The age of the Twenty-somethings

So, I turned twenty whole years old about a week or so back.

I am excited, daunted and a little bit bewildered by the whole thing. God has brought me this far, all the way through my teenage years. This is the decade where stuff is supposed to happen to people. Like graduation, jobs, relationships, maybe even children... It's all a little overwhelming when I think about it all like that.

I'm quite happy just plodding along at my usual pace, letting things unfold as God wills them to. Or, actually I should say my usual pace is about a sprint it usually seems! 

I feel strangely sad to have left my teens behind. But I am excited to see what's in store for the next years of my life, whether that's what is socially expected of me, or what He has in mind. I will eventually be a fully fledged adult-y person, and I cannot wait to see how God molds me!

So, with a strange sense of nostalgia as I speak to fourteen-year-olds and remember that that was now six years ago for me, I pray that God will keep me close as I continue into my twenties.

The One After The Plunge

So yesterday, the 23rd of March I was baptised at Above Bar Church.

And it was just incredible.

Being physically baptised has not caused me to have a relationship with Christ. It is the open celebration of that relationship. I didn't realise just how much of a high I was going to get from it though (spiritually, not any dodgy dealings here! haha).  
It was just incredible to be able to share my testimony with the whole church. It was incredible to have people that I love there to hear it. It was incredible to share that special day with some amazingly special people. Lucy, Becky, April, Beth. My housemate Lucy and I went to the classes together, and it was amazing to be able to affirm eachother of the gospel.


But most of all, it was incredible to just express to awesomeness of God.

To be able to have my family hear that is something I'll cherish forever. It wasn't just that I'm happy they could come to support me. I'm overjoyed that they had the opportunity to hear the gospel. So many answered prayers all in one night!
And talking of answered prayers, I'm going to embarrass Beth once again.

At the beginning of this academic year, as a hall group leader I waited with a mix of nervousness and anticipation for the new Freshers to come to hall group. Little did I know, that God had it in mind to bring along Beth. Not yet a Christian, she had so many questions. Questions that reminded me of the core message of Christianity. She asked the questions that I had forgotten are often just assumed in Christian circles. She saw things afresh for what they were. And she questioned them. 

Not only did she question what on earth these Christians were doing, but she saw Jesus. In an age of skepticism, it is just phenomenal that God still shines through. That Beth came to faith! She investigated, she discovered and she responded. 

I will always be eternally thankful for being able to be a small part in Beth's journey. I can't quite believe that God has let me be a small puzzle piece in the new, satifying and eternal life that Beth has now started. 

As she gave her testimony, I looked to her flatmates, who had the biggest grins on their faces. I did too. I couldn't contain myself by the time she was baptised and came out of the water, and gave her a huge hug. I never imagined that that could really happen, and it did!

As you can tell, I'm buzzing.

I sin. I mess up. But Jesus still used me. He used ME. Words and actions matter. Just wow. 

I had the amazing privilege to not only celebrate my relationship with Christ, but to share that day with someone who has impacted my life in a way I can't ever explain. So yeah, Beth I think we're at the friendship stage of hugging now, just to clarify :D 

Not everyone gets to be baptised with someone that they've seen come to faith. It just blows my mind!

:D

The one before I get baptised

So, in just a matter of hours I'll be taking the plunge... into the baptism pool.

I've realised that God has called me to be baptised into his family at my church. I have to get up in front of hundreds of people and manage to stammer out my life story, before being immersed in water.
This is kind of a big deal then?
I'm doing this to signify that I have been changed by God, and that He is the ruler of my life. I'll be shaking with nerves and fighting to stay composed in front of so many people, but it's not about that. This is my way of showing publicly what God has done for me personally. 

Not only that, but I get to share the event with someone that I saw become a Christian before my eyes. How freaking awesome is that?? That kind of thing just doesn't happen to people like me, except it has!

I'll update again once I've been dunked! <3

Just Like Only a Ninja, can call another Ninja, Ninja

... Okay so if you didn't already gather, then the title is a line from the well known Tim Minchin song called 'Prejudice'. 
It explains how it is only acceptable and permissible for a ginger person to call another ginger, ginger. If someone with, for instance, brown hair should say it then it is equal to a capital offense effectively. Might seem slightly over dramatic, but such is life as a red head.
Which, as a side note is just another way to call someone ginger without actually uttering the words.

So, why am I banging on about why you cannot call me a ginger? (Unless of course you are one).

Because that's not what defines me. 

Sure, I have curly ginger hair, that sticks out at awkward angles and never does what it's told. Believe me, I have often lectured my inarticulate strands of hair about their job in life to no avail.
Moreover, when people are describing me to others, it's always 'the tall ginger one', that are the first words to come out. Maybe followed by 'always wears strange patterned jeans and always keeps us late after Unite chatting'. 
I have always seen my hair as a thing that belongs to me. I love my hair colour and the way my hair curls. I always cherish compliments I receive about it, often from old ladies at my home church, reminiscing about their own hair when they were young. But the comments haven't always been so nice.

Back in Junior School is when I fully remember being bullied for the first time. The most memorable thing I remember them picking out to hurt me was calling me ginger. I used to hate it, and insist that my hair was Strawberry Blonde. This fact was incredibly important to me, and I held onto it until Secondary school. But that was just another way for the bullies to latch onto me. I let them hurt me because I believed that my hair colour was one of the most important defining traits that I had. To say I was ginger was giving me an alternative identity. My hair wasn't ginger. That was someone else's attribute and they were missing the real me. 
I still remember countless times that I let the simple word ginger ostracise me from my class. I've often wondered why I found it so hurtful to be called ginger. It was only the start of other things the bullies would say, but it was always their way of gaining my attention. I was so adamant that I was who I thought I was, I hated being mistaken as someone else.

But looking back, I was all wrong.
Colossions tells me that my old identity is hidden in Christ. I am no longer that girl being picked on. I am a woman of Christ and a sister to Jesus the Messiah. That's mind blowing. Like seriously what. Who just becomes a sister to Christ? God's children, that's who. My identity is found in Christ. A new creation. He created me. He knows me. He knows what hair colour I have, what my favourite ice cream flavour is and who my best friends are. But he doesn't define me by my jeans or my hair. He defines me as His sister. What other people have said is rubbish. 
And that fact is incredibly freeing. Unbelievably so. 

I can go about life living for Jesus and serving Him as best I can because He has blessed me and cherishes me as part of His family. I can call out to Him and He will save me. 

It might seem so trivial to be hurt because of my hair. But the affects have been long lasting. I still spend time reminding myself that when someone calls me ginger it should not be taken as a negative. My friends tease me as a sign of affection. I know that in my head, but my past associations mean that sometimes I have to ensure my self-worth and esteem are not being chipped away at again. 

My worth is found in Jesus Christ. I was created in the image of God, the creator of everything. Literally everything. Even me. And my silly ginger hair.

This has kind of been a personal therapy post, with some home truths that I'm speaking over myself more than anything. I just need to spend time asking God to forgive the way I made my hair colour an idol over Him in my life. God is my priority. 

I am ginger, and proudly so. But it doesn't make me who I am :).