Rest

I always have things in my heart that I want to write about but none of it really takes form until later. Today's topic is "Rest". 

We live in a world where things are moving at such a fast pace. We have work, commitments, friends, household duties, shopping and that's just part of it. Everything takes up so much time and energy. Sometimes it can be overwhelming. This non-stop life with a fraction of time for the things we want to do. We want to get things done, we want to do fun things, we don't want to sit around and do nothing.

I felt this a lot in my own life lately. There was always things to do and I wasn't taking enough time for myself to rest. The result is that I felt both mentally and physically exhausted most of the time. As much as I love people and I love keeping busy, I didn't take that time to rest. I'm still recovering actually.

I went through a breakup last month and since then I've just kept myself super busy. I've had some great moments, it's not like I've only been feeling tired but I've felt a lot more tired than usual most days. Not only that I've had so much on my mind, I haven't been sleeping on most days either. You will be amazed what a lack of sleep can do to your life. It affects your concentration, your mood, your thoughts, your energy, everything.

When we are young we have an abundance of energy and time. I remember in my teenage years how much time I had to meet friends for coffee or make plans or do anything that I wanted to do. I remember I had so much more energy too. In those days we take that for granted. In our adult life our time gets consumed, most of it by work and commitments and a bit for friends/ activities.

What gave me the greatest time where I was able to rest last month was a solo trip to Madrid where I stayed in a hostel for my first time. It was great to switch off and explore a new place and meet new people. It was just nice being away from the normal routine of things. Sometimes travel is good for that, it gives you a nice break away.

You need to give yourself a break, you need to rest. It is so important. I can't do everything, I can't reply everyone or send messages all the time or call people all the time or post or like millions of things on social media. I am 30 now this month and something I realised in 30 years of life is life gets so busy. I am busy. There are so many of us who are so busy with our lives and the things we have got to do. I've spoken to people who find this in their own lives. We have all these commitments but where are we finding time for ourselves. Are we resting?

I can happily say today that I did rest. Look at that one day, what an inspiration. This will be one of many hopefully. I rested and I feel rested. I spent time reading and relaxing in the sun. My life got so busy I also didn't give God enough time either but I felt so much more connected to God today.

I want to make changes in my life where I can get more rest and I've already started. You see if you want to rest it's all up to you to make it happen. It's not always about how much you work or not it's about what you do in between, what are you choosing to do in your free time. Does it make you feel rested?

I found a song this morning while lying in my garden in the sun called I Will Rest In You by the Gardiner Sisters. That song really made me think, the closer we are to God the more rested we feel too because our focus is on Him, God at the centre. It's when we get caught up in the busyness (not sure if that's an actual word) of life sometimes that it gets too much.

 This is their song below. They are actually really amazing singers, all sisters, you should look them up on youtube. I am reading a book by them at the moment called Sister Strong by Hailey and Mandi Gardiner. 

Take the time to relax and rest! Put your feet up! Go on a vacation! Exercise! Spend more time with your family and friends! Read a book! Listen to music! Go to church! Pray! Read your bible! Do whatever you need that makes you feel rested. Take time for you.

I hope you have all had a nice relaxing weekend and feel rested, except my friends in healthcare where we work weekends, no rest for us.  I am only joking. I was actually off this weekend. I do 14 hour shifts. Whether you worked or not, I hope you do take the time out of your "busy" schedule to rest, it will make you feel a lot better.

This blog post was brought to you by the switch off, relax and rest society writing about common sense that we should do as adults but don't.

It's funny how sometimes it's just simple things we need to do but we don't do. It just shows how the smallest things in life can make the biggest difference.

With that I will love and leave you,
Until I write again,
I shall give you some rest between by blog posts (but not too long),
Nicola Hill

Suffering

Happy 2019! I thought I would start my first blog post of 2019 with the title "Suffering". What a great way to start a new blog post for the new year! That word really brings such warmth and makes you feel great. It's like a hot drink on a cold night. I don't really believe that by the way, it's not a word that inspires warmth but it is necessary. Most of what people write in the new year are things like new year, new you! You can do anything! Reach for the stars! Or whatever. Then you get someone like me talking about suffering. You're welcome. Nothing like a bit of a depressing topic to start the new year off. As I say with most of my blog posts you just have to keep reading. I hope my blog posts actually don't depress you. I don't consider this a depressing topic actually and if you keep reading you may find out why.

