

For my 19th birthday, I am going to do 19 random acts of kindness (i know, it takes the randomness out) but I only have 9 so far… I need 10 more.. any suggestions?!

My heart like… aches for Africa.

amor-vida-esperanza:

Today we live in a world where appearance seems to reign supreme and we have become captivated and fanatical with how we look to others,Why do we care what we look like, sound like and come across like to others? I don’t really know, but i am the first to admit that i struggle with this, i am…

I know some inspirational people.

I had a slight revelation today whilst talking with a good friend of mine. I realised how blessed I am.
I was explaining how I’m waiting for something “bad” to happen to me. No one really really close to me has ever died, or come so close it hurts. I’ve never been really sick. I’ve never felt real suffering other than through others. Personally, I have never really suffered.

I’m 19 in a few days, I have never lost anyone I love, never been physically or mentally unwell, never felt true pain or loss. The worst pain I have experienced was whilst I was in South Africa and I witnessed others pain but I also witnessed the joy they had despite their pain. I pray that I will face pain and suffering with joy and worship rather than self-pity and moaning.

I am so blessed.
The world is broken so bad things happen to everyone and I can guarantee then will to me also but…
19 years in and I can say that God is good.

I pray I still will declare God’s goodness 19 years from now.

Oh Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder consider all the works thy hand hath made. I see the stars, I hear the mighty thunder. Thy power throughout the universe displayed.
Then sings my soul, my Saviour God to thee:
How great thou art, how great thou art.

I can’t even be honest on here anymore. Ugh.

Sometimes i just wish i was like everyone else.

If i did my hair and make up, brought the nicest clothes and put a good amount of effort into the way I look. Sometimes i just wish I was really bothered by the way I look and then I might be more like everyone else. but then i wouldnt have time to care about other things that really matter.

Sometimes i just wish i was really into getting drunk and dancing. there are times i just wish i could have a drink and have a laugh and not worry abuot having to get up for work or not worry about what i act like or say. but im too sensible and too aware of who i am.

sometimes i just wish i looked like your typical good looking girl. who is skinny and has long legs and long hair and people always tell me how nice i look but compliments mean so much more when they’re rare and i know that if i was a typical good looking girl i wouldnt have learnt to love myself just the way i am, the way God intended it.

sometimes i just wish i could say the things i really want to say about people. i wish i could be nasty about someone and not hate myself afterwards. i wish i didnt have to start sentences about other people with “i know i shouldnt say this but…” i wish i didnt have to think about things like that. but its important to be nice and if i just bitched and gossiped and was nasty like other girls, i’d be just another bitchy girl.

sometimes i just wish i was the one everyone wants to be like. i wish i was the girl who everyone copies and tries to look like and act like. i wish i was admired and looked up to because i was popular and everyone liked me. but i’d forever feel bad that people were trying to change themselves when we were created as we are for a reason.

sometimes i just wish i could just get on with life like everyone else and not be constantly striving to be better at this and better at that. i wish i wasnt constantly striving to be more christ-like. but then i wouldn’t be more christ-like. i woud be just like everyone else.

sometimes i just wish i didnt have to think about every little single thing i do to ensure its glorifying God. sometimes i wish i was a little less bothered about being holy and a little more bothered about having a laugh and having friends and being happy. but holiness is happines. being close to God and knowing Him deeply is happiness for me.

sometimes i just wish i didnt feel lonely or left out or second best or unwanted or unloved. but im not any of those things because god promises he is always with me, always loving and always listeninng.

sometimes i just wish someone would put me first and that i would be the one person they loved and cared about most. their other half, their best friend, their “soul mate” but then perhaps i was created to go solo for a while. just lisa and god.

sometimes i just wish i was like everyone else, but then i wouldnt be me.

moan over. i think i might be a poet at heart. 

I can’t get over how absolutely wonderful my Mum is. 

She is the best, nicest, loveliest, wisest, most genuine, loving, thoughtful and wise person ever.

Big shout out for Mumma Trudi.

<3

After thinking about it, I realised that without even consciously deciding to, I was making a huge effort to be really lovely to the people at work who arent so lovely to me or seem to have a problem with me. Today I found myself going out of my way to make their lives easier when I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t do that for me.

But I did it without even thinking about it, being even nicer was my natural reaction. 

Yay, I’m a nice person.

Hello May!

And with May comes my birthday, I have now less than 2 weeks to figure out if and what I’m going to do to celebrate. Part of me can’t be bothered because my friends don’t really have heaps of money to go out for a meal or something that costs money so that wouldn’t work. I don’t drink so clubbing or a party at home would be boring for me because almost everyone else would be drinking and I wouldn’t. Not that I need to be drinking to have fun, it’s just rubbish being sober when everyone else isn’t. I guess this would be a good test for me considering y year off drinking is supposed to help me prove to people that you can have fun without drinking. In fact, therefore it seems like the perfect plan. But I don’t really feel like it.

