Storage Almost Full

Picture from Google

Have you ever seen this warning message? If you're an Android user, it's likely you've seen various other messages; 'insufficient storage available', 'storage space running low', 'low on space', etc.

If you have seen this message more than a few times it's perhaps likely that you're like me. You hold onto photos and videos too long before moving them to the cloud or Dropbox, and/or you have apps on your phone that are barely used but 'might come in handy one day'. I also like my music, as much as I can fit is downloaded onto my phone.

When I see this message pop up I click 'done' every time. Rarely have I clicked 'settings' and got to the root of the problem. But then my phone starts freezing on the unlock screen and I panic each time that maybe, just maybe, I've pushed my little phone too far. When it unfreezes and I get in to read my messages I sigh a sigh of relief. But I don't delete those photos I've been meaning to delete because, for now at least, my phone is still functioning - albeit not at it's best.

I began to notice a few months ago that I was treating my body much the same; holding onto things that I could let go of. If you've not read my previous posts and don't know much about me, I'll sum it up for you: I live in one beautiful town during the week with a lovely couple, a puppy, and a tortoise (he's my roommate). At the weekends I return to the town where I grew up to spend time with my family and friends. In my 'spare time' I am known for running monthly worship events and summer camps, organising fundraising activities for Mexico, and getting groups of people together for a drink or two.  

"If anyone serves they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Christ Jesus." 1 Peter 4:11

"With God's power working in us, God can do much, much more than anything we can ask or think of" Ephesians 3:20

These are dangerous verses. Mostly because they are true - we have God on our side and we can do more than we could ever imagine through His strength. Great. Amazing. But when your workload becomes 'superhuman' and you just about get through each day knowing that you can sleep many hours that night, it's not sustainable.

I recently re-evaluated, following a bad few months health-wise, all that I was doing in my 'spare time' and what 'spare time' I actually had. See, in the summer these 'spare time' activities arose because 1. I had no job and 2. I wanted to spend time with my friends before we all separated in September. I had spare time to spend in abundance! Fast forward to December... I have a job that I love (9-4 Monday - Thursday) which, with my health as it stands, equates to a normal person's 9-5 Monday - Friday. I'm living with a new family who I'm loving getting to know. I'm going home at weekends to spend precious time with my family. A non-busy weekend day in my life might look a bit like this at the moment: a few hours at church, cooking lunch with my dad, creating a poster with mum for a campaign, seeing some friends at their new house - cooking them dinner and playing games all evening. When I told a friend that that was my chilled day he was shocked. *ping* 'storage almost full' ignored again.

I'm in the process of learning what it's like to be not-busy and stay not-busy. When I first began to get not-busy I filled it with seeing people that I otherwise wouldn't have had time to see. Then I became busy again but busy with new and exciting things. Note to self: must keep trying to stay 'not-busy' for a while.

You might be pleased to know that I have released the monthly worship nights into the hands of a great team of youth leaders and my almighty God. Because "He who has started a good work is faithful and just to complete it" (ref. Philippians 1:6). This was not a decision that I took lightly because I really didn't want to let go but my storage is almost full so I had to hit 'delete'. I'll still visit and play a part from a distance, but a part that isn't taking up storage space in my life. I have also passed the Mexico fundraising baton to the other leaders whilst they run their part in the team race. Another app deleted.

In essence, I have hit 'factory data reset' - leaving only the vital apps in tact. First, I'll get to know my body in this state. Then I'll look at downloading a new app or two into my life. For now I'm in no rush.

"Come to me, all of you who are tired and have heavy loads. I will give you rest. Accept my work and learn from me. I am gentle and humble in spirit. And you will find rest for your souls. The work that I ask you to accept is easy. The load I give you to carry is not heavy." Matthew 11:28-30

So, this month, I'm focussing on:

- Family

- Friendships

- God as my first love

- Work

- Colleagues

- Strengthening my body physically to overcome my disability

Out with the old stuff and in with the new nothing!

Cool,

Cheers for reading!

Amy xo

One Month On...

