Whose flag are you flying?

Unless you have been living under a rock for the past few weeks you will be only too aware of the World Cup mania that has spread across the globe. 

Picture credit: www.itv.com/news/anglia/

As usual, England goes all out with indulgent extravagant displays of patriotism, and football fans up and down the country are proudly wearing the three lions on their chest whilst driving cars adorned with the flag of St George.

I am no football fan unfortunately, and although not against the 'beautiful game' in anyway, I am slightly ashamed to say that England's performance in the World Cup will have no affect on me whatsoever. 

Yet I am in awe of the cross adorned homes that have flags billowing from every window, the hundreds of thousands who will go to every effort to ensure that they see the match live in full technicolour glory on their recently upgraded plasma screen TV, and even more so those that have sacrificed work and family to travel to Brazil and see the events unfold. 

These individuals are enthusiastic, passionate, and all consumed by their love of football. So devoted to their cause and so proud of who they represent, football fans across the UK are standing proud and shouting their allegiance to their faithful England team for all the world to hear. The level of engagement and unity of a body of people from all walks of life is truly remarkable, and is one that the church should emulate, and this got me thinking;

Whose flag am I flying?

Do people around me know who I represent? Who I am passionate and extravagant about? Do they know that I love and live for Jesus? That I worship the Lord and Saviour with my whole heart, that He has healed me and my family, provided for us and protected us over and over again?

Would I display a flag proclaiming my faith in the one who created the Heavens and the Earth as proudly as the England fans display their faith in eleven men on a pitch?

I would like to think the answer is yes, that my faith is so demonstrable in my daily life that I carry it like a banner wherever I go, not to shove it in people's faces but to make a declaration; I am in this body of people, the body of Christ and I am both humbled and proud to be a part of it. 

My hope is that my life could be a daily display of extravagant surrender and worship to the King of Kings who loves me so extravagantly that He gave His life for me, and I pray that I would never lose sight of how precious this gift available to every one of us truly is.

Living Life Through A Lens

Anyone who knows me well, will know that I am never far from my iPhone. That little white box that contains my calendars, emails and provides connections to the outside world no matter where I am and what I am doing. The invention of the smart phone has somewhat revolutionized most people's communication across the globe, and I am definitely no exception. A self confessed addict to social media sites and my beloved blog, I regularly post my comings and goings on twitter, instagram and facebook, and have done for many years.

However I was recently challenged by an interview I heard on UCB UK radio, where a band singer felt that the crowds were missing out by watching their entire tour performance through their phone camera lens. It got me thinking, how often do I capture moments of my life or my children's lives through a lens rather than just being in the moment? Granted, memories cannot be shared with loved ones who aren't present at the time, and instagram et al has enabled thousands of long distance friends and relatives to stay connected and not miss out on the milestones of family life. 

Whilst pondering this thought, I then went on to consider what I actually share.... do I share too much of my life online? By simply wearing my heart on my sleeve am I unwittingly exposing my family and myself to untold dangers? Do I really need to discuss or display our most intimate moments publicly or should they rather remain sacred and private to us as family unit? Does anyone really need to know that we are in Costa coffee, or the local park, or more recently in the hospital due to an unfortunate accident? A naturally outgoing person, I can all too easily allow my life thoughts and feelings to overflow into general conversation, and even more so in to the invisible online world of social media, much to my poor husbands disdain as he is very private. Having always considered him to perhaps be a little uptight, or just put it down to the fact that women like to share their thoughts and experiences whereas men keep their emotions to themselves, I was very shocked and humbled when God massively convicted me on my misinterpretation. Right now I feel like God is asking me to draw back in to my family and that we as a unit draw even closer to Him. 

As a family we feel called to serve God's kingdom through our church, and we know that in order to grow in our relationship with God and with each other we need to invest time and love into these relationships. By constantly putting Jesus at the centre of our family life, seeking first His kingdom then God will add to us all the things we need and the distractions of the world fall away as we fix our eyes on Him. God wants a relationship with us, and as we spend more and more time in His presence, learning His Word and living by His Spirit we will be transformed into His likeness.

