I will dance, I will sing to be mad for my King!

Today I had the wonderful opportunity to help out at 'Kings Kids'. For those who don't know - Kings Kids is a weekly event put on by Kings church, children aged 5-11 from the nearby community (so lots of un-church kids) come along for an hour of games, worship, teaching and whole lot of fun!!

Not only are we teaching the children, but the children teach us too - today one thing especially stuck me. There was one girl there who at the beginning was very hesitant to come and sit with the rest of the children, didn't like the loud noise, didn't want to join in with the games but as soon as the worship songs began she was dancing with her whole heart and body, and probably singing the loudest, without a single ounce of hesitation!
So often in worship I'm hesitant in being free... worried about what others will think of me or just 'not in the mood', but it shouldn't matter at all. Worship is for God, not for me or anyone else, purely for God. God deserves all our praise whole-heartedly and I need to learn to give it to Him.

So my challenge is to worship in a child-like way. The Bible tells us to humble ourselves like children... 'Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven' (Matthew 18:3-4) And of course we should worship God - 'Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name' (Psalm 100:4)

This song came to mind, and maybe it should be something to aim for...

Yes, a challenge but God deserves my unreserved, heartfelt worship!

In 9 months time...

...I'm not about to announce a pregnancy, don't worry! 9 months from now I will be a fully-fledged qualified Children's Nurse, hopefully with my first job as a staff nurse on the wards. This scares me... A LOT! Now that we're in the same year that I'll qualify in and the talk of applying for jobs bounces around it's beginning to become much more real. I'm facing the realisation that I won't be able to say 'I'm only a student' forever and that I will be a staff nurse, along with all the responsibility that comes with it. As much as I want to qualify and work, trying to imagine myself in 9 months time fills me with slight dread!

Each placement that I've had as a student I've realised more and more what it is to be a staff nurse... the pressure, the responsibility, the knowledge, the skills... Especially my most recent placement where I had a bit of melt down moment as it all overwhelmed me a bit. However, it's not all bad - if it were then I probably wouldn't have made it into my final year. I think nursing can be one of the most rewarding jobs, and placement taught me this too.  It makes it all worth it when you build up relationships with patients and families, when you see children get better and go home after hours, days or even months of being in hospital, when you can be that person that the family can chat to and even when all you can do is go on the journey with the family.

As scary as the thought of being a staff nurse in 9 months is, I know that I can trust God that this is His plan for me. This week especially, God has been laying on my heart the idea of surrendering to Him. Surrendering aspects of my life to Him, giving God all the control. Again, something that isn't easy but is most certainly worth it. So I'll leave you with this song - which I think is hard to truly mean all the words, but definitely something to work towards :) 

Another year over, a new one just begun

So I've realised I'm not very good blogging, well as least not very regularly anyway! 

And to be honest I'm probably blogging now more as a way to procrastinate from essay writing than the fact that I've got anything to say... ah well!

So Christmas has come and gone. December was relatively busy with a mixture of lectures, assignment work and plenty of Christmas related events! Including:
Promiseland Christmas Party - was a lot of fun just to play games and eat yummy party food with the children.
CU Christmas Carol Service - I believe it's only the second Portsmouth CU carol service, and the committee did a fantastic job at organising it (As well as organising many other events this past year!)
Under 5's Christmas party - Hosted by Kings church and Surestart, lots of children and parents from both church and non-church backgrounds came along. It was a brilliant opportunity to bring people into church environment and to see children and parents having a good time. The Christmas Story was told by our wonderful Donkey puppet, and we even had a birthday cake for Jesus! 

The stable - children had the opportunity to dress up and have a photo taken in the stable which they then got to take  home at the end of the party. 

One of the activities - make your own gingerbread house!

Student Christmas Quiz Party - We set up church to make it look a bit fancy and then had a wonderful evening filled with questions, friends, laughter and a Christmas dinner. 

Church set up ready to go before the masses arrived!

Myself and two of my lovely housemates at the party :) 

Foodbank Panto - This was brilliant! Everyone involved did a wonderful performance! By the end my cheeks were definitely aching from all the laughing. I hope they raised lots of money for a good cause.
Mid-December I then arrived back in Abingdon to family and more Christmas events...
Christchurch Carol Service - Wonderful as always, and good to see some old church friends.
Christmas meal out with my girls - I enjoyed a lovely (and posh) meal out with my school friends. Great friends and good food :) 

My beautiful friends

The poshest Christmas dinner I've ever had!

And a very yummy dessert

Christingles - a team of us spent the Sunday before Christmas making 550 Christingles ready for Christmas Eve! And the Christingle service means Christmas is just around the corner!

Christmas Day arrived! A day spent with family - eating lots of food, church, giving presents, opening presents and playing silly games. Next year will be a little different I imagine as by then I will be a married woman, so this year I made the most of my last Christmas as a Burfitt!
The week between Christmas and New Year consisted of seeing lots and lots of family which great to catch up, especially with those I hadn't seen in a couple of years!
The New Year rolled in with silly games with friends, and inevitably a time of looking back and looking forwards. 

Just like any other year 2012 had its up and downs. The biggest up of course being the day I said yes to PJ asking me to be his wife :) Overall, I've enjoyed the year- happy with what I've achieved with uni/placement, enjoyed church life, seen friends get married, deepened relationships with friends and family and enjoyed the simpler things such as walks and snuggling in front of a film with a cuppa tea!

2013 has a lot to bring.. wedding planning, assignments and dissertation, graduating, finding a new home, getting married, settling into a new city and lifestyle and starting a job (hopefully!). All are both scary as well as being exciting. I'm looking forward to what God has in store for this year!

oh, and on a different note.. Reverse advent went well. I found it a great opportunity to tell people that I love that I love them! It's so easy to live everyday life without telling people how much you appreciate them and I found it so good to have a little nudge to do it. It can brighten up their day hugely and it doesn't even cost you a penny :)

So now I'm all packed up ready to return to the hustle and bustle of Portsmouth life!