Let's hope everyone has the year their social media shows most of the time - life is great and there is no trouble and they just have fun. Wow amazing. A trouble free life, people living it up. We all know though this is not the reality sometimes. It's the same outside of social media - in this place called the world. People who are struggling do that thing where they put on a "brave face". They will smile at people, they will act normal whatever their normal is, meanwhile they don't feel it. Or it could be that someone is openly going through a tough time and you can see they are struggling and seem down about life.

Well you know life is to be lived! That might make you want to slap me at this point. I actually just wrote that to be annoying because I know it is annoying. You don't want to hear that kind of stuff when you are not feeling it. All this positive rubbish. You might feel a bit concerned where this blog post going. Am I going to tell people to be comfortable with being negative, encourage heartache, encourage depression, encourage suffering? Of course.... not.

When you suffer it's like someone bringing you a healthy meal but you are already full of all the junk food you have been eating. Both forms of food fill you up but one is better for you body. You can't actually eat anymore on  top of what you've eaten if you are full so you've got to choose what to eat in the first place. The healthy food is what keeps you going and the junk food is your suffering.

Healthy food includes: spending time with those we love, exercise, doing the things we enjoy, focusing on what we have. Junk food includes: focusing on our problems, isolating ourselves from people, not doing anything we enjoy, focusing on what we don't have. I try to add different examples for you but if you don't get it or it's not very good, just humour me, just pretend you understand, thank you. Does anyone eat healthy food all the time? (Now I am actually talking about food). To answer that question: Heck no! While you can have it most of the time sometimes you do eat that cake or chocolate or a heavy meal or any other form of junk food. It's the same with life we all have the "junk food" sometimes.

We are not perfect. This is a 2019 realisation I am sure. We are not perfect. I had to say that again in bold. We go through struggles. We go through struggles. Everybody experiences suffering of some kind. Everybody experiences suffering of some kind. You need to accept that you will suffer in this life. You need to accept that you will suffer in this life. There is a reason I put it in bold and wrote it twice. That last point is what most people avoid - accepting suffering. You don't want to tell people that they are going to suffer because isn't everything about life meant to be amazing all the time! Get over your hard times, see the sunshine! Er no that's not that easy.

If you can't accept that at times you are going to suffer when you start suffering it will hit you even harder. By suffering it could be anything from words people say to you that hurt, or abuse of any kind or financial difficulty or breakups or losing anything from a person, to an object, to a job. I am sure you can find many examples of suffering. You can make a list now of all the times you have suffered, it happens and it will keep happening.

This is what I wrote so you can think about it:
We are not perfect,
We go through struggles,
Everybody experiences suffering of some kind,
You will need to accept that you will suffer in this life. 

That is what you have to realise. Life is great sometimes and it can be hard too and sometimes this is because of our own doing or things that happen to us. If you expect to live a life where nothing bad will happen - I am just about to ruin your 2019 - bad things are going to happen sometimes.

We have become a world of hide your pain and put on a brave face and because of this some people's suffering goes unnoticed. I am not saying walk around with a sad face all day and let everyone know something is up with you. There is a time to be strong but there is also a time to share our suffering. That's it, everyone gets a free batch of suffering for reading this blog post - sharing is caring right? That's not the kind of sharing I had in mind. The only way you are going to deal with things is to deal with them. Not to hide from them or to pretend it's not there or to pretend everything is ok. Certainly some things you need to work out on your own or only share with those you want to but if you are living in a loop of suffering and it's just not working you need to to something about it.

The reality about people is like the quote :  The truth is, everyone is going to hurt you. You have just got to find the ones worth suffering for.  ~ Bob Marley

The reality about life is things aren't always going to go as planned and there are going to be times of suffering and surprises we didn't expect and I don't mean the good kind of surprises. 

The only problem about suffering is the length of it. Sometimes it's short and only lasts a few hours or a day and sometimes it goes on for days, months, years. Yes sometimes things will hurt for a while but it's up to us how long we prolong this hurt. How long we allow ourselves to suffer. The only person that can bring you out of your suffering is you. How long are you going to let yourself suffer? It takes time to feel good again sometimes but it does happen only if you take the steps to make it happen. 