I love social media, I think it is a powerful platform for businesses in the digital marketing era and a valuable tool for loved ones to stay connected. I  have made some truly wonderful friends on twitter and instagram, many of whom I have not and will probably never meet face to face, yet they impact my life on a daily basis. My online community is one that is very precious to me, however I am starting to realise the dangers and distractions of getting sucked into a virtual world when I have a very real God and Saviour who desires a deeper relationship with me. I spend so much time watching other peoples lives unfold on facebook and twitter that I sometimes forget to enjoy living my own. My children are so young, yet they will be grown up in the blink of an eye. I don't want their lasting childhood memories to be of a mother who was always there but never present, always stood with iPhone in hand during every achievement, every award, every milestone. 

I will continue using my social media avidly for both business and pleasure, however in the future I will have a very keen eye on how I am using my time to ensure that I invest the better part of it in my family and in getting to know Jesus on an even deeper level. Jesus said in John 10:10 I have come so that you may have life and live it to the full, I encourage each of you to put down the smart phone and do just that. 

R xx

2013 What A Year It Has Been! New Baby, New House, New Business

So here I am, sat in a completely packed Starbucks in the Birmingham Bullring on 30^th December, with soy latte in hand and I am ready to write my last blog of 2013.

OK, so to be honest, my blog writing has been pretty much non existent this year on account of me learning to juggle being a mother of two combined with a busy church life, a writing career, a lively 3 year old and moving house. Our second son Isaac was born on 1^st March 2013, and he has been a complete blessing, such a contented happy baby who loves to be snuggled much to my delight. However I wasn't expecting my new arrival to come with additional extras in the form of post natal depression, and although I realised very quickly after the birth that something was wrong, I did not get formally diagnosed until Isaac was four months old.

During this time, I celebrated my thirtieth birthday with my family and we moved house to a new area in order to be closer to our preferred schools for Aaron, who will start reception next September. Our new home is lovely and our neighbours are wonderful, but while I busied myself with setting up each room my heart ached with loneliness and a darkness that I could not shake off. The PND diagnosis was a welcome relief, and I instantly felt better just knowing that I wasn't actually going mad and that I did genuinely have an illness that could be treated. Acknowledging the problem felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders, and the medication quickly helped to balance me out. Isaac is now 10 months old and I feel back to my old self again, and am thoroughly enjoying every minute of raising my two beautiful boys.

September saw me fully launch my freelance writing career and I am absolutely overjoyed to be able to use my creative skills in this way. Writing has long been a passion of mine, and whether it is a journalistic piece, a product review or a short fictional story, I find such pleasure in the written word and making sense of sentences. This was also the month that I rejoined the worship team at Renewal Christian Centre, where my husband and I are members. We love Jesus and it is an honour to be part of and serve such a lively vibrant church, and I count it as the highest privilege to lead people in worship here. There are so many new developments in the pipeline for 2014 we can't wait to see people's hearts touched and lives changed at Renewal in the coming months.

So what's next for me? I am continuing with my writing and plan to build on the foundations I have already laid down, I am blessed to be able to work around my children and spend as much time as I can with them while they are so young. I also enjoy taking and distributing Herbalife nutritional products to keep me fit and healthy and helping my clients do the same.

I want to focus on deepening my relationship with God and enriching my marriage to my best friend this year, time flies by so very fast and I don't want to waste a moment by being distracted with unnecessary things. My God and my family are the most important things in the world to me, and with them by my side I know I can't go far wrong. I plan to write more for 'me' too this year, in the form of this blog, as I find writing down my thoughts so therapeutic, plus reading other peoples blogs gives me such inspiration and I hope mine can do the same. Jesus was the ultimate storyteller, using words and parables to reach thousands of people where they were at, and I would love to think that maybe one day my writing can reach out to others who can relate to my experiences. I pray that each and every reader will have a blessed, prosperous and peaceful 2014!