The Best University

For those of you that are searching or have searched in the past for the right uni, what is/was on your 'checklist'? You probably have a checklist of things which would make the perfect university for you. Perhaps accommodation with an en suite bathroom, or just accommodation which you can afford. Maybe the uni needs to be near a town centre. While I am searching for the right university for me, and praying about where I end up, I am also checking things off from a mental list: 1- Offer courses in the subjects that I am interested in (sort of essential) 2 - Sizeable room in accommodation for studying 3 - Have a Christian Union 4 - Job opportunities nearby 5 - Location 6 - Course content and vocational opportunities 7 - Close to home That last thing on my list can be taken two ways. The first is as it first appears: no more than a couple of hours away from my childhood home. The second is a little deeper, and perhaps even more important, it is that I am close to God. He is my home, I will be with Him in Heaven for eternity and I would love to be with Him on earth, at university, and for the rest of my earthly existence. Universities in the UK often have great Christian Unions available to their students, and nearby churches run amazing student programs but is this enough? For students who want to study Theology they can find a Christian College, such as Moorlands or Spurgeons, and settle in with other like-minded Christians. For those who wish to study music, art, maths, english, or science they have it a little more difficult. They will be in an environment everyday surrounded by young adults who want to live life and have fun, regardless of what God has planned. Young Christian's faith will be pushed to the limit at University, and without the support that nearby churches and Christian Unions offer they could lose their relationship with God by drifting far away and building a wall between Him and themselves.  I was talking to a friend about this recently and a thought came to mind about a university which offers a range of courses and subjects whilst being a Christian organisation full of Christian students. Unfortunately, to my knowledge, such institution does not exist in the UK. In the US there a number of universities/colleges which are set up primarily for Christians such as Wheaton College, US. The courses that it runs are so extensive which makes it open to almost every Christian out there searching for a university to attend which does their course subject. Would a Christian University be the answer? To some extent I think that a similar institution would go down really well in the UK. There are so many Christians today looking for a university to study at which won't harm their faith too much whilst challenging it just enough. However, there are also stories of Atheists who met Christians at university and their lives were changed for the better. Would an exclusively Christian University damage the potential to spread God's love? Perhaps so. Or maybe not if the institution was to be linked with a secular college. I can't see these ramblings reaching a conclusion for the time being. I am just mulling over some thoughts which have taken over my revision this morning. I think my new 'checklist' will be: 1 - Offer courses that I believe God is leading me to 2 - Accommodation which will enable me to mix with other Christians and non-Christians day in, day out 3 - An established Christian Union 4 - Job opportunities and charity opportunities to 'give back to God' 5 - Location - near to a supporting church with established Christian student facilities 6 - Course content and vocational opportunities - a schedule which doesn't clash with church involvement 7 - Close to home - a place where I am free to believe in God and express that to my heart's content

What are your thoughts?

EXCITING NEWS

Most of you will know that I have a passion for ending the injustice of the human slave trade. This week an act came into practice that has changed the way people can be prosecuted in human trafficking cases to make it easier for the victim to get help and serve justice. This calls for celebration!

Read more here. Click on the links in the article linked above to read further :)

That Matching Pyjama Feeling

Do you ever find that your Pyjama's never match? You just pick up the nearest top and the nearest bottoms and roll with it? Despite my somewhat perfectionist tendencies I often find myself in a non-matching set of PJs and not minding. But why should we settle for second best when God loves us so much that He would like to give us THE best? Let me explain. Sometimes we find ourselves in situations where we feel muddled and out of place. We feel like things aren't quite falling together as they should. I'm going to suggest, as many other Christian speakers will say, that you pray, pray and pray some more. If it doesn't feel quite right after some meditating prayer then perhaps it isn't right. God's plans for us aren't things that we don't like. In fact, they're things that we love. We were made by God, and He made you to love the things that you do so use them in your life. Still with me? We need to make a conscious effort to use the things that we love to serve our amazing God. The other night I picked up a pair of matching pyjamas. This was not be coincidence but by choice. I went out of my way to find the matching top to the bottoms that I had picked out. It felt right. They matched. Granted, matching pyjamas do not make my life complete, but I'm using it as an analogy here. The point is, it felt right and it worked well, looked good, felt comfortable. God's plan for you can work much in the same way. You may have to go out of your way to find the right path to take but once you're on track it feels right and the rest of your life begins to slot into place. This isn't to say that you won't face struggles when you're on the right path. You might find a matching pair of PJs that has a hole in that needs sewing together. This shouldn't put you off choosing that path, though. God puts up in situations where we are tested in order to develop ourselves. For a little more information on this, see my recent blog post about trials and struggles here. I pray that you all begin to know God's plan for you in some shape or form: use your skills!