Suffering can also be a gift sometimes. It's through our trials that we grow. It's through our suffering that we learn to appreciate when things go right because we know what it's like to experience things when they go wrong. Some of the best stories and autobiographies are because people learnt from their suffering and their suffering made them a stronger or better person. That makes you feel great doesn't it, suffering will make me strong - yay! Actually no quite the opposite. No one wants to go through the hard times at all but you are going to go through them.

You aren't going to have it all. You may have a lot of what you want in your life but you will never have absolutely everything you want out of life. You are going to have to face some harsh truths about yourself or what you expect from life. You are going to fail if haven't already, you will fail at something. You are not going to be happy all time. You are going to be disappointed. You are going to be let down. 

Maybe now you are thinking but I have done well at some things and not failed and I have got things I want out of life and I have felt happy and I have been disappointed but I have also had things go my way and I have been let down by people but I have also been helped by people. See there is still good in your life even with the suffering. 

While many think about dieting, think about the diet you need to live life. Eat the healthy food. Sometimes you will be eating junk food too and that's ok. We all can feel hurt sometimes. What's not ok is letting it control your life. Don't let it control you, you must control it.

I wrote this on my twitter recently: You make choices every day. And sometimes it isn't your fault when certain things happen but you choose how you are going to respond. We are responsible for our happiness.

We are responsible but if you think you are going to be happy all the time, you aren't but you can choose where your focus is.

Think about it, you have just suffered now. Yes you have. You have been suffering this whole blog post by reading this junk but sometimes we have to put up with the junk. I hope in the midst of this blog post you've got something out of it. I do believe that you can live your best life but even the best life doesn't come without suffering.

We have all experienced different amounts and different levels of suffering. Some experience it daily. I don't know what you've been through in your life. I am sure you have had really difficult times. You may be going through some hard times right now. Sometimes things take longer than others to deal with. There are hard things that happen and sometimes you carry them with you. Sometimes you have scars. I just hope that whatever you are dealing with or dealt with you aren't letting it define your life. There will be times when you look back on your suffering and it still hurts but don't let it stop you living your life. If you need to share your suffering share it. If you see someone suffering maybe they need help.

Thanks for reading and if you would like to suffer through anymore of my blog posts feel free to look around.

Just found this quote to add to this post:
Although the world is full of suffering. It is also full of the overcoming of it. ~ Helen Keller

I keep adding a bit more to this blog post... I have got through many things in my life through prayer, God's help, reading the bible and taking steps in the right direction. You may or may not have a belief in God but I do. Whatever you do in life, don't dwell on your suffering because there are so many good things waiting for you beyond your suffering. God's got great plans for us.

With that I shall love and leave you,
Until I write again,
Nicola Hill

Reaping

Now that is an exciting title! Yes I'm being serious. I will explain what it means. Have you read my blog post about Waiting? This post is about God giving you some of the things you have been waiting for or giving you something even better than what you have been waiting for. Reaping what God has for you! That sounds great doesn't it. Why don't we just skip the waiting process. No it doesn't work like that, be patient. Reaping only comes after Waiting. Reaping can also come after years of waiting. There is no time limit. However it does happen and that's what we have got to remember.

The key though is that things don't always turn out the way we want them to. Our lives don't always go the way we plan them. Although sometimes it turns out better than we could have imagined. We are always changing and growing as people and as a result of that, what we want changes too. If we were given everything at a time where we didn't know what we wanted, we may not want it after receiving it. We could have changed our mind. We are allowed to change our mind. Sometimes we only figure out what we really want later on.

That's one of the benefits of waiting for what we want. The waiting process can change you and change what you thought you wanted. God knows what we need and sometimes what we need doesn't always match what we want. I am sure you can come up with an example yourself of how what you wanted a few years ago is different to what you want now. God knows when it is our time to reap but remember you only reap what you sow.

For example if your life was a car, is the car going to go anywhere without you driving it? God's not going to drive it for you. He gave you the car but it's your choice where to go in it. He is going to give you fuel for the journey and put the necessary road blocks where they need to be for your own good but He isn't going to choose the direction you travel or what destination you end up in. You need to start travelling yourself first. Sometimes people know how to find another way to the original destination and either avoid road blocks or not follow God's path. Then they blame God for getting there when that destination does not turn out to be what they hoped.