Where am I now?
I moved out of my first home a few weeks ago, and moved in with another family. And today I moved into a new room in this house! A constant adventure :)

I'm officially no longer the newest person to join the office because we had a lovely member of staff start working with us today.
I'm feeling totally blessed with my job, my colleagues, my temporary home, my friends, RE:FUEL worship night events, etc.
I'm extremely upset about what is happening in Calais right now so I'm constantly looking out for what I can do to help practically whilst helping to increase the awareness of the awful things that the media are not circulating.
I'm excited for a mini adventure soon to a European country with my sister early in 2017!
I'm hoping to do a bit more photography between now and Christmas - my camera hasn't been used for such a long time.
I'm thinking about my future shipping container home - I've constantly got my eye out for genius space-saving ideas and a piece of land to build upon (if you've got some land you'd like to lend me whilst I build it, I'd be ever so grateful!). 
I think that's about all for now! Loads of love,
#bethelighttonight
Amy xo 

Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

Image source: Google

"If at first you don't succeed, fly, fly again" Someone asked me recently why I long to have children when I'm older. At that exact moment a young girl, about 2 years old, wobbled passed to run to her dad whilst giggling the cutest giggle. "See, how could you not want one of those?" I exclaimed. He replied that in reality kids are messy, annoying, stressful, dependent, and require a lot of effort and sleep sacrifice. I was stumped for an answer back to that. I left feeling a bit hard done by God that I was aching for something that could cause me so much stress for, supposedly, very little happiness. This guy doesn't have children himself and isn't against having children, he was just talking through some of his factual observations. As I processed this confusion for myself I was blessed to be spending the day with the most adorable 3 year old girl, F. Granted I didn't have to wake her up, wash her, get her dressed, make her breakfast, pack her a lunch, and keep her happy on the drive to the event all before 930am. But I did get the blessing of looking after her throughout the day! It was one of those blessings that you look back on and realise just how amazing life can be! The joy that F carries is indescribable because it is an untainted joy from God! I've recently found myself stuck in bed, in pain and too tired to do anything. I turned to trusty Netflix and found myself some encouraging films to watch. As tempting as those chick-flicks are, there's nothing that beats a U rated film featuring children who have such a strong spirit of determination! They are not tainted by the world.  Paper Planes, as pictured above, was one of the great films that I found - about a boy who keeps pushing on even when his dad loses interest, especially when his dad loses interest in fact! Kids use what discourages any normal adult to instead fuel them to strive for more! It's so beautiful!

Another film I found was called 'An American Girl: McKenna Shoots for the Stars'. I highly recommend this as a feel-good and motivating, yet easy-to-watch film - perfect for those days in bed where you cannot fathom doing anything beyond sitting and watching, and even that proves a chore. This film, about a girl who faces every stumbling block at once but triumphs and finds true friendship, is oozing wisdom. Children are full of great things - take some time to draw it into your own life - it's refreshingly fun - how would you feel if you suddenly start to find children's activities bring you the joy they brought back when you were young?
And that's why children are great - they're the closest they'll ever be on this earth to being who God made them as. Perfect. Children are the closest to perfect! Why wouldn't you want to hang out with them?!

I used to see fun, then I saw a plain slide, and now I see adventure again! #childmindsarebetterthanadultminds

I can't see that hashtag catching on, but maybe adults having more fun with the mundane will happen one day! Is it only children who can make a house out of a cardboard box? I don't think so! Until next time, I'll be chilling in my cardboard box house, Amy xo

Moonlit Adventures

Since the last time I wrote (which was my A>Z of Thanks) I've spent my days trying to be more positive. I can feel a shift happening and I can feel that the more I focus on the positive, the happier I feel and the happier I feel people are feeling when they are around me. I had gotten myself into this negative spiral of being unhappy which was I felt was making other people feel unhappy so I was more unhappy, etc. My usual tact to making myself feel happier is to lift someone else up, do something for them and see them happy - that's what fuels me! So seeing people unhappy and thinking that I was always the cause and feeling like I couldn't do anything to help was de-fuelling me to the max! Little did I know that I needed to start with me and start working through some negativities: Why does it upset me? Can I do anything to make it better? Is it worth worrying about? Being open with myself about my feelings has meant that I can feel happiness a whole lot more and I know a lot more about what will make me happy! That is something that I never want to lose.

