Ten things of thankful - the baptismal edition

Well today after a long roundabout journey supported by many people put in my path by God (I will maybe explore that in a later post!) I have renewed my baptism vows, as I had only been christened as a baby and not really taken to church after that, and I was now ready to make these declarations for myself.  So I will warn you now, this week is churchy, hope you enjoy :)

1. I lead my cell group on Thursday evening this week, and as there was no service last weekend as the church held a big picnic in the park, there were no outlines.  Arrrggggh  what to do?  A prayer evening was suggested and successfully held by yours truly, and after a bit of preparation I led us through praying for particular countries of the world as a whole, our country the U.K., our city, our church community and we sort of ran out of time for prayers for each other - but we know what we need :).  I have had lovely feedback from one member who said I did well, and that was lovely to know it had been a success - I'm not so scared of doing this any more, even if there are no outlines!

2.  I am thankful for the dear members (and one particular ex-member who has moved away and couldn't be here today :() of my cell group who I have got to know and develop wonderful friendships with over the last 4 years, for them inviting me to join and be a part of the group.  They have been instrumental in helping me develop my faith and get to this stage, taking the step I took today.

3.  Now when one gets baptised as an adult it is traditional to prepare a testimony about our journey with God.  This was pretty overwhelming and scary as I started to think about doing it, but as I began, and used the wonder of Google to research for ideas of structured questions to guide my thoughts, I managed to write a  nice little piece.  It's all a bit of a blur, and I'm sure I didn't remember everything and things didn't come out quite the way I'd planned, but I think it was okay - I managed to talk up the front, mainly by just focusing on the vicar and not looking at everyone else!

4.  When you get baptised via full immersion, the vicar needs someone to help "dunk" you - so I had to bring someone in with me!  This took me very little time to think about once I knew friend-who-moved-away couldn't make it (might have been a dilemma there!) - it had to be Considerer, for as well as being my nagger encourager when walking running, and all round good egg of a lovely person, she is also in my lovely cell group and hence qualified for the job nicely :).  She accepted the job willingly, didn't mind getting wet, thought it was an honour, and even walked to church today in surf shorts and crocs bless her.

5.  The vicar hadn't mentioned, and I hadn't thought to ask, what the temperature of the water would be like.  So as I stepped into the pool the joy at how pleasantly warm it was - what a relief!  And as I went last I didn't have too much time to shiver afterwards!  If only I had the mind of the young son of another of our cell-group members (he asked very loudly as we got in whether the water was warm!).

6.  I  was able to invite some lovely people to share in this day with me.  One who was there is a lovely school friend who has known me over half my life (might even be getting on 2/3rds!) and though not a church-goer herself was happy to attend today and share in this with me as it was "important to me" - I think that was so lovely of her, and it was a pleasure to have her.  I did have to go and drag encourage her to sit with me at the front in the seats reserved for the baptismal parties - she tried to hide at the back when she first got there, and I wasn't having any of that!

7.  Another family I know crossed water (from the Isle of Wight) to be with me - I went to Merrin's baptism in February (I can't believe she's 1 in a few days!) and it was lovely to have them here- and Merrin's Dad's a cook, very useful for point 8 below don't you know ;).

8.  After the service I held what has become quite a tradition, especially in our cell group anyway, of the "bring and share" lunch.  A good spread was laid out on the table, and mostly devoured, although I caused a bit of over-subscription on sausage rolls - but they'll be good for tea with some chips and also to take to work for lunch as necessary til they're gone!  It was nice for everyone to meet and chat and I like to have people round, so it was lovely to have the house full, even if the cat did seem a bit put out and ran off and hid when she wasn't being brave enough to investigate!

9.  As I left church to locate people, let people follow me home and sort out for lunch, I was handed a lovely certificate to commemorate the vows I made today - lovely to have such a reminder.

10.  The most important thing about today is that I now definitely feel that I belong to God's family, I have made this decision myself, and I am now free to live and follow Him.  I know that whatever ups and downs lie ahead, with His help I can do this!  Here's to growing in faith and finding out what God has in store next!

Acts 2:38-39: Peter said to them, "Repent, and be baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you, for your children, and all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him."

