New Years Eve

2011 has been such an amazing year for me. So many amazing things have happened and when I look back to this time last year I literally had no idea how God would bless me this year. I literally had no idea what was in store for me. I guess youre the same as me though, you cant help and look back at the last year and see some of the missed opportunities, things you shouldve done better, things you shouldve left. But we need experiences like that in order to know what to do next time. Its life. Crap happens. We live and we learn. But this year Im making a list. A list of things I want to accomplish this year. I want to start new. I want to make a new lifestyle for myself. I want to learn from the mistakes of 2011 and make 2012 a year to remember. Today will be the day I will draw up my list, I may even publish it on here tomorrow. If you have any cool ideas do let me know, but I can tell you that my first new years resolution is to blog more because I'm a bit of at that
                Have a great New Year, Vikki xx

New Look

So you probably notice that I have given the blog a new look. Well heres the deal. I believe that 2012 is going to be mental and I want to be ready. I have some awesome things that I want to accomplish next year, I wanna start off well. I dont want to waste any opportuninties this year. I want to document what this crazy year is going to hold for me on this blog. I want to make resolutions and stick to them. I want to be inspired. I want to moulded. I want to be remade. I want to live an inspiring life. So follow me on this, follow me on this crazy journey Im about to go on, we have no idea where this is going to go, its going to be mad, but I can honestly say to you....

Watch this space

"The Boys of the NYPD choir were singing "Galway Bay" and the bells were ringing out for Christmas Day"

Well Happy Christmas from the Emerald Isle!



So this song basically is Christmas in Ireland. I cannot tell you how many time I have heard this song playing since I came home. Its been great to be home, to see everyone again. I have also been able to look at Northern Ireland from an outsiders perspective. This places needs a lot of things. There really is a shortage of things to do for teenagers around here. Churches are so outdated its unbelievable. We need teams, people, anyone with a passion for Jesus to come here. So Im taking this upon myself, my mission for the next semester is to recruit as many people as I can to come to Northern Ireland. You really never know where a conversation can lead, or what a conversation can result in. The most people I can pump into this country the better. I just hope that some of the people I can hopefully encourage to come here could see themselves here longterm. I want to get as many people as I can here. I knwo fine rightly that people fall in love with this place. I am already in love with this place. You can most certainly take the girl out of Ireland, but you can never take Ireland out of the girl. This place holds in it so much beauty. My entire life was once here, my past still is. This places inspires me beyond belief. The scenery is breath taking and is only when you go away and live in the city for 5 months that you realize this. I am extremely proud of where I am from. But I want to give back here, I want to make a difference. You may think that naive of me. I have always been a dreamer and will continue to be...

"I'm coming home, I'm coming home, tell the world I'm coming home"

So it's currently 3.58am in the morning of Friday 16th and I am hoping on a plane at 3.20pm. I am so pumped to see my people. I am so excited for them to just see how being here has changed me. They are also going to notice I have a pretty mortifying American twang to my accent but I guess it'll prove an entertaining tip for them. I have not seen my people in 5 months and I cannot describe how it feels to know that I will be with them this time tomorrow! I would love it if you could pray that my flights and travels go safe! I would hate to get stuck this close to seeing everyone! My best friend is engaged back home and I just want to give her a HUGE hug, my other best friend just got into the university that has been on her heart for a long time! Things are moving so much and I just want to share in that! I cant wait to see my wee brother turn 15! I want to see my Daddy because no matter how old I get he is always my Daddy (even though he has a theory that i only call him "Daddy" when i want something). But what I'm most excited about is that I am going to have so many great conversations with people from home about my time here! I have a month here, a month to just show what I have learned and experienced and I am just so excited! :) Wish me luck! :) 

Perspective

On Sunday my preacher at my church here talked about Jesus on the cross. Initially I thought to myself "I've heard all this before, it can't be anything I haven't heard". Well as you can guess I was completely wrong. I had seen the movie The Passion of Christ and I thought "Surely he cannot say anything worse than this". Wrong again. 

Jamie told us how 6 out of 10 people who were sentenced to crucifixion never even made it to the cross itself. The torture before it was so severe that many didn't make it. He described how Jesus' vertebrae probably would've been showing from beatings. The pain that was described was unbelievable. Many people were crying, many walked out but all sat in total shock. The sermon was the news of the day, the whole congregation were talking about it. When I sat there and heard this story, tears were swelling in my eyes. It had been a frustrating week. A painful week. But when I heard this, in such detail, I realized how my pain was nothing compared to this. My heart break was nothing compared to this. I felt that people had caused this pain and frustration I was feeling. But I caused the pain that Jesus went through, he went through that for ME, and for YOU. And you know what? He would do it all over again for us. He wouldn't even think twice. That my friends is true love. See pain in our life is inevitable, it is a fact of life. But it is suffering which is optional. 

Christ died on a cross, something which represented crime and defeat. He died a criminals death. But He turned this symbol of the cross into a symbol of victory. Christ has invited us to "take up our cross", we must die to this world, to sin. But it is through this invitation to die, that we have an invitation to live. We have an invitation to really live a full life. God will take us amazing places, but we have to allow Him to, we have to hold nothing back, we have to surrender our lives. It is through losing our lives that we will find them.