Just Like New

Sorry I haven't updated this in awhile, I've been finding this post quite hard to work on, but I think I've got it planned out and that it'll work - so here goes!

I'll start with a question - if you're a Christian, can you remember what happened when you became one? I don't know about you, but in the weeks before I became a Christian I was really excited - I knew I was going to be saved soon, and I couldn't wait for that experience. I'm not sure why, but in my head I thought there'd be a big mass of shining light, a fanfare, maybe some angels descending from Heaven to congratulate me on my new life. However, the truth was far from that - there was no fanfare, no bright shining lights. There seemed to be no change to my outside - but guess what? That doesn't matter. It's what's on the inside that counts.

Becoming a Christian doesn't mean you'll start gliding about on a cloud with angels singing your entrance to a room - it's an internal change.

Before I became a Christian I wasn't particularly nice to people in my life. I was selfish, with a blatant disregard for other people, their feelings and emotions. I was rude and, quite frankly, mean to people, both to their faces and behind their backs. I was a physically violent person too - there wasn't a day went by that I didn't slap someone's face, most likely for no reason at all. I had very little in the way of opinions on anything that didn't concern me, nor did I care about it. I lived my life for me and nobody else at all.

Now, however, I am different - or at least I try to be, but we all fall short sometimes. I'm nice to people, and about them too, and I definitely don't slap people. I care about others, issues going on globally and in people's lives, and I try to help anybody who needs my assistance.

The Bible says in Ephesians 4:22-24:

"²²You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; ²³to be made new in the attitude of your minds; ²⁴and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness."

We are told to cast off the old, corrupted lives we led and instead embrace a "new" life and attitude. I don't know about you, but that amazes me - it's like being born again.

The Bible teaches all about this new life that we are to lead, and the changes that we must make to our lives. Personally, I'm fond of the section in Ephesians called "Living as Children of Light"; it goes from 4:17-5:21. I'll not paste it all in, but I've included a hyperlink that you can follow to read the whole passage:

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=ephesians%204:17-5:21&version=NIV

I'd like to highlight a few verses in particular, which I really love:

^"8For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light ⁹(for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) ¹⁰and find out what pleases the Lord."

Becoming a Christian doesn't mean there'll be an epic light show - it means you'll walk in light for the rest of your life, and this light allows you to see what pleases God and makes him happy. By welcoming God into our lives we signalled that we were completely ready to give up on the dark, sinful lives we used to lead.

In Colossians 2:12 it says:

"...having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead."

When you become a Christian your old sinful life dies, and you are made "alive in Christ". (Colossians 2:13)

I have a metaphor for becoming a Christian - it took me awhile to figure this out, and I confused myself a couple of times, but I think it worked out in the end:

Becoming a Christian is like having a mobile phone: you have this phone that looks really great, but it doesn't work properly - no reception, so you can't phone anyone, or text, or even receive calls, so the phone isn't much use. However, you ring the helpline, and they tell you they can fix it, you just have to completely trust them. They take the phone away, and upgrade the software so it works fully - the phone looks exactly the same, but now it has a great ability to fulfil its purpose.

You are the handset.

Your soul is the software.

The person you phoned for help was Jesus.

And him taking away the broken phone was him taking your old sinful life.

When you get the phone back it's so much better.

When we become Christians God equips us to go out and complete his will for us:

"¹⁹Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." - Matthew 18:19-20

Becoming a Christian doesn't just signal a change in your lifestyle - it gives you responsibilities, which are often difficult to follow and adhere to, but that's one of the challenges of Christianity.

Finally, I encourage you, if you aren't already, to become a Christian. It's the best thing that ever happened to me, and I will live to honour Christ. And remember, becoming a Christian doesn't change your appearance - it changes your heart and mind, and like your mummy always said, "it's what on the inside that counts."

God on Mute?

As you may (or may not) have noticed, this blog is called "Listening in the Silence" - bit of a daft name if you take it at face value, considering silence is the absence of noise. However, back when I created the blog I was listening to a song called "Life's Noise" by Bluetree. I'll link you to the song here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwLqrhPLGjI

It's an incredible song, I definitely recommend it. In fact, I recommend Bluetree in general, they're awesome!

Anyway, it got me thinking - how often do we really just sit, listen, and wait for God to show us his presence? I don't know about you, but as a student my life is completely bombarded with stressful, time-consuming tasks all the time. Even now that it's summer I'll still be working at something - life just doesn't stop. It's so easy to slip into the habit of putting off "God Time", a time dedicated entirely to God, until the very end of your day, and then thinking, "I'm too tired tonight, I'll just do it tomorrow."

But how often do you ever do it the next day?

I'll be completely honest here: I'm guilty of doing that myself, so I guess, to a degree, this post is kind of like therapy for me, a way of encouraging myself to get more actively involved in my Bible studies and quiet times with God.

Right, back to the point! Habakkuk 2:20 says:

"But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him."