10 things of thankful - The Considered edition

After doing this for several weeks now I'm getting bored of talking about me, and fancied a break from it, so I wanted to talk about 10 aspects of someone else who means a lot to me - The Considerer!  As she reads this (which I'm sure she will) I can picture her squirming with awkward embarrassment, and that is not the aim, just an unwanted side effect, but you know how it's easier to sometimes put words to paper (or the web) than verbalise them?  The following is all true, and VERY warranted, I promise :), and she WILL accept these accolades ;).

1.  The great Considerer came up with this almighty 10 things of thankful bloghop.  Which is amazing.  And for a good few months now has got me coming up with lots of things to be thankful for.  And lots of moments where I've thought 'oh I'll just take a picture of that, that has to go in my thankful blog post'.  It is a wonderful idea, and it is a wonderful exercise, so long live the TTOT.

2.   I had been toying with the idea of starting a blog for a while, but being lazy too busy to get organised and actually do it, I needed a push and someone with know how to get me started.  And there Considerer stepped up to the plate.  And now I have not just one blog, but two!  Wooo hooo.  She liked a little piece I wrote for a Facebook group and effectively told me I MUST start blogging, so that little nudge and encouragement has got me here now, and hopefully, if I put the time and effort in, all these posts I am planning in my mind will come to fruition!

3.  The Considerer has got me walking, a lot more than I ever did before!  And she makes me go faster!  And we go further.  And we get lost (which apparently is always MY fault???).  And we fall in streams (oh no, that one was just me!).  And while we walk we talk and have a jolly good time, stop to attempt handstands and cartwheels (oh yes, that's just Lizzi, I cannot do them!) and throw pebbles in ponds (oh to be a child again).  There is definitely something about going out walking with someone else that makes it much less arduous than doing it on ones own, and I really do love our walks.

  4.  On more than one occasion, I have made use of the spare room at Considerer's abode, generally at short notice after a begging from me that I need her company, want to get slightly tipsy and then won't be able to drive home.  Her hospitality is lovely, you can just be at home there, and on these evenings, and on our walks, we can talk about anything and everything and generally put the world to rights.  And I always leave feeling better.

5.  Now let's just say we both have *interesting* family set-ups and history, and things from our childhoods we'd maybe like to push to the back of our minds.  Well Lizzi has listened to more than her fair share of me lamenting the trials my various family members like to put me through.  And again doesn't judge, just mostly offers very sound and sensible advice.  Much to my uncomfortable embarrassment the other week she was present for a mahooosive barney between my Mother and sister, but she was very unphased by it all, didn't mind, and just offered suggestions to remedy the situation - family counsellor at hand ;).

6.  Now on the occasions we help at the youth club once a month we have started a tradition.  There is a takeaway close to the building the youth club is held in called Twisted.  I'd driven by it lots and meant to try it, but Lizzi and Joe being regular customers got me in there, and now after every youth club we have to bring food home.  The spaghetti and meatballs are amazing!  And I love that I now know another great takeaway to frequent.

7.  While we eat said takeaway, another tradition has started.  Lizzi has The Big Bang Theory box set, and we watch and laugh and enjoy.  And it's okay to be a geek here.  Being like Sheldon, which my sister throws at me as some kind of insult, is okay!

8.  I have Lizzi to thank for another weight-losing idea.  We both LOVE cheese.  Can't get enough of the stuff.  But one day, Lizzi said "why don't we just not buy cheese, use what we've got and not buy any more?".  THE HORROR!!!!  But actually it's not been that bad.  There are other things to go in sandwiches.  I appreciate the cheese when I'm out elsewhere a lot more.  And my accountability to her (she knows when I'm lying) has  kept me on the straight and narrow in the supermarket!

9.  I am no gardener.  I neglect my garden horrendously, and when I first employed Lizzi's help to sort it out, it took us a little while!  Thankfully she knows a lot more about gardening and plants than me, and is very motivational!  We have also painted my fence (well, half done, half to go - thanks Dad by the way for the ginger 'Autumn Red' colour (I'm sure he thought he was being helpful trying to match my shed).

10.  The Considerer is a battler.  A trooper.  You throw stuff at her, and she just gets on with it, marching on, not giving up.  She thinks, A LOT, sometimes too much probably (hands up here as well!), and doesn't realise how jolly fab she is, so there we have it, 10 whole reasons why I'm glad she is in my life.