It's easy to say when things don't go as planned it must be God's fault but if you make a mistake and crash a car do you blame the manufacturer or yourself? God created life but He doesn't control our lives. Imagine having a car that drove for you and you had no choice of where to go. You just got in and went where it took you even if it was somewhere you didn't want to go. That sounds like so much fun - it doesn't really. Having a choice is one of the greatest gifts we have been given and we choose how to use it.

You read the title and want to get to the part about reaping. This is all part of reaping. Reaping comes from the choices we make and God guiding us through. Remember that God knows what is best for us and what we need. So if you haven't reaped yet maybe there is a reason. When you plant the seed for things it takes time to grow. For example if you are want to get your qualification, you need to complete the coursework first. If you want a new job, you need to complete a job application.

Reaping doesn't coming without sowing. Just because you planted a seed doesn't mean it's going to grow either. Even if it doesn't grow that is not a reason to give up or try a different seed. This is the point in my blog where you think who is this person, first she is talking about cars then seeds and sowing, what has this got to do with reaping?  I hope you get my examples, if you don't , don't worry pretend you are reading a fictional story or something. I am only joking, if you don't just ask me.

I can't remember all the examples I have used in my blogs so if I use some again just smile. What was this blog post about again? Oh reaping? You see what you did there? Ah now you are wondering what I am talking about. Do you see what you have been doing throughout this blog post? Sitting and reading it is not the answer I am looking for. You have been waiting.

Waiting for me to get to my point.

Let me explain:

1. Sowing
2. Waiting
3. Reaping

What do you think that means? I wrote earlier that reaping does not come without sowing. However in-between sowing and reaping there is waiting! 

If you have a sow and then reap expectation to life you may be disappointed sometimes. Not everything you sow will reap. It's not like a piece of bread you put in the toaster and it pops up after a few minutes and it's done. It's not an instant sow and reap. Sometimes the wait could be short but you never know how long it is going to be so if you are always expecting your piece of bread to pop out the toaster instantly maybe there was a power cut while it was in the toaster. That's actually happened to me with actual bread and in life too with the example I am using. Ok anyway moving on...

When you get to a point in your life when you look back and think wow I prayed about those things and they have happened! When you realise that what you have wanted is here! That is the best feeling! Maybe it's not even what you have originally wanted but you reaped something even better! Amazing how God does this for us in our lives. He loves us so much that He takes our life as it was and changes it and gives us more than we could have imagined. 

Thank God for those moments we have in life. Whether you are in a stage of sowing, waiting or reaping or even if you haven't started a stage yet, know that God has the best plan for you. We sow, we wait and we reap a lot of things in this life. Sometimes we sow bad seeds but God has a bin we can throw all the bad seeds into and then they're gone, taken away. That's through prayer and forgiveness. 

One thing we mustn't forget when we reap; is God. Just because things haven't happened or when they do we must not forget that God brought us from one stage to another. We are enjoying reaping because God helped us get there. Yes we made our own choices and sowed the seeds but God determines the weather and nurtures some seeds. However if we don't sow the seed close to God and then it doesn't grow we blame God for the outcome when we haven't given Him the seed. We tried to grow it on our own and that's not God's fault. When we keep giving God a seed that's just an average seed, God sometimes swaps it for His own good seeds. God's a good seed planter and He teaches us to be one too. There are bad seeds in life too. You pick your seeds.

God didn't make any bad seeds. How did they get there then? There is good and bad in this world. God didn't create any bad. Leaning towards the bad is like when you make choices in life and then you mess up, do you blame your parents or yourself? So why is God blamed and not man for the choices man makes? God is standing there with a flashing light saying 'good seeds over here' but sometimes people think they don't deserve a good seed or the seeds aren't really good. It's not God's seeds that are not good, it's that we may not be ready to receive them. 

In  a world where there is so much discrimination, God is there and He doesn't even sell seeds but gives them away for free to EVERYONE! Free seeds that grow into the fruits of life that we reap! Just because God didn't plant your original seed you brought Him doesn't mean your seed will never grow, He sometimes swaps seeds for better ones we need!