My Video Campaigns

Over the past couple of years I have been working on a few projects to raise awareness of Human Trafficking and the Sex Trade. I have not been able to publish these for various reasons but it's looking very likely that I will be able to post them for you very soon. My estimated date of getting them on YouTube for you all to see is 1st September 2015.

You will all be the first to know when they are up and running, for now here is a still from each to get you all thinking.

27 Million Music Video

Stolen Soul Short Documentary Video

UPDATE from 1st September 2015: VIDEO LINK BLOG POST HERE

The Dark Room Appreciation Post

Hello again, Seeing as I'm a fairly new writer to you all reading here at Freedom is a Beautiful Thing, I thought it only fitting to talk to you about some inspirational talks that I've experienced and really learnt from to share and empathise and love with you all. We're all on the same journey to Heaven, some of us have different mountains to cross than others. The Dark Room - Christine Caine (A21 Founder)

The video above contains the talk that I listened to. You might have hovered over it and seen that it's 45 minutes long. Please don't be discouraged by the length. I want to tell you a little bit about my experience with this sermon and then maybe you'd like to watch it yourself.  The TITLE really stood out for me: The Dark Room. For those of you that don't know what one of these is, it's a totally blacked-out room, with the exception of a safety light, used to develop a photograph from a piece of film (as featured in One Direction's Story of my Life music video). I'm a bit of a photographer myself, having studied it at A level I have gained a bit of experience in the dark room. The second thing that appealed to me was the speaker, Christine Caine, A21 founder. I've researched and heard a fair amount about the A21 campaign, an organisation that helps girls who are victims of modern day slavery, their slogan being #itstartswithone. I feel 'called' by God to work towards abolishing slavery in the 21st Century. So naturally, a woman with a similar calling who has something to say appeals to me. Some of you might be switching off now, you have no passion for stopping slavery and your hobby involves something a little less camera-orientated. Don't go just yet. I stumbled across this talk whilst streaming through YouTube for another funny video to watch. I realised that I could be spending my time a little better and connecting with God a little bit more, one step at a time. I let God guide me to the right video and this is where I ended up. Christine Caine talks about some very real life struggles, maybe you're still single at the "really old" ages of 25, 30, 50, 65. The truth is that you're not "really old" in God's eyes and His plan for you is still there, He's just developing you. Maybe you've been missing out on invites to parties and gatherings, or just feeling left out. People I would consider myself to be quite close with, in fact people who I have previously invited to an event or two, have recently had and planned parties without me with no known reason to me or my friends. This caused a lot of confusion for me and I began to feel as if maybe I had to change, that it was my fault, that I wasn't good enough etc. But then I listened to this talk and things sort of changed inside of me, I realised how God was developing me and various parts of my life have been highlighted to me as a development process. It's been a gradual change but I'm trying to seek God more in everything that I do and this has encouraged that further. If you'd like a shorter video to watch, though still not light-hearted, try this one out for size..

Let me know if you need prayer, want someone to talk to, have something exciting to share etc. in the comments below, I'd love to hear from you!

Where the Spirit of the Lord is...

'Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom' - 2 Corinthians 3:17 (NIV) Many people spend their time searching for some sense of freedom. Whether that is freedom from an old habit that dies hard, like saying like, like, way too many, like, times, or freedom from something more serious, such as domestic abuse, we all crave it. Even the celebrities among us can't hide their craving for freedom: From Ariana Grande's need to Break Free and Elsa's wish to Let It Go to Queen's Want To Break Free.   The one question that hovers closely in all of these songs and situations is 'How can I get that freedom?'. Does it come from 'running away'? Does it come from 'drowning your sorrows'? Does it come from 'allowing yourself to feel the pain'? All of these suggestions might well give you a sense of temporary release but they're far from being a permanent fix. What good does it do to run to no place in particular, drink with no intention of stopping, feel hurt for the sake of feeling hurt? There is an easy answer, a short term struggle might just be your road to a secure, free future: God. Jesus. Saviour. Awesome. Healer. Hope. Our one true route to freedom is God. We can't take all matters into our own hands, in fact despite how much human nature wills for us to fix things ourselves, God wants just the opposite: for us to rely fully on Him. F.R.O.G. Fully Rely On God. Every issue we face, 'every step [we] take', 'every move [we] make' God is watching us. All He is waiting for us to do is ask Him for help and after receiving His grace, thank Him! That's the hard part, the small struggle, to ask God for help and trust Him. Doesn't sound too bad? It's not, just remember that He loves you, take a deep breath and ask. I pray that each of you reading this will feel a sense of freedom. A feeling of flexibility and movement, a feeling of peace and understanding, a feeling of love. I was listening to a pastor of a local church preaching about the parable of the Good Samaritan recently, he gave me an insight into a new way, well new to me, of interpreting the story. He was explaining that the man laid on the floor, beaten and bruised represents our spiritual beings after The Fall. The priest who walks past represents the earthly 'men of God' who may seem as though they are the bridge to God on the outside but they may not be so on the inside. The second passer by, one who was supposed to be all about 'being nice to humankind', did exactly that and passed by. This represents the people who mean to do good in the world but how they fail to satisfy our every need, especially spiritually. The third man, the Samaritan, represents Jesus, a man who came to save us. The oil He poured over the beaten body represents a flow of the Holy Spirit and the wine: the Blood of Christ. When the Samaritan pays the inn keeper to look after the beaten man He says 'until I return' which is exactly what Jesus promised to do: return. Thanks to His death we can be free.

Forever - Kari Jobe The moon and stars they wept The morning sun was dead The saviour of the world was fallen His body on the cross His blood poured out for us The weight of every curse upon Him One final breath He gave As Heaven looked away The Son of God was laid in darkness A battle in the grave The war on death was waged The power of hell forever broken The ground began to shake The stone was rolled away His perfect love would not be overcome Now death where is your sting? Our resurrected King Has rendered you defeated Forever He is glorified Forever He is lifted high Forever His is risen He is alive, He is alive We sing Hallelujah, we sing Hallelujah We sing Hallelujah The Lamb has overcome

What is 'freedom' and why is it 'a beautiful thing'?

Why not start as I mean to go on?
Instead of boring you with information about myself I'm jumping straight in and answering the questions that a lot of people ask themselves when they discover a new blog. Why is it called that? What does it mean? What's its relevance to their posts?

Okay, so why is this blog named 'Freedom is a Beautiful Thing'?
Well, in essence it is because freedom IS a beautiful thing. But, as you may have guessed at the fact that this entire post is about a title, it also represents something more: my dream. I have a vision of a world in which slavery is a distant memory held only alive in order to remind us never to let a person suffer again. As well as this dream, I am still in awe at the gift of grace that we received when Christ died for us, freeing us from our sin!

What does it mean?
'Freedom' has a number of different definitions in the Oxford Dictionary. One of which states that freedom is the state of not being imprisoned or enslaved. This can mean both mentally and physically.
'Beautiful' is a word that also encompasses a variety of different meanings. It means love, happiness, warmth, colour, beyond imaginable.

What's the relevance of this title to future posts?
Well, from the previous two answers you may have already guessed that I'm a Christian. I was saved when I was 11, I prayed the prayer. When I turned 15 I got baptised to publicly declare my faith. My posts will be about life in general, God-inspired messages and posts about the modern slave trade.

Just a little extra question that you may now be asking yourself.. Who is this blogger?
I'm GirlWithADream, a girl from the UK, that's all you need to know! I'm here if you need to chat, if you'd like some prayer or if you have any difficult questions that you would like me to attempt to answer.
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