Image Source: Google

On Thursday night I sat in the car as mum drove me passed the edge of the beach on our way to visit my sister. This was a spontaneous trip and one that required very little energy (my family are quite forgiving on days when I'm in a lot of pain and have just a small amount of energy, thank you guys!). As we drove passed the sea wall, I pictured what lay behind: A long strip of pebbles that turned into soft, fine sand further down the beach; the sea lapping at the shore line, rolling pebbles back and forth; the sunset reflecting off everything that it could: the sand, the pebbles, the sea, the boats. I couldn't help myself and I exclaimed to my mum 'do you know what I really wanna do one day?!' *pause* 'I want to sit on the beach with some friends as the sun goes down and wait until it's completely dark before going for a swim!' She thought I was crazy, and so did I... until last night.  Yesterday I played golf with some friends to celebrate JP's birthday. We chose the driving the range as the activity for the afternoon. 

Photo credit: MT

Following our little golfing experience we headed back to my house for fajitas and profiteroles before we were due to meet more friends at the pub at 8pm. It was here that someone exclaimed we should go to the beach after we've been to the pub. Initially I was not game, I definitely wanted sleep more than I wanted an adventure. But it was JP's birthday after all and he got the final say. The pub gathering was a lot of fun! It was poo-stories-galore! With a nurse and a nursery worker sat around the table with us, we heard of some interesting experiences. As the pub gathering drew to a close, we said our goodbyes, hid JP's car, and continued laughing as we went our separate ways. For some, they headed home. For the 6 of us, the night was just beginning. The sun had set and the moon and stars were out. A quick drive down the road, whilst singing along to All Sons and Daughters, landed us at our nearest pebbled beach. There are no words for what happened next! It hit midnight and we went swimming, in the sea! The water was warmer than expected, calmer than anticipated, and more fun that I could ever describe! The only light source, bar a couple of dim streetlamps, was the moon's solid reflection on the water. Thank goodness MS decided not to swim. She grabbed our hoodies and keys as the tide came in and moved them out of the water's path. If you've never been swimming in the sea at midnight, or when it's dark for that matter, do it! Add it to your Adventure List, or your Bucket List, or every single list you ever make. Just make sure you do it one day!

Post-swim selfie

We dried off and drove off, but we weren't going home just yet. We went up onto the hills and sat in the cars, in the quiet. Processing what had just happened and enjoying the calm euphoria that had overwhelmed us all. Amy xo

A Heart For Adventure🛩

Picture source: Google

Recently I've discovered that I have a big passion for adventure! A huge longing to explore new things, new places, new skills, new people.
It explains why, when sat at the job centre last Monday morning, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. There are so many things that I love doing and so many things that I have the skills to do. Sometimes these don't cross over, at least not for now, and that's more than okay. So I've spent the last week sorting out and discovering what I love and what I'm good at. With there being so many options, I don't want to end up stuck in once place forever, doing the same thing day in and day out. Every day of my life is destined to be an adventure.

Picture source: Google

It turns out that I love travelling. It's not something that I've never thought about in such depth before but it's definitely something that I love. From my trip to Mexico to build a house, to visiting my grandparents in France, to spending the day exploring new parts of a familiar beach - I love it all.
Just a few days ago a special friend took me out to London for an adventure to celebrate my birthday. All I knew was that I was to be at the station for 9.15am and that I needed to pack the usual items for the good old British weather - suncream, sunglasses, a raincoat - you get the idea.

We've always joked about finding a boat train after one of our friends accidentally exclaimed 'all aboard the boat train' instead of 'all aboard the banter train'. My first surprise of the day was travelling by boat to our next destination. It truly was a boat train through the centre of London! What more could a girl want?! We enjoyed a sunny picnic in the middle of Hyde Park - that was the next part of the surprise! And laughed in the pouring rain. What's amazing about adventures like this is that you just have no care in the world about the small things - the water-logged shoes, the soaking wet hair, the lack of sunshine. None of it matters because what matters most is the adventure being experienced with someone you love by your side.
So no matter where I end up and what I end up doing, I pray that it's full of adventure. I want to leave a sparkle wherever I go and I want to go to many places, whilst always having somewhere to call home, some people to call friends, and Jesus by my side.