You have just graduated and become a farmer! Seriously I hope in the midst of all my seed talk you caught my meaning. You may by chance notice my humour too. I am imagining people holding this big bag of seeds now to go and give God. Just remember whether you have one seed or 3 million, reaping does not always come right away!

It does come if you trust God and what's the magic word? WAIT! If you think about it we wait every day. Wait to use the bathroom, wait in traffic, wait for a tv show to start, wait for something to be cooked, wait for a drink, wait for sun (if you live in the Uk), wait for Nicola's blog to make sense, so what's the harm in waiting?

In fact there is a great thing about waiting because waiting leads to Reaping.

So it goes like this: 

God First

Here is a story, 

About waiting for God's glory,

But first we have to sow,

And wait for it to grow,

And as we wait day by day,

We have got to pray,

And God knows what seed, 

Will fill our every need,

We have got to make a start,

And let God know what's on our heart,

Only if it's God's that we are seeking,

Is when we will be reaping,

Even if we don't receive,

The aim is to believe,

If things haven't happened yet,

Remember it's not about what you get,

God's the only one that can quench our thirst,

If we put God first,

God created man, 

And He has got a plan,

So trust in this today,

Even when things don't go your way,

It's not about the things that you reap,

Your relationship with God is more important to keep,

We are to look to God above,

And live a life of love,

So when you face any strife,

Ask yourself, are you putting God first in your life?

~ by Nicola Hill

I just came up with that poem to explain what I mean. It's not about reaping but it's about putting God first. 

I have reaped some amazing things in my life thanks to God being a part of my life but I have also not reaped a lot of things too. I am thankful for what God has given me and for what He hasn't because I trust God knows what I need. God's not a genie who grants wishes. He seeks us to have a relationship with Him. Maybe sometimes you will be reaping and sometimes you wont but the point is to have a relationship with God. Pray to Him, He is listening. That's is the greatest thing we can reap in this life; a relationship with God. You reap so many things that God teaches you. Never mind the stuff or things we want. 

Maybe I should change the title to God first? No because it is about reaping but remember reaping isn't an end goal. God is our first priority. It's not always about reaping, it's about praying to God without asking for things too. You don't always want things from your friends or family sometimes you just want their company. So many times people can be focused on what how long it is taking to start reaping that they forget that God isn't just a giver, He is a listener too. He likes to know us.

I am not saying I am any better than anyone, a lot of this is what many of us learn. By people I mean me too. I am a person. I make mistakes. I think about life and I write what's on my heart. I wrote a blog post earlier this year and I haven't written in months but this blog post has slowly formed in my mind throughout the year but I haven't felt ready to write until now. If you have read my blog posts before you know I only write when I feel that moment of inspiration.

Tonight I felt it and look what happened! Thank God. It feels good to write again after so long. 

You are also welcome to write your thoughts, comments or anything else to me. Or even "hey Nicola could you write your post in English people understand next time?" 

To answer that question I can't. This is how I write. It may not be everyone's cup of tea but that's why there is coffee out there too. We all have different tastes. I think my blog posts are more like coffee because living in the Uk most people prefer tea so my blog posts are maybe not everyone's cup of coffee but that is why there is tea out there too. Meaning maybe only some will like it but I am not writing for people to like it, I write because I love to. I write because I have things on my heart that I want to write about. 

If somehow you want to hear more, you can subscribe by email to my blogs. Or if this is your first time here, you can read my other blog posts. I've written on a number of topics. I like to share my love of writing with you all. I don't expect everyone to love my writing. 

With that I shall love and leave you,

Until I write again,

God First,

Nicola Hill

The Reason

Sometimes there is a reason why some things don't go the way we hoped. The only thing about there being a reason is at the time we don't know what that reason is. Things in life can hurt, really hurt. You can be confused, disappointed and not understand why. You can start to cast blame. It's your fault, it's someone else's fault or the blame game some refer to is that it's God's fault. When it comes to fault though it's not about any fault it's about how you are going to move past it.

