God's provision

This may sound a little ridiculous, but I am sometimes completely surprised by the way in which God provides. Let me give you a current example.

In the college where I'm living, we were warned a couple of weeks ago that the hot water system is dying and that there were plans in place for replacing it next week, meaning that most of the showers would be unavailable for 3 days from Monday. That didn't seem to be too big a problem for me because I had already made arrangements to head to Shellharbour for 3 weeks on Monday - if I had a shower on Sunday night, that would be fine.

However, last night I got home to find an email saying that the hot water would actually be turned off at noon today so that the system had time to cool before they start work. Now, that's more of a problem! I'm still in Sydney for the next few days and I didn't think I could go to church on Sunday without washing my hair!

In being awake for half the night tonight (agh, shouldn't I at least be able to sleep better during my holidays?), one of the things that has been running through my head is the whole issue of sorting out showering arrangements for the weekend. It has just occurred to me, however, that last weekend, some friends from church are heading to Melbourne this weekend and had offered me the use of their house while they're away.

The solution has been found!

And isn't God's provision amazing? His timing is perfect!!

And I might try heading back to bed now for a bit more sleep :-)

Panania Anglican Church

Exciting

Exhausting

Friendly

Overwhelming

Welcoming

Generous

Just some words to describe my first 3 weeks at Panania Anglican Church. Praise God for his people there.

Beginnings at Panania

On Sunday just gone, I started as Student Minister at Panania Anglican Church. It was a full-on 14-hour day filled with people and conversations - and, needless to say, thoroughly exhausting. However, it was also exciting to start to get to know people and work out how I would be serving God in his church at Panania.

For those who don't know, my brother did a couple of years of student ministry at Panania Anglican about 7 years ago. In fact, it's where he met his wife! Although the staff team has completely changed in that time, there are still plenty of people there who remember Dave and Steph and were keen to tell me of some of their memories of them. It was actually novel to have one couple say to me, "So, you're Wendy's sister."

This change of church will also mean a shift in focus for the ministries I'm involved with this year. I will be co-leading a Years 7-9 group at the 10am service, spending time with some families over lunch, mentoring of younger women during the afternoons and being involved in the 7pm service.

It dawned on me last week that I had not been regularly involved with an evening church for more than 10 years - and I suddenly felt rather old! However, I have to say that I really enjoyed all of the services on Sunday, including the 7pm, and I am looking forward to getting to know people better.

PS I am, however, missing the great friends I have left behind at Shellharbour City and am looking forward to hearing how they are going.

Happy New Year

Well, who can believe that another year has gone by? 2008 has been an amazing year for me, personally. From leaving work at Barnardos on 4th January through to leaving Shellharbour City Centre Anglican Church on 28th December, it has been a year that involved a lot of changes. I've survived my first year at Moore College, moving out of the Illawarra, living in community and commuting to Shellharbour for church each week - and through it all, God has remained steadfast and faithful.

As I face more changes, especially with beginning at a new church (Panania Anglican Church) in a couple of weeks, and am sometimes daunted by more change, I can continue to rely on the God who never changes.

In the next few weeks, there is much happening. Tomorrow, I head to Katoomba for my annual week at CMS Summer School - a week-long mission conference, with great teaching and an opportunity to hear of God's work around the world. For a number of years now, my whole family has stayed together for the week but this year will be a little different. My brother and his family will be staying in a house of their own, especially in order to give them the freedom to offer hospitality to others. This means that it will just be my parents, my sister and I in a house together.

At the end of Summer School, I will spend a couple of days at Kurrajong with my brother and his family before heading back to Katoomba to be a strand group leader at the Next Generation conference (pka Katoomba Youth Leadership Conference). This is my first experience of leading a strand group - with a group who is there for the second year! Please pray for Ben (my co-leader) and I as we work through Genesis 11 with the group and help them to see how the whole Bible fits together.

I hope that Christmas was an opportunity for special time with friends and family, but that, most of all, it was a time to remember the birth of our Saviour, the Lord Jesus. I pray that 2009 will be filled with many joys and blessings for all readers of this blog and that Jesus' love will become more real throughout this year.