I would rather my friends say “okay, its your 19th birthday and seeing as you’ve given up drinking, we wont drink either at your party” but I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t wanna do that…

The most plausible idea would be to have a girly sleepover or movie night but I have male friends I wanna hang out with too… but there’d be too many for everyone to stay over and then you have the dilema of people feeling elft out if they don’t get invited to the sleepover part or whatever…

I really want to do something proper fun like a day out at Thorpe Park or an Aquarium or at Go Ape or The Playzone or something cool like that but as per usual, requires money and friends with cars which I have but cars require petrol which requires money which my friends don’t have loads of… 

My other issue is, I dont have enough friends to do a proper kind of party like dressing up or with games or whatever.. I just went to make a facebook event and there was only TEN people who i speak to enough to consider friends that would want to come to a party for me… the rest of my friends are adults with families and what not so they wouldnt want to come! Maybe I could do like a picnic in the day? OH WAIT, there already is one for kids work at church that half my friends will be at but I won’t because I stopped helping with the sunday school…

So, I have no fabulous ideas for how to celebrate my upcoming 19th birthday.

The only plan I do have is to do 19 Random Acts of Kindness to strangers throughout the day. I’m going to plan these and post them up here before I do them and then let you know how they all went!

Whinge over. I’m sure my birthday will be fun whatever I do.

emilylovesafrica:

A man lifts his eyes from a full plate of food to meet my eyes. His eyes are empty, mirroring the state of his stomach. Hungry, he has treaded bare-footed through hot sand to a feeding point. Hungry, he returned to his home, the plate steaming with food. Hungry, he watches as his grandson…

I think he’s as good as guys could ever get but if I’m not meant to be with him, the guy God has in store for me must be flipping amazing.

This is what keeps me from stressing about. God denies us the things we want because He has something better lined up for us.

I can’t wait.

On one side of the argument:

“Guys objectify girls so much, it does my head in!”

“Why do boys have to go on about how fit a girl is? I look nothing like her, I will never be fit!”

“We are people not legs, ass and boobs!”

“We have eyes, look at them!”

“I am more than just a pair of breasts.”

“Ugh boys need to stop watching porn because it gives them the wrong impression of what girls are really like!”

And my personal favourite:

“No I will not make you a sandwich. Just because I’m a woman doesn’t mean I have to be in the kitchen or looking after the kids. And yes, maybe I do sometimes not shave my legs because I CAN’T BE BOTHERED and I do occasionally small bad or sweat. And sometimes I even forget to have my stomach tensed whilst we’re having sex and it wobbles. I regret to inform you that my skin isn’t naturally bronze, my boobs aren’t really this big, I’m really not that toned, I sometimes break wind and burp and I don’t always have the energy to shave my legs. When you treat me like a person instead of an object, I’ll make you a damn sandwich”

But girls you need to get realistic… Yeah all the above is true but I can’t even tell you how many times girls have drooled over pictures like this:

And how is that fair to guys?!
We have absolutely no right as girls to complain about boys who look at down our tops or call Katy Perry fit, if we are doing exactly the same to them. Apparently it isn’t as bad when we do it because oh you know, guys don’t struggle with self esteem or body image… WRONG. They do. Just as much as girls. They just don’t whinge and moan about it. Instead they think they have to be more manly - because clearly muscle = man - and spend more time working out in the privacy of their rooms or using protein shakes and muscle building nutrients to attempt to attain this muscular but slim man all women are apparently after. It’s just unfair and wrong.

Attractiveness should be based on personality… I know it isn’t totally because you usually have to be attracted to someone before you chat them up or get to know them or whatever but come on girls!! Stop going on about Darren Criss’s abs and leave Max George’s pecs alone!! We are no better than the boys we complain about if we re-blog pictures of muscley topless guys or buy OK! magazine to see the latest photos of TOWIE stars on the beach! 

Lets get this straight:

Muscle does not make a man.

A man is a male with integrity, wisdom, love and grace who thinks before he speaks and prays before he acts. A man is someone who is striving to become more like Jesus in every part of their lives.

So girls, get some respect and drop the hypocrisy. If you’re gonna have topless guys in your “likes” and check out guys boys bums on the street then don’t have a whinge when some bloke says how hot Rihanna is or glances at your chest. Grow up girls, boys have feelings too and you don’t have the right to make them feel sub-standard.

Rant over :)