We are all going to face trials of some kind in this life that is guaranteed. It's in those times of trial that it helps you grow. Not everything is always going to go to plan. I bet you're loving the reality of this post. It really makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside doesn't it? As with all my posts I do encourage everyone to keep reading. I suppose in the same way you keep reading my post to see how it ends, you must keep facing the trials you face to see how it ends. As with my posts they usually have a good ending and in the same way your trials will if you see them through.

Sometimes you can be going along with your daily life and something happens out of the blue. We can face illness or shock and sadness all at once. We can face many things in this life. Again the question we can ask is why? Why is this happening to us? What is going on? Is there a reason for all of this?

Yes there is a reason for all this. That's the one question I can answer although I don't know what exactly the reason is. I know I am very helpful right now and my answer makes no obvious sense.  I bet you are glad you started reading this. You will at some point find out the reason for everything in life. You are probably thinking no way, things don't have a reason. Or you are thinking yeah she's got a point, she's awesome I need to read more of her blog posts. Whichever one you are thinking and I am not biased at all (the second one!!!) or  if you choose neither I suppose that's an option as well, you will find that there is good that comes out of everything.

Maybe the reason is simply that it made you stronger. No one wants  bad things to happen in life but they do. No one wants things not to go to plan but sometimes they don't. We don't learn because we have had it easy, we learn because we have had it tough and made it through. Everyone faces trials of some kind. You just have to remember though God isn't the reason for your trial but He can be the reason to get through your trial. In other words you need to do something and get through it so you can continue with your purpose God has given you. Remember you have a purpose.

We are all here for a reason. We may not know why some things happen but maybe the reason is simply because everything makes us who we are. There are things we would definitely rather not have gone through but the question to ask yourself is how we can harvest it for good? How can we move past it? You just have to take the first step and keep going and don't look back.

There we go I have solved life, you are welcome. Of course things aren't as simple and things are complicated and hard but are they? Things are only as difficult as you make them. It's not so much the things you go through but it's your attitude that plays the biggest part. Sometimes people have gone through more than you have. It's not just you either. It's all of us. Everyone. We all face something we may find difficult. Whatever it is you are not alone, others been there but even more so you are never alone because God is with you.

God is the reason we are all here. See what I did there with that bold font. That's one thing to remember. God created you for a reason and He is the reason you are here. If you can't find any other reasoning in anything else remember that. Remember you are here for a reason because God created you for a purpose.

I think this calls for a song. You are probably thinking what?? The song I have in mind relates to this post and it's one of my favourite songs. Well it relates to this post according to me if you imagine the lyrics written about God. Maybe you just have to be in my head. I like the lyrics because it reminds we are not perfect but God loves us and He's the reason we continue in this life.

God created us to be the reason for adding a little hope in this world if we journey through this life with Him.

Here is the song:

With that I shall love and leave you,
Until I write again,
Nicola Hill

Live Each Moment To The Full

I've been wanting to write something for a while. I knew along the lines of what I wanted to write but I didn't have an idea about what I will call it or the full piece until last night. Most of my writing and my best ideas come to me at night or in the middle of the night. I have sometimes jumped out of bed in the middle of the night to jot an idea down then I've expanded on the idea the next day. Actually even writing that brings me back to my teenage days where I remember getting out of bed many times and trying to find a pen and paper to write something down. I still do it now but most of the time I have my phone next to my bed and make notes.

Ok back to the point of this post. What do you think it means? Another way you could write it is Make The Most Of Each Day. Why would you want to do that? It's ok because you have plenty of days and you know not every day is going to be great. You will still have tomorrow. Although being on a train recently where someone decided to jump in front of another train and it delayed all the train lines really made me think, do we really have tomorrow? Life can be over in a moment in many different ways. The only day we know we have is today and we don't even know if we have the whole day.

Think about this time of year. We have the Christmas season which is such a joyful time of year for most people. Although for many it can be a lonely time of year too. It can remind people that they don't have anyone to share it with. You might be thinking oh this isn't a very happy post but I ensure you it is. Keep reading. Just keep reading.

Life will inevitably have trials that we will face, that is expected. It's not going to be a smooth ride but there will be smooth parts of the ride. You have to live for those parts of ride. I love the quote that says "every day may not be good but there is something good in every day." It's not what is happening in your life but it's how you view your life. Change your view, change your life.