Picture source: Google

That's all for now, Who knows what's coming around the bend!?
Amy xo

Learn Not to Say Too Much

Imagine you're a 20 year old leader to children and you invest the next 25 years to working with children and youth... Then all of a sudden you decide one day that you need to retire/take a sabbatical. Church celebrates the 25 years of your volunteering with kids.  The original children that you taught are now old with their own children. Everyone shakes your hand to thank you. As this takes place each person says this: "There's one thing that you said to me that stuck with me..." "I need to thank you for one thing, you once said..." In that moment, what would you want that one thing to be? So, now, fast-forward to the end, discover what it is you want to stick, and then rewind and plan for that. Here's a phrase worth remembering and living by (or teaching by): "Teach less for more"

Image Source: Google

You have a limited amount of time that you can invest in a child's life. You can expect about 40 hours a year can be invested in that child. Decide ahead of time what it is you would like to invest into them. What love and encouragement you want to pour out, decide from now. - All scripture is equally inspired by God. - - All scripture is not equally important. - Jesus answered the question about what the greatest piece of scripture is, opening the idea that scripture is prioritised. - All scripture is not equally applicable to every stage in life. - Take a moment to have a look at... What are the truths that all children need to know before they are 5? Before they go to Secondary School? Before they go to University? For me, these truths would perhaps go along the lines of: > Before a child is 5 they need to know they are important and loved. They need to be spoken to with eye contact to communicate these ideas. > Before a child goes to secondary school they need to know their identity in God. They need to know the holy spirit is inside of them and that God goes before them. > Before a child goes to university they need to know God's grace. They need to know that they are forgiven, always. And they need to know how to forgive. Make decisions about where you're going to use your time and what you're going to teach. Decide how you're going to say it, creatively. An example used in this podcast is about a girl who was taught a phrase by her church leaders one week and applied it to her own life, in turn drawing closer to God. Phrase: "If you don't make the wise choice, you'll miss out on what God wants to do" So the girl is visiting a friend, they are shopping. Her friend picks up some pretty beads and begins to steal them. The only thing the girl could think of was that 'if you don't make the wise choice, you'll miss out on what God wants you to do'. She said these words out loud to her friend. The friend was so taken aback that she put the beads back in the pot. When they went to pay, the cashier was wearing a necklace made of those beads and as they were paying for their goods, the girl exclaimed 'your necklace is so pretty' and the woman behind the counter said 'here, let me give you some of those beads'. This, of course, stuck with the child because it really became true that she chose the right choice and didn't miss out on what God wanted to do.
I feel the same phrase can be applied to teaching kids. We must make the wise choices of what to teach so that we may teach less and the children may learn more, therefore, they will not miss out on what God wants to do. This can put some pressure on children-church leaders to get it right and teach the perfect balance of stuff. It's not about getting it right, it's about reducing what you teach so that some things actually stick. This light pressure can be good though as it encourages leaders to carefully evaluate the truths of the Bible in study and reflection before 'teaching' the kids. Decide what you're going to say. Decide how you're going to say it.  Decide to say one thing at a time. If you watch 3 x 30sec commercials, you'll remember the last one. Our brains are built to disregard information in place of new information. So we need to focus on what it is that we want children to learn and stick to that for a while. Say that thing over and over again. There are certain truths and principles that you want to stick in their hearts and minds forever. Think of creative ways to go over the same ideas. Younger children love to be creative but some will be equally happy to sit and watch the same TV episode or film over and over again. This could be because it's filled with so much information that they forget what happens from the other times that they've watched it (just like watching 3 adverts and only remembering the last one). Perhaps we need to look at giving them less information each time, in creative ways, so that by the end they understand and know the truths that we are trying to teach to them.