The Bible calls on us to be silent in God's presence, and be "still" - no distractions, no fiddling. Sometimes we have to just detach ourselves from our hectic lives, and just spend quiet time with God, waiting for him to speak to us, waiting for him to provide us with divine inspiration. However, don't expect that to come from you just sitting there, twiddling your thumbs - engage with God! Get reading your Bible and pray - these are God's means of communication, so don't ignore them! We so often take them for granted too. A friend once said to me:

"You don't have to read your Bible - you get to read your Bible.

You don't have to talk to God - you get to talk to God."

Furthermore, the Bible gives us proof that God uses silence and quiet to communicate with us. 1 Kings 19:11-12 says this:

"The Lord said, 'Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.'

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper."

Elijah was waiting for the presence of the Lord, but he didn't fully experience it until there was a moment of quiet - God's presence was in the whisper.

However, sometimes it's so hard to find or hear God at all because we fill our lives up with so much noise. When I have a moment to myself I usually put on my iPod, and fill my time with music and noise. We block out silence, and by blocking out silence, we block out God. We stress and busy ourselves, often running ourselves into the ground to the point where we don't have time to be alone with God, and it's not right.

Have you ever stopped to consider why we do that? Procrastination isn't always the case - maybe we're just afraid of what God will say to us. Maybe he'll confront us about our sins, challenge an aspect of our lives we didn't want to think about, because we knew it wasn't perfect, or pleasing to God. If that's the case, there's really no point - God knows everything, so whether or not you try to block it out you'll have to live up to it eventually. Spending time with God and confronting a fear of the truth is better than distancing ourselves from God with ridiculous noise.

When you make the effort to spend time with God, he'll make the effort to spend time with you. Zechariah 2:13 says:

"Be still before the Lord, all mankind, because he has roused himself from his holy dwelling."

To truly connect with God we have to make time to do nothing other than be with him.

When God speaks to you, don't expect a large booming voice from Heaven - we expect great big displays from God, just because he is all powerful. It could be something as small as a Bible passage that will have great relevance to your life, but it's still communication.

I'm not sure if you've ever experienced one before, but I love little demonstrations of God's love - I call them "hugs from God". It's something physical, an experience given to you by God to show his ability and love for you. One of my favourite hugs was during my Scripture Union weekend of 2009. We had an early morning worship session, where we stood beside a lake and had some very chilled acoustic worship. It was incredibly moving, but I didn't fully feel God's presence. However, we started singing "Everlasting God":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxifqtpW4H4

There's a lyric in the chorus which says:

"You're the defender of the weak, you comfort those in need,

You lift us up on wings like eagles."

The lyrics are taken from a very famous Bible verse Isaiah 40:31:

"But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles;

they will run and not grow weary,

they will walk and not be faint."

Anyway, at that exact point in the song I looked up towards the sky, and a bird soared overhead - it was absolutely awesome. I got goosebumps, because I knew that was an experience in God's presence. He'd seen my desire for him to show his presence to me, and he gave me that little hug. It was amazing. When I tell non-Christians about that experience they all say it was a coincidence - but in my opinion, "coincidence" is just God's way of remaining anonymous!

I'm not saying God won't show himself in more powerful ways - I've witnessed God in the wind, pushing me forwards when I was frightened of something behind me - but we should try not to expect God to show himself to us with great gusto.

So, if you're wondering how you can hear God in your life look no further than quiet itself - it mightn't happen straight away, or you mightn't even notice it, but God's speaking to you: turn down the volume of life's noise to take God off mute.

Roses are red...

I wrote this one in February, but with the stresses of GCSE's and other such calamities I hadn't had the opportunity to type it up and get it up here. So anyway, I wrote this as a talk to give to Scripture Union in school around Valentine's Day, and the topic is God's love.

Let me just start by telling you a rather (un)-interesting fact about myself - I hate Valentine's Day. It's a ridiculous holiday, created only so Hallmark could sell some cards, and in my eyes, it should be re-named "Singles Awareness Day". For me, it's a day spent curled up in a ball with copious amounts of Ben and Jerry's and soppy films (yes, it is essentially a one-person Pity Party)... It makes me depressed and mopey, and I'll be morose and apathetic for days, simply because nobody sent me some sickening poem in a card. Yes, it's an overreaction, but would I be a teenage girl if I didn't overreact to something as ridiculous as a commercial gimmick?

However, the thing I find incredible is how easily we all forget about the greatest love of all - God's love. In God, we have the most amazing, indescribable love imaginable. In fact, for me, it's completely unfathomable - I can't fully grasp the extent of his love for us.

First of all, God's love is completely permanent - let's face it, you're not going to annoy God so much one day that he's just going to decide, "no, actually, do you know what? I've had enough of you! I don't love you any more." Jeremiah 31:3 says:

'The Lord appeared to us in the past saying:

"I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving kindness."

God will always love you, so you've always got this great, powerful love in your life, whether or not you choose to acknowledge it. You see, God's love for us can't be compared to the love we have for each other - we can grow tired of each other, decide we can't stand something that the other person does: well, God doesn't do that. He loves all of you, despite your annoying habits. Whatever you do, God will still love you - how mind-blowing is that?