There are special moments every day that happen all around us but if we don't pay attention and are only focused on what is happening to us we can't enjoy everything that life has to offer. What we know we have is these moments and what we can do is Live Each Moment To The Full. It's not about life being hard or easy. It's about knowing that even though there are difficult times that we will face, we know sunshine will be around the corner. We just have to hang in there. We can make the most of our lives.

Going back to this time of year being a lonely time for some. Do you know what this time of year means? Do you know what's it's all about? I have another blog post I wrote on this blog called Christ-mas which you can read. This time of year is about a Saviour that was born to save us all. No matter what your situation is, in that we have hope because Jesus Christ was born and because of Him we are all here today. Think of that this time of year and all year through. That is the happiest news because without Jesus none of us would have been here today.

Remember there is good in every day, you just have to open your eyes and look. It isn't always easy to see the bright side of life and things can get us down but that's when we need to pray. God is always there for us. You always have someone whether you pray or not. He is always there watching over you, wanting the best for you. Remember His timing is not our timing. Just because you aren't getting what you want doesn't mean He isn't there. Just because you are faced with a difficult situation doesn't mean He isn't there. He is there, He has always been there. You just have to talk to Him, ask for help, pray. Even when you pray it's not going to magically happen for you, you have to be patient. God's timing is different to ours. Sometimes He tests you and makes you wait to shape you. Everything is for your own good.

Look at your life. You wouldn't be who you are today if you didn't overcome some things. If you didn't face something and get past it. You wouldn't appreciate what you have if you always had the easier best path ever. You appreciate things because you know what it's like without. You are thankful for good times because you have faced bad times. God didn't create life to be with trials but that goes back to Adam and Eve and when sin was let in to the world because they didn't listen to God. He didn't make the world what it is today but He's still here helping us and He promised to make it good again one day. We just have to hang in there and pray and trust in Him and that trust comes as you build your faith in God.

You can't expect things to happen in life if you do nothing. God has got your back but you also have to make an effort. God's not going to come down from Heaven and do it for you. You have to do some things and trust God will guide you through. He doesn't control, we have free will. The choice is yours. You can't rush things too against God's timing. How do you find out what to do? Pray.

You have got to go and out there and do something. Go out there and Live Each Moment To The Full. Just because things may not turn out how you are picturing in your head doesn't mean they aren't going to turn out at all. God's got a plan, you just have to trust in His plan and the only way you can do that is through prayer and a relationship with God. He wants a relationship with you. He will always love you unconditionally.

Jesus Christ gave us these moments. Let's make the most of it. Christimas time is my favourite time of year because it reminds me of the special moments we have because Jesus Christ our Saviour was born. I love the atmosphere too and the Christmas lights and songs and tree and decorations and that just adds to that fact because to me it's all a celebration and we have something really amazing to celebrate! Jesus Christ was born and He died to save all our sins and because of that there is hope for us all. Just remember it's not about all the hype either, remember Jesus Christ too this time of year.

It's not always easy to see the good moments and enjoy them and it's not always easy to make the most of your life but what you can do is try and Live Each Moment To The Full and with God in your life He will help you make that happen. God sees life as a positive thing and He can help you see it that way too if you let Him. Just pray.

Hope you have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! (Notice the "Merry" and "Happy" because it can be, you just have to change your view!)
We have an awesome reason to CELEBRATE because Jesus Christ was born and because of that we have a chance to Live Each Moment To The Full. 

With that I shall love and leave you,
Until I write again,
Nicola Hill

Are we really connected?

It's been a while since I last wrote. I tend to say something along those lines in a few of my blog posts these days. I suppose it's been a while because I have been busy. I have had a lot to do lately and while I want to write, I don't just write for the sake of it, I have to write at that moment when I feel that inspiration. This post is brought to you by a thought I had and I decided to write about it.

Maybe by the title of this blog post you are thinking of course we are connected. With technology these days the world is more connected than ever. You can call people easily overseas, read everyone's social media, send messages to anyone in the world in an instant. However the resounding question that many ask is does it make us more connected? In same ways it does but in others it doesn't.