Image Source: Google

"Teach more for less impact or teach less for more impact." It's not about how much different stuff they know it's about how well they know the important stuff that will help them through life and adulthood. We need to have patience with children. There's a great article on teaching so that children talk more. Some of the ideas it explores are the importance of questions and the need for patience when letting a child work through a problem on their own. See the full article here.

Podcast Information: OrangeBlogs - Orange Leaders - Teach Less Amy xo

What's Orange and Tastes Like an Orange?

An Orange. And the church, of course. Well, perhaps the church doesn't taste like an orange unless you choose fruit over doughnuts in the coffee break or it's a Christingle service. But one thing is for sure: The church should look orange. I'm not talking about a congregation of Oompa Loopmas...

Image Source: Google

I'm talking about a balance of love and light. Y e l l o w represents the light from the church and r e d represents the love from the church. Orange is a mixture of these two colours. The church should look orange. "Two combined influences make a greater impact than just one influence. Church and family on the same page." In the same way that light and love combined makes a greater influence, so does the combination of church and family. Where the church helps to influence whilst the family can influence even more during everyday life. Here are some claims: 1. "Nothing is more important than a person's relationship with God" 2. "No one has more potential to influence a child's relationship with God than the parent" - This is about an "every day faith kind of concept" not just "a Christian on a Sunday morning" 3. "No one has more potential to influence the parent than the church"
Here are some figures: 86% of parents believe they are responsible for their spiritual development of their child. This figure included secular parents. Over 90% of all parents believe that they have responsibility for their child's moral beliefs. 1 of 5 parents said the church did anything to help them be parents. Wow. Take a moment to begin to process the potential you can unlock by investing some time into the parents too. Willy Wonka Condescending memes are known for being really condescending...

Image Source: Google

There's an element of truth in the thought that what parents teach children about their spirituality and their relationship with Jesus will stick with them for a life time. I don't like the term 'religion' but I can appreciate the value that time investment from parents can really shape a child's spiritual development. So, as a church, how are we helping parents? How are we helping them to be more involved and engaged in the child's spiritual relationship? When we engage with a child on a Sunday morning and send them home with a craft that the parent/guardian can talk about with them, we are helping God-centred conversations to go on at home. When we pray with the children on a Sunday morning, and ask them if they need prayer for anything, we are encouraging them to ask for help from a leader, or a parent/guardian, in the form of prayer. These examples are just small ripples in comparison to the big waves of impact that we could make if we invested some of our time into the parents, who in turn have 3000 hours a year to invest into their own children. IMPACT

How To Cover Your Child in Prayer

"If you determine to circle your children in prayer, you will shape their destinies... your prayers will live on in their lives long after you die" - Matt Batterson. Read the full article here. So prayer is one weapon that we can encourage parents to use to shape the spiritual lives of their child. Prayer with the child is important too. It sends a reminder to the children to do this with their children as they get older. "The churches potential to help the child dramatically increases when you help the parent" The majority of parents do not spend any time during the week teaching spiritually. God gave this responsibility to parents as something for them to do. They have the skills. "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it" - Proverbs 22:6 "Make the things I'm commanding you today part of who you are. Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you're sitting together at home and when you're walking together down the road. Make them the last thing you talk about before you go to bed and the first thing you talk about the next morning."  - Deuteronomy 6:6-7 "... so that God's people may be up to the task ahead and have all they need to accomplish every good work." - 2 Timothy 3:17 Get every parent to do something more than what they're already doing. Look at parents through a different filter: 1) They want a plan/system that will help them know how to pass on the information to their children 2) Give them models for these plans 3) They want to know what they can do right now, today, tomorrow. What's next? So, we need to, as church leaders: Help parents to know that they are qualified.  Parents wouldn't disregard their child's need for help on homework because they've not got a teaching qualification. They wouldn't stop helping the children take their medication because they're not a doctor. Church can help them to feel qualified.  Believe that they are spiritual leaders to their children. If the church believes that they can be spiritual leaders to their kids then they will start to believe it too. Invest time into helping parents with plans and ideas. The more suggestions we give, and help we provide the parents with, the more equipped they will feel to be a spiritual leader to their child. This has thrown a few ideas into the mix for me which I'm still processing. Ideas about a parent-child Sunday where each child group meets in a different room but with their parents present so that we can learn together about being spiritual at home. It's important for parents to see their child on a Sunday morning and vice-versa. So that both the parent and the child can be open about their own spirituality and, therefore, begin to support each other at home. It's not until I was much older that my mum and I began having conversations about spiritual things that I remembered because I came home and asked big questions. Perhaps if my mum had been encouraged more when I was younger we would have drawn alongside each other spiritually at an earlier time.  One way that this 'drawing closer spiritually' could be done is a simple addition to a normal routine. When a child creates something, such as a painting or sculpture, to ask the child what they think God is saying to them through that picture. To explore together what message of encouragement it holds.