Furthermore, God's love is unfailing. In the New International Version Psalms alone it mentions the word "unfailing" at least 12 times. What this essentially means is that God's love won't let you down. You know how if you ask someone to do something for you, and they agree to it, and say, "oh yes, that's fine, I'll do that for you" and then they just don't? Well, God's not like that; with his love you won't ever be let down. God's not about to leave you "high-and-dry" at any point- he's got far too much compassion for that kind of carry-on!

God's love is great - to be honest, you'll never find an earthly love like it. No other love could be so forgiving, relentless or unfathomable. You may have a boyfriend or girlfriend right now, and you might think that they love you more than anyone else in the whole universe - well, God loves you more. However, the loving forgiveness came at a very high cost. You can probably guess the verse that's coming up next, but regardless, John 3:16 says:

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son so that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

It's an incredibly well-known verse, and a lot of people think it has become a bit of a cliché, but at the end of the day it's simply the truth.God sent Jesus to earth to die such a painful death, to take all of our sin. Can you imagine doing something so remarkable selfless for someone you love? Do you honestly think you could die for someone? I don't know about you, but I couldn't. Psalm 25:10 says:

"All of the ways of the Lord are loving."

And that's so true.

You've probably already heard it, read it, or know of it, but the Father's Love Letter is one of the most beautiful and moving things I have ever read. I'll not write it all out, but below is the link in case you want to read it (which, to be fair, you really should, because it will change your life - it changed mine):

http://www.fathersloveletter.com/text.html

We were made in God's image, and he loves us. He has made plans to prosper us (Jeremiah 29:11) and he stands waiting for us with the greatest love of all; a love that brings life, hope and joy with it. So the next time you're depressed because you're a "single pringle", don't pass up the greatest love of all - instead embrace it, and remember:

Roses are red, violets are blue,

His name is God, and he really loves you!

We'll start at the very beginning.

Hey, I'm Natasha. There's a fair chance that if you're reading this you already know me. If not, let me introduce myself fully.

I'm Natasha Lee Gracey, I live in Northern Ireland, and most importantly, I'm a Christian. This is really what this blog is kind of about. It's about my experiences in my walk with Christ, and I'm hoping that if people read it it might be able to help them if they're struggling with something in their own faith. I know that I could start this now, and that it mightn't even be read by anyone, but with that there's also the possibility that it will be read by someone.

Let me also mention that I'm fully aware that there are things I haven't experienced, things that perhaps you're dealing with but that I couldn't even imagine, but I know I've been through some tough times and that God keeps me strong during these periods of sadness and darkness.

Okay, so as I'm writing this now (31st January 2010) I've been a Christian for two years, nine months, three weeks and one day. I don't know those figures off the top of my head, I had to sit and count them up (you can tell it's been a long month when you have to use your fingers to count to nine...); believe me when I say this, I haven't looked back. Giving my life over to God was the greatest thing that ever happened to me. My life has flipped over completely.

So, this is how I became a Christian. The important thing to start with is that I wasn't born into a Christian family, and the only ties I had to any kind of faith was Girls Brigade one a week and an hour long Religious Education lesson in school, where most of what we did involved drawing pictures to illustrate Bible verses. However, I still believed in God, and I prayed every night. My life went pretty swimmingly up until about the age of eight or nine. I was a heavy child, and the other children used to make fun of me, but in that year they all turned against me; started excluding me from games, picking on me, calling me names and telling me I was "useless" and "worthless". Well, as we all know, children are known for taking in everything they hear, so I started believing it. I felt pretty low, and I didn't feel like I deserved to be alive. I tried praying to God and asking Him to help me, and stop them from treating me like they did. However, nothing happened, their treatment of me got worse, and eventually, I stopped believing in God.

I left that school at the age of eleven. By then, things had started looking up for me, and I started to make friends again, but I didn't rekindle my faith in God. I felt too let down and hurt, and the insecurities and pains that came from that bullying still stuck with me (and to this day, some of their jibes still stick in my mind). I became a sort-of rebel, wearing all black clothes and avoiding any sort of girly, feminine clothing, and I bragged about the fact that I didn't believe in God, because I thought that made me "cool".

However, two of my best friends had developed really strong faiths in Christ, and started evangelising to me. They'd tell me that God loved me, and wanted me to follow Him. Initially, I didn't listen, but after awhile it started to sink in. I started to pay attention when they spoke to me about God, and one invited me to her Youth Fellowship. I went along and really enjoyed it. Those same two friends were with me when I bought my first Bible too.

After about six months I was invited to go along to the Dawn Service on Easter Sunday. It's an incredible service where you stand at the side of the Spelga Dam and watch the sun rise whilst remembering the Easter story and praising God. And it was on that (absolutely freezing but wonderful) day, the 8th April 2007, that I became a Christian =)

So that's my background story. I'm so glad that I'm a Christian, and I'll never look back, because, in the words of the famous song:

In Christ alone my hope is found; He is my light, my strength, my song.