It's becoming more of a world where even in company everyone is on a mobile phone instead of talking to eachother. It's becoming a world of where everything is shared, what we are eating, doing and thoughts. It's becoming a world of reading people's social media instead of calling them. It's becoming a world of where human interaction is being replaced by mobile phones or tv or any other form of technology.

I am not saying I don't use technology because I probably use it as much as anyone but as much as I like being connected in a sense, sometimes I don't like it too. I think is technology these days is an addiction and we are all addicted, well a lot of the world population are, if you're not, go you! I remember the days when I didn't even have internet on my mobile phone and I actually only used a phone to call or text people. You know, those stone age days.

All these questions about being connected with technology made me think about our connection with God. We use technology to connect with people. We use the bible and pray to connect with God. In the same way, are we using the tools to connect to God but sometimes are we actually connecting to him? Sometimes we don't look up from our phones to the people around us, sometimes we don't look up after praying to the blessings around us.

The same way we focus on our phones and don't see anything, maybe sometimes we are focused on what we are asking God for and don't see anything. So while we use our phones or technology to connect, are we really connected? And while we read the bible and pray to connect to God,  are we really connected? You can know all about what someone has been doing and saying on social media, in the same way you can know things about God but are we really connected? Sometimes you can have all the tools but if you don't use them in the right way they are not going to work to give you the result you are expecting. Sometimes you just have to change the way you have been using them.

Think of that dial up tone, if you didn't have a dial up tone to connect to the internet and don't know the noise it used to make when it connected, here it is:

I just wanted you to have that noise in your head the next time you are thinking about being connected to people and God, you are welcome. Yes we have come a long way from that dial up tone for internet. Let's just not go away from real connections.

I am not saying there anything wrong with technology or with anything you post, you do what you want, I post all kinds of things too sometimes. I just had this thought about how important it is in life to remain connected to people and God because those moments are the moments you have. It's when certain things break up your connection and that dial up tone doesn't connect, that's when maybe we need to rethink a few things.

With that I will love and leave you,
Until I write again,
Stay connected (think of the dial up tone).
Nicola Hill

Why does God allow bad things to happen?

I have had this title for this blog post for a while and the other day I saw an article that said a lot of what I was thinking. It's a good question. Why does God allow bad things to happen? So I am guessing all of you were born because you exist right? I'm guessing you've made a lot of your own choices. I'm guessing you've made mistakes. That must be God's fault.

The article I read said take God out of the equation and here we have man. So if there is a God, He is to be blamed and if there is not do we blame ourselves? Who are we going to blame? It must be our parents, someone we are close to, a relative, a friend. It can't possibly be us. Ok it is us, we caused our own things to happen. So why didn't God stop it?

God trusted us first in the garden of Eden and Adam and Eve disobeyed God and that is why all the bad was let into this world. If you trust someone with something do you follow their every move and try to be in control. I hope not. Why should God? He trusted us and that happened.

Today He offers us a choice and a chance to make it right. He didn't just become this all controlling God. He wasn't the one who let all the bad into the world but He does try to save us from it. There are also trials of life that God does allow to happen. He allows trials to happen and it's not because He is a revengeful God but because He is trying to help us grow. If we trust God He will guide us through all the trials of life and we will be stronger.

He loves all people. He offers all people a chance and choice. One day He will put a stop to everything but not without giving us a chance to make things right first. If we didn't have this chance we wouldn't be here. Jesus died to save us. What if you had no choice and just control? Because as human beings we just love being told what to do. God must cure the diseases that we let in? God's giving us this second chance. Man caused the bad things to come into this world we are living in but God is helping us through it. Remember we aren't living for this world but for eternal life. God is giving us a chance to get there! If He controlled us and took away any choice we'd have no chance because it is only through our choices we can get there.

Whether it's things that happen through illness or things other men or ourselves cause. God is there to help us through all these moments. The better question is: Why does God always want to help us when bad things happen? The first of human beings let Him down and they let all the bad into the world, why would He want to help us?  Maybe He should just say good luck it's your fault. He wants to help because He is a forgiving God and He loves us unconditionally.

"I have said this to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation but be of good cheer I have overcome the world." John 16:33

It's hard when bad things happen but you know what is harder? Trying to deal with it on your own. Everybody needs God.

With that I shall love and leave you,
Until I write again,
Nicola Hill