Image Source: Google

Podcast Information: OrangeBlogs - Orange Leaders 40.3000 Amy xo

H o p e ⚓

Imagine an ideal world; a perfect place. What does yours look like? A collection of beautiful waterfalls winding through a peaceful planet... no, perhaps that's too picturesque. Is it loud or is it quiet? Is it bright or is it plain? We all have places where our mind aspires for us to be. Be that your own ideal world, or your favourite place already on earth with your favourite person. H O P E 1. A feeling of expectation and desire for a particular thing to happen. 2. A feeling of trust. 3. Want something to happen or be the case. In essence, 'hope' is quite a big word with not very many letters and only one syllable. 'Hope' encompasses the desires of our hearts.

Image Source: Google

'Hope' brings new beginnings and new light into a place of seemingly-eternal darkness. "HOPE: Remains upbeat - Ignores doubters - Is future focussed - Stares down discouragement - Survives obstacles - Inspires others" - Brian Houston If hope is all you've got, hold onto it like an anchor, because it can take you to positive places that you never expected you'd get to.  Amy xo

A BIG Dream

What's your house dream? Your ideal home? Your perfect future dwelling place? What does it look like? A place in the countryside? A place close to town? A place not too far from where you grew up? Does it look like this?

Image Source: Google

No? Mine didn't either. But it might do now. I had no idea how cost efficient these things are for a home! I'm not talking about buying a shipping container and a mattress! I'm talking BIG!  Perhaps this might give you an idea...

Still not convinced? Take a look inside one of these homes:

Image Source: Google

Feeling a little bit more inspired now? One step even further:

Image Source: Google

There are so many things that can be done with such small spaces. To quote a man in the first series of George Clarke's Amazing Spaces 'we want to make this small space a big place'.

What about not using this idea for a house? How about thinking one step further? To create a community hub where everyone gets to play! A place with pool, darts, sofas, vending machines. A place with an indoor cinema screen. A place that can be rented out for use by local business meetings or baby clinics at a cheap rate.

For a while the word 'community' has been on my heart. Creating a space that can be replicated all over the place like this is ideal! It's a movement that can spread!  We hit 1111 page views today which is a very nice number but also looks like the side of a shipping container! Coincidence? I think not. Amy

Image Source: Google

There's No Place Like Home

The Calais jungle is now home to more than 6,000 people. Here's just one. There's No Place Like Home

A man stands amidst his washing next to a board showing the alphabet, a set of chairs, and his home. April 2015. Each small detail of this photograph tells a bit more of the story. From the storing of toothbrushes upon the roof, to the shoes below the table. Who else lives with him? Family? Friends? Strangers united only by their common goal: to survive? I travelled to Calais with my mum as part of a recent project. Before we knew it we had driven into what is now being called the 'Calais Jungle'. Scenes of tents, football games, and groups with shopping trolleys surrounded us. As we slowed past this accommodation I managed to snap a few pictures. I felt helpless to the residents here. The reality that we were 'spectating' them with nothing to give became all too real and we left shortly after this photograph was taken. I'm hoping I help by sharing this image; I don't want this to be just a personal project. I'm hoping I help show just a snapshot of what it is like in Calais. Something that I still struggle with is the idea that what we witnessed, what's shown in this photo, is better than